The wars of Alexander: an alliterative romance translated chiefly from the Historia Alexandri Magni de preliis. Re-edited from ms. Ashmole 44, in the Bodleian library, Oxford, and ms. D.4.12, in the library of Trinity college, Dublin: by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat.

                                
                                  Þat we cuthe any-gates gesse · betwyx gud & ill, [AlexDind page 9] 
                                  Line 4216 
                                
                                  Syne was oure will ay with witt · to warisch oure saule,
                                
                                  And kest out all vnclennes · & clene it deuoidid;
                                
                                  For þe philisophour in his fourme · vs feetly declares,
                                
                                  Þat saȝe with-outen sapience · it seldoum aproues.
                                  Line 4220 
                                
                                  And it is wayued vs to wete · & warned now late,
                                
                                  Þat all oure leuyng & oure laȝes · ȝe wetirly dispice,
                                
                                  And ȝour manars fra all othire mens · so mekill ere deffirrid, [folio 73a] 
                                
                                  Þat nouthire in see ne in soile · seke ȝe na helpe.
                                  Line 4224 
                                
                                  Bott deyned it ȝour doctryne · bedene vs to write,
                                
                                  Ȝoure customes & ȝoure conscience · & of ȝour clene thewis,
                                
                                  We miȝt sum connynge per cas · chach of ȝoure wordis,
                                
                                  And ȝour lare of a leke · suld neuire þe les worth. [AlexDind page 10] 
                                  Line 4228 
                                
                                  Slike similitude of science · is sett, as of kynde,
                                
                                  As of a blesand brand · or of a briȝt candill.
                                
                                  For many liȝtis of a liȝt · is liȝtid othire-quile,
                                
                                  And ȝit þe liȝt at þam liȝtis · is liȝtid as before."
                                  Line 4232 
                                
                                  Quen he had waytid ouer þis writtis · his mynd he remembris,
                                
                                  And be þe same sandisman · him send sike anothire.
                                
                                  ¶ "I, ser Dindimus, a duke · þat neuire deere wroȝt,
                                
                                  Blith berne on my benke · þe Bragmeyns maistir, [AlexDind page 11] 
                                  Line 4236 
                                
                                  To þe modi kynge of Messedone · þis maundment I write.
                                
                                  Sire Alexander, þe athill · at all þe werd loutis,
                                
                                  Sire, þe tenour of þi titill · I trow, be na mare,
                                
                                  Bot anly wisdom & witt · þou willis in þi saule.
                                  Line 4240 
                                
                                  And bettir it is to þine a-bofe · þan buschels of siluir,
                                
                                  And mare passand of prisse · þan all þi proude rewmes.
                                
                                  Sen ȝe discrecion disire · we depely ȝow pray;
                                
                                  For a kyng with-outen cunnyng [MS. cunmynge.]  · he can noȝt distreyne
                                
                                  His subiectis, & to be [In the margin.]  subi[e]ctis · as subiectis aȝe,
                                
                                  Bot subiectis till his subiectis · his subiectis him makis.

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Title: The wars of Alexander: an alliterative romance translated chiefly from the Historia Alexandri Magni de preliis. Re-edited from ms. Ashmole 44, in the Bodleian library, Oxford, and ms. D.4.12, in the library of Trinity college, Dublin: by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat.
Canvas: Page 230
Publication: London,: Pub. for the Early English text society, by N. Trübner & co.,; 1886.
Subject terms: Alexander, -- the Great, -- 356-323 B.C. -- Romances.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/apa1967.0001.001
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Full citation: "The wars of Alexander: an alliterative romance translated chiefly from the Historia Alexandri Magni de preliis. Re-edited from ms. Ashmole 44, in the Bodleian library, Oxford, and ms. D.4.12, in the library of Trinity college, Dublin: by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/apa1967.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 23, 2025.

The wars of Alexander: an alliterative romance translated chiefly from the Historia Alexandri Magni de preliis. Re-edited from ms. Ashmole 44, in the Bodleian library, Oxford, and ms. D.4.12, in the library of Trinity college, Dublin: by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat.

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