384
OF PERSECUTION.
In this branch was placed the antidote, that is Christ.
TALE XCVI.
OF PERSECUTION.
King Asuerus made a great feast to all the princes of his kingdom, as we learn from the first chapter of the book of Hester. He commanded the queen to appear at the festival, that his people might behold the splendour of that beauty which he had raised to the throne. After this the king promoted a certain Aman; and made all the princes of his empire pay him homage. They complied, but Mardocheus, the king's uncle, would not honour him. Enraged at this disregard of his authority, Aman delivered him to death, with all his family; and made an ordinance under the royal seal to exterminate every Jew in the
