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rashly of that deep secretneas above the measure of our understanding. They did eat the lamb's flesh with their loins girt. In the loins is the lust of the body. And he which shall receive the housell, shall restrain that concupiscence and take with chastity that holy receipt. They were also shod. What be shoes but of the hides of dead beasts? We be truly shod if we follow in our steps and deeds the life of those pilgrims which please God with keeping of his commandments. They had staves in their hands when they ate. This staff signifieth a carefulness and a diligent overseeing. And all they that best know and can, should take care of other men, and stay them up with their help. It was enjoined to the eaters that they should eat the lamb in haste. For God abhorreth slothfulness in his servants. And those he loveth that seek the joy of everlasting life with quickness and haste of mind. It is written: Prolong not to turn unto God, lest the time pass away through thy slow tarrying. The eaters mought not break the lamb's bones. No more mought the soldiers that did hang Christ break his holy legs, as they did of the two thieves that hanged on either side of him. And the Lord rose from death sound without all corruption: and at the last judgment they shall see him, whom they did most cruelly hang on the cross. This time is called in the Hebrew tongue Pasca, and in Latin Transitus, and in English Passover: because that on this day the people of Israel passed from the land of Egypt over the Red Sea; from bondage to the land of promise. So also did

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resurrection to Christ. He brings us to his everlasting Father, who gave him to death for our sins. To Him be honour, and praise of well doing, worid without end. Amen!!

Of Elfric's other series of Homilies, written to explain what was celebrated on the saints' days, one of the most interesting is that for St. Gregory's Day, the 12th of March, an old telling of the old tale of the manner in which missionaries from Rome came to convert the English. A translation of this sermon was published in 1709, by Elizabeth Elstob, who, at the suggestion of Dr. Hickes, began a complete translation of the Homilies of Elfric, which was stopped by private troubles. Unpublished sheets of it are in the British Museum. She had become learned that she might be companion in his studies to her brother, who was of weak health, his companion and helper even when he was student at Oxford, and afterwards in his City parsonage. died in 1714, and in the same year she lost a friend also in Queen Anne; but in the following year she published an Anglo-Saxon Grammar. Elstob was very poor, and set up a little school at Evesham. At last she became governess in the family of the Duchess of Portland, who gave ease to her old age. This is Elizabeth Elstob's version of

ELFRIC'S HOMILY ON ST. GREGORY'S DAY.

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Gregory the Holy Father, the apostle of the English nation, on this present day, after manifold labours and divine studies, happily ascended to God's kingdom. He is rightly called the apostle of the English people, inasmuch as he through his counsel and commission rescued us from the worship of the devil, and converted us to the belief of God. Many holy books speak of his illustrious conversation and his pious life; among these the History of England, which King Alfred translated from the Latin into English. This book speaketh plainly enough of this holy man. Nevertheless we will now say something in few words concerning him; because the aforesaid book is not known to you all, although it is translated into English. This blessed Father Gregory was born of noble and religious parents. His ancestors were of the Roman nobility, his father called Gordianus, and Felix that pious bishop was his fifth father. He was, as we have said, in respect of the world, nobly descended: but he adorned, and exceeded his high birth, with a holy conversation and good works. Gregory is a Greek name, which signifies in the Latin tongue Vigilantius, that is in English Watchful. He was very diligent in God's commandments, while he himself lived most devoutly, and he was earnestly concerned for promoting the advantage of many nations, and made known unto them the way of life. He was from his childhood instructed in the knowledge of books, and he so prosperously succeeded in his studies, that in all the city of Rome there was none esteemed to be like him. He was most diligent in following the example of his teachers, and not forgetful, but fixed his learning in a retentive memory. He sucked in with a thirsty desire the

1 "This sermon is found in diverse bookes of sermon written in the Olde Englishe or Saxon tounge; whereof two bookes bee nowe in the handes of the most reverend father the Archbishop of Canterburye." -Appended Note of the Elizabethan Translator.

