Historical Allusions
page 521 – “Look how Attila, the great conqueror, died in his sleep, shamefully and dishonorably bleeding from his nose in drunkenness; a captain should live soberly.”
page 523 – “Stillbon, who was a wise ambassador, was sent in great pomp to Corinth from Sparta, to make an alliance between them. When he arrived, it happened by chance that he found all the greatest men of the land gambling. For this reason, as soon as possible he stole home again to his country, and said, ‘I don’t want to lose my good name there; nor will I take upon myself such a great dishonor as to ally with you gamblers. Send other wise ambassadors; for I swear I would rather die than ally with you gamblers. For you who are so famous for your honors shall not be allied with gamblers by my will, or by my treaty.’ Thus said this wise philosopher.” page 527 – “He [Death] has slain a thousand during this pestilence”, and “Death has slain both man and woman, child and laborer, and page, in a large village over a mile hence.” |
This quote creates meaning because it is the Pardoner telling his readers an infamous historical example of how alcohol corrupts everyone who abuses it, even if the drunkard is the most great of conquerors, as the Pardoner describes Atilla to be.
The point of this allusion is to show that gambling is highly frowned upon by the Pardoner. He specifically uses this allusion to show that dying would be a more acceptable act than gambling. This seems to be a hyperbole but it definitely gets the Pardoner's point across. This quote that refers to "pestilence" is a non-explicit way of referencing the Bubonic Plague. This allusion helps to create meaning of the text because it sets up the initial goal of the three men, which was to kill death because it was killing everyone. |