[150] {119}[On September 22, 1816 (_Letters_, 1899, iii. 357, note 2), Byron rode from Neuhaus, at the Interlaken end of Lake Thun, to the Staubbach. On the way between Matten and Müllinen, not far from the village of Wilderswyl, he passed the baronial Castle of Unspunnen, the traditional castle of Manfred. It is "but a square tower, with flanking round turrets, rising picturesquely above the surrounding brushwood." On the same day and near the same spot he "passed a rock; inscription--two brothers--one murdered the other; just the place for it." Here, according to the Countess Guiccioli, was "the origin of _Manfred_." It is somewhat singular that, on the appearance of _Manfred_, a paper was published in the June number of the _Edinburgh Monthly Magazine_, 1817, vol. i. pp. 270-273, entitled, "Sketch of a Tradition related by a Monk in Switzerland." The narrator, who signs himself P. F., professes to have heard the story in the autumn of 1816 from one of the fathers "of Capuchin Friars, not far from Altorf." It is the story of the love of two brothers for a lady with whom they had "passed their infancy." She becomes the wife of the elder brother, and, later, inspires the younger brother with a passion against which he struggles in vain. The fate of the elder brother is shrouded in mystery. The lady wastes away, and her paramour is found dead "in the same pass in which he had met his sister among the mountains." The excuse for retelling the story is that there appeared to be "a striking coincidence in some characteristic features between Lord Byron's drama and the Swiss tradition."] [151] [The "revised version" makes no further mention of the "key and casket;" but in the first draft (_vide infra_, p. 122) they were used by Manfred in calling up Astaroth (_Selections from Byron_, New York, 1900, p. 370).] [152] {120}[Byron may have had in his mind a sentence in a letter of C. Cassius to Cicero (_Epist.,_ xv. 19), in which he says, "It is difficult to persuade men that goodness is desirable for its own sake (τὸ καλὸν δἰ αὐτὸ αἱρετὸν [Greek: to\ kalo\n di) au)to\ ai(reto\n]); and yet it is true, and may be proved, that pleasure and calm are won by virtue, justice, in a word by goodness (τῷ καλῷ [Greek: tô~| kalô~|])."] [153] St. Maurice is in the Rhone valley, some sixteen miles from Villeneuve. The abbey (now occupied by Augustinian monks) was founded in the fourth century, and endowed by Sigismund, King of Burgundy. [154] {121}[Thus far the text stands as originally written. The rest of the scene as given in the first MS. is as follows:-- _Abbot_. Then, hear and tremble! For the headstrong wretch Who in the mail of innate hardihood Would shield himself, and battle for his sins, There is the stake on earth--and beyond earth Eternal-- _Man_. Charity, most reverend father, Becomes thy lips so much more than this menace, That I would call thee back to it: but say, What would'st thou with me?