The Game of Chess Moralized

kings must peacefully endure the corrections
and the teachings of their wise men and hear them in safety
and in peace. ¶ And this is what Valerius Valerius Maximus, a Roman author often cited in medieval texts for his moral anecdotes. says of
Alexander the Great The text reads "alixandre le quint" (Alexander the Fifth), which is likely a scribal error or a specific regional numbering for Alexander the Great.: that one of Alexander’s
noble knights—wise and held in very high esteem—
used to rebuke him for desiring too much to have great
honors, and said to him: "If our gods had made your
body, which is small, equal to the small The gloss "petite" (small) here clarifies the knight's rhetorical comparison between Alexander's physical stature and his vast ambition. greed
and desire that is in your heart, I believe that the whole
world could not contain you." And "Why?" said
Alexander. And the knight replied to him: "Because
you wish to touch your right hand to the East
and your left hand to the West, but your body
cannot sustain the pursuit of your heart's desire. But you are either a god, or a man, or nothing. If you are a god, you must follow
God himself by giving and by regarding the good
deeds of men, and not by taking away or wickedly
withholding what is theirs. ¶ If you are a man, consider
that you are mortal and abandon evil greed original: "couuoitiſe"; refers to an insatiable desire for wealth or power.. If
you are nothing, then remember this and forget yourself,
for there is nothing so firm nor so high
that it is not in danger of falling. And you see the lion,
which is the strongest of all other beasts, and yet
is sometimes made into food for very small birds." A common medieval metaphor suggesting that even the mightiest can be brought low by the small or the weak after death.
¶ The second reason why the game of chess original: "jeu des eſches" was
invented was to take away the idleness original: "oiſiuete" of the king and of other
people. For according to what Seneca A Roman Stoic philosopher. says to Lucilius:
idleness without any good study is death and
a living burial. ¶ And Cato Referring to Dionysius Cato, the purported author of the Distichs of Cato, a popular medieval textbook on morality. himself says in his