Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/64

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xxxviii
INTRODUCTION.

For it will be noticed, that Eastern conceptions invariably predominate, even where the subject is confessedly classic; as in the stories of Alexander, Cæsar, and others. Besides the incursions of these leaders into that quarter of the world, might, as it has happened in similar cases, leave certain traditionary monuments of their own belief[1]. This, however, I by no means intend to urge.

When instances of those who fled, or were exiled to the East, or voluntarily settled there, are so numerous, it would be idle to weary the reader's attention, by entering into any lengthened detail. The names of Clemens of Alexandria, of Ignatius, Tertullian and Origen, are conspicuous in the second and third centuries, with many others, who were in

  1. There is in the British Museum, I understand, a Turkish MS. Poem, of which Alexander the Great is the hero. It is said to have been written in the 14th century, if not earlier.