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VOL. X,
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Barlaam anb Josapbat
BuGllsb %ivcs of BuODba
LONDON. MDCCCXCVI. PUBLISHED BY DAVID
NUTT, IN THE STRAND
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691739
Printed by BALUANTYNE. HANSON & Ca
Ai (he Ballantyne Press
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JOSEPH JACOBS
Barlaam and Josaphat
O friend, who siitest young yet wise
Beneath the Bo-tree s shade.
Confronting life with kindly eyes,
A scholar unafraid
To follow thought to any sea
Or back to any fount,
' Tis modern parables to me
From thy instruction mount.
Was Barlaam. truly Josaphat,
And Buddha truly each ?
What better parable than that
The unity to preach —
The simple brotherhood of souls
That seek the highest good ;
He who in kingly chariot rolls.
Or wears the hermit's hood!
The Church mistook f These heathen once
Among her Saints to range I
That deed of some diviner dunce
Our wisdom would not change.
For Culture's Pantheon they grace
In catholic array.
Each Saint hath had his hour and place.
But now 'tis All Saints' Day.
ZANGWILL
October 27, 1895
.»•«
I
PREFACE
I TRUST I shall not be accused of overstepping
the bounds of modesty if I confess from the
start that I have chiefly reprinted the accom-
panying versions of the legend of Barlaam
and Josaphat in order that I might write the
Introduction to them. The English versions
of the Barlaam legend are but poor things,
contracted and truncated to such an extent
that scarcely anything remains of their resem-
blance to the original. Of the five or six ver-
sions extant in English, I have selected that
one which first appeared in print, viz., Caxton's
treatment in his Golden Legend, and the last
that appeared in print independently, a Chap-
book in verse, kindly placed at my disposal by
Mr. G. H. Skipwith.
I have not, however, confined myself to the
English versions in the Introduction, which deals
viii PREFACE
generally with the history of the legend, which
forms one of the most remarkable episodes in
the history of literature. The fact that by its
means Buddha had been, if only informally,
canonised a Saint of the Church, would be
enough to attract attention to it. But many of
the parables enframed in the legend have had a
history even more remarkable than the legend
itself. As is well known, the Caskets story of
the Merchant of Venice is ultimately derived
from Barlaam and Josaphat.
I have for some time been making rather
extensive collections for the Introduction to
this work, in order to make it a companion
study to my treatment of the Fables of Bidpai
and jEsop in the same series. But all that I
have collected, and much more also, has been
put together by Dr. Ernst Kuhn in a contri-
bution to the Ahhandlungen of the Bavarian
Academy of Science (Munich, 1893). This is
one of those erudite bibliographical monographs
in which German scholarship excels ; and in all
those portions of my Introduction, which deal
with the bibliographical aspects of the question,
and notably in the pedigree and appendices, I
make grateful use of Dr. Kuhn's researches.
I have, however, ventured to differ at times
from the conclusions which Dr. Kuhn draws
from the elaborate series of scholarly facts
which he has brought together in his mono-
graph. In the second of my Appendices I
have been able to add here and there some
further references beyond those collected by
Dr. Kuhn, while I may flatter myself that I
have arranged all that he has collected in
a form more easy of access to the folk-lore
student. I have endeavoured to separate the
scaffolding of scholarship from the goodly fabric
which the results of recent research has erected
with some toil. But in order to do this I have
been obliged to relegate to the Appendices
several good stories and apologues which I can
recommend to the reader. It has been my
aim to bring within moderate compass a concise
statement of the results already reached about
this remarkable legend, with full bibliographical
references to the critical discussions, where the
student can find exact details on the many
points of interest or obscurity with which the
whole subject bristles.
JOSEPH JACOBS.
1
PREFACE ix /J
^
X PREFACE
P.5.— Through the kindness of Mr. J. S.
Cotton, I have been enabled to see a work on
Barlaam published at Calcutta in 1895 as a
text-book in English. It contains, curiously
enough, the Caxton Barlaam which I have also
given. It has besides a reprint of the three
Middle English legends edited by Dr. Horst-
mann, as well as an eighteenth century tract.
The editor, Dr. K. S. Macdonald, is unac-
quainted with Kuhn's researches, and devotes
his Introduction mainly to disproving the
possibility of Christianity having been influ-
enced by Buddhism.
INTRODUCTION
Buddha and Christ, it may be said, represent
the two highest planes which the religious
consciousness of mankind has hitherto reached.
Each in his way represents the Ideal of a whole
Continent. The aim of Asia has always been
To Be, the aim of Europe, To Do. The con-
templative Sage is the highest ideal of Asia.
Europe pins its faith to the beneficent Saint.
Both Ideals, to a modern and decadent world,
have lost some of their attractiveness. For
Sage we are inclined to read Prig and Bore,
and it is considered an appropriate fate for
the good young man that he should die early.
There is a sense of pose in the attitude of any one
who nowadays would set up as Saint or Sage,
which irritates us moderns, who do nothing if
we do not pose. Besides, the trail of profes-
xii INTRODUCTION
sionalism is over us all, and the Professional
Saint (Cleric or Philanthropist), or Professional
Sage (Thinker or Professor), is an abomination.
Yet while Virtue and Wisdom remain goals of
human striving, the Ideals of Christ and the
Buddha must retain their attraction.
Diverse as are the aims of the Christian and
of the Buddhistic schemes, their methods are
remarkably similar. They have a common
enemy in what is known in Christian parlance
as the World. The pleasures of the senses and
the pride of power are the chief forces which
deflect men from the paths of Wisdom and
of Virtue. Till the New Man comes, who shall
synthesise all four Ideals, the Christian- Budd-
hist plan of Renunciation must remain the
necessary prerequisite of salvation.
The similarity of the two schemes extends
far beyond their general plan. The legend
of the founders presents a remarkable set of
parallels — the Annunciation, the Massacre of
the Innocents, the Temptation in the Wilder-
ness, the Marriage at Cana, the Walking
on the Water, the Transfiguration, find*
* The most recent enumeration of these parallels is by
Dr. Cams in the Monist, October, 1894. Many of them
INTRODUCTION xiii
parallels more or less close in the Legend of
the Buddha.
Both taught by parables, and in several in-
stances the subject of their parables is the
same {Soicer : Prodigal Son: Seed and Soil).
Much of their teaching is similar. The stress
laid on the spirit as against the letter, the
opposition between riches and spirituality, the
inwardness of purity, are equally insisted upon
in both systems. The formation of a Brother-
hood or Church has been in each case the
cause of giving permanent effect to the ideals
of the founders, and as is well known even
the external* cultus have many points of
contact.
It is natural that such marked similarities
should give rise to thoughts of the dependence
of the later Christian on the earlier Buddhistic
system. There was fully time since Alexander's
visit to India for some knowledge of Buddhism
to percolate Syria. Just as Jesus was entering
are discussed in an apologetic sense by Dr. T. S. Berry in
the "Donnellan Lectures," Christianity and Buddhism
(S. P. C. K.).
* The Jesuit missionaries in Tibet were astonished to
find many minute similarities between the religious cere-
monies of the Lama and of the Pope.
xiv INTRODUCTION
upon his public career, a Buddhistic Sage from
India created a great sensation throughout the
Hellenistic world by causing himself to be
burnt alive at Athens (Strabo, XY. i. 73).*
And the fame of this self-immolation must
have reached Judea, for Josephus refers to it
in a speech which he, following the example
of Livy, put in the mouth of Eleazar (TFars,
VII. viii. 7). But it must be confessed that
no other evidence can be adduced of the actual
spread of Buddhistic doctrines in Western
Asia, and the whole case for the dependence
of Christianity on Buddhism would have to be
solvedjiiLjjolIslore principles. In other words,
till jFolklorejnas become so much of a Science
as to be able to discriminate between foreign
and independent origin, this question must
remain an open one.
But there is one piece of evidence, though
of much later date, which has at least a reflex
bearing on the question. If we can show that
in the fifth or sixth century Buddhistic legends
and doctrines percolated as far at least as
Syria, and there became inextricably combined
with Christian dogmas and legends, it becomes
♦ See my Bidpai, p. xlviii.
INTRODUCTION xv
more probable that a similar mixture of Bud-
dhism and Judaism had taken place in Babylon
or Syria in the first century. Such evidence is
afforded, as is now well known, by the Legend
of SS. Barlaam and Josaphat, which, beside
being one of the curiosities of literature, is
thus seen to be of considerable theological
importance.
J
The Greek Barlaam
In the great Menology of the Greek Church,
under date August 26, stands the entry [ixvi^firj]
Tov ocriov 'Iwacra^, vlov ^AjSevrjp rov f^acriXcws.
In the Martyrologium Romanum, under date
November 27, stands the entry, *' Apud Indos
Persis finitimos {commemoratio) sanctorum Bar-
laam et Josaphat, quorum ados mirandos sanctus
Joannes Damascenus conscripsit"
When these entries came into the respective
martyrologies is somewhat difficult to say. In
the Greek Church it was not till after the tenth
century, for the Menology of the Emperor
Basilius contains no reference to Joasaph. In
the Romish martyrologies the first mention of
Josaphat among the Saints was in the Cato-
logus Sanctorum of Peter de Natalibus (ob.
1370). It may be conjectured in the latter
case that Barlaam and Josaphat owed their
THE GREEK BARLAAM
inclusion in the saintly calendar, as in the
" Golden Legend " of Jacobus de Voragine, to
the popularity of the parables which, as we
shall see, were connected with their name.
But in any case, the ultimate source of each
entry is to be found in the life of the two
Saints, attributed to St. John of Damascus.
In fact, the Eoman martyrology in the form
given to it by the great Baronius, and just
quoted, expressly states that fact.
It must not be supposed that the inclusion
of these names in the lists of the Saints is of
equal validity with the formal process known
as "Canonisation." It is usually stated in
summing up the inquiries on which we are
about to enter that " Buddha has been canon-
ised as a Saint of the Catholic Church," and
much searching of heart has been caused to
earnest Catholics by this statement. But M.
Cosquin has conclusively shown in a special
article devoted to the subject {Revue des Ques-
tions Historiques, October, 1880) that there is
all the difference in the world between the two
processes. Inclusion in the calendar only
implies a verdict similar to that of a magis-
trate's court or a Grand Jury ; a prima facie
m^m
xviii INTRODUCTION
case for sainthood has been made out. Before
canonisation can be obtained, the searching
cross-examination of the Avvocato del Diavolo
must be triumphantly sustained. Modern
scholarship has acted the part of the Devil's
Advocate with the result that the next edition
of the Eoman Martyrology will not, in all pro-
bability, contain the names of Barlaam and
But that these mysterious personages have
been regarded by clergy and laity as veritable
Saints of the Church, there can be no doubt.
Sir Henry Yule visited a church at Palermo
dedicated * ' Divo Josaphat. " * In 1 5 7 1 the Doge
Luigi Mocenigo presented to King Sebastian
of Portugal a bone and part of the spine of
St. Josaphat. When Spain seized Portugal
in 1580 these sacred treasures were removed
by Antonio, the Pretender to the Portuguese
crown, and ultimately found their way to
Antwerp. On August 7, 1672, a grand pro-
cession defiled through the streets of Antwerp,
carrying to the cloister of St. Salvator the
holy remains of St. Josaphat. There, for ought
* It is, however, just possible that this refers to a Polish
saint of that name of the seventeenth century.
THE GREEK BARLAAM xix
I know to the contrary, they remain to the
present day.
But while Catholic Christendom had no
doubt as to the reality of these Saints, Catholic
scholarship was by no means positive as to
the authorship of the Legend of the Saints.
The Greek MSS. attributed it to " John, Monk
of the Convent of St. Saba," or St. Sinai. It
is only in the latest MSS. that this Monk
John is directly identified with John of
Damascus, a somewhat distinguished theo-
logian of the eighth century. He was the
only ecclesiastical writer of the name of John
to whom the book could be attributed, and
scholarship, like Nature herself, abhors a
vacuum. And so the book of Barlaam and
Joasaph has been included among the works of
John of Damascus ever since his editors have
collected them together. Yet they have not
been without their doubts, and they always
felt themselves obliged to defend the inclu-
sion of the book. One of his editors indeed,
Lequien, went so far as to exclude it altogether
from the authentic works. The whole ques-
tion has been carefully threshed out by M.
Zotenberg in his Notice sur le Livre de Barlaam
XX INTRODUCTION
(Paris, 1886). He may fairly be said to have
disposed of the claims of John of Damascus.
He points out that the style of the book is
superior in purity, correctness, and richness
to that of the recognised works of John of
Damascus. The defenders of the authorship
had pointed to similarities of doctrine in ecclesi-
astical matters in the Barlaam and in the
recognised writings of John of Damascus. M.
Zotenberg in his case traces the similarity to
a common source. Apart, however, from these
negative arguments, M. Zotenberg has, by a
careful scrutiny of the theology of Barlaam,
arrived at an ingenious crucial difference
between the views expressed in the book and
those known to be held by John of Damascus.
Each decade of the earlier centuries of Chris-
tianity can be distinguished by its fashionable
heresy. The years 620-38 were dominated in
Christian theology by the discussion of the
exact relations of the human and divine Will
in Christ. I do not profess to understand the
minutiae of the discussion, and my readers
will probably be grateful to me if I profess
the heresy of Lord Dundreary with regard
to it. But it seems that the Christian world
THE GREEK BARLAAM xxi
of the East was divided between Dyotheletism,
which recognised two Wills in Christ, and
Monotheletism, which fuses the two into one.
The decisive moment in the controversy came
in 633, when Cyrus of Alexandria promulgated
his Nine Articles, by which Monotheletism
became incumbent on the orthodox. Now the
book of Barlaam is distinctly Dyotheletic in
tendency, and by this subtle means we are
therefore led by M. Zotenberg to the conclu-
sion that its date must be anterior at least to
the year 633. On the other hand, a terminus
a quo is given for the book by the fact that
the Convent of St. Saba was refounded by
that Saint in the year 491.
M. Zotenberg went a step further in deter-
mining the age of the book by a careful exa-
mination of the historical background involved
in it. The Religions of the world are stated
to be three : Idolatry, Judaism, Christianity.
Hence M. Zotenberg infers that the book was
written previous to the marvellous spread of
Islam in the seventh century. And in the par-
ticular form of Idolatry professed by Abenner,
King of the Indians and father of Joasaph,
clear reference is to be found in the tenets of
xxii INTRODUCTION
Mazdeism under the later Sassanides of Persia.
The idolaters are spoken of in the book as
Chaldeans, and their faith as worship of the
elements. There is a Chief of the Magi referred
to, whose relations with the King of the
" Indians " exactly corresponds to the position
of the supreme Mobed in the Sassanide King-
dom. Grappling more closely with his subject,
M. Zotenberg then points out common traits
of Abenner and Chosroes the Great of Persia
(531-79). Both kings are distinguished by
their devotion to duty and to the national
faith, and at the same time by their interest
in, and inquiries about, competing creeds. It
is besides a remarkable fact that Anushzad,
son of Chosroes, was imprisoned for a rebellion,
for which the motive was mainly religious.
Finally, the great disputation between the
Magi and the Christians in the Barlaam finds
a remarkable parallel in a similar public dis-
putation held circa 525 before Kobad, King of
Persia, and his son Chosroes. To these argu-
ments of M. Zotenberg, connecting Barlaam
with the reign of Chosroes, I would add the
fact that it is with his reign that a well-
founded tradition associates the first stage
THE GREEK B AREA AM xxiii
westward of the Fables of Bidpai, which have
so many points of similarity with the Parables
of Barlaam.
M. Zotenberg's arguments with regard to
the Greek text and its date have been recently
reinforced by two remarkable discoveries that
have been made with regard to its sources.
One of the striking episodes of the book is
where Nachor is made to take the place of the
holy hermit Barlaam, with the intention that
he should make a feeble defence of Christianity
in a public disputation between the two faiths
which is about to be held before the wavering
Josaphat. Nachor is accordingly about to play
the part of a " bonnet " or confederate when he
is forced by Josaphat to play fair, and accord-
ingly delivers a glowing defence of the Christian
Religion which routs his opponents. Changing
the venue, the incident might have been taken
from one of Capt. Hawley Smart's novels.
It would seem that Nachor either distrusted
his own abilities, or had not time to get up his
case, for a recent discovery has shown that he
unblushingly borrowed the whole of his defence
from an earlier Apologia. Among the treasures
of early patristic literature which have been
xxiv INTRODUCTION
discovered of recent years at the Monastery of
Mount Sinai is a Syriac version of the Ajpology
of Aristides. This was a second century treatise
in defence of the faith, supposed to be addressed
to the Emperor Hadrian. Eusebius appears to
be the last person who had seen it, and it was
supposed to have been irrevocably lost when
Professor Rendell Harris printed and translated
the Syriac version of it, which he had discovered
on Mount Sinai. His friend, Prof. J. Armitage
E-obinson,"* recollected that he had seen some-
thing very like it in Barlaam and Josapliat, and
on comparing the two it was clear that the Greek
Barlaam preserved a very large proportion of
the original text.
This remarkable discovery naturally set theo-
logians on the search for other traces of early
Christian literature in the Barlaam, and sure
enough, in another portion of the book, a sort
of early Divine Comedy, Prof. Armitage Robin-
son discovered a direct " crib " from the Vision
* Prof. Robinson's discovery was made known in the first
fascicule of the Cambridge Texts and Studies. A useful
reconstruction of the text from the Greek and from the
Syriac and Armenian versions has been recently produced
by E. Hennecke as part of Gebhardt and Harnack's Texte
und Uniersuchungen (iv. 3, 1893).
THE GREEK BARLAAM xxv
of Satunis in the Passio S. Perpetuce* while
other portions seem to show acquaintance with
the still more recently discovered Apocalypse of
Peter. Finally, it has been also observed that
parts of the Greek Barlaam are derived from
the Scheda Regia of Agapetus, finished in July
527. As there are no traces of the continued
existence of the earlier works later than the
sixth century, and as Agapetus' work had not
much vogue for more than the few years after
its appearance, it is clear that we can fix the
date of the Greek Barlaam within a few years +
600 A.D.f
* This forms the second fascicule of the Texts and
Stvdies.
t Mr. F. C. Conybeare informs me that he is inclined to
date the Greek text later, owing to references occurring in
it to the Iconoclastic controversy.
^ j^JWL i|p.!P
II
The Oriental Versions
In arriving at some result as to the date of
the Greek text we have certainly got to a
station on the line of tradition which, as we
shall see later, branches off in all directions
right throughout Europe. But it remains to
be seen whether this station is a terminus,
a starting-point from which the train of tradi-
tion leaves with more or less of punctuality, or
merely a junction towards which many of the
branch lines converge. Even if we decided that
the Greek text was a terminus a quo with regard
to written tradition, we might have still to in-
vestigate whether its contents had not been
brought to the Greek-speaking world by the
mouths of men, and there transferred from the
pack saddles of oral tradition to the broad gauge
of literature.
The first of these questions to be settled is
THE ORIENTAL VERSIONS xxvii
clearly whether the Barlaam exists in an earlier
literary form than the Greek text. At first
sight Prof. Robinson's discoveries would seem
to settle that question in a most decisive way.
If the Greek text contains, as integral portions,
slices of earlier Greek, it is almost impossible
that these could have been introduced in the
text except in a Greek form. And indeed, if
the quotations from the Apology of Aristides
and other early Christian texts were essential
portions of the romance, the originality of its
Greek form would be established beyond ques-
tion. But these are clearly excrescences which
could be removed or replaced without much
derangement of the main plan, and we must
look about to see if any versions exist which
do not contain them.
Several such versions have been discovered
in quite recent years. An Arabic one, running
to no less than 286 pages, was printed in
Bombay under the title Kitdb Balauhar wa-
BUddsajph in 1889, while Dr. Hommel printed
another Arabic version at the Vienna Oriental
Congress.* Again, Dr. Steinschneider many
* Hommel's version was translated by Mr. E. Rehatsek
in the Journal of the Roy. Asiat. Soc, xxii, 119-55. A
xxviii INTRODUCTION
years ago discovered that one of the best
known didactic poems in Mediaeval Jewish
literature, The Prince and the Dervish, by
Abraham ibn Chisdai, was undoubtedly a ver-
sion of the Barlaam legend. Lastly, a Mr. Marr
has discovered and (partly) published a Georgian
version of the legend under the title Mudrosf
Balavara, or, " The Wisdom of Balavar."
Almost any of these versions might be, or
represent, the original form of the legend,
and the present stage of Barlaam criticism is
concerned with their relative antiquity and
independence. Among these high summits
of Oriental scholarship it is customary to tie
oneself to the latest German * in order to
avoid falling into the many crevasses in the
path. In accordance with this custom I attach
myself to Dr. Kuhn.
The most startling suggestion that has been
made with regard to these recent discoveries
of Oriental versions has been, that the Greek
text was a translation from the Georgian.
Baron von Rosen, in a review of M. Zoten-
third Arabic text has been interpolated into a theological
work by Muhamad ibn Babawaik (ob. 991 A.D.). See
Horn m el ap. Weisslovits.
* But what if the latest German himself tumbles ?
THE ORIENTAL VERSIONS xxix
berg's book, brought forward a couple of pieces
of evidence which at first sight seemed con-
clusive, coming as they do from such different
sources, where there could be no question of
collusion. Two of the MSS. of the Greek
text (Nanianus 137, Paris, 1771) attributed
the translation into Greek to a St. Euthymius.
Kow in a Grusinian life of St. Euthymius
it is stated of him that he had translated
Balavari and Ahukura, and some other books
from Georgian into Greek. Taking these two
statements into connection with the fact that
an ancient Georgian version of the Barlaam
legend has been published by Marr, in which
Barlaam goes by the name of Balavar, the
conclusion seems almost forced upon us that
this is the legend from which the Greek had
been translated by Euthymius.
But further research and reflection prove
that this conclusion is precipitate, even though
Baron von Bosen and Professor Hommel have
adopted it. The two Greek codices come from
Mount Athos, where the tradition about St.
Euthymius may be merely a bit of chauvinistic
bluster, and is, at any rate, 400 years later
than the composition of the Greek text.
XXX INTRODUCTION
Finally, the Georgian text dijffers widely from
the Greek, and cannot therefore have been
its original : while the unique MS. that con-
tains it attributes it to " Sophron of Palestine,
the son of Isaac." Things are not always
what they seem when scholarly hypotheses
are about.
Dismissing thus the Grusinian version out of
the purview, there remain the various Arabic
versions, and the Hebrew one, to assist us in
our search after the Urquelle. And first with
regard to the Arabic versions : considerable
light is thrown by various references made
in the Kitdb al-Fihrist, a sort of Arabic
Lowndes or Brunet. This contains references
in various places to no less than four books that
may possibly have influenced the Barlaam litera-
ture, (a) A Buddha book, Kitdb al-Budd.
(h) A Kitdb Yuddsdf wa-Balauhar. (c) A book
of ''Yudasaf alone" and {d) a poem of Aban
ibn Abdal-Hamid (ob. 822), with the same title
as (6). Excluding the last, which is no longer
in existence, and can only have been of
secondary importance, it seems clear that
there existed a double set of books in
Arabic, one dealing directly with Buddha
THE ORIENTAL VERSIONS xxxi
and his legend, the other placing Balauhar
by his side.
Leaving for a moment the book of Buddha,
of which I fancy I have found traces, one has
to settle the question of the relationship of
the Georgian, Greek, and Arabic versions.
From Appendix I., in which their variations
are noted, it will be observed that the Georgian
agrees with the Arabic version with regard to
the original order of the parables : while, on
the other hand, it agrees in omitting certain
portions with the Greek, and in the conclusion
of the story. Kuhn, accordingly, represents
the relationship by the following genealogical
tree : —
I
Arabic.
X.
I
Georgian.
Greek.
I have small Arabic and less Georgian, and
I must therefore tread warily on this aspect of
the question. But there seems to be one con-
clusive piece of evidence against the pedigree
suggested by Dr. Kuhn. There can be no
■'BR^'iiii
xxxii INTRODUCTION
doubt what the unknown quantity Y is, as re-
gards the Greek version. Syriac was the main
conduit pipe through which the treasures of
Greek literature debouched on to the Orient,
and inversely, it was mainly through Syriac
versions that Oriental treasures were added
to Greco-Byzantine literature : and we have
special reason for saying, as we shall soon see,
that Syriac was the immediate source of the
Greek version. But that the Georgian also
derived from that language, as Dr. Kuhn
suggests, the only external confirmation of the
suggestion he can give, is its alleged author-
ship by Sophron of Palestine. Against it,
and as I think, obviously against it, is the
title of the Georgian version, which connects
it with an Arabic, and disconnects it from a
Syrian source.
Proper names are the feu follet of the etymo-
logist, but the Pole Star of the literary histo-
rian; the one has to guess at their inner
meaning, the other can follow the changes in
their outer form. There can be no doubt how
and why the name Barlaam got into the Greek
version, instead of the form Balauhar, found in
the recently discovered Oriental ones. Barlaam
THE ORIENTAL VERSIONS
xxxm
was an Antioch worthy of the early fourth
century, who is referred to by SS. Basil and
Chrysostom in their homilies; a church was
erected to his honour in Edessa, 411 a.d.*
Outside Syria he was unknown, and his name
must have been introduced in the Syriac ver-
sion from its accidental similarity with the
Balauhar of the Arabic version. Now, if the
Georgian had been derived from the Syriac, it
would surely have retained the form, Barlaam,
instead of keeping, as it has, to the Arabic
form, Balauhar. Considering, too, that the
order of the parables are the same in the
Georgian and Arabic versions, I think there
can be little doubt that it was derived from the
Arabic, and the variations at the end may have
been due to later modifications of the Bombay
Arabic text, intended to modify its Christian-
ising tendencies.
