The following biography of the Prophet Muhammad lacks an original title in its handwritten manuscript form, but it is conventionally dubbed Adelphus' Life of Muhammad, in reference to the sign-off at the end of the text as well as the 'Adelphus' (which translates as 'brother' in Greek) addressed in the text by an unidentified Greek man who narrates the life of the Prophet. In the introduction to the critical edition of the text produced in Bernhard Bischoff's Anecdota Novissima, it is suggested that the work was composed around the middle of the twelfth century CE.
Like Embrico of Mainz's work on the life of Muhammad, this text tends towards the end of the spectrum furthest removed from the traditional accounts of the Prophet's life. However, unlike Embrico of Mainz's poem, this work is composed in prose form, though it also has occasional lines of poetry. For example:
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discipulum dictis tandem compellit amicis
In summary, the plot is as follows: Muhammad (dubbed 'Machomet' in this biography) is portrayed as a pig-herd (Latin: porcarius) who became a disciple of the Christian heretic Nestorius, who was banished into the remote forests of the Mount Lebanon region. The two developed a close relationship and reinforced each other's heretical and evil ideas. Nestorius inquired from Machomet about the nature of his people and encouraged him to preach the new doctrine, but Machomet instead urged at first that they should come to Nestorius and learn. At the same time, Machomet argued that for the crowd to believe in the doctrine, they would need to see some kind of sign/miracle. Hence, Machomet suggested a trick whereby the crowd would become thirsty over the course of three days, and so Nestorius would provide them with water, ostensibly a sign from God but actually supplied by Machomet.
While this initiative was successful, Machomet then proposed that in the future, Nestorius should not have the people come to him but rather he should entrust Machomet with preaching, and he should supplicate his God to provide divinely-revealed scripture. Alone with Nestorius, Machomet suggested pinning a scripture to the horns of a thirsty calf that would be set loose from confinement. This scripture would then be portrayed as divine revelation. Machomet then went to address the people by a spring, and then the calf was released and stopped by the spring to drink, and the people believed Machomet's words that the scripture on its horns was divine revelation. However, the people revered Nestorius with more authority, and so Machomet killed Nestorius out of envy but was able to pin the murder on another disciple who was then executed. As the murder occurred following an occasion of drinking wine, Machomet then decreed the prohibition on wine.
The king of the Arabs ('the Hagarenes') then died, and Machomet married his widowed queen and thus became the new king. He expanded the domain and then forcibly converted those who did not willingly believe in the new doctrine. In the end, however, Machomet was torn apart and largely eaten by a flock of wild pigs while out hunting one day, and so it was henceforth decreed that eating pork was to be prohibited.
The work has some parallels with other medieval Christian works that feature biographies of the Prophet. Like the ninth century Prophetic Chronicle, this work explains that the name of the Saracens for the Arabs is the result of the Arabs' supposed claim to be descendants of Sarah (Abraham's wife), but actually since Ishmael their forefather was the son of Hagar, they should be called Hagarenes. We also have the transposition of Muhammad to the wrong century (Nestorius the heretic lived in the fifth century CE), the story of a raging calf (similar to that of the monstrous bull in Embrico of Mainz's poem), Muhammad's marriage to a widow, the devouring of Muhammad by pigs and the resulting prohibition on pork (also in Embrico of Mainz's poem), and the supposed veneration of Muhammad as God (also in Embrico of Mainz's poem).
I would like to dedicate this translation and commentary to Llewelyn Morgan, a rather monstrous professor of Classics at Oxford University. You can follow his musings on the world on Twitter and his blog discussing Latin literature and translation. As I read the occasional turns of phrase in this work derived from Virgil, Juvenal, Ovid and Horace, I could not help thinking of you, Llewelyn.
The edition of the text I have used for this translation, as noted above, comes from Anecdota Novissima by Bernhard Bischoff. This edition of the text also provided references to Biblical texts and allusions to Latin literature that I have highlighted in the endnotes.
[Translation revised: 5 March 2024].
