Gripla - 20.12.2013, Blaðsíða 85

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In the exemplum of saints Cyprian and justina, there is, for example, no
mention of riches being offered to Cyprian by Agladyus, “[a] gretë may-
ster and a syre,” who applies to Cyprian for the assistance of his art.17 the
demons appear not in the likeness of her foster mother, sister, and mother,
but in the image of her parents, and the third demon is not identified as
the prince of demons. there is no mention of Cyprian making the sign of
the cross himself; according to the Handlyng Synne, he simply decides to
forsake the demon, abandon his services, and become a Christian: “when
Cypryen þys vndyrstode, He forsoke hem, and bycom gode, And alle þe
crafte þat he hadde haunted, And Crystendome to take he graunted.”18
the details of Cyprian’s torments are not given, and there is no mention
of the sign of the cross found inscribed on his heart. In the exemplum of
the blaspheming boy, it is not specified that the father was a Roman, and
that the son was five years old.19 It is not related that the child was torn to
pieces by demons, and there is no reference to “meijstarj Bekarinar”.
In odo of Cheriton’s Parabolae, the exempla are much abridged in
comparison with the Icelandic texts. the exemplum of saints Cyprian and
justina (“de Cipriano habente demones in archa”) is in the Parabolae re-
duced to a mere outline and does not mention, for instance, justina’s other
suitor, the threefold attack of demons, and the sign of the cross inscribed
on Cyprian’s heart:
Ciprianus quidam, Cart[h]aginiensis magus, in pixide retrusos
habuit demones in archa, [et, quando uolebat, mittebat eos ad
negocia sua peragenda. Quadam die precepit eis ut adducerent
ei sanctam Iustinam, virginem quam diligebat, et non potuerunt,
quoniam signaculo crucis se signauit; ob quam causam factus
christianus passus est pro domino, etuirgo].20
17 Robert of Brunne’s “Handlyng Synne,” A. D. 1303, With Those Parts of the Anglo-French Treatise
on Which it Was Founded, William of Wadington’s “Manuel des Pechiez,” ed. frederick j.
furnivall, early english text society, original series, vols. 119, 123 (London: k. Paul,
Trench, Trübner & Co, 1901−03), 258−262, esp. 259.
18 Ibid., 261.
19 Ibid., 161−62.
20 Léopold Hervieux, Les fabulistes latins depuis le siècle d’Auguste jusqu’à la fin du moyen âge, 5
vols. (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1893−99), 4:281.
tWo eXeMPLA