There is still another form in which the Buddha
legend got into Syriac. Professor Hommel has
already suggested that the earlier part of the
legend of St. Alexis, in which that saint flees
from wife and child in order to embrace the
* Hommel gives these details in Weisslovits,
141.
xxxiv INTRODUCTION
hermit's life, is simply a Christian adaptation
of the Great Renunciation of Siddartha the
Buddha. The late M. Amiaud, who studied
the Greek forms of the legend, La Legende
Syriaque de S. Alexis, Paris, 1889, came to
the conclusion that it was written c. 450-75,
originally without any name being attached to
it, and without the second part, dealing with
an impossible journey to " Rome," probably
Constantinople. Curiously enough, in this
early version the anonymous " holy man " is
represented to have died at Edessa, 412, the
very date within a year when the Church was
dedicated to St. Barlaam, As this early life is
solely devoted to the Great Renunciation, and
was originally anonymous, I venture to suggest
that it was derived directly or indirectly from
the original of the Buddha book (Kitdb al-
Budd), mentioned in the Fihrist. Whether
the relation of the Alexis legend to the Church
of St. Barlaam was accidental or not, it is
indeed curious that the name of this other-
wise unknown saint has become connected
with both the Syriac forms of the Buddha
legend.
Reverting to these given above, we have still
THE ORIENTAL VERSIONS xxxv
to determine the unknown quantity X in Kuhn's
pedigree. Here we are helped by the other
name in our title. Yudasaph is frequently re-
ferred to elsewhere in Arabic literature as the
founder of an Indian ascetic religion. The
same name is found written Budasaph, with
merely the change of a diacritical point.
Reinaud was the first to suggest that the latter
variant was simply a form of Bodhisattva, the
technical term in Buddhistic literature for ths
man who is destined to become a Buddha.
But where and how did Bodhisattva become
Bodasaph ? Obviously in Persia, where the
ending a&'p is a favourite one for proper
names.
Another name confirms this result in a most
instructive way. When the young prince, in
the story, goes out for the first time into the
world and sees some of its misery, he is accom-
panied by his teacher, whose name is Zardan
in the Greek, Zandani in the Georgian version.
There is little doubt that these forms are ulti-
mately to be derived from Chandaka, the
Buddha's charioteer. The variation of the
Greek and Georgian forms can only be ex-
xxxvi INTRODUCTION
plained by their derivation from a script in
which n and r are indistinguishable. This
occurs in the Pehlevi alphabet, and not in the
Syriac : so I am again confirmed in my dissent
from Dr. Kuhn's* view, that the Georgian
was derived from the Syriac version. The
.Georgian form, Zandani, is at least a step
\ closer to India. Incidentally the name tells
us from what part of India the legend was
derived. Among the Buddhists of Southern
I India the Master's charioteer is known as
• Channa, among those of the North he has the
i fuller name, Chandaka. By the presence of
the d in the Georgian and Greek forms we
1 learn that their source is to be found, as
I was to be expected, among the Northern
\Buddhists.
We still have to determine the relations of the
* The sentence in which Dr. Kuhn states the above
facts, with the requisite references, fills seventeen lines of
his Memoir, pp. 34-5, and includes no less than 230 words.
It is in other respects a model German scientific sentence,
and I would have quoted it as a warning example, but that
I owe so much to Dr. Kuhn, and feel that its clumsiness is
not personal to him, but merely characteristic of the want
of consideration for their readers shown by German scien-
tific writers.
THE ORIENTAL VERSIONS xxxvii
three various Arabic texts which are still extant,
with that of the Hebrew version of Abraham
ibn Chisdai (ob. 1240). The difficulty here is
put at once by the opening words of ibn
Chisdai's version : " Thus saith the translator
from the Greek into Arabic." Besides the
rarity of such direct translations, without the
intermediation of Syriac, there is the further
difficulty that the Hebrew version does not
entirely agree, either in order or in contents,
with any of the Arabic texts at present ac-
cessible. It comes nearer to the Halle MS.,
but that on the face of it is only an extract.
Professor Hommel, and his pupil, Dr. Weiss-
lovits, claim for the Hebrew version a closer
relationship with the Pehlevi original than is
the case with the Greek : and though Dr.
Kuhn seems opposed to the claim, it would
seem to be confirmed by the agreement of the
Hebrew with the order of the parables in the
Arabic texts, which again agrees with that
of the Georgian to which we have assigned a
closer relationship to the Pehlevi version.
The following table of Professor Hommel
will indicate this : —
INTRODUCTION
Arabic.
Parable.
Georgian.
Hebrew.
(Halle and
Greek.
Hazi.)
Death Trumpet .
I
c. viii.
I
2
The Four Caskets .
2
c. viii.
2
3
The Sower . . .
3
C. X.
3
I
Man in Well . .
4
4
s
The Three Friends
5
c. xi.
s
6
King of the Year .
6
c. xiii.
6
7
King and Vizier .
7
c. xvi.
7
8
Rich Man and Beg-
}
8
gar's Daughter .
c. xviii.
8*
9
Man and Nightin-
gale
;'
9
c. xxi.
9
4
The Tame Gazelle .
lO
lO
The Amorous Wife
lit
The Demon Women
12
II
The order of the parables is here the same
in the Hebrew, Arabic, and Georgian, while
that of the Greek varies considerably. The
absence of the last three parables in Hebrew
and Arabic is simply due to the fact that they
do not contain anything subsequent to the part-
ing with Barlaam. But the variation of order
in the Greek text against the unanimity of the
other three versions seems to me conclusive
against the mediate derivation of the Hebrew
or Arabic from the Greek, which may there-
* Wanting in the Halle MS.
t This occurs only in the Georgian version, but has
analogies with similar tales in the Katha Sarit Sagara, in
which the lustful disposition of woman is insisted upon.
THE ORIENTAL VERSIONS xxxix
fore for the present be set aside in our journey
to the fons et origo of the whole literature.
Thus far we are led to the conclusion that
this original was in Pehlevi, and on this point
there is, practically, unanimity among recent
investigators. But the book, on the face of
it, is propagandist, and the question arises,
what religion was it whose interests it was
composed to further? Dr. Kuhn declares for
a Christian author, but on very slight grounds,
as it seems to me. True, there is a certain
amount of evidence for the existence of a Chris-
tian Pehlevi literature.* True, the Nestorian
Church was firmly established in East Iran.
The possibility, therefore, of the Christian
manipulation of the Buddha legend in that
district cannot be denied. But the Barlaam
book in its Pehlevi form had very little theo-
logical tendency. The theologisms of the Greek
text are excrescences, and are peculiar to that
version. The only trace of Christian influence
to which Dr. Kuhn can point, is the parable
of Tlie Sower, to which, curiously enough, there
are strong Buddhistic parallels (Carus, Gospel
* Professor Sachau in Journal Roy. Asiat. Soc. N.S.,
iv. 230, seq.
xl INTRODUCTION
of Buddha. I cannot think that any work,
written with the express view of the propaga-
tion of the faith, would be so singularly free
from all dogmatic colouring.
The existence of the Hebrew version confirms
me in my belief that the original work was not
intended, or regarded, as specifically religious, or,
at any rate, theological. Its teaching is ascetic,
it is true, but all religions have a touch of
asceticism. It was for the sake of its parables,
not for its theology, that the book was taken
up, equally by Moslem, Jewish, and Christian
writers. Now the Hebrew version is much
fuller in its parables, containing no less than
ten * not found in the other versions. Of
these, four at least can be traced back to India
{Bird and Angel, The Power of Love, Language
of Animals, and Robbers^ Nemesis). I see no
reason, therefore, why we should not go behind
the Pehlevi and look for the original in its com-
plete form, as we can certainly trace it in its
elements, to India itself.
* Bird and Angel, c. ix. ; Cannibal King, c. xii. ; The
Good Physician, c. xiv. ; King and Pious Shepherd ; Oasis
and Garden, c. xvi. ; The Hungry Bitch, c. xvii. ; The
Power of Love, c. xviii. ; JEel and Dog, c. xxiii. ; The
Language of Animals, c. xxiv. ; 27ie Bobbers' Nemesis.
THE ORIENTAL VERSIONS xli
In short, I regard the literary history of the
Barlaam literature as completely parallel with
that o/ the Fables of Bidpai. Originally Bud-
dhi§>^c books, both lost their specifically Bud-
4feistic traits before they left India, and made
/'their appeal, by their parables, more than by
their doctrines. Both were translated into
Pehlevi in the reign of Chosroes, and from that j
watershed floated off into the literatures of all
the great creeds. In Christianity alone, char-
acteristically enough, one of them, the Barlaam
book, was surcharged with dogma and turned
to polemical uses, with the curious result that
Buddha became one of the champions of the
Church. To divest the Barlaam-Buddha of this
character, and see him in his original form, we
must take a further journey and seek him in
his home beyond the Himalayas.
III.
Baelaam in India.
The Portuguese historian, Diogo do Conto, in
describing the exploits of his nation in Asia,
in 1612, had occasion to speak of Buddha, or
the Budao, as he called him. After recount-
ing his legend, he goes on to say : " With re-
ference to this story, we have been delayed
in inquiring if the ancient Gentiles of those
parts had in their writings any knowledge of
Josaphat, who was converted by Barlaam, who
in his legend is represented as the son of
a great king in India, who had just the same
up-bringing, with all the same particulars
that we have recounted of the life of the
Budao . . . and as it informs us that he was
the son of a great king in India, it may well
be, as we have said, that he was the Budao of
whom they relate such marvels " * {Decada
* The late Sir Henry Yule drew attention to this re-
markable anticipation of modern research in the Academy
xlii
BARLAAM IN INDIA xliii
quinta da Asia, 1. vi. c. ii., Lisboa, 1612,
f. 123).
Thus, almost as soon as the Western world
got ta know anything of the Buddha, the re-
markable resemblance of his legend and that
of St. Josaphat was observed, but no note was
taken of do Conto's hint for two centuries and
a half, when M. Laboulaye, quite indepen-
dently, drew attention to the Buddhistic origin
of the Barlaam legend in the Journal des
Dehats of the 26th July 1859.''^ Laboulaye's
discovery was clinched by Felix Liebrecht in a
paper on the sources of Barlaam and Josaphat
(Jahrbuch, f. Rom. Lit. i860, 314-34).! Since
the appearance of that striking memoir, no
doubt has ever existed in any one's mind, who
has examined the question of the legend of St.
Joasaph, that it was simply and solely derived
from the legend of Buddha. Indeed, if we
put the two legends side by side, as M. Cosquin
has done (Conies de Lorraine, pp. xlix. seq.),
their close resemblance, if not identity, is
of ist Sept. 1883. He repeats the information in his Marco
Polo, ii. 308.
* Dr. Steinschneider had suspected the Indian origin
nine years before in ZDMG, v, 91.
t Reprinted in his Zur Volkskunde, 1879, pp. 441-60.
xliv
INTRODUCTION
" proved by inspection,"
say.
JOASAPH.
Abenner, King of India,
persecutes the Christians.
He has a beautiful son,
named Joasaph. An Astro-
loger reveals tothe King that
he will become a Christian.
The King builds a magni-
ficent palace in a remote
district, in which he places
his son, and surrounds him
by those who are ordered
never to speak of the mis-
eries of this life, of sickness,
poverty, old age, or death.
"When Joasaph is grown
up he asks permission to go
outside the palace. On his
way he sees a leper and a
blind man. He asks what
is the cause of their appear-
ance. He is told that it is
due to ill nesses caused by the
corruption of the humours,
and learns that every man
is liable to similar evils. He
becomes sad and distressed.
Shortly afterwards, Joa-
as the mathematicians
BUDDHA.
Suddhodana, King of
Kapilavastu, in India, has a
beautiful son, who is called
Siddharta. The Brahmins
predict that he will become
a Hermit.
The King builds three
palaces for his son — one for
the Spring, one for the
Summer, and one for the
Winter. Each palace is sur-
rounded by five hundred
Guards. The Prince desires
one day to visit their garden.
The King orders everything
to be removed that could
indicate the existence of
misery.
Going out of the South
Gate of his palace the Prince
sees on the footpath a sick
man burning with fever,
breathing heavily, and ema-
ciated. Learning from his
charioteer the cause of this,
the Prince exclaims, " How
can man think of joy and
pleasure when such things
exist ! " and turning back
his chariot he re-enters the
palace.
Another day, going out
BARLAAM LV INDIA
xlv
JOASAPH.
saph on another excursion
comes across an old man,
bent double, with tottering
steps, white hair, wrinkled
visage, and toothless gums.
He asks his attendants what
this means. They tell him
it is due to old age. " And
what will be the end of it
all ? " he asks. " No other
than death," they reply.
' ' And is that the end of all
men ? " asks the Prince, and
learns that sooner or later
death comes to all men.
From that day the Prince is
plunged in thinking to him-
self, " One day death will
carry me off too ; shall I be
swallowed up into nothing ?
Or is there another life, or
another world ? "
The Hermit Barlaam ap-
BUDDHA.
of the East Gate, he comes
across an old man, decrepit,
wrinkled, bent, and totter-
ing, with white hairs. "Who
is this man ? " he asks. ' ' And
why does he look so strange ?
Is he of some peculiar
species of men ? Or do all
men become like that?"
His charioteer replies,
"This man's appearance is
due to his age, and all men
become like him when they
are old. " The Prince orders
his charioteer to turn back,
saying, ** If such an old age
awaits me, what have 1 to
do with pleasure and joy ? "
Going out another time
by the West Gate, he sees
a dead man on a bier, his
relatives mourning round
him. He learns what death
is, and cries out, " Wretched
youth, that old ago can de-
stroy ! Wretched health,
that so many maladies can
destroy ! Wretched life
where man remains for so
short a time ! "
The fourth time the Prince
xlvi
INTRODUCTION
JOASAPH.
pears under disguise to
Joasaph, tells him of Chris-
tianity, and converts him.
After the departure of Bar-
laam, Joasaph tries to lead
the life of a Hermit in his
palace.
The King tries every
means to turn Joasaph from
the true faith, but in vain.
BUDDHA.
goes out by the North Gate,
when he sees a Bhikshu,
calm and reserved, with cast-
down eyes, carrying an alms-
dish. He asks what sort of
man this is, and is told that
he is an Ascetic, who has
renounced all passion and
ambition, and lives on
charity. "It is well," says
Siddharta; "I have found
the clue to the miseries of
life." And once more he
returns to the palace.
The Prince informs his
father of his intention to
become an Ascetic. The
King tries to dissuade him,
but in vain.
After this exercise on the parallel bars there
can be no doubt of the identity of Josaphat
and Buddha. As we have already seen, their
very names are the same, for Josaphat is only
the Roman spelling for Yosaphat, this again
being a confusion between the Biblical Jehos-
hapliat and the Greek form Joasaph. This is
directly derived from the Arabic; it is a con-
tracted form of Yodasaph,* which is a mis-
* Kuhn explains it is as a misspelling, IflAA2A<i> for
IQAASA*.
BARLAAM IN INDIA xlvii
reading for Bodasaph, since y and h in Arabic
are only distinguished by a diacritical point.
As we have already seen, Bodasaph is directly
derived, through the Pehlevi, from Bodhisattva,
the technical title of the man who is destined
to attain Buddhahood, a description that ex-
actly applies to the career of Josaphat. The
very name, therefore, of the hero implies a con-
scious Buddhistic tendency in the original form
of the legend, and tells against Dr. Kuhn's
contention for a Pehlevi Christian original.
It is also probable that the first name in our
title can also be traced back to India, but on
the exact form, which was the original, learned
opinion is not at present united : and a mere
reporter, like myself, can only put the con-
flicting claims before the reader and allow him
to take his choice. We have seen that Barlaam
is merely a Syriac substitute for Balauvar.
Dr. Kuhn points out, that in the Zend alphabet
g and I are almost identical, while we have
already seen that n and r might easily mistake
themselves for one another. Consequently, this
pundit suggests "^ Bhagavan is the real original
* When I was at Cambridge, the boat of the Non-
Collegiate students was generally known as the Non Coll.
xlviii INTRODUCTION
of halauliar. Unfortunately, lie leaves us in
the dark as to what Bliagavan means or im-
plies. It is, of course, one of the titles given
to the Buddha. Baron von Rosen, on the
other hand, identifies Balauhar with an Arabic
word, halahvar, used by the Arabic lexico-
graphers to designate an Indian king. The
reader will not be surprised to learn that the
Arabic word is a simple adaptation of the
Sanskrit hhattaraka. Both suggestions seem
to me almost equally far-fetched. But the
human -mind is incapable of remaining in a
state of suspension a la Buridan. De Morgan
said that he found most people had a decided
view on the question whether platythliptic co-
efficients were positive or negative.* Similarly,
if one has to make a choice. Dr. Kuhn's
Boat. One day it suddenly made its appearance as the
Heron. The whole University was puzzled at the change,
till a budding philologist remarked casually, "Of course,
they are the same, *Non Coll.' becomes by transposition
'Coll-on,' and this by metathesis of I and r becomes
' coron. ' A spiration of the initial consonant changes it to
'choron,' which, again, by weakening of the aspirate and
vemerising the vowel, becomes * Heron.' Thus 'Non-CoU *
= ' Heron.' Q.E.D."
* We are getting more modest nowadays. I have fired
off this query at most of my friends, who persist in spoiling
De Morgan's point by asking, "What are platythliptic
coeflBcients ? "
BARLAAM IN INDIA xlix
suggestion seems to have more for it than
Baron von Rosen's. For there is little doubt
that, as a matter of fact, Barlaam is himself
a variant of the Buddha, and thus a doublet
of Josaphat. For Barlaam's speeches give very
often the Buddhistic doctrine in the Buddha's
own words: so that, in the last resort, our
fable tells of the conversion of the man destined
to be Buddha by a man who has already at-
tained Buddhahood, and the title, "Barlaam
and Josaphat," would adequately indicate the
subject to Indian ears in the form Bhagavan
Bodhisattvasclia* We get the same doubling
in the Buddha legend when the Buddha
converts to his doctrines a rich merchant's son
named Yasoda,t who has himself performed
the Great Renunciation, and whose history is
therefore obviously a variant of the Buddha's.
We have seen that other names still retain
traces of their Indian origin. Josaphat's tutor,
* I have to thank my young friend, Master Leonard
Magnus, for my knowledge how to conjoin two Sanskrit
words. If there is anything incorrect, I must have mis-
understood his instructions. I would add that Marco
Polo's title for the Buddha "Sagamoni Borcar "== Sakya-
muni Bhagavan.
t Vessel ovsky would identify the name Joasaph with
this Yasoda.
d
1 INTRODUCTION
Zardan, was, we saw, Buddha's charioteer,
Chandaka. Kuhn gives several other examples,
chiefly, however, derived from the Arabic
version : for the Greek has, in most instances,
substituted Biblical, or quasi-Biblical, names
for the original. Thus, Josaphat's father, in
the Arabic, Janaisar, becomes in the Greek,
Abenner (2 Sam. iii. 6). The Bakis of the
Arabic appears in double form in the Greek,
as Araches and Nachor, the latter being derived
from Genesis xi. Similarly, the magician
Theudas is derived from Acts v. 37, and has
only an accidental resemblance to Devadatta,
the Judas of the Buddha legend. But, be-
sides these merely formal proofs of Indian
origin derived from the names, there is much
internal evidence for the influence of Indian
thought. Even the Greek text preserves
traces of Buddhistic phraseology, as Dr. Berry
has shown. Thus, in the earlier part of the
book, where one of the king's nobles takes to
the hermit's life, it is said of him " that with
noble purpose he purified his senses by fasting
and watching, and by the diligent study of
sacred articles. And having delivered his soul
from every kind of emotion he shone with the
BARLAAM IN INDIA li
light of dispassionate calm." Again, at the
end of the book, when Abenner becomes con-
verted, a great multitude of his people are
baptized, "both rulers and civil oJOSicers, sol-
diers and people," a distinct reference to the
four castes of India.
But it is especially in the recently printed
Bombay text of the Arabic version that we
find the clearest and most conclusive proof of
the complete identification of Josaphat and
Barlaam in the original. Here we find, not alone
the Great Renunciation, in which Josaphat,
like Buddha, leaves power, wealth, love, and
family ties behind him at the dead of night,
but even the meditation under the Bo-Tree.*
In this version, indeed, the Buddha and his
doctrines are especially referred to by name,
as "al-Budd," and the dying Budasaph, like
the dying Buddha, breathes his last in the arms
of his favourite disciple Anand. Dr. Kuhn
suggests that these details and references are
due to interpolations by the Arabic translators
from some of the lost Arabic books relating to
Buddha, mentioned in the Fihrist. But this
is all conjecture, and is mainly urged by Dr.
* See Abstract of Legend in A pp. I. xiii.
Hi INTRODUCTION
Kuhn to support his contention that the original
of Barlaam literature was a Pehlevi Christian
adaptation of Christian legends. For my part,
I cannot see any evidence for any distinctive
dogmatic colouring in the original. As is
shown by a comparison with the Georgian, the
distinctively Christian passages of the Greek
version are interpolations peculiar to it (see
App. I. vi., viii., ix., xiii.), or at least to its im-
mediate Syriac source. Removing these inter-
polations, the original is seen to be entirely and
characteristically Buddhistic in form and con-
tents, and we cannot imagine such a work
originating elsewhere than in India.
On the other hand, it seems likely that none
of the Arabic versions represent completely
the original Indian source of them all. They
omit the veneration of Josaphat's relics, which
is a distinct Buddhistic touch, as Liebrecht saw
{Zur Volkshunde, 454-5).* The detrition to
which the proper names have been subjected
in the Arabic text show a long course of trans-
mission, and we cannot, therefore, depend
* Kuhn is therefore mistaken (p. 32) in thinking this an
independent interpolation of the common source of the
Georgian and Greek version.
r
BARLAAM IN INDIA liii
implicitly upon it for even an approximate re-
storation of the Indian original. Yet sufficient
remains of this for us to be enabled to come to
a tolerably definite conclusion as to the early
history of the Barlaam legend before it took its
Greek form. That history may be shortly
summarised as follows.
During the declining years of Buddhism in
India, in the early centuries of our era, at-
tempts were made by the Brahmins to adopt
that side of the Buddhistic methods which had
proved most attractive, namely, the method of
teaching by parables. A number of the most
striking of these were adopted by the Brahmins
and placed in a beast- tale framework, and
formed the Indian original of the Fables of
Bidpai. In opposition to this, the Buddhists
retold the legend of the Buddha in a form least
adapted to arouse Brahmanistic opposition, but
equally enriched with the most striking of
Buddhistic parables. It recounted the attain-
ing the Buddhahood by a Bodhisattva, or one
destined to be a Buddha, owing to the teachings
of a Bhagavan, or one who has already attained
the Supreme State. This latter book received
some such title as Bhagavan Bodhisattvascha,
liv INTRODUCTION
and was the original of our Barlaam. Both
of these Buddhistic books were translated into
Pehlevi in the reign of Chosroes (531-79 a.d.),
and both proved attractive to all the various
sects — Buddhistic, Moslem, Nestorian — that
found a common point of contact in East Iran.
Both were almost immediately translated into
Arabic and Syriac, and passed from the latter
into almost all the languages of Europe. But
the beast-tales of Bidpai were incapable of
any dogmatic colouring, and were left un-
changed in the European versions. The story
of the conversion of the Bodhisattva by the
Bhagavan was, on the other hand, admirably
adapted for propagandist interpolation and
modification, and was therefore transformed by
the Greek translator into the legend of St.
Barlaam and St. Josaphat, as it afterwards
spread through Europe. It was thus the
difference of the framework which led to a
difference in fate between the Bidpai and the
Barlaam legends. But in both cases the at-
tractiveness of the books consisted, not so much
in the framework, as in that which it enframed,
to which we now turn.
lY.
Parables op Barlaam
For some reason or other, which has never
yet been fully investigated, there is nothing
so irritating to humanity, nothing so boring,
as the inculcation to morality. "Whether it
is that we feel instinctively that we know
what is right even if we do not do it, and
therefore need not be told it, or whether we
resent being told by another, who thereby
lays claim to greater moral insight than our-
selves, the result is certain, nothing makes
people feel so wicked as moral exhortations.
Nowadays the moralists know this; formerly
they only suspected it. So in former days
they invented the Parable so as to administer
the moral pill in the story jam.
Greece and India, I have shown elsewhere,
each inventid separately the Fable as a means
Ivi INTRODUCTION
of moral or political instruction.* Similarly
Judea and India, eacii probably independently,
invented the Parable for the same purpose.
Both the Rabbis and the Brahmins found
that the best way to point a moral was to
adorn a tale. Both Jesus and Buddha adopted
the method of their rivals for the purpose of
their propaganda.! Especially was t-his the
case with Buddha and his followers. A very
large part of the Buddhist Scriptures is
taken up by parables, and it is to this source
that we can ultimately trace the parables
of Barlaam, which, equally with those of
Bidpai, may be described as the Parables of
Buddha.
^nd, first, what is a Parable % It is a tale
with a double jaeaning, like the Fable or the
Allegory. It is distinguished from the Fable
as being told of men, not beasts; from the
AHegbryi 15y its shortness and greater direct-
ness. The Sunday School definition, "An
earthly story with a heavenly meaning," is too
* See Caxton, iEsop, i. p. 209.
t It is characteristic that in his special treatise on the
Parables Archbishop Trench treated those of the Rabbis
most perfunctorily, though there can be no doubt Jesus
learnt the method from them.
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ivii
restricted, since many parables know nothing
of heaven or hell. TChe Parable is often
merely an Example of a moral truth which
it is intenHed to convey, but it should more
strictly be defined as a ISTarrative-MelEaphor.
