Gesta Romanorum

by Charles Swan

  TALE LV.

  OF THE REVOCATION OF A BANISHED SINNER.

  A CERTAIN great king had a handsome son, who proved himself, on all occasions, wise, bold, and courteous. The same king had four daughters also, whose names were Justice, Truth, Mercy, and Peace. Now, the king, being very desirous of procuring for his son a suitable partner, despatched a messenger in search of a beautiful virgin, to whom he should be united. At last, the daughter of the King of Jerusalem was selected, and married to the young prince, who was much struck with the beauty of his bride. At this time there was in the court a servant whom the king’s son principally trusted, and to whom he had confided the care of one of his provinces. This man, in return for the benefits accumulated upon him, seduced the lady, and wasted the country over which he was placed. When the husband, therefore, knew of his wife’s infidelity, he was overwhelmed with sorrow, and repudiated her with the loss of every honour. Thus circumstanced, she fell into extreme poverty; and, reduced to despair by the wretchedness of her condition, walked from place to place begging her bread, and wishing for the death that came not to her relief. But at length the husband, compassionating her distress, sent messengers to recall her to his court. “Come, lady,” they said, “come in perfect safety, Thy lord wishes thy return; fear nothing.” Yet she refused, and exclaimed, “Tell my lord that I would willingly come to him, but I am unable to do so. If he asks why, say, in compliance with an imperious law. If a man marry, and his wife prove an adultress, he shall give her a writing of divorcement; but from that hour, she can be no longer his wife. To me such a writing has been given—for, alas! I am an adultress; therefore, it is impossible for me to return to my lord.” “But,” replied the messengers, “our lord is greater than the law which he made himself: and since he is disposed to show mercy towards you, we repeat that you may properly comply with his wishes, secure from further punishment or reproach.” “How shall I know that ? “said the lady; “if my beloved would assure me of it; if he would deign to come and kiss me with the kiss of his lip, then should I feel certain of favour.”

  When the messengers communicated to the prince what had passed between them and his afflicted wife, he called together the noblemen of his kingdom, and deliberated upon the measures it became him to adopt. After mature reflection, they determined that some man of experience and judgment should be sent to persuade her to return. But they who answered this description refused to undertake the office; and the husband, in his extremity, despatched once more a messenger, whom he commissioned to speak thus : “What can I do for you ? There is not a man in my dominions who will execute my wishes!” These words increased the anguish of the unfortunate lady, and she wept bitterly. Her condition was related to the prince, and he earnestly besought his father to give him permission to bring back his wife, and to assuage her sorrows. The king acquiesced—“Go,” said he, “go now in thy might, and reinstate her in the seat from which she has fallen.” The messengers were then ordered to return and apprize her of the purposed visit. But the prince’s elder sister, that is to say, JUSTICE, understanding what was meditated, hastened to her father, and said, “My Lord, thou art just. You decided rightly concerning that harlot. You properly sanctioned the writing of divorcement, whereby she could no longer be my brother’s wife; therefore, to the law let her appeal. And if, in violation of justice, you act thus, be assured that I will no longer be accounted your daughter.” The second sister, who was called TRUTH, then said, “My father, she has spoken truly. You have adjudged this woman an adultress: if you permit her to return, you destroy the very essence of truth, and therefore I, too, will no more fulfil the offices of a daughter.” But the third sister, called MERCY, hearing what had been said by the other two, exclaimed, “Oh, my Lord, I also am thy daughter: forgive the offence of this repentant woman. If thou wilt not, thou abandonest Mercy, and she will never again acknowledge thee her father.” The fourth sister, whose name was PEACE, terrified at the discord between her parent and sisters, desired to leave the country, and fled.