flowing learning, which he often, after some time, with a throat sweeter than honey, and with an agreeable eloquence, poured out. In his younger years, when his youth might naturally make him love the things of this world, then began he to dedicate himself to God, and with all his desires to breathe after the inheritance of a heavenly life. For after his father's departure he erected six monasteries in Sicily; and the seventh he built in the city of Rome; in which he himself lived as a regular, under the government of the abbot. These seven monasteries he adorned with his own substance, and plentifully endowed them for their daily subsistence. The remainder of his estate he bestowed on God's poor; and he exchanged his nobility of birth for heavenly glory. He was used before his conversion to pass along the city of Rome in garments of silk, sparkling with gems, and adorned with rich embroidery of gold and red. But after his conversion he ministered to God's poor, and himself took upon him the profession of poverty in a mean habit. So perfectly did he behave himself at the beginning of his conversion, that he might hereafter be reputed in the number of perfect saints. He observed much abstinence in meat and drink, in watching, and in frequent devotions. He suffered, moreover, continual indisposition of body, and the more severely he was oppressed with his present infirmities, the more earnestly did he desire eternal life. Then the Pope which at that time sat in the Apostolic See, when he perceived that the holy Gregory was greatly increased in spiritual virtues, he took him from conversing with monks, and appointed him to be his assistant, having ordained him a deacon.

It happened at some time, as it often doth, that some English merchants brought their merchandizes to Rome: and Gregory passing along the street to the Englishmen taking a view of their goods, he there beheld amongst their merchandizes slaves set out to sale. They were white complexioned, and men of fair countenance, having noble heads of hair. And Gregory, when he saw the beauty of the young men, enquired from what country they were brought; and the men said from England, and that all the men in that nation were as beautiful. Then Gregory asked them whether the men of that land were Christians, or heathens; and the men said unto him they were heathens. Gregory then fetching a long sigh from the very bottom of his heart, said, Alas! alas! that men of so fair a complexion should be subject to the prince of darkness. After that, Gregory enquired how they called the nation from whence they came. To which he was answered, that they were called Angle (that is, English). Then said he, Rightly they are called Angle, because they have the beauty of angels, and therefore it is very fit that they should be the companions of angels in heaven. Yet still Gregory enquired what the shire was named from which the young men were brought. It was told him that the men of that shire were called Deiri. Gregory answered, Well they are called Deiri, because they are delivered from wrath and called to the mercy of Christ. Yet again he enquired what was the name of the king of their province; he was answered, that the king's name was Alla. Therefore Gregory playing upon the words in allusion to the name, said, It is fit that Hallelujah be sung in that land in praise of the Almighty Creator. Gregory then went

1 Conversion from life in the world to life in the monastery. Conversion simply means a change from one state to another. We can convert gold into paper; and here a Roman prætor with money at command is converted into a monk vowed to poverty. Conversion from one form of religious belief to another, though the sense in which the word is commonly used by writers on religion, is by no means the one sense to which the word is limited.

to the bishop of the apostolical see, and desired him that a would send some instructors to the English people, that to might be converted to Christ by the grace of tẻ LLL that he himself was ready to undertake that ▼ck 22 Pope should think it fit. But the Pope couldn't onem: it, although he altogether approved of it; because the i citizens would not suffer so worthy and learned a betri leave the city quite, and take so long a pilgrimaget.

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After this it happened that a great plague calle 1912 Roman people, and first of all seized upon Pope Plaza 2. without delay took him off. Moreover, after the dam i this Pope, the destruction was so great among the jeț. that everywhere throughout the city the hoses a desolate, and without inhabitants. Nevertheless it was 21 fit that the Roman city should be without a bish go. Be the people unanimously chose the holy Gregory 1 honour, although he with all his power opposed it. The Gregory sent an epistle to Mauricius the emperor, 1. the child he had stood godfather, and earnestly desired ins beseeched him, that he would never suffer the people t him to the glory of that high promotion, because be furt that he, through the greatness of the charge and the w glory which he had some time before renounced, might as be ensnared. But the emperor's high marshal Germa intercepted the letter and tore it in pieces, and afterware told the emperor that all the people had chosen Gng wi be Pope. Then Mauricius the emperor returned this? Almighty God for this, and gave orders for his consecratiz But Gregory betook himself to flight, and lay hid in a cas Nevertheless they found him out, and carried him by fet St. Peter's Church, that he might there be consecrated to th popedom. Then Gregory, before his consecration, by must of the increasing pestilence, exhorted the Roman per på 1 repentance in these words: My most beloved brethan J behoveth us, that that rod of God which we ought to hav dreaded, when we only expected it would be laid up should now at least raise in us some concern when it a present and we have felt it. Let our grief open us a way t a true conversion, and let that punishment which we endur break the hardness of our hearts. Behold now this pagars slain with the sword of heavenly anger, and each of thes one by one is destroyed by a sudden slaughter. For th disease does not go before death, but you see that each mat s death prevents the lingering of a disease. The slain w seized by death before they can have an opportunity of sighing and lamentation, to express their sincere repentan Wherefore let each man take care how he comes into the presence of the mighty Judge, who will not bewail the i which he has performed. (Almost) all the dwellers apre earth are taken away, and their houses stand empty Fathers and mothers stand over the dead bodies of ther children, and their heirs step before them to death. Let earnestly betake ourselves to lamentation with true repentance now while we may, before this dreadful slaughter strik us. Let us call to mind whatever errors we have been guty of, and oh! let us do penance with tears for that which w have done amiss. Let us reconcile God's favour to us h confessing our sins, as the prophet warneth us, Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God; that is, that we ongh: to lift up [or present] the sincerity of our devotions with an earnest of good works. He giveth you confidence in ye fear, who speaks to you by his prophet: I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should tur from his way and live.' Let not any man despair of hin for the greatness of his sin, forasmuch as the old guilt of th people of Nineveh was expiated by their three days' repentance: and the penitent thief by his dying words attained to

