aced back to Latin versions of a Greek
compilation, perhaps of the first century, ascribed to Callisthenes,
the companion of Alexander on his Asiatic expedition.[5] It is
uncertain how much the _Alexandre_ may owe to a Provencal poem on
the same subject, written in the early years of the twelfth century,
probably by Alberic de Briancon, of which only a short fragment, but
that of high merit, has been preserved. From his birth, and his
education by Aristotle and the enchanter Nectanebus, to the division,
as death approaches, of his empire between his twelve peers, the story
of Alexander is a series of marvellous adventures; the imaginary
wonders of the East, monstrous wild beasts, water-women,
flower-maidens, Amazons, rain of fire, magic mountains, magic
fountains, trees of the sun and of the moon, are introduced with a
liberal hand. The hero is specially distinguished by the virtue of
liberality; a jongleur who charms him by lays sung to the flute, is
rewarded with the lordship of Tarsus, a worthy example for the
twelfth-century patrons of the poet. The romance had a resounding
fame.

[Footnote 5: Not quite all, for certain borrowings were made from
the correspondence of Alexander with Dindimus, King of the Brahmans,
and from the _Alexandri Magni iter ad Paradisum_.]

Of classical poets, Ovid ranked next to Virgil in the esteem of the
Middle Ages. The mythology of paganism was sanctified by the
assumption that it was an allegory of Christian mysteries, and thus
the stories might first be enjoyed by the imagination, and then be
expounded in their spiritual meaning. The _Metamorphoses_ supplied
Chretien de Troyes with the subject of his _Philomena_; other writers
gracefully dealt with the tales of _Piramus_ and of _Narcissus_. But
the most important work founded upon Ovid was a versified translation
of the _Metamorphoses_ (before 1305) by a Franciscan monk, Chretien
Legouais de Sainte-Maure, with appended interpretations, scientific,
historical, moral, or religious, of the mythological fables. Ovid's
_Art of Love_, of which more than one rendering was made, aided in
the formation or development of the mediaeval theory of love and the
amorous casuistry founded upon that theory.

IV
ROMANCES OF LOVE AND COURTESY

Under the general title of the _Epopee courtoise_--the Epopee of
Courtesy--may be grouped those romances which are either works of
pure imagination or of uncertain origin, or which lead us back to
Byzantin