Disciplina Clericalis

by Petrus Alphonsi

WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY BULLETIN
New Series

LITERARY SECTION SUPPLEMENT

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Western Reserve Studies, Vol. I, No. 5

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Peter Alphonse's

DISCIPLINA CLERICALIS
(English Translation)

FROM

The Fifteenth Century Worcester Cathedral
Manuscript F. 172

 

BY
WILLIAM HENRY HULME, Ph. D.
Professor of English

CONTENTS

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Preface ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

3

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

5

 (not listed in original)

Peter Alphonse's Disciplina Clericalis ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

12

I.

The Half Friend ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

14

II.

The Two Perfect Friends ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

15

III.

The King and the Poets ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

20

IV.

The Mule and the Fox ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

21

V.

The Ungrateful Serpent ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

24

VI.

The Poet Turned Porter ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

24

A Priest in the House of Drinkers ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

25

The Voice of the Owl ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

26

VII.

The Vine-Dresser Deceived by His Wife ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

27

VIII.

The Husband Deceived by Means of a Sheet ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

28

IX.

The Mother-in-Law with the Drawn Sword ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

29

The King and His Jester ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

30

X.

The Procuress and Her Weeping Bitch ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

31

XI.

The Jealous Husband and the Stone Cast into the Well ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

33

XII.

The Tale of the Ten Coffers ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

35

XIII.

The Ten Tuns of Oil ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

37

XIV.

The Tale of the Golden Serpent ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

40

XV.

The Three Pilgrims to Mecca and the Loaf ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

43

XVI.

The Master Tailor and His Apprentice Nedwy ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

44

XVII.

The Churl and the Bird ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

47

XVIII.

The Plowman with His Oxen and the Wolf and the Fox ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

48

XIX.

The Thief and the Moonbeam ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

50

XX.

Concerning Marianus ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

52

XXI.

Etiquette in the King's Service ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

53

XXII.

The Lazy Servant Maimund ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

55

XXIII.

Socrates and the King ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

58

XXIV.

The Wise Merchant and the Improvident King ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

59

XXV.

The Thief Caught While Hesitating About What to Take ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

62

XXVI.

The Sayings of the Philosophers at the Tomb of Alexander the Great ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

64

XXVII.

The Hermit Chastening His Soul ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

64

XXVIII.

The Knight in Exile and His Friend Whose Wife Played Him False ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

66

XXIX.

The Roman Merchant Who Laid a Wager on His Wife's Chastity ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

69

XXX.

The Unchaste Wife and the Rescue of Her Lover ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

70