The Greeks are either the inventors or writers of almost all arts. Their urbane wit, brought out from an old leathern bottle into a new vessel[i] swells very much on a Latin page. They have left nothing brought out so fabulously, in which the pure truth is not to be found as though it is covered up, if it is curiously investigated with the light that the Latin attention could strike from their flint-stone. Indeed, on the basis of these Greeks' opinion, by which they are accustomed to dispute with the Sarracens, I have gathered this which I have presently arranged to commend in writing by means of the pen, doing so as though I am one of the curious cyclical writers.[ii] So I have gathered it on this occasion.
I had frequently heard the Sarracens invoking a certain horrendous monster Machomet,[iii] with the sound of their voice, in as much as they practise Bacchanalian rites, and adore him instead of God. Struck with vehement wonder, I had arrived at Antiochia[iv] and while returning from Jerusalem, I met with a certain Greek sciolist who knew both the Latin and Saracen tongues for the purpose of inquiring about this matter. And I inquired with all caution that I could as to what I should believe and from where that monster had arisen. And his prompt loquacity did not fail me, increased as it had been by his natural and internalised hatred of the Saracens. For there is eternal enmity between the sacredness of faith and paganism, between the temple of God and the idol, and he who was born from a slave girl persecutes the one who was born from a free woman.[v] What to say therefore? Since the Greek man's business affairs had been deferred for the time being and he was very eager to speak, he began to explain studiously the things that I was asking about out of curiosity. These were his words:
"First, oh Adelfus, it behoves to know, with all ambiguity removed, that those people, who glorify themselves with this name, are not in truth called Saracens, nor are they as such. For they are Agarenes[vi] and are rightly called as such. For that, if the history is traced from Abraham all the way to us, is known by everyone. Indeed there is the separation of the sons of Abraham, that is Isaac, who indeed is called Saracen because he proceeded from Sara, and from him the 12 patriarch fathers- the sons of Israhel[vii]- are Saracen by paternal right and name: there is no one who does not know this. Therefore it follows that no one should doubt that Ismahel the son of Agar is Agarene and those who proceeded from him, are Agarenes and are rightly called as such. Indeed those, about whom we have begun to speak, are not according to the flesh or according to the spirit sons of a free woman but of a slave girl. Therefore in the present collation of discourse, which you demand from me, I consider it sufficient to call them Agarenes, and not Saracens. So much for these things; from here I will fulfil what you ask concerning the horrendous monster Machomet.
The first apostle Peter- the princeps of this Antiochene seat, who is most worthy of glorious veneration- left this land beloved to him, abundantly fertile as it was with the seed of the Holy Spirit as he himself seeded it, and per the requirement of the common interest of the Church, which he was always wholly eager to fulfil, he approached the capital of the Church of the world and the capital of the cities and master: namely, Rome. Then he was carried away to heaven the most glorious trophy of martyrdom that had been pre-assigned by the Master. After these things happened, the enemy of the human race, envying the unity of the holy faith and the holy religion, scattered cockles among the wheat,[viii] from which the most evil root of all evils came forth and bloomed: that is, the multiform heresy that is both nefarious and varied, both staining and stained, one root but innumerable branches, one beast but many heads. Hence the blessed Paul, prophesying, says: 'After my departure rapacious wolves, heavy wolves will enter among you.'[ix] From there also it is sung in prophesy in the Songs of Songs: 'Seize for me the little foxes, which are destroying the vineyards.'[x] Among the innumerable branches of this root, among the cockles of the enemy, among the destroying foxes, among the heavy wolves, there emerged before our time in this Church a sprout destroying hope of fruits, a little fox that has destroyed and taken away the vineyard of Christ. There appeared a wolf, tearing apart the sheep of the Lord, more monstrous than every atrocity, indeed armed with his new heresy: Nestorius the heretic. If he had not tried to extend his knowledge beyond the world, beyond reasonable measure, beyond that which one must know,[xi] if he had contained himself within the limit of observing the faith, if he had not blasphemed the unviolated Trinity which also must not be violated, we know and profess that a not small place of praise would lie for him in the Church. But as he was from evil owing to the fact that he wanted more than what is just, let each person understand that we do not negatively view praise for him but rather we negatively view his error. As the pronouncement of his heresy lacks reason, I deem it better that you henceforth ignore it rather than dispute anything from there. For often it happens that it proves an impediment if it is known, because it is of no impediment, but rather is of benefit if it is not known. Therefore, when those who at that time presided over the Church understood that the aforementioned Nestorius was an avowed wolf who had cast off the sheep's clothing,[xii] and they discovered in secret and public that having been corrupted he in no way wanted to recover his senses, they determined by common decree that a limb of this sort should be made anathema and cast forth from the body of the Church, especially as bad company corrupts good morals[xiii] and the vine takes the sickly colour from the other vine and the whole flock falls by the disease and the mange of a pig.