Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/394

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My beloved, the emperor is God; the beautiful Florentina is the soul. The three kings, the devil, the world, and the flesh. The nobles are the patriarchs and prophets, who were the mediators between God and man. The painters are the angels and men, amongst whom there was found no one who would rescue the soul from death. The artist who came from the mountains is Christ. The red colour is blood; the four women are existence, growth, feeling, and understanding.

Emperor Vespasian had a daughter called Aglaës, whose loveliness was greater than that