Hath herd somewhat or all of his fortune.”
Juan Lorenzo took this story substantially as he had read it in the “Alexandreïs” of Walter de Chatillon, whom he repeatedly cites;[81] but he has added whatever he found elsewhere, or in his own imagination, that seemed suited to his purpose, which was by no means that of becoming a mere translator. After a short introduction, he comes at once to his subject thus, in the fifth stanza:—
I desire to teach the story · of a noble pagan king,
With whose valor and bold heart · the world once did ring:
For the world he overcame, · like a very little thing;
And a clerkly name I shall gain, · if his story I can sing.
This prince was Alexander, · and Greece it was his right;
Frank and bold he was in arms, · and in knowledge took delight;
Darius’ power he overthrew, · and Porus, kings of might,
And for suffering and for patience · the world held no such wight.