[xiv] And so after a long council of deliberation was held, Nestorius was relegated to exile, that is to the regions of the Agarenes, in the most dense wood of Mount Libanus,[xv] into the place of horror and into the place of vast solitude,[xvi] which seemed rather removed from the frequenting of men, so that either alone he should be led by repentance and return to the path of salvation, or in the same place there he should die alone. Indeed as he lay hidden in this horrific wilderness through a number of years, contemplating nothing of his own thought, and he had no partner or supporter of his wickedness for much time, behold the enemy of the human race, grieving that the man he had captured would die alone, prepared accomplices of iniquity and sharers in his perdition, doing so by means of the skill, by which he besieges all. So the man, as though seven rather wicked spirits were taken up, said to himself: 'I will return to the home from where I went out.'[xvii] Thus arose the innovations of that man that were more worse than those before. Thus our adversary found how the seed, which he had seeded in Nestorius, could multiply and grow to bring about the perdition of many.
When a certain pig-herd wandered rather far into the same wood while grazing his pigs, he came to the habitation of Nestorius, doing so by mishap and- what is more true- by the guiding of a malign spirit. As each of the two found the other alone, they rejoiced in each other's presence. The pig-herd began to inquire diligently from Nestorius, asking who he was and from where he was and how he had come into that place. When Nestorius, hiding his own fault (as he was accustomed to do so in such matters), explained this issue through astute digression while defending his own cause, he made a request of the pig-herd and sent him away, so that the pig-herd would frequently come to him. The pig-herd promised he would do this with great enthusiasm, and being true to his promise, he unfortunately fulfilled it. Thus, in a brief time the intimacy and frequency of visits made them become companions, rendering them equals in the wickedness of their acts. For that pig-herdsman was a man of most wicked art, cunning mind, a man of the skill of necrology, a pupil of the diabolical doctrine, a mage greater than all other ages,
Whom neither the harmful herb nor the hidden voice cheated.[xviii]
Behold, if equal matches equal, like is joined with like. See how easily our ambusher did what he wanted in such matters. For when they had sat together frequently and in conversing each of the two had discussed many things about their own affairs, Nestorius noticed that the pig-herd, who possessed some degree of ingenuity, was so docile and full of affection and a young man very much capable of learning everything from him. As I said, Nestorius noticed and began to encourage very much that the young man should learn literature from him. The affectation and encouragement of Nestorius pleased the young man, and through all wakefulness and all the assiduity that he possessed, he took up the learning of letters, but nonetheless he did not cease from caring for pigs. Soon enough, wondrously, over the course of up to three years he gained proficiency in literature, so that not only did he not yield to his master in these things, which he had learnt from him, but also he increased his prior error much more through his own invention. And so the art of the two men mixed and distorted the Old and New Testaments in such a way that, what Nestorius could in no way adjust to his own damned intellect was claimed by the pig-herd (i.e. Machomet) for the latter's own understanding, either by means of subversion or interpretation in accordance with the most damned rite of his own land. Thus indeed the figment, invention, art and interpretation of each of the two men were strengthened by the other's error. They were wondrous to each other, the former because he skilfully upheld things, the latter because he was learning new things, the former because previously he contended in a sophisticated manner in the Church, the latter because he invented new things in a diabolical manner, the former because he was cast out, the latter because he was taken up, the former because he was solitary, the latter because he was a pig-herd, the former through heresy, the latter through learning. Therefore by these customs, by these arts they fused together so easily:[xix] these people who harmed themselves forever and many to come, preachers of a new error, the initiators of a most wicked rite, those who caused the stumbling of innumerable souls.
