which a knight cruel and horrible came to him and demanded whither he
went, and Christopher answered to him and said: I go seek the devil for
to be my master. And he said: I am he that thou seekest. And then
Christopher was glad, and bound him to be his servant perpetual, and
took him for his master and Lord. And as they went together by a common
way, they found there a cross, erect and standing. And anon as the devil
saw the cross he was afeard and fled, and left the right way, and
brought Christopher about by a sharp desert. And after, when they were
past the cross, he brought him to the highway that they had left. And
when Christopher saw that, he marvelled, and demanded whereof he
doubted, and had left the high and fair way, and had gone so far about
by so aspre a desert. And the devil would not tell him in no wise. Then
Christopher said to him: If thou wilt not tell me, I shall anon depart
from thee, and shall serve thee no more. Wherefor the devil was
constrained to tell him, and said: There was a man called Christ which
was hanged on the cross, and when I see his sign I am sore afraid, and
flee from it wheresoever I see it. To whom Christopher said: Then he is
greater, and more mightier than thou, when thou art afraid of his sign,
and I see well that I have labored in vain, when I have not founden the
greatest Lord of the world. And I will serve thee no longer, go thy way
then, for I will go seek Christ. And when he had long sought and
demanded where he should find Christ, at last he came into a great
desert, to an hermit that dwelt there, and this hermit preached to him
of Jesu Christ and informed him in the faith diligently, and said to
him: This king whom thou desirest to serve, requireth the service that
thou must oft fast. And Christopher said to him: Require of me some
other thing, and I shall do it, for that which thou requirest I may not
do. And the hermit said: Thou must then wake and make many prayers. And
Christopher said to him: I wot not what it is; I may do no such thing.
And then the hermit said to him: Knowest thou such a river, in which
many be perished and lost? To whom Christopher said: I know it well.
Then said the hermit: Because thou art noble and high of stature and
strong in thy members, thou shalt be resident by that river, and thou
shalt bear over all them that shall pass there, which shall be a thing
right convenable to our Lord Jesu Christ whom thou desirest to serve,
and I hope he shall show himself to thee. Then said Christopher:
Certes, this service may I well do, and I promise to him for to do it.
Then went Christopher to this river, and made there his habitacle for
him, and bare a great pole in his hand instead of a staff, by which he
sustained him in the water, and bare over all manner of people without
ceasing. And there he abode, thus doing, many days. And in a time, as he
slept in his lodge, he heard the voice of a child which called him and
said: Christopher, come out and bear me over. Then he awoke and went
out, but he found no man. And when he was again in his house, he heard
the same voice and he ran Out and found nobody. The third time he was
called and came thither, and found a child beside the rivage of the
river, which prayed him goodly to bear him over the water. And then
Christopher lift up the child on his shoulders, and took his staff, and
entered into the river for to pass. And the water of the river arose and
swelled more and more: and the child was heavy as lead, and alway as he
went further the water increased and grew more, and the child more and
more waxed heavy, insomuch that Christopher had great anguish and was
afeard to be drowned. And when he was escaped with great pain, and
passed the water, and set the child aground, he said to the child:
Child, thou hast put me in great peril; thou weighest almost as I had
all the world upon me, I might bear no greater burden. And the child
answered: Christopher, marvel thee nothing, for thou hast not only borne
all the world upon thee, but thou hast borne him that created and made
all the world, upon thy shoulders. I am Jesu Christ the king, to whom
thou servest in this work. And because that thou know that I say to be
the truth, set thy staff in the earth by thy house, and thou shalt see
to-morn that it shall bear flowers and fruit, and anon he vanished from
his eyes. And then Christopher set his staff in the earth, and when he
arose on the morn, he found his staff like a palmier bearing flowers,
leaves and dates.
