by Charles Swan
OF THE SAME SUBJECT.
WE read in the Lives of the Fathers, that an angel showed to a certain holy man three men labouring under a triple fatuity. The first made a faggot of wood, and because it was too heavy for him to carry he added to it more wood, hoping by such means to make it light. The second drew water with great labour from a very deep well with a sieve, which he incessantly filled. The third carried a beam in his chariot; and wishing to enter his house, whereof the gate was so narrow and low that it would not admit him, he violently whipped his horse, until they both fell together into a deep well. Having shown this to the holy man, the angel said, “What think you of these three men ?” “That they are three fools,” answered he. “Understand, however,” returned the angel, “that they represent the sinners of this world. The first describes that kind of men who, from day to day, add new sins to the old, because they cannot bear the weight of those which they already have. The second man represents those who do good, but do it sinfully, and therefore it is of no benefit. And the third person is he who would enter the kingdom of heaven with all his worldly vanities, but is cast down into hell.
TALE CLXVI.
OF THE GAME OF SCHACI. (32)
SCHACARIUM* has sixty-four points, divided by eight, as husband and wife, bridegroom and bride, clergy and lay, rich and poor. Six men are used at this game. The first is ROCHUS, † and it is of two kinds, white and black. The white is placed on the right hand, and the black upon the left. The reason of which is, that when all the SCHACI are fixed in their places, the noble, as well as the vulgar pieces, have certain goals towards which they must proceed. The ROCHI alone, when they are enclosed, have no power of proceeding, unless a way shall be cleared for them either by the higher or lower men. The ROCHUS moves directly across, and never to the corners, whether in going or returning; and if he move laterally from the other side, and take some piece, he becomes a thief.
The second piece is ALPHINUS, ‡ which passes over three points. For in its proper place, that which is black is fixed to the right of the king, with the white on his left; and they are not called white and black with respect to their colour, but to their situation. Because the black piece, proceeding toward the right, that is, into the black and void space, is stationed before the HUSBANDMAN. But the left, by its own power, moves two points, the one towards the white space on the right; and the other, towards the white and void space on the left. Thus also of the third piece to the third square, by preserving its proper situation on the board; § so that if it be black, to black, and the contrary—proceeding in an angular direction.
The third kind is of Knights, of whom the right is white, and the left black. The white, when on his own square, has three moves—one towards the right in the black place before the HUSBANDMAN; the other in the black and void space before the WOOL-CARDER; the third, towards the left, in the place of a MERCHANT. When this piece is fixed near the king, it may move six squares, and when in the middle, eight. It is the same with the left. When the black is opposite to the king, and the white also opposite, they move together; one is placed before the queen, as the left; the other, before the king, as the right.
The fourth kind is of the inferior pieces, which have one and the same move. For from the square on which they are placed they may proceed to the third, and there, as in security, remain within reach of the king. But when they go out of the king’s move, they are content with one square, and proceed in a direct line. Yet they never return in this manner, but secure by their progress those honours which belong by their position to the nobles. If they should be assisted by the knights and other noble pieces, and arrive at the line of squares where the adversary’s nobles are posted, they acquire, by their valour, a power conferred by grace on the queen. But it should be observed that if the inferior pieces, going on the right, find any noble or vulgar adversary, and this in an angle, they may take or kill him on the right or the left; but the inferior piece never moves out of the straight line, to the right or left, unless he has obtained power of the queen.*
The fifth piece in the play of the SCHACI is called the Queen. Her move is from white to black, and she is placed near the king : if she quit his side, she is captured. When she has moved from the black square in which she was first placed, she can go only from square to square, and this angularly, whether she go forward or return; whether she take, or is taken. But if it be asked why the queen is exposed to war, when the condition of a female is frail and unwarlike, we reply, when husbands go out to battle, it is customary for their women and wives, and the rest of their family, to live in the camp. And though they do not use a bow, and encumber men more by their whims than they destroy the foe by their valour, yet the queen is intended for the king’s help. Therefore, that she may evince her affection, she accompanies him to battle.*
The sixth kind of pieces used in this game are the Kings. The king shows above all the rest what is the nature of motion and progression. For since he may reside in the fourth square with the white, though he himself be black, he hath the Knight on the right hand in a white space, but the ALPHINUS and the ROCHUS in the black. In the left he holds opposite places. But though the king has more power and dignity than all the other pieces, it does not become him to move far from his throne; and therefore he begins his move from his own white square, like the ROCHI, from right and left. Yet he cannot be placed on the left in the black space, near the situation of the ROCHUS on the white; but he may go into the white space near the aforesaid ROCHUS in the comer square, where the guards of the city are fixed; and there he hath in such move the nature of the knight. But he takes these two moves in place of the queen.*
* Schacarium is the table or board on which the game is played, being distinguished by alternate black and white squares.