  Justice and Truth, however, relinquished not their purpose; and, putting into their father’s hands a naked sword, said, “My Lord, we present to you the sword of Justice. Take it, and strike the harlot who has wronged our brother.” But Mercy, rushing forward, snatched the weapon from their grasp. “Enough, enough,” cried she; “long have you reigned, and your inclinations have been your only law. Now forbear; it is fit that my wishes should sometimes be listened to. Remember that I, too, am the daughter of the king.” To this Justice made answer, “Thou hast said well: we have reigned long: and long will we preserve our authority. But since there is this discord, call our brother, who is wise in all things; and let him judge between us.” The proposal was assented to. They showed him the grounds of their altercation, and explained how Justice and Truth pertinaciously demanded the infliction of the law, while Mercy sought a free forgiveness. “My beloved sisters,” said the prince, “I am little satisfied with the flight of my sister Peace, whom your unbeseeming strife has banished. This ought not to be, and shall not. And as for my adulterous wife, I am prepared to undergo her punishment myself.” “If this be your determination,” observed Justice, “we cannot oppose you, my brother.” Then turning towards Mercy, he said, “Use your endeavour to restore my wife. But should I receive her, and she again falls, do you design to renew your intercession ? “Not,” said the other, “unless she be truly penitent.” The prince then conducted back his sister Peace, and caused each of the others to embrace her, in turn. Concord being thus re-established, he hastened to his erring wife. She was received with every honour, and ended her days in peace.

  APPLICATION.

  My beloved, the king is our heavenly Father; the son is Christ; and the wife is the soul, made impure by connection with the devil.

  TALE LVI.

  OF REMEMBERING DEATH.

  A CERTAIN prince derived great pleasure from the chase. It happened, on one occasion, that a merchant accidentally pursued the same path; and observing the beauty, affability, and splendour of the prince, he said in his heart, “Oh, ye heavenly powers! that man has received too many favours. He is handsome, bold, and graceful; and even his very retinue are equipped with splendour and comfort.” Under the impression of such feelings, he addressed himself to one of the attendants. “My friend,” said he, “tell me who your master is ?” “He is,” replied the other, “the despotic lord of an extensive territory; his treasury is filled with silver and gold; and his slaves are exceedingly numerous.” “God has been bountiful to him,” said the merchant; “he is more beautiful titan any one I ever beheld; and he is as wise as any I have met with.” Now, the person with whom he conversed related to his master all that the merchant had said; and as the prince turned homeward about the hour of vespers, he besought the merchant to tarry there all night. The entreaty of a potentate is a command; and the merchant, therefore, though with some reluctance, returned to the city. When he had entered the palace, the prodigious display of wealth, the number of beautiful halls, ornamented in every part with gold, surprised and delighted him. But supper-time approached, and the merchant, by express command of the prince, was seated next his wife. This honour, and her beauty and gracious manner, so enraptured the poor tradesman, that he secretly exclaimed, “Oh, Heaven! the prince possesses everything that his heart wishes; he has a beautiful wife, fair daughters, and brave sons. His family establishment is too extensive.” As he thus thought, the meat was placed before him; but what was his consternation to observe that it was deposited in the skull of a human being, and served from thence to the prince and his guests on silver dishes. Horror-struck at what he saw, the merchant said to himself, “Alas, I fear I shall lose my head in this place !”

  In the mean time the lady of the mansion comforted him as much as she could. The night passed on, and he was shown into a bed-chamber hung round with cauldrons ; and in one corner of the room several lights were burning. As soon as he had entered, the door was fastened without; and the m
erchant was left alone in the chamber. Casting his eyes around him, he distinguished in the comer where the light was two dead men hanging by the arms from the ceiling. This shocking circumstance so agonized him, that he was incapable of enjoying repose. In the morning he got up. “Alas!” cried he, “they will assuredly hang me by the side of these murdered wretches.” When the prince had risen, he commanded the merchant to be brought into his presence. “Friend,” said he, “what portion of my family establishment best pleases you?” The man answered, “I am well pleased with everything, my Lord, except that my food was served to me out of a human head—a sight so sickening that I could touch nothing. And when I would have slept, my repose was destroyed by the terrific objects which were exhibited to me. And, therefore, for the love of God, suffer me to depart.” “Friend,” replied the prince, “the head out of which you were served, and which stood exactly opposite to my wife—my beautiful but wicked wife!—is the head of a certain duke. I will tell you why it was there. He whom I have punished in so exemplary a manner, I perceived in the act of dishonouring my bed. Instantly prompted by an uncontrollable desire of vengeance, I separated his head from his body. To remind the woman of her shame, each day I command this memento to be placed before her, in the hope that her repentance and punishment may equal her crime. A son of the deceased duke slew two of my kindred, whose bodies you observed hanging in the chamber which had been appropriated to you. Every day I punctually visit their corpses, to keep alive the fury which ought to animate me to revenge their deaths. And recalling the adultery of my wife, and the miserable slaughter of my kindred, I feel that there is no joy reserved for me in this world. Now, then, go in peace, and in future judge not of the life of any man until you know more of its true nature.” The merchant gladly availed himself of the permission to depart; and returned with greater satisfaction to the toils of traffic*

  APPLICATION.

