tent God be my helper in this work." 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 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. And though the exemplum
had for several centuries been employed by the church fathers for
illustrating and pointing their sermons, there was probably no collection
of exampla, whether culled from sermons of the fathers or
derived from other sources, in existence at the time the Disciplina
was composed[1]. In Peter Alphonse's work, indeed, the exemplum
has taken on much more the character of an independent tale, unconnected
with any moralizing plan or distinctly religious purpose,
than had hitherto been the case.
Nevertheless, there is a decided thread of moral purpose running
through the Disciplina Clericalis, which shows itself clearly, if
not in the individual tales themselves, at least in the dialogues of
varying length which, in the original Latin, always serve as connecting
links between the successive exempla. But the moral, didactic
features of the collection seem to be, either with or without the consciousness
of the author, already of less consequence—certainly of less
interest—to the reader than the tales themselves in their purely
literary and artistic aspects. As compared with the early sermons,
therefore, illustrated by isolated exempla, in which the moral and
- ↑ On the origin and development of the 'exemplum' see J. A. Mosher, The Exemplum in the Early Religious and Didactic Literature of England. Columbia Univ. Studies in English. New York, 1911, chap. I. In the thorough study of the Disciplina Clericalis which the present writer hopes to make in the near future in connection with the EETS edition, the questions concerning the origins and analogues of the collection as a whole, as well as of each individual exemplum, will receive detailed consideration. 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. London 1852. Moreover, Victor Chauvin's Bibliographie des Ouvrages Arabes ou Relatifs aux Arabes publies dans l' Europe chretienne de 1810 a 1885, vol. (or Part) ix. Liege et Leipzig 1905, is a wonderful storehouse of information of every sort pertaining to the originals, analogues, and the history of the Disciplina. Much valuable information and numerous references to the literature on the subject will also be found in The Seven Sages of Rome. Edited by Killis Campbell, Boston, Ginn & Co., 1907. 'Introduction;' also in Middle English Humorous Tales in Verse. Edited by George H. McKnight, Boston, D. C. Heath &Co. 1913. 'Introduction' and Bibliography' (pp. 81-91).
