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DOMINE FILI UNIGENITE JESU CHRISTE

Great was the devotion which a certain Cardinal had to the Person of the Son of God, Who united with Himself human nature, and through the devotion which he had to the Son of God he spake to the Pope and to the Cardinals these words : “ A thing moil manifest is it, O Holy Father and Pope, that thou, with all of us that are Cardinals, haft received honour, through the Son of God, above all other Chriftians in this world; wherefore it is meet and right and our bounden duty to send messengers throughout all the world who shall report to us the condition of every land, according to the manner wherein the Son of God is honoured in the world by some, and dishonoured and despised by others; and that this thing may be accom¬ plished, I ask for this office, and for the wherewithal to provide for my messengers, whom I will send through the whole world, that they may report to me the condition wherein they find it, and this will I myself report to you, to the end that ye may make ordinance how the Son of God may be loved and praised through all the world, and His virtue be showed forth, with all that He did in this world for love of us.” Right pleased were the Pope and all the Cardinals at this office which the Cardinal of Domine Fili demanded, and all that he asked was granted to him; and herein was the prefiguration fulfilled that the emperors of Rome, who were the lords of the world, had messengers who reported to them the condition of the world, wherein it was figured that the Pope, the Vicar of God and lord of Rome, would know the eftate of every land, that it might be subjeft to the Holy Catholic Faith.

a. The Cardinal divided the world into twelve provinces and sent forth twelve messengers who should go throug the whole world to learn the eftate thereof. It came to

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pass that one of the messengers of the Cardinal journeyed southwards, and found a caravan of six thousand camels, laden with salt, leaving a town by name Tibalbert, and going to that country wherein is the source of the river Damiata. So many people did this messenger find here, that in fifteen days all the salt was sold; and these men are all black, and adore idols, and they are men of genial temper, who hold juifice very dear, and slay every man whom they discover in falsehood, and hold all that they have in common. In that land is an island in the middle of a great lake; and on that island there lives a dragon to whom the people of that land do sacrifice, adoring it as a god. The messenger went through these countries to enquire concerning the cu&oms of the people, and to e&imate the number thereof. And the people marvelled greatly at the messenger, because he was a white man and a Chriflian ; for never before had they heard of any Christian coming to that land. The messenger sent news in writing to the Cardinal by a squire of all the things afore¬ said, and many beside, and the Cardinal related them to the Pope and to his companions. Great was the displeasure of the Pope and of the Cardinals when they heard of the dragon that was adored as a god, and they debated how they might de&roy the error wherein these people lived.

3. Another messenger journeyed northward, beyond the mountains, where he heard and saw Latin peoples, who related to him that in those parts there were many men of divers beliefs, and that the devil kept them in error by means of certain illusions and deceptions. For there was one land, Gotlandia by name, where at the end of every five years there appeared a white bear, as a sign that that year there would be abundance of fish, whereon these people live. There was another land wherein by enchant¬ ment the trees were made to speak. Another land is there, near to Bohemia,1 where there is a hoopoe in a wood, and 1 P. Botmia. The other versions have Bodnia.

DOMINE FILI UNIGENITE JESU CHRISTE if any man cuts a branch from a tree in that wood, Straight¬ way come lightning and thunder from the heavens and set in peril of death every man who is in that wood. In another land every man thinks that he has a god in his field, and another in his Stable and another in his garden. In another land, near to Dacia, are men who live on naught save the beaSts which they hunt, and they go in chase of the beaSts and kill them, and when they have killed one of them they remain in that place till they have eaten it, and then seek another. All this news, and much beside, the messenger from beyond the mountains sent in writing to the Cardinal ; and ordinance was made by the Pope and the Cardinals that holy and devout men should be sent to those peoples, to learn their languages and preach to them by example and cuStom, and by metaphor and similitude, until their sensual natures were so ordered that the virtue of the simili¬ tudes worked upon the powers of the soul, and that thereby their intellectual natures were illumined by the Holy Catholic Faith.

