Saviour Christ, do thou give me strength to overcome thc shamelessness of Charisius, and grant
me to keep the holiness wherein thou delightest, that I also may by it find eternal life. And when
she had so prayed she laid herself on her bed and veiled herself.
98 But Charisius having dined came upon her, and she cried out, saying: Thou hast no more any
room by me: for my Lord Jesus is greater than thou, who is with me and resteth in me. And he
laughed and said: Well dost thou mock, saying this of that sorcerer, and well dost thou deride
him, who saith: Ye have no life with God unless ye purify yourselves. And when he had so said
he essayed to sleep with her, but she endured it not and cried out bitterly and said: I call upon
thee, Lord Jesu, forsake me not! for with thee have I made my refuge; for when I learned that
thou art he that seekest out them that are veiled in ignorance and savest them that are held in
error And now I entreat thee whose report I have heard and believed, come thou to my help and
save me from the shamelessness of Charisius, that his foulness may not get the upper hand of
me. And she smote her hands together (tied his hands, Syr.) and fled from him naked, and as she
went forth she pulled down the curtain of the bed-chamber and wrapped it about her; and went to
her nurse, and slept there with her.
99 But Charisius was in heaviness all night, and smote his face with his hands, and he was
minded to go that very hour and tell the king concerning the violence that was done him, but he
considered with himself, saying: If the great heaviness which is upon me compelleth me to go
now unto the king, who will bring me in to him? for I know that my abuse hath overthrown me
from my high looks and my vainglory and majesty, and hath cast me down into this vileness and
separated my sister Mygonia from me. Yea, if the king himself stood before the doors at this
hour, I could not have gone out and answered him. But I will wait until dawn, and I know that
whatsoever I ask of the king, he granteth it me: and I will tell him of the madness of this stranger,
how that it tyrannously casteth down the great and illustrious into the depth. For it is not this that
grieveth me, that I am deprived of her companying, but for her am I grieved, because her
greatness of soul is humbled: being an honourable lady in whom none of her house ever found
fault (condemned), she hath fled away naked, running out of her own bedchamber, and I know
not whither she is gone; and it may be that she is gone mad by the means of that sorcerer, and in
her madness hath gone forth into the market-place to seek him; for there is nothing that appealeth
unto her lovable except him and the things that are spoken by him.
100 And so saving he began to lament and say: Woe to me, O my consort, and to thee besides!
for I am too quickly bereaved of thee. Woe is me, my most dear one, for thou excellest all my
race: neither son nor daughter have I had of thee that I might find rest in them; neither hast thou
yet dwelt with me a full year, and an evil eye hath caught thee from me. Would that the violence
of death had taken thee, and I should yet have reckoned myself among kings and nobles: but that
I should suffer this at the hands of a stranger, and belike he is a slave that hath run away, to mine
ill fortune and the sorrow of mine unhappy soul! Let there be no impediment for me until I
destroy him and avenge this night, and may I not be well-pleasing before Misdaeus the king if he
avenge me not with the head of this stranger; (and I will also tell him) of Siphor the captain who
hath been the occasion of this. For by his means did the stranger appear here, and lodgeth at his
house: and many there be that go in and come out whom he teacheth a new doctrine; saying that
none can live if he quit not all his substance and become a renouncer like himself: and he striveth
to make many partakers with him.
ron
(Ron)
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