XIV.

Again said Ioasaph, "The Lord God prosper thee, O thou Wisest of
men! For thou hast gladdened my soul with thine apt and
excellent sayings. Wherefore sketch me yet another picture of
the vanity of the world, and how a man may pass through it in
peace and safety."

Barlaam took up his parable and said, "Hear then a similitude of
this matter too. I once heard tell of a great city whose
citizens had, from old time, the custom of taking some foreigner
and stranger, who knew nothing of their laws and traditions, and
of making him their king, to enjoy absolute power, and follow his
own will and pleasure without hindrance, until the completion of
a year. Then suddenly, while he was living with never a care in
rioting and wantonness, without fear, and alway supposing that
his reign would only terminate with his life, they would rise up
against him, strip him bare of his royal robes, lead him in
triumph up and down the city, and thence dispatch him beyond
their borders into a distant great island; there, for lack of
food and raiment, in hunger and nakedness he would waste
miserably away, the luxury and pleasure so unexpectedly showered
upon him changed as unexpectedly into woe. In accordance
therefore with the unbroken custom of these citizens, a certain
man was ordained to the kingship. But his mind was fertile of
understanding, and he was not carried away by this sudden access
of prosperity, nor did he emulate the heedlessness of the kings
that had gone before him, and had been miserably expelled, but
his soul was plunged in care and trouble how he might order his
affairs well. After long and careful search, he learned from a