the reward of eternal life. O let us then turn our hearts to God; speedily is the Judge inclined to our petitions, if we from our perverseness be set straight. O let us stand with carnest lamentations against the threatening sword of so great a judgment. Certainly perseverance is pleasing to the just Judge, although it is not grateful to men: because the righteous and merciful God will have us with earnest petitions to request his mercy, and he will not so much as we deserve be angry with us. Of this he speaketh by his prophet: 'Call upon me in the day of thy trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' God himself is his own witness, that he will have compassion on him that calleth on him; who admonishes us, that it is our duty to call upon him. For this cause, my most dearly beloved brethren, let us come together on the fourth day of this week early in the morning, and with a devout mind, and with tears, sing seven Litanies, that our angry Judge may spare us, when he seeth that we ourselves take vengeance on our sins." So that whilst the whole multitude, as well of the priestly order, and of the monastic, as of the laity, according to the command of the holy Gregory, were come on the Wednesday to the sevenfold Litany, the aforesaid pestilence raged so fast, that four

obíj Imahel

DEATH AND BURIAL.1

From a MS. of Elfric's Paraphrase of the Pentateuch and Joshua. Cotton. MSS., Claudius, B. iv.

score men departed this transitory life at the very instant the people were singing the Litany. But the holy priest did not cease to advise the people not to desist from their supplications, until that God's mercy should assuage the raging plague.

In the meantime Gregory, since he took upon him the popedom, called to mind what he formerly had thought of, concerning the English nation, and finished that most beloved work. Nevertheless he might not on any account be altogether absent from the Roman bishop's see. Whereupon he sent other messengers, approved servants of God, to this island, and he himself, by his manifold prayers and exhortations, brought it to pass, that the preaching of these messengers went abroad, and bore fruit to God. The messengers were thus named: Augustinus, Mellitus, Laurentius, Petrus, Johannes, Justus. These doctors the holy pope Gregory sent, with many other monks, to the

This sketch shows the manner among the First English of swathing the dead for burial. The face was left for a time uncovered, then the fold was passed over it, and the body went down thus into the grave.

