Alphabet of tales : an English 15th century translation of the Alphabetum narrationum of Etienne de Besançon, from Additional MS. 25,719 of the British Museum / by Etienne de Besançon

About this Item

Title
Alphabet of tales : an English 15th century translation of the Alphabetum narrationum of Etienne de Besançon, from Additional MS. 25,719 of the British Museum / by Etienne de Besançon
Author
Etienne de, Besançon, d. 1294
Editor
Banks, Mary Macleod
Publication
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co., Ltd.
1904, 1905
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Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/AlphTales
Cite this Item
"Alphabet of tales : an English 15th century translation of the Alphabetum narrationum of Etienne de Besançon, from Additional MS. 25,719 of the British Museum / by Etienne de Besançon." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/AlphTales. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 17, 2025.

Pages

DXII.
Mortis eciam consideracio multum valet homini in dignitate constituto.

Ysidorus tellis how som̛ [tyme] þer was a custom̛, þat on̛ þe furste day of þe crownyng of þe Emperour of Constantynople, when̛ he was in his moste ioy, a mason̛ sulde com̛ & bryng hym̛ iiij or v maner of stonys of marble and say vnto hym̛ on̛ þis maner of wyse, and byd hym̛ chese of þies of whilk he wolde hafe his grave made. And so it was wunt to be done in þe cowrte of Rome, for when̛ þe Pope was chosen̛ þer was broght aforn̛ hym̛ a pece of lyne-tow, & when̛ fyre was sett in it, þan̛ was sayd vnto hym̛; "Thus gose þe ioy of þis werld̛ away, as þis fyre bryngis þis tow in-to a spark̘, and afterward̛ in-to right noght."

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