The wars of Alexander: an alliterative romance translated chiefly ...

METHOD OF TRANSLATION.
Xxi
of the Romance, viz. fragment A (printed with William of Paleme)
and fragment C (printed as Alexander and Dindimus). Of these,
the former illustrates 11. 23—803*, and the latter 11. 4019—4714
as noted at p. 285. For further examples of this, see the Notes.
§ 12. We come now to consider how the translater has performed
his task. He has given us but little of his own, the chief original
passage being the first 22 lines, which are introductory. He has
also divided his work into Passus, by way of affording intervals of
rest, and sometimes adds a few lines of his own at the beginnings
and ends of these, such as 11. 212, 213, 214, 523, 524, &c. At such
points, we may particularly observe that he uses such expressions as
Ipe text me recordis (214); as says me the text (741*, p. 27) ; as \e
buke sais (881) ; For all pe first [part] is in fittis (3473). The most
explicit passage is the following (11. 3472-3) :
" pe lattir ende of his lyfe • me list ^ow to tett.
For att ])Q first is ia fittis * & folowand the lettir."
Here he expressly tells us that he has already arranged the preceding
part of the work in Passus, and that it was ** following the letter," i. e.
a more or less literal translation from the " text" which was before
him. It does not appear that he has adopted any single text exclusively,
but the main part of the narrative follows, with tolerable
fidelity, the Latin text known as the " Historia de Preliis."
Of this
work, I fortunately possess an excellent black-letter copy, printed at
Strassburg in 1489,^ which has been of great help and service in
making out the true sense of several passages. In order to shew
how the translater has treated his original, I have quoted the whole
of the first Chapter of this work in the note to 1. 13, on p. 285. It
answers precisely to the translater's Primus Passus, 11. 23—211;
hnes 1—22 and 212, 213 being obviously additions to it. I have
also, in the note to 1. 722, quoted the whole of the Latin text
answering to the two missing leaves in the Ashmole MS.
But, in
general, each Passus of the English version contains several chapters
of the Latin text ; thus Passus Secundus is equivalent to the second,
^ In my Notes to Alexander, fragment A (printed with William of
have quoted a copy in
Paleme) and fragment B (Alexander and Dindimus), I
the University Library, printed in 1490.