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After that he hadde clepede the yonge mannes fader, that was sor adrad, “This syknesse,” quod he, “wherof thy child is wayk nis not syknesse but synne, for verrayly he soffreth of no peyn, but of love and wodenesse (frenzy). And he coveyteth that he may not have in no wyse, lovynge my wyf that I wil not forgon.” So that oon lyde in gyle. And anon that other besoghte him: “Be thy conynge and thy phisik, destroie me not my sone; for he is not in this cas of his owne wille but hath the syknesse mawgree himself. Therfore do thou not thorghe despyt make sorwe in alle the rewme, ne thou that art phisicyen brynge manslaughtre in to phisik.” Thus preyde he, al unwar. And_ that oon answerde: “Thou forthrest wykked dedis, revynge me from my mariage and destreyninge a pore leche. What woldestow thiself have don and he coveytede thy wyf, thou that axest suche bones (boons) of me?” Therwith he replyede that he him self wolde never have ben ialous over his wyf ne grucched (begrudged) his sone deliveraunce, if so be he hadde coveyted his step moder; for it was not the lyke infortune to lese awyfasasone.Compare the famous story in Herodotus (3, 119) of the wife of Intaphrenes, who preferred brother to husband and sons. _ And whan the phisicien herde that, “Wherfore than,” quod he, “dostow beseche me? Parfey, he loveth thy wyf, and alle that I seyde was fausse!” Than was the fader overcomen, and yold bothe wyf and rewme (realm) to his sone, and goyinge himself to the contree of Babyloyne leet make a cytee nyghe Eufrate that was cleped after his owne name, ther as his dethe befel.The known facts are that Seleucus made Antiochus joint-ruler in 293 B.c.; that the marriage of Stratonice to Antiochus may have taken place at that time, but the date is not known; and that in 281, on becoming master of the whole realm of Alexander through the defeat of Lysimachus, he planned to entrust, and perhaps actually did entrust, all Asia to his son, intending himself to assume the throne of Macedonia. But within a few months he was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus near Lysimachia in Thrace. He built many cities named after him; this Seleucia, 15 miles below Baghdad, is generally called “on the Tigris,” but it lay between the two rivers, which at that point are only 25 miles apart, and the canal Naarmalcha, connecting the Euphrates with the Tigris, flowed by it. Thus did the phisicien bothe knowe and hele love.
