The Old Man
In a kingdom (Rome) in which anyone who reaches the age of seventy is killed, a young man hides his aging father in his basement, and tells everyone that he has died. His old father passes on his wisdom to his son in secret, and guided by his advice, the young man soon becomes a known as a judicious, thoughtful man and a respected public official. However, his enemies conspire against him, and believing these detractors, the emperor sets him a series of impossible tests. First, he must appear before the court neither naked nor clothed; on his father's advice, the young man dresses himself in a net, and thus meets the requirements. Next, the emperor asks the young man to appear before the court with his worst enemy, and with his best friend. The man asks for a month's grace, and demands that if he should fulfill this requirement, the emperor will end the senecidal law; the emperor agrees. Following his father's advice again, the young man kills a pig, puts it in a sack, and tells his wife that he has killed a man; together they bury the body in the garden. Shortly thereafter, on some slight pretense, he argues with his wife and beats her. She immediately turns him in for murder, and the man is arrested. From jail, he explains that this was a trick, the body is exhumed, and he is released. On the appointed day, the young man visits the emperor accompanied by his dog and his wife, and explains that the dog is his best friend - even after being beaten, if returns when he calls it. His wife, on the other hand, is his worst enemy, who turns on him at the slightest provocation, he says. The young man then reveals that he did all this on the advice of his aged father - and the emperor agrees to abolish the senescidal law.
| Critical Literature
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| No critical literature available
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| Senes appears in the following versions and secondary versions
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| Senes is narrated in the following occurrences
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| Senes appears in the following manuscripts
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| This inset story appears in no manuscripts of the database
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