Gesta Romanorum

by Charles Swan

Gentlemen,

  This queen will live: nature awakes; a warmth

  Breathes out of her: she hath not been entranced

  Above fire hours. See, how she ‘gins to blow

  Into life’s flower again!”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * In Shakespeare, Philoten.

  † Called Marina in Shakespeare.

  ‡ “Per. Till she be married, madam,

  By bright Diana, whom we honour all,

  Unscissored shall this hair of mine remain,

  Tho’ I show will1 in’t.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  1 Obstinacy.

  * In Shakespeare, Leonine.

  † “Dion. Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do it;

  ’Tis but a blow, which never shall be known.

  Thou canst not do a thing i’ the world so soon,

  To yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience,

  Which is but cold, inflame love in thy bosom,

  Inflame too nicely; nor let pity, which

  Even women have cast off, melt thee, but be

  A soldier to thy purpose.

  Leon. I’ll do’t; but yet she is a goodly creature.

  Dion. The fitter then the gods should have her. Here

  Weeping she comes for her old nurse’s death.

  Thou art resolv’d?

  Leon. I am resolv’d”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * “Dion. Her monument

  Is almost finished, and her epitaphs

  In glittering golden characters express

  A general praise to her.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * Mitylene in Shakspeare.

  † Of the Lapsateni, I am unable to give any account, unless they are meant for the Lampsaceni, the people of Lampsacus, a city in Asia, upon the Hellespont. They were worshippers of Priapus, in which place this divinity is said to have had his birth.

  On referring to the romance of Apollonius (i.e. the Narratio, &c), I find my supposition confirmed. It is there written Lampsaceni.

  * “Quicunque Tharsiam violaverit, mediam libram dabit; postea ad eingulos solidos parebit populo.”

  † “Princeps audiens ait—Quanto plus dabis tanto plus plorabit.” This sentence is quite irrelevant. The prince could not be within hearing, for she had closed the door.

  * The original text is, “Jurabant ne haec verba cinque proderent,” which means, I suppose, that they conspired to render the words unintelligible to others.

  † “Marina. If that thy master would gain aught by me

  Proclaim that I can sing, weave, sew, and dance,

  With other virtues, which I’ll keep from boast;

  And I will undertake all these to teach.” SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  ‡ “Gow. Marina thus the brothel scapes, and chances

  Into an honest house, our story says.

  She sings like one immortal, and she dances

  As goddess-like to her admired lays:

  Deep clerk she dumbs; and with her neeld composes

  Nature’s own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry ;

  That even her art sisters the natural roses ;

  Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied cherry :

  That pupils lacks she none of noble race,

  Who pour their bounty on her.” Ibid.

  * The whole of the above is expressed by Shakspeare (or, at least, by the writer of Pericles, Prince of Tyre) in dumb show.

  * Mitylene is evidently meant; both here, and in the former mention of Machilenta.

  † Another testimony of Eastern origin.

  * “Lys. Sir king, all hail! the gods preserve you! Hail,

  Hail, royal sir!

  Hel. It is in vain; he will not speak to you.

  1 Lord. Sir, we have a maid in Mitylene, I durst wager,

  Would win some words of him.

  Lys. ‘Tis well bethought.

  She, questionless, with her sweet harmony

  And other choice attractions, would allure,

  And make a battery through his deafen’d parts,

  Which now are midway stopp’d:

  She, all as happy as of all the fairest,

  Is, with her fellow maidens, now within

  The leafy shelter, that abuts against

  The island’s side.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * “Lys. Fair one, all goodness that consists in bounty

  Expect even here, where is a kingly patient ;

  If that thy prosperous-artificial feat

  Can draw him but to answer thee in aught,

  Thy sacred physic shall receive such pay

  As thy desires can wish.” SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  † In a rare Latin copy of this story, entitled “Narratio eorum quae contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio. Ex Membranis vetustis. Anno M.D.XCV.” the reading of these verses (else hardly distinguishable) is as follows:

  “Per sordes gradior, sed sordium conscia non sum,

  Sic rosa de spinis nescit violarier ullis.