Aswith the MetaphorTthe Parable often leads
to' false reasoning when the analogy is pushed
too far.
Whatever their origin, use, or effectiveness,
there is no doubt of their popularity among
all creeds in the Middle Ages. Brahmins,
Rabbis, Monks, and Moolahs all enliven their
religious discussions with a seasoning of par-
ables. The illicit joys of tale and gossip were
used to evade the longueurs of the sermon.
In Christendom the fashion chimed in with
the vogue for the allegorical interpretation of
Scripture, by which its insufficiency was eked
out or its inconsistencies overcome. And the
fashion spread from the moral sermon to the
moral treatise till there was scarcely a mediae-
val book of devotion which did not relieve its
preternatural dulness by some form or other
of the parable. Perhaps the most favourite
source for these divertissements was the Legend
of Barlaam and Josaphat, which, in a way,
Iviii INTRODUCTION
forms the centre of the whole literature. Its
parables, therefore, form a type of a whole
literary movement in Europe and Asia, and
to them we may now turn.
Taking all the earliest versions of the Bar-
laam Legend, the Arabic, Georgian, Hebrew,
and Greek, there appear to be some three
dozen parables contained in them. But, as
is the case with more important gospels, those
of Barlaam are not entirely synoptic. Some
of the parables appear in all forms, and of
these we may be sure all could be traced back
to India. Others again appear but in two
or three of these versions, while a consider-
able number only make their appearance in
one version, e.g., the Hebrew or the Bombay
Arabic. I have told them all in Appendix
II., and given the details of their occurrences in
the earliest versions of Barlaam, as well as the
history of their spread outside the specifically
Barlaam literature. Here I propose treating
of them more generally in the first place, and
then descanting at greater length on a few of
the parables which happen to be of exceptional
interest from their widespread or their impor-
tant derivates.
PARABLES OF BARLAAM lix
Of the thirty-one parables contained in Ap-
pendix II., nine occur in all the earlier versions,
six occur in two or more of them, while sixteen
have found their way to only one version. Of
the first class, six can be traced to India ; of the
second, two; and of the third, seven. It does
not, therefore, appear that any very certain proof
of existence in the original Barlaam is shown
by the absence or presence of traceable Indian
parallels. Indeed, no mechanical and external
test can enable us to judge whether any special
parable came with Barlaam from India. Even
where, as in some of the parables, especially
to the Hebrew version, an Indian original has
been found, it by no means follows that the
parable in question, though ultimately derived
from India, necessarily came into the Hebrew
version from some form of the Barlaam Legend.
Thus it would be premature to assume, e.g., that
the story known as Tlie Language of Animals
first began its travels through the ages and the
climes in connection with the Legend of Bar-
laam-Buddha. The spread of these parables,
extensive as it is, throws but little light on
the diffusion of folktales properly so called.
In almost every case the spread has been by
Ix INTRODUCTION
means of literary, not oral, tradition. Those
that occur in the Greek version were trans-
lated into Latin, and were then utilised as
Exempla, or seasoning for sermons. And it
was from this source, if at all, that they be-
came current among the folk. In the dis-
cussion about the diffusion of popular literature
the question of Indian origin has to be treated
separately, according to the character of the
tales involved. These may be divided into
four classes : fables, parables, stories of the
wiles of women, and folktales. As far as the
evidence goes at present, it would seem that
the first two classes were transmitted by
literary colportage, while the second two
have passed from East to West, from mouth
to mouth.*
Of the wide spread which many of these
parables of Barlaam reached, ample evidence is
given in Appendix II. Though the references
there are put in the shortest and, I fear, most
* Hence it is that M. B^dier, in his ingenious work on
the Fabliaxcx, which seem to be mainly derived from the
third class, is entirely beating the air in attempting to
disprove their derivation from Indian books. M. Gaston
Paris had put M. Bedier's whole argument out of court
when he stated of the Fabliaux, "lis proviennent de la
transmission orale et non des livres " {Lit. franf., § 73).
m-
i^
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixi
unintelligible form, and in the smallest of
legible type, in several cases they take up a
whole page, without any claim to be exhaus-
tive. It would, obviously, be impossible to dis-
cuss here all, or even a majority, of these
parables, ample information about which can
be obtained in the critical treatment of them,
for which I give references in Appendix II.
under the section of " Literature." But it
seems desirable to treat at greater length a
few of the more important parables, whether
their importance depends upon their illustrious
derivates or their folklore interest. Of these
there can be no doubt which comes first in
every way in deserving special notice.
I. The Four Caskets. — To find an integral
part of the plot of one of Shakspere's best-
known plays to be derived from Indian parable
is one of those curiosities of literature which
cannot fail to strike even the most vacant
mind. But that the Caskets Story of the
Merchant of Venice can ultimately be derived
from a Buddhistic legend there is no man-
ner of doubt, even if the immediate source
whence Shakspere drew it cannot at present
be ascertained. We can at least trace the
Ixii INTRODUCTION
stoiy from India to England through the
medium of the Barlaam literature, and there
can be no doubt that it came to Shakspere
through some derivate of the Gesta Romano-
rum^ the English end link in the chain of
tradition. But even apart from this evidence,
the internal proofs of relationship would be
decisive.
A reference to the form of the Parable as it
appears in the Barlaam Literature (see Appen-
dix II., infra f p. cvii.) will convince the reader
that he has there the original Shaksperian
motif. It is there found combined with the
Parable of The Trum;pet of Death in such a
way as to make up one complex story. Now
there can be no doubt about the Buddhistic
origin of the Parable of The Trumpet of
Death. It is found separately told of Yitya-
soka, brother of the great Buddhistic King,
Asoka. The great King's brother, who had
not yet been converted to Buddhism, had ex-
pressed his wonder that the followers of that
religion could overcome their passions without
resorting to asceticism. The King, to try his
brother, and to convert him to the New Re-
li»ion — so runs the tale — ordered his courtiers to
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixiii
induce his brother and heir to try on the Royal
Robes and sit upon the throne while he him-
self was at the Bath. The King, however,
managed to catch his brother in his compro-
mising attitude on the throne, and ordered
him as a punishment to be treated as a King
for a week, except that behind the throne was
placed all the time the Royal Executioner
with his Warning Bell. After the week was
over the King asked his brother how he had
managed so well to overcome his passions
without resorting to asceticism. Vityasoka
replied that he could think of nothing but the
impending death with which the Executioner
kept threatening him. " If you could be
so influenced by the thought of one death,"
said the King, " how much more we Bud-
dhists, who have to think of an innumerable
series of deaths through all the phases of our
existence." The brother was convinced, and
joined the new Creed. (Bournouf, Introduc-
tion h VHistoire de Buddhisme: TscriSf 1876,
P- 370-)
That this is the original of the Barlaam
Parable no one will deny ; whether it is itself
derived from an earlier Indian original of the
Ixiv INTRODUCTION
Story of Damocles, is another and more difl5cult
question.
Curiously enough, however, no Indian original
has yet been discovered for the Stonj of the Four
Caskets, which, in the Barlaam, is so closely
connected with the Trumpet of Death. Dr.
Braunholtz, who has made a most complete
study of this parable,* has failed to find any-
thing nearer than Buddhistic comparisons of
man's body to a casket. There is, it is true, a
choice of four vessels occurring in the legend of
the Buddha.! When the Buddha had finished
his week's meditation under the Bo-Tree, two
merchants, who became his first two converts,
approached him and offered him rice and honey
in a golden vessel. He refused the refreshment
on the ground of the costly nature of the vessel
containing it, and continued to do so even after
they had changed the vessel for a silver, and
then for a copper one. Only when it was
placed in the Clay Bowl, so famous in Bud-
dhistic Legend, did he accept it. | This case of
* For title, see Append. II,, sub voce, " Literature."
t Omitted from Carus, 1, c. § xiii.
J Attempts have been made to trace the Holy Grail
to this Almsdish ; see Mr. Nutt's careful examination of the
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixv
choice is, however, only one of modesty, and
has nothing to do with judgment by appear-
ances, which is of the essence of the Caskets
Story of Barlaam and Shakspere.
Dr. Braunholtz suggests that the idea of
the choice may be derived from a widespread
folktale, found throughout the Indo-European
world, in which two girls go successively into
Fairyland, and have there offered them a choice
of caskets. The good girl chooses the least
costly, and finds, on arriving home, that it is
full of jewels. The other girl greedily selects
the most expensive, and finds herself disap-
pointed. This story has, indeed, the choice of
caskets, but its moral is rather " Be modest "
than " Do not judge by appearances," and thus
resembles rather the choice of the Clay Bowl
in the Legend of the Buddha than the selec-
tion of the Leaden Casket by Bassanio. It is,
however, found in countries where Buddhism
has had sway, as in Burmah and Japan, and is
thus, possibly, of Buddhistic origin. But it can
be only used on the present occasion to show that
suggestion in Arch. Rev., iii 257-71, and my letter, ihid.,
iv. 79, from which it would appear that the actual Dish
still exists at Candahar.
e
mm
Ixvi INTRODUCTION
a choice of caskets was a familiar motif in Bud-
dhistic Legend, and thus make more probable
the Buddhistic origin of the Casket Story.
But even without this confirmatory evidence
the Buddhistic origin of the story can scarcely
be doubted upon the evidence before us. It
occurs in the Arabic and Georgian versions,
as well as in the Greek, and was, therefore,
in the Pehlevi and its Indian original. It is
enframed in what is after all only a Life of
Buddha, and is closely connected with the
Trumpet of Death, the Buddhistic original
of which has already been shown. One can
have little hesitation in adding it to the store
of Buddhistic parables, even though, up to the
present, modern research has failed to discover
it in Buddhistic literature. Of the former
spread of the legend in the form in which
it appears in the Barlaam Dr. Braunholtz
gives full evidence. He has managed to put
his elaborate researches in a pedigree, which I
repeat in a modified form for the benefit of my
readers. He combines with his inquiry a some-
what similar Folktale of The Treasure in the
Tree, which develops into a story of two blind
men, to one of whom a loaf of bread is given
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixvii
by the Emperor, in which some gold is hidden.
This has only the faintest similarity with the
Caskets Story, and I have, therefore, removed
it and its derivates from the pedigree, which
is thus entirely confined to the story we know
so well from Shakspere.
2. The Sower.— The " Parable of the Sower,"
mostly as it is found in the Synoptic Gospels,
occurs also in all the earliest versions of
the Barlaam, Arabic, Georgian, Hebrew, and
Greek. At first sight this fact does not seem
to need much comment, but in reality it forms,
perhaps, the chief puzzle in the critical pro-
blem of Barlaam; for it constitutes almost
the only piece of definitely Christian origin
in the Ur-Barlaam, as far as we can trace it.
It is, therefore, the only piece of evidence for Dr.
Kuhn's contention that Barlaam was originally
written in Pehlevi by a Nestorian Christian for
the polemical purposes of his faith. One might
argue, in reply, that one parable does not make
a theology, and that a Christian allegory might
be used by a Buddhist somewhat in the way
that Stanley or Jowett might use a rousing
sentence of Mahomet or Buddha to point their
Broad Church morals.
Ixviii INTRODUCTION
But there is a further point of interest and
of difficulty about this parable in the present
connection. Can we be quite sure that it is
exclusively Christian ? For there is also a Bud-
dhistic " Parable of the Sower," which is given,
as follows, in Dr. Cams' admirable Gospel of
Buddha (§ Ixxiv.) : —
" Bharadvaja, a wealthy Brahman, was cele-
brating his harvest thanksgiving when the
Blessed One came with his alms-bowl, begging
for food.
"Some of the people paid him reverence,
but the Brahman was angry, and said, '0
Shramana, it would suit you better to go to
work than to go begging. I plough and sow,
and having ploughed and sown, I eat. If you
did likewise, you too would have to eat.'
"And the Tathagata answered him and
said, 'O Brahman, I too plough and sow, and
having ploughed and sown, I eat.'
" * Do you profess to be a husbandman ? '
replied the Brahman. ' Where, then, are
your bullocks? Where is the seed and the
plough r
" The Blessed One said, * Faith is the seed I
sow ; good works are the rain that fertilises it ;
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixix
wisdom and modesty are the plough ; my mind
is the guiding rein ; I lay hold of the handle
of the law ; earnestness is the goad I use ; and
exertion is my draught-ox. This ploughing is
ploughed to destroy the weeds of illusion. The
harvest it yields is the immortal life of Nir-
vana, and thus all sorrow ends.'
"Then the Brahman poured rice-milk into
a golden bowl and offered it to the Blessed
One, saying, 'Let the teacher of mankind
partake of the rice-milk, for the venerable
Gautama ploughs a ploughing that bears the
fruit of immortality.' "
Now at first sight this certainly seems a
remarkable parallel to the Gospel, parable,
while its occasion is so natural that, if there
is any question of derivation, the presumption
is on the side of Buddha. But, examined
more closely, the resemblance loses much of
its force. For, while in the Buddhistic form
stress is laid upon the sowing itself, in the
Christian it is upon the nature of the soil
to which attention is drawn. The moral of
Buddha is — "Teaching is work;" the moral
of Christ is-^"The effect of teaching depends
upon the character of the taught." Altogether,
Ixx INTRODUCTION
therefore, notwithstanding the striking re-
semblance, there is no need to discuss the
possibilities of direct derivation.
But the resemblance is close enough to
suggest that the Christian form of the parable
was introduced instead of the Buddhistic one
after "Barlaam" had left India; in other
words, in the lost Pehlevi version.
"-3. Man in Well. — This parable, as will be
seen from the references in App. IT., was one
of the moatLJjQpalar morals of mediaeval sermon-
isers. Indeed, it puts in a most vivid form the
most central practical doctrine of both Christian
and Buddhistic Ethics, ^he supreme attrac-
tion of the pleasures of the senses amidst all
the dangers of life and the perpetual threat of
death has never been more vividly expressed. Of
its specifically Indian character there can be no
doubt. Dr. Kuhn, in an admirable monograph
on the parable which he contributed to the
complimentary volume presented to Professor
von Bohtlingk on the Jubilee of his Doctor's
degree (Festgruss, pp. 68-76), has given seve-
ral instances outside the parable in which
the Jictis indica religiosa is made a symbol of
\. ^^Jiife> notably in the Bhagavad gita (xv. i.),
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxi
where there is a tree whose branches^are^the .
elements~and whose"'leaves are the things of
sense "coloured by good and ill. Again, there is
the marvellous tree Ilpa, from whose branches
honey or soma trickles (Benfey, I. c, 83).
But we are not only dependent upon general
analogies for the proof of the Indian origin of
this parable. Benfey discovered two forms of
the parable in the Chinese Buddhistic work en-
titled Avadana. Mr. Clouston* has found it
in the eleventh book of the Mahabharata, and
Dr. Kuhn has traced it in a Jaina work. Here
we have the parable, not alone traced to India,
but, in the Avadana and Jaina forms, closely
connected with Buddhism. The story occurs
in some of the Arabic forms of the Fables of
Bidpai, whence it got into Europe through
another source than the Barlaam. In the
Bombay Arabic version of Barlaam there are
distinctive peculiarities which are of critical
importance, though this has not hitherto been
observed. Most of these versions resemble one
another, generally both in the story and in the
allegory which it is intended to adorn. But
there are divergences of detail which deserve
* See his letter, Athenceum, February 7, 1891.
Ixxii INTRODUCTION
careful investigation, towards which the ac-
companying table will prove of service.
The first thing to observe is that the Arabic
form clearly constitutes the bridge between the
Occident and Orient on this occasion. Alone
of the Western versions it preserves "The
Bees," * which exist in the two Indian forms,
while already it shows the "Western change
of the Indian elephant into the nondescript
dragon. We may conclude from this that
the Arabic does not derive from the Greek,
and is closer to the Indian original than it.
A still more remarkable parallel exists to
this parable in the far-famed Norse Legend of
the Tggdrasil.i This is a giant ash, whose
branches spread round the world. Its three
roots are connected with Heaven, E5rtlI7"an3
neuj under each root gushes a well-spring p~
from t^e tree trickles a fall of honey. On its
* They occur, however, without allegorical significance,
in the Hebrew form of the Bidpai. Cf, Steinschneider,
Ubersetzungen, p. 880, who has a mass of information on
this parable,
t I give this description from Grimm, Teutonic Mytho-
logy, 796, Unfortunately he does not give any references,
and some of the details are missing from the account given
in the Grimmis-Mal in Vigfusson and York-Powell, Corp.
Poet. Bor., i. 73,
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxiii
r
as &o
l?2
to ®
13
OJOQ
<» O
Ixxiv INTR OD UCTION
topmost bough sits an eagle, while a snake is
gnawing at its roots. A squirrel runs up and
down, trying to create enmity between the
snake and the eagle, and round the tree are four
stags. Most of these animals have names given
them which are clearly of allegorical or mytho-
logical significance. At first sight there is re-
markable similarity, at least in the accessories of
the two conceptions — the tree itself, the trickling
honey, the gnawed root, and the four stags.
Much resemblance, however, disappears on
closer examination. The central ideas of the
two legends are entirely diverse. One is
cosmological, the other eschatological.* As
Grimm observes, " the only startling thing
is the agreement in certain accessories " (Teut.
Myth., 799). Yet this resemblance in acces-
sories is the more striking on that account.
M. B^dier has recently suggested a formula for
testing the derivation of folktales and legends
from one another. He separates the central
idea of a story from the accidental accessories.
He expresses the former by w, and the details
by a, b, c, d, &c. His contention is, that mere
* There is, however, reference to Hell, at least in the
serpent and the gnawed root of the Norse version.
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxv
resemblance in the central idea (w) does not
prove derivation, but that resemblance in the
details (a, b, c, d, &c.) does do so. Thus, if
two stories be represented by the formulae
w + a + b + c + d and w + e + f + g + h, we
cannot conclude that the latter is derived from
the former. The method is not so rigid or so
objective as M. B^dier imagines. There is a
good deal of elasticity and possibility of subjec-
tive preference in his to. But be that as it may,
on the present occasion we have a state of affairs
which has not been contemplated in M. B^dier's
scheme. The w is different, while some of the
details are the same. We get the formulae —
Yggdrasil =a) + a + b + c + d + e + f
Man in Well =^ + a + b + c + d + g + h
If the central idea had been in both cases
the same there could be no doubt as to the
derivative character of the myth of Yggdrasil,
according to M. B^dier's method and formula.
As it is, we are met by a state of affairs which,
so far as I can observe, has not been contem-
plated by M. B^dier, and various interpreta-
tions will be given to the resemblance of details
by various people. For myself, I am inclined
^ f-7
Ixxvi INTRODUCTION
to think that the Yggdrasil Myth has been
" contaminated " by the other mediaeval allegory
of the "Man in the Well." In the first place,
the accessories common to the two are, in large
measure, meaningless in the Yggdrasil Myth,
especially "The Four Stags"; in the second
place, the Norse Myth, so far from being primi-
tive, as Grimm regards it, is probably late and
artificial. Messrs. Vigfusson and York-Powell,
indeed, go so far as to suggest that the Myth
never " travelled beyond the single poem in
which it was wrought out by a Master-Mind "
{Corp. Poet. Bor.j ii. 459). As for the possi-
bility of the Barlaam Legend reaching Iceland,
one may remember the close connection be-
tween Norway and Constantinople through the
Yarangars, the Norse bodyguard of the Eastern
Emperors. Altogether, therefore, I think it
possible, and even likely, that the Yggdrasil
Myth, in the form in which we have it now, has
been influenced in some of its details by the
parable of the " Man in the Well." *
Before leaving this interesting parable some-
* It is fair to add that Professor Bugge, who is generally
most ready to account for such similarities by transmission,
does not see how to do so in the present instance. See his
Studien.
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxvii
thing should be said as to its pictorial repre-
sentations. In most of the illustrated editions
of the Bidpai the illustration of this parable is
given; one will be found, e.g., in my edition
of the first English version of the Bidpai in
this series, p. 6i. Quite at the other end of
the world the "Man in the Well" can be
found illustrated in a Chinese chap-book deal-
ing with the storj, which is described and
figured in the Boyal Asiatic Society Journal^,
China Branch, xix i. 94. The parable also
formed the subject for church decoration, and
it is still to be found on the walls of several
Italian churches. We have here a further
example of that migration of illustrations to
which I referred in a former volume of this
series {Bidpai, pp. xix.-xxiv.).
4. The Tliree Friends. — This parable is re-
markable for the number of dramatic versions
to which it has given rise. But before discuss-
ing these it is worth while referring to the
possibility that this parable reached the West
from the East before the Barlaam was com-
posed. There is, indeed, a somewhat similar
parable, given by Petrus Alfonsi, a Spanish
Jewish convert of the early twelfth century, in
Z-^-e
/
Ixxviii INTRODUCTION
which a man tests the fidelity of his friend by-
pretending to be a murderer. The sources of
Alfonsi are, in every case, Oriental, yet the
same anecdote is told by Polyaenus, a writer of
the second century, as occurring to Alcibiades.
While, however, the central idea of this story
is the same as that of the Barlaam, its details
are different, and so, according to M. Bedier's
principle, we cannot count them as connected
by transmission. But in a Jewish work, FirJce
R. Eleazar, c. xliii., the parable occurs in nearly
the same form as the Barlaam* The opening
words of the story are sufficient to indicate
this : " Man has, during life, three friends.
These are — his children, his money, and his
good works. " It is generally thought that this
work was composed in the sixth century A.D.,
just before the Barlaam commenced its long
travels from Persia. And if so, it might be
thought possible that the Jewish form of the
Legend was the original one, especially as its
moral is pointed by appropriate Biblical verses.
Yet in the Barlaam it occurs in the Arabic,
* There seem to be a reference to this in the sixth
or supplementary chapter of the Pirke Aboth. But this
chapter is, according to Dr. Taylor, its latest and best
editor, quite a recent addendum.
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxix
Georgian, and Greek versions, so that it was
almost certainly in the Indian original. Either,
therefore, that original got to the West, or at
least to Syria or Babylon, independently, or
the form of the story in the Pirke Eleazar was
derived from the Barlaam, and its composition
must therefore be later than the seventh cen-
tury. Of its wide spread through the Ba7iaam
there is no doubt. It found a place in all the
great mediaeval collections, like the Gesta Roma-
norwrij and even in Stainhowel's Asop (cf. my
edition of Caxton, ii. p. 206).
Of its popularity in England an interesting
proof was afforded by a Morality founded upon
the parable, written in the fifteenth and printed
in the early sixteenth century by John Scott, a
pupil of Pynson's {circa 1592). This Morality,
entitled Every Man, was translated into Latin
by Christian Sterk, and printed in 1548 under
the title Homulus ; while a Dutch poet, Peter
van Diest, obtained a prize for a Dutch version
of the same title, which was printed at Cologne
in 1536. Dr. Goedeke, from whose monograph*
I take the above items, is of opinion that the
English version was the source of the Conti-
* Every Man ; Homulus und Hekastus. Hanover, 1865.
Ixxx INTRODUCTION
nental ones. Dr. Logeman, on the contrary,
considers the Dutch version the source of the
subsequent ones. I will not attempt to decide
when such doctors disagree, but will merely
remark that Academic dramas on the same
theme continued to be composed by Continental
scholars throughout the seventeenth century.
These plays, whose titles are given by Dr.
Goedeke, form, perhaps, the most striking proof
of the popularity of the parable of Barlaam.
5. Man and Bird. — The story of the man who
caught a nightingale and let it go on promise of
receiving three pieces of advice is well known in
English Literature as having formed the sub-
ject of one of Lydgate's pieces, and is equally
well known in Germany, being the subject of a
version by Wieland. Its earliest appearance is in
the Barlaam Literature, but it also occurs in the
very early Disciplina Clericalis of Petrus Alfonsi.
It is, of course, possible that the Spanish con-
vert got the allegory from Barlaam, but we know
that several other of his allegories were derived
from Eastern oral sources. It is, therefore,
possible that he obtained the Legend of the
" Man and Bird " from some other derivative
of the Indian original That it had an Indian
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxxi
original would almost be proven by the fact
that it occurs in all the four earliest versions,
Arabic, Georgian, Hebrew, and Greek. Benfey
(in his Einleitung, p. 380) compares the Indian
story of the bird who promises a hunter some
treasure if he will release him, and goes on
to point out that in some Indian stories a
piece of advice is often regarded as equal to
treasure-trove. These indications serve only
to show that the story is not inconsistent with
Indian ideas. But, on the other hand, there
is nothing specifically Indian in those ideas.
But for the fact that the story occurs for the
first time in the Barlaam we could not be
certain of its Indian origin. But it must be
remembered that when we prove the Indian
provenance of some of the tales in the book, this
adds considerably to the weight of probability
of the same origin in cases where we can only
indicate probability. As I have elsewhere re-
marked, the strength of the chain of tradition
depends on that of its strongest link, though
this be against the catenary laws of physicists.
6. Language of Animals. — This story only
occurs in one of the early versions of Barlaarriy
the Hebrew Prince and Dervish. But the
/
Ixxxii INTRODUCTION
story is remarkable as occurring as a wide-
spread folktale. Mr. Fraser, who discusses it
in connection with a general inquiry into the
folk- belief in the " Language of Animals "
{Arch. Rev. J i. 168-72), quotes Servian, Indian,
Arabic, Italian, Annamite, Tartar, and Finnish
versions. He does not, however, refer to the
Hebrew one, though this is, undoubtedly, the
earliest extant. Yet it is impossible to con-
sider the Hebrew the source of the folktales,
and it can, therefore, only be regarded as one of
the somewhat rare cases in which folktales have
been taken up into Literature. It may be worth
while to devote some consideration to this folk-
tale, as an instance of the problem of diffusion.
