SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

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in the first book, and relates the final story of book two. The Tale of Constantine and
Sylvester shows how a king can learn the lesson of charity like the Tale of
Nebuchadnezzar’s Punishment in book one demonstrated how that king learned pity.
Constantine, emperor of Rome, was afflicted with leprosy. His physicians advised him
that a cure might be had if he would bathe in the blood of infants. However, when they
are brought to the palace to be slaughtered, Constantine is overcome with pity at the sight
of the weeping mothers and rescinds the order, deciding to place his fate in the hands of
God. Much like Nebuchadnezzar, Constantine had to spend a period of time in deformity
and turmoil, somehow less than human. But God’s grace provided a remedy: for
Nebuchadnezzar it was rescue from the animalistic state, and for Constantine it was
freedom from his affliction. The emperor sought the advice of Pope Sylvester, who
baptized him in the basin that was meant to collect the blood of the innocent children, and
the leprous scales fell from his body. For Constance and Constantine, charity answers
envy, saves the body and the soul, demonstrating that Christianity can save the entire
world.
I have noted that the tales increase in horror and severity, and by the third book,
incest makes an overt appearance and triggers a series of tragedies. Nevertheless the
book follows the established pattern and ends on a positive note. Taken from Ovid’s
Heroides, Gower’s story of Canace and Machaire appears in the book on wrath. Ovid’s
version consists solely of the letter Canace writes to Machaire to relate what happened to
her. Gower expands upon this by making the letter only a part of the story and placing its
writing at the very end of the tale, and thus of Canace’s life, further increasing the pathos.