And then Christopher went into the city of Lycia, and understood not
their language. Then he prayed our Lord that he might understand them,
and so he did. And as he was in this prayer, the judges supposed that he
had been a fool, and left him there. And then when Christopher
understood the language, he covered his visage and went to the place
where they martyred Christian men, and comforted them in our Lord. And
then the judges smote him in the face, and Christopher said to them: If
I were not Christian I should avenge mine injury. And then Christopher
pitched his rod in the earth, and prayed to our Lord that for to convert
the people it might bear flowers and fruit, and anon it did so. And then
he converted eight thousand men. And then the king sent two knights for
to fetch him to the king, and they found him praying, and durst not tell
to him so. And anon after, the king sent as many more, and they anon set
them down for to pray with him. And when Christopher arose, he said to
them: What seek ye? And when they saw him in the visage they said to
him: The king hath sent us, that we should lead thee bound unto him.
And Christopher said to them: If I would, ye should not lead me to him,
bound ne unbound. And they said to him: If thou wilt go thy way, go
quit, where thou wilt. And we shall say to the king that we have not
found thee. It shall not be so, said he, but I shall go with you. And
then he converted them in the faith, and commanded them that they should
bind his hands behind his back, and lead him so bound to the king. And
when the king saw him he was afeard and fell down off the seat, and his
servants lifted him up and releved him again. And then the king inquired
his name and his country; and Christopher said to him: Tofore or I was
baptized I was named Reprobus, and after, I am Christopher; tofore
baptism, a Canaanite, now, a Christian man. To whom the king said: Thou
hast a foolish name, that is to wit of Christ crucified, which could not
help himself, ne may not profit to thee. How therefore, thou cursed
Canaanite, why wilt thou not do sacrifice to our gods? To whom
Christopher said: Thou art rightfully called Dagnus, for thou art the
death of the world, and fellow of the devil, and thy gods be made with
the hands of men. And the king said to him: Thou wert nourished among
wild beasts, and therefore thou mayst not say but wild language, and
words unknown to men. And if thou wilt now do sacrifice to the gods I
shall give to thee great gifts and great honors, and if not, I shall
destroy thee and consume thee by great pains and torments. But, for all
this, he would in no wise do sacrifice, wherefore he was sent in to
prison, and the king did do behead the other knights that he had sent
for him, whom he had converted.
After this Christopher was brought tofore the king, and the king
commanded that he should be beaten with rods of iron, and that there
should be set upon his head a cross of iron red hot and burning, and
then after, he did do make a siege or a stool of iron, and made
Christopher to be bounden thereon, and after, to set fire under it, and
cast therein pitch. But the siege or settle melted like wax, and
Christopher issued out without any harm or hurt. And when the king saw
that, he commanded that he should be bound to a strong stake, and that
he should be through-shotten with arrows with forty knights archers. But
none of the knights might attain him, for the arrows hung in the air
about, nigh him, without touching. Then the king weened that he had been
through-shotten with the arrows of the knights, and addressed him for to
go to him. And one of the arrows returned suddenly from the air and
smote him in the eye, and blinded him. To whom Christopher said: Tyrant,
I shall die to-morn, make a little clay, with my blood tempered, and
anoint therewith thine eye, and thou shalt receive health. Then by the
commandment of the king he was led for to be beheaded, and then, there
made he his orison, and his head was smitten off, and so suffered
martyrdom. And the king then took a little of his blood and laid it on
his eye, and said: In the name of God and of St. Christopher! and was
anon healed. Then the king believed in God, and gave commandment that
if any person blamed God or St. Christopher, he should anon be slain
with the sword.
Ambrose saith in his preface thus, of this holy martyr: Lord, thou hast
given to Christopher so great plenty of virtues, and such grace of
doctrine, that he called from the error of Paynims forty-eight thousand
men, to the honor of Christian faith, by his shining miracles. And with
this, he being strained and bounden in a seat of iron, and great fire
put under, doubted nothing the heat. And all a whole day during, stood
bounden to a stake, yet might not be through-pierced with arrows of all
the knights. And with that, one of the arrows smote out the eye of the
tyrant, to whom the blood of the holy martyr re-established his sight,
and enlumined him in taking away the blindness of his body, and gat of
the Christian mind and pardon, and he also gat of thee by prayer power
to put away sickness and sores from them that remember his passion and
figure. Then let us pray to St. Christopher that he pray for us, etc.