For Nestorius was inquiring rather often from Machomet about the faith of his people and he realised that the Agarenes were neither Christians nor idolaters, but rather adhered to some unknown cult and considered all that was pleasing to be lawful to themselves, and deemed everything they saw as equally godly, equally holy. Thus, Nestorius considered that they would easily yield to his doctrine, as the truth of no worship had solidified them. And his opinion did not cheat him. In his efforts Nestorius intended to make Machomet his partner in this plan:
At last he compelled the disciple through friendly words:[xx]
'The matter, time, and very much necessary account seem to demand, that, oh son, you should bring forth as a system of governance that which you had learnt from me and had augmented in great part by your own ingenuity. Therefore make an eternal name for yourself, seize the duty of preaching among your own people, declare the word of truth, correct the ignorant, so that with your teaching they may know what must be believed and what must be done, and with your leadership they may be compelled to return to the way. You do not lack the wisdom to accomplish this, nor the ability to translate discourse, nor eloquence, nor the great experience of your fatherland's tongue. Also the rest of the things have been attributed to you: it is not as if[xxi] you do not have gravity of person and the dignity of descent and the prosperity of riches?
Illuminate your kin and be a light to your parents!
And there will not be lacking for you whatever our skill and favour is capable of.'
To him Machomet replied: 'Father, I render thanks to you for your pious devotion now, and in the future no stage of life will prevent me from doing so,[xxii] as you bestow such a title on me. But you know, that the haughtiness of men disdains to hear the likes of me and the doctrine of foreigners is often heard with greater authority than that of the domestic people. For while being schooled by you, I learnt that no prophet has been accepted in his country.[xxiii] Therefore no one of my people would welcome my teaching, first on account of haughtiness, then also on account of envy. Indeed that which you impose on me is too heavy for me to bear alone. Therefore, as you have shown kind consideration for my people, you yourself undertake, you yourself begin, you yourself send the hand, begin to preach, begin to teach; in you is the gravity of doctrine, the dignity of the person, the authority of the one teaching. Whatever you say, you will be believed, and your words will be trusted. And so for you, father, for you the rather dignified title you bestow on me will accumulate. Nonetheless, make use of me as a most devoted messenger and assistant, utilising me to the best of my abilities. Indeed I hope that from all the nearest surrounding cities, by my instinct, my admonitions and the fame of such a man like you, I will lead several to hear your doctrine. And I am not ignorant of the fact that after they hear you, they will seek a sign from you, without which they will not be easily converted by you. There, let this be seen in advance with all caution, lest anything incautious be found among you by these people. I will prepare two of the largest leathern bottles I can, which, on the day before the crowds gather to you, will be filled with water and be buried in a more secluded part of the land of your habitation. Thus, when the crowds have heard you over a period of three days and are vexed by thirst, on the third day they will be restored, as though by the power of God. For in this sign the authority of your doctrine will proceed, greatly strengthened.'
Then this sound innovative advice pleased Nestorius. It pleased, I say, and he urged Machomet to engage in a rather hurried effort to accomplish these goals. And Machomet did not delay. For there is the spirit, by which he was agitated, without delay and rest. Moreover, approaching the cities and neighbouring places all around, from there he spoke to many and he caught the attention of men of various ages; he mentioned that he had found a holy man sent from heaven for their salvation and with all the skill he had, he persuaded them to go with him to see and hear the man. And this happened. Their curiosity was piqued by the renown of such a great man, and so some out of human curiosity, others out of hope, if I should say, of changing their conduct for the better, others by some impulse of mind, and many desirous of innovations, hurried to Nestorius' habitation, intending to die by the new doctrine, by the new cult, by the new rite that was as wicked as it was new. Oh how perdition was sought in haste, oh how there was a running with blind foot to danger, oh how the torturous traps are presented, oh how there was a falling into a deep snare, oh how the heathens were deceived by double, manifold, all error!