Nobody, not even M. B^dier, would assert
that such a complex and artificial story as this
could have been invented casually and inde-
pendently on two different occasions. A man
learns the language of animals on condition he
does not betray his knowledge. On one occa-
sion he bursts into laughter on hearing some
animal speak, and is pestered by his wife to
tell her why he laughed. He answers that he
must die if he tells her. But this, naturally,
only increases her curiosity and persistence.
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxxiii
He is about to give way, when he hears other
animals rebuking him for his weakness. They
know how to rule their wives ; why should not
he? A judicious application of the stick cures
the wife of her curiosity.
Such are the main outlines of the story, and
one may be pretty confident that it was only
invented once. The chief variation occurs with
regard to the species of animal that gives the
advice by which the man extricates himself
from his difficulties. In the Hebrew and in
the Arabian Nights, as well as in all the
European versions, the Counsellor is a Cock,
who points out that, if he can rule a hundred
hens, he does not see why the man cannot
overcome a single wife. In two of the Indian
versions, and in the Annamite Story, it is an
Ant who gives the advice. It is probable that
Mohammed knew this version, and refers to
it in the Koran in the Sura entitled Ant.
(Vulgate 27, Nbldeke-Eodwell, 68). Finally,
the Tamul, Jaina, and Turkish versions, given
by Benfey, and a further Indian version, which
Mr. Fraser quotes from Bastian, make the
Counsellor a He-goat. This criterion would
give us three lines of derivation from the
Ixxxiv INTRODUCTION
original. Considering the popularity of the
Arabian Nights^ it might, naturally, be sup-
posed that the European versions, in which
we are mostly interested, came from that
source. But the two Italian versions of
Morlini and Straparola were printed in the
sixteenth century, long before Galland had
made the Arabian Nights popular. So that
it is impossible to regard the latter as the
source of the European versions. These must
have spread from the East by the folk and
through the folk. But that they did spread
thence there can be but little doubt in the
mind of any one who compares the evidence.
7. Tlie Bobbers^ Nemesis. — Here again we
have a tale only occurring in the Hebrew
Barlaam, and yet certainly derived from India.
That it is the source of Chaucer's Pardonere's
Tale makes it of exceptional interest. It is,
also, curious to find that the story, which, in
its original form, is told of the Buddha, was,
later on, told about Jesus. The original was
discovered by Dr. Morris in the Vedablia
Jataka^ the forty - eighth Birth - Story of
Buddha {The Jatalca^ tr. Chalmers, vol. i. pp.
1 2 1-4). Here Buddha foresees the Nemesis
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxxv
which will befall the robbers. In a poetical
Persian version, and in two Arabic versions,
given by Mr. Clouston in the Chaucer Society's
Originals, pp. 423-9, it is Jesus, Son of Mary,
who has the prophetic insight of the Nemesis.
This story is only found among the folk in
Germany, where it was, possibly, made popular
by Hans Sachs. In Italy it formed the sub-
ject of a Miracle Play, but, so far as I know,
it does not occur among the Italian folktales ;
while the Portuguese version, given by Braga,
is not a true folktale, but is reproduced from
a Portuguese writer of the fourteenth century.
Thus the story is not a true folktale, and its
diffusion has been entirely literary.
8. King, Man, and Skull. — In the Bombay,
Arabic, and in one of the Persion versions
occurs the well-known story of Alexander and
the Skull, though the great Conqueror's name
is not mentioned. "A little dust will cover
the eye that took in the whole world in its
glance." This memento mori is mentioned in
the Talmud about Alexander, and recalls other
anecdotes given in Plutarch's Life. It may,
therefore, be a Greek tradition about the great
Conqueror, and is, clearly enough, an inter-
cr^
Ixxxvi INTRODUCTION
polation in the Barlaam Literature. But its
existence in one form of it is a proof that
interpolations of parables were possible, and
should make us careful before assuming that any-
one parable was in the Indian original unless
literary criticism can establish its provenance.
9. Man among Ghouls. — In the Bombay-
Arabic there occurs an interpolated story of a
vessel that was cast ashore on an island in-
habited by ghouls, who disguise themselves as
beautiful maidens. This has a certain amount
of similarity with the Myth of the Sirens, while
it has several Indian and Buddhistic variants
(for which see Appendix. II.), which prove that
it was a favourite conception of the Buddhists.
Indeed, the ghoul who disguises herself as a
beautiful maiden is quite a frequent motif in
Indian folktales. The chief interest of the
story- is, however, its relation to the incident
in the Odyssey. It has to be remembered that
the Bishop of Colombo is inclined to think that
certain portions of the Jatahas have been influ-
enced by the general scheme of the Odyssey.*
It, therefore, becomes possible that, instead of
the Sirens being derived from the Ghouls in
* Journ. B. A. S., Ceylon branch.
PARABLES OF BARLAAM Ixxxvii
this instance, the relationship may be of an
inverse kind. The early date of the Odyssey
makes it practically impossible that Homer
could have been influenced by any transmission
from India. On the other hand, resemblance
of the two legends is not so close as to force
us to assume derivation on either side.
lo. Women as Demons. — ^The lad who had
never seen a woman, and was told the first one
he saw was a demon, yet prefers the demon to
anything else he had seen, is almost the only
parable of Barlaam which has any humour in
it. It is a distinctly Indian conception, though
it chimed in sufficiently with the Christian
view of the wickedness of woman to be very
popular among the mediaeval preachers. It
occurs in both of the great Indian books, the
Mahdbharata and the Ramayana^ so that its
Indian origin is undoubted. Indeed, it is one
of the points requiring further investigation
whether the conception of the innate wicked-
ness of woman, which formff a stock subject
of Christian homiletics, was not derived from
the similar Buddhistic conception. Some time
ago Dr. Donaldson showed, in the Contempo-
rary Review (September 1889), that the de-
Ixxxviii INTRODUCTION
graded conception of the nature of woman
current in early Christianity could not be
traced to either Jewish or classical influence.
It is one of the many instances in which the
legend and doctrines of Christianity and Bud-
dhism show such a remarkable resemblance
that we are tempted, on folklore principles, to
assume some Indian influence.
These are all the Parables of Barlaam which
seem to me to require special comment, beyond
the information given in the notes to Appendix
II. The resemblance of one of the remaining
parables to the Ballad of King Cophetua, and
of another to Dryden's Gimon and Iphigenia^
are merely casual, and are of only secondary
interest from the folklore standpoint. But
these, and others given in Appendix II., will
not be found uninteresting by readers who care
for good stories. I cannot flatter myself that
anything I can say will be as interesting to the
reader as the text of the parables given in
Appendix II. After reading them the reader
will be able more fully to understand their
widespread popularity throughout mediaeval
Europe, to which we now turn.
Barlaam in Europe
Of the wide extent to which the Barlaam
was translated in the European languages no
better evidence could be afforded than the pedi-
gree in which I have attempted to sum up
Dr. Kuhn's elaborate bibliographical lists of
translations and versions. These number no
less than sixty separate translations, many of
which have gone through very many editions.
From Italy to Iceland, from Spain to Russia,
there is scarcely a land or a language into
which Barlaam has not penetrated. Even in
the distant Philippines, it will be seen from the
pedigree, a Tagol version was made from the
Spanish and printed at Manilla in 1 7 1 2. Even
the Fables of Bidpai have scarcely attained to
such oecumenical diffusion.
Restricting ourselves to Europe, we find that
it is chiefly the patronage of the Church that
Ixxxix
xc INTRODUCTION
has given rise to so extensive a literature. It
was because they were thought to be saintly
exemplars that the lives of Barlaam and
Josaphat became such an object of interest to
all good Catholics. It is, accordingly, the
versions in the sacred language of the Church
which have, as a rule, the largest number of
derivates. Europe read the Parables of
Barlaam, for the most part, in Latin.
There are two Latin versions which have
been the main source of the European adap-
tations of the Legend. The earlier one, attri-
buted to one Anatasius Bibliothecarius, went
into French, German, English, Spanish, Ice-
landic, Irish, and Czech, through the medium
of the VitcB Sanctorum, into which it had been
received.* Some of these adaptations of the
First Latin had themselves vigorous offshoots.
Thus, the Icelandic gave birth to Danish and
Swedish Barlaams. Solorzano's Spanish ver-
sion was done into Portuguese, and had the
still greater honour of being made the foun-
dation of a drama by Lope de Vega. This
drama, in its turn, was one of the sources
* For details, see pedigree, which summarises Dr. Kuhn's
bibliographical lists.
BARLAAM IN EUROPE xci
of Calderon's most famous play La Vida es
Sueno*
One of the French versions was even more
prolific. Executed in prose in the thirteenth
century, it got into Provencal and became
the father of the numerous Italian offshoots
which include a mediaeval sacred drama, and
another drama, not perhaps so sacred, by
Pulci.
This First Latin version, as received into
the Vitce Sanctorum, was also taken up into
two great mediaeval collections which thus
helped to spread the Barlaam Legend and
Parables. St. Vincent of Beauvais placed an
abstract of it in his huge Encyclopaedia in
the historical section {Speculum HistorialcSf
XV.). Another abstract was included by
Jacobus de Yoragine in his Golden Legend,
whence it was utilised to form the subject of
two French Miracle Plays, while the book
itself got into English in Caxton's version,
which we have repeated in this volume.
Besides the Caxton, there are no less than
four mediaeval English versions, which have
* See Mr. MaccoU's Select Plays of Calderon, pp.
121-23.
xcii INTRODUCTION
recently been printed under the editorial care
of Dr. Horstmann. Three in verse were in-
cluded by him in his Altenglische Legenden
(Paderborn, 1875), and one in prose printed
by him in a programme in 1877.* None of
these English versions give either the Legend
or the Parables in a particularly attractive
form, and, for the most part, when we can
trace any influence of the Barlaam Literature
in England it is, probably, directly due to one
of the Latin versions of the Legend, or to the
adaptations of the Parables used as Exempla
by English monks, like Nicholas Bozon.t
When one refers to the chapbook versions,
one of which is reprinted in this volume, the
short and simple annals of the English Barlaam
are concluded.
There yet remains another Latin version
• I am indebted to Dr. Kolbing for an opportunity of
seeing this latter, which is rather rare. It has accordingly
been omitted by the Rev. J. Morrison, who has reprinted
the three metrical versions as an Appendix to Dr. Mac-
donald's Story of Barlaam and Josaphat (Calcutta, 1895,
Thacker). The volume also contains The Hiitory of the
Five Wise PkUuiopliers.
t See Contes nutraliads de Nicole Bozon : edit. Toulmin
Smith and Meyer, pp, 46, 59, 106, and corresponding Notes.
Cf. Jacques de Vitry, Exempla: edit. Crane, Nos. ix.,
xxxviii., xlli., xlvii., Ixxviii,, Ixxxii., ex., cxxxiv.
BARLAAM IN EUROPE x<in
which had considerable influence upon the
spread of the Barlaam, When Abbot Billius
of S. Michel in Britaimy produced a Latin
edition of the works of John of Damascus,
he became dissatisfied with the early Latin
version and executed one of his own, which
appeared in the Saint's Opera, Paris, 1577,
and separately, sixteen years afterwards. This
gave rise to further French translations, and
to Dutch, Polish, and Spanish adaptations.
This last had the distinction of being adopted
into the Tagol dialect of Manilla, and was
received into a Spanish "Golden Legend"
known as the Flos SoHetorum, which was irans>
lated back into Latin, as well as into French,
Italian, German, Dutch, and English.
There remain only to be considered the
Slavonic versions which spread through East
Europe. These all derive from the Old
Slavonic, which forms ihe basis of the modern
Russian, and of vaiioQS Boomanian versions.
The Legend has taken firm root in Slavonic
soil, and has given rise, both in Bussia and
Boumania, to a most pathetic folksong in
which Josaphat is represented addressing the
wilderness in which he is to pass his ascetic
xciv INTRODUCTION
life."* It is, doubtless, from one of the
popular Russian versions that Count Tolstoi
has obtained his knowledge of the Barlaam^
of which he gives evidence in his Confessions.
The oecumenical spread of the Barlaam Lite-
rature, which I have now sufficiently indicated
by this summary of the bibliography of the
book — though this has, of course, to be sup-
plemented by the evidence of the separate
spread of the Parables — is sufficient proof of
the attractiveness both of Legend and Parables
to the mediaeval mind of Europe. When we ask
what is the charm which attracted mediaeval
Christendom to what is, after all, only a version
of the life and parables of Buddha, the answer is
not far to seek. The world has known, up till
now, four great systems of Religion : Paganism,
Buddhism, Christianity, and Culture, of which
last Goethe may be described as the High
Priest. Paganism in its various forms may
be most simply described as the Worship of
the Social Bond. All the other three religions
have for their main object the salvation of
the individual. And all three are at one as
* Cf. Castor, Lit. Pop. Bom., pp. 46-53 ; and Kuhn's
References, p. 53.
BARLAAM IN EUROPE xcv
to the means of salvation. ^^ Enthehren, ent-
heliren sollst du^^ cried Goethe, and in his
own way was only repeating what Buddha and
Christ had said before him. Renunciation as
the key of salvation is thus the teaching of
all modern religions. It is because the
Barlaam Legend, and many of its Parables,
have presented renunciation as the ideal of
man's striving, that it came home in the
Middle Ages so persistently to the folk with
whom renunciation is a necessity of existence.
The truth embodied in this tale has indeed
come home to lowly minds.
APPENDIX I
ABSTEACT OF LEGEND
[The following abstract gives the main results
of the restoration of the original legend made from
the various early versions, not derived from the
Greek, by Kuhn, pp. 15-33. I ^^^^e run his §§ 3 and
4 into one, so that after 3, his sections are numbered
one higher than mine. In the annotations, Arab,
references to the pages of the Bombay Kitdb., Gr. to
the pages of Boissonade's Greek text, Heb. references
to the chapters ("Gates") of Ibn Chisdai. For
parables, see Appendix II.]
I. — Barlaam.
There lived once a king in India mighty and
powerful, who knew not the true faith, and per-
secuted grievously its adherents. Now he had no
son to follow him, and this grieved him sorely. One
night his chief wife dreamed that a huge white
elephant came down to her from the air, but injured
xcvii „
xcviii APPENDIX
her not. The astrologers declared to the king that
he would have a son.
[Arab. 3-5. Gr. 1-8. Heb. Int. The name of the
king is in Arab. Janaisar, in Georg. lahenes, in Gr.
Abenner. (Cf. 2 Sam. iii. 6.) The name of the country
in Arab, is Shawilabatt, a reminiscence of Kapila-
vastu. The dream only in Arabic, but certainly in
original, owing to Buddhistic parallels. (Cf. Beal,
Bom. Leg. 37.)]
II.
The King learnt that one of his chief men had
been converted to the true faith, and summoned
him to him. The Sage told him of the vanity of
the world, and besought him to humble his pride :
but the King was incensed, and drove the Sage from
his kingdom.
[Arab, 5-17. Gr. 8-18. Heb. i.-iii. The sermon on
the vanity of the world much contracted in Gr. Part
of it is found later, Gr. 109-11.]
III.
A son is born to the King, who is named Yudasaf,
and when his horoscope is cast the astrologers de-
clare, that while he would surpass all his forebears
in majesty, he would turn to the true faith. So
the King built for him a beautiful palace far away
from the haunts of men, so that he could never
know the common lot of men or learn the nature
of death.
APPENDIX xcix
Meanwhile he continued the strictest persecution
of the followers of the faith.
[Arab. 17-27. Gr. 18-28. Heb. iv. v. Name of
Prince in Georg. lodasap, in Arab. BUddsaf. K. con-
siders latter only accidentally identical with Arabic
title of Buddha.]
IV.
Meanwhile the Prince grows up and begins to
feel the loneliness of his position. He asks his
teachers, and learns the secret of his imprisonment.
Thereupon he begs his father to grant him greater
freedom : but when he goes out he meets a blind
man, and a leper, and an old man, and a corpse,
and learns from these the common fate of man.
Who shall give him consolation for the fate that
awaits him? he asks, and is told that only the
hermits of the true faith can allay the fear of death.
These have been driven from the country.
[Arab. 27-34. Gr. 28-35. Heb. vi. Name of the
Teacher not given in Gr. or Arab., but Zandani in
Georg. (Cf. Chandaka, Buddha's Charioteer.) Arab,
alone adds a Buddhistic trait, as follows : '"An astro-
loger declares that the boy will forsake the world,
unless he is made to shed blood. The lad is put to
sacrifice a sheep, but instead, wounds himself in his
left hand, and faints." (Cf. the Buddhistic Ahinsa.)
For the meetings, cf. Carus, Gospel of Buddha, § vi.,
and supra, pp. xliv.-v.]
APPENDIX
Now the holy hermit Barlaam came at this time
to the court of the Prince in the garb of a merchant,
and came into his presence under the pretext that
he had precious stones to show him. When asked
what it is, he tells the tale of : —
V.a. The, Holy King and the Hermit^
which includes also the parables —
V.a. i. The Truvipet of Death.
V.a. ii. The Four Caskets.
V.a. iii. The Sower.
[Arab. 37-46. Gr. 36-44, Heb. vii,-viii. Gr. puts
Parable of Sower first. For parables, see infra.
Heb. adds in c. ix. that of V.b., Bird and Fisherman.']
VI.
Barlaam teaches the vanity of this world by
means of the three parables —
VI. a. The Man in the Well.
Vl.b. The Three Friends.
VI. c. The King of the Year.
[Arab. 47-69. Gr. 44-120, but with much Christian
interpolations (Biblical History, 44-56 ; the Sacrament
of Baptism, 58-9, 88-9, Old and New Testament, 90-2,
Repentance, 90-4, Martyrs and Monks, 100-8). None
of these in Georg. , which, however, contains the Chris-
tian Confession of Faith, Gr, 83-4, Other Christian
interpolations in Gr. 126-134. Heb. x.-xiv,, adding
the Parable of the Cannibal King, also found in Arab,,
which has besides the Apologues, Dogs and Carrion.
Bird and Prophet, Sun of Wisdom, King and Shepherd,
APPENDIX ci
VII.
The Prince then inquires why his father should
have persecuted the followers of the true faith if
their doctrines were so sound. Barlaam tells the
parables —
VII. a. The Heathen King and the Believing Vizier.
(VII. a. i. The Swimmer and his Comrades.)
Vll.b. The Rich Young Man and the Beggar's
Daughter.
(VII. b. ii. Education hy Love).
VII. c. ITie Man and the Bird.
The Prince asks Barlaam how old he is, and is
told " twelve years old," for only during the time
of hermithood had he truly lived.
[Arab. 39-117. Gr. 134-143. But Man and Bird
in § vi. In Gr. Barlaam has lived 45 out of 70 years :
in Georg. 18 out of 60, Heb. xvi.-xxii., adding in
xxi. The Prophet and the Bird, The Language of
Animals, and The Bobbers' Nemesis.]
VIII.
The Prince's guardian, Zardan, overhears the con-
versation of Barlaam and Yudasaf, and threatens to
tell the King, but is induced not to do so by the
Prince.
[Arab. 117-23, Gr. 179-83 (before end of § ix.), Heb.
xxiv. and portions of xxv., xxvi., but from henceforth
pursues an original course till end of xxxv. (= § ix.).
Georg. omits Christian dogmatics of Gr. 180-1.]
APPENDIX
IX.
Barlaam tells the Prince that he must leave him,
whereupon the Prince expresses his willingness to
go with him. Then Barlaam tells the parable —
IX. a. The Tame Gazelle.
The Prince inquires after the mode of life and
dress of the followers of the true faith, which
Barlaam shows to him. Thereupon the Prince
exchanges clothes with Barlaam, who goes his way.
[Arab. 123-35. Gr. 154-160, but with transposition
of incidents. Then 161-178, Joasaph's Baptism and
First Communion. Georg. omits 161-3 (Confession of
Faith), 165-6 (Mass), 166-7 (Images and Cross), 167
(Heretics), 167-8 (Baptism and Communion). Then
follows in Gr. 179-83 (§ viii.). Then 183-9 (Exchange
of Clothes and Parting). There is a Buddhistic
analogy for the exchange of clothes in that of Buddha
and Mahakasyapa. (Cf. Beal, Eom. Leg. 145-318.)]
X.
The King learns through Zardan the conversion
of his son, and consults with his astrologer, Araches.
He recommends, either to seize Barlaam and put
him to death, or if he cannot be found, to get a
stranger, named Nachor, to personate him and be
overcome in a public disputation upon the faith.
[Arab. 135-48. Gr. 190-205. Arab, has only one
JRakis, who is sliced by Gr. and Georg. into two,
Araches and Nachor. Kuhn sees in Rakis some re-
miniscence of the Buddhistic Devadatta. ]
APPENDIX
XI.
Before the disputation the King tries twice to
turn his son from the New Way. At first with
menaces, and then with persuasive mildness.
[Arab. 148-236. Gr. 206-32. Arab, has two dis-
cussions : in course of second, the Prince enumerates
his ancestors and declares they were all followers of
al-Budd. Both King and son agree as to the beauty
of al-Budd's doctrines. Hence Kuhn sees an inter-
polation from the Kitdb al-Budd.]
XII.
The disputation is held, but beforehand the
Prince threatens Nachor to tear him asunder if
he does not conquer for the right faith. Nachor
triumphs and flees into the wilderness.
[Arab. 236-48. Gr. 232-62, but with the insertion
of The Apology of Aristides.]
XIII.
The magician, Theudas, recommends the King
to lead the Prince away by the wiles of woman, and
narrates the parable —
Xlll.a. The Youth who had never seen a Woman.
The Prince resists temptation and sees in a dream
the fate of the saints and the damned. He re-
proaches the King, and remains firm to the true
civ APPENDIX
faith. He also interviews Theudas, and tells him
the parable —
Xlll.b. The Peacock and the Raven.
Thendas is converted to the true faith, and the
Prince goes forth into the wilderness to live a
hermit's life with Barlaam.
[Arab. 249-70. Gr. 263-302. Heb. xxxv. Georg.
adds parable, Man and Amorous Wife, and omits Chris-
tian interpolations of Gr. 286-9 (Against Idolatry),
290-2 (Incarnation), 293-6 (Spread of Christianity),
297-9 (Controversy of Heathen Philosophers and
Poets).
The magician is called T'edam in Georg., Tahdam
in Arab., but Theudas in Gr. (Cf. Acts v. 37.) In
Arab, the Prince is saved from temptation by a dream,
and converts Tahdam by the parable of Peacock and
Raven to the faith of al-Budd, and tells the Prince
that forty years before he had met a wise Indian who
bad told him that al-Budd had told that parable 300
years before, and prophesied that the true Peacock
would come after 300 years.
The temptation is Buddhistic. (Cf. Ehys Davids,
Birth Stories, i. 81, and Cams, Gospel of Buddha, § xi.)
Theudas represents Buddha's schoolfellow, Udayin.
(Beal, p. 349.) The parable is the ^at;e?'w J^atoZ;a. In
Gr. and Georg. the King becomes converted, and
after his death Joasaph puts another on the throne,
and joins Barlaam in the wilderness. Both saints die,
and their relics are collected. In Arab. II. the Prince
flees by night from his palace together with his vizier.
He is stopped by a beautiful boy, who tries to induce
him to remain. But he continues his flight on horse-
back, and when he arrives at the edge of the wilder-
ness sends the vizier back with his horse and valuables.
He then sees a great tree by a brook. On the tree
APPENDIX
grow fruit that thanked him as he plucked them.
Four angels take him up to heaven, where he is taught
of wisdom, and then returns to earth, and converts
all he meets. He visits his native town and his father,
and at last reaches Kashmir, where he puts his head
to the west, and his feet to the east, and dies after
giving his blessing to his favourite pupil Anand. Here
we have clearly jthe Great Renunciation, and the en-
lightenment under the Bo-Tree. The vizier is Chan-
daka, the boy, JRahula. Kashmir is a misreading for
Kv^inara, and Anand, of Ananda. (Cf. Carus, §§ vii.,
xi., xcvi., xcvii)]
APPENDIX II.
[The following series of abstracts give the parables
contained in the early versions of the Barlaam,
with bibliographical index of their occurrences
elsewhere, as well as references with previous
critical treatment of the separate parables. For
the Greek I have referred to Zotenberg's edition
of the parable at the end of the Notice (Z). For
the Halle Arabic I have referred to the translation
by Mr. Rehatsek in the Journ. Boy. Asiat. Soc, N.S.,
xxii. 119-55 (Reh.), for a translation of the Greek
to Mr. R, Chambers' English version, ibid, xxiii. (C,),
and Lubrecht's German (L.). For the Hebrew I give
the "gate" or chapter, while for the Georgian and
the other Arabic versions Kuhn and Hommel are
my authorities. To each parable I have added a
Roman numeral indicating the section of the origi-
nal in which it is inserted. (See App. I.) Under
the heading " Literature " I have mainly confined
myself to the more recent monographs, which them-
selves contain references to earlier treatments.]
Il.a. Anger and Passion.
To embrace the true faith it is necessary to send
away its enemies. And what are they? Anger
APPENDIX cvii
and Desire. These may support the truly human
being who directs his life according to the Spirit,
but for carnal beings they are deadly enemies.
[Z. i., L. p. 8, C. 4^5.]
V.a. The Trumpeb of Death and the Four Gaskets.