  Corripit et raptor gladii ferientis ab ictu:

  Tradita Lenoni non sum violata pudore.

  Vulnera cessassent animi, lacrymgeque deessent,

  Nulla etenim melior, si nossem certa parentes,

  Unica regalis generis sum stirpe creata:

  Ipsa jubente deo lsstari credo aliquando.

  Fige modo lacrymas, curam dissolve molestam,

  Redde polo faciem, mentemque ad sydera tolle.

  Nam deus et hominum plasmator, rector et auctor,

  Non sinet has lacrymas casso finire labore.”

  I have collated this copy with the text from which the translation is made, but the material variations are inconsiderable. The Latin, however, is very much better.

  * In the Latin “Narratio eorum quæ contigerunt Apollonio Tyrio” this riddle is in Latin hexameter verse.

  “Est domus in terris quae nobis clausa resultat

  Ipsa domus resonat, tacitus sed non sonat hospes;

  Ambo tamen currunt, hospes simul et domus una.”

  * This ingenious apologue, with the following, is omitted in the drama of Shakspeare.

  † “Longa feror velox formosse filia silvæ,

  Innumerâ pariter comitum stipante catervâ;

  Curro per vias multas, vestigia nulla reliquo.”

  ‡ “Intrarem balneum ubi hincinde flammse per tabulas surgunt.”

  § There is an obscurity here which I am afraid I have not removed. ‘Per rotas et sedes innoxius ille pertransit: Est calor in medio magnus quern nemo removit. Non est nuda domus: nudus sed convenit hospes. Si luctum poneres innocuus intraris in ignes.” This mysterious affair is thus enunciated in the Latin “Narratio” &c.:—

  “Per totas ædes innoxius introit ignis,

  Est calor in medio magnus, quern nemo removit;

  Non est nuda domus, nudus sed convenit hospes,

  Si luctum ponas, insons intrabis in ignes.”

  To this Apollonius answers, “Intrarem balneum, ubi hincinde flammæ per tabulas surgunt, nuda domus in qua nihil intus est, nudus hospes convenit, nudus sudabit.”—The reader must make what he can of it.

  * Yet these wise men did not perceive this striking resemblance before ! The observation, however, is natural—at least to courtiers.

  * “PERICLES on the deck asleep; DIANA appearing to him as in a vision.

  “Dia. My temple stands in Ephesus: hie thee thither,

  And do upon mine altar sacrifice.

  There, when my maiden priests are met together,

  Before the people all,

  Reveal how thou at sea didst lose thy wife:

  To mourn thy crosses, with thy daughter’s, call,

  And give them repetition to the life.

  Perform my bidding or thou livest in woe :

  Do’t and be happy, by my silver bow

  Awake, and tell thy dream. [Diana disappears”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  TALE CLIV.
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br />   OF A CELESTIAL COUNTRY.

  GERVASE* relates that in the city of Edessa, in consequence of the presence of Christ’s holy image, no heretic could reside—no pagan, no worshipper of idols, no Jew. Neither could the barbarians invade that place ; but if an hostile army appeared, any innocent child, standing before the gates of the city, read an epistle; and the same day on which the epistle was read, the barbarians were either appeased, or, becoming womanish,† fled.

  APPLICATION.

  My beloved, that city is the city of the Apocalypse, namely, Heaven : or it may signify our body, in which, if Christ dwelt—that is, if our soul be full of His love— nothing repugnant to Him will inhabit it. The boy is a clear conscience, and the epistle is confession and repentance.

  * Gervase of Tilbury (county of Essex), a monkish historian. He flourished about the year 1200.

  † [“Effeminati.” It seems very probable that this legend is a distorted reproduction of a story in Herodotus (i. 105), in which a band of Scythians, who plundered the temple of Aphrodite Urania at Ascalon, is said to have been rendered subject to i.e. became which to all appearance = effeminati. See Liddell and Scott, sub voc., and sub voc. —ED.]

  TALE CLV.

  OF THE DISCOMFITURE OF THE DEVIL.