  My beloved, the prince is intended to represent any good Christian, whose wife is the soul that sins, and being punished, remembers its iniquity and amends. The adulterer is the devil; to cut off his head is to destroy our vices. The slain kinsmen of the prince are love to God and to our neighbour, which the sin of our first parent annihilated. The merchant is any good prelate or confessor, to whom the truth should always be exposed.

  * “Caxton has the history of Albrone, a king of the Lombards, who having conquered another king, ‘lade awaye wyth hym Rosamounde his wyf in captyvyte, but after he took hyr to hys wyfe, and he dyde make a cuppe of the skulle of that kynge, and closed in fyne golde and syluer, and dranke out of it.’”—Gold. Leg. f. ccclxxxvii. a. edit. 1493. This is an historical fact, and may be found in Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. viii. page 129. 1811.” This, by the way, is the old Italian tragedy of Messer Giovanni Rucellai, planned on the model of the antients, and acted in the Rucellai Gardens, at Florence, before Leo the Tenth and his Court in the year 1516. Davenant has also a tragedy on the same subject, called ALBOVINE, King of the Lombards, his Tragedy.

  “A most sanguinary scene in Shakespeare’s TITUS ANDRONICUS, an incident in Dryden’s, or Boccace’s TANCRED and SIGISMONDA, and the catastrophe of the beautiful metrical romance of the LADY OF FAGUEL, are founded on the same horrid ideas of inhuman retaliation and savage revenge: but in the last two pieces, the circumstances are so ingeniously imagined, as to lose a considerable degree of their atrocity, and to be productive of the most pathetic and interesting situations.”—WARTON.

  [Tale CXLIII. terminates with a similar piece of advice to that given in this.—ED.]

  TALE LVII.

  OF PERFECT LIFE.

  WHEN Titus was emperor of Rome, he made a decree that the natal day of his first-born son should be held sacred; and that whosoever violated it by any kind of labour should be put to death. This edict being promulgated, he called Virgil, the learned man,* to him, and said, “Good friend, I have established a certain law, but as offences may frequently be committed without being discovered by the ministers of justice, I desire you to frame some curious piece of art, which may reveal to me every transgressor of the law.” Virgil replied, “Sire, your will shall be accomplished.” He straightway constructed a magic statue, and caused it to be erected in the midst of the city. By virtue of the secret powers with which it was invested, it communicated to the emperor whatever offences were committed in secret on that day. And thus, by the accusation of the statue, an infinite number of persons were convicted. Now, there was a certain carpenter, called Focus, who pursued his occupation every day alike. Once, as he lay in bed, his thoughts turned upon the accusations of the statue, and the multitudes which it had caused to perish. In the morning he clothed himself, and proceeded to the statue, which he addressed in the following manner: “O statue ! statue! because of thy informations, many of our citizens have been apprehended and slain. I vow to my God that, if thou accusest me, I will break thy head,” Having so said, he returned home. About the first hour, the emperor, as he was wont, despatched sundry messengers to the statue, to inquire if the edict had been strictly complied with. After they had arrived, and delivered the emperor’s pleasure, the statue exclaimed, “Friends, look up; what see ye written upon my forehead?” They looked, and beheld three sentences which ran thus: “Times are altered. Men grow worse. He who speaks truth will have his head broken.” “Go,” said the statue, “declare to his majesty what you have seen and read.” The messengers obeyed, and detailed the circumstances as they had happened.

