And Men Pass By That Way, By A Place That Was Wont To Be A Great
City, And A Great Land; And The City Was Clept Cathailye, The Which
City And Land Was Lost Through Folly Of A Young Man.
For he had a
fair damosel, that he loved well to his paramour; and she died
suddenly, and was done in a tomb of marble.
And for the great lust
that he had to her, he went in the night unto her tomb and opened
it, and went in and lay by her, and went his way. And when it came
to the end of nine months, there came a voice to him and said, Go
to the tomb of that woman, and open it and behold what thou hast
begotten on her; and if thou let to go, thou shalt have a great
harm. And he yede and opened the tomb, and there flew out an adder
right hideous to see; the which as swithe flew about the city and
the country, and soon after the city sank down. And there be many
perilous passages without fail.
From Rhodes to Cyprus be five hundred mile and more. But men may
go to Cyprus, and come not at Rhodes. Cyprus is right a good isle,
and a fair and a great, and it hath four principal cities within
him. And there is an Archbishop at Nicosea, and four other bishops
in that land. And at Famagost is one of the principal havens of
the sea that is in the world; and there arrive Christian men and
Saracens and men of all nations. In Cyprus is the Hill of the Holy
Cross; and there is an abbey of monks black and there is the cross
of Dismas the good thief, as I have said before. And some men
trow, that there is half the cross of our Lord; but it is not so,
and they do evil that make men to believe so.
In Cyprus lieth Saint Zenonimus, of whom men of that country make
great solemnity. And in the castle of Amours lieth the body of
Saint-Hilarion, and men keep it right worshipfully. And beside
Famagost was Saint Barnabas the apostle born.
In Cyprus men hunt with papyonns, that be like leopards, and they
take wild beasts right well, and they be somewhat more than lions;
and they take more sharply the beasts, and more deliver than do
hounds.
In Cyprus is the manner of lords and all other men all to eat on
the earth. For they make ditches in the earth all about in the
hall, deep to the knee, and they do pave them; and when they will
eat, they go therein and sit there. And the skill is for they may
be the more fresh; for that land is much more hotter than it is
here. And at great feasts, and for strangers, they set forms and
tables, as men do in this country, but they had lever sit in the
earth.
From Cyprus, men go to the land of Jerusalem by the sea: and in a
day and in a night, he that hath good wind may come to the haven of
Tyre, that is now clept Surrye. There was some-time a great city
and a good of Christian men, but Saracens have destroyed it a great
part; and they keep that haven right well, for dread of Christian
men. Men might go more right to that haven, and come not in
Cyprus, but they go gladly to Cyprus to rest them on the land, or
else to buy things, that they have need to their living. On the
sea-side men may find many rubies. And there is the well of the
which holy writ speaketh of, and saith, FONS ORTORUM, ET PUTEUS
AQUARUM VIVENTIUM: that is to say, 'the well of gardens, and the
ditch of living waters.'
In this city of Tyre, said the woman to our Lord, BEATUS VENTER QUI
TE PORTAVIT, ET UBERA QUE SUCCISTI: that is to say, 'Blessed be
the body that thee bare, and the paps that thou suckedst.' And
there our Lord forgave the woman of Canaan her sins. And before
Tyre was wont to be the stone, on the which our Lord sat and
preached, and on that stone was founded the Church of Saint
Saviour.
And eight mile from Tyre, toward the east, upon the sea, is the
city of Sarphen, in Sarepta of Sidonians. And there was wont for
to dwell Elijah the prophet; and there raised he Jonas, the widow's
son, from death to life. And five mile from Sarphen is the city of
Sidon; of the which city, Dido was lady, that was Aeneas' wife,
after the destruction of Troy, and that founded the city of
Carthage in Africa, and now is clept Sidonsayete. And in the city
of Tyre, reigned Agenor, the father of Dido. And sixteen mile from
Sidon is Beirout. And from Beirout to Sardenare is three journeys
and from Sardenare is five mile to Damascus.
And whoso will go long time on the sea, and come nearer to
Jerusalem, he shall go from Cyprus by sea to Port Jaffa. For that
is the next haven to Jerusalem; for from that haven is not but one
day journey and a half to Jerusalem. And the town is called Jaffa;
for one of the sons of Noah that hight Japhet founded it, and now
it is clept Joppa. And ye shall understand, that it is one of the
oldest towns of the world, for it was founded before Noah's flood.
And yet there sheweth in the rock, there as the iron chains were
fastened, that Andromeda, a great giant, was bounden with, and put
in prison before Noah's flood, of the which giant, is a rib of his
side that is forty foot long.
And whoso will arrive at the port of Tyre or of Surrye, that I have
spoken of before, may go by land, if he will, to Jerusalem.
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