Mithridanes’ Attempt on Nathan’s Life turns a contest in generosity into a test of what generosity means: Nathan answers an intended murder not with defense or retaliation, but by making his own life available to his guest. The attempt ends in recognition rather than death. Mithridanes discovers that the rival whose fame he resents has already treated him with the trust and liberality he hoped to surpass, and the would-be killer becomes Nathan’s friend.

Narrative Setting and the Rivalry

Filostrato tells the episode on the tenth day, after the company has been discussing striking examples of magnificence. He presents Nathan as a man whose hospitality is so extraordinary that he is prepared to give even his life to someone who desires it. That premise makes the story’s central reversal legible from the outset: Nathan’s generosity will not be measured by a gift or an extravagant welcome alone, but by how he responds when the visitor’s demand becomes lethal.

Nathan is a wealthy man of noble lineage in Cattajo. His estate stands beside a highway used by travelers going between the Ponant and the Levant, and he turns that position into an opportunity for hospitality. He gathers many artisans and has a great palace built in a short time, furnished for the reception and entertainment of gentlemen. With a large household, he welcomes those who pass through with good cheer and honor. He is already advanced in years, but has not grown weary of this practice; his renown has spread through the Levant and nearly all the Ponant.

Mithridanes, a young man from a nearby country, is no less wealthy. He hears of Nathan’s reputation and envies not only the fame but the virtue behind it. Hoping to eclipse the older man, he builds a similar palace and extends lavish courtesies to travelers. His own reputation grows quickly, but it does not quiet his rivalry: Nathan remains the measure against which his efforts seem inadequate.

The Alms That Turn Envy to Murder

A poor old woman makes that inadequacy painfully concrete. Entering Mithridanes’ palace repeatedly through different gates, she asks him for alms. He gives to her twelve times. When she returns a thirteenth time, he remarks on her persistence, though he still gives her something. The woman compares this reception with Nathan’s: she says that she entered through each of Nathan’s thirty-two gates, asked for alms each time, and was never recognized or reproached.

The comparison makes Nathan’s generosity seem effortless and inexhaustible, while Mithridanes’ own giving appears to have limits. Rather than taking the episode as a lesson, Mithridanes treats Nathan’s reputation as an injury to his own. He concludes that he cannot surpass Nathan in the smallest matter while Nathan lives, and decides to kill him. The tale thus traces a sharp conversion: the desire to be known for giving becomes a plan to destroy the person whose example exposes the limits of that desire.

Mithridanes rides with a small company, keeping his purpose from them, and reaches Nathan’s home after three days. At evening, he leaves his companions to find lodging and waits nearby alone. He encounters Nathan walking without attendants or pomp and, not recognizing him, asks where Nathan lives. Nathan cheerfully offers to take him there. Mithridanes asks not to be seen or known by his intended victim, and Nathan agrees. Once they reach the palace, Nathan quietly instructs a servant to ensure that no one identifies him to the guest. Mithridanes is lodged in a fine chamber, attended honorably, and kept in Nathan’s company.

The Guest and His Unknowing Host

After staying there for a while, Mithridanes asks his host who he is. Nathan claims to be an unworthy servant who has grown old with Nathan, and says that Nathan has never advanced him beyond his present station. The claim gives Mithridanes hope that the supposed servant may help him carry out his plan safely. Asked in turn who he is and why he has come, Mithridanes hesitates, then trusts his host with the whole account: his identity, his envy, and his intention to kill Nathan.

Nathan is inwardly shaken by the confession, but keeps a firm countenance. He praises Mithridanes for undertaking the difficult pursuit of liberality and says that the young man’s jealousy of Nathan’s virtues could benefit the world if others shared it. He promises secrecy and offers practical advice instead of resistance. Nathan points out a copse about half a mile away where he walks alone on most mornings. Mithridanes can find him there, he says, and, if he kills him, can escape by a path leaving the copse on the left, which is wilder but nearer and safer for the journey home.

This counsel is not merely a verbal concession. Nathan goes to the copse the next morning, alone, in accordance with the arrangement he has made. Mithridanes comes on horseback with a bow and sword, sees Nathan walking by himself, and approaches before attacking. He seizes Nathan by the fillet around his head and declares him dead. Nathan answers that he has deserved it. His response offers no struggle and no denial; it makes the attack seem, for a moment, to be a judgment Nathan accepts.

Recognition, Shame, and Reconciliation

Before striking, Mithridanes looks at Nathan’s face and recognizes the man who had welcomed him, kept his identity secret, and faithfully advised him. Recognition breaks the sequence the two men have set in motion. Mithridanes’ fury subsides into shame; he casts away the sword he had drawn, dismounts, and falls at Nathan’s feet in tears. He understands that Nathan came to the copse in secret to give him his life, though Mithridanes had desired that life without just cause. He asks Nathan to impose whatever punishment his wrongdoing deserves.

Nathan raises him, embraces and kisses him, and refuses to treat forgiveness as a debt that must be formally requested or granted. He distinguishes Mithridanes’ ambition from hatred: the young man had sought fame by trying to become more liberal than Nathan. Nathan even places the intended murder beside the violence of emperors and kings, who have enlarged their realms and renown by killing multitudes, burning countries, and razing cities. His comparison does not make Mithridanes’ plan harmless; it places the young man’s quest for fame within a wider world where violence is often rewarded with reputation.

The reconciliation leads to a further offer. Nathan explains that he has long been willing to satisfy the requests of those who come to his house, and that, since Mithridanes desired his life, he resolved to give it rather than let the young man depart without what he asked. He asks whether Mithridanes would add years of his own life to Nathan’s. When Mithridanes readily agrees, Nathan proposes an exchange of identities and households: Mithridanes would remain in Nathan’s palace under Nathan’s name, while Nathan would go to Mithridanes’ home and take his name. Mithridanes declines. He doubts that he could act as Nathan does and will not risk diminishing Nathan’s fame by failing to live up to it.

They return to the palace, where Nathan entertains Mithridanes with honor for several more days and encourages his noble purpose with his wisdom. Mithridanes eventually departs with his company, having learned that he cannot outdo Nathan in liberality. The encounter ends not with the death that gave it its title, but with a friendship grounded in an asymmetry: Mithridanes sought to rival Nathan, while Nathan answered rivalry by offering welcome, counsel, and finally his own life.