The gospel says, that Rachel wept for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. Jacob the patriarch's wife was called Rachel, and she betokened God's church, which weeps for her ghostly children; but it will not so be comforted, that they again return to temporal strife, who once by a triumphant death have overcome the world, and escaped from its miseries to be crowned with glory with Christ. But the impious Herod did not enjoy his kingdom in long healthfulness, for without delay the divine vengeance came {87} upon him, which afflicted him with manifold misery, and also manifested in what torments he must after death eternally suffer. An unspeakable disease seized him; his body burned without with a lasting heat, and all within he was inflamed and bursten. He had great craving for food, but yet with no viands could he satisfy his voracity, and fearfully rotted away, and dolefully fetched sighs, so that he could with difficulty breathe. Dropsy came on him, beneath the girdle, to that degree that his members swarmed with vermin, and stinking venom ever flowed from his swollen feet. Unbearable palsies spread over his whole body, and incredible inflation afflicted his entrails. Stinking vapour proceeded from his mouth, so that hardly any leech could approach him. Many of the leeches he slew; he said that they might heal him and would not. Constant sleeplessness afflicted him, so that he passed the whole night without sleep; and if he dozed a little, nightly phantoms immediately tormented him, so that he repented of his sleep. As he with violent longing desired his life, he commanded to be conveyed over the river Jordan, where there were hot baths, which were said to be salutary to diseased bodies. It then seemed good to his leeches that they should bathe him in lukewarm oil. But when he was led to this bathing, the body was all relaxed, so that his eyes turned to the likeness of dead men's, and he lay speechless, without sense. When he came to, he commanded to be borne to the city of Jericho.