Z. v., vi., L. p. 35, C. 433.
A king once saw two hermits clad in scanty
clothing passing by his state carriage. He leapt
out, and bowed down before them and saluted them
with every mark of respect and honour. His
courtiers could not make anything of this, and asked
the King's younger brother to remonstrate with
him at his behaviour. This he did : but next day
the King sent to him a herald with the Trumpet
of Death, with which it was customary in that
country to announce to high-born criminals that
they were condemned to death. The Prince in
great dismay went weeping to the King, and begged
to know in what he had offended. The King
replied, " In naught, my brother, but I will teach
thee why I greeted the hermits so respectfully. If
thou art so moved at seeing the herald of thy own
brother, should I not be even more impressed at
seeing the herald of my God ? " And so saying he
dismissed his brother. But he caused four caskets
to be made : two covered with gold and precious
stones, but containing naught but dry bones. The
other two, however, he covered only with clay,
but filled them with jewels and costly pearls. He
cviii APPENDIX
then summoned the courtiers to him and asked
them to give judgment as to the value of the
caskets. They replied that those covered with
gold must contain the royal jewels, while the clay
could be of no particular value. Thereupon the
King ordered the caskets to be opened, and point-
ing to the golden ones he said, "These represent
the men who go about clothed in fine raiment but
within are full of evil deeds. But these," he
added, turning to the caskets of clay, "represent
those holy men who, though ill clad, are full of
jewels of the faith."
[Death Trumpet. — Occurrence in Barlaam, Litera-
ture.— See App. I., V. Occurring in Arab., Georg., and
Gr., it must have been in Indian original, and was
probably there also connected with "The Four Caskets."
Nearly all the derivates of the Greek contain it.
Indian Original. — Legend of Asoka's brother, Vita-
soka (Burnouf J Introd.). (Cf. Katha-sarit-sagara, VI.
xvii., tr, Tawney, i. 237.)
Parallels. — The Sword of Damocles (Cicero, Tusc.
Disp., V. 21 ; Oesterley on Gesta, 143 ; Wendenmuth,
a. 21 ; Crane on Exempla, xlii.b).
Derivates. — Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, ed. Crane,
xlii. ; Paratus, Sermones, 145 ; Wright, Latin Stories,
103 ; John of Bromyard, s.v. " Homo " ; Oesta Romano-
rum, ed. Oesterley, 143 ; Abundancia exemp., f. 30.b ;
Gower, Conf. Amant. (Cf. Swan, Gesta, 401) ; 3Iag.
speculum exemp., ed. 1610, s.v. Judicium; Libro de
enxemplos, 121, 223 ; Brit. Mus. MS., add. 11,284, ^'
27b, 40b (Crane).
Literature. — E. Braunholtz. Die Erste Nichtchrist-
liche, Parabel des Barlaam und Josaphat, ihre Her-
kunft und Verbreitung, Halle, 1884, but mainly con-
cerned with Four Caskets. For reviews, &c., see that
APPENDIX cix
parable s.v. Literature ; Oesterley on Gesta, 143 ;
Wendenmuth., ii. 21. (But confusing with Damocles)
Crane, ut supra ; Cassell, Aus Literatur und Symholik,
166-8 ; Kuhn, 74-5.
The Four Caskets. — Occurrences in Barlaam. — In
Arab., Georg., and Gr., therefore in original. In all
derivates of Gr.
Indian Original. — Tale of Asoka's Minister Yasas.
(Burnouf , Introd. , 333 ; St. Hilaire, Bouddha, 105. )
With the addition of "The Caskets," from Buddhistic
" Folk-Tales," on which Benfey, Pants, i. 407 seq.
Parallels. — Buddhistic comparison of man's body to
a casket {Lalita Vistara, tr. Foucaux, p. 358). Cf.
Gospel parallel of Whited Sepulchres and Talmudic
Legends, Bdba Bathra, s8a ; Synhedrin, io8b. (Cf.
Gaster, Beitrdge, pp. 6-10.) For Folk-Tales contain-
ing choice of Caskets, see Cosquin, I.e.
DeHvates. — Vincentius Bellovacensis, Spec, hist, xv.
10 ; Gerard de Roussillon, ed. Michel ; Legenda aurea,
f. 138b, and offshoots ; Guy de Cambrai, Barlaam, ed.
Zotenberg and Meyer, p. 37 ; Jehan de Conde, "Dou
roi et des hiermittes " in Dits et Contes, ed. Scheler. , II.
i. 63 ; Bartsch, Provenz. Lesebuch, 166-74 > Storia
de' SS. Barlaam e Oiosafatte, ed. Bottari, Rome, 1734,
p. 20 ; Vita di Giosafatte in Bini, Rime e prosa, Lucca,
1852, p. 124 ; Boccaccio, Decamerone, x. i ; Gower,
Confessio A mantis, ed. Pauli, ii. 203 ; Morlini, nov. v. ;
Straparola, Notti, fav. v. ; Carion, Chronica, 1533, f.
2013b (Kaiser Sigmund, see Genealogy for offshoots) ;
Bromyard, Summa Prcedicantium, s. v. " Honor" ; Gesta
Eomanorum, ed. Oesterley, 251, ed. Herrtage, p. 294 ;
Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, ii. i, 7, 9 ; iii. 2 ;
Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, ed. Crane, xlvii. ; Bozon,
Contes moralises, ed. Toulmin Smith and Meyer,
Ixxxiv.
Literature. — Braunholtz, ut supra. (Cf. Reviews by
Zingarelli, Arch. Tradiz. Popol, iii. 143-6 ; Brandes,
Anglia, viii. 24-6 ; Varnhagen, Deuts. Lit. Zeit. 1885,
ex APPENDIX
p. 17 ; Giorn. Lett. Ital. , iii. 142 ; Bolte, Jahrcsher.
German. Philol., vi. 116); Simrock, Quellen, iii. 201 ;
Landau, Quellen ; Benfey, Pants, 1. 407 ; Oesterley,
Herrtage, Crane, 11, cc. ; Kuhn, 74-5.]
V.b. Bird and Fisherman.
A bird saw a fisbermaii drawing a fisli to land,
and pounced down upon it and swallowed it. But
soon the fish-hook caught in its throat, and the
fisherman began to pull it in. With difiiculty the
bird freed itself ; but henceforth it dared not
swallow any fish, for fear of a similar danger, and
thus died of hunger.
[Only in Heb. ix., but probably in original, since
certainly Indian, (Cf. Hijpotad., iv. loi ; Benfey,
Pants, i. 227,)]
V.c. The Sower.
When the sower sows his seed some falls on the
highway, where the passengers tread it under foot.
Others are blown away by the wind. Others picked
up by the birds. Some seeds fall on rocky ground,
and grow only till the roots reach the rock. Others
fall among the thistles. Only a small portion falls
in rich earth, where it grows and brings forth fruit.
The sower is the Sage ; the seed is his wisdom.
The seeds that fall by the wayside, &c., are pieces
of wisdom that come into one ear only to go out
of the other. Those falling on rocky ground are
not taken to heart. Those among thorns meet
I
APPENDIX cxi
with opposition from the senses. Only that which
takes root in the heart brings forth fruit in the
character.
\OccfVLrren/ies in Barlaam. — In Arab., Georg,, and
Heb. c. X,, and Gr. ; probably, therefore, in the
original in some form, but the details are from the
New Testament.
Source.— Parable of Sower, Matt. xiii. 3 ; Markiv. 3 ;
Luke viii. 5.
Parallel. — Sutta Nihata, tr. Fausboll, pp. 1-5. (Cf.
Cams, Gospel of Buddha, § 74. )]
Vl.a. The Man in the Well.
Z. viii., L. p. 93.
A man saw a raging .nriirnn]., and flying from
him fell into a pit. But as he fell he caught hold
of a branch which saved him from falling to the
bottom, while he rested his feet upon a projecting
stone. Looking about him he saw two mice, one
white and one black, gnawing at the root of the
branch which he was holding, while at the bottom
of the well he saw a fiery dragon, and near the
stone on which his feet rested, a serpent, with four
heads. But just at this moment he noticed on
the branch he was holding a few drops of honey
trickling down, and forgetting the unicorn, the
dragon, the snakes, and the mice, he directed his
whole thoughts how he might obtain the sweet
honey.
Now the unicorn is death, the well is the world,
full of manifold evil, the two mice are the night
cxii APPENDIX
and tlie day which, eat away the branch of life,
while the four serpents are the four elements
of man's body, and the fiery dragon represents
hell. The few drops of honey, the pleasures of
this world.
{Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Arab., Georg., and
Gr. , therefore in Indian original.
Indian Original. — Mahabharata, xi. (Cf. Clouston,
Athenceum, Feb. 7, 1891.) Jaina version, Chinese ver-
sion, Avadanas, i. 132 seq., 191 seq., Tibetan version.
(Cf. Germania, xxxv. 351 seq.) For variations, see
supra, p. Ixxiii.
Parallels. — For symbol of tree, cf. Madhusudana on
Bhagavadgita, xv. i. A reference to elephant in
Upanishads, S.B.E., xv. 167. For resemblance with
Yggdrasil, see Grimm, Teut. Myth., 1331, 1536.
Derivates. — Occurs in Bidpai literature, cf. Bidpai,
ed. Jacobs, p. Ixx. (add. Directorium, ed. Derenbourg,
p. 34 and refs. in note), as well as in almost all ver-
sions of Barlaam. In Arab, Romance of Avicenna,
cf. Noldeke, Doctor und Garkoch, p. 53 ; Berachyah
Nakdan, 68 (cf. Steinschneider, Z.D.M.G., xxvii. 562;
Central-Anzeiger, i. 134 ; Uebersetzungen, 880). Gesta,
ed. Oesterley, 168 ; Legenda aurea, c. 180 ; Vincent
Bellovac, Hist., xiv. 15 ; 3Ior.,I., i. 20 ; Odo deShering-
ton, ap. Hervieux, Fab. Lat., ii. 626 ; Abund. Exempl.,
f. 51 ; Bareleta, Sermones, ed. 1505, f. 9 ; Spec. Exempl.,
ed. 1487, iv. 16; Magn. Spec. Exempl., ed. Major, s.v.
" Delitiae," iv. ; Libra de los Gatos, 48 ; Jacques de
Vitry, Exempla, ed. Crane, 134 ; Bozon, Contes Mora-
list, 29 ; Dit de VUnicorne et du Serpent in Jubinal,
Nouv. rec, ii. 113 ; and Lidforss, Choix, 1877, No. 16 ;
Stephen de Borbone, Hubert de Roman, 50 ; Rev. d.
lang. rom., 3rd ser., ix. 161. Cats Dutch poem, MS. ;
Manul Philes, Carmina, i. 126 seq. ; Slav, version by
Veselovsky (see Kuhn, 77). Chinese Chapbook, ap.
R.A.S., China branch, XIX., i. 94.
I
APPENDIX cxiii
Illustrations. — Schnaase, Oesch. d. Bild. Kunste,
2te, Auf., vii. 262, R. A.S., m< supra ; Philes and Chinese
Chapbook, ut supra; Bidpai, ed. Jacobs, pp. xxx. 61.
Literature. — Kuhn in Fcstgruss an Otto von Boht-
inr;k, pp. 68-76, with addenda in Barlaam, 76-7 ;
Oesterley, Crane, ut supra ; Toulmin Smith and Meyer
on Bozon, p. 239 seq. ; Landau, Quellen, 222 seg. ;
Clouston, ut supra; Knust in Jahrb. rom. eng. Litt.,
vi. 36 seq. ; Gott. Oel. Am., 1867, p. 1299 seq. ; Benfey,
Pants, i. 81, ii. 528 ; Jacobs, ut supra.'\
Vl.b. The Three Friends.
Z. ix., L. p. 95, C. 438.
A man once had three friends, two of whom he
loaded with gifts and friendly acts ; the third he
neglected. One day he was seized and brought
before the King, who ordered him to find security
for a great sum. He went to his first friend, who
told him he could only give him a single garment.
And the second said he would accompany him a
little way to the King, but then had to return to
his own house. As a last resort he went to the
third friend, and begged him to forgive his negli-
gence and help him in his strait. But the third
friend received him kindly, and said he would go
before to the King and try and rescue him out
of the hands of his enemies.
The first friend is wealth ; the second, wife and
children ; the third, good works.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Arab., Georg., and
Gr. (Z. ix., L. p. 95), therefore in the original.
Indian Original. — Not yet discovered, though Kuhn,
cxiv APPENDIX
p. 78, gives several Indian proverbs in which good
works are called the only friends that accompany you
into the next life.
Parallels. — Petrus Alf onsi, Disc. cler. , ii. , for derivates
of which see Goedeke, Evert/ Man, 1-7. Cf. Caxton,
^sop, ed. Jacobs, Alf. i., A. i, 263-4 5 Pirke Eleazar,
43. (Cf . I. Levi in Rev. d. Etudes juives, xviii. 83-9 ;
Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 864.)
Derivates. — In all translations of Barlaam ; Rudolf
von Ems, Barlaam, ed. Pfeiffer, 120-7 > Legenda aurea,
180 ; Vincent Bellovac, Hist., xv. 16 ; Mor., I., iv. 19 ;
III, , X. 21 ; Holkot, Moralit., 28 ; Bromyard, Summa, A.
xxi. 5 ; Junior, Scala seli, 9 ; Nic. Purg., Dial, creat.,
Directorium, iv. 2, D. ; Bareleta, Sermones, 49 ;
Martin Polon, Promptuarium, xi, B. ; Specul. Exempt. ,
iv. 17 ; Wright, Latin Stories, 108 ; Selentroist, 15, B. ;
Bodmer, Fab. , 247 ; H. Sachs. , I. , i. 100 ; Herder, Werke,
ix. 64, ed. 1829 ; Svenski Legendarium, 615 ; Jacques
de Vitry, Exempla, 120 ; Peregrinus, Sermones, f. 30 ;
Libro de Enxemplos, No. 16 ; Gesta Romanorum, ed.
Oesterley, 138; Acerra philol., 1708, v. 95; Sancho,
Castigos, 36 ; Manuel, Conde Lucanor, 48.
Dramatic Versions. — Every Man, ed. Goedeke, 1865 ;
Peter Vandiest, ed. Logeman, 1893; Christian Ischyrius,
Homulus; Jaspar Gennep, Commedia hamuli Ein
schon Spyl., 1540, &c. ; Homulus Comedie ofte spel,
Amsterdam, 1633 ; G. Lankveld (Macropedius), He-
castus. Colon, 1539 ; L, Rappolt, Ein schon christlish
Spiel, Hecastus, genannt. ; Hans Sachs, Ein Comedi
von dem reichem sterbendem Menschen, 1649 ; other
German translations by Spanengbui-g, Ravenstock,
Schreckenberger, Saurius, Himmelreich, Striceris De
dudesche Schlomer, Lubeck, 1584.
Literature. — Goedeke, Every Man, Homulus und
Hekastus, Ein Beitrag zur internationalen Littera-
turgeschichte ; Logeman, Levi, Steinschneider, Oester-
ley, Crane, ut supra.]
APPENDIX cxv
VI.c. r/i« Kirvg of the Year,
Z. X., L. p. 98, C. 441.
It was the custom in a certain country to select
a stranger to rule over them each year, who for
that time had full power and enjoyed all the
treasures of the kingdom, but at the end of the
year he was stript of all his wealth and power and
banished to a desolate island. But on one occasion
the King of the year learnt his future fate, and in
anticipation sent to the island a large amount of
treasure, clothing, food, and all necessities and
luxuries, so that he wanted for nothing when the
time came for his banishment.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Arab., Georg., Heb.,
and Gr. (Z. x., L. p, 98), therefore in original.
Parallels. — Talmud, Babat Bathra, iib ; Dham-
mapada, 25, 235-8 ; Matt. vi. 19, 20,
Derivates. — Bechai ibn Pakuda, Choboth Halehahoth
(in Arab., ed. Zotenberg, p. 90); Jacques de Vitry,
Exempla, ix. ; Legenda aurea, 180 ; Stephen de Bor-
bone, Hubert de Roman ; Vincent Bellovac, Hist., xv.
17; Mor., II., i. 4; Junior, Scala cell, 21b. ; Brom-
yard, Summa, O., i. 4 ; Specul. Exempl.,\v. 18 ; Manuel,
Conde Lucanor, 49 ; Libro de Enxemplos, 310 ; Svenskt
Legendar., 616 ; Peregrinus, Sermones, ix., post Pent. ;
Paratus, Sermones, ii. ; Magn. Specul. Exempl. s.v.
"Mundus;" Oesta, ed. Oesterley ; Gallensis, Com-
munialoquium, VII. , i. S j Selentroist, f. 14 ; Brit. Mus.
MS., Add. 26,770, f. 78; 11,284, f- 78; Langbein,
Werke, vii. 216-9.
Literature. — Oesterley, Crane, Goedeke, 205; Weiss-
lovits, 154-60 ; Kuhn, 79, 80 ; Kohler, Jahrb. Bom.
Eng. Litt., ii. 22 ; Cassel, Aus Litteratur und Si/mbolik,
177.]
cxvi APPENDIX
Vl.d. Dogs and Carrion.
Dogs are quarrelling about some carrion, when a
stranger passes by. They immediately turn upon
him and attack him altogether, though he has no
desire to interfere with their prey.
The carrion is riches, the dogs worldly people,
and the stranger the pious hermit.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only found in Heb., c.
xxiii. , and Arab. , in all three forms of it. { Cf . Rehatsek,
p. 140.)]
VI.e. The Cannibal King.
A king is forced to flee wdth wife and children
before the enemy. One of the children dies, and
they are forced to eat him. So the pious eat from
necessity, while others eat with appetite.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Heb. c. xii., and Arab.
(cf. Reh., p. 149), not in Gr., which probably omitted
it for aesthetic reasons.
Indian Original. — Tibetan, Dsanglun, tr. Schmidt,
xxviii. seq., ap. Benfey, Pants, i. 391.
Literature. — Kuhn, 21 ; Cassel, 227 ; Weisslovits,
87 ; Benfey, I.e.]
Vl.f. The Sun of Wisdom.
Wisdom is like the sun, which shines everywhere
and upon all. Yet we cannot always see it, because
some have weak sight, and cannot bear its brilliance ;
others are blind, and cannot see at all.
[Occwrrences in Barlaam. — In Heb., c. xv., and
Arab. ; only slight traces in Gr.
Literature. — Kuhn, 21 ; Weisslovits, 94.]
APPENDIX cxvii
Vl.g. The King and Shepherd.
A king hunting invites a shepherd to eat with
him in the heat of the day.
ShepJierd. "I cannot eat with thee, for I have
already promised another greater than thee."
King. "Who is that?"
Shepherd. " God, who has invited me to fast."
King. " But why fast on such a hot day ? "
Shepherd. "I fast for a day still hotter than
this."
King. " Eat to-day, fast to-morrow."
Shepherd. "Yes, if you will guarantee that I
shall see to-morrow."
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in Heb., c. xvi., pro-
bably from Mahomedan source.
Literature. — Weisslovits, 97, loi.]
Vl.h. The Bird and the Prophet.
A bird, fearing for the safety of its eggs, placed
them in the nests of other birds. When the storm
arose and the waves approached, it went to the
various nests and uttered its cry. Its young ones
recognised it and flew away with it, while the other
fledglings remained to be destroyed.
So a prophet summons the faithful, who alone
are saved from destruction by recognising his voice.
{Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Heb., c. xix., and
Arab.
Xifera^wre.— Weisslovits, 109.]
cxviii APPENDIX
VI I. a. The Heathen King and the Believing Vizier.
Z. xi., L. p. 113, C. 442.
There was once a king good in everything, except
that he was wanting in faith. His vizier desired
to cure him of his disbelief, and one night went
out with him into the city. Seeing a light in a
hut, they looked through and saw a poor couple,
clothed in rags, but enjoying themselves with
dancing and singing. Then the King asked, " How
is it that you and I, so rich in honour and wealth,
have never enjoyed so much pleasure as these
fools?"
"Why, what do you think of their life, 0
King ? " answered the vizier.
" More wretched, unhappy, and horrid than any
I have ever seen," answered the King.
" Then," said the Vizier, " Know, 0 King, this our
life, even of us more fortunately placed of men,
seems but as their life in the eyes of the Most
High. Only those who seek imperishable wealth
are truly happy. And that wealth is, belief in
. our Lord and Saviour."
[Occurre'oces in Barlaam. — In Arab,, Georg., Heb.,
and Gr. (Z, xi., L. p. 113).
Indian Original. — Unknown, but the happy pair
seem to belong to the caste of Mehter (cf. Kehatsek,
p. 14s, I.e. ; Kuhn, 22 n.).
Dcrivates. — Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, ed. Crane,
78 ; Wright, Latin Stories, 4 ; Libro de Enxemplos,
288 ; Suchomlinoflf, Cyrill of Turoff (Russ, 1858), pp.
50-3 (cf. Ku]?n, 74 n.).]
APPENDIX
Vll.a. i. The Swimmer.
A swimmer and his friend went bathing together.
The friend got out of his depth, and the swimmer
feared that he would drown, but as he went to his
assistance, he had the further fear that his friend
would seize him and cause them both to drown.
But nevertheless he went near, and by inducing
his friend to make the appropriate motions saved
them both.
[In Arabic only, Reh. 147.]
Vll.b. The Rich Young Man and the Beggar^s
Daughter.
Z. xii., L. p. 117, C. 444.
A rich merchant once desired to betroth his son
to a wealthy, beautiful, and well-bom girl. He,
however, refused the match, and fled from his
father's house. During his journey he entered a
poor man's hut to shelter himself from the heat.
There he saw the daughter of the house working
with her hands and praising God for His goodness.
Asking her why she was so grateful, she replied —
"Because the good God has given me the chance
of entering Paradise." Struck by this answer, the
young man desires to marry her, but her father
would not consent till the young man agreed to
put aside his rich clothing and live their life. He
does 80, and for a time assists in the work of the
house, till at last the father is convinced of his
cxx APPENDIX
sincerity and betroths him to his daughter, and
then shows him a hidden treasure which he gives
to him.
{Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Arab., Georg., Heb.,
and Gr. (Z. xii., L. p. 113), therefore in original. The
Halle MS. of the Arab, omits.
Parallels, — Cf. Percy Ballads, King Cophetua.]
Vll.b. ii. Education by Love.
A king had a son who grew up coarse and
thoughtless, ill-bred, and undignified. All the
learned men of the kingdom tried in vain to im-
prove him. One day his teacher appeared before
the King and announced a new misfortune, the
Prince had fallen in love. When the King heard
this he gave his mantle to the teacher, and thanked
him for the good news. Summoning the girl to
him, he instructed her to refuse to have anything
to do with the Prince till he behaved in a more
dignified and well-bred manner. Accordingly the
Prince set himself to improve his manners, and
soon became a model of propriety.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in Heb., c. xviii.,
where it is inserted in VII. b.
Parallel. — Boccaccio, Dec, V. i. ; Dryden, Gimon
and Iphigenia" {ci. Steele, "To love her was a liberal
education ").
Literature. — Weisslovits, 108 ; Kuhn, 43 ; Landau,
Quellen, 103.]
APPENDIX cxxi
VII.c. Man and Bird.
Z. vii.,L. p 83,0.435.
A man caught a nightingale, which promised him
three precious pieces of advice if he would let him
free. He agreed ; whereupon the nightingale said,
" Do not attempt the impossible. Regret nothing
that is past. Believe no improbable tale." The
man then let the nightingale free. He, desiring
to test him, cried, "Fool, you little know what
treasure you have lost. I have within me a pearl
as large as an eagle's ^gg." The man, full of greed,
tried to entice the nightingale within his door
again, promising to let her go free. The nightin-
gale said, " Now I see what use you will make of
my three pieces of advice. I told you never to
regret what was past, and yet you are sorry that
you let me go free. I advised you not to try the
impossible, and yet you are attempting to get me
again within your power. I told you never to
trust the improbable tale, and yet you believed
me when I said that I had within me a pearl
greater than my whole body."
[Occuri'ences in Barlaam. — In Arab., Georg., Heb.,
and Gr. , therefore in original.
Indian Original. — Cf. Benfey, Pants, i. 380.
Parallels. — Tutinameh, tr. Iken, vii. 46 ; tr. Rosen,
i. 137 (cf. Benfey, I.e.).
Derivates. — Petrus Alfonsi, Disc. cler. xxiii. ; Cax-
ton's /Esop, ed, Jacobs, Alf. vi. ; Gesta, ed. Oesterley,
167; Jacques de Vitry, 28; Nic. Purg., Dial, creat.
100 ; Vartan, Fables, xiii. ; Brolnyard, Summa, M, xi.
78 ; Junior, Scala celi, vii.b. ; Wright, Latin Stories,
cxxii APPENDIX
b. 170 ; Legenda aurea, ed. Grasse, 180 ; Libra de
Enxemplos, 53 ; Stainhowel, ^sop, collect, vi. (and
derivates) ; Le Grand, Fabliaux, iii. 113 ; MysUre du
roi Advenis in Hist, du theatre franc. , ii. 475 ; Marie
de France, ed, Roquefort, i. 314, ii. 324 ; Selentroist,
i4.b ; Luther, Tischreden, 612 ; Hans Sachs, D. iv.
428 ; Kirchhof, Wendunmuth, iv, 34 ; Wieland, Vogel-
gesang, ap. Werke, ed. 1796, xviii, 315 ; Le lai de Loiselet,
ed. G. Paris, 1883 ; Lydgate, Chorle and Byrde ; cf.
Temple of Glass, edit, Schick, p. c. 135.
Literature. — Oesterley, Crane, Benfey, Jacobs, Paris,
Schick, II. cc]
VII, c. ii. The Tyrannical King.
There was once a king who made every one
tremble around him. One day a servant, when
handing him the soup, from fear spilt a little.
Before the King could express his rage, the servant
emptied the whole tureen. "Why did you do
that?" said the King. "I knew, my Lord," said
the servant, "that you would punish me severely
for my first small fault, and thereby lose dignity
in the eyes of your people, so I therefore arranged
to do something worth the punishment I saw forth-
coming." Thereupon the King forgave him, and
became less tyrannical in future.
{Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in Heb. , c. xxiv.]
Vll.d. Desert and Garden.
There is a desert full of robbers and beasts of
prey. In the midst is a garden with a wall too
APPENDIX cxxiii
high to be scaled ; on the other side is a sea of
poison, over which blows a fiery simoon.
The desert is the world, the garden represents
the joys of the faithful, the sea the misery of the
wicked.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Arabic, Reh., 151.]
VlI.e. Language of Animals.
A man once learnt the language of animals, but
on condition that if he betrayed the secret he
would have to die. One night he heard an ass
recommend an ox to feign illness so as to escape
work, whereat he laughed aloud. His wife wished
to know why he laughed, but he would not tell
her. Next day, when the ox pretended to be ill
he ordered the ass to do its work ; and at night,
when the ass returned, he told the ox that he was
to be slain on the morrow if he were not better.
Whereat the man laughed again. His wife was
eager to know why he laughed, even though he
told her it would be his death to let her know.
" Either your death or mine," said the wife, " for
I will not eat till I know ; " so the man agreed to
let her know the next day, and prepared for his
death. All was sadness in the house, even the
dogs would not eat their food, but a cock and his
wives pecked away merrily, till one of the dogs
said, "Do you not know our master is to die
to-day ? " " More fool he," said the cock ; " I can
rule ten wives." "What can you do?" said the
cxxiv APPENDIX
dog. " Take a stick to her," said tlie cock, " and
I'll warrant she won't want to know his secrets."
The man, who had heard this, followed the cock's
advice, and saved his life.
\Occurrcnces in Barlaam. — Only in Heb., c. xxiv.,
where the language is taught by King Solomon, but
certainly Indian in origin.
Indian Original. — Harivanso, 1274 seq. (tr. Benfey,
Or. u. Oec, ii. 148) ; Ramayana, II., xxxv. 15 seq. ;
Tamel, Vedala Cadai (tr. Kabington, Misc. Trans.,
i- 55).
Parallels. — ^sop, ed. Halm, 18 (cf. Eraser, Arch.
Rev., i. 81-91, 161-181).
Derivates. — Tutinameh, tr. Rosen., ii. 236; Peter
Alfonsi, Disc, cler., ii. 7 ; Arabian Nights, First tale
in all versions ; Gesta Romanorwm, ed. Oesterley, qy.
Wuk, VoWs Mdrchen der Serben, iii. (Denton, Serbian
Folk-tales; Leger, Contes Slaves, xi. ; Krauss, Sagen
der Slid Slaven, I. xcvii. ) ; Nonthu Kpakaranam in
Z'eits. f. Ethn., i. 152 ; Morlini, Novelloe, Ixxi. ; Stra-
parola, xii. 3 ; Landes, Contes Annamites, xcix. ; Rad-
loof, Proben, vi. 250 seq. (man dies) ; Schreck, Finn.
Mdrchen; Koelle, Afric. Nat. Lit. (Grimm, Hunt, ii.
541) ; Raymond Lully, Libre de Maravelles, VII., vi.
42 ; Reinisch, Sahosprache, i. 109 seq.
Literature, — Benfey, Mdrchen von der Tiersprache
in Orient und Occident, ii. 133-71 (add. Klein Schrift,
ii. 234-b) ; J. G, Fraser, Language of Animals, ut
supra; Steinschneider, Manna, loi seq. ; Arch. Slav.
Phil., vii. 318, 515 ; Z.D.M.G., xlvi. 402 ; Kuhn, 81.]
VII. f. The Robbers' Nemesis.
Two swindlers plotted to rob a stranger mer-
chant of his money. They brought him jewels
to a feast, but intended to rob him of them ; but
APPENDIX cxxv
each envying the other his share in the booty,
secretly put poison in his food, so they both died,
and the merchant was saved.
[Occurrences in Barlcuam.— Only in Heb. , c. 27, but
certainly Indian.
Indian Original. — Vedabhha Jataka, ed, Cowell, No.
48, i. 121-4, Kashmir version, tr. Knowles, in Orien-
talist, i. 52-60,
Parallels. — Cosquin, Contes de Lorraine, No. xxx.
(Cf. notes i. 287-8.)
Derivates. — Persian, Attar, Macibat Nama, tr.
Ruckart, Z.D.M.G., xiv. 280-7 (tr. Warner, Prov. Pers.
Cent. , Leyden, 1644, p. 31) ; Arabian Nights, tr. Burton,
ii. 158 seq., and supp., i. 250 seq. (cf. Orientalist, i.
4.6-7) ; Tibetan Schiefner-Ralston, 286-7 ; Chaucer,
Pardonere's Tale; Ciento Novelle Antiche, Ixxxiii.
(libro di novelle, Ixxxii. ) ; Morlini, Novellm, xlii. ;
D'Ancona, Rappres Sacre, ii. 33 seq. ; Fabricius, Cod.
Apoc. Nov. Test. , iii. 395 ; Robles, Leyendas Moriscas,
No. I ; Hans Sachs Braga, Cantos, No. 143 ; P. Paris,
Man. Franc, iv. 83 ; L. Hunt, Death and the Ruffians.
Literature. — H. D. Francis, Vedabbha Jataka com-
pared with the Pardonere's Tale, Camb., 1884, 8vo, pp.
12 ; R. Morris, Cont. Rev., 1881, i. 738 ; Academy, 22nd
Dec. 1883, 12th Jan. 1884; Tawney in Jour. Phil.,
212-8 : Glouston, Pop. Tales, i. 379-406 ; Chaucer
Society, Originals, 129-34, 415-36; Skeat, Chaucer, iii.
439-45 ; Griinbaum, Neu£ Beitrdge, 279- 82 ; Kuhn, 82.]
IX.a. The Tame Gazelle.
Z. xiii., L., p. 130, C. 446.
A rich man had once a young gazelle. As it
grew up it began to long for the wilderness. So
one day it went and joined a herd of wild gazelles,
cxxvi APPENDIX
but came back at night. And henceforth it used
to join the herd every day. This at last was
noticed. And the servants of the rich man fol-
lowed it on horseback, killed many of the wild
gazelles, and drove back the tame one, which they
ever afterwards kept chained up.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Arab., Georg., and
Gr. (Z. xiii, , L. p. 130, C. 446). Not in Hebrew, which
substitutes "Greedy Hound," ix.b. q.v.l
IX.b. The Greedy Dog.
In two neighbouring cities a marriage was to be
held on one and the same day. A greedy dog who
knew of this determined to attend both wedding
breakfasts. He set off early for one town, but
arrived too late, and when he went to the other
the feasting was over, and he only got blows.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in Heb., c. xvii.,
where it is substituted for "The Tame Gazelle."
Parallels. — iEsop, Dog and Sliadow (Caxton, ed.
Jacobs, Ro. i. 5).]
X.a. The Two Halves of a King's Life.
A prince being born during the conjunction of
Jupiter and Venus, astrologers prophesy a change
in his life. When he succeeds he lives in great
splendour till middle age. At a great feast, sur-
rounded by his most costly ornaments, he thinks
of looking at himself in the glass, and sees his grey
APPENDIX cxxvii
hairs, wliich cause liim to devote himself to a life
of piety.
{Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only one of the Arab,
versions.
Indian Original. — Clearly a variant of the life of
Buddha, wherefore Kuhn suggests derived from the
Kitab-al-BvM.
Literature. — Hommel, I.e. i66 ; Kuhn, 15.
X.b, King, Man, and Skull.
A wicked king was bringing his realm to ruin,
when a sage came before him and kicked a skull
in front of him. Then he took weights and scales
and measured out as much dust as would weigh a
dihrem, and placed this in the eyes of the skulL
On being asked what was the meaning of this
action, he said, "This skull was the skull of a
king, and he used to pay royal honours to it ; but
finding it insensible, he then kicked it about to
see if it could feel contumely. But as the King
had seen, there was no sign of resentment in the
skull ; and he wanted to know if that could be a
king's skull when a dihrem weight of dust could
cover the eyes, which, when living, possessed all they
saw." The King was struck by the worthlessness of
all his possessions, and became converted to piety.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in one of Arab,
versions and in its Persian translation. Probably de-
rived from Alexander Romance.
Parallels.— TaXmnd, Tamid, 526 (Steinschneider
Uebers., 896).
Literature. — Hommel, 167 I.e. ; Zacher, Alex. Magni
Iter, 1859, p. 17 ; Hertz, Aristoteles in Alexander
cxxviii APPENDIX
DichtUTigen; Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenthum, ii.
321 ; Vogelstein, Adnotationes ad Fabulas de Alex.
Magno, 1865, p. 16; Steinschneider, I. c.,% 540.
X,c. Tlie Prince who left his Father's House.
A prince, tlie only son of a king, in tlie midst
of play in his boyhood, took one step and said,
"Your fate is to have trouble." Then a second
step, and said, "And to become old and feeble."
Then a third step, saying, "And then you will
die." Astrologers, thereupon, announced that he
would become a great saint. And the King put
him a guard so he could never be left alone. One
day, however, he escapes them, and encounters a
funeral, and learns that all men must die. He
tells his guard that if this is true they are mad.
The astrologers recommend the King to marry the
Prince. On the wedding night, the Prince calls for
wine for his bride, and when she sleeps rises and
leaves her. He finds a companion, and they both
take refuge in the castle of another king, where
the Princess falls in love with the Prince ; but he
rejects her overtures and flees. The King has him
pursued and brought back. He tells the following
parables : —
The Drunken King^s Son who fell into a Grave.
The Thieves who stole a Golden Vessel containing
Serpents.
The Prince freed from Prison falling into a Pit
with Dragons.
The Man who fell among the Ghouls.
APPENDIX cxxix
By these parables he frees himself, and wanders
about converting numbers to the true faith, till at
last he comes back to his father, the old King.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in Bombay form of
the Arab, version.
Indian OrigvnaZ. — Clearly a variant of the Buddha
legend.
Parallels. — The legend of St. Alexis has the episode
of the desertion of the wife on the wedding night.
Literature. — Hommel, 169-72 ; Kuhn, 15.]
X.c. iv. The Man among the Ghouls.
A ship was shipwrecked on an island inhabited
by ghouls, who turned themselves into beautiful
maidens to entice the shipwrecked sailors. They
lived very happily for some time, till the captain
came across an earlier victim of the ghouls, who
told him what they were. He also told him that
their only chance of escape was from a gigantic
bird who visited the island once a year. But the
captain is warned, that if he looks back when
escaping, he will fall off and be drowned. On the
appointed day the sailors intoxicate the ghouls, and
perch upon the back of the bird. The ghouls,
however, call to the sailors as they depart, and
when the captain lands he finds that none of the
sailors have survived the voyage.
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in one form of
Arab.
Indian Original. — Valahassa Jataka, ed. Fausboll,
ii. 127 ; tr, E. Miiller in Pali Gramma/r, 128 seq.
Parallels. — Myth Sirens (cf. Academy, 13, 27th Aug.
i
cxxx APPENDIX
1881) ; Sindahad Cycle (Clouston, 50, 150, 235), tr.
Tawney, i. 60, Katha-Sarit-Sagara.
Derivates of Indian. — Divya Vadmia, ed. Co well
and Neil, 524-6; Tibetan in J.R.A.S., 1888, 504-6;
Chinese, Beal, Romantic Legend, 332-40 ; Buddhist
Eeeords, ii. 241.
Literature. — H. Wenzel, A Jataka Tale from Tibetan
in J.R.A.S., I.e. ; Kuhn, 81 ; Hommel, 172.]
Xll.a. The Amorous Wife.
A young man, having married a wife of a pas-
sionate temperament, told her whenever she could
not restrain her feelings to let down her hair as a
signal. It happened that a war broke out, and
the young man was summoned to join the army.
But just as he was leaving, his wife let down her
hair, and the battle was won without him. When
he was remonstrated with, he replied, "I had an
enemy at home with whom I had to fight."
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in Georg. version,
in the conversation between Theudas and the King.
Literature. — Hommel in Weisslovitz, 148.]
Xlll.a. The Youth who had never seen a Woman.
Z. xiv., L, p. 220, C. 446.
A king had a son born to him in his old age,
and wf s warned by his astrologers and physicians
that his son would be blind if he ever saw the light
before he was twelve years old. Accordingly the
King built for him a subterranean chamber, where
he was kept till he was past the fatal age. There-
APPENDIX cxxxi
upon he was taken out from his retreat and shown
all the beauties of the world, gold and jewels,
and arms, and carriages and horses, and beautiful
dresses. But seeing some women pass he asked
what they might be, and was told, " Demons, who
lead men astray." Afterwards the King asked him
which of all the beautiful things he had seen he
desired most ; and the Prince answered, " The
demons which lead men astray."
[Occurrences in Barlaam. — In Georg. and Gr. (Z.
xiv., L. p. 220), but only in Bombay version of the
Arab, text and not at all in Heb., yet clearly in
original (see next section).
Indian Original. — Story of Rshyasrnga in Maha-
bharata, iii. 9999 ; and Ramayana, I. ix. (cf. Schiefner
in Mel. Asiat., viii. 112-6).
Derivates. — R. Basset, Vie d'Abba Yoha/nni, Texte
ethiopien, trad, franc, Algiers, 1884 (not from Ethiopia
Barlaam) ; Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, 82 ; Wright,
Latin Stories, 3, cf. 78 ; Lihro de Enxemplos, 231 ;
Scala cell, f. 15. b. ; Prompt. Exempl. L. xxiv. ; Boc-
caccio, Decameron, Day IV. ; Zambrini, Lihro di
Novelle.
Literature. — Crane, I.e. ; Landau, Quellen, 223 ;
D'Ancona, Studj, 307; Kuhn, 80.]
Xlll.b. Peacock and Raven.
A king showed a foreign merchant his treasures,
and asked him if there were anything wanting.
The merchant said, "Only a peacock," which he
described. So the King sent his vizier with a
large amount of gold to buy a peacock. But he
hid the gold, and dyed a raven, and brought it to
cxxxii APPENDIX
the King. But shortly afterwards the merchant
brought two real peacocks as a present to the King.
The vizier maintained that his was the authentic
bird. Whereupon the merchant poured hot water
on the raven, which changed colour at once. The
same test applied to the peacocks only made them
more beautiful. So the King honoured the mer-
chant and punished the vizier.
The merchant is Buddha, the vizier an idolater,
the peacock belief in God, the raven heresy.
^OccvA-rences in Barlaxim. — Only in Bombay text of
Arab., but certainly Indian (see next section).
Indian Original. — Baveru Jataka, tr. Morris in
Folklore Journal, iii. 124.
Parallel. — ^Esop, Daw in Peacock'' s Feathers (cf.
Caxton, Ro. ii, 15, and note i. 77 n).
Literature. — Kuhn, 31 ; Jacobs, I.e.
Z\)c X?f of Saignt balaam,
C ^txt folotoeti of ISalaam tfje J^ermgte,
3B
ALAAM of whome faynt Johan da-
mafcene made the hyftorye with grete
dyligence / In whome deuyne grace fo
wroughte that he conuerted to the feythe
faynt Jofaphat/ & thenne as al ynde was ful
of cryften peple & of monkes/ ther aroos
a puyfTaunt kyng wiche was named anemyr
whiche made grete perfecucion to criften men
& fpecyally to monkes / & it happed fo that one
whiche was frende of the kynge & chyef in his
paleys / by the Infpiracion of deuyne grace lefte
the halle ryal/ for to entre in to the ordre of
monkes / & whan the kyng herd fay that he was
criften he was wode for angre / and dyd fo feche
hym thorugh euery deferte til that he was foude
with grete payne/ and thenne he was brought
tofore hym / & whan he fawe hym in a vyle cote
& moche lene for hongre/ whyche was wonte
to be couerd with precious clothynge and ha-
bounded in moche richefle & fayd to hym o
thou fole & out of thy mynde/ why haft thou
chaunged
4 ^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM.
chaunged thyn honour in to vylonye/ & arte
made the player of children / and he faid to hym
yf thou wylt here of me refon / put fro the thyn
enemyes/ thenne the kyng demanded hym who
were his enemyes/ & he faid to hym yre &
couetyfe/ for they empeflhe & lette/ that
trouthe may not be feen/ ne to affaye pru-
dence/ and equyte To whom the kyng faid/
lete it be as thou fayeft / & that other faid / the
foles defpyfe the thynges that ben/ lyke as they
were not / and he that hath not the tafte of the
thynges that ben / he fhall not vfe the fwetnefle
of them / & may not lerne the trouthe of them
that been not/ and whan he had Ihewyd many
thynges of the myfterye of thyncarnacion / the
kynge fayd to hym yf I had not promyfed the atte
begynnynge that I fhold put aweye yre fro my
counceyl I Iholde cafte thy bodye in to the fyre /
Goo thy weye and flee fro myn eyen that I fee
the nomore / & that I now dyftreffe the not /
and anone the man of god wente his waye al
heuyly / by caufe he had not fuffred marterdom /
Thus thenne in this mene whyle it happyd
that the kyng whiche had noo chylde / ther was
a fayr fone borne of his wyf/ and was callyd
Jofaphat & the kyng afTemblyd a righte grete
companye of peple for to make facrefyfe to his
goddes for the natyuyte of his fone/ & alfo
aflemblyd
^LYF OF SAYNT BALAAM. 5
aflemblyd Iv allronomyens / of whom he en-
quyred what Ihold befalle of his fone/ & they
fayd to hym that he fhold be grete in power &
in richefles/ & one more wyfe than another
faid/ fyr this childe that is born Ihal not be in
thy reygne/ but he llial be in another moche
better without comparyfon / and know thou that
I fuppofe that he fhal be of cryften relygyon /
which thou perfecuteft/ & that fayd not he of
hym felf/ but he fayd it by Infpyracion of god/
And whan the kynge herde that he doubted
moche and dyd do make without the cyte a
ry3t noble paleys / and therein fette he hys fone
for to dwell and abyde/ and fette right fayre
yongelynges/ and commanded them that they
fliold not fpeke to hym of deth/ ne of old
age/ ne of fekenes/ ne of pouerte ne of no
thynge that may gyue hym caufe of heuynes
but fay to hym alle thynges that ben ioyous /
fo that hys minde may be efpryfed with glad-
nes / & that he thynke on no thynge to come /
and anone as ony of his fervauntes were feke/
The kynge commaunded for to take hem
aweye/ and fette another hool in hys llede/
and commaunded that no mencyon Ihold be
made to hym of Jhefu crylle/ C In that tyme
was wyth the kynge a man whych was fecretely
cryften/ and was chyef emonge alle the noble
prynces
6 tLLVF OF SA YNT BALAAM.
prynces of the kynge/ and as he wente on a
tyme to hunte wyth the kynge/ he fond a
pour man lyeng on the grounde/ whiche was
hurte on the foot of a beeft/ whyche prayed
that he wold receyue hym / and that he myght
of hym be holpen by fomme meane / and the
knyght fayd I fhall receyue the gladly/ but I
wote not how thou mayfl doo ony proufFyte/
And he fayd to hym I am a leche of wordes/
& yf ony be hurte by wordes I can wel gyue
hym a medecyne/ and the knyght fette it at
noughte all that he fayd / but he receyued hym
onely for goddes fake/ and helyd hym and
thenne prynces enuyous and malycyous fawe
that this prynce was foo grete and gracyous
with the kynge accufed hym to the kynge/
and fayd that he was not onely torned to the
cryften feythe/ but enforced to withdrawe fro
hym his royame/ and that he moeuyd and
folycyted the companye and counceylled theym
therto / And yf thou wylt know it fayd they /
thenne calle hym fecretelye/ and fay to hym
that this lyf is fone doon / and therfore thou
wylte leue the glorye of the worlde and of thy
royame and affirme that thou wylt take the
habyte of monkes/ whome thou haft foo per-
fecuted by ygnoraunce / and after thou fhalt fee
what he flial anfwer and whan the kynge had
doon
e.LYF OF SAY NT BALAAM. 7
doon alle lyke as they had sayd/ the knyghte
that knewe noo thyng of the treafon beganne
to wepe and prayfed moche the counceyll of
the kynge / and remembryd hym of the vanyte
of the world and counceylled hym to doo it as
fone as he myght/ and whan the kynge herde
hym faye foo/ he fuppofed it had been trewe
that the other had fayd to hym how be it he
fayd no thynge/ & thenne he vnderftood and
apperceyued that the kyng had taken his wordes
in euyl and wente and tolde al this vnto the
leche of wordes alle by ordre/ and he fayd to
hym / knowe thou for trouthe that the kynge
feryth that thou wylte aflaylle his royame/
aryfe thou to morowe /and fhaue of thyn heer
and doo of thy veftements/ and clothe the in
hayr in manere of a monke/ and goo erlye to
the kynge / whan he Ihall demaunde the what
thou meneft / thou Ihalt anfwer / my lord kyng
I am redy to follow the / For yf the waye by
whyche thou defyreft to goo be harde yf I be
with the it Ihal be the lyghter to the / and lyke
as thou haft had me in profperyte/ fo fhalt
thou have me in aduerfyte/ I am al redy/
wherfore taryeft thou/ and whan he had thys
doon and fayd by ordre / the kynge was abaffhed
& repreuyd the falfe men/ and dyd to hym
more honoure thenne he dyd before/ and after
thys
8 e.LVF OF SA YNT BALAAM,
thys the kynges fone that was nouryflhed in
the paleys came to age and grewe and was
playnely taught in al wyfdom / and he mer-
uaylled wherfore hys fader had fo enclofed
hym / and called one of hys feruauntes whiche
was more famylyer wyth hym fecretely/ &
demaunded hym of this thynge/ and fayd to
hym that he was in grete heuynefle that he
myght not goo oute/ And that his mete ne
drynke fauerid hym not ne dyd hym no good/
and whan hys fader herde this/ he was ful of
forowe / and anone he lete do make redy horfes
and ioyeful felawfhyp to accompanye hym in
fuche wyfe that no thynge dyihonefle fhold
happen to hym & on a tyme thus as the kynges
fone wente he mette a mefel and a blynde man /
and whan he fawe them he was abaflhed / &
enquyred what them ayled and his feruauntes
fayd thyfe ben paffyons that comen to men/
and he demaunded yf the paffyons comen to
all men/ and they fayd nay/ Thenne fayd he
ben they knowen which men ftial fuffre thyfe
paffyons / without dyffynicion / and they anfwerd
who is he that may knowe thaduentures of
men/ and he begun to be moche anguyffhous
for the Incuflomable thynge herof / & another
tyme he fonde a man moche aged whiche had
his chere frounced/ his teth fallen & was al
croked
e.LVF OF SAYNT BALAAM. 9
croked for age/ wherof he was abafihed and
faid he defyred to knowe the myracle of thys
vyfyon / and whan he knewe that thys was by
caufe he had lyued many yerys / and thenne he
demaunded what fhold be the ende/ and they
fayd dethe/ and he fayd/ is then the dethe
the ende of alle men or of fomme and they
fayd for certeyn that alle men mufl deye / And
whan he knewe that alle fholde deye/ he de-
maunded them in how many yerys that fhold
happene/ and they fayd in olde age of four
fcore yere or an hondred/ and after that age
the dethe followeth/ and thys yonge man re-
membryd ofte in hys herte thyfe thynges/ and
was in grete dyfcomforte / but he fhewyd hym
moche glad tofore his fader/ and he defyred
moche to be enformed and taughte in thyfe
thynges /
C And thenne there was a monke of parfyte
lyf and good opynyon that dwellyd in the
deferte of the londe of Sennaar named balaam/
And thys monke knewe by the holy ghooft
what was done aboute this kynges fone/ and
toke the abbyte of a marchaunte/ and came
vnto the cytee and fpake to the greteft go-
uernour of the kynges fone/ and fayd to hym
I am a marchaunte and haue a precyous ftone
to selle whyche gyueth fyght to biynde men/
&
lo ^LYF OF SAY NT BALAAM.
