Wright, Thomas, ed.  A Selection of Latin Stories, from Manuscripts of the Thirteenth and Founteenth Centuries: A Contribution to the History of Fiction During the Middle Ages.  London: The Percy Society. 1842.

RICHARDS, PRINTER, 100, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.

A SELECTION OF LATIN STORIES, FROM MANUSCRIPTS OF THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES:   A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF FICTION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. ____ EDITED BY THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ. MA.  F.S.A. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES OF COPENHAGEN, AND OF THE HISTORICAL COMMISSSION OF FRANCE, ETC. ETC. OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. ____   LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE PERCY SOCIETY. ____ M.DCCC.XLII. ____ No. XXVIII.                                                                                                                    DEC. 1842.

 

The RT. Hon. LORD BRAYBROOKE, FSA.

THOMAS AMYOT, ESQ. F.R.S., TREAS. S.A.

WILLIAM HENRY BLACK, ESQ.

J.A. CAHUSAC, ESQ. F.S.A.

WILLIAM CHAPPELLI, ESQ. F.S.A., TREASURER.

J.PAYNE COLLIER, ESQ. F.S.A.

T. CROFTON CROKER, ESQ. F.S.A., M.R.I.A.

PETER CUNNINGHAM, ESQ.

REV. ALEXANDER DYCE.

WILLIAM JERDAN, ESQ. F.S.A., M.R.S.L.

SIR FREDERICK MADDEN, KH, F.R.S., F.S.A.

T.J. PETTIGREW, ESQ. F.R.S., F.S.A.

E.F. RIMBAULT, ESQ. F.S.A. SECRETARY.

WILLIAM J. THOMA, ESQ. F.S.A.

JAMES WALSH, ESQ. F.S.A.

THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ. M.A., F.S.A.
 

     The following Collection of Stories is offered
merely as a specimen of the class of literature to
which it belongs.  The Editor has not had the
leisure to carry his researches futher than a few
manuscripts in the Museum which were ready at
his hand.  He is aware of the existence of nu-
merous valuable manuscripts of tales of this kind
among the treasures of the universities, which, as
well as a still greater number to be found in the
libraries of the continent, would, without doubt,
add much to our knowledge of the history of me-
dieval romance.  The present volume has already
exceeded the limit within which it was originally
intended that it should be comprised.

    This latter circumstance has determined the
Editor, also, to preface these taled by only a brief
introduction; and he may perhps be induced to
give in another form, a sketch of the history of
the transmission of stories and fables from one
people to another in the middle ages.  A very
large portion of our medieval stories are derived
from the East, of which many examples will be

vi

found in the present volume.  Some are derived
from classic writers, though often disguised by
the Gothic garb in which they have been clothed
during the transmission.  The two most remark-
able instances of direct transmission from the
East are the Collection by Peter Alfonsi, compiled
in Latin under the title of "Disciplina Clericalis,"
and that which was so long and widely popular
under the title Seven Sages.

     No manuscripts are of more frequent occurrence
than collections of Tales like those printed in the
present volume; and we owe their preservation
in this form to a custom which drew upon the
monks the ridicule of the early reformers.  The
preachers of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fif-
teenth centuries, attempted to illustrate their
texts, and to inculcate their doctrines, by fables
and stories, which they moralized generally by
attaching to them mystical significations.  These
illustrations they collected from every source which
presented itself, the more popular the better, be-
cause they more easily attracted the attention of
people accustiomed to hear them.  Sometimes
they moralized the jests and satirical anecdotes
current among the people--sometimes they adopted
the fabliaux and metrical pieces of the jongleurs,
or minstrels--and not unfrequently they abridged
the plots of more extensive romances.  Each
preacher made collections for his own use--he

vii

set down in Latin the stories which he gathered
from the mouths of his acquaintance, selected
from the collections which had already been made
by others, or turned into Latin, tales which he
found in a different dress.   Hence it happens
that we seldom find two manuscript collections
which agree with each other, and that in different
manuscripts we find the same tale told in a variety
of shapes.  I am inclined to think that the period
at which these collections began to be made was
the earlier part of the thirteenth century, and
that to that century, we owe the compilation in
Latin of most of these tales, though the greater
number of manuscripts may be ascribed to the
fourteenth.

