Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/362

188 external appearances are deceitful; and that human life, in its most gorgeous condition, is still accompanied by the revolting emblems of mortality." The merchant gladly availed himself of the permission to depart; and returned with greater satisfaction to the toils of traffic. (56)

My beloved, the Prince is intended to represent any good Christian, whose wife is the soul that sins, and being punished, remembers its iniquity and amends. The adulterer is the devil; to cut off his head, is to destroy our vices. The slain kinsmen of the Prince, are love to God and to our neighbour, which the sin of our first parent annihilated. The merchant is any good prelate or confessor, to whom the truth should always be exposed.