with
thee, enlightening and informing thee, and leading thee into the way of
salvation, chasing afar out of thy mind every evil wish, and sealing
thy soul with the sign of the Cross, that no stumbling block of the
evil one come nigh thee, but that thou mayest merit, in all fulness of
virtue, to obtain the kingdom that is to come, without end or
successor, and be illumined with the light of the blessed life-giving
Trinity, which, in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost,
is glorified."

XXI.

With such moral words did the reverend elder exhort the king's son, and
then withdrew to his own hospice. But the young prince's servants and
tutors marvelled to see the frequency of Barlaam's visits to the
palace; and one of the chiefest among them, whom, for his fidelity and
prudence, the king had set over his son's palace, named Zardan, said to
the prince, "Thou knowest well, sir, how much I dread thy father, and
how great is my faith toward him: wherefore he ordered me, for my
faithfulness, to wait upon thee. Now, when I see this stranger
constantly conversing with thee, I fear he may be of the Christian
religion, toward which thy father hath a deadly hate; and I shall be
found subject to the penalty of death. Either then make known to thy
father this man's business, or in future cease to converse with him.
Else cast me forth from thy presence, that I be not blameable, and ask
thy father to appoint another in my room."

The king's son said unto him, "This do, Zardan, first of all. Sit thou
down behind the curtain, and hear his communication with me: and then
thus will I tell thee what thou oughtest to do."

So when Barlaam was about to enter into his presence, Ioasaph hid
Zardan within the curtain, and said to the elder, "Sum me up the matter
of thy divine teaching, that it may the more firmly be implanted in my
heart." Barlaam took up his parable and uttered many sayings touching
God, and righteousness toward him, and how we must love him alone with
all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and keep
his commandments with fear and love-and how he is the Maker of all
things visible and invisible. Thereon he called to remembrance the
creation of the first man, the command given unto him, and his
transgression thereof, and the sentence pronounced by the Creator for
this transgression. Then he reckoned up in order the good things
wherefrom we excluded ourselves by the disannulling of his