     In the fourteenth century several writers began
to collect these tales more systematically, and to
form them into books with the moralizations ready
drawn out, for the use of future preachers.  The
most remarkable work of that kind is the one
known by the title of the Gesta Romanorum.  On
this remarkable compilation, the best information
will be found in Sir Fredrick Madden's Intro-
duction to his edition (for the Roxburhg Club) of
the early English version.  We may look forward
for much new light on this subject from the
edition of the Latin text in preparation by Pro-
fessor Keller.  There are several stories in the
present volume, particularly the first, which illus-

viii

trate the manner in which this collection was
made. The other collections are most commonly
given in the form of common-place books, or
ready-made sermons. Of the former, there are
two important works which have contributed
much towards the present volume: the “Summa
Praedicantium” of John of Bromyard, and the
"Promptuarium Exemplorum."  John of Bromyard
was an English Dominican, who flourished in the
latter part of the fourteenth century; he arranged
in a very large book a kind of dictionary of moral
and theological subjects, in alphabetical order,
full of stories, and other popular illustrations of
the different subjects treated. Perhaps no work
is more worthy the attention of those who are in-
terested in the popular literature and the history of
England in the fourteenth century. A good
edition was printed at Nuremburg in 1485, as I
can state from a comparison of it with several
manuscripts. The tales selected from John of
Bromyard for the present work, are given from
an excellent MS. In the British Museum (MS.
Reg. 7 E. IV). The “Promptuarium Exem-
plorum” was a compilation of the earlier part of
the fifteenth century: I knew it only in the
printed editions, of which there were several at
the end of the fifteenth and in the earlier half of
the sixteenth centuries.

     I have already stated that many of these tales

ix

appear to have been taken down from oral recita-
tion, and they seem to have been transmitted
by a similar medium to later ages. It is one of
the most interesting chapters of the literary his-
tory of our fore fathers, to trace these stories, ap-
parently lost in the political and religious revolu-
tions which followed the introduction of printing,
and suddenly making their reappearance in the jest
books, and other similar productions, of the wits
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. With
a view of giving some idea of this part of their
history, I have added a few notes at the end of
the volume: they might easily have been enlarged,
but I have been content to give merely such in-
stances of the recurrence of our tales under dif-
ferent forms at different periods, as I have ob-
served in the course of my own reading. In this
point of view, these notes must be imperfect, and
I should be sorry if they are taken for more than
they are worth.

     In making such a collection of stories, I could
not altogether avoid those which are more es-
pecially classed under the title of fables. Many
of the fables of the Middle Ages are remarkably
beautiful. Those given in the text of the present
volume are taken chiefly from the collection made
by Odo de Cerinton, an English Cistercian monk
of the end of the twelfth century. In some re-
spects my choice of these fables has been influ-

x

enced by the desire to illustrate the history of
that most remarkable and influential work of the
Middle Ages, the “ Romance of Renard the Fox.”
Several of these fables are evidently taken from
the romance, so popular at an early period in
Germany and France. We have hitherto been
able to discover few traces of this romance, in
England, previous to the fifteenth century. There
are however, evident allusions to it these fables.
But the most decided proof of the knowledge of
this romance at an early period in England is
found in an English metrical version of a story
from the French Romance (II. 6455 to 7026 in
Meon’s edition of the “ Roman du Renart,” Si
conme Renart fist avaler Ysengrin dedenz le puis),
which occurs in the MS. At Oxford, written not
later than the reign of Edward I, and which I have
reprinted from the Reliquiae Antiquae (to which
work it was communicated by Sir Frederick Mad-
den) at the end of these introductory observations.
It is introduced here with the more propriety,
because it is the same story as No. lvii, in the text
of this volume; and it is somewhat curios, that
while the English fable is a close copy from the
French text of the romance, the Latin prose fable
(also written in England) resembles more closely
the same incident as told in the German Reineke.
 As a further illustration of the history of fables,
I have given in the Appendix a very curious col-

xi

lection of fables of the thirteenth century, written
in Latin rhyming verse, from a manuscript in the
British Museum (MS. Additional. No. 11,619,
fol. 189, r^o.) This collection agrees in its general
arrangement with the Latin prose collection of
fables which goes under the name of Romulus, --
with the collection in French verse, published by
M. Robert, under the title of Ysopet I, -and with
the French metrical fables of Marie de France;
but it is particularly interesting for three fables at
the end, which are not found in any other collec-
tion (as far as I have been able to learn), and
which appear to be taken from some branch of
the “Roman du Renart.” In the notes to these
fables, I have thought that it would not be unin-
teresting to point out to the general reader in
the first place, how many of them occur in the
Greek collections which go under the name of
Esop, and in the fables of Phaedrus, or in the
different supplements to that writer; and secondly,
the order in which the same fables stand in the
two texts of Romulus, in the two French Ysopets,
and in the fables of Marie.

