THEOFRASTE. Theophrastus was the supposed author of the Liber aureolus de nuptiis (The Golden Book of Marriage), an antifeminist work that was bound in an anthology with Jerome's Epistola adversus Jovinianum (Letter Against Jovinian) I.47 (PL 23: 276-278) and Walter Map's Dissuasio Valerii ad Rufinum philosophum ne uxorem ducat (The Advice of Valerius to Rufinus Not to Marry, 1180-1183). The Liber aureolus is now lost but survives in Jerome's Epistola, I.41. There is no evidence that Theophrastus (d. 287 B.C.) wrote this tract.
Jankyn calls his favorite book "Valerye and Theofraste," which indicates that it was an anthology, WBP 669-680. The Merchant, in his ironic reverie about marriage, tells how a wife should joyfully serve her husband, but some clerks, including Theofraste, say that this does not happen, MerchT 1293-1295. The Merchant invites his listeners to defy Theofraste and listen to him, MerchT 1310. [Crisippus: Helowys: Jankyn2: Jerome: Jovinian: Tertulan: Trotula: Valerie]
Theofraste, the French variant, occurs three times medially, MerchT 1294, 1295, 1310, and once in final rhyming position, WBP 671.