English people, and he persuaded them to the voyage in these words: "Be not ye afraid through the fatigue of so long a journey, or through what wicked men may discourse concerning it: but with all stedfastness and zeal, and earnest affection, by the grace of God, perfect the work ye have begun; and be ye assured, that the recompense of your eternal reward is so much greater, by how much the greater difficulties you have undergone in fulfilling the will of God. Be obedient with all humility in all things to Augustine, whom we have set over you to be your abbot. It will be for your souls' health, so far as ye fulfil his admonitions. Almighty God through his grace protect you, and grant that I may behold the fruit of your labour in the eternal reward, and that I may be found together with you in the joy of your reward. Because although I cannot labour with you, yet I have a goodwill to share with you in your labour." Augustine then with his companions, which are reckoned to be about forty, that journeyed with him by Gregory's command, proceeded on their journey until they arrived prosperously in this island. In those days reigned king Æthelbyrht in the city of Canterbury, whose kingdom was stretched from the great river Humber to the south sea. Augustine had taken interpreters in the kingdom of the Franks, as Gregory had ordered him; and he, by the mouths of the interpreters, preached God's word to the king and his people, viz., how our merciful Saviour by his own sufferings redeemed this guilty world, and to all that believe hath opened an entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Then king Æthelbyrht answered Augustine, and said, that those were fair words and promises which he gave him: but that he could not so suddenly leave the ancient customs which he and the English people had held. He said, he might freely preach the heavenly doctrine to his people, and that he would allow maintenance to him and his companions: and gave him a dwelling in the city of Canterbury, which was the head city in all his kingdom. Then began Augustine with his monks to imitate the life of the apostles, with frequent prayers, watchings and fastings, serving God, and preaching the word of life with all diligence; despising all earthly things as unprofitable to them, providing only so much as was necessary for their common subsistence, agreeable to what they taught living themselves, and for the love of the truth which they preached being ready to suffer persecution, and death itself, if it were necessary. Therefore very many believed, and were baptised in the name of God, admiring the simplicity of their innocent course of life, and the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine. Afterwards king Ethelbyrht was much pleased with the purity of their lives, and their delightful promises, which were indeed confirmed by many miracles. And he believing was baptised, and he reverenced the Christians, and looked upon them as men of a heavenly polity. Nevertheless he would not force any one to receive Christianity, because he had found upon enquiry from the ministers of his salvation, that the service of Christ ought not to be forced, but voluntary. Then began very many daily to hearken to the divine preaching, and leave their heathenism, and to join themselves to Christ's church, believing in him. In the meantime Augustine went over sea to Etherius Archbishop of Arles, by whom he was consecrated Archbishop of the English, as Gregory before had given him direction. Augustine being consecrated, returned to his bishopric, and sent messengers to Rome, to assure the blessed Gregory, that the English people had received Christianity; and he also in writing made many enquiries, as touching the manner, how he ought to behave himself towards the new converts. Whereupon Gregory gave many thanks to God with a joyful mind, that that had happened to the English nation which

himself had so earnestly desired. And he sent ambassadors to the believing king Æthelbyrht, with letters and many presents: and other letters he sent to Augustine, with answers to all the things after which he had enquired, and advised him in these words: "Most dearly beloved brother, I know that the Almighty hath by you shewn forth many wonders to the people whom he hath chosen, for which you have reason both to rejoice and to be afraid. You may very prudently rejoice that the souls of this people by outward miracles are brought to have inward grace. Nevertheless be afraid; that your mind be not lifted up with arrogance by reason of the miracles which God hath wrought by you, and you then fall into vain-glory within, when you are extolled with outward respect." Gregory sent also to Augustine holy presents of sacred vestments and of books, and the reliques of the apostles and martyrs, and ordered that his successors should fetch the pall of the archbishopric from the apostolical see of the Roman Church.

After this Augustine placed bishops out of those that had accompanied him, in each city of the English nation, and they have remained promoting the Christian faith continually unto this day. The holy Gregory composed many divine treatises, and with great diligence instructed God's people in the way to eternal life, and wrought many miracles in his lifetime, and behaved himself in a most glorious manner upon the episcopal throne thirteen years, and six months, and ten days, and afterwards as on this day departed to the eternal throne of the heavenly kingdom, in which he liveth with God Almighty world without end. Amen.

Here we may pass from the literature of FirstEnglish times. The teachers of religion were also the teachers of all other learning, and formed the main body of the educated class. To be of the people, "leod," was to be unlearned, "lewed;" the educated man was clerk. From such a literary class there came a literature almost exclusively religious. The one great exception is the heathen poem of "Beowulf." "Beowulf" was a tale brought into the country, but we have it as told in the language spoken only here. In its origin it is more ancient than Cadmon, and its original character is well preserved; but a few interspersed comments, and the fact that it is in a form of speech proper to this country, and doubtless produced here by the fusion of tribes, shows that the old poem, as we have it, was written by an English monk, who seems even to have put local features of the coast near Whitby into his suggestions of scenery, and who could hardly have written before Cadmon's time. Except only a few short pieces, all other literature of the First English was religious, and applied religion very practically to the life of man.

CHAPTER II.

TRANSITION ENGLISH FROM THE CONQUEST TO WICLIF.-A.D. 1066 to A.D. 1376.