     It was thought also advisable to reprint from
Leyser, the Fables(or rather Fabliaux) of Adolfus,
because they afford a curious illustration of the
history of fiction; and because Leyser’s work on
the medieval Latin poets is now becoming a rare
book. Most of the stories in this poem are taken

xii

from Peter Alfonsi.  Of Adolfus himself we
seem to have no other information than that
furnished by the poem.  He states that he com-
posed it in 1315, and he dedicates it to Ulric, then
a celebrated professor in the University of Vienna
in Austria.

     The third article in the Appendix (no less im-
portant in connection with the history of fiction),
belongs to a class of productions of which I have
already printed two specimens in my “Early
Mysteries and other Latin Poems of the Middle
Ages,” –the Comoedia Babionis, and the Geta of
Vitalis Blesenis.  William of Blois, was the
younger brother of the celebrated Peter of Blois,
who addressed to him some of his letters, in one
of which he compliments him on his poetic talents:
--“Nomen vestrum diuturniore memora quam
quatuor abbati!e commendabile reddant trageodia
vestra de Flaura et Marco, versus de Pulice et
Musca, comedia vestra de Alda,” &c.*   I owe to

 xiii

the kindness of Professor Dr. Endlicher of Vienna
a transcript of this poem from the two manuscripts
in the Vienna Library.*  Professor Endlicher
conjectured, from the circumstances of its being
found anonymously among the poems of Matthaeus
Vindocinenis, and from its similarity of the style to
the productions of that writer, that Matthaeus
was the author of the Alda.  But I have since
found a better copy among the Harlein manu-
scripts (MS. Harl. No. 3872), which has the intro-
ductory lines, wanting in the other copies, and con-
taining the name of the Author.  These introductory
lines are also curious an account of the information
they afford us relating to the life of William of
Blois, and they furnish some supplementary matter
to the article on this writer in the Historic Lit-
éraire de France, tom. xv. p. 413, the compiler
of which believed that none of the writings of
William of Blois had descended to our times.

     The last article in the Appendix, the Poem De
Affra et Flavio, is taken from a manuscript of the
thirteenth century (MS. Cotton Cleop. A. viii.
Fol. 59  rº.), and is a curious example of the class of
poems to which the writers of that age gave the
title of Tragoedi!e.  It bears so close a resem-
balance

 xiv

balance in style to the preceding poem by William
of Blois, that we might almost be led to attri-
bute it to the same author.

     I have as yet only spoken of the Latin tales in
the present volume as illustrations of the history
of fiction; but they have also other claims on our
attention ; there are perhaps few documents
which throw more lights on the private life and
domestic manners of our forefathers.  They con-
tain characteristic anecdotes of the different
orders of society: many of those I have printed
throw light upon the character of the minstrels or
jongleurs; others illustrate popular literature by
the numerous scraps of English and French
poetry which are found in them; others again
illustrate the private manners of the monks, and
the popular doctrines of the old Romish Church.
Of this last class a much larger selection might
have been made, but in general the monkish
stories illustrative of the interference and power
of the Virgin, and more particularly those relating
to the real presence and the doctrine of transub-
stantiation, are so disgustingly profane, that I
have carefully avoided them.*

 xv

     The notes have already been mentioned.  My
only object in them has been to make the book as
popular as I could, and with the same object I
have thought it would not be unacceptable to add
a brief glossary of the words least likely to be
found in common Latin dictionaries, or which are
used in acceptations not common in classic
language.  I have no right to suppose that every
reader possesses the Glossary of Ducango.

                                                                  T.W.
     London, November 1842.