Whither do you rush intending to die,[xxiv] whither does blind error seize you,
Driven by your disasters, whither do you rush intending to die?
Do you not know that your most new affairs will be worse than those before?[xxv] Consider, what and how much you owe to this citizen, who has blessed you with this gift.
At last therefore they reached the room of Nestorius. When they were received with joy and delight, through three continual days they intently listened from the morning until evening to the doctrine of Nestorius. Nor was the cunning craftsman absent, for he busied to implant within their hearts what they had externally heard. Therefore the doctrine of Nestorius seemed to them to be very sweet and strengthened with all authority and so effective for their salvation, that it was to be sought above all things with great affection. And so on the third day, as their provisions which they had brought with them from home became lacking, and they were being burned above all by thirst as the place was deserted and arid- they began to shout to Nestorius, that through invocation of his God he should provide them water to drink. What to say therefore? He promised that on the next day he would give them water in abundance, but he said over the course of one day and night God would have to be supplicated for this. Indeed thirsty and hardly waiting for the day they came at the crack of dawn demanding water. So, feigning fatigue within, as though he were recently raising himself from prayer, he received vessels of individuals through his window and from the leathern bottles, which he had hidden for this purpose, he secretly poured sufficient water for all, and they indeed, believing it was given by divine intervention, avidly and joyfully drank it both out of reverence and out of thirst. In short they regarded that secret sign with great admiration and considered it to be a very great proof of the validity of his doctrine. Oh again and again a heathen people more blind than all darkness, why with such quick mind did you believe this secret sign? Why not at least did you demand it open and uncovered? Certainly, certainly, not secretly, but openly did the stick of Moses strike out a spring from the rock and thus he ministered to the thirsty people.[xxvi] Certainly, who is to doubt that those things which escape light are the works of darkness?[xxvii] Indeed the most wretched crowd, deceived and doomed in this manner, became initiated into this cult. But as they had still not wholly surrendered, they demanded from Nestorius the permission to return to their own affairs.
Hearing this, Machomet addressed his master with such advice:[xxviii]
'O father, these people, who flowed to you, have their place of dwelling habitation far away from here. Indeed, their homes are three or more days journey away, and it is a laborious route, both because of the difficulty of the desert environment, then also because of the aridity of the place. Therefore do not trouble them further with the labour of coming to you again. If it pleases, impose for me the duty of performing your embassy to them from here on. And I do not consider it onerous to obey your command, then as you have bound me to yourself with your benefits, then indeed, whatever is the outcome for them, I want to be the outcome for me. Whatever they will believe, I will believe, and whatever they will worship, I will worship. Therefore it remains that, those who intend to lay aside their conduct and be initiated into the new conduct and the new rite, should be instructed with greater authority for this purpose than a human one. Therefore supplicate your God, so that the faith, which you build among us with human words, may reach us, written down by His will and His signs from heaven. For the people of the Hebrews did not provide their hearts to Moses when he spoke, but rather to letters written down with the finger of God.'[xxix]
All assented to these words: both Nestorius and the crowd which had gathered, with the latter saying that it would only be willing to renounce the culture of its fatherland and adhere to the new law on the basis of the authority that Machomet mentioned.
By these words, by this consensus each person went back to his own affairs;
Alone Machomet remained with him alone.
Not unknown to Nestorius. For Machomet considered that he was not abandoning his master, so that he discuss by what skilful means he could satisfactorily fulfil his own recommendation.
'I have,' he said, 'oh father Nestorius, I have a plan sufficient for the initiative we hae begun, useful, necessary and praiseworthy as far as it has seemed to me, which I may bring forth to your elect. May you work diligently and cautiously, or rather let me do so with you, if you order, as quickly as you can, to set out explicitly and discretely and write down, in the elaborated order of an epistle, what must be done, what must be avoided, moreover how one should live in all regards, how one should believe, and what must be adored. This scripture you will bind on the horns of a calf, which is to be shut in for two days so that it should not drink, and is to be sent out on the third day. You will see from there what follows.'