  THERE is in England, as Gervase tells us, on the borders of the episcopal see of Ely, a castle called CATHUBICA; a little below which is a place distinguished by the appellation of Wandlesbury,* because, as they say, the Vandals, having laid waste the country, and cruelly slaughtered the Christians, here pitched their camp. Around a small hillock, where their tents were pitched, was a circular space of level ground, enclosed by ramparts, to which but one entrance presented itself. Upon this plain, as it is commonly reported, on the authority of remote traditions, during the hush of night, while the moon shone, if any knight called aloud, “Let my adversary appear,” he was immediately met by another, who started up from the opposite quarter, ready armed and mounted for combat. The encounter invariably ended in the overthrow of one party. Concerning this tradition, I have an actual occurrence to tell, which was well known to many, and which I have heard both from the inhabitants of the place and others. †

  There was once in Great Britain a knight, whose name was Albert, strong in arms, and adorned with every virtue. It was his fortune to enter the above-mentioned castle, where he was hospitably received. At night, after supper, as is usual in great families during the winter, the household assembled round the hearth, and occupied the hour in relating divers tales. ‡ At last, they discoursed of the wonderful occurrence before alluded to; and our knight, not satisfied with the report, determined to prove the truth of what he had heard, before he implicitly trusted it. Accompanied, therefore, by a squire of noble blood, he hastened to the spot, armed in a coat of mail. He ascended the mount, and then, dismissing his attendant, entered the plain. He shouted, and an antagonist, accoutred at all points, met him in an instant. What followed? Extending their shields, and directing their lances at each other, the steeds were driven to the attaint, and both the knights shaken by the career. Their lances brake, but from the slipperiness of the armour, the blow did not take effect.* Albert, however, so resolutely pressed his adversary, that he fell; and rising immediately, beheld Albert making a prize of his horse. On which, seizing the broken lance, he cast it in the manner of a missile weapon, and cruelly wounded Albert in the thigh. Our knight, overjoyed at his victory, either felt not the blow, or dissembled it; and his adversary suddenly disappeared. He, therefore led away the captured horse, and consigned him to the charge of his squire. He was prodigiously large, light of step, and of a beautiful shape. When Albert returned, the household crowded around him, struck with the greatest wonder at the event, and rejoicing at the overthrow of the hostile knight, while they lauded the bravery of the magnanimous victor. When, however, he put off his cuishes, one of them was filled with clotted blood. The family were alarmed at the appearance of the wound; and the servants were aroused and despatched here and there. Such of them as had been asleep, admiration now induced to watch. As a testimony of conquest, the horse, held by the bridle, was exposed to public-inspection. His eyes were fierce, and he arched his neck proudly; his hair was of a lustrous jet, and he bore a war-saddle on his back. The cock had already begun to crow, when the animal, foaming, curveting, snorting, and furiously striking the ground with his feet, broke the bonds that held him and escaped. He was immediately pursued, but disappeared in an instant. The knight retained a perpetual memento of that severe wound; for every year, upon the night of that encounter, it broke out afresh. Some time after, he crossed the seas and fell, valiantly fighting against the pagans. (30)

  APPLICATION.

  My beloved, the knight is Christ; his antagonist is the devil, who is armed with pride; the castle is the world.

  * Near Cambridge. There is no account of this place in Camden’s Britannia.

  † This exordium does not greatly favour Mr. Douce’s hypothesis. See the Introduction.

  ‡ We have here an interesting picture of the olden times; and it is such pictures that give an invaluable character to these stories.

  * “Ictuque evanescenti per lubricum.”

  TALE CLVI.

  OF THE SUBVERSION OF TROY.

  OVID, speaking of the Trojan war, relates that when Helen was carried off by Paris, it was predicted that the city of Troy could not be captured without the death of Achilles. His mother, hearing this, placed him, in the dress of a female, amongst the ladies of the court of a certain king. Ulixes,* suspecting the stratagem, loaded a ship with a variety of wares; and besides the trinkets of women, took with him a splendid suit of armour. Arriving at the castle in which Achilles dwelt among the girls, he exposed his goods for sale. The disguised hero, delighted with the warlike implements upon which he gazed, seized a lance, and gallantly brandished it. The secret was thus manifested,† and Ulixes conducted him to Troy. The Greeks prevailed; and after his decease, and the capture of the city, the hostages of the adverse side were set at liberty.

