Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/102

90 in the greatest misery, amid the mysterious statues of the palace. (14)

My beloved, the image is the devil: the clerk is any covetous man, who sacrifices himself to the cupidity of his desires. The steps by which he descends are the passions. The archer is death; the carbuncle is human life, and the cup and knife are worldly possessions.

the reign of a certain emperor, there were two thieves who bound themselves by an oath