Since it pleased Nestorius to obey Machomet's counsel since he was acutely aware of the skilful trick that man had devised, Nestorius did not delay. Rather quickly taking up the writing of the epistle, Nestorius and Machomet wrote in common the law code of the most doomed living for the Agarenes who were doomed and were to be doomed: this law code which they still preserve. What this Nestorius could not accomplish through heresy, that Machomet added through learning.
Therefore after the completed perverse precepts were written together as one by the skills of the two men, the day and place were set in advance with adroitness, by which Machomet should perform the master's embassy among his people. Set in advance, I say, was the place for the gathering, approximately one day's journey away from the habitation of Nestorius, at a place where there was a lucid spring both necessary for the crowd coming together and very fertile for the grazing of cattle. What more to say? The day decided by both came, and a crowd of Agarenes rushed to meet Machomet,[xxx] intending to hear what he was reporting from the master and through himself. And as he dragged out the day with many sermons, and held the crowd's attention through several digressions, behold as the Sun was turning from the centre to the ninth hour, they looked at a calf sent out by Nestorius and running at a distance, so thirsty as it was- for it knew that the spring was there. While all stood stupefied, Machomet alone knew what it was-
He stood intrepid and addressed his friends.[xxxi]
'Behold, we already know what we have desired, we already see what we have expected; room for all doubt has been taken away. The calf, which you see running, has come as a messenger of God; bearing on its horns the writings, by which we may live, and the speed of the running calf indicates to us the great will of the one sending.'
As he said these things and other such things, by which he rendered their hearts stupefied about this (as he desired) and attentive and well-inclined (for he easily persuaded them) already the calf had come over to the spring and satisfying its thirst by the impulse of which it was carried, it lay at the bank on its knees, and seeing the unaccustomed appearance of its horns under the water it shuddered at individual touches of the water. And so the people surrounded and seized the calf with great effort and took away the scripture from its horns and read it. They considered those things that were contained in it as duties to be preserved on their part with their own veneration and indeed considered them as things sent from heaven, and thus they had no further doubt regarding this doctrine.
Although Machomet was held as distinguished and great among them, Nestorius was much more distinguished and much greater. So many of the Agarenes rushed to him and began to adhere to his teaching. Indeed the offshoots of all evils came to be mixed in with this evil : namely, envy and haughtiness. For Machomet began to envy Nestorius' fame and desired for himself alone the name and honour of magisterium. He attained this by means of the following trick. On a certain night, while Nestorius and his disciples lay buried in sleep and drunken stupor caused by wine,[xxxii] Machomet quietly arose, took a knife from the sheath of a certain fellow disciple sleeping, killed the master, and put back the bloody knife into the sheath from where he took it away, and thus proceeded to sleep. And when in the morning there was an attempt to find the perpetrator of such a great crime, then by Machomet's pronouncement and counsel, there was a search among all and the one in whose presence was found the bloody sword was hanged by a noose despite the fact that he was innocent, and thus this individual came to the end of his life. And so Machomet was chosen by the disciples in the place of Nestorius, and as he had sought, the fame, which was previously of the two men, came into Machomet's hands alone. Therefore he decreed as the status of law, that no one of the Agarenes should consume wine, because through drunkenness such things were perpetrated against Nestorius. But he issued this commandment, so that he should deceptively conceal his own fault all the more. Nonetheless up to this day that law is preserved among them.
