And It Behoveth, That Anon At The First
Sight That Men See The Soldan, Be It In Window Or In
What place
else, that men kneel to him and kiss the earth, for that is the
manner to do reverence
To the soldan of them that speak with him.
And when that messengers of strange countries come before him, the
meinie of the soldan, when the strangers speak to him, they be
about the soldan with swords drawn and gisarmes and axes, their
arms lifted up in high with those weapons for to smite upon them,
if they say any word that is displeasance to the soldan. And also,
no stranger cometh before him, but that he maketh him some promise
and grant of that the [stranger] asketh reasonably; by so it be not
against his law. And so do other princes beyond, for they say that
no man shall come before no prince, but that [he be] better, and
shall be more gladder in departing from his presence than he was at
the coming before him.
And understandeth, that that Babylon that I have spoken of, where
that the sultan dwelleth, is not that great Babylon where the
diversity of languages was first made for vengeance by the miracle
of God, when the great Tower of Babel was begun to be made; of the
which the walls were sixty-four furlongs of height; that is in the
great desert of Arabia, upon the way as men go toward the kingdom
of Chaldea. But it is full long since that any man durst nigh to
the tower; for it is all desert and full of dragons and great
serpents, and full of diverse venomous beasts all about. That
tower, with the city, was of twenty-five mile in circuit of the
walls, as they of the country say, and as men may deem by
estimation, after that men tell of the country.
And though it be clept the Tower of Babylon, yet nevertheless,
there were ordained within many mansions and many great dwelling-
places, in length and breadth. And that tower contained great
country in circuit, for the tower alone contained ten mile square.
That tower founded King Nimrod that was king of that country; and
he was the first king of the world. And he let make an image in
the likeness of his father, and constrained all his subjects for to
worship it; and anon began other lords to do the same, and so began
the idols and the simulacres first.
The town and the city were full well set in a fair country and a
plain that men clepe the country of Samar, of the which the walls
of the city were two hundred cubits in height, and fifty cubits of
deepness; and the river of Euphrates ran throughout the city and
about the tower also. But Cyrus the King of Persia took from them
the river, and destroyed all the city and the tower also; for he
departed that river in 360 small rivers, because that he had sworn,
that he should put the river in such point, that a woman might well
pass there, without casting off of her clothes, forasmuch as he had
lost many worthy men that trowed to pass that river by swimming.
And from Babylon where the soldan dwelleth, to go right between the
Orient and the Septentrion toward the great Babylon, is forty
journeys to pass by desert. But it is not the great Babylon in the
land and in the power of the said soldan, but it is in the power
and the lordship of Persia, but he holdeth it of the great Chan,
that is the greatest emperor and the most sovereign lord of all the
parts beyond, and he is lord of the isles of Cathay and of many
other isles and of a great part of Ind, and his land marcheth unto
Prester John's Land, and he holdeth so much land, that he knoweth
not the end: and he is more mighty and greater lord without
comparison than is the soldan: of his royal estate and of his
might I shall speak more plenerly, when I shall speak of the land
and of the country of Ind.
Also the city of Mecca where Mohammet lieth is of the great deserts
of Arabia; and there lieth [the] body of him full honourably in
their temple, that the Saracens clepen Musketh. And it is from
Babylon the less, where the soldan dwelleth, unto Mecca above-said,
into a thirty-two journeys.
And wit well, that the realm of Arabia is a full great country, but
therein is over-much desert. And no man may dwell there in that
desert for default of water, for that land is all gravelly and full
of sand. And it is dry and no thing fruitful, because that it hath
no moisture; and therefore is there so much desert. And if it had
rivers and wells, and the land also were as it is in other parts,
it should be as full of people and as full inhabited with folk as
in other places; for there is full great multitude of people,
whereas the land is inhabited. Arabia dureth from the ends of the
realm of Chaldea unto the last end of Africa, and marcheth to the
land of Idumea toward the end of Botron. And in Chaldea the chief
city is Bagdad. And of Africa the chief city is Carthage, that
Dido, that was Eneas's wife, founded; the which Eneas was of the
city of Troy, and after was King of Italy.
Mesopotamia stretcheth also unto the deserts of Arabia, and it is a
great country. In this country is the city of Haran, where
Abraham's father dwelled, and from whence Abraham departed by
commandment of the angel. And of that city was Ephraim, that was a
great clerk and a great doctor. And Theophilus was of that city
also, that our lady saved from our enemy.
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