Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/412

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My beloved, the emperor is Christ; the two knights body and soul; of which the last is the wise one. In baptism they were united. They drank blood; that is, the blood in the veins prevents their separation, and preserves life. The two ways are penitence and the world's glory. The way of penitence is narrow, but the other is broad and alluring. The city on the mountain is heaven; that in the valley is hell. The three soldiers, are the world, the flesh, and the devil, &c. &c.

the reign of Gordian, there was a certain noble soldier who had a fair but vicious wife.