A VOX gon out of the wode go,
Afingret so, that him wes wo;
He nes nevere in none wise,
Afingret erour half so swithe.
He ne hoeld nouther wey ne strete,
For him wes loth men to mete;
Him were levere meten one hen,
Then half an oundred wimmen.
He strok swithe over all,
So that he of-sei ane wal;
Withinne hte walle wes on hous,
Thewox wes thider swithe wous;
For he thohute his hounger aquenche,
Other mid mete, other mid drunche.
Abouten he biheld wel erne;
Tho eroust bigon the vox to erne,
Al fort he come to one walle,
And som therof wes a-falle,
And wes the wal over al to-breke,
And on at ther wes i-loke;
At the furmeste bruche that he fond,
He lep in, and over he wond.

xvii

Tho he wes inne, smere he lou,
And ther of he hadde gome i-nou;
For he com in withouten leve,
Bothen of haiward and of reve.
ON hous ther wes,
the dore wes ope,
Hennen weren therinne i-crope
Five, that maketh anne flok,
And mid hem sat on kok.
The kok him wes flowen on hey,
And two hennen him seten ney.
"Wox," quad the kok, "wat dest thou thare?
 Go hom, Crist the eve kare!
Houre hennen thou dest ofte shome;
 Be stille, ich hote, a Godes nome!"
Quath the wox, Sire chauntecler,
Thou fle adoun, and com me ner.
I nabbe don her nout bote goed,
I have leten thine hennen blod;
Hy weren seke ounder the ribe,
That hy ne mitte non lengour libe,
Bote here heddre were i-take;
That I do for almes sake.
Ich have hem leten eddre blod,
And the chantecler hit wolde don goed;
Thou havest that ilke ounder the splen;
Thou nestes nevere daies ten;
For thine lif-dayes beth al a-go,
Bote thou bi mine rede do;
I do the lete blod ounder the brest,
Other sone axe after the prest."

xviii

"Go wei," quod the kok, "wo the bi-go!
Thou havest don oure kunne wo.
Go mid than that thou havest nouthe;
Acoursed be thou of Godes mouthe!
For were I a-doun, bi Godes nome!
Ich mite ben siker of owre shome;
Ac weste hit houre cellerer,
That thou were i-com en her,
He wolde sone after the onge,
Mid pikes, and stones, and staves stronge;
Alle thine  bones he wolde to-breke,
Thene we weren wel awreke."
He wes stille, no spak namore,
    Ac he werth athurst wel sore;
The thurst him dede more wo,
Then hevede rather his hounger do.
Over al he ede and soliute;
On aventure his wiit him brohute
To one putte wes water inne,
That wes i-maked,ed mid grete ginne.
Tuo boketes ther he founde,
That other wende to the grounde,
That wen me shulde that op-winde.
That other wolde a-doun winde.
He ne hounderstod nout of the ginne,
He nom that boket, and lop therinne;
For he hopede i-nou to drinke:
This bolket beginneth to sinke.
To late the vox wes bi-thout,
Tho he wes in the ginne i-brout;

xix

I-nou he gon him bi-thenclie,
Ac hit ne halp mid none wrenehe;
A-doun he moste, he wes therinne;
I-kaut he wes mid swikele ginne.
Hit mite han i-ben wel his wille,
To lete that boket hongi stille:
Wat mid serewe, and mid drede,
Al his thurst him over-hede.
Al thus he com to the grounde,
And water i-nou ther he founde.
Tho he fond water, erne he dronk,
Him thoute that water there stonk,
For hit wes to-eines his wille:
"Wo worthe," quath the vox, "lust and wille,
That ne con meth to his mete!
ef ich nevede to mucliel i-ete,
This ilke shome neddi nouthe,
Nedde lust i-ben of mine mouthe.
Him is wo in euche londe,
That is thef mid his honde.
Ich am i-kaut mid swikele ginne,
Other soum devel me broute her inne;
I was woned to ben wiis,
Ac nou of me i-don hit hiis."
THE vox wep, and reuliche bigan:
    Ther com a wolf gon after than,
Out of the depe wode blive,
For he was afingret swithe.
Nothing he ne founde in al the nite,
Wer mide his honger aquenche mitte.

xx

He com to the putte, thene vox i-herde;
He him kneu wel by his rerde,
For hit wes his neiebore,
And his gossip, of children bore.
A-doun bi the putte he sat.
Quod the wolf, " Wat may ben that,
That ich in the putte i-here?
Hertou cristine, other mi fere?
Say me soth, ne gabbbe thou me nout,
Wo haveth the in the putte i-brout?"
The vox hine i-kneu wel for his kun,
And tho eroust kom wiit to him;
For he thoute mid soumme ginne,
Him self houp bringe, thene wolf therinne.
Quod the vox, "Wo is nou there?
Ich wene, hit is Sigrim that ich here."
That is soth," the wolf sede,
Ac wat art thou, so God the rede?"
"A," quod the vox, " ich wille the telle,
    On alpi word ich lie nelle:
Ich am Reneuard, thi frend,
And if ich thine come hevede i-wend,
Ich hedde so i-bade for the,
That thou sholdest comen to me."
"Mid the?" quod the wolf, "warto?"
Wat shulde ich ine the putte do?"
Quod the.vox, "Thou art ounwiis,
Hler is the blisse of paradiis;
Her ich mai evere wel fare,
Withouten pine, withouten kare;