† Rochus, Roccus, Rocus, Hrocus, from the German word ROCH, signifying an upper garment. Whether this etymology can be admitted is very doubtful. It moves to the right, in Pseud.-Ovid.
[This piece is the Castle or Rook.—ED.]
‡ This piece is called, by the French, LE FOL, and by the Italians, ALFINO (Du Fresne in v). According to Pseudo-Ovidius, it moves in an oblique direction.
[The Bishop; which formerly could only move two squares at a time, but could leap over an intervening man.—ED.]
§ [This sentence is very obscure, and must be corrupt, I think; but this description of the game (chess) is confused all through.—ED.]
* I have thought it useless to translate the very strained application of this game, introduced between each description, but the following illustration perhaps ought not to be discarded:—“Virgil, descended from a low Longobard [i.e. German] family, but a native of Mantua, was most renowned for his wisdom, and the excellence of his poetical talent. When somebody accused him of inserting certain of Homer’s verses in his work, he answered, ‘That they were strong men who could brandish the club of Hercules.’”
* Among many other matters in dispraise of the fair sex. which are found in this application (and which I should blush to translate!), the writer observes after Seneca, “Quòd mulieres quæ malam faciem habent, leves et impudicæ sunt.” But this is a Platonic tenet. Again, “QUIDIUS” (or OVIDIUS) very learnedly remarks, “Casta est quam nemo rogavit.” This is no doubt the original of a song in Congreve’s Love for Love.
“A nymph and a swain to Apollo once prayed;
The swain had been jilted, the nymph been betrayed :
Their intent was to try if his oracle knew
E’er a nymph that was chaste, or a swain that was true.
“Apollo was mute, and had like to’ve been posed,
But sagely at length he this secret disclosed:
He alone won’t betray in whom none will confide;
And the nymph may be chaste, that has never been tried.”
* I cannot hope that I have translated this account of an obscure game quite intelligibly; but I was unwilling to omit it.
[As remarked in our Note 32, this “obscure game”
is Chess.—ED.]
TALE CLXVII.
OF HEARING GOOD COUNSEL.
AN archer, catching a little bird called a nightingale, was about to put her to death. But, being gifted with language, she said to him, “What will it advantage you to kill me ? I cannot satisfy your appetite. Let me go, and I will give you three rules, from which you will derive great benefit, if you follow them accurately.” Astonished at hearing the bird speak, he promised her liberty on the conditions she had stated. “Hear, then,” said she: “never attempt impossibilities; secondly, do not lament an irrecoverable loss; thirdly, do not credit things that are incredible. If you keep these three maxims with wisdom, they will infinitely profit you.” The man, faithful to his promise, let the bird escape. Winging her flight through the air, she commenced a most exquisite song; and having finished, said to the archer, “Thou art a silly fellow, and hast to-day lost a great treasure. There is in my bowels a pearl bigger than the egg of an ostrich.” Full of vexation at her escape, he immediately spread his nets and endeavoured to take her a second time; but she eluded his art. “Come into my house, sweet bird!” said he, “and I will show thee every kindness. I will feed thee with my own hands, and permit thee to fly abroad at pleasure.” The nightingale answered, “Now I am certain thou art a fool, and payest no regard to the counsel I gave thee: ‘Regret not what is irrecoverable.’ Thou canst not take me again, yet thou hast spread thy snares for that purpose. Moreover, thou believest that my bowels contain a pearl larger than the egg of an ostrich, when I myself am nothing near that size! Thou art a fool; and a fool thou wilt always remain.” With this consolatory assurance she flew away. The man returned sorrowfully to his own house, but never again obtained a sight of the nightingale. (33)
APPLICATION.
My beloved, the archer is any Christian: the nightingale is Christ; and man attempts to kill Him as often as he sins.
TALE CLXVIII.
OF ETERNAL CONDEMNATION.
