The Golden Ass: The Tale of the Jealous Husband story
A jealous husband instructs his slave to ensure that his wife keeps out of trouble when he is forced to leave town on business. This is an inset story from Book 9.
7 total · 4 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| controlling partner | major | Barbarus made his slave, Myrmex, watch over his wife to make sure she was being faithful while he was away on business. He essentially kept his wife under lock and key while he was gone away on business in an effort to ensure her faithfulness to him. |
| extramarital affair | major | A woman bedded a young and handsome man while her husband, Barbarus, was away on business. |
| husband and wife | major | A woman bedded a young and handsome man while her husband, Barbarus, was away on business. |
| infatuation | major | Philesitherus became obsessively besotted with Barbarus' wife and paid 30 gold pieces to sleep with her. |
| betrayal | minor | Myrmex betrayed his master, Barbarus, for some gold pieces. |
| duty vs. desire | minor | Should Myrmex accept 30 gold pieces from Philesitherus to let Philesitherus enter into his master Barbarus' wife's bedchamber in the dead of night, and in so doing disobey his master's direct order to assure the wife remains faithful while Barbarus is out of town? |
| greed for riches | minor | Myrmex betrayed his master, Barbarus, for some gold pieces. His master was also lusting after the gold pieces. |