AFTER the Conquest the chief literary energy was at first in the production of monastic chronicles. Science was occupied with treatises on computation of the time of Easter, until contact with the Arabs quickened scientific thought. Osbern of Canterbury

wrote in the reign of William the Conqueror Latin Lives of Saints; Turgot wrote during the reign of William II. a History of the Monastery of Durham; Eadmer wrote in the reign of Henry I. a Life of Anselm; and Sawulf began the long series of English records of travel and adventure, with an account of that form of far travel to which religion prompted men-travel in Palestine. The religious houses being still the chief centres of intellectual activity, and the spirit of adventure impelling Englishmen then as now to foreign travel, men looked with especial interest towards the Holy Land. Not long after the death of Cadmon, Adamnan, Abbot of Iona, had written down an account of the holy places from the dictation of Bishop Arculf, a native of Gaul, who had spent nine months at Jerusalem. Bede abridged this narrative into a text-book, that was used for diffusing a more lively knowledge of the topography of Palestine. Another Englishman, early in First-English times, Willibald, also visited the Holy Land, before he became Bishop of Eichstadt, about the year 740. He died in the latter part of the eighth century, and his life was written by a nun of Heidenheim, who also took down from his own mouth an account of his travels.

After the Conquest, the English traveller who first followed the Crusaders to Palestine was Sawulf. His visit was paid in the years 1102 and 1103. Sawulf was a merchant who often had twinges of conscience, confessed to Bishop Wulfstan at Worcester, then was tempted back to the old tricks of trade, and finally gave up active life in the world to escape from its temptations, and joined the monks at Malmesbury. His description of the storm at Joppa-due allowance made for rhetoric-gives us a lively sense of the energy of that religious movement towards Palestine, which had brought so many pilgrims into the harbour. In the following account of Sawulf's entrance into the Holy Land and his going up to Jerusalem, then in the hands of the Crusaders, the Mosque of Omar is described as the Temple of the Lord, with a minute identification of sacred places that came of a determination to join thoughts of heaven with as many spots of earth as possible :

SÆWULF'S VISIT TO THE HOLY PLACES.1

After leaving the isle of Cyprus, we were tossed about be tempestuous weather for seven days and seven nights, being forced back one night almost to the spot from which we sailed; but after much suffering, by divine mercy, at sunrise on the eighth day, we saw before us the coast of the port of Joppa, which filled us with an unexpected and extraordinary joy. Thus, after a course of thirteen weeks, as we took ship at Monopoli, on a Sunday, having dwelt constantly on the

1 From "Early Travels in Palestine, comprising the narratives cf Arculf, Willibald, Bernard, Sawulf, Sigurd, Benjamin of Tudela, St John Maundeville, De la Brocquière, and Maundrell. Edited, with Notes, by Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., &c." One of many valuable books with which Mr. Thomas Wright has, during a lotg career, quickened the general knowledge of our past life and literature, and earned the gratitude of students who can recognise the worth of a busy life spent, with a definite aim, in sustained labor helping always towards the higher education of the people.

2 Monopoli. A seaport of South Italy, on the Adriatic.

waves of the sea, or in islands, or in deserted cots and sheds (for the Greeks are not hospitable), we put into the port of Joppa, with great rejoicings and thanksgivings, on a Sunday.

And now, my dear friends, all join with me in thanking God for his mercy shown to me through this long voyage; blessed be his name now and evermore! Listen now to a new instance of his mercy shown to me, although the lowest of his servants, and to my companions. The very day we came in sight of the port, one said to me (I believe by divine inspiration), "Sir, go on shore to-day, lest a storm come on in the night, which will render it impossible to land tomorrow." When I heard this, I was suddenly seized with a great desire of landing, and, having hired a boat, went into it, with all my companions; but, before I had reached the shore, the sea was troubled, and became continually more tempestu

ous.