xxi

Her is mete, her is drinke,
Her is blisse withouten swinke;
Her nis hounger never mo,
Ne non other kunnes wo;
Of alle gode her is i-nou."
Mid thilke wordes the volf lou.
"ART thou ded, so Gode the rede,
    Other of the worlde?" the wolf sede.
Quod the wolf, "Wenne storve thou,
And wat dest thou there nou?
Ne beth nout et thre daies a-go,
That thou an thi wif also,
And thine children, smale and grete,
Alle to-gedere mid me hete."
That is soth," quod the vox,
Gode thonk, nou hit is thus,
That ich am to Criste vend,
Not hit non of mine frend.
I nolde, for all the worldes goed,
Ben ine the worlde, ther ich hem foud.
Wat shuldich ine the worlde go,
Ther nis bote kare, and wo,
And livie in fulthe and in sunne?
Ac her beth joies fele cunne:
Her beth bothe shep and get."
The wolf haveth hounger swithe gret,
For he nedde are i-ete;
And tho he herde speken of mete,
He wolde bletheliche ben thare:
"A!" quod the wolf, "gode i -fere,

xxii

Moni goed mel thou havest me binome;
Let me a-doun to the kome,
And al ich wole the for-eve."
"e," quod the vox,  "were thou i-srive,
And sunnen hevedest al forsake,
And to kleiie lif i-take,
Ich wolde so bidde for the,
That thou sholdest comen to me."
To wom shuldich," the wolfe seide,
    "Ben i-knowe of mine misdede?
Her nis nothing alive,
That me kouthe her nou srive.
Thou havest ben ofte min i-fere,
Woltou nou mi srift i-here,
And al mi liif I shal the telle?"
Nay," quod the vox, "I nelle."
"Neltou," quod the wolf, "thin ore,
Ich am afingret swithe sore;
Ich wot to-nit ich worthe ded,
Bote thou do me soume reed.
For Cristes love, be mi prest."
The wolf bey a-doun his brest,
And gon to siken harde and stronge.
"Woltou," quod the vox, "srift ounderfonge,
Tel thine sunnen on and on,
That ther bileve never on."
"SONE," quad the wolf, "wel i-faie
    Ich habbe ben qued al mi lif-daie;
Ich habbe widewene kors,
Therfore ich fare the wors.

xxiii

A thousent shep ich, habbe abitten,
And mo, ef hy weren i-writen.
Ac hit me of-thinketh sore.
Maister, shal I tellen more?"
"e," quad the vox, " al thou most sugge."
Other elles wer thou most abugge."
"Gossip," quod the wolf, "foref hit me,
Ich habbe ofte sehid qued bi the.
Men seide, that thou on thine live
Misferdest mid mine wive;
Ich the aperseivede one stounde,
And in bedde to-gedere ou founde.
Ich wes ofte ou ful ney,
And in bedde to-gedere ou ley;
Ich wende, al so othre, doth,
That ich i-seie were soth,
And therfore thou were me loth;
Gode gossip, ne be thou nohut wroth."
"VUOLF," quad the vox him tho,
    "Al that thou havest her bifore i-do,
In thohut, in speche, and in dede,
In euche otheres kunnes quede,
Ich the foreve at thisse nede."
"Crist the forelde!" the wolf seide.
"Nou ich am in clene live,
Ne reeche ich of childe ne of wive.
Ac sei me wat I shal do,
And ou ich may comen the to."
"Do," quod the vox, " ich wille the lere.
I-siist thou a boket hongi there?

