OF THE WAY FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO JERUSALEM.—OF ST. JOHN THE
EVANGELIST, AND OF THE DAUGHTER OF YPOCRAS, TRANSFORMED FROM A
WOMAN TO A DRAGON.
Now return I again to explain to you the way from Constantinople to
Jerusalem. He that will proceed through Turkey, goes towards the city of
Nice, and passes through the gate of Chienetout, and men see constantly
before them the hill of Chienetout, which is very lofty: it is a mile
and a half from Nice. And if you will go by water, by the Brace of St.
George, and by the sea where St. Nicholas lieth, and towards many other
places, first, you go to an isle that is called Sylo, in which mastic
grows on small trees, out of which comes gum, as it were of plum-trees,
or of cherry-trees. And after men go by the isle of Patmos, where St.
John the Evangelist wrote the Apocalypse. And you shall understand that
St. John was thirty-two years of age when our Lord suffered his passion,
and after his passion he lived sixty-seven years, and in the hundredth
year of his age he died. From Patmos men go to Ephesus, a fair city, and
nigh to the sea. And there died St. John, and was buried in a tomb
behind the high altar. And there is a fair church, for the Christians
were always wont to hold that place. And in the tomb of St. John is
nothing but manna, which is called angels' meat, for his body was
translated into Paradise. And the Turks now hold all that place, with
the city, and the church; and all Asia the Less is called Turkey. And
you shall understand that St. John caused his grave to be made there in
his life, and laid himself therein, all alive; and, therefore, some men
say that he did not die, but that he rests there till the day of
doom[292]. And, in truth, there is a great marvel, for men may see there
the earth of the tomb many times openly stir and move, as though there
were living things under.
And from Ephesus we go through many islands in the sea to the city of
Patera, where St. Nicholas was born, and so to Myra, where he was chosen
to be bishop; and there grows very good and strong wine, which they call
wine of Myra. And from thence men go to the isle of Crete, which the
emperor once gave to the Genoese. And then we pass through the isles of
Colos and of Lango[293], of the which isles Ypocras was lord; and some
men say, that in the isle of Lango is still the daughter of Ypocras, in
form and likeness of a great dragon, which is a hundred fathoms in
length, as they say, for I have not seen her. And they of the isles call
her lady of the land. And she lies in an old castle, in a cave, and
appears twice or thrice in the year; and she doth no harm to any man
unless he do her harm. She was thus changed and transformed from a fair
damsel into the likeness of a dragon by a goddess named Diana; and they
say that she shall remain in that form until the time that a knight
come, who shall be so bold that he dare come to her and kiss her on the
mouth; and then she shall turn again to her own nature, and be a woman
again, but after that she shall not live long. And it is not long since
a knight of Rhodes, who was bold and doughty in arms, said that he would
kiss her; when he was upon his courser and went to the castle, and
entered into the cave, the dragon lifted up her head towards him, and
when the knight saw her in that form, so hideous and horrible, he fled
away. But the dragon carried the knight upon a rock, and from thence she
cast him into the sea, and so was lost both horse and man. A young man
that knew not of the dragon, went out of a ship, and proceeded through
the isle until he came to the castle and entered the cave, and went so
far that he found a chamber; and there he saw a damsel who was combing
her head and looking in a mirror, and she had much treasure about her,
and he believed that she had been a common woman, who dwelled there to
receive men to folly; and he abode till the damsel saw the shadow of him
in the mirror, and she turned her towards him and asked him, what he
would? And he said, he would be her paramour. And she asked him if he
were a knight? And he said, nay. And then she said, that he might not be
her leman; but she bid him go again unto his fellows and get him
knighted, and come again upon the morrow, and she would come out of the
cave before him; and then he should come and kiss her on the mouth, and
have no fear, "for I shall do thee no harm, although thou see me in
likeness of a dragon; for though thou see me hideous and horrible to
look upon, know that it is made by enchantment. For without doubt I am
no other than thou seest now, a woman, and therefore fear not; and if
thou kiss me, thou shalt have all this treasure, and be my lord, and
lord also of all the isle." And he departed from her and went to his
fellows, in the ship, and was made a knight, and returned on the morrow
to kiss this damsel. But when he saw her come out of the cave, in form
of a dragon, so hideous and so horrible, he had so great fear that he
fled again to the ship; and she followed him. And when she saw that he
turned not again, she began to cry as a thing that had much sorrow, and
then she returned to her cave; and anon the knight died. And from that
time to this might no knight see her, but he died anon. But when there
shall come a knight who is bold enough to kiss her, he shall not die;
but he shall turn the damsel into her right form and natural shape, and
he shall be lord of all the countries and isles abovesaid.