4. To Barbery there went a messenger of the Cardinal who found many knaves and harlots, who preached to the Saracens from the Koran and spake to them of the bliss of Paradise; and so devout were the words which they preached, that almoSt all they that listened to them wept. Great was the marvel of the messenger at the devotion which the people had to those words, when he reflected that that which they preached was error ; and he found that the people wept because of the fair manner of speech which they had, and because they related the lives of many men who died for their devotion. He found also a book Of the Lover » and the Beloved, wherein was recounted how devout men made songs of God and of love, and how through the love of God they forsook the world and went through the

■ Lit. amic ; and this, in general, is the original of the lated “ lover.” Sometimes, however, we find the word am, thus translated, there being no real distinction.

word here transant, which is also

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world enduring poverty. The messenger found also that, in the courts wherein lawsuits were held, the disputes of the questions which each had against the other were briefly ended. All these things and many beside the messenger reported to the Cardinal, and one translated the Book of the Lover and the Beloved and brought it to pass that, through devotion of word, sermons should be made more pleasing to the people, and likewise that, following the cuStom of the Saracens, lawsuits and disputes which are conducted by Christians should be shortened.

5. There went a messenger to Turkey, and he found there four friars who had learned the language of the Turks, and the Turks forbade them to preach in their land; and the messenger reported this in writing to the Cardinal, and messengers were chosen whom the Pope sent with many gifts to the ruler of the Tartars who had subjected Turkey to his overlordship. The Pope requested the ruler of the Tartars, by his messengers, that he would suffer the four friars to preach the honour of the Son of God throughout all Turkey, and the ruler suffered it by reason of the prayers and the gifts which the Pope sent to him ; so the Turks no longer dared to forbid the friars to preach from thenceforward.

6. Across the seas there went a messenger who sent to the Cardinal to say that two assassins had slain a certain prince and had been put to death; and the Cardinal went to preach to the religious who were learning divers tongues, and he exhorted them to desire death for Jesus Chrift, since there were men living in error who desired to die that their kinsfolk might have liberty; wherefore establishment was made that once in every week these things should be preached, to the end that with greater affettion 2 they might learn and desire to die.

DOMINE FI LI UNIGENITE JESU CHRISTE

7. According to this manner aforesaid, ordinance was made that the messengers should go through all the world. After another wise went many other men, who took the office of relating examples1 and good words to the people, that they might oftentimes have remembrance of the Son of God and of the Passion which He suffered for our sakes. These messengers went through the towns and cities and villages,2 and visited the rulers and governors, to whom they related good examples.3 It came to pass one day that a certain one of these men went to a carpenter who was planing a log of wood, and related to him how he had heard that a certain tree had been so ftrong that it had borne a greater weight than the whole world. The car¬ penter wondered at this saying, and through his wonder he conceived devotion when the messenger expounded to him that saying, — namely, that this tree is the Cross whereon the Son of God was nailed, for He has taken from His people who serve Him a greater weight than that of all the world. And by the devotion which the carpenter conceived, he became a man of good life, and left a certain deadly sin wherein he had lived.

8. It came to pass one day that one of the messengers departed from a town and went to a caftle,4 and on the way he found a great multitude of pilgrims who were going to Santiago, so he fell in company with them, and went with them as far as Santiago; and as they journeyed along the road he related to them examples3 and devout words, and re¬ counted the histories of the Old Testament and of the New, and described to them the events which are in the lives of the Popes and the Emperors, according as is written in the chronicles. So great was the pleasure which the pilgrims had in his good words, that the greater devotion came to them in their pilgrimage, and in their journeying and their trials they had the less suffering; wherefore many

exempli! . See note, p. 1 89, above. exemplis. See note, p. 1 89, above.

36, above. tell).

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other men took that same office, to the end that they might beguile the way of the pilgrims and set them in devotion.

9. Very great was the good which resulted from this office of the Cardinal, the which Cardinal kept the Pope and the other Cardinals greatly pleased with the reports and news which came to him daily from divers parts of the world. It came to pass one day that a certain man, with intent to gather much money, feigned that he was a messenger and a relator of news commissioned by the Cardinal, and he went with the pilgrims, who gave to him freely and showed him much kindness. But that man was not well intruded in relating such things as he recounted, and the Cardinal came to know it, and commanded that the man should be taken and put into prison, because he had taken this office without his license; and he ordered that none of his relators should take aught from any pilgrim, and if he had need of aught, that he should be aided by the bishop of the country wherein he was, and that each relator should bear the seal of the Cardinal.