BARLAAM says that a sinner is like a man who, being afraid of a unicorn, stepped backward into a deep pit. But when he had fallen he laid hold of the branch of a tree, and drew himself up. Looking below, he espied at the foot of the tree by which he had ascended a very black well, and a horrible dragon encompassing it. The dragon appeared to expect his fall with extended jaws. Now, the tree was constantly being gnawed by two mice, of which one was white and the other black, and the man felt it shake. There were also four white vipers at its foot, which filled the whole pit with their pestilential breath. Lifting up his eyes, the man beheld honey dropping from a bough of the tree ; and, wholly forgetful of his danger, he gave himself up to the fatal sweetness. A friend, stretching out to him a ladder, would have raised him entirely out; but, overcome by the allurement, he clung to the tree, which fell, and cast him into the jaws of the dragon. The monster immediately descending to the lowest pit, there devoured him. He thus died a miserable death.*
APPLICATION.
My beloved, man is that sinner; and the unicorn is death. The pit is the world; the tree is life, which is ever being consumed, as it were, by the white mouse and the black, every hour of the day and night. The post which the vipers occupied is the human frame; the dragon is the devil; and the lower pit is hell. The honeyed bough is the pleasures of sin; the friend, any Christian preacher; and the ladder is penitence.
* “This is another of Barlaam’s Apologues in Damascenus’s romance of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT: and which has been adopted into the Lives of the Saints, by Surius and others. A MORALTZATION is subjoined, exactly agreeing with that in the GESTA.”—WARTON.
TALE CLXIX.
OF MANNER OF LIFE.
TROGUS POMPEIUS* relates of Ligurius, a noble knight, that he induced the inhabitants of the state to make oath that they would faithfully preserve certain just and wholesome, though rather severe laws, until he returned with an answer from the oracle of Apollo, whom he feigned to have made them. He then went to Crete, and there abode in voluntary exile. But when he was dead, the citizens brought back his bones, imagining that they were then freed from the obligation of their oath. These laws were twelve in number. The first insisted on obedience to their princes, and enjoined princes to watch over the well-being of their subjects, and to repress wickedness. The second law commanded economy, and considered war better provided for by sobriety than drunkenness. The third law ordained rewards to be proportioned to merit. The fourth laid down that silver and gold were the vilest of all things. The fifth divided the administration of government; empowering kings to make war, magistrates to give judgment, and the senate to try offenders. It also conferred upon the people permission to elect their rulers. The sixth law apportioned lands, and settled disputed claims respecting patrimony, so that no one could become more powerful than another. The seventh enjoined all feasts to be held in public, lest one person should be the cause of luxury to another; the eighth, that young men should have but one habit during the year; the ninth, that poor lads should be employed in the fields, and not in the forum, by which their first years should be spent in hard labour, not in idleness. The tenth law exacted that virgins be married without dowry; the eleventh, that wives be not chosen for money; and the twelfth, that the greatest honour should not be assigned to the greatest wealth, but to priority in years. And whatever law Ligurius established, he himself observed beyond all others.*
APPLICATION.
My beloved, the knight is Christ; and the laws, those moral ordinances which He established.
* “Our compiler here means Justin’s Abridgment of Trogus; which, to the irreparable injury of literature, soon destroyed its original. An early epitome of Livy would have been attended with the same unhappy consequences.”—WARTON.
* [The lawgiver who acted as stated in this story was Solon.—ED.]
TALE CLXX.
OF REPENTANCE.
A certain gambler met St. Bernard on horseback. “Father,” said he, “I will play with you, and stake my soul against your horse.” Immediately St. Bernard dismounted, and said,” If you throw more points than I, you shall have my horse; but if not, I will take possession of your soul.” The gambler acceded; and taking up the dice, threw seventeen points. Thinking himself sure of the victory, he laid hold of the bridle of St. Bernard’s steed. “My son,” said the holy man, “there are more points than that in three dice.” Accordingly, he threw eighteen points, one more than the gambler; who forthwith put himself under the guidance of the saint. After a life of great sanctity, he came to a happy end, and passed into the joy of his Lord.* (34)
APPLICATION.
My beloved, the gambler is any worldly-minded man, and Bernard is a discreet confessor. His horse typifies his heart; and the three dice are the Holy Trinity.
* From Caxton’s Golden Legend. See the Note.
TALE CLXXI.
OF TOO MUCH LOVE, AND OF THE FORCE OF TRUTH.
PETRUS ALPHONSUS † relates a story of two knights, of whom one dwelt in Egypt and the other in Baldac.‡ Messengers often passed between them; and whatever there was curious in the land of Egypt, the knight of that country sent to his friend, and he, in like manner, sent back an equivalent. Thus much kindness was manifested on both sides. But neither had ever seen the other.
