Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/209

pray thee, without reserve, hast thou ever forsaken me for another?"—"My Lord," answered his wife, "what is the purport of your question?"—"Your son," said he, "seeks my life. It amazes me; and if he were mine he could not do it."—"Heaven can witness," returned the Lady, "that I am innocent. He is truly your son, but to what end he pursues your destruction, I cannot surmise." The Emperor, satisfied on this point, spoke to his son, with the utmost mildness. "My dear son," said he, "I am your father; by my means you came into the world, and will succeed me on the throne. Why then do you desire my death? I have ever loved and cared for you, and my possessions are not less your's than mine. Cease, I conjure you, from such an iniquitous pursuit; and, in return for having given you life, curtail not the few brief hours that are assigned me." Nevertheless the son disregarded his father's entreaties, and every succeeding day discovered fresh proofs of a hard and depraved heart; sometimes endeavouring to slay him in public, and sometimes resorting to secret assassination.