Gesta Romanorum (1905)/Of the Poison of Sin

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Of the Management of the Soul

Gesta Romanorum (1905)
by Anonymous, translated by Charles Swan

Of the Poison of Sin

Of Bad Examples

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3921837Gesta Romanorum (1905) — Of the Poison of SinCharles SwanAnonymous

TALE XI.

OF THE POISON OF SIN.

Alexander was a prince of great power, and a disciple of Aristotle, who instructed him in every branch of learning. The Queen of the North having heard of his proficiency, nourished her daughter from the cradle upon a certain kind of deadly poison; and when she grew up, she was considered so beautiful, that the sight of her alone affected many with madness. The queen sent her to Alexander to espouse. He had no sooner beheld her, than he became violently enamoured, and with much eagerness desired to possess her; but Aristotle observing his weakness, said—"Do not touch her, for if you do, you will certainly perish. She has been nurtured upon the most deleterious food, which I will prove to you immediately. Here is a malefactor, who is already condemned to death. He shall be imited to her, and you will soon see the truth of what I advance." Accordingly the culprit was brought without delay to the girl; and scarcely had he touched her lips, before his whole frame was impregnated with poison, and he expired. Alexander, glad at his escape from such imminent destruction, bestowed all thanks on his instructor, and returned the girl to her mother.^[1]

APPLICATION.

My beloved, any good Christian strong and powerful in virtues communicated at his baptism, may be called Alexander. He is strong and powerful as long as he preserves his purity from the contamination of the devil, the world, and the flesh. The Queen of the North is a superfluity of the things of life, which sometimes destroys the spirit, and generally the body. The envenomed beauty is Luxury and Gluttony, which feed men with delicacies, that are poison to the soul. Aristotle is thy conscience, or reason, which reproves and opposes the union that would undo the soul. The malefactor is a perverse man, disobedient to his God, and more diligent in pursuing his own carnal delights than the divine commands. He enfolds his sins in a close embrace, by whose deadly touch he is spiritually destroyed. So the Book of Wisdom: "He who touches pitch shall be defiled by it." Let us then study to live honestly and uprightly, in order that we may attain to everlasting life.

↑ "This story is founded on the twenty-eighth chapter of Aristotle's Secretum Secretobum: in which a queen of India is said to have treacherously sent to Alexander, among other costly presents, the pretended testimonies of her friendship, a girl of exquisite beauty, who having been fed with serpents from her infancy, partook of their nature. If I recollect right, in Pliny there are accounts of nations whose natural food was poison. Mithridates, king of Pontus, the land of venomous herbs, and the country of the sorceress Medea, was supposed to eat poison. Sir John Mandeville's Travels, I believe, will afford other instances."—Warton. [Mr. O. Wendell Holmes has made use of this weird notion in his novel, "Elsie Venner."—Ed.]

[p21-1] "This story is founded on the twenty-eighth chapter of Aristotle's Secretum Secretobum: in which a queen of India is said to have treacherously sent to Alexander, among other costly presents, the pretended testimonies of her friendship, a girl of exquisite beauty, who having been fed with serpents from her infancy, partook of their nature. If I recollect right, in Pliny there are accounts of nations whose natural food was poison. Mithridates, king of Pontus, the land of venomous herbs, and the country of the sorceress Medea, was supposed to eat poison. Sir John Mandeville's Travels, I believe, will afford other instances."—Warton. [Mr. O. Wendell Holmes has made use of this weird notion in his novel, "Elsie Venner."—Ed.]

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