As the knight of Baldac once lay upon his bed, he held the following soliloquy :—“My correspondent in Egypt has discovered much friendship for me; but I have never yet seen him : I will go and pay him a visit.” Accordingly, he hired a ship and went into Egypt; and his friend, hearing of his arrival, met him by the way, and received him with much pleasure. Now, the knight had a very beautiful girl in his house, with whom the knight of Baldac was so smitten, that he fell sick and pined away. “My friend,” said the other, “what is the matter with you?” “My heart,” returned his comrade, “has fixed itself upon one of the women of your household, and unless I may espouse her I shall die.” Upon this, all the household, save the individual in question, were summoned before him; and having surveyed them, he exclaimed, “I car
e little or nothing for these. But there is one other whom I have not seen; and her my soul loveth.” At last this girl was shown to him. He protested that it was to her alone that he must owe his life. “Sir,” said his friend, “I brought this girl up with the intention of making her my wife; and I shall obtain much wealth with her. Nevertheless, so strong is my affection for you, that I give her to you with all the riches which should have fallen to my share.” The sick knight, overjoyed at his good fortune, received the lady and the money, and returned with her to Baldac.
After a while the knight of Egypt became so extremely indigent that he possessed no habitation. “I had better,” thought he, “go to my friend of Baldac, to him whom I enriched, and inform him of my wants.” He did so; and reached Baldac a while after sunset. “It is night,” said he to himself; “if I go now to my friend’s house, he will not know me, for I am so poorly dressed. I, who once used to have a large household about me, am now desolate and destitute. To-night, therefore, I will rest, and on the morrow will go to his mansion.” Happening to look toward a burial-ground, he observed the gates of a church thrown open, and here he determined to remain for the night. But while he was endeavouring to compose himself to sleep in a court of that place, there entered two men, who engaged in battle; and one was slain. The murderer instantly fled to the burial-ground, and escaped on the other side. By and by an extraordinary clamour penetrated through the whole city. “Where is the murderer? Where is the traitor?” was the general cry. “I am he,” said our knight; “take me to crucifixion.” They laid hands on him and led him away to prison. Early the next morning the city bell rang, and the judge sentenced him to be crucified. Amongst those who followed to witness his execution was the knight whom he had befriended; and the former, seeing him led towards the cross, knew him at once. “What!” cried he, “shall he be crucified, and I alive ?” Shouting, therefore, with a loud voice, he said, “My friends! destroy not an innocent man. I am the murderer, and not he.” Satisfied with his declaration, they immediately seized him and brought both to the cross. When they were near the place of execution, the real murderer, who happened to be present, thought thus, “I will not permit innocent blood to be shed: the vengeance of God will sooner or later overtake me, and it is better to suffer a short pain in this world than subject myself to everlasting torments in the next.” Then lifting up his voice, “My friends! for God’s sake, slay not the guiltless. The dead man was killed without premeditation, and without the knowledge of either of these men. I only am the murderer; let these men go.” The crowd, hearing what he said, instantly apprehended and brought him with no little amazement to the judge. The judge, seeing the reputed criminals along with them, asked with surprise why they had returned. They related what had occurred; and the judge, addressing the first knight, said, “Friend, why did you confess yourself the murderer ?” “My lord,” answered he, “I will tell you without deceit. In my own land I was rich; and everything that I desired I had. But I lost all this; and possessing neither house nor home, I was ashamed, and sought in this confession to obtain a remedy. I am willing to die; and for Heaven’s love command me to be put to death.” The judge then turning to the knight of Baldac—“And you, my friend! why did you avow yourself the murderer?” “My lord,” replied he, “this knight bestowed upon me a wife, whom he had previously educated for himself, with an infinite store of wealth. When, therefore, I perceived my old and valued friend reduced to such an extremity, and saw him led rudely to the cross, I proclaimed myself the murderer. For his love I would willingly perish.” “Now then,” said the judge to the real homicide, “what have you to say for yourself! ““I have told the truth,” answered he. “It would have been a heavy crime, indeed, had I permitted two innocent men to perish by my fault, and I therefore prefer to undergo the penalty here, than to be punished at some other time, or perhaps in hell.” “Well,” returned the judge, “since you have declared the truth and saved the lives of the innocent, study to amend your future life; for this time I pardon you—go in peace.”