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS
The seven sleepers were born in the city of Ephesus. And when Decius the
emperor came into Ephesus for the persecution of Christian men, he
commanded to edify the temples in the middle of the city, so that all
should come with him to do sacrifice to the idols, and did do seek all
the Christian people, and bind them for to make them to do sacrifice, or
else to put them to death; in such wise that every man was afeard of the
pains that he promised, that the friend forsook his friend, and the son
renied his father, and the father the son. And then in this city were
founden seven Christian men, that is to wit, Maximian, Malchus,
Marcianus, Denis, John, Serapion, and Constantine. And when they saw
this, they had much sorrow, and because they were the first in the
palace that despised the sacrifices, they hid them in their houses, and
were in fastings and in prayers. And then they were accused tofore
Decius, and came thither, and were found very Christian men. Then was
given to them space for to repent them, unto the coming again of Decius.
And in the meanwhile they dispended their patrimony in alms to the poor
people; and assembled them together, and took counsel, and went to the
mount of Celion, and there ordained to be more secretly, and there hid
them long time. And one of them administered and served them always.
And when he went into the city, he clothed him in the habit of a beggar.
When Decius was come again, he commanded that they should be fetched,
and then Malchus, which was their servant and ministered to them meat
and drink, returned in great dread to his fellows, and told and showed
to them the great fury and woodness of them, and then were they sore
afraid. And Malchus set tofore them the loaves of bread that he had
brought, so that they were comforted of the meat, and were more strong
for to suffer torments. And when they had taken their refection and sat
in weeping and wailings, suddenly, as God would, they slept, and when it
came on the morn they were sought and could not be found. Wherefore
Decius was sorrowful because he had lost such young men. And then they
were accused that they were hid in the mount of Celion, and had given
their goods to poor men, and yet abode in their purpose. And then
commanded Decius that their kindred should come to him, and menaced them
to the death if they said not of them all that they knew. And they
accused them, and complained that they had dispended all their riches.
Then Decius thought what he should do with them, and, as our Lord would,
he inclosed the mouth of the cave wherein they were with stones, to the
end that they should die therein for hunger and fault of meat. Then the
ministers and two Christian men, Theodorus and Rufinus, wrote their
martyrdom and laid it subtlely among the stones. And when Decius was
dead, and all that generation, three hundred and sixty-two years after,
and the thirtieth year of Theodosius the emperor, when the heresy was of
them that denied the resurrection of dead bodies, and began to grow;
Theodosius, then the most Christian emperor, being sorrowful that the
faith of our Lord was so felonously demened, for anger and heaviness he
clad him in hair and wept every day in a secret place, and led a full
holy life, which God, merciful and piteous, seeing, would comfort them
that were sorrowful and weeping, and give to them esperance and hope of
the resurrection of dead men, and opened the precious treasure of his
pity, and raised the foresaid martyrs in this manner following.