xxiv

Ther is a bruche of hevene blisse,
Lep therinne, mid i-wisse,
And thou shalt comen to me sone."
Quod the wolf, "That is lit to done."
He lep in, and way sumdel:
That weste the vox ful wel.
The wolf gon sinke, the vox arise;
Tho gon the wolf sore agrise.
Tho he com amidde the putte,
The wolf thene vox opward mette.
"Gossip," quod the wolf, "wat nou
Wat havest thou i-munt, weder wolt thou?"
"Weder ich wille?" the vox sede,
"Ich wille oup, so God me rede!
And nou go doun, with thi meel,
Thi biete worth wel smal.
Ac ich am therof glad and blithe,
That thou art nomen in clene live.
Thi soule-cnul ich wile do ringe,
And masse for thine soule singe."
The wrecche binethe nothing ne vind,
Bote cold water, and hounger him bind;
To colde gistninge he was i-bede,
Wroggen haveth his dou i-knede.
THE wolf in the putte stod,
    Afingret so that he ves wod
I-nou he cursede that thider him broute;
The vox ther of luitle route.
The put him wes the house ney,
Ther freren woneden swithe sley.

xxv

So that hit com to the time,
That hoe shulden arisen ime,
For to suggen here houssong.
O frere ther wes among,
Of here slep hem shulde aweche,
Wen hoe shulden thidere reeche.
He seide, "Ariseth on and on,
And kometh to houssong hevereuchon."
This ilke frere heyte Ailmer,
He wes hoere maister curtiler;
He wes hofthurst swithe stronge
Rit amidward here houssonge,
Alhone to the putte he hede;
For he wende bete his nede.
He com to the putte, and drou,
And the wolf was hevi i-nou;
The frere mid al his maine tey
So longe, that he thene wolf i-sey.
For he sei thene wolf ther sitte,
He gradde, "The devel is in the putte!"
TO the putte hy gounnen gon
    Alle, mid pikes, and staves, and ston.
Euch mon mid that he hedde,
Wo wes him that wepne nedde.
Hy comen to the putte, thene wolf op-drowe;
Tho hede the wreche fomen i-nowe,
That weren egre him to slete
Mid grete houndes, and to bete.
Wel and wrothe he wes i-swonge,
Mid staves and speres he wes i-stounge.

xxvi

The wox bicharde him, mid i-wisse,
For he ne fond nones kunnes blisse,
Ne hof duntes foreveness.
 

EXPLICIT.
 
 
 
 

I. De Mauro bubulco.

2                    LATIN STORIES.

inquit, "O rex, Maurum bubulcum tuum esse veri-
dicum dicis, in tantum ut nunquam mentiatur; sed si
velles unam de tuis civitatibus ponere infra actionem,
ego a contra caput meum in eadem finatione ponerem
amputandum, si perderem, quin Maurum quem tuum
laudas in tua presentia et audientia facerem mentiri."
Quando rex audisset, fecit finationem istam cum pro-
posito suo, ut si propositus Maurum coram rege facere
menentiri posset, civitatem illam haberet, et, si non posset,
proprium caput amitteret. Qua finatione facta con-
stituit rex diem nominato proposito, in qua Maurus
coram mandaxet, et proposito ad liberatidum caput
suum praesens adesset. Propositus abiit, domum suam
adiit, et contristatus cogitare coepit quod stultam fina-
tionem fecisset, si perderet. Tristis ergo et moerens
in domo sua recedit, quem cum uxor sua interrogasset
quidnam haberet, narravit cuncta quae contigerant.
Cui uxor, "Laetus," ait, " esto, et hilaris, quoniam ego
te bene liberabo, faciamque tale quid Maurum perpe-
trare, quod pro vita sua coram rege non audebit recog-
noscere."   "O " inquit ille, " si hoc facere posses,
beatum me faceres, quoniam et meum caput liberares,
et me et te divites efficeres, unde igitur et quod dixisti
proficere festina."    Perrexit mulier Mauro futura
fiscus diaboli. Quam cum ad se venire conspiceret,
mirabatur cur tanta mulier ad eum veniret. Venit, et
Maurus inter quandam silvam regalia pecora pascentem,
et taurum aurea cornua habentem custodientem, invenit.
Quo amicabiliter salutato, resedit. Quid plura ? Statim
apprehendens eum, deosculata est eum, et, procaci
 
 

