Book i. contains the origin of the world, the history of the Bible and

of the foundation of governments, astronomy, geography, and lastly natural history, taken from Aristotle, Pliny, and the old French Bestiaries. The first part of Book ii., on morality, is from the _Ethics_ of Aristotle, which Brunetto had translated into Italian. The second part is little more than a copy of the well-known collection of extracts from ancient and modern moralists, called the _Moralities of the Philosophers_, of which there are many MSS. in prose and verse. Book iii., on politics, begins with a treatise on rhetoric, chiefly from Cicero _De inventione_, with many extracts from other writers and Brunetto's remarks. The last part, the most original and interesting of all, treats of the government of the Italian republics of the time. Like many of his contemporaries, Brunetto revised his work, so that there are two editions, the second made after his return from exile. MSS. are singularly numerous, and exist in all the dialects then used in France. Others were written in Italy. It was translated into Italian in the latter part of the 13th century by Bono Giamboni, and was printed at Trevigi, 1474, fol., Venice, 1528 and 1533. The _Tesoro_ of Brunetto must not be confounded with his _Tesoretto_, an Italian poem of 2937 short lines. Napoleon I. had intended to have the French text of the _Tesoro_ printed with commentaries, and appointed a commission for the purpose. It was at last published in the _Collection des documents inedits_ (Paris, 1863, 4to, 772 pages), edited by Chabaille from 42 MSS.

Bartholomew de Glanville, an English Franciscan friar, wrote about 1360 a most popular work, _De proprietatibus rerum_, in 19 books and 1230 chapters.