  The emperor, therefore, commanded his guard to arm, and march to the place on which the statue was erected; and he further ordered that, if any one presumed to molest it, they should bind him hand and foot, and drag him into his presence. The soldiers approached the statue and said, “Our emperor wills you to declare who have broken the law, and who they were that threatened you.” The statue made answer, “Seize Focus the carpenter! Every day he violates the law and, moreover, menaces me.” Immediately Focus was apprehended, and conducted to the emperor, who said, “Friend, what do I hear of thee ? Why dost thou break my law ?” “My Lord,” answered Focus, “I cannot keep it! for I am obliged to obtain every day eight pennies, which, without incessant labour, I have not the means of acquiring.” “And why eight pennies?” said the emperor. “Every day through the year,” returned the carpenter, “I am bound to repay two pennies which I borrowed in my youth; two I lend; two I lose; and two I spend.” “You must make this more clear,” said the emperor. “My Lord,” he replied, “listen to me. I am bound, each day, to repay two pennies to my father; for, when I was a boy, my father expended upon me daily the like sum. Now he is poor, and needs my assistance, and therefore I return what I borrowed formerly. Two other pennies I lend to my son. who is pursuing his studies; in order that if, by any chance, I should fall into poverty, he may restore the loan, just as I have done to his grandfather. Again, I lose two pennies every day on my wife; for she is contradictious, wilful, and passionate. Now, because of this disposition, I account whatsoever is given to her entirely lost. Lastly, two other pennies I expend upon myself in meat and drink. I cannot do with less; nor can I obtain them without unremitting labour. You now know the truth; and, I pray you, give a righteous judgment.” “Friend,” said the emperor, “thou hast answered well. Go, and labour earnestly in thy calling.” Soon after this the emperor died, and Focus the carpenter, on account of his singular wisdom, was elected in his stead, by the unanimous choice of the whole nation. He governed as wisely as he had lived ; and at his death, his picture, bearing on the head eight pennies, was reposited among the effigies of the deceased emperors.

  APPLICATION.

  My beloved, the emperor is God, who appointed Sunday as a day of rest. By Virgil is typified the Holy Spirit, which ordains a preacher to declare men’s virtues and vices. Focus is any good Christian who labours diligently in his vocation, and performs faithfully every relative duty.

  * The Latin original says, Magistrum Virgilium, Master Virgil, signifying one skilfu
l in the occult sciences.

  “This story is in the old black-lettered history of the Necromancer Virgil, in Mr. Garrick’s collection.

  “Vincent of Beauvais relates many wonderful things, mirabiliter actitata, done by the poet Virgil, whom he represents as a magician. Among others, he says that Virgil fabricated those brazen statues at Rome, called Salvacio Romæ, which were the gods of the provinces conquered by the Romans. Every one of these statues held in its hand a bell, framed by magic; and when any province was meditating a revolt, the statue or idol of that country struck his bell.”—WARTON.

  The following ingenious hypothesis may explain the cause of the necromancy so universally attributed to Virgil during the dark ages:—

  “Maium ilium, avum Virgilii, exemplaria vitæ omnia Magum vocant. At cùm ejus filia, Virgilii mater, juxta omnes Maia dicta sit: omninò Maiæ pater fuit Maius, non Magus: indeque ortum existimo, ut Virgilius magicis artibus imbutus fuisse creditus sit ab Elinando monacho aliisque sequioris seculi scriptoribus: quòd et Eclogâ septimâ magica quædam sacra descripsisset, et peritus esset multarum artium, et præcipuè avum habuisse MAGUM diceretur.”—Hist P. Virg. Mar. à Car. Ruæo.

  TALE LVIII.

  OF CONFESSION.

  A CERTAIN king, named Asmodeus, established an ordinance, by which every malefactor taken and brought before the judge should, if he distinctly declared three truths, against which no exception could be taken, obtain his life and property. It chanced that a certain soldier transgressed the law and fled. He hid himself in a forest, and there committed many atrocities, despoiling and slaying whomsoever he could lay his hands upon. When the judge of the district ascertained his haunt, he ordered the forest to be surrounded, and the soldier to be seized and brought bound to the seat of judgment. “You know the law,” said the judge. “I do,” returned the other: “if I declare three unquestionable truths, I shall be free; but if not, I must die.” “True,” replied the judge: “take then advantage of the law’s clemency, or this very day you shall not taste food until you are hanged.” “Cause silence to be kept,” said the soldier. His wish being complied with, he proceeded in the following manner:—“The first truth is this: I protest before ye all, that from my youth up I have been a bad man.” The judge, hearing this, said to the bystanders, “He says true?” They answered, “Else, he had not now been in this situation.” “Go on, then,” said the judge; “what is the second truth?” “I like not,” exclaimed he, “the dangerous situation in which I stand.” “Certainly,” said the judge, “we may credit thee. Now then for the third truth, and thou hast saved thy life.” “Why,” he replied, “if I once get out of this confounded place, I will never willingly re-enter it.” “Amen,” said the judge, “thy wit hath preserved thee; go in peace.” And thus he was saved.