S (Scala Coeli)

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 its length in comparison to other exempla, however, Version S of the Seven Sages 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 'not substantially altered' from the expected narrative pattern. 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, however, Scala Coeli is clearly closely related to the French Version L.

the stories Filia and Noverca substitute for 'Roma' and 'Inclusa.'No names given for the sages or the prince; the Emperor is named Diocletian.

Identification and general Information
Reference Number
Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages	S
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 Spanish Version S: Diego de Cañizares, Scala Çeli

Connected manuscripts

Language and Composition
Language of version
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

Pattern of embedded stories in this version

Has Short Title	Has Sequence Number	Has Narrator
Arbor – The Tree	1	Empress
Canis – The Faithful Dog	2	First Master
Aper – The Boar and the Fruit	3	Empress
Medicus – The Doctor	4	Second Master
Gaza – The Treasure	5	Empress
Tentamina – The Test	6	Third Master
Senescalcus – The Seneschal	7	Empress
Puteus – The Well	8	Fourth Master
Virgilius – Virgil's Marvels	9	Empress
Avis – The Bird	10	Fifth Master
Sapientes – The Wise Men	11	Empress
Vidua – The Widow	12	Sixth Master
Filia	13	Empress
Noverca	14	Seventh Master

Connected prints
No connected prints