[31] The Arca of Ptolemy, placed in the Antonine Itinerary, 18 M.P. from Tripolis, and 32 M.P. from Antaradon. Josephus (De Bel. Jud., lib. vii. c. 13) says the Gentiles called this Phœnician town Arcæa or Arcena. It is now called Tele Arka. [32] _i. e._ Emir, or commander of the faithful. Willibald, not understanding the language, translated the title of the khalif into the name of a king, whom the biographer calls _Mirmumni_. In a similar manner the old Spanish and English historians frequently turned the same title into the name Miramomelin. The khalif here alluded to was Yézid II. [33] In the desert of Quarantania. [34] Nov. 11, 722. [35] John, v. 8. [36] Matth., xxvi. 41. [37] Acts, i. 11. [38] John, iv. 20. [39] Lions were ever of very rare occurrence in Syria: perhaps it was some other wild animal peculiar to the country that Willibald saw. It may, however, be pointed out as a curious illustration of the words of Jeremiah (xlix. 19, and l. 44), "He shall come up like a _lion_ from the swelling of Jordan." [40] _Petræ oleum._ No doubt the writer means naphtha, bitumen, or asphaltum. [41] Nov. 30, 724. [42] _Infernus Theodorici._ In the legends of this age, the craters of volcanoes were believed to be entrances to hell. A hermit, who resided on the Isle of Lipari, told a friend of pope Gregory the Great that he had seen the soul of the Gothic king, Theodoric, thrown into the crater of the Isle of Vulcano (Gregor. Magn. Dialog., lib. iv. c. 30). Hence the name given to it in Willibald's narrative. [43] The medieval scribes made constant use of the pumice-stone, for smoothening their vellum and for making erasures. THE VOYAGE OF BERNARD THE WISE. A.D. 867. In the year from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 867, in the name of the Lord wishing to visit the holy places at Jerusalem, I, Bernard, having taken for my companions two brother monks, one of whom was of the monastery of St. Vincent at Beneventum, and named Theudemund, and the other a Spaniard, named Stephen, we went to Rome, to Pope Nicholas, and obtained the desired licence to go, along with his benediction and assistance. Thence we went to Mount Gargano, in which is the Church of St. Michael, under one stone, covered above with oak trees; which church is said to have been dedicated by the archangel himself. Its entrance is from the north, and it is capable of containing sixty men. In the interior, on the east side, is the image of the angel; to the south is an altar on which sacrifice is offered, and no other gift is placed there. But there is suspended before the altar a vessel in which gifts are deposited, which also has near it other altars. Benignatus is abbot of this place, and presides over a numerous brotherhood.