& heryng to deef men Hyt maketh the dombe
to fpeke/ and gyueth wyfedom to fooles/ and
therfore brynge me to the kynges fone and I
ftial delyuer it to hym/ To whom he fayd thou
feemeft a man of prudente nature but thy
wordes accorde no thynge to wyfedom / Neuer-
thelefle yf I had knowleche of that ftone / fhewe
it me/ and yf it be fuche as thou fayeft/ and
fo proued / thou Ihalt haue right grete honoures
of the kynges fone / To whome balaam fayd /
my ftone hath yet fuche vertue/ that he that
feeth if/ and hath none hool fyght and kepeth
not entyer chaftyte/ yf he happelye fawe it/
the vertue vysyble that he hath he Ihold lefe
it/ and I that am a phyfycyen fee wel that
thou haft not thy fyght hoole/ but I vnder-
ftonde that the kynges fone is chafte and hath
ryght faire eyen and hoole/ And thenne the
man fayd yf it be fo ftiewe it not to me / For
myn eyen ben not hoole/ and am foule of
fynne/ and balaam fayd thys thynge apper-
teyneth to the kynges fone/ and therfore brynge
me to hym anone/ and he anone tolde this to
the kynges fone / and broughte hym anone in /
And he receyued hym honourably / and thenne
balaam fayd to hym/ thou haft doon wel/ for
thou haft not taken hede of my lytelnefle that
apperyth withoutforth / but thou haft doon lyke
vnto
e.LVF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 1 1
vnto a noble kynge / whyche whan he rood in
his chaar cladde wyth clothes of gold and mette
wyth poure men whiche were cladde wyth torne
clothes/ CAnd anone he fprange out of his
chare/ and fyl doun to their feet and wor-
Ihypped theym/ and his barons toke thys euyl/
and were aferde to repreue hym therof/ but
they fayd to hys brother how the kynge had
doon thynge ageynft hys ryal mageftie / and hys
brother repreuyd hym therof/ and the kynge
had fuche a cuftome that whan one fhold be de-
lyuerd to deth/ the kynge fholde fende hys cryar
wyth hys trompe that was ordeyned therto /
And on the euen he fente the cryar wyth the
trompe before hys brothers gate/ and made to
fowne the trompe and whan the kynges brother
herde thys/ He was in dyfpayr of fauynge of
hys lyf / and coude not flepe of all the nyght
and made hys teftamente/ and on the morne
erlye he cladde hym in blacke/ and came
wepynge wyth his wyf and chyldren to the
kynges paleys / and the kynge made hym come
tofore hym and fayd to hym / a fool that thou
arte/ yf thou hafte herde the meflager of thy
brother/ to whom thou knoweft wel thou haft
not trefpaced and doubteft foo moche/ How
ought not I thenne doubte the meffagers of
our lord/ ageynft whome I haue foo ofte
fynned /
12 ^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM.
fynned / whyche fygnefyed vnto me more clerely
the dethe thenne the trompe / and fhewed to me
horrible comyng of the Juge/ &: after this he
dyd doo make foure cheflys/ and dyd doo couer
two of them with golde without forthe / and dyd
doo fylle them wyth boones of deed men and of
fylthe/ And the other two he dyd doo pytche/
And dyd doo fylle theym wyth precyous ftones
and ryche gemmys/ And after thys the kynge
dyd doo calle his grete barons by caufe he knew
wel that they compleyned of hym to his brother /
and dyd doo fette thyfe foure cheftys tofore
them and demaunded of them which were molle
precious and they fayd that the two that were
gylte/ were mooft of valewe/ Thenne the kyng
commaunded that they lliold be opened/ and
anone a grete ftenche yflued out of them and
the kynge fayd they be lyke them that be
clothed wyth precious veftementes/ and been
ful wythinforth of ordure and of fynne and
after he made opene the other/ and there yflued
a meruayllous fwete odour/ and after the kyng
fayd/ thyfe been femblable to the poure men
that I mette and honoured / for though they be
clad of foule veflymens / yet fhyne they wythin-
forth with good odour of good vertues / and ye
take none hede but to that wythoutforthe / and
confydere not what is wythin/ and thou haft
doon
e.LVF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 1 3
doon to me lyke as that kyng dyd/ For thou
haft wel receyned me/ and after thys balaam
beganne to telle to hym a longe fermone of the
creacyon of the world / and of the Day of Juge-
mente/ and of the rewarde of good and euyl/
and began ftrongelye to blame them that wor-
(hyp ydolles/ and told to hym of theyr folye
fuch an exaumple as followeth fayeng/ That
an archer toke a lytel byrde callyd a nyghtyn-
gale/ and whan he wold haue flayne thys
nyghtyngale ther was a voys giuen to the nyght-
yngale whyche fayd/ O thou man what Ihold
it auayle the yf thou flee me / Thou mayfte not
fylle thy bely wyth me / but and yf thou wylt
lete me goo / I fhal teche the thre wyfedomes /
that yf thou kepe them dylygentely/ thou
mayft haue grete prouffite thereby / Thenne he
was abafflied of his wordes / and promyfed that
he wold lete hym goo / yf he wold telle hym
his wyfdomes/ Thenne the byrde fayd/ ftudye
neuer to take that thynge that thou mayft not
take/ & of thynge lofte/ whiche may not be
recoueryd/ forowe neuer therfore/ ne byleue
neuer thynge that is Incredyble/ Kepe wel
thyfe thre thynges / and thou fhalte doo wel /
and thenne he lete the byrde goo as he had
promyfed/ and thenne the nyghtyngale fleyng
in the ayer fayd to hym/ alas thou wretched
man
14 e.LVF OF SA YNT BALAAM.
man thou hafte had euyl counceyl / for thou haft
lofte thys day grete trefour/ For I haue in my
bowellys a precyous margaryte/ whyche is
gretter than the Q^^Q of an oftrych/ and he
herde that/ he was moche wroth and forowed
fore by caufe he had leten hir goo / and en-
forced hym al that he coude to take hyr ageyne
fayeng/ Come ageyn to my hows/ and I fhal
ihew to the al humanyte / and gyue to the alle
that fhal nede the/ and after fhal lete the goo
honourably / where as thou wylte Thenne fayd
the nyghtyngale to hym Now I knowe wel that
thou art a foole / fore thou haft no prouflyte in
the wyfedoms that I haue fayd to the/ For
thou art ryght forowful for me whome thou
haft lofte/ whyche am Irrecuperable/ and yet
thou weneft to take me / where thou mayft not
come fo hyghe as I am / and furthermore where
thou beleueft to be in me a precyous ftone more
thenne the Qg%'^ of an oftrytch/ whan alle my
body may not atteyne to the greteneffe of fuche
an ^g%Q I And in lyke wyfe be they foolys that
adoure and truft in ydolles/ for they worfhyp
that whiche they haue made / and calle theym
whome they haue made kepars of them/ and
after he began ne to dyfpute ageynfte the fallace
of the world and delite and vanyte therof / and
broughte forth many enfaumples and fayd/
They
^LVF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 1 5
They that delyte the delytes corporalJe/ and
fufFre their fowles deye for hungre/ ben lyke
to a man that fledde tofore an vnycorn that
he fhold not deuoure hym/ and in fleyng/ he
fyl in to a grete pytte / and as he fyl he caughte
a braunche of a tre with his hande/ and fette
his feet vpon a flydyng place / and thenne two
myfe that one whyte/ and that otlier blacke
whyche wythoute ceflyng gnewe the rote of
the tree/
And had almofte gnawen it a fondre And he
fawe in the bottom of thys pytte an horryble
dragon caflynge fyre and had his mouthe opene
and defyred to deuoure hym / vpon the ilydyng
place on which his feet flood/ he fawe the
heedes of foure ferpentes whyche yflueden there /
and thenne he lefte vp his eyen and fawe a lytel
hony that henge in the bowes of the tre/ &
forgat the perylle that he was in / and gaue
hym al to the fwetenes of that lytel hony / the
vnycorne is the fygure of deth / which continu-
elly foloweth man/ and defyreth to take hym/
The pytte is the world whiche is ful of al
wyckedneffe / the tree is the lyf of euery man /
whiche by the two myfe that ben the day and
nyght & the houres therof IncefTantly been
wafted and approched to the cuttyng or gnaw-
yng a fonder/ the place where the iiij ferpentes
where
1 6 i[LVF OF SA YNT BALAAM.
where is the body ordeyned by the foure ele-
mentes / by whiche the ioynture of the membrys
is corupte in bodyes dyftiordynate/ The orrible
dragon is the mouthe of helle whiche defyreth to
deuoure al creatures / The fwetenes of the hony
in the bowes of the tree / is the falfe deceyuable
dele6lacyon of the world by whiche man is de-
ceyued / fo that he taketh no hede of the perylle
that he is in / and yet he fayd that they that loue
the worlde ben femblable to a man that had
thre frendes / of whiche he loued the fyrfte as
moche as hym felf/ and he louyd the fecond
leffe thenne hym felf/ & louyd the thyrd a
lytel or nought/ and it happed fo that this
man was in grete perylle of his lyf/ and was
fomoned tofore the kynge / thenne he ranne to
hp fyrfle frende/ and demaunded of hym hys
helpe/ and tolde to hym how he had alweye
louyd hym / to whome he fayde / I haue other
frendes with whom I muft be this day/ and I
wote not who thou arte/ therfore I may not
helpe the / yet neuertheleffe I Ihal gyue to the
two floppes wyth whyche thou mayft couer
the / and thenne he wente aweye moche forow-
ful/ and wente to that other frende/ and re-
quyred alfo his ayde/ and he fayd to hym I
may not attende to goo wyth the to thys debate/
for I haue grete charge/ but I flial yet felau-
fhyp
C L VF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 1 7
(hyp the vnto the gate of the paleys / & thenne
I fhal retorne ageyn and doo myn own nedes/
and he beyng heuy and as difpayred wente to
the thyrde frende and fayd to hym / I haue noo
refon to fpeke to the / ne I haue not loued the
as I oughte / but I am in trybulacion and with-
oute frendes/ and praye the that thou helpe me/
and that other fayd wyth glad chere/ certes I
confefle to be thy dere frende/ and haue not
forgoten the lytel benefayte that thou haft doon
to me/ and I fhal goo ryght gladly wyth the
tofore the kynge/ for to fee what fhal be de-
maunded of the and I fhal praye the kynge for
the/ The fyrft frende is poffeffyon of richefle
For whyche man putteth hym in many perylles /
and whan the dethe cometh he hath no more of
hit but a cloth for to wynde hym for to be
buryed/ The fecond frende is hys fones/ hys
wyf and kynne/ whyche goo wyth hym to hys
graue/ and anone retorne to entende to theyr
owne nedes/ The thyrd frende is feythe hope
and charyte and other good werkys/ Whyche
we haue doon / that whan we yfTue out of our
bodyes / they may wel goo tofore vs and praye
god for vs/ and they may wel delyuer vs fro
the deuylles our enemyes/ and yet we fayd
accordyng to thys/ that in a certayn cyte is a
cuftome/ that they of the cite fhal chefe euery
yere
B
1 8 e.LVF OF SA YNT BALAAM.
yere a ftrauge man and vnknowen for to be
theyr prynce/ and they fhal gyue hym puyf-
faunce to doo what fomeuer he wyl/ And
gouerne the contree wythout ony other confty-
tucion/ and he beyng thus in grete delyces/
and wenyng euer to contynue/ fodeynlye they
of the cytee fhold aryfe ageynfte hym / and lede
hym naked thorugh the cyte/ & after fende
hym in to an yle in exyle/
And there he fhold fynde neyther mete ne
clothe / but fhold be conflreyned to be peryffhed
for hungre and colde /
And after that they wolde enhaunce another
to the kyngdome/ and thus they dyd longe/
At the lafte they took one whyche knewe theyr
cuflome And he fente tofore hym in to that
yle grete trefoure wythoute nombre duryng alle
hys yere /
And whan his yere was accomplyffhed
and pafTed/ he was put out and put to exyle
lyke the other/ and where as the other that
had ben tofore hym peryllhed for colde and
hongre/ he habounded in grete rycheffes &
delyces/ and this cyte is the world/ and the
cytezeyns ben the prynces of derkenefTe/ whiche
fede vs with falfe deledacyon of the world / and
thenne the deth cometh whan we take none
hede/ and that we ben fente in exyle to the
place
^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 19
place of derkenefle / and the rycheffes that ben
tofore fente/ ben don by the handes of poure
men/ and whan balaam had parfytely taughte
the kynges fone/ & wold leue his fader for to
folowe hym balaam faid to hym yf thou wylte
doo thus thou {halt be femblable to a yonge
man / that whan he (hold haue weddyd a noble
wyf/ he forfoke hyr and fledde aweye/ and
came in to a place where as he fawe a virgyn
doughter of an olde poure man that laboured/
and preyfed god with hir mowthe / To whome
he fayd what is that thou doeft doughter that
arte fo poure & alweye thou thankeft god like
as thou haddeft receyued grete thynges of hym /
To whome Ihe fayd / lyke as a lytel medecyne
ofte delyuereth a grete langour and payne/
right fo for to gyue to god thankynges alweye
of a ly tell yefte / is made a gyuer of grete yeftes
for the thynges that ben withoutforth ben not
cures/ but they that be wythin vs ben oures/
and therfore I haue receyued grete thynges of
god/ for he hath made me lyke to his ymage/
He hath gyuen to me vnderftondyng/ He hath
called me to his glorye/ and hath opened to me
the yate of his kyngdom and therfor for thyfe
yeftes it is fyttyng to me to gyue hym prayf-
ynge/ This yonge man feyng hyr prudence
axed of hir fader to haue hyr to wyf To whome
the
20 ^LYF OF SAYNT BALAAM.
the fader fayd thou mayft not haue my doughter/
for thou arte the fone of ryche and noble kynne /
and I am but a poure man / but whan he fore
defyred hir/ the olde man fayd to hym/ I may
not gyue hir to the fyth thou wilt lede hir home
in to the hows of thy fader/ for fhe is myn
onelye daughter and haue no moo/ And he
faid/ I fhal dwelle wyth thee and flial accorde
with the in al thynges/ and thenne he dyd of
his precyous veftements/ and dyd on hym the
habyte of an olde man/ and foo dwelling with
hym toke hir vnto his wyf and whan the olde
man had longe preuyd hym / he ladde hym in
to hys chambre/ and fliewyd to hym grete
plente of rycheffes more than he euer had / and
gaue to hym al/ & thenne Jofaphat fayd to
hym/ thys narracyon toucheth me couenably/
and I trowe thou haft fayd thys for me/ Now
faye to me fader how many yere arte thou olde /
and where conuerfeft thou/ For fro the I wyl
neuer departe/ To whom balaam fayd/ I haue
dwellyd xlv yere in the deferte of the londe of
Sennaar/ To whome Jofaphat fayd/ thou femeft
better to be Ixx yere / and he fayd yf thou de-
maundeft alle the yeres of my natyuyte/ thou
haft wel eftemed them but I accounte not the
nombre of my lyf / them fpecyally that I haue
dyfpended in the vanytee of the world/ For I
was
^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 2 1
was thenne dede toward god and I nombre not
the yerys of dethe / wyth the yerys of lyf / and
whan Jofaphat wold haue folowed hym in to
deferte balaam fayd to hym/ yf thou do fo/
I llial not haue thy companye / and I Ihial be
thenne than6tor of perfecucyon to my brethern /
but whan thou feeft tyme couenable / thou ftialt
come to me/ and thenne balaam baptyfed the
kynges fone/ and enformed hym wel in the
feythe/ and after retorned in to his celle/ and a
lytel whyle after the kynge herde faye that hys
fone was cryftened/ wherfore he was moche
forowful / and one that was his frende named
Arachys recomfortyng hym fayd/ Syr kynge I
knowe right well an olde hermyte that re-
fembleth moche balaam / and he is of our fe6te /
He ihal fayne hym as he were balaam / & fhal
defFende fyrfte the feyth of cryften men/ and
after dial leue and retorne fro it / and thus your
fone fhal retorne to you / and thenne the kynge
wente in to deferte as it were to feche balaam
and toke thys hermyte and fayned that he had
taken balaam / and whan the kynges fone herde
that balaam was taken he wepte bytterlye / but
afterwarde he knewe by reuelacyon deuyne that
it was not he / C Thenne the kynge wente to
his fone and fayd to hym thou haft put me in
grete heuynefTe/ thou haft dyfhonoured myn
olde
22 CZKF OF SAYNT BALAAM.
olde age/ thou hall derked the light of myn
eyen/ fone why haft thou doon fo/ thou haft
forfaken the honour of my goddes and he an-
fwerd to hym I haue fledde the derkeneffe/ and
am comen to the lyght/ I haue fledde errour
& knowe trouthe / and therfore trauaylle the for
nought/ for thou mayft neuer wythdrawe me
fro Jhefu cryfte/ For lyke as it is Impoflyble
to the to touche the heuen wyth thy honde/
or for to drye the grete fee/ fo is it to the
for to chaunge me/ Thenne the fader fayd/
who is caufe herof/ but I my felf/ that fo
gloryoufly haue to nouryflhed the/ that neuer
fader nouriffhed more hys fone/ For whyche
caufe thyn euyl wyll hath made the wood
ageynft me / and it is wel ryght / For the
aftronomyens in thy natyuyte fayd / that thou
Iholdeft be proude and dyihobedyente to thy
parentes/ but and thou now wylte not obeye
me/ thou ftialte nomore be my fone/ and I
ftial be thyn enemye for a fader/ and fhal do
to the that I neuer dyd to myn enemyes/ To
whome Jofaphat fayd / fader wherfore arte thou
angry/ by caufe I am made a partyner of
good thynges / what fader was euer forowful
in the profperyte of hys fone/ I Ihal nomore
calle the fader/ but and yf thou be contrarye
to me I ftial flee the as a ferpente /
Thenne
^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 2 3
Thenne the kynge departed from hym in
grete angre / and fayd to arache his frende alle
the hardnes of his fone and he counceylled the
kynge that he {hold gyue hym noo fliarpe
wordes/ for a chylde is better reformed by
fayr and fwete wordes / The day folowyng the
kynge came to his fone & beganne to clyppe
enbrace and kyffe hym/ and fayd to hym my
ryght fwete fone honoure thou myn olde age/
fone drede thy fader/ knoweft thou not wel
that it is good to obeye thy fader & make hym
glad/ and for to doo contrarye it is fynne/ and
they that angre them fynne euyl/ to whome
Jofaphat fayd there is tyme to loue/ and tyme
to hate/ tyme of pees/ and tyme of bataylle/
and we ought in no wyfe loue them / ne obeye
to them that wold put vs aweye fro god be
it fader or moder/
And whan hys fader fawe his fledfaftneffe /
he fayd to hym/ fythe I fee thy folye and
wylte not obeye to me/ Come and we Ihal
knowe the trouth/ For balaam whiche hath
deceyiied the is bounden in my pryfon/ and
lete vs aflemble our peple wyth balaam / and
I {hal fende for alle the galylees/ that they
may faufly come wythout drede and dyfpute/
and yf that ye with yon balaam ouercome vs /
we ihal byleue and obeye you/ and yf we
ouercome
24 ^LYF OF SAY NT BALAAM.
ouercome you ye ftial confente to vs/ and thys
plefyd wel to we kynge/ and to Jofaphat/
and whan they had ordeyned that he that
named hym Balaam fhold fyrfte defFende the
feythe of cryfte/ And fufFre hym after to be
ouercomen and foo were all affemblyd / Thenne
Jofaphat torned hym toward nachor whyche
fayned hym to be balaam/ and fayd balaam
thou knowell wel how thou hafte taughte
me/ and yf thou deffende the feyth that I
haue lerned of the/ I flial abyde in thy doc-
tryne to the ende of my lyf / and yf thou be
ouercomen I ihal auenge me anone on the myn
Iniurye/ and Ihall plucke out the tonge out
of thyn heed wyth myn handes / & gyue it to
dogges to thende that thou be not fo hardy
to put a kynges fone in errour/
And whan nachor herde that he was in grete
fere and fa we wel that yf he fayd contrarye he
were but dede/ and that he was taken in his
owne fnare / and thenne he aduyfed that it were
better to take and holde wyth the fone thenne
wyth the fader/ For to efchewe the perylle of
deth/ For the kynge had fayd to hym tofore
them all / that he {hold deffende the feythe
hardelye & without drede/ thenne one of the
mayfters fayd to hym thou arte balaam / whiche
haft deceyued the fone of the kynge/ and he
fayd
^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 25
fayd I am Balaam whyche haue not put the
kynges fone in ony errour / but I haue broughte
hym out of errour/ and thenne the mayfter
fayd to hym / right noble and mearuyllous men
haue worfliypped our goddes/ how dareft thou
thenne adreffe the ageynft them/ and he an-
fwered/ they of caldee/ of egypte/ and of
grece haue erryd and fayden that the creatures
were goddes/ & the chaldees fuppofeden that
the elementes had ben goddes whiche were
created to the prouffyte of men / and the
grekes fuppofed that curfyd men and tyrauntes
had be goddes/ as faturne/ whom they fayd
ete his fone/ and lubyter whiche as they fay
gheldyd his fader & threwe his membrys in to
the fee/ wherof grewe venus/ and lubyter to
be kynge of the other goddes/ by caufe he
tranfformed ofte hym felf in lykeneffe of a
beeft/ for to accomplyflhe his aduoultrye/ and
alfo they faye that venus is goddeife of aduoul-
trye/ and fomtyme mars is hyr hufbond/ and
fomtyme adonydes/ The egypcyens worftiyppe
the beeftys/ that is to wete a Iheep/ a calfe/
a fwyne/ or fuche other/ and the cryften men
worfhyppe the fone of the ryght hyghe kynge/
that defcended fro heuen and toke nature hu-
mayne /
And thenne nachor beganne clerelye to def-
fende
2 6 ^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM,
fende the lawe of cryften men/ & garnyffhed
hym wyth many refons/ fo that the mayfters
were al abaffhed and wyfte not what to anfwere/
and thenne Jofaphat had grete ioye of that/
whiche our lord had deffended the trouthe/
by hym that was enemye of trouthe/ and
thenne the kynge was ful of wodeneffe/ and
commaunded that the counceyl {hold departe/
lyke as he wold haue tretyd ageyn on the
morne the fame fayte/ Thenne Jofaphat fayd
to his fader lete my mayfter be wyth me thys
nyght/ to the ende that we may make our
collacion to gyder/ for to make to morowe
our anfweres / and thou fhalt lede thy mayilers
wyth the / and fhal take counceyl wyth them /
& yf thou lede my mayfter wyth the/ thou
doeft me no ryghte/ wherfore he graunted to
hym nachor by caufe he hoped that he fliold
deceyue hym/ and whan the kynges fone was
comen to his chambre/ and nachor with hym/
Jofaphat fayd to nachor/ Ne weneft thou not
that I knowe the/ I wote wel that thou arte
not balaam/ but thou arte nachor the aftro-
nomyen/ and Jofaphat prechyd thenne to hym
the waye of helthe/ and conuertyd hym to
the feythe/ and on the morne fente hym in
to deferte / and there was baptyfed / and ledde
the lyf of an hermyte/ Thenne there was an
enchauntour
^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM. 27
enchauntour named theodas/ whan he herde
of this thynge/ he came to the kyng and fayd
that he (hold make his fone retorne and byleue
in hys goddes /
And the kyng faid to hym yf thou do fo/
I flial make to the an ymage of golde and
oflFre facrefyfes therto/ lyke as to my goddes/
and he fayd take aweye al them that ben about
thy fone and put to hym fayre wymmen and
wel adourned/ and commaunde them alle waye
to abyde by hym/ and after I fhal fende a
wycked fpyryte that Ihal enflamme hym to
luxurye/ and there is noo thynge that may fo
fone deceyue the yonge men/ as the beaulte
of wymmen/ and he fayd yet more/ there
was a kynge whyche had wyth grete payne a
fone/ & the wyfe mayfters fayden that yf he
fawe fonne or mone wythin ten yere / he fhold
lofe the fyghte of his eyen /
Thenne hit was ordeyned that thys chylde
fhold be nourifllied wythin a pytte made in
a grete rocke / and whan the ten yere were
paflyd/ The kynge commaunded that hys fone
fhold be brought forth and that all thynges
fhold be broughte tofore hym by caufe he
fhold knowe the names and the thynges/ and
thenne they brought tofore hym Jewelles/
horfes and beeflys of al names/ and alfo golde/
fyluer
28 ^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM.
fy luer precyous ftones / & all other thynges and
whan he had demauded the names of eueiy
thynge / and that the mynyftres had tolde hym /
he fette nought therby/ and whan his fader
faw that he retched not of fuche thynges /
thene the kynge made to be broughte tofore
hym wymmen quayntely arayed/ and he de-
maunded what they were/ For they wold not
foo lyghtly telle hym / wherof he was anoyed /
and after the mayfler fquyer of the kyng fayd
iapyng that they were deuylles that deceyue
men / Thenne the kynge demaunded hym what
he lyeueft had of al that he had feen / and he
anfweryd fader my foule coueyteth noo thynge
fo moche as the deuylles that deceyue men/
and therfore I fuppofe that none other thynge
(hal furmounte thy fone but wymmen whiche
moeue men alle waye to lecherye/ thenne the
kynge put out alle his mynyftres and fette
therin to be about his fone ri3t noble & fayre
maydens/ whyche alweye hym admonefted to
playe/ and there were none other that myght
fpeke ne feme hym/ and anone the enchaun-
tour fent to hym the deuyl for to enflame
hym whiche brennyd the yonge man wythin-
forth / & the maydens wythoutforth / and whan
he felte hym foo ftrongelye trauaylled he was
moche angry/ and recommaunded hym felf
alle
([LVF OF SAY NT B^ILAAM. 29
alle to god / and he receyued deuyne comforte /
in fuche wyfe that al temptacyon departed from
hym/ & after this that the kynge fawe that
the deuyl had don no thynge he fente to hym
a fayre mayden a kynges doughter whyche
was faderles/ To whome this man of god
prechyd and Ihe anfwerd yf thou wylte faue
me/ and take me aweye fro worfliyppyng of
thydolles/ conioyne the vnto me by couplyng
of maryage/ for the patryarkes/ prophetes/ and
peter the appoflle had wyues/ and he fayd to
hir/ woman thyfe wordes fayeft thou now for
nought/ It apperteyneth wel to cryften men
to wedde wyues/ but not to them that haue
promyfed to our lord to kepe vyrgynyte /
And fhe fayd to ^ hym/ now be it as thou
wylte/ but yf thou wylte faue my fowle/
graunte to me a lytel requefte/ lye wyth me
onelye this nyght and I promyfe to the that
to morne I fhal be made cryften/ For as ye
fay the aungels have more ioye in heuen of
one fynnar doyng penaunce/ thenne on many
other/ There is grete guerdon due to hym that
doth penaunce/ & conuerteth hym/ therfore
graunte to me onely thys requefte/ and foo
thou ftialte faue me/ and thenne fhe began
ftrongely to affayle the toure of hys confcience /
Thenne the deuyl fayd to his felowes / loo fee
how
30 ^LYF OF SAYNT BALAAM,
how this mayde hath ftrongely put forth that
we my3t not moeue/ Come thenne and lete
vs knocke flrongely ageynft hym fyth we fynde
now tyme couenable /
And whan the holy yonge man fa we thys
thynge/ and that he was in that caytyfnes/
That the couetyfe of hys fleffhe admonefted
hym to fynne /
And alfo that he defyred the fauacyon of
the mayde/ by entyfyng of the deuyl that
moeuyd hym / he thenne put hym felf to prayer
in wepynge / and there fyl a llepe / and fawe
by a vyfyon that he was broughte in to a
medowe arayed wyth fayr floures / there where
the leuys of the trees demened a fwete founde/
whiche came by a wynde agreable/ and therout
yflued a merueyllous odour/ and the fruyte was
right fayre to fee/ and right dele6table of tafte/
and there were fetes of golde and fyluer and
precyous ftones / and the beddes were noble
and precyoufly adurned/ and ryght clere water
ranne there by / and after that he entred in to a
cyte of which the walles were of fyne golde / and
fhone by meruayllous clerenefle/ and fawe in
the ayer fomme that fange a fonge/ that neuer
eer of mortal man herde lyke/ and it was fayd
this is the place of blelfyd fayntes / and as they
wolde haue had hym thens/ he prayed them that
they
'F OF SAYNT BALAAM. 31
they wold lete hym dwelle there and they fayd
to hym / thou flialte yet hereafter come hyther
wyth grete trauayle yf thou mayfl: lufFre/ and
after they ledde hym in to a ryght horryble
place ful of al fylthe and ftenche / and fayd to
hym this is the place of wycked peple/ and
whan he awoke hym femed that the beaute of
that damoyfel was more foull and ftynkyng
thenne alle the other ordure/ and thenne the
wycked fpyrytes came ageyn to theodafe/ and
he thenne blamyd them / to whome they fayd
we ranne vpon hym tofore he marked wyth
the fygne of the crofle / & troubled hym llronge-
lye and whan he was garnyfllied with the fygne
of the crofle/ he perfecuted vs by grete force/
Thenne theodafe came to hym with the kynge
and had hoped that he /hold haue peruerted
hym/ But this enchauntour was taken of hym/
whome he fuppofed to haue taken and was
conuerted and receyued baptefme/ and lyued
after an holy lyf and thenne the kynge was
al defpayred/ and by counceyl of his frendes
he delyuered to hym halfe his royame/ &
how be it that Jofaphat defyred wyth alle his
thoughte the deferte/ yet for to encrece the
feythe he receyued the royame for a certeyn
tyme/ and maad chirches and reyfed crofles
and conuerted moche people of his royame to
the
32 ^LYF OF SA YNT BALAAM.
