S (Scala Coeli)

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The version of the Seven Sages narrative known as 'Version S' in scholarship was penned by Jean or Johannes Gobi the Younger, as part of the collection of exempla titled Scala Coeli composed circa 1323–30. Gobi was a Dominican friar from the south of France, who compiled and composed the Scala Coeli while living at the monstery in Saint-Maximin (a site overseen by Jean Gobi the Elder, presumably his uncle) (see Aranda García (2021a), Polo de Beaulieu (1996)). The exempla in the compilation - somewhere between 600 and 1,000 in number, depending on the individual manuscript/incunabula witness - are mostly, but not universally, Dominican, drawn from and found in many other popular contemporary exempla collections, including those attributed to Jacques de Vitry, Arnold of Liège, Étienne of Bourbon, and Caesarius of Heisterbach.

The collection is ordered alphabetically, with exempla grouped under thematic headings beginning with Abstinentia and ending with Usura. Each exemplum opens with a moral message and attribution, and is usually followed by a moralisation; however, this is not the case for the version of the Seven Sages found in the Scala, which is also longer and more detailed than most of the other exempla (Aranda Garcia 2021a). That additional length may explain why only some surviving Scala Coeli texts include the Seven Sages - it does not meet the usual formal expectations of exempla, whose brevity allowed for their use in sermons, and may therefore have been deemed a poor fit for the collection by redactors. According to Cañizares Ferriz (2011), the three distinct redactions of the Scala Coeli differ in their treatment and inclusion of the Seven Sages:

• Group I (most complete manuscripts, 1002–1068 exempla): most include the Seven Sages, and mostly include the sages' names.
• Group II (876–974 exempla): more than half contain The Seven Sages, rarely contain the sages' names.
• Group III (most abbreviated, 487–617 exempla): less than half contain the Seven Sages, and almost always omit the sages' names.

Despite the fact that the Seven Sages is longer than most other exempla in the Scala Coeli, it is still notably brief when compared with other texts in the the broader Seven Sages tradition; Campbell (1904) observes that it is 'much compressed', though the narrative pattern is 'not substantially altered'. Gobi attributes the tale to the lost Liber de septem sapientibus, the text that Paris hypothesized might be the source for much of the Western transmission of the Seven Sages (see Paris (1876)). Regardless of its relationship to the broader tradition, Scala Coeli is clearly closely related to the French Version L. The order of the stories in the two versions is nearly identical; the placement of Tentamina and Puteus is reversed, and Version S includes Vaticinium and Vidua which Version L omits, but in all other respects, they are very similar. Critically, this includes the stories Filia and Noverca, which substitute for Roma and Inclusa in Version A. These two stories - only found in these two versions and the anomalous Overlap A/L texts - are of particular note because of their rarity, and because of their meta-reflective function. Also like (some of) the Version L texts, this narrative includes the motif of the judicial duel/trial by combat, staged prior to the prince's final story. The empress's champion is defeated, and she is condemned; as she is led to her pyre, she says,

"Nunc veritatem experiar de somnii mei. Videbatur enim mihi quod serpens egrediebatur de ore meo et septem aves insequerentur serpentem. Cumque cum adjutorio aquile cepissent serpentem et reduxissent eum ad me, una cum eo ardebam in igne. Hic serpens est falsitas mea. Septem autem aves sunt septem sapientes, aquila filius tuus qui denudaverat falsitatem meam."

[Now I see the truth of my dream. I dreamed that a serpent came out of my mouth, and seven birds pursued the serpent. When they captured it with the help of an eagle and brought it back to me, I burned in the fire with it. This serpent is my falsehood. The seven birds are the seven wise men, and the eagle is your son, who exposed my lie.]

Her death is then immediately followed by the prince's story Vaticinium, in which interpreting of symbols and the meaning of birds becomes further - though posthumous - proof of the empress's guilt and the son's innocence.

Identification and general Information
Reference Number
Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages	S (Scala Coeli)
Version Number
Title	Scala coeli
Author

Tradition and Lineage
Branch of the tradition	West
Adapted from (version)	(Lost) Liber de Septem Sapientibus
Adapted into (version)
Source for composition and adaptation information

Recorded secondary versions
S (Scala Coeli) Latin Version S Latin Version S Manuscripts Latin Version S (Not in Scala Coeli) Latin Version S Group I Latin Version S Group II Latin Version S Group III

Connected manuscripts

Manuscript Language Location Date of Production Avignon Bibliothèque municipale Ceccano, Ms 335 Latin Avignon, Bibliothèque municipale Ceccano 1450 - 1500 Braunschweig Stadtbibliothek 10 Latin Braunschweig, Stadtbibliothek 1452 Brugge Bibliotheek Ms. 494 Latin Brugge, Bibliotheek Brugge 1401 - 1500 Burgo de Osma Biblioteca Capitular Ms. 57 Latin Burgo de Osma, Archivo Capitular de Osma-Soria 1401 - 1500 Città del Vaticano Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Cod. Pal. Lat. 862 Latin Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana 1401 - 1500 Dublin Trinity College Library Ms 128 Latin Dublin, Trinity College Library 1401 - 1500 Göttingen Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Theol. 140 Latin Göttingen, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek 1401 - 1500 Kraków Biblioteka Jagiellońska 1410 Latin Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska 1401 - 1500 Liège Bibliothèque Université Ms 101 Latin Liège, Université de Liège Bibliothèque 1459 Lüneburg Ratsbücherei Theol. 4° 8 Latin Lüneburg, Ratsbücherei Lüneburg 1377 Madrid Biblioteca Nacional de España Ms. 1113 Latin Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España 1301 - 1400 Marseille Bibliothèque Municipale Ms. 98 Latin Marseille, Bibliothèque Municipale 1401 - 1500 Metz Bibliothèque Municipale Ms. 238 Latin Metz, Bibliothèque Municipale de Metz 1401 - 1500 Napoli Biblioteca Nazionale VIII B.32 Latin Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III 1401 - 1500 Osnabrück Bibliothek Gymnasium Carolinum Ms. 31 Latin Osnabrück, Bibliothek Gymnasium Carolinum 1401 - 1500 Paris Bibliothèque Mazarine Ms 3855 Latin Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine 1401 - 1500 Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cod. Lat. 16517 Latin Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France 1458/06/05 Parma Biblioteca Palatina Parm. 28 Latin Parma, Biblioteca Palatina 1401 - 1500 Urgell Arxiu Capitular Ms. 2080 Latin Urgell, Arxiu Capitular d'Urgell 1401 - 1500 Warszawa Biblioteka Narodowa BOZ 145 Latin Warszawa, Biblioteka Narodowa 1450 - 1500 Wien Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. 13538 Latin Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 1401 - 1500 Wien Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. 5371 Latin Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 1395 - 1399 Wrocław Biblioteka Uniwersytecka I Q 454 Latin Wrocław, Biblioteka Uniwersytecka 1452

Language and Composition
Original language of version	Latin
Language of text	Latin
Regional or specific language of version
Translated into (languages)	Latin, Spanish
Place of composition
Date of composition	1322 - 1330
Islamic date of composition
Hebrew date of composition
Source for date of composition	Cañizares Ferriz (2011)

Modern Scholarship and Editions
Modern research literature
Modern Editions

Notes and Commentary
Note
Notes on motifs
Notes on the frame

Pattern of embedded stories in this version
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Connected prints
No connected prints