English Erasto

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Empress kills herselfEmpress threatens to return to her familyEmpress has a loverEmpress's lover disguised as a woman

The English translations of the Erasto narrative survive in two (possibly related) 17th-century prints. The first was composed by Francis Kirkman in 1674, the second an anonymous revision of the narrative in 1684.

In the publisher and author Francis Kirkman's (presumably autobiographical, though certainly unreliable) An Unlucky Citizen (1673), he describes a boyhood appetite for literature:

"Once I happened upon a Six Pence, and having lately read that famous Book, of the Fryar and the Boy, and being hugely pleased with that, as also the excellent History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome, and having heard great Commendation of Fortunatus, I laid out all my mony for that, and thought I had a great bargain..." (p. 10).

Kirkman went on publish new versions of many of the books his character reported enjoying, including the Seven Wise Masters - specifically, an English translation of the popular Erasto narrative in 1674. This print was given the typically lengthy title "The history of Prince Erastus, son to the Emperour Dioclesian and these famous philosophers called the seven wife masters of Rome being a full account of all that was ever written of that antient, famous, pleasant, and excellent history / written originally in Italian, then translated into French, and now rendred English by F.K." This suggests that in London literary circles in the second half of the 17th century, readers were exposed to the Seven Sages in at least two different forms: the English version of Version H (referenced as the Seven Wise Masters in Kirkman's account of his childhood reading), as well as the French Histoire pitoyable du Prince Erasto, his source for the Prince Erastus text. In fact, Kirkman's Erastus blends the two versions: twice the narrator claims that while the Erasto-specific embedded stories (Zelus, Caepulla) related are 'as I find it in the Originals Italian and French', he additionally notes that 'others say it was another Story' instead, which the narrator then also includes. These stories - Puteus and Vidua - are some of the tales usually omitted by the Erasto tradition, buth always found in Version H, Version A, and Version I texts. Kirkman's Erasto therefore contains not fifteen but seventeen stories - two of them offered by the narrator himself. This is the story order that appears below.

This story order is disctint from that found in the other English Erasto text, Erastus, or, The Roman Prince (1684). Composed ten years after the publication of Francis Kirkman's History of Prince Erastus, the second English Erastus story promised promised "Many Pleasant Additions of Excellent, and Divertive Discourses, and Songs, not unsuitable to the Design of the Story". These included verses and songs at several points in the narrative, and also several long additional episodes that follow the main plot, detailing Erastus' life as emperor. However, the main body of the traditional Erasto narrative is abbreviated, and the stories of several sages are omitted. The first nine stories nearly follow the usual pattern for Erasto texts, with the sole exception that, as in Francis Kirkman's version, the story Puteus is re-inserted into the embedded story order. The Empress threatens to return to her parents' home rather than tell a fifth story, and the final tale is then related by the sage Lencus, again taking Kirkman's cue and replacing Caepulla with Vidua. Roma, Corpus Delicti, Virgilius, Puer Adoptatus, and Vaticinium are absent in this text. Erastus, or, The Roman Prince thus begins with a version of the Erasto text - presumably Kirkman's, given the parallel story replacements - but radically departs from the form in the second half of the text.

As in the Italian and French iterations of the Erasto narrative, the Empress is named Aphrodisia in the English redactions, and the expanded focus on the frame also remains. For example, in Kirkman's text, the Empress becomes enamoured of Erastus before the two meet, and courts him from afar with gifts and love letters before he returns to Rome; his rejection of these preempts his rejection of her proposition. At the end of the narrative, despairing and defeated, Aphrodisia kills herself in prison before she can be executed. In Erastus, or, The Roman Prince, the narrative follows the life of the protagonist after the core tale has ended.

[Added by Jane Bonsall]

General Information

Parent Versions

Erasto (Es)

Child Versions

Erastus, or, The Roman Prince, Francis Kirkman, Prince Erastus

Author

Francis Kirkman

Title

The History of Prince Erastus

Branch of the tradition

Seven Sages of Rome

Language & Composition

Language of version

English

Place of composition

London, UK

Date of Composition

1674

Literature & Editions

Modern Editions

Early English Books Online, Erastus, or, the Roman Prince (2025)

Recorded Branch of This Secondary Version

• I (Versio Italico)
  • Erasto (Es)
    • English Erasto
      • Erastus, or, The Roman Prince
      • Francis Kirkman, Prince Erastus
    • French Erasto
    • Italian Erasto
      • Mario Teluccini, Erasto in verse
    • Spanish Erasto
  • Il Libro dei Sette Savi de Roma (C)
  • L'Amabile di Continentia (Em)
  • Storia d'una Crudele Matrigna (M)
  • Storia di Stefano (R)
  • Versio Italica historiae septem sapientum (L)

{{#if:Erastus: or, the Roman prince. Being a more full account of that famous history of the seven wise masters. With many pleasant additions of excellent, and divertive discourses, and songs, not unsuitable to the design of the story. London: Printed for Dorman Newman [...] and Benj. Alsop [...], 1684, Francis Kirkman, The history of Prince Erastus, son to the Emperour Dioclesian, and those famous philosophers called the seven wise masters of Rome. London: Anne Johnson, 1674

Adaptations

Adapted from (version)

Italian Erasto, French Erasto

Notes

Notes on motifs

In this iteration of the narrative, the empress kills herself before her lover can be revealed. They are instead mentioned after the fact, in typically confusing language: "One of [the Empress's] Ladies, that used to Lye with the Queen, the Prince would needs have uncloathed in the Royal Presence, who appearing to be a Man, gave a sufficient Testimony of his Mistresses Morals."

Pattern of Embedded Stories in This Version

Has Short Title	Has Sequence Number	Has Narrator	Has Name Variation
Canis – The Faithful Dog	1	Euprosigoro	Euprosigorus
Arbor – The Tree	2	Empress
Medicus – The Doctor	3	Dimurgo	Dimurgus
Aper – The Boar and the Fruit	4	Empress
Tentamina – The Test	5	Terno	Thernus, Thermus
Sapientes – The Wise Men	6	Empress
Zelus – Zeal	7	Enoscopo	Enoscopus
Puteus – The Well	8
Gaza – The Treasure	9	Empress
Inclusa – The Imprisoned Wife	10	Filandro	Philantropus
Roma – Rome Besieged	11	Empress
Corpus Delicti – The Discovered Corpse	12	Agato	Agathus
Virgilius – Virgil's Marvels	13	Empress
Caepulla	14	Leuco	Lencus
Vidua – The Widow	15
Puer Adoptatus – The Adopted Son	16	Empress

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