And from thence men come to the isle of Rhodes, which isle the
Hospitalers[294] hold and govern, having on a time taken it from the
emperor. It was formerly called Collos, and so the Turks call it still;
and St. Paul, in his Epistles, writes to the people of this isle, _ad
Colossenses_[295]. This isle is nearly eight hundred miles from
Constantinople.
From this isle of Rhodes we go to Cyprus, where are many vines, which
first produce red wine, and after one year they become white; and those
wines that are most white are the clearest and best of smell. And men
pass that way by a place which was a great city and a great land; and
the city was called Sathalie. This city and the land were lost through
the folly of a young man, who had a fair damsel whom he loved well for
his paramour, and she died suddenly and was placed in a tomb of marble;
and for the great love that he had to her, he went in the night to her
tomb, and opened it and went in. And when it came to the end of nine
months, there came a voice to him, and said, "Go to the tomb of that
woman, and open it, and behold what thou hast begotten on her; and if
thou omittest to go, thou shalt have a great harm." And he went and
opened the tomb; and there came out a snake, very hideous to behold,
which immediately flew about the city and the country, and soon after
the city was swallowed up[296]. And there are many perilous passages.
From Rhodes to Cyprus are five hundred miles and more; but we may go to
Cyprus without touching at Rhodes. Cyprus is a very good, fair, and
great island, and it hath four principal cities, with an archbishop at
Nicosia, and four other bishops; and at Famagosta is one of the first
harbours of the sea in the world; and there arrive Christians, Saracens,
and men of all nations. In Cyprus is the hill of the Holy Cross, where
there is an abbey of black monks, and there is the cross of Dismas, the
good thief, as I have said before. And some men believe that there is
half of the cross of our Lord; but it is not so, and they do wrong who
make people believe so. In Cyprus lies St. Zenomyne, of whom men of that
country make great solemnity; and in the castle of Amours lies the body
of St. Hilary, which they keep very worshipfully. Near Famagosta St.
Barnabas the apostle was born. In Cyprus they hunt with papyons[297],
which resemble leopards, and they take wild beasts right well, and they
are somewhat larger than lions, and take more sharply and more cleverly
than hounds do. In Cyprus it is the custom for lords and all other men
to eat on the earth; for they make trenches in the earth about in the
hall, deep to the knee, and pave them; and when they will eat, they go
therein and sit there. And the reason is that they may be cooler; for
that land is much hotter than it is here. And at great feasts, and for
strangers, they set forms and tables as men do in this country; but they
themselves prefer sitting on the earth.
From Cyprus they go to the land of Jerusalem by sea, and in a day and
night he that hath good wind may come to the haven of Tyre, which is now
called Sur. Here was once a great and good city of the Christians; but
the Saracens have destroyed it in great part; and they guard that haven
carefully for fear of the Christians. Men might go more direct to that
haven, without touching at Cyprus; but they go gladly to Cyprus, to rest
them in the land, or to buy things that they need for their living. On
the sea-side many rubies are found. There is the well of which Holy Writ
speaketh, saying, "A fountain of gardens, and a well of living
waters."[298] It was in this city of Tyre that the woman said to our
Lord, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast
sucked."[299] And there our Lord forgave the woman of Canaan her sins.
