Into a framework of this kind fables of the sort
above mentioned had, it will be seen, not the remotest
Its devdop- difficulty in fitting themselves ; and it was
'"^^' not even a very long step onward to make
Alexander a Christian, equip him with twelve peers,
and the like. But it has been well demonstrated by
M. Paul Meyer that though the fictitious narrative
obtained wide acceptance, and even admission into
their historical compilations by Vincent of Beauvais,
Ekkehard, and others, a more sober tradition as to the
hero obtained likewise. If we were more certain than
we are as to the exact age of Quintus Curtius, it would
be easier to be certain likewise how far he represents
and how far he is the source of this more sober tradi-
tion. It seems clear that the Latin Alexandreis of
Walter of Chatillon is derived from him, or from a
common source, rather than from Valerius -Callis-
thenes: while M. Meyer has dwelt upon a Latin



156 EUROPEAN LITERATURE, 1100-1300.
compilation perhaps as old as the great outburst of
vernacular romance on Alexander, preserved only in
English MSS. at Oxford and Cambridge, and probably
of English composition, which is a perfectly common-
sense account based upon historians, of various dates
and values, indeed, ranging from Trogus to Isidore of
Seville, but all historians and not romancers.
