_Of Galyle._
FROM this countrey that I have spoken of, men go to the playne of
Galyle and leave the hyll on the one side and Galyle is of the
province of the lande of promyssion and in that province is the lande
of Naym and Capharnaym and Corasaym and at Bethsayda was Saint Peter &
Saint Andrew borne. At Carasaym shall Antechrist be borne, and as some
men say he shall be borne in Babilon therefore sayd the Prophet, _De
babilonia Coluber exiet, qui totum mundum devorabit_, That is to say,
Of Babilon shall come a serpent that shall devoure all the worlde. And
this Antechrist shall be nourished in Bethsayde and shall raign in
Corasaym, therefore sayth holy writ, _Ve tibi Corasaim Ve tibi
Bethsayda_, that is to say, Wo be to the Corasaim, Wo be to the
Bethsayda. And the cave of Galyle is foure myle from Nazareth. Of that
citie was the woman of Cananee, of whome the Gospell speaketh, and
there our Lorde did the fyrst myracle at the wedding at the
Archedeclyne[1] when he turned water into wine. And from thence men go
unto Nazareth that was sometime a great Citie, but now there is but a
lyttle towne and it is not walled, and there was our Lady borne, the
name toke our Lorde of this Citie, but our Ladie was gotten at
Hierusalem. At Nazareth Joseph toke our lady to wyfe whan she was
fourtene yeare of age, and there the aungell saluted hir sayinge, _Ave
gratia plena Dominus tecum_, That is to saye, Hayll full of grace the
Lord be with thee. And there was sometime a great Church, and now is
there but a lyttle closet to receive the offryngs of the Pylgrymes,
and there is the well of Gabryell where our Lorde was wont to bathe
him in wan he was lyttle. At Nazareth was our Lord nouryshed, and
Nazareth is to say floure of gardeyn & it may be well called so, for
there was nourished the floure of lyfe, that was our lorde Jesu
Christ. At halfe a myle from Nazareth is the bloude[2] of our Lorde,
for the Jewes ledde him upon an hyghe roche to cast him downe & slea
him, but Jesu Christ passed them and lepte on a roche where his steps
be yet sene, & therefore some when they dreade them of theves or else
of enemies, say thus, _Jesus autem transiens per medium illorum ibat_.
And they say also these verses of the Psalter three tymes, _Irruat
super eos formido & pavor in magnitudine brachii tui Domine Fiant
immobiles quasi lapis, donec per transeat populus tuus domine, &
populus iste quem redemisti_. And so when all this is sayd, a man may
go without any lettyng.[3] Also ye shall understande and know that our
blessed Lady bare hir chylde whan she was xv yeare of age, and she
lived with hym xxxii[4] yeare and three monethes, and after his
passion she lived xxii[4] yeare.
[Footnote 1: _Pynson_ says Archetryclyne, [Greek:
Architriklinos], the president of a banquet.]
[Footnote 2: Should be _leap_.]
[Footnote 3: Hindrance.]
[Footnote 4: Other editions say 33 and 24, which would make
the Virgin's age 72 when she died (see _ante_, p. 70).]