Art. X.—The Parables of Barlaam and Joasaph

Extract

Though declining to pronounce on the origin and history of the fables of “Barlaam and Joasaph” until the Buddhist Játakas have been translated from the Pali, M. Zotenberg has been at pains to collect these fables and to edit them with a revised Greek text as an appendix to his “Notice sur le livre de Barlaam et Joasaph” (Paris, 1886). A translation of his text is here given; and for the convenience of students of comparative folk-lore, I have added a translation, from Boissonade's text in “Anecdota Græca,” of further passages bearing on the life of Joasaph. The passages in square brackets [ ] are those from Boissonade; the numbers at the head of the remaining sections corresponding to the numbers of the sections of M. Zotenberg's text.