                    LATIN STORIES.                             3

vultu blaudiebatur, irretivit cum multis sermonibus, et
blandiciis labiorum suorum pertraxit illum; qui statim
secutus est eam commiscendurn luxuriam, quasi agnus
lasciviens, et quasi bos ductus ad victimam, ignorans
quod ad vincula stultus transveheretur, donec trans-
figeret sagitta jecur ejus, et nesciens quod de periculo
animaeillius ageretur, velut si avis festinet ad laqueum.
Cumque inebriasset eum uberibus, et ille fruitus fuisset
cupidinis amplexibus, ait ad eum, " Nisi," inquit, " pro
eo quod fruitus es concubitu, mihi dederis aurea cornua
quae gerit taurus domini tui, accusabo te, apud dominum
meum, et insidiabitur tibi, donec tu deleris de terra
viventium." Quod cum Maurus audissit, nimio terrore
correptus, alia multa optulit, plurima promisit, spondens
quod quaecunque vellet illa daret, tanturn aurea cornua
tauri non postularet. Sed cum illa pro amore cornuum
omnia refutaret, timens Maurus magis propositum
quam regem, baculum suam arripuit, et taurus in corn-
ibus percutiens cornua dejecit, et mulieri miserabili
tradidit. Quae domum reversa allata cornua marito suo
demonstravit, et quod Maurus quid de eisdem cornibus
actum sit interrogatus a rege recognoscere non affir-
mavit.   Laetatus est propositus, et quasi de gravi
sompno evigilans, diem illum celebrem atque jocundum
duxit, et diem a rege praefixum fiducialiter deineeps
expectavit. Appropinquante autem die praenominato,
mandavit rex omnes principes, milites, et satellites suos,
ut huic rei iteressent, et quis vel rex ipse vel pro-
positus proderet pariter audirent. Qui cum venissent,
et juxta suam dignitatem in aula regia consedissent,
                                                            B 2

4                    LATIN STORIES.

affuit et propositus hilaris et jocundus, et quasi de libe-
rando capite suo et adipiscenda civitate securus. Cur-
runt ex praecepto regis cursores unus alterum prius ut
advocarent ad praesentiam regis et principum ejus, et
accelerarent Maurum tanquam rationem suae voca-
tionis (?) redditurum. Quibus venientibus et mandatum
regis personantibus, pavore concussus Maurus iter
arripuit, et praesentiam regis adire festinavit. Sed cum
adhuc esset in itinere, cogitare coepit et reminisci quam
stulte quamque imprudenter egisset, et quo tenderet,
et quod eum ante regem et principes ejus de armentis
regis quæ multa diu custodierat, et maxime de tauro
cujus aurea cornua dederat, reddere rationem oporteret,
subsistet et secum loquens ait, " Non," inquit, " ultra
progrediar; donec temptavero et experiar quid et
qualiter interrogatus a rege respondere sine periculo
possim." Et valide baculum suum in terra peroutiens,
et firmiter figens, pileum suum de capite suo sumit et
super baculum ponit.  " Ecce," inquit, " rex."  Et
abiens retro quantum jactus lapidis, iterum revertitur
ad baculum stantem in itinere quem in locum reogis
constituerat, et inclinans se adoravit eum super terram,
dicens, " Salve, rem ! salve, rex!"  Et  respondens
pro baculo sibimet ipsi dixit, " Salveris," ait, " Maure,
serve bone et fidelis et prudens. Quomodo se continent
armenta mea?" " Optime," respondit Maurus.  Et
quomodo se habet," inquit, " taurus meus aureis cor-
nibus ?" " Aliter," ait Maurus, " quam vellem, aut
expediret mihi," " Quomodo ?" " Nudius tertius," ait
Maurus, " divertit a collegio pecorum, et veniens turba
luporum jugulatvit eum, et comedit." Et respondens pro
 
 

                            LATIN STORIES.                       5

baculo suo, ait" Male custodisti taurummoum; verump-
tamen redde mihi cornua ejus, quoniam illa lupi non
comederunt." Recogitans autem Maurus intra se, " si
dixero," inquit, "quod lupi eum comederunt, ipse cornua
requiret. Hoc salva salute mea dicere non possum."
Et abiens retrorsum quantum jactus est lapidis, ad
bacalum rediit, et baculo quasi rege adorato et salutato,
nequaquam amplias mendaciorum diverticula quae sunt,
sed cuncta quae gesserat, qualiter pro commisso adul-
terio aurea cornua tauri uxori nequissimi propositi
dederat, coram baculo quasi coram rege staret, replevit,
et adjecit, " Melius est ut veritatem coram rege dicam,
quam mendacium cogitans, de mendacio reprehensus
turpiter inteream. Veritatem ergo loquar, non mentiar;
veritatem meditabitur guttur meum, nec in faucibus meis
stultitia personabit." Sumpto itaque pileo et, capiti suo
imposito, et arrepto baculo et subsecuto, pervenit ad
regem, et stans coram rege dixit, " Salve, rex! salve,
rex!" Et intuitus eum rex, " Tune es," inquit,"' verax et
veridicus servus meus Maurus, bonus, prudens, et fidelis,
et vere Israelita, in quo dolus non est ?" " Ego," inquit,
" domine mi rex." " Quid agunt," ait rex, "armenta
mea et pecora mea?" Respondit Maurus, "Bene,"
inquit, " domine mi, rex, cuncta prospera sunt.
"Quomodo," ait, "habet ille singularis ferus meus,
taurus meus cum aureis cornibus ?" Respondit, " Longe
aliter, domine mi, quam  tu velles, vel expediret misero
mihi, vel quam audeam confiteri: veritatem tamen
dicens, non mentior, et si sit in operibus meis, nulla
tamen erit in sermonibus reprehensio.  Audi ergo
veritatem, et dimitte iniquitatem." Et praeotento