Not long after, the king of the Agarenes from Babilonia died, and since he had no son, he let his wife become heir of the kingdom. And soon enough, Machomet, roused by the spirit by which he was wholly driven, and I mean here the spirit of confusion and haughtiness, relied on his own cunning and began to consider how he might marry the queen and gain control of the kingdom. Therefore he found a certain assistant for his wickedness, whom he instructed cautiously as to what he should say and directed to address the queen. As he was permitted to have a secret address with the queen, he said: 'For a long time, oh queen, I had neglected to bring to you a vision that I had seen. But admonished rather harshly for the third time, I dare not to keep concealed from you the things I had seen and the things I had heard, but I wish that you should listen with placid heart. Has fame not brought anything to you concerning a certain Machomet, by whose merits and labour a new and particular sect has been brought to our people? For many of our people have come to follow him.[xxxiii] Indeed you have been ordered by heaven to have this man as your husband and the consort of your kingdom. Also from him you will have a son who will have rule over the whole world.' After hearing such words, the queen at first was dumbfounded; for she doubted if this messenger was reporting true things.
Eventually, as the woman's mind easily gives way in both parts, she said: 'I had heard about this Machomet, but, as he was isolated from men in solitude and began to be freely devoted to some unknown god of his, I am not sure, whether he wishes to show concern about such matters.' And at the same time, she ordered for him to be led into her presence. When he reached the place and the queen had a conversation with him concerning marriage, that chameleon said: 'I have known that you are the wife destined for me from heaven, but I should wish, if it were right, to oppose things destined for me, if I did not have the hope of promised offspring. Indeed he who tries to prevent from happening that which is to come, errs within.'
By this skill he gained the royal wife and was also elevated with royal honour, of course such that his mishap would be graver, the higher the step he ascended. Therefore after he gained sufficient strength in the kingdom, he bolstered and strengthened the aforementioned sect by his skills and forcibly compelled all to follow it: that is, those whom he could not convince to do so out of their own will. And so he became so wondrous among his own people, that it was decided to invoke him instead of God. For so strong was his doctrine.
Finally, when the land could hardly sustain any longer his wickedness, the one who causes the stumbling of souls, whom Machomet always served, foresaw a demise befitting his life and an end worthy for himself. For after Machomet seemed to have made a perpetual name for himself and had converted his entire kingdom to his error, he went out to the wood one day to hunt and wandered by chance far away from his own people. Suddenly he fell into a flock of pigs, by whom he was torn apart limb by limb and he was eaten within such that nothing of him remained except his right arm. Hence it was decreed among all the Agarenes that henceforth no one should ever consume pigs, and this law is still preserved with utmost integrity among them, because their king- their teacher and prophet- was consumed by pigs.
And deservedly was the king to be consumed by pigs,
He who was very often as a young man accustomed to graze pigs.
This is Machomet, who is honoured as teacher by the Agarenes, and is called a king and prophet and is adored as God."
Let Machomet suffice to have said these things to the Agarenes from Nestorius, just as the Greek reported to me. But whoever thinks these things false, let him cease to rebuke me, since he more truly ought to impute it either to his ignorance or the invention of the Greeks.
Here ends the composition by Adelphus.
Notes
[i] Cf. Matthew 9:17 and Luke 5:37.
[ii] The allusion is to the poets of the Epic Cycle, which narrated the origins, events and aftermath of the Trojan War. Cf. Horace Ars Poetica 136-137:
nec sic incipies, ut scriptor cyclicus olim:
'Fortunam Priami cantabo et nobile bellum'
'And you will not begin, as the cyclical writer once did:
'I will sing of the fortune of Priam and the noble war.'
[iii] Cf. Vergil Aeneid 3:658
monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum
'A horrendous monster, hideous, huge, from whom light has been taken away'.
[iv] Antioch.
[v] Cf. Galatians 4:29.
[vi] Hagarenes: i.e. people of Hagar.
[vii] Israel: i.e. Jacob.
[viii] Cf. Matthew 13:24 ff.
[ix] Acts 20:29.
[x] Song of Songs 2:15.
[xi] Cf. Ecclesiastes 7:17:
neque plus sapias quam necesse est
'And do not know more than is necessary.'
[xii] Cf. Matthew 7:15, where Christ warns of the wolves in sheep's clothing.
[xiii] Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:33.
[xiv] Cf. Juvenal Satires 2:79 ff.
