The Game of Chess Moralized

...senses are sharper than others to devise and think upon our mental nourishment original: "nourritures"; here referring to intellectual or spiritual sustenance rather than physical food., as it appears with Didymus the philosopher Didymus the Blind (c. 313–398 AD), a renowned Christian theologian in Alexandria who lost his sight at a very young age., who was a bishop of Alexandria. For after he could not see at all, he was of such great and noble understanding that Origen, Nazianzen Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the Great Cappadocian Fathers of the early Church., and Jerome original: "thasime"; a common medieval corruption of Hieronymus (Jerome), the scholar who translated the Bible into Latin., priest of the Church of Rome, and Rufinus original: "audrial"; likely referring to Rufinus of Aquileia, a contemporary and student of Didymus. were his disciples at that time; and they were later such sovereign doctors In the medieval context, a "Doctor" is a preeminent teacher of church doctrine and theology. that they had many disciples under them, noble and full of great knowledge.

And Didymus himself, after he had lost his sight and since he was of such noble understanding that he made in his schools many noble disciples under him, Anthony the Great Saint Anthony of Egypt, a famous hermit and foundational figure in Christian monasticism., who was a hermit in the desert, came to visit him. And Anthony asked him, among other things, after he had comforted him regarding his ills, if he grieved much because he had lost his sight. And Didymus replied: "I wonder that you, who are a wise man, do not truly believe that I grieve for it much." And Anthony said to him: "Certainly, fair father, I wonder much that you should grieve for having lost that which you had in common with the beasts, when there remains in your thought that which you have in common with the angels."

And because Xerxes original: "exeres"; the philosopher credited in this tradition with the invention of chess. In some versions, he is called Philometer. the philosopher, who invented this game of chess, saw that the king was despised original: "appiesse"; meaning the king was held in low regard or was a burden to his subjects. by the people, he considered it a very great devotion to set and convert the conduct of King Evil-Merodach The son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon; medieval legends often portrayed him as a quintessential tyrant. into a better state, which was such as you have heard before. And so he knew well that the king was full of such iniquity as I have recounted; because of which, he armed himself rather to risk the danger of death to demonstrate the truth to this king than to dwell with him nobly and feign to him falsehoods and lies—