Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/206

32 You have impudently taken away that which did not belong to you, and therefore, I determine that you be instantly suspended on a gallows." And so it was done. (6)

My beloved, that Emperor is our Lord Jesus Christ. The three images are three sorts of men, in whom God takes pleasure—as it is written, "thy delight is in the sons of men." If we live piously and uprightly, God will remain with us. By the first image with extended hand, we may conceive the poor and the simple of this world; who, if they have business in the halls of princes and noblemen, will prevail but little unless the hand is put forth to present a gift. Gifts blind the eyes of a judge. But if it should be asked of such a one, or of his servants, "Why fleecest thou the poor?" it is instantly replied, "Can I not receive with a good conscience, what is voluntarily presented? If I took not the offering, people would say I was besotted;