mentions this Romulus, and gives him the same title. After having remarked, with how much advantage learned men might occupy themselves in extracting from the works of the ancient philosophers, proverbs, fables, and the morals they contained, for the purpose of instructing men, and training them to virtuous actions, she adds that the emperor had very successfully pursued this plan in order to teach his son how to conduct himself with propriety through life[1]. Vincent de Beauvais, a contemporary of Mary, speaks likewise of this Romulus and his fables[2]; and lastly, Fabricius informs us that this author has very much imitated Phædrus, and often preserved even his expressions[3].
But, after all, who is this Romulus that is thus invested with the title of emperor? Is it the last Roman emperor of this name who is likewise called Augustulus; or is it Romulus the grammarian, of whom some writers have made mention? Let us dispense with this discussion as at once idle and useless, inasmuch as all inquiry into the subject can only terminate in vague conjecture. If amidst this impenetrable obscurity, I were compelled to form an opinion, I mould contend that these fables were the work of some monk of the 11th or 12th century, and should endeavour to prove it by the rites of the Roman catholic worship which he several times alludes to, and by entire passages of the Vulgate which he very frequently inserts. According, however, to the odd taste of his time, he was desirous of giving greater vogue to his work by ascribing it to a real character, but who, nevertheless, had never thought about it. As to what remains, it is enough to know that in the time of Mary there actually did exist a collection of fables called Æsopian, and published under the name of Romulus; that this author, whether real or
