but because we pity thee. `Twas in order that we might not bring
on thee greater condemnation, that we were eager to escape. Else
for ourselves we are never a whit terrified by thy threats." At
this the king waxed wroth and bade burn them with fire. So by
fire were these servants of God made perfect, and received the
Martyr's crown. And the king published a decree that, should any
be found leading a monk's life, he should be put to death without
trial. Thus was there left in that country none of the monastic
order, save those that had hid them in mountains and caverns and
holes of the earth. So much then concerning this matter.


V.

But meanwhile, the king's son, of whom our tale began to tell,
never departing from the palace prepared for him, attained to the
age of manhood. He had pursued all the learning of the
Ethiopians and Persians, and was as fair and well favoured in
mind as in body, intelligent and prudent, and shining in all
excellencies. To his teachers he would propound such questions
of natural history that even they marvelled at the boy's
quickness and understanding, while the king was astounded at the
charm of his countenance and the disposition of his soul. He
charged the attendants of the young prince on no account to make
known unto him any of the annoys of life, least of all to tell
him that death ensueth on the pleasures of this world. But vain
was the hope whereon he stayed, and he was like the archer in the
tale that would shoot at the sky. For how could death have
remained unknown to any human creature? Nor did it to this boy;
for his mind was fertile of wit, and he would reason within