THE SCENE: You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. Particularly if it is poisoned honey.
THE TEXT: It is related of a certain prince that, with all his power, he could not subdue his enemies. At length he made use of the following stratagem. He feigned a flight, and resigned his castles, with the provisions they contained, into the hands of his foes. Now, the castles were furnished with casks of wine empoisoned with the seed of a certain herb; insomuch that whosoever drank of it immediately fell asleep. He knew that his opponents were hunger-starved and gluttonous; and that, overjoyed to find such excellent quarters, they would drink to excess, and fall into a death-like sleep. They did so, and the prince returning put them all to death.
– Gesta Romanorum, 13th Century AD
