William Henry Hulme

“ One might even say without exaggeration, that the Disciplina Clericalis of Peter Alphonse not only made known for the first time a considerable number of those tales which were soon to become the most popular of western literatures, but that it inaugurated in all probability that later universally popular kind of prose fiction called the Novella. ”

“ Recent studies of the Disciplina, in its original Latin form, have demonstrated one fact very clearly which earlier efforts had already made probable: that this work was one of the most popular and widely distributed treatises in the literatures of the Middle Ages [8] Hilka and Söderhjelm have described and classified sixty-three different manuscripts of the Latin versions of Peter Alphonse's collection, dating from the 12th century to the 16th, which they found in various libraries of England and the continent. ”

“ Additions to the Ms. text are indicated by brackets.
In general, what was said about the word forms and language of 'The Mending of Life' (see Western Reserve Studies, vol. I, No. 4, p. 27f) applies equally well to those features of the Disciplina Clericalis. New word-forms occur from time to time which the exigencies of translation required and for the same reason the sentence structure would probably often be found different from that of 'The Mending of Life'. But these peculiarities will receive full treatment in the EETS edition. ”

“ The edition which is now presented will in the nature of things reach only a limited number of students and readers. But it will be of great practical value, I hope, to all who are interested in the study of mediaeval folk-tales generally, as well as of Peter Alphonse's collection in particular, since it offers a convenient and, it is intended, reliable text of the Middle English version as a much needed basis for all further editorial work. ”

“ Suggestions regarding the similarity between the Disciplina Clericalis and earlier Hebrew treatises will be found in 'The Path of Good Men; a collection of parental instructions to children by authors distinguished in Israel for wisdom and learning, viz. : Rabbi Judah ben Saul Aben Tibbon, for his son, Rabbi Samuel Aben Tibben. The illustrious Rabbi Moses Maimonides, for his son, Rabbi Abraham; being their Last Will for the Instruction of Mankind, etc. Edited from Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, accompanied by en English Translation.' By Hirsch Edelmau. ”

“ That is to say, the Disciplina Clericalis was written (or compiled) not long after the beginning of the 12th century. It is accordingly the earliest complete collection of oriental tales made known to the western world, and one which enjoyed great popularity and very wide distribution in the literatures of western nations during the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteen, and fifteen centuries. ”

“ One might, to be sure, discover that many of these peculiarities have their basis in the Cambr. Univ. Libr. Ms. (li, vi, ii, ff. 95-116) of the Latin version, which, as we have already seen, is the source of the final three tales of our collection. Hilka and Söderhjelm, however, have not recorded many notable textual differences between this and the other complete manuscript versions—except the three spurious tales—either in their introductory discussions [22] or their foot notes. ”

“ Caxton designates this tale as follows: 'The xii fable is of a blynd man and of his wyf.' In Steinhöwel's compilation [17] the Latin title is, 'De ceco et eius uxore ac rivali;' the German, 'Von dem blinden und synem wyb.' Machault has, according to the Black Letter edition (without date) which belongs in the British Museum, 'La xii fable dun aueugle et de sa femme.' Now since Hilka and Söderhjelm do not mention this tale as being in any one of the 63 Mss. ”

“ This book of Caxton is almost a literal translation of Jules de Machault's Livre des subtilles Hystoires et Fables de Esope, translatees de Latin en François, etc., in the year 1483 [14] . Machault in turn made a comparatively free translation of Steinhöwels Aesop, and apparently from the Latin compilation arranged by Steinhowel himself [15] , rather than from his German version. Caxton follows Machault in omitting the last two of Steinhöwel's fifteen [16] tales of 'Adelfonso' from his translation. They all three also include one tale—No. ”

“ And (Jacobs repeats 'and') as the blynd man herd thus hard shake the pere tree and the noyse whiche they made, he sayd to them : "Ha! a euylle woman, how be it that I see hit not, neuertheles I fele and vnderstande hit well. ”