  APPLICATION.

  My beloved, Paris represents the devil; Helen, the human soul, or all mankind. Troy is hell. Ulixes is Christ; and Achilles, the Holy Ghost. The arms signify the cross, keys, lance, crown, etc.

  * Meaning thereby ULYSSES.

  † How far this stratagem would be successful is very doubtful ; and probability is opposed to it. Habit is too mighty to be conquered in an instant; and man, who is the creature of habit, may as soon discard his nature as the confirmed prejudices of youth. In fact, they become his nature, and Achilles, like Lucio, in “Love’s Cure,” delineated by Beaumont and Fletcher, under similar circumstances, would much more reasonably be expected to say:

  “Go, fetch my work. This ruff was not well starched,

  So tell the maid; ’t has too much blue in it:

  And look you, that the partridge and the pullen

  Have clean meat and fresh water, or my mother

  Is like to hear on’t,”

  than suddenly to assume sword and spear, and change his petticoat for a coat of mail.

  TALE CLVII.

  OF THE PUNISHMENT OF OFFENDEES.

  THERE was an emperor whose porter was remarkably sagacious. He earnestly besought his master that he might have the custody of a city for a single month, and receive, by way of tax, one penny from every crook-backed, one-eyed, scabby, leprous, or ruptured person. The emperor admitted his request, and confirmed the gift under his own seal. Accordingly, the porter was installed in his office; and as the people entered the city, he took note of their defects, and charged them a penny, in conformity with the grant. It happened that a hunchbacked fellow one day entered, and the porter made his demand. Hunchback protested that he would pay nothing. The porter immediately laid hands upon him, and accidentally raising his cap, discovered that he was one-eyed also. He demanded two pennies forthwith. The other still more vehemently opposed, and would have fled; but the porter catching hold of his head, the cap came
off, and disclosed a bald scabby surface. Whereupon he required three pennies. Hunchback, very much enraged, persisted in his refusal, and began to struggle with the determined porter. This produced an exposure of his arms, by which it became manifest that he was leprous. The fourth penny was therefore laid claim to; and the scuffle continuing, revealed a rupture, which entitled him to a fifth. Thus, a fellow unjustly refusing to pay a rightful demand of one penny was necessitated, much against his inclination, to pay five.*

  APPLICATION.

  My beloved, the emperor is Christ. The porter is any prelate, or discreet confessor; the city is the world. The diseased man is a sinner.

  * “Gower has this history more at large in the CONPESSIO AMANTIS; but he refers to a Cronike, which seems to be the BOKE OF TROIE, mentioned at the end of the chapter (lib. v. fol. 99. See fol. 101).”—WARTON.

  * This tale is in Alphonsus, and the Cento Novelle Antiche, Nov. 50.

  TALE CLVIII.

  OF THE SOUL’S IMMORTALITY.

  THERE was once discovered at Rome an uncorrupted body, taller than the wall of the city, on which the following words were inscribed:—“Pallas, the son of Evander, whom the lance of a crooked soldier slew, is interred here.” A candle burned at his head, which neither water nor wind could extinguish, until air was admitted through a hole made with the point of a needle beneath the flame. The wound of which this giant had died was four feet and a half long. Having been killed after the overthrow of Troy, he had remained in his tomb two thousand two hundred and forty years.

  APPLICATION.

  My beloved, the giant is Adam, who was formed free from all corruption. The wound of which he died is transgression of the divine command. The burning candle is eternal punishment, extinguished by means of a needle—that is, by the passion of Christ.

  TALE CLIX.

  OF THE INVENTION OF VINEYARDS.

  JOSEPHUS, in his work on “The Causes of Natural Things,” says that Noah discovered the wild vine,* and because it was bitter, he took the blood of four animals, namely, of a lion, of a lamb, a pig, and a monkey. This mixture’ lie united with earth., and made a kind of manure, which he deposited at the roots of the trees. † Thus the blood sweetened the fruit, with which he afterwards intoxicated himself, and, lying naked, was derided by his younger son. Assembling his children, he declared to them by what means he had produced this effect. ‡