Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/279

Rh squires, are the divine power and grace operating upon the heart. The child is placed in a tree—that is, in the church; and the duke, who preserved it, is any good prelate. The slain hare, is our carnal affections, which ought to be destroyed. The letter which the emperor wrote with his own hand, is every evil imagination which possesses the heart. For then Christ is in danger of being destroyed. The priest who preserved the youth, is any discreet minister, who by means of the Sacred Writings mollifies the asperities of the human soul, and betroths it to Heaven.

records, (21) that the Lacedæmonians conspired against their king; and prevailing,