Born This Way: The Medieval Parable "De filio regis qui numquam viderat mulieres"

The following medieval Latin story was preserved in 1840 as a parable for avoiding temptations during celibacy, but it also has two other interpretations: a) that the child's attraction to women was a biological, inborn trait, as well as b) his prejudice was learned, and not inherited.

De filio regis qui nunquam viderat mulieres

Legimus de rege quodam, qui cum filios mares non haberet, tristabatur valde; cui natus est filius, et gavisus est gaudio magno valde. Dixerunt autem regi periti medici quod filius eius talis erat dispositionis, quod si solem vel ignem videret infra .x. annos, lumine oculorum privaretur. Quo audito, res filium suum in spelunca cum nutricibus inclusit, ita quod usque ad .x. annos luminis claritatem non vidit. Et tunc puero de spelunca educto, cum rerum mundialium nullam haberet notitiam, praecepit rex ostendere ei omnia quae sunt in mundo, secundum genus suum, videlicet viros seorsum, mulieres, equos; in alio loco aurum, argentum, et lapides preciosos, et omnia quae delectare possunt oculos intuentium. Cum autem puer quaereret nomina singulorum, et ventum esset ad mulieres, quidam regis servus respondet, ludendo, "Istae sunt daemones homines seducentes." Cor vero pueri illarum desiderio plusquam ceteris rebus anhelabat. Cumque rex quaereret a puero quid magis ex omnibus quae videret amaret, respondit, "Magis diligo daemones illos qui homines seducunt, quam omnia aliae quae vidi." Ecce quomodo hominis natura in hac parte prona est ad lapsum, et iccirco qui volunt esse continentes, necesse est ut fugiant mulieres.

Wright, Thomas, ed. A Selection of Latin Stories, From Manuscripts of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: A Contribution to the History of Fiction During the Middle Ages. London: Percy Society, 1842.

The Prince Who Had Never Met a Woman

There’s a story about a certain king who was very upset that he did not have male offspring; when his son was finally born, he was overjoyed. However, the king’s physicians told him that his son had a certain medical condition that if he saw the light of day before his tenth birthday, he would go blind.

When the king heard this, he locked his son in a cave with servants, and so the child did not see the light of day for ten years.

When the boy was brought out of the cave, he knew nothing of the world. The king ordered others to show the prince everything that was in the world, separated by type, like men and women separately, horses, etc. in on place; in another place, gold, silver, precious gems, and all other things that delight the eye.

The boy asked the names of each thing as he saw it. When he met a woman, one of the king’s servants responded jokingly, “They are demons who corrupt men!” The prince’s heart leapt in desire for the woman more than any other thing.

Later on, when the king asked his son what he liked most of all the thing he’d seen, the prince responded, “The thing I love the most are the demons who seduce men.”

This is how the nature of man is susceptible to temptation, and so those who want to be celibate must avoid women.

????	MAP:
Name:  Unknown Date:  13 – 14th c. CE Works:  De filio regis qui nunquam viderat mulieres	REGION  2
BIO:	Timeline:
Little is known about the author of this parable. It was published in a collection of Latin stories from the 13th and 14th century by the editor Thomas Wright.	LATE LATIN