312 DEATH OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST-BORN. P same month; and they chose his firstborn son in his stead; but he was a lad, and all the people were ruled according to the word of his uncle the cardinal, and his mother Margaret*. 1015. As for that month, let darkness seize upon it; for in the same, my first-born son Joshua (blessed be his memory!) was visited on the ninth of the month, on the third day of the month Tammuth, which is the fourth month, in the river Renot, which is near the Piave§, when he went to bathe; his hands were not bound, and his feet met not in fetters||, but as lead they sank in the proud waters, and there was none to save him. Therefore I said, "Let there be no dew upon Piave, and no rain in the border of Ferrara, nor fields of offerings; there is fallen the most pleasant of youths. Would to God I had died for thee, O my son, my son !** Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me!†† Cursed be the day wherein I was born to see labor and sorrow! My days are consumed with mourning§§; why died I not from the womb?|||| or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always great with *Gen. xli. 10. .רינו ! + Job. iii. 6. § "N', a river which runs into the gulph of Venice. || 2 Sam. iii. 34. ** 2 Sam. iii. 33; xix. 41. קיג DORIA AT MONASTERIO. 313 me*! Woe unto me, for I have sinnedt." My breach is great like the sea; who will heal me? for fourteen days after this evil report had reached me, there died also his brother, who was sucking the breasts of his mother? Blessed be the true Judge!! The conclusion of the matter is, whether I turn to the right or to the left, the Lord my God I will fear, and his commandments I will keep§; though he slay me, yet will I trust in him|| till my change come¶. This is my comfort**, for he maketh sore and bindeth uptt; and their souls shall be bound in the bundle of lifett. [TP] [קיד] 1016. Then the king of Tunis hired Andrea Doria to sail for making war against the cities which Barbarossa had enticed, so that they would not bear the king's yoke as at first. They refused to obey, and he went unto Monasterio§§ with fifty galleys and fifteen large ships, and about seven thousand Spaniards and Italians with him. And the men of the city feared much, and fled with the women and the children, and all their stuff. And they sent unto him three men, saying, "Let us alone, and whatsoever thou shalt say unto us we will do; only our king we will not 17. * Jer. xx. Lam. ii. 13. || Job. iii. 15. ** Ps. cxix. 50. ‡‡ 1 Sam. xxv. 29. † Lam. v. 16. § Eccles. xi. 13. ¶ Job. xiv. 14. Job. v. 18. §§ On the coast of Northern Africa. 314 DORIA TAKES MONASTERIO. 66 קיר serve, for he is a Belial;" and he sent them unto the viceroy of the emperor who was with him, and he rebuked them, and would not hearken unto them, and said unto them, "Serve your king, that ye may live, for so the emperor hath appointed; and if not, evil is determined against you." And the messengers said unto the viceroy of Sicily, Give us time, that we may take back an answer unto them that sent us ;" and the viceroy gave into their hand an hour-bottle*, which is a measure of sand, which runs out in one hour; and said unto them, "Take and got," and it shall come to pass when the bottle shall be finished, I will come upon them like a bear robbed of her whelps, and will smite the mother with the children§. And the men went into the city, and told unto them the words of the viceroy; and the men of the city feared much, and went out of the city, and fled for their lives; and there was not left even one. And it came to pass, when the bottle was completed, that the uncircumcised went into the city, and found not one that pisseth against the wall; there were no more left there than four old women, who could i. e. Hour-glass. 2 Sam. xvii. 8; Hos. xiii. 8. + Gen. xxiv. 51. * 1 Sam. xxv. 22; 1 Kings xiv. 10; xvi. 11; xxi. 21. 2 Kings ix. 8. The same expression is used by the Syrians. Asseman, Bibl. Orient. II. ii. p. 260. קיר SUSA-AFRICA OR MAHADI. not walk, for they were heavy of age*. 315 And they took the wheat and the barley, and the oil and the flax, which the men of the city had left there; and they left no gleanings in it at that timet. And there went out Ishmaelites, who rode upon horses against them, and slew many of the uncircumcised with the edge of the sword. And of the Ishmaelites there died only a small number, for their horses are swifter than the weaver's shuttle: even when they would have pursued them, they could not overtake them. 1017. And when the men of Susa§ heard it, they fled also with their young and old; and they sent thither to spy out, and they found not one that pisseth against the wall; and they brought back word unto Andrea, and he went not thither. And the men of Africa, which is Mahadi¶, bent their shoulder to bear**, for the fear of the uncircumcised fell upon them. And they delivered the city into the hand of the king, and made a covenant with them. And Africa was a fenced city with gates of iron; and from ancient time they would not let any man come into it who was not of their covenant. Until the time of its visitation camett, no stranger came into it; but it 316 KAIRWAN IN BARBARY. קיר became a servant unto tribute at that time. And the king put a garrison into the midst thereof. And the king of Tunis also came into these cities on the way by land with a strong hand. And he came before the viceroy and Andrea Doria, and bowed to the ground, and they honored him much. And he gave them presents and precious things; and they returned unto their own country; and his throne was firmly established. 1018. And they left there about three thousand Spaniards to be a help to the king, and to bring back unto the king the rebellious cities; for so the emperor had commanded. And Kairwan* was a city and a mother in Barbary; and in the midst thereof was the Ishmaelitish high priest, and they would not allow Jews to live there until this day. And the king of Tunis desired to make war against it. And he gathered his army, and took the Spaniards also with him; and they went thither. And the Ishmaelites went out against him with a strong hand. And some of the Ishmaelites also who were under the command of his son, turned to be his enemiest at that time. And when the king saw that evil was determined against him, he drew back without success, and the war ceased. * .קירואן + Is. lxiii. 10. |