He put in the will of a burgess of Ephesus that he would make in that
mountain, which was desert and aspre, a stable for his pasturers and
herdmen. And it happed that of adventure the masons, that made the said
stable, opened this cave. And then these holy saints, that were within,
awoke and were raised and intersalued each other, and had supposed
verily that they had slept but one night only, and remembered of the
heaviness that they had the day tofore. And then Malchus, which
ministered to them, said what Decius had ordained of them, for he said:
We have been sought, like as I said to you yesterday, for to do
sacrifice to the idols, that is it that the emperor desireth of us. And
then Maximian answered: God our Lord knoweth that we shall never
sacrifice, and comforted his fellows. He commanded to Malchus to go and
buy bread in the city, and bade him bring more that he did yesterday,
and also to inquire and demand what the emperor had commanded to do. And
then Malchus took five shillings, and issued out of the cave, and when
he saw the masons and the stones tofore the cave, he began to bless him,
and was much amarvelled. But he thought little on the stones, for he
thought on other things. Then came he all doubtful to the gates of the
city, and was all amarvelled. For he saw the sign of the cross about the
gate, and then, without tarrying, he went to that other gate of the
city, and found there also the sign of the cross thereon, and then he
had great marvel, for upon every gate he saw set up the sign of the
cross; and therewith the city was garnished. And then he blessed him and
returned to the first gate, and weened he had dreamed; and after he
advised and comforted himself and covered his visage and entered into
the city. And when he came to the sellers of bread, and heard the men
speak of God, yet then was he more abashed, and said: What is this, that
no man yesterday durst name Jesu Christ, and now every man confesseth
him to be Christian? I trow this is not the city of Ephesus, for it is
all otherwise builded. It is some other city, I wot not what.
And when he demanded and heard verily that it was Ephesus, he supposed
that he had erred, and thought verily to go again to his fellows, and
then went to them that sold bread. And when he showed his money the
sellers marvelled, and said that one to that other, that this young man
had found some old treasure. And when Malchus saw them talk together,
he doubted not that they would lead him to the emperor, and was sore
afeard, and prayed them to let him go, and keep both money and bread,
but they held him, and said to him: Of whence art thou? For thou hast
found treasure of old emperors, show it to us, and we shall be fellows
with thee and keep it secret. And Malchus was so afeard that he wist not
what to say to them for dread. And when they saw that he spake not they
put a cord about his neck, and drew him through the city unto the middle
thereof. And tidings were had all about in the city that a young man had
found ancient treasure, in such wise that all they of the city assembled
about him, and he confessed there that he had found no treasure. And he
beheld them all, but he could know no man there of his kindred ne
lineage, which he had verily supposed that they had lived, but found
none, wherefore he stood as he had been from himself, in the middle of
the city. And when St. Martin the bishop, and Antipater the consul,
which were new come into this city, heard of this thing they sent for
him, that they should bring him wisely to them, and his money with him.
And when he was brought to the church he weened well he should have been
led to the Emperor Decius. And then the bishop and the consul marvelled
of the money, and they demanded him where he had found this treasure
unknown. And he answered that he had nothing founden, but it was come to
him of his kindred and patrimony, and they demanded of him of what city
he was. I wot well that I am of this city, if this be the city of
Ephesus. And the judge said to him: Let thy kindred come and witness for
thee. And he named them, but none knew them. And they said that he
feigned, for to escape from them in some manner. And then said the
judge: How may we believe thee that this money is come to thee of thy
friends, when it appeareth in the scripture that it is more than three
hundred and seventy-two years sith it was made and forged, and is of the
first days of Decius the emperor, and it resembleth nothing to our
money; and how may it come from thy lineage so long since, and thou art
young, and wouldst deceive the wise and ancient men of this city of
Ephesus? And therefore I command that thou be demened after the law till
thou hast confessed where thou hast found this money. Then Malchus
kneeled down tofore them and said: For God's sake, lords, say ye to me
that I shall demand you, and I shall tell to you all that I have in my
heart. Decius the emperor that was in this city, where is he? And the
bishop said to him there is no such at this day in the world that is
named Decius, he was emperor many years since. And Malchus said: Sire,
hereof I am greatly abashed and no man believeth me, for I wot well that
we fled for fear of Decius the emperor, and I saw him, that yesterday he
entered into this city, if this be the city of Ephesus. Then the bishop
thought in himself, and said to the judge that, this is a vision that
our Lord will have showed by this young man. Then said the young man:
Follow ye me, and I shall show to you my fellows which be in the mount
of Celion, and believe ye them. This know I well, that we fled from the
face of the Emperor Decius. And then they went with him, and a great
multitude of the people of the city with them. And Malchus entered first
into the cave to his fellows, and the bishop next after him. And there
found they among the stones the letters sealed with two seals of silver.