We landed, however, with God's grace, without hurt, and entering the city weary and hungry, we secured a lodging, and reposed ourselves that night. But next morning, as we were returning from church, we heard the roaring of the sea, and the shouts of the people, and saw that everybody was in confusion and astonishment. We were also dragged along with the crowd to the shore, where we saw the waves swelling higher than mountains, and innumerable bodies of drowned persons of both sexes scattered over the beach, while the fragments of ships were floating on every side. Nothing was to be heard but the roaring of the sea and the dashing together of the ships, which drowned entirely the shouts and clamour of the people. Our own ship, which was a very large and strong one, and many others laden with corn and merchandise, as well as with pilgrims coming and returning, still held by their anchors, but how they were tossed by the waves! how their crews were filled with terror! how they cast overboard their merchandise! what eye of those who were looking on could be so hard and stony as to refrain from tears? We had not looked at them long before the ships were driven from their anchors by the violence of the waves, which threw them now up aloft, and now down, until they were run aground or upon the rocks, and there they were beaten backwards and forwards until they were crushed to pieces. For the violence of the wind would not allow them to put out to sea, and the character of the coast would not allow them to put into shore with safety. Of the sailors and pilgrims who had lost all hope of escape, some remained on the ships, others laid hold of the masts or beams of wood; many remained in a state of stupor, and were drowned in that condition without any attempt to save themselves; some (although it may appear incredible) had in my sight their heads knocked off by the very timbers of the ships to which they had attached themselves for safety; others were carried out to sea on the beams, instead of being brought to land; even those who knew how to swim had not strength to struggle with the waves, and very few thus trusting to their own strength reached the shore alive. Thus, out of thirty very large ships, of which some were what are commonly called dromonds, some gulafres, and others cats, all laden with palmers and with merchandise, scarcely seven remained safe when we left the shore. Of persons of both sexes, there perished more than a thousand that day. Indeed, no eye ever beheld a greater misfortune in the space of a single day, from all which God snatched us by his grace; to whom be honour and glory for ever. Amen.

We went up from Joppa to the city of Jerusalem, a journey

1 Dromonds. gulofres... cats. A dromond, Greek opóuwv, from Tрex (root opéuw), I run, is a large fast sailing vessel. Gulafre is the Arabic "khaliyah," a low flat-built galley with one deck, sails and oars, common in the Mediterranean. A cat is a very strong ship, with a narrow stern, projecting quarters, a deep waist, and no figure at the prow. The name is still used in the coal trade.

of two days, by a mountainous road, very rough, and dangerous on account of the Saracens, who lie in wait in the caves of the mountains to surprise the Christians, watching both day and night to surprise those less capable of resisting by the smallness of their company, or the weary, who may chance to lag behind their companions. At one moment, you see them on every side; at another, they are altogether invisible, as may be witnessed by anybody travelling there. Numbers of human bodies lie scattered in the way, and by the way-side, torn to pieces by wild beasts. Some may, perhaps, wonder that the bodies of Christians are allowed to remain unburied, but it is not surprising when we consider that there is not much earth on the hard rock to dig a grave: and if earth were not wanting, who would be so simple as to leave his company, and go alone to dig a grave for a companion? Indeed, if he did so, he would rather be digging a grave for himself than for the dead man. For on that road, not only the poor and weak, but the rich and strong, are surrounded with perils; many are cut off by the Saracens, but more by heat and thirst; many perish by the want of drink, but more by too much drinking. We, however, with all our company, reached the end of our journey in safety. Blessed be the Lord, who did not turn away my prayer, and hath not turned his mercy from me. Amen.

The entrance to the city of Jerusalem is from the west, under the citadel of king David, by the gate which is called the gate of David. The first place to be visited is the church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is called the Martyrdom, not only because the streets lead most directly to it, but because it is more celebrated than all the other churches; and that rightly and justly, for all the things which were foretold and forewritten by the holy prophets of our Saviour Jesus Christ were there actually fulfilled. The church itself was royally and magnificently built, after the discovery of our Lord's cross, by the archbishop Maximus, with the patronage of the emperor Constantine, and his mother Helena. In the middle of this church is our Lord's Sepulchre, surrounded by a very strong wall and roof, lest the rain should fall upon the Holy Sepulchre, for the church above is open to the sky. This church is situated, like the city, on the declivity of Mount Sion. The Roman emperors Titus and Vespasian, to revenge our Lord, entirely destroyed the city of Jerusalem, that our Lord's prophecy might be fulfilled, which, as he approached Jerusalem, seeing the city, he pronounced, weeping over it, "If thou hadst known, even thou, for the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children with thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another." We know that our Lord suffered without the gate. But the emperor Hadrian, who was called Ælius, rebuilt the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple of the Lord, and added to the city as far as the Tower of David, which was previously a considerable distance from the city, for any one may see from the Mount of Olivet where the extreme western walls of the city stood originally, and how much it is since increased. And the emperor called the city after his own name Ælia, which is interpreted, the House of God. Some, however, say that the city was rebuilt by the emperor Justinian, and also the Temple of the Lord as it is now; but they say that according to supposition, and not according to truth. For the Assyrians, whose fathers dwelt in that country from the first persecution, say that the city was taken and destroyed many times after our Lord's Passion, along with all the churches, but not entirely defaced.

2 Assyrians is Sæmund's name for Syrians.

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