Note 98 — Chapter III
Reading edition
The explanation suggested accounts for the prevalence of allegory in medieval times. Among the less comprehensive and not characteristically medieval causes for it must be reckoned the influence of the parables that are explained in the New Testament, the occasional grossness of Biblical characters and language which called for an interpretation that would remove offence and offer edification, the congenial activity which allegorizing offered to the pious mind, and, finally, the fact that by a clever use of allegorical interpretation some desired end might be obtained.