The Age of Erasmus: Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and LondonAllen, P. S. (Percy Stafford)
History
The Age of Erasmus: Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London
Allen, P. S. (Percy Stafford)
Erasmus, Desiderius, -1536; Renaissance
At Cyprus they had a few days, and Fabri led some of his companions to
the summit of Mount Stavrovuni, near their port Salinae (Citium by the
salt lakes of Larnaka), to visit the Church of Holy Cross--the cross
of Dismas, the thief on the right hand, said to have been brought by
that great finder of relics, the Empress Helena. By the way he was
careful to explain that they must expect no miracle: 'we shall see
none in Jerusalem, so how can there be one here?' In the church he
read them a mass and preached, and at departing rang the church bell,
saying that they would hear no bells again till they returned to
Christendom.
When they set sail again, all eyes were turned Eastwards: happy would
he be who should first sight the land of their desire. Fabri crept
forward to the prow of the galley and sat for hours upon the horns,
straining his gaze across the summer seas which whispered around the
ship's stem: almost, he confesses, cursing night when it fell and cut
off all hope till dawn. Before sunrise he was there again, and on 1
July the watchman in the maintop gave the glad shout. The pilgrims
flocked up on deck and sang Te Deum with bounding joy. It was a tumult
of harsh voices; but to Fabri in his happiness their various
dissonance made sweet harmony.
On reaching Jaffa they lay for some days awaiting permission to land.
At length all was ready. The ship's officers collected the tips due to
them, and the pilgrims were put on shore: falling to kiss the ground
as they struggled out of their boats through the surf. One by one they
were brought before Turkish officials, who took record of their names
and their fathers' names--an occasion on which noblemen often tried to
pass themselves off as of low degree, to escape the higher fees due.
Fabri notes that his Christian name, Felix, gave the official
recorders some trouble: that he pronounced it again and again for
them, but they could get nothing at all like it. Each pilgrim, when
entered, was hurried off by Saracens, like sheep into a pen, and
thrust into a row of caves along the sea-shore, known as St. Peter's
Cellars. If they had suffered on board ship, their sufferings were
multiplied now tenfold. Strict watch was kept upon them, and no one
was allowed to leave the caves. Within, the ground was covered with
semi-liquid filth. From the ship, as they lay waiting to land, Fabri
had noticed the Saracens running in and out of the caves; and he
argued that they were intentionally defiling them, to make it more
disagreeable to the Christian dogs. But this seems hardly necessary.
There had doubtless been other pilgrims before them. Droves of mankind
can tread ground into a foul swamp as cattle tread a farmyard. With
their feet the poor pilgrims managed to collect some of the impurities
together into a heap in the centre; each man clearing enough space to
lie down upon. Fabri found solace to his offended senses in thinking
of his dear Lord lying in a hard manger, amongst all the defilements
of the oxen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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