Pseustis

A shepherd who contends unsuccessfully with Alithia (Truth) in the 10th-century book Ecloga Theoduli, a common school text in the Middle Ages. It was written in Latin under the pseudonym "Theodulus."

The poem is an argument between Alithia (truth) and Pseustis (falsehood), with Phronesis (reason), acting as referee.

He is an Athenian and plays the pipes.

His name means "falsehood."

He is also mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem "The House of Fame," written circa 1374 to 1385.

Then behind them I saw there,

Far away, all by themselves,

Many thousand times twelve

Who made loud minstrelsy

On bagpipe and woodwind free

And many another kind of pipe,

Who skilfully began to pipe

Both on flute and on reed,

Played at feasts where men eat;

And many fifes and clarions,

And pipes made of green corn,

Like those the little shepherds wield

Who guard the sheep in the field.

There saw I no Tityrus then,

But "Pseustis the Athenian,

And Marsyas who lost his skin,

From his face and chest, and shin,

Because he once purposed, lo,

To pipe it better than Apollo.

See also

• Alithia