[...] dedit hanc contagio labem
et dabit in plures, sicut grex totus in agris
unius scabie cadit et porrigine porci
uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva.
'The contagion has given this stain and will give it in more, just as the whole flock in the fields falls by the disease of one and by the mange of a pig, and the distinguished vine takes the sickly colour from another vine.'
[xv] Mount Lebanon.
[xvi] Cf. Deuteronomy 32:10.
[xvii] Matthew 12:44 and Luke 11:24.
[xviii] Cf. Horace Epode 5:
atqui nec herba nec latens in asperis
radix fefellit me locis.
'And neither the herb nor the root hidden in harsh places has cheated me.'
[xix] Cf. Sallust Bellum Catalinae 6:
urbem Romam, sicuti ego accepi, condidere atque habuere initio Troiani, qui Aenea duce profugi sedibus incertis vagabantur, cumque iis Aborigines, genus hominum agreste, sine legibus, sine imperio, liberum atque solutum. hi postquam in una moenia covenere, dispari genere, dissimili lingua, alii alio more viventes, incredible memoratu est, quam facile coaluerint: ita brevi multitudo dispersa atque vaga concordia civitas facta erat.
'The city of Rome, as I have accepted, was founded and held in the beginning by the Trojans, who with Aeneas as their leader wandered about as fugitives through uncertain residences. And with them the Aborigines, a rustic race of men, without laws, without empire, free and released. After these people came together into one city, despite their different descent and dissimilar tongue and each living by different customs, it is incredible to note how easily they merged: thus in a short time the dispersed and wandering multitude had become a city-state through harmony.'
[xx] Cf. Aeneid 2:370 ff.
primus se Danaum magna comitante caterva
Androgeos offert nobis, socia agmina credens
inscius, atque ultro verbis compellat amicis
'The first of the Danaeans to offer himself to us with a great accompanying battalion was Androgeos, believing, in his ignorance, that we were allied columns of men, and of his own free will addressed us with friendly words.'
[xxi] Latin idiom: 'quid si non...'; see discussion by Maurice Pope.
[xxii] Cf. Seneca the Younger: De Brevitate Vitae 15:
at iis, quae consecravit sapientia, nocere non potest; nulla abolebit aetas
'But those things, which wisdom has consecrated, [oldness] cannot harm; no age will abolish them.'
[xxiii] Cf. Luke 4:24.
[xxiv] Cf. Aeneid 10:809 ff.
[...] sic obrutus undique telis
Aeneas nubem belli, dum detonet omnis,
sustinet et Lausum increpitat Lausoque minatur:
'quo moriture ruis maioraque viribus audes?'
'Thus overwhelmed from all sides by the missiles
Aeneas endured the cloud of war, until it should wholly cease thundering,
And he rebuked Lausus and threatened Lausus:
'Whither do you rush, you who intend to die, and do you dare greater things by your strength?"
[xxv] Cf. Matthew 12:45 and Luke 11:26.
[xxvi] Cf. Exodus 17:6.
[xxvii] Cf. Romans 13:12.
[xxviii] The Latin line here reads:
talibus alloquitur monitis Machometa magistrum
cf. Ovid Metamorphoses 11:283-4.
talibus adloquitur: mediae quoque commoda plebi
nostra patent, Peleu, nec inhospita regna tenemus.
'He addressed him with such words: 'Also our benefits lie open to the middle of the common people, Peleus, and we do not hold inhospitable realms.'
[xxix] Cf. Exodus 31:18.
[xxx] Cf. Metamorphoses 15:729-730:
huc omnis populi passim matrumque patrumque
obvia turba ruit [...]
'Hither rushed from all sides the crowd of the whole people and of mothers and fathers, intending to meet [him].'
[xxxi] Cf. Aeneid 2:370 ff., as noted earlier.
[xxxii] Cf. Aeneid 2:265:
invadunt urbem somno vinoque sepultam
'They invaded the city buried in sleep and wine.'
[xxxiii] Cf. John 6:67.