No. 5. "Ex gestis romanorum hystorie notabiles collecte de viciis virtutibusque tractantes cum applicacionibus moralisatis et mysticis incipiunt fideliter." (sometimes feliciter.)
The colophon. "Ex gestis Romanorum cum pluribus applicatis hystoriis de virtutibus et viciis mystice ad intellectum transumptis recollectorii finis."
It is impossible to speak with certainty as to the first edition, on account of the omission of dates, places, and printers' names in some of the early copies. There are two editions so circumstanced, with the titles No. 1 and 2, in folio, and containing 152 chapters only. There is a third printed without date by Nicolas Ketelaer and Gerard de Leempt at Utrecht, in folio, with 152 chapters, to which Lambinet has inaccurately assigned the date of 1473.[118] One of these three is probably the first edition. They are all excessively rare, and a copy containing 152 chapters only would not easily be found in this country.
Of the editions without date, place, or printer, that contain 181 chapters, there are three, and perhaps more. One of these, in folio, is in the British Museum, but imperfect. It was certainly printed with the types used by Ulric Zell, about 1475. Two others, the one in folio, the other in quarto, were printed without date at Louvain, by John of Westphalia. He is said to have printed one edition with the date 1473; but this is probably a mistake copied from one book into another, as Lambinet assures us that the copy in the royal library at Paris has the above date, but in manuscript only.[119] The following editions with dates can be spoken of with more confidence.
- 1480, no place, nor printer. In folio.
- 1480, at Gouda, by Gerard Leeu. In folio.
- 1481, at Hasselt, no printer. In folio.
- 1482, no place, nor printer. In quarto. This is doubtful, being taken from a bookseller's catalogue.
- 1488, no place, nor printer. In folio.
- 1489, no place, nor printer. In folio.
- 1489, at Strasburg, no printer. In folio.
- 1490, at Gouda, by Gerard Leeu. In folio.
- 1493, no place, nor printer. In folio.
- 1494, no place, nor printer. In quarto.
- 1494, at Louvain, no printer....
- 1497, no place, nor printer. In quarto.
- 1497, at Strasburg, by John Knoblouch. In quarto.
- 1498, no place, nor printer. In folio.
- 1499, no place, nor printer. In folio.
- 1499, at Paris, no printer. In quarto.
- 1506, at Paris, by Jean Petit. In 12mo.
- 1508, at Hagenau, by Henry Gran. In folio.
- 1509, at Paris, by Francois Regnault. In 12mo.
- 1512, at Venice, no printer. In 12mo.
- 1515, at Paris, by Jean Petit. In 12mo.
- 1516, at Venice, by George de Rusconibus. In 8vo.
- 1517, at Paris, no printer. In 12mo.
- 1517, at Hagenau, by Henry Gran. In folio.
- 1520, at Venice, by A. de Bindonis. In 8vo.
- 1521, at Paris, by Jean Petit. In 12mo.
- 1521, at Rouen....
- 1555, at Lyons, no printer. In 12mo.
German Translation.—Of this only one edition has occurred, printed at Augsburg, by John Schopser, 1489, in folio.
Dutch Translation.—Two editions are mentioned, the one printed at Gouda, by Gerard Leeu, 1481, and the other at Zwollis, by Peter Van Os, 1484; both in folio.
French Translation.—It does not appear who was the author of the translation into this language, which is entitled Le violier[120] des hystoires Rommaines: moralisez sur les nobles gestes faitz vertueulx et anciennes chroniques de toutes nations de gens, fort recreatif et moral. It contains only one hundred and forty-nine stories. About the year 1516, Pierre Gringore, herald to the duke of Lorraine, and the author of several moralities and other works, published a book called Les fantasies de mere sote, which is only a translation in prose, intermixed with verse, of some twenty or thirty stories in the Gesta Romanorum, with their moralizations. He has suppressed all mention of his original, and insinuated in the privilege that he was himself the inventor. This work seems to have preceded the anonymous translation above mentioned, of which it is possible that Gringore might have likewise been the author. There is another French Gestes Romaines by Gaguin the historian, which has been mistaken for a translation of the Gesta; but it is nothing more than an extract from the history of the Roman republic. The editions of the Violier are, 1. without date, printed at Paris, by Philip Le Noir, in quarto; 2. 1521, printed at Paris, by Jean de la Garde, in folio; and 3. 1529, printed also at Paris, for Denis Janot, in quarto.
English Translation.—In 1703 was published a little volume entitled Gesta Romanorum: or Forty-five histories originally (as 't is said) collected from the Roman records, with applications or morals for the suppressing vice, and encouraging virtue and the love of God. Vol. I. newly and with care translated from the Latin edition, printed, A.D. M.D.XIV. This seems to be the first English translation, and the translator B. P. has remarked in his preface that most of the matters contained in his book had, as he understood, appeared already in the English tongue; and therefore he desires the reader, if he should discover a great difference in names, sense, and expression, to compare each work with the Latin copy, by which comparison he conceives it will be found that his translation is faithful. He was not aware that the preceding translation to which he alludes had been made from a different work. The stories are here extracted without attention to the original arrangement, but with a reference in each to the Latin copy. The editor, whoever he was, designed an extension of his labours to other volumes. Next followed an edition of the same work, without date, 18mo, but printed about 1720. It wants the references to the Latin copy, and the former preface is abridged. It contains fourteen additional stories that do not belong to the original Gesta. Of this another edition, with the language much altered, was printed in 1722, 18mo, with the same number of stories. The editor signs himself A. B., perhaps Bettesworth the printer.
It is now time to proceed to the description of another Gesta Romanorum, and which has indeed been the principal cause of the present dissertation. This work was undoubtedly composed in England in imitation of the other; and therefore it will be necessary for the future to distinguish the two works by the respective appellations of the original and the English Gesta.