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''Octavian'' is a 14th-century Middle English verse translation and abridgement of a mid-13th century Old French romance of the same name.〔Hudson, Harriet (Ed). 1996. ''Four Middle English Romances.'' Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University for TEAMS.〕 This Middle English version exists in three manuscript copies and in two separate compositions, one of which may have been written by the 14th-century poet Thomas Chestre who also composed Libeaus Desconus and Sir Launfal.〔Mills, Maldwyn (Ed). 1969. ''Lybeaus Desconus''. Oxford University Press for the Early English Text Society.〕 The other two copies are not by Chestre and preserve a version of the poem in regular twelve-line tail rhyme stanzas, a verse structure that was popular in the 14th century in England.〔Mills, Maldwyn (Ed). 1972. ''Six Middle English Romances''. Everyman's Library.〕 Both poetic compositions condense the Old French romance to about 1800 lines, a third of its original length, and relate “incidents and motifs common in legend, romance and chanson de geste.”〔Hudson, Harriet (Ed). 1996.〕 The story describes a trauma that unfolds in the household of Octavian, later the Roman Emperor Augustus, whose own mother deceives him into sending his wife and his two newborn sons into exile and likely death. After many adventures, the family are at last reunited and the guilty mother-in-law appropriately punished.〔Hudson, Harriet (Ed). 1996.〕〔Mills, Maldwyn (Ed). 1972.〕 ==Manuscripts== Copies of the Middle English version of ''Octavian'' are found in:〔Hudson, Harriet (Ed). 1996.〕 *British Museum MS Cotton Caligula A.ii. (''Southern Octavian'', possibly by Thomas Chestre), mid-15th century. *Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 91, the Lincoln Thornton Manuscript (''Northern Octavian''), mid-15th century. *Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 2.38 (''Northern Octavian''), mid-15th century. An incomplete printed copy by Wynkyn de Worde of the ''Northern Octavian'', is found in Huntington Library 14615, early-16th century. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Octavian (romance)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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