And before Tyre stood formerly the stone on which our Lord sat and
preached, and over which was built the church of St. Saviour.
Eight miles from Tyre, towards the east, upon the sea, is the city of
Sarphen, in Sarept of the Sidonians. There dwelt Elijah the prophet, and
he raised there Jonas, the widow's son, from death to life. And five
miles from Sarphen is the city of Sidon, of which Dido was lady, who was
wife of Eneas, after the destruction of Troy, and who founded the city
of Carthage in Africa, and now it is called Didon Sayete. And in the
city of Tyre reigned Agenor, the father of Dido. Sixteen miles from
Sidon is Beruthe (Beirut); and from Beruthe to Sardenare is three days.
And from Sardenare it is five miles to Damascus.
And those who are willing to go a long time on the sea, and come nearer
to Jerusalem, may proceed from Cyprus by sea to the port of Jaffa, for
that is the nearest port to Jerusalem, the distance being only one day
and a half. The town is called Jaffa, because one of the sons of Noah,
named Japhet, founded it, and now it is called Joppa. And you shall
understand that it is one of the oldest towns of the world, for it was
founded before Noah's flood. And there may still be seen in the rock
there the place where the iron chains were fastened, wherewith
Andromeda, a great giant, was bound and put in prison, before Noah's
flood; a rib of whose side, which is forty feet long, is still
shown[300].
And those who go to the port of Tyre or Sur, before mentioned, may
proceed by land, if they will, to Jerusalem. They go from Sur in a day
to the city of Akoun (Acre), which was called formerly Ptolemais, and it
was once a very fine city of Christians; but it is now destroyed. It
stands upon the sea. From Venice to Akoun, by sea, is two thousand and
eighty Lombard miles. From Calabria, or from Sicily to Akoun, by sea, is
thirteen hundred Lombard miles. And the Isle of Crete is just midway.
Near the city of Akoun, toward the sea, one hundred and twenty furlongs
on the right, toward the south, is the hill of Carmel, where Elijah the
prophet dwelt, and where the order of friars Carmelites was first
founded. This hill is not very great, nor very high. At the foot of this
hill was formerly a good city of the Christians called Caiphas, because
Caiaphas first founded it; but it is now all waste. And on the left side
of the hill of Carmel is a town called Saffre, which is situated on
another hill. There St. James and St. John were born, and there is a
fair church in honour of them. And from Ptolemais, which is now called
Akoun, it is one hundred furlongs to a great hill, called the scale (or
ladder) of Tyre. And near the city of Akoun runs a little river called
Belon; and there nigh is the foss of Memnon, which is all round; and it
is one hundred cubits broad, and all full of gravel, shining bright, of
which men make fair and clear glasses[301]. Men come from far, by water
with ships, and by land with carts, to fetch of that gravel; and though
ever so much be taken away thereof one day, on the morrow it is as full
again as ever it was. And that is a great wonder. And there is always
great wind in that foss, that continually stirs the gravel and makes it
troubled; and if any man put therein any kind of metal, it turns to
glass, and the glass made of that gravel, if it be thrown back into the
gravel, turns to gravel as it was first; and therefore some men say that
it is a whirlpool of the gravelly sea.
From Akoun, above mentioned, it is four days' journey to the city of
Palestine, which was of the Philistines, now called Gaza, which is a gay
and rich city; and it is very fair, and full of people, and is at a
little distance from the sea. From this city Samson the strong brought
the gates upon a high land, when he was taken in that city: and there he
slew, in a palace, the king and himself, and great numbers of the best
of the Philistines, who had put out his eyes, and shaved his head, and
imprisoned him, by treason of Delilah, his paramour. And therefore he
caused a great hall to fall upon them when they were at meat. From
thence we go to the city of Cesarea, and so to the Castle of Pilgrims,
and so to Ascalon, and then to Jaffa, and so to Jerusalem.