“Oh, my dear lord, by thy love towards me, succor me in this great distress; my father is driven from his capital by the king of Egypt, and even now wanders up and down his own kingdom, homeless and unattended.”
“As thou wiliest, Theodosia,” replied the noble, “so will I do.”
“Gather then a great army, raise again my father’s banner, and go, my lord, fight for my father’s throne, and under God’s blessing thou shalt conquer.”
Gladly the noble obeyed the wishes of his wife; gladly did he summon his retainers and friends, and raise the royal standard. His example was all that was required; numbers flocked to the royal standard, for they wished well to the emperor, but lacked a leader. Then led he his forces against the king of Egypt, and long and fierce was the battle; but at length the emperor’s friends prevailed, the Egyptian was driven from the land, and the emperor reseated on his throne. It was a happy day for his people when Theodosius reascended his throne: round him stood all his nobles, and on his right hand his youngest daughter, and on his left her noble husband, to whom he was indebted for his restoration. Before his footstool stood his other children and their husbands, and sought to do him homage. But the emperor forbade them, and turning to his nobles he said:
“The child that loved me but as I deserved, hath succored me in this my time of trouble; the twain that professed to love me more abundantly, have failed in the trial God ordained to them and to me. I pray ye, my nobles and knights, to ratify this my wish. When I die, let the kingdom pass to her and to her husband, for she succored her father and her country; but for these other two, let them go hence.”
And the nobles and knights with one accord said: “It is well said; be it so.”
“Is the Merchant of Venice among the list of plots borrowed from the Gesta?” asked Herbert.
“It is inscribed as a debtor to two tales: to the one, for the incident of the bond; to the other, for that of the three caskets.”
“I thought,” said Frederick Thompson, “the incident of Shylock’s bond came from the Italian of Fiorentino, a novelist of the fourteenth century.”
“It is found there, and is generally translated from his work in the preface to the play, but is also found, in almost the same words, in the English Gesta, in the story of Selestinus, the Wise Emperor, who had a Fair Daughter.”