And then the bishop called them that were come thither, and read them
tofore them all, so that they that heard it were all abashed and
amarvelled. And they saw the saints sitting in the cave, and their
visages like unto roses flowering, and they, kneeling down, glorified
God. And anon the bishop and the judge sent to Theodosius the emperor,
praying him that he would come anon for to see the marvels of our Lord
that he had late showed. And anon he arose up from the ground, and took
off the sack in which he wept, and glorified our Lord. And came from
Constantinople to Ephesus, and all they came against him, and ascended
in to the mountain with him together, unto the saints in to the cave.
And as soon as the blessed saints of our Lord saw the emperor come,
their visages shone like to the sun. And the emperor entered then, and
glorified our Lord and embraced them, weeping upon each of them, and
said: I see you now like as I should see our Lord raising Lazarus. And
then Maximian said to him: Believe us, for forsooth our Lord hath raised
us tofore the day of the great resurrection. And to the end that thou
believe firmly the resurrection of the dead people, verily we be raised
as ye here see, and live. And in like wise as the child is in the womb
of his mother without feeling harm or hurt, in the same wise we have
been living and sleeping in lying here without feeling of anything. And
when they had said all this, they inclined their heads to the earth, and
rendered their spirits at the command of our Lord Jesu Christ, and so
died. Then the emperor arose, and fell on them, weeping strongly, and
embraced them, and kissed them debonairly. And then he commanded to make
precious sepulchres of gold and silver, and to bury their bodies
therein. And in the same night they appeared to the emperor, and said to
him that he should suffer them to lie on the earth like as they had lain
tofore till that time that our Lord had raised them, unto the time that
they should rise again. Then commanded the emperor that the place should
be adorned nobly and richly with precious stones, and all the bishops
that would confess the resurrection should be assoiled. It is in doubt
of that which is said that they slept three hundred and sixty-two years,
for they were raised the year of our Lord four hundred and
seventy-eight, and Decius reigned but one year and three months, and
that was in the year of our Lord two hundred and seventy, and so they
slept but two hundred and eight years.
THE LIFE OF ST. SILVESTER.
Silvester was son of one Justa and was learned and taught of a priest
named Cyrinus, which did marvellously great alms and made hospitalities.
It happed that he received a Christian man into his house named Timothy,
who no man would receive for the persecution of tyrants, wherefore the
said Timothy suffered death and passion after that year while he
preached justly the faith of Jesu Christ. It was so that the prefect
Tarquinius supposed that Timothy had had great plenty of riches, which
he demanded of Silvester, threatening him to the death but if he
delivered them to him. And when he found certainly that Timothy had no
great riches, he commanded to St. Silvester to make sacrifice to the
idols, and if he did not he would make him suffer divers torments. St.
Silvester answered: False, evil man, thou shalt die this night, and
shalt have torments that ever shall endure, and thou shalt know, whether
thou wilt or not, that he whom we worship is very God. Then St.
Silvester was put in prison, and the provost went to dinner. Now it
happed that as he ate, a bone of a fish turned in his throat and stuck
fast, so that he could neither have it down ne up, and at midnight died
like as St. Silvester had said, and then St. Silvester was delivered out
of prison. He was so gracious that all Christian men and Paynims loved
him, for he was fair like an angel to look on, a fair speaker, whole of
body, holy in work, good in counsel, patient and charitable, and firmly
established in the faith. He had in writing the names of all the widows
and orphans that were poor, and to them he administered their necessity.
He had a custom to fast all Fridays and Saturdays. And it was so that
Melchiades, the bishop of Rome, died, and all the people chose St.
Silvester for to be the high Bishop of Rome, which sore against his will
was made pope. He instituted for to be fasted Wednesday, Friday, and
Saturday, and the Thursday for to be hallowed as Sunday.