 6                     LATIN STORIES.

digito in preafatum propositum,  "Domine," itiquit,
"uxor illius propositi nudius tertius venit ad me,
fraudulentiis me fefellit, et incurri in eam, quod cum
fecisseni, minis suis terruit me, quod scilicet apud suum
dominuin accusaret, nisi illi aurea cornua darem.
Timens ergo, domine mi, malitiam nequissimi propositi,
dedi illi aurea cornua tauri tui; et scio quod dignus
sum morte, sed propitius esto, obsecro, miscrere mei
secundum magnam liberalitatem tuam, et secundum
multitudinem miserationum tuarum demitte iniquitatem
meam." Quid plura? non est mentitus Maurus,et ideo
non imputavit ei rex peccatum, quia non est inventus
dolus in ore ejus. Propositus ergo capite punitus est,
et Maurus magnus et gloriosus in domo regis in die et
deinceps tune et in sempiternum.

      II De duobus mendicantibus.

AUDIVI de duobus, quorum unus humilis pauper erat,
alius pauper superbus. Pauper quidem humilis ubi
segetes trituribantur in area, cum cyrotheca frumen-
tum in elemosina petebat, nec inveniebat aliquem qui
plenam modicam cyrothecarn frumenti illi negaret; et
quia a multis recepit, licet ab unoquoque modicum
recepisset, cito faetus est dives.

                  Ex mtiltis minimis grandis acervus erit.

Pauper autem superbus nolebat  parvam elemosinam re-
cipere, sed magnum saccum secumi -ferebat, quem videntes
hii a quiibus petebit nihil volebant ei dare, quasi perterriti
 

                             LATIN STORIES.                    7

saccci magnitudine; et quia paucos inveniit qui darent,
accidit quod maggis lucratus est pauper humilis cum
cyrotheca, quam pauper superbus cum sacco.

    III. De filio regis qui nunquam viderat mulieres.

    IV. De rege et miliite qui viderunt pauperem laetantem et
                                  cantantem.

 VI. De muliere quae nolebat expendere telam ad sepeliendum 
                                  maritum suum.

 VII. De angelo qui duxit heremitam ad diversa hospitia.

                       LATIN STORIES.               11
ciphum dedit quem furatus erat bono hospiti. Quod
videns heremita contristatus est valde, et malam
opinionem ab illo recepit habere.  Inde igitur proce-
dentes hospitati sunt in domo cujusdam boni hominis,
qui cum magno gaudio eos recepit, et necessaria suffi-
cienter eis ministravit; in mane etiam quendam juve-
nem famulum suum concessit eis, qui eos deduceret et
ostenderet viam. Quem angelus de ponte praecipitavit
et suffocatus est in aquis. Quod videns heremita, valde
scandalizatus est et contristatus. Quarta autem nocte
quidam vir bonus optime recepit eos, et copiosa cibaria
cum vultu hilari eis exhibens, et lectos idoneos praepa-
rari fecit; sed parvulus quem solum hospes habebat
nocte flere coepit, nec sinebat eos dormire.  Angelus
autem nocte surgens, puerum transgulavit. Quod
videns heremita, credidit quod esset angelus Sathanae,
et voluit discedere ab ipso. Tunc demum angelus
dixit illi, "Dominus ad hoc misit me ad te, ut osten-
derem tibi occulta ejus judicia; et scires quia nihil fit
in terra sine causa.  Bonus ille homo cui ciphum
abstuli, nimis illum diligebat et curiose servabat, fre-
quenter cogitans de cipho cum cogitare deberet de
Deo; et ideo pro bono suo illi subtraxi, et illum