He wrote a version of the story of the Seven Wise Masters in Latin prose entitled De rege et septem sapientibus (On the King and the Seven Sages), but better known by the title it was later given, Dolopathos.
[3] In his version, Sicily is ruled by a king named Dolopathos at the time when Augustus was Roman emperor.
When the fourteen-year-old prince is summoned whom following his mother's death, Virgil orders him not to speak a word until they meet again.
His stepmother attempts to seduce him and, when he rejects her advances, falsely accuses him of rape, whereupon Dolopathos condemns his son to death.
[3] The trouvère Herbert produced an Old French verse rendition of John's Dolopathos, albeit with some changes introduced from other traditions.