the fayth of Jhefu cryfte/ and atte laft the
fader confented to the refons & predycacions
of his fone and byleuyd on the feythe of Jhefu
cryft/ & receyued baptefme/ and lefte his
royame hole to his fone / & entended to werkes
of penaunce/ and after fynyffhed hys lyf laud-
ably/ and Jofaphat ofte warned the kyng
barachye that he wolde goo in to deferte/
but he was reteyned of the peple longe tyme /
but atte lafte he fledde aweye in to deferte/
and as he wente in a deferte/ he gafe to a
pour man his habyte ryal / and abode in a ryght
pour gowne/ & the deuyl made to hym many
affaultes/ for fomtyme he ranne vpon hym
wyth a fwerde drawen / and menaced to fmyte
yf he lefte not the deferte/ and another tyme
he apperyd to hym in the forme of a wylde
beeft/ & fomed & ranne on hym as he wold
haue deuoured hym / and thenne Jofaphat fayd /
Our Lord is myn helpar/ I doubte no thynge
that man may do to me/ and thus Jofaphat
was two yere vagaunte & erryd in deferte / and
coude not fynde balaam and at the lafte he
fonde a caue in the erthe and knockyd at the
dore & fayd/ Fader bleffe me/ and anone ba-
laam herde the voys of hym/ and roos vp &
wente out/ and thenne eche kyffed other and
enbraced ftraytelye/ and were glad of their
alfemblyng /
^LYF OF SAY NT BALAAM. 33
aflemblyng/ and after Jofaphat recounted to
balaam al thyfe thynges that were happenyd /
And he rendryd & gaue thankynges to god
therfore/ and Jofaphat dwelled there many
yeres in grete and meruayllous penaunce ful
of vertues / and whan balaam had accomplyffhed
hys dayes/ he reftyd in pees aboute the yere
of our lord foure hondred & four fcore Jofaphat
lefte his royame the xxv yere of his age/ and
ledde the lyf of an hermyte fyue and thyrty
yere / and thenne reftyd in pees ful of vertues /
and was buryed by the body of balaam / and
whan the kyngs barachyas herde of thys thynge
he came vnto that fame place with a grete
companye / and toke the bodyes and bare them
wyth moche grete honoure in to hys cytee where
god hath fhewed niany fayre myracles at the
tombe of thyfe two precyous bodyes/
C 5EJug mtJetfi ^i ftors of balaam
BtttJ Jfofapl^at
THE
POWER of ALMIGHTY GOD,
SET FORTH IN THE
Heathen's Converfion ;
Shewing the Whole
LIFE
OF
Prince Jehosaphat,
The SON of
King AVENERIO,
Of BARM A in INDIA.
jJOji. Jjjfc. Jjifc. .^Ifc .SIfc- -SI*!. -Sfe -Slfc. Jjlfc. jMfc Jjlfc-Ste
IN SEVEN PARTS.
How he was converted and made a Chriilian, which
was the converfion of his Father and the whole Land.
By a Reverend DIVINE.
mi^^ mi^i ^^n^^ f^-H/>^-i m j^j ^m m\ mm m ^^j f^#
LONDON:
Printed in the Year 1783.
Price TWO-PENCE.
THE
POWER of ALMIGHTY GOD,
Set forth in the
Heathens Conversion.
PART I.
King Avenerio'5 Perfecution over the Chrijlian
Faith J he prayeth to his Idols that his Queen
might bear a Child.
Which may be fung to the tane, Aim not
too high.
/^OOD Chriftian people, now be pleas'd to
^-^ mind.
This pious book, and in it foon you'll find.
Divine records fliow plainly to our view.
What miracles our gracious God can do.
Full well we know this is the heathens cafe,
Tho' they have not receiv'd the light of grace :
By nature the fun, moon, and ftars obey.
Thus every land fome kind of homage pay.
Thus
( 38 )
Thus by degrees God calls them home we know.
And mighty miracles does daily {how.
To make his righteous gofpel fpread and fhine.
That all may know his power mofl divine.
Then let the ignorant atheift blufh for Ihame,
And never more abufe God's holy name.
For God created all things, great and fmall.
And man to be chief ruler over all.
The caufe of this my treating I'll explain.
In foreign lands a tyrant KING did reign -,
A perfecutor of the chriftian faith.
As many good and learned writers faith.
His Queen was young and beautiful alfo.
In worldly pleafures they did overflow ;
One thing which moft their comforts did deftroy.
They had no iffue that could it enjoy.
This King, who in vain idols did believe.
Sent for his priefts to pray fhe might conceive 3
Pray to our Gods, faid he, that we may have,
A child for that is all I need to crave.
For with all forts of plenty I am bleil.
What e'er my heart can wifh to be poffeft :
A child will crown my days with pleafure then.
And I fhould be the happieft of all men.
They all replied, we will your will obey,
And for this thing we to our Gods will pray :
The King faid, if fuch bleflings come to me.
Then you Ihall furely well rewarded be.
Vain
( 39 )
Vain ignorant man God's laws fo difobey'd.
To think that idols, which by hands are made.
Have power J noj fuch things let us defy.
And put our faith and truft in God mod high.
Who is the righteous living God of might.
Nothing is hidden from his blefled fight.
He knows man's thoughts, and fees his aftions
Hill,
And nothing can be done without his will.
PART II.
The Queen proving with Child, he rewarded his
Idol Priejls, andfentfor the Wife Men.
npHUS in a vain prefumptuous manner, they.
Did often to their golden idols pray.
According to the order of their King,
Which was indeed a bold prefumptuous thing.
From heathen priefts no virtue could proceed.
But by the work of God it was decreed.
His fond defire Ihould fulfilled be.
That he a mighty miracle Ihould fee.
According to the will of God above.
His Queen conceived, and with child did
prove.
Then did the King joy through the land proclaim.
And thought his idol Gods had caus'd the fame.
Unto
( 40 )
Unto his heathen priefts great gifts he fent.
Saying, my days are crowned with fweet content:
My Queen has now conceived, and I fhall have.
The thing which I fo long did wilh and crave.
Five of the wifeft men that could be found.
In King Avenerio's kingdom round.
He fent for them and did a feafl: prepare.
Three months before her time expired were.
Unto thefe wife philofophers he faid.
My Queen in three months will be brought to
bed J
'Till then, you in my palace fhall remain.
That I may know what planet then will reign.
PART III.
The queen being delivered of JEHOSAPHAT,
the Wife Men tell the Signification of the
Child's Planet.
A T laft Ihe was delivered of a fon.
Which joyful tidings thro' the kingdom
run.
The fweeteft child that ever eyes beheld.
With joy and gladnefs then the King was
filled.
Jehosaphat this prince was nam'd we find :
The wife men were diflurbed in their minds.
For
( 41 )
For by the rule of planets they did fee.
Such things as would not with the King agree.
Four of them faid, what fhall we do alas !
For thro' this child ftrange things will come to
pafs J
Therefore we muft diffemble with our King,
And tell him, 'twill be well in every thing.
Now when the wife men came in the King's
view !
He faid, what have you found, pray tell me true ?
Four of them faid, fortune has on you fmil'd.
For you are blefl with a fweet hopeful child.
In every thing he will obey your will.
And crown your days with joy and comfort ftill :
To hear thefe things the King was pleafed in
mind 5
The wifeft man he fear'd, and ftaid behind.
Then from the King thefe wife men did
depart :
He for the other fent, and faid, thou art
The wifeft man, and therefore tell thou me.
What you concerning of my child did fee ?
I am afraid to tell you, he reply'd,
Becaufe, O King ! you'll be dilfatisfied j
Let it be good, or ill, fpeak, faid the King,
For thee I will believe in every thing.
He faid, O King ! thofe men did flatter you -,
What they have faid, indeed it is not true :
For
( 4= )
For in that fatal hour I did lee.
Your child is born a chriftian for to be.
Up firmly for the chriftian faith he'll (land.
And all your priefls he'll banifh from the land j
Your golden Gods he clearly will deflroy ;
Your days are mix'd with grief inftead of joy.
Hearing thefe words the King to weeping fell.
Saying, this is fad news which now you tell.
My joys are turn'd to forrow, grief and woe.
Then how I may prevent it, let me know.
The wife philofopher then faid, behold.
Your child mull fuck till three years old.
And build a famous palace in that fpace.
That he may be fecured in that place.
To wait on him, get twelve young virgins fair.
And fome great knight to tutor him with care.
The word of God or Chrift ne'er let him hear.
And thus let him be kept for fifteen years.
Should one of them fall fick, or chance to die.
Be fure you get another fpeedily ;
No death or ficknefs let him e'er perceive.
But all for ever lives, make him believe.
Then take him forth all pleafures for to fee.
And to fome princefs let him wedded be :
By this contrivance I'll affure you true.
Your child will be a comfort unto you.
Part
( 43 )
PART IV.
King AVENERIO's contrivance to have his fon
brought up in the Heathen Way, which
prevailed not.
'X'HEN as the wife philofopher had faid,
He caufed a fumptuous palace to be made.
And foon he got twelve virgins as we hear.
All aged from thirteen unto twenty years.
He put in truft Lionone called by name.
Who was a noble baron of great fame.
That he might be his tutor, and his guide.
To learn him well, and train him up in pride.
He was to be confined for fifteen years.
Commanding that God's word he might not hear.
Nor any talk of holy things divine ;
But mark how God did baulk the King's delign.
His father came oft times to fee him there.
To whom the tutor did this declare.
Your fon he doth increafe in learning fo.
He'll be a wife philofopher I know.
Then faid the King, the wife man told to me.
My child was born a chriflian for to be j
That falfe philofopher I need not mind.
For now I Ihall much joy and comfort find.
When 1 2 long years were gone and pafl behold.
The prince was then about fifteen years old ;
He
( 44 )
He lov'd one virgin more than all the reft,
To whom Jehofaphat his mind expreft.
Why am I fo confined here, I pray ?
I long to fee my father's palace gay.
And walk abroad to take the air likewife.
Why are thefe things thus hidden from my eyes.
Now if you will reveal the truth to me.
Thou ever ftialt high in my favour be ;
But if thou doft refufe, I'll fcorn thee quite.
And never will endure thee in my light.
The damfel faid, then as her eyes did flow.
Your father will put me to death I know.
If I fhould tell ; and if I it refufe.
Then I for ever muft your favour lofe.
Jehofaphat faid, fpeak, be not afraid ;
So then fhe told him what the wife men faidj
And did unto the prince the caufe relate.
Why he was kept confined at this rate.
Should you go forth, the city for to fee.
Your heart with mirth will ravifh'd be.
To view the court, and famous buildings ftore.
This fet the prince a longing more and more.
And faid to Lionone, one thing I crave.
To walk abroad I may fome freedom have :
The knight went to the King, and got him leave.
But, O the King in floods of tears did grieve.
The King fet forth a proclamation then,
That blind and lame, and all deformed men.
Should
( 45 )
Should keep up clofe when as the prince pall
thro'.
But llrong and lufty (hould appear in view.
The prince was mounted on a lofty fteed.
Great lords and barons met him there indeed.
To 'commodate him through the city fair.
While at each window mulic play'd moft rare.
The people were amaz'd at this fine fight,
Likewife the prince was fiU'd with great delight j
Then home he went, and to the damfel told.
What pleafant fights that day he did behold.
Mofl royal prince, the damfel then did fay.
Did you but fee the fields and gardens gay.
Where birds do fing, and fragrant flowers grow,
You would be much more ravifhed I know.
Once more the tutor did the King acquaint.
The fecond time to give his fon content :
Setting his proclamation forth again.
So out they went with all their noble train.
The fields and gardens gave him great delight.
And finging birds his heart did much invite ;
He was well pleas'd to view the parks mofl:
rare,^
When evening come, for home they did repair.
But now to drive ofl^all thefe pleafures gay.
They met with two objefts by the way :
One blind, the other full of leprofy.
Who for the fake of God crav'd charity.
The
( 46 )
The prince unto his tutor then did fay.
What is the meaning, tell me now I pray.
Of thefe ftrange creatures ? flraight the knight
replies.
They are two Men full of infirmities.
For by the caufe of fin 'tis God's decree.
Some men are born afflided for to be j
As blind or lame, fuch things the Lord doth
fhow.
That all may praife his name who are not fo.
Jehofaphat then faid. If this be true.
The like as well may fall on me or you.
The Knight then faid God knows beft, fo home
they went,
Jehofaphat was fiU'd with difcontent.
The Tutor then unto the King made known.
Your fon is very melancholy grown.
Some fport and pafl;ime therefore let him fee.
In hopes his drooping heart may cheered be.
The King gave leave, the tutor once more
came
With many lords and barons of great fame.
To ride a hunting then they took their way.
In mirth they fpent a pleafant fummer's day.
But riding home, out of a cell appears
A man whofe age was near an hundred years.
Bald-headed, toothlefs, hollo w-ey'd withal.
The palfy fhook him, he could hardly crawl ;
Jehofaphat
( 47 )
Jehofaphat then faid. Pray let me know
What thing is this fo ftrange and feems to go ?
The Knight faid 'tis a man with age quite fpent.
Ready to die, this made the prince relent.
Prince.) When muft he die, O tell me now I
pray?
Tutor.) No one but God can tell his dying day.
Pr.) What muft be done with him when he is
dead ?
Tu.) Then under earth his body muft be laid.
Then said the prince. If that it muft be fo.
This is a vain deceitful world I know.
The pleafures of it I'll no longer prize.
But have the thoughts of death before mine eyes.
Now when the tutor had thefe things then told.
The King did weep, and faid, my heart feems cold.
My child is come to ruin now, alas !
I fear the wife man's words will come to pafs.
PART V.
Prince Jehofaphat' s Converjion to the Chrijlian
Faith and DoSrine.
T) ARLAAM, a chriftian hermit, who had fpent
^-^ Long time in defert places, to him God fent
An angel, who unto the hermit faith.
Go teach Jehofaphat the chriftian faith.
Whate'er
( 48 )
Whate'er thou fayeft he fliall be rul'd by thee 3
For God hath chofe Jehofaphat to be
His faithful fervant, guiltlefs of offence,
Tho' kept fo long in wicked ignorance.
Then Barlaam came unto the palace brave.
To whom the porter faid, what would you have ?
Said Barlaam, I muft fpeak with your great
prince.
The man at firfl deny'd him entrance.
Barlaam.) I am a merchant, now I tell to thee.
And bring a precious jewel here with me.
All other things the fame it doth outvie.
For he who keeps the fame fhall never die.
The virtue of this jewel is fo pure.
All manner of diftempers it will cure :
If he were blind 'twould give him perfe6t light.
If he were lame 'twould make him walk upright.
Porter.) Pray let me fee this jewel if you can ?
Barlaam.) I dare not fhow it to a married man.
For none muft fee it but a virgin pure.
Your prince a virgin is I can affure.
The porter knowing what he faid was true.
Said, I will go and tell the prince of you :
He went and told the prince, who foon was free
He to his chamber fliould admitted be.
When Barlaam came the prince faid Let me
fee
The precious jewel you have brought for me.
Barlaam
( 49 )
Barlaam.) You cannot fee it with an outward
fight.
But muft behold it with an inward light.
Then Prince Jehofaphat did mildly fay.
What do you mean by inward light I pray?
Barlaam the hermit made this answer then.
This jewel is the Saviour of all men.
The gods you ferve are devils I you tell.
And leading you the ready way to hell j
There's none to ferve but one true God of
Might,
Hearken to me and I will teach you right.
God made the heavens, Lucifer firft fell
With many more down to the pit of hell.
For pride, and fo the devils all became
To be tormented in a burning flame.
Thofe having fell, the heavens were left bare.
So by that means the worlds created were j
In fix days fpace God did this work fulfil.
And make all things according to his will :
Man being made well-pleafing in his fight.
The devil was enrag'd with wrath and fpight,
'Caufe he himfelf can in no pleafure dwell.
He fain would draw all fouls to him in hell.
The devil's fnare firfi: caufed Adam's fall.
Which was the caufe mankind have finned all.
And fo the world became filthy and vain.
But by Chrifl:'s death it was reftor'd again.
When
D
( so )
When Barlaam had explain'd the fcripture
o'er.
The prince increas'd in learning more and more :
He faid, I will believe and bear in mind
My Chrill that dy'd for me and all mankind.
O teach me how to ferve my God moft pure.
That after death my foul may be fecure.
With God & Chrift who dwells with the Moft
High,
Barlaam in parable made this reply :
To a great lord two coffins once were brought.
One of them very fine and richly wrought
With gold, the other rotten were.
He chofe that coffin which was wrought fo rare :
The gaudy coffin being open'd wide,
A parcel of old rotten bones he fpy'd j
The rotten coffin then burft open were.
Where he beheld choice pearls and di'monds
rare:
He blulht for Ihame and was converted ftraight.
Crying, O Lord, my fins are very great ;
The glory of the earth is vain I fee.
The pooreft of this earth will happieft be.
The prince faid I will worldly pleafure flight.
And in the poor will place my whole delight 5
Henceforth I will defy all pomp and pride,
I thank you brother, Jefus be my guide.
Part
( 51 )
PART VI.
King Avenerios Malice againji his Son
Jehofaphat for being a Chrijiian.
T lONONE finding what would come to pafs,
"^^ He fmote upon his breaft, and cry'd alas
What anfwer fhall I make my fovereign lord ?
Death without mercy will be my reward.
Then he a rope about his neck did fling.
And in this manner went unto the king.
Then kneeling down he made a courteous
bow.
The king reply'd, fir, what's the matter now ?
What, art thou mad, Lionone, tell me true.
That you appear fo ftrangely in my view ?
Lionone trembled ; and made this reply,
O hang me up, for I delerve to die.
I do deferve no mercy for my fliare,
You left your fon under my charge and care.
To tutor him the way that is mofl: right,
But now, alas ! your fon is turned quite.
For by a falfe deceitful man's advice.
Who faid he had a jewel of great price :
By his fly ways I fell into a fnare j
He's made your fon a chriftian I declare.
He in the chriflian faith is grown fo bold.
That our religion he in fcorn doth hold :
He
( 52 )
He rails againft our Gods at a vile rate.
And fays they fliall be burned at his gate.
Rife up Lionone, then replied the King,
I will not execute you for this thing :
Thou may'ft be fure no harm (hall come to
thee.
But on my fon revenged 1 vi^ill be.
If that he will not turn to us again.
As I'm King, I'll caufe him to be flain :
I'd better kill him though he is my child.
Than let my kingdom utterly be fpoil'd.
So fending for his fon thefe words he faid.
Haft thou my laws and counfel difobey'd ?
If it be true what I have heard of thee.
Then by my honour thou deftroy'd fhalt be.
I have been told thou art a chriftian turn'd.
If it be fo, 'tis fit thou fhould'ft be burn'd :
Thou ftialt not live to overcome my land.
The truth of this now let me underftand.
Father I am a chriftian to be plain.
That holy faith I ever will maintain :
To fuffer death I will be very free.
For my dear Chrift that Ihed his blood for me.
Then did he give his fon fad kicks and blows,
'Till blood gufht out both from his mouth and
nofe.
I thank you, Father, then replied the fon.
It is God's will for me, this fhould be done.
My
( 53 )
My liiviour Chrift with many ftripes was beat.
And to the crofs they nail'd his hands and feet.
To bear your blows with patience I am free,
I cannot bear what Chrift has bore for me.
To find out Barlaam then we underftand.
He fent a proclamation through the land j
That man by whom this hermit could be found.
Should have for his reward a hundred pound.
Long time they fought him, but 'twas in vain.
He thought to take his fon, and have him
flain.
His council faid, your fon pray do not flay.
And we will put you in a better way.
Nicor refembles Barlaam in the face.
Let him be brought before his royal grace.
He'll think 'tis Barlaam, therefore Nicor muft.
Tell him the heathen way is good and juft.
And fay 'twas falfe what he had faid before.
So by that means your fon we may reftore j
And bring him fafe into our way again.
Then he the chriftian faith will quite difdain.
Let all the chriftians which confined are.
Be brought into your royal palace rare.
To hear the ftrong difpute j when this is done.
They'll all turn heathens with the prince your
fon.
Then Nicor being fent for to the court.
The King unto his fon gave this report :
Barlaam
( 54 )
Barlaam is taken which thou foon Ihalt fee.
Then faid the prince, this news rejoiceth me.
So foon as Nicor to the court was brought,
The prince was filled with a jealous thought.
It was not Barlaam, fometimes he thought he
was.
Then he began to plead the heathen's caufe.
The prince before them all, faid, wicked elf.
What art thou come to plead againft thyfelf ?
Except thou doll the chriftian faith maintain.
This very day by me thou fhalt be llain.
Remember David, God anointed King,
Who flew the proud Philiftines with a fling :
If thou art ne'er fo flrong, aflured I be,
Into my hands God will deliver thee.
Said Nicor, I was fent you to deceive.
The Devil brought me here I do believe :
I am not Barlaam, Nicor is my name.
Brought up a heathen lord, the more's my Ihame.
No more I'll be a heathen for my part.
But ferve the chrifl:ian God with all my heart :
The pagans down their heathen books did fling
And burnt their Gods in prefence of the King.
Part
( 55 )
PART VII.
The converjion of King Avenerio, which caufed
the go/pel of Chri/l to be publicly manifefled
throughout the whole land.
0 EEING thefe things the King aloud did cry
^ O ! what a wretched linful man am I ?
Againft the holy word of truth to fight,
1 find the chriftian faith is pure and right.
Againft that faith I will no longer hold :
O blefled be the wife men that foritold.
What was degreed at the fweet righteous birth.
The bleffed'ft child that ere was born on earth :
Dear fon, behold I fall down at thy feet.
Hoping thou wilt by prayer to God intreat
In my behalf to cleanfe my finful foul.
Which has been long polluted vain and foul.
Rife up dear father, then the prince did fay,
I'll beg of God to waih your fins away.
My heart is cheer'd to fee fuch change in you.
The thoughts do more and more my joys renew.
Father, it was God's will I Ihould be fent
To fave you from the dreadful puniftiment
Of hell's hot fire which does poor fouls defl:roy.
We fhall be crown 'd with everlafl:ing joy.
Churches were built the land became divine.
Then did the righteous gofpel fpread and fliine ;
The
( 56 )
The poor confined chriftians were fet free.
In chriflian love the land did foon agree.
Death call'd the king down to his filent tomb,
Jehofaphat reigned in his father's room,
And was by all his fubjeds dearly lov'd
Becaufe the word of Chrift was well approv'd.
Thus for fome time he did the faith defend.
But in that land his life he did not end j
But to Alfanes did his throne refign.
That he might keep it holy and divine.
For fear that worldly pleafures which are vain
In any wife fliould draw him back again,
He fought out Barlaam to be fatisfy'd.
In lonefome deferts he with hermits dy'd.
The people griev'd for lofs of their good prince.
But good Alfanes Hood in the defence
Of the true faith, which is divine and pure.
And ever fhall from age to age endure.
All we who in a chrifl:ian nation dwell
Should mind God's word, and prize it very well
And not abufe it as we daily do.
For fear juft punifliment Ihould us purfue.
Since mighty miracles fo plain are feen.
Let's beg of God for faith to make us clean ;
That after death our fouls may live on high
With JESUS CHRIST to all Eternity.
FINIS.
PHnted by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO., Edinbursh and London
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