The question as to the source of the poem _Erthe upon Erthe_, and the relationship of the A and B versions to the original, and to each other, is a difficult one. The existence of a parallel Latin version in one of the oldest MSS. is clearly an important point to be taken into consideration in any attempt at an investigation of the origin of the poem, and it will be well before proceeding further to form some conclusion as to the relation in which the English and Latin stanzas in MS. Harl. 913 stand to each other. The correspondence of the two versions is not strictly verbal, but it is evident that either the English or the Latin stanzas represent a rather free rendering of the verses which accompany them. In favour of a Latin origin it may be pointed out that the metrical form of the Latin stanzas is one frequently employed in Latin poems of the time, that the subject is a favourite monastic theme, and that the manner of the poem is in keeping with contemporary Anglo-Latin compositions, such as the well-known _Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria_. The natural tendency would be to attribute a poem of the kind to Latin origin, especially if, as in this case, a Latin version were forthcoming. On the other hand, it may be pointed out that the Latin text is not known to exist in any other MS., and appears indeed to have no separate existence from the English stanzas which accompany it, whereas English texts of the poem without trace of a Latin rendering or original are very common.[14] The text was one frequently used in epitaphs, but no Latin epitaph of the kind is known to have existed, although Latin was commonly used in epitaphs at the time when the poem was most widely popular. Further, word-plays of the kind found here upon the word _erthe_ are certainly not common in Latin verse of the time, and the Latin text does not render the play as effectively as the English does, employing alternately the three terms _terra_, _vesta_, _humus_, in place of the English _erthe_, and failing to maintain these consistently. The play on the word _earth_, which is the most essential feature of the poem, could not have been given with the same effect as in English either in Latin or in any mediaeval language.[15] Thirdly, in support of an English origin it may be urged that close verbal connexion can be traced between the English text of both versions, but more especially of the earlier (A), and other poems dating from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, particularly the various Dialogues of _The Soul and the Body_:-- _MS. Harl._ 913, l. 17 (A). When erþ is in erþe, þe rof is on þe chynne. _MS. Cambr. Univ. Libr._ Ii. 4. 9, l. 25 (C) When erthe is in erth for wormys wyn, Þe rof of his hows xal ly on his chyn. Cf. _Dialogues of Soul and Body_, (_Worcester fragment_) 12th cent. ‘nu þu havest neowe hus inne beþrungen, lowe beoþ helewes. Þin rof liþ on þine breoste, ful . . . colde is þe ibedded.