402

WALDENSES PERSECUTED, A.D. 1545.

קכו

sieged; and they battered its walls, so that they came down*, and in the straitness of the timet the city was broken up, and the soldiers came into the city with a high hand. And its inhabitants they slew with the edge of the sword, young men as well as virgins, the suckling with the hoary head‡. And there was not one who remained, or escaped, on the day of the Lord's anger§, and the cry of the city went up toward heaven; and about two hundred men were hid in a cave, and they kindled a fire in the mouth thereof, and all of them died therein; there was not one left. And they led the principal men of the people of the country away with them, and made their lives bitter; they burned them alive; their eye had no compassion upon them. And the Waldenses said, Certainly, this is the day we looked for¶; now may our soul return unto God, and our bodies to the dust**." And also among the rest who were not found there, the hand of the Lord was against them to destroy themtt; and they fell into the hand of those who sought their lives, and there was but a small number of them saved. And the inhabitants of Merindol‡‡ fled away, until the indignation was overpast§§; they

¡P DRAGUT RAVAGES CORSICA, A.D. 1545. 403 would not fight, and their lives were unto them for a prey*. And also of the men of the host many fell by the sword in that battle; and those that remained took the spoil of the city and all its substance, and went their way. [i]p]

1148. And the ships of the king which were at Marseille, went on their journey until they came into the waters of Britain in the month of May, three hundred and five, which is the third month, and they retained no strength before the ships of the English, for the light galleys had no power to stand in those proud waterst. And the men of the English ships took some of them, after their hearts' desire at that time. And Boulogne was straitly shut up before the French; none went out and none came in.

1149. And Dragut came with ten galleys into the sea of Italy in that year. And they went unto Corsica, and went on shore on Capo Corso in the month Tamuz, which is the fourth month. And they took the captives and the booty, and the houses they burned with fire, and went their way; and in the waters of Genoa God caused their hands to meet a ship which came from the east, and two other ships; and they took them, and sent them unto their country; and they found another ship,

* Jer. xxxviii. 2.

† Ps. cxxiv. 5.

קאפו קורסו +

404 DRAGUT IN ITALY AND SPAIN, A.D. 2546. P

and burned her in the midst of the sea while they were fighting, and their smoke went up towards heaven; and his fame was noised throughout all the country. And Dragut drew nigh, and they came in the darkness of the night of the fourth day nigh unto Monte Rosso*, and surrounded the city before their voice was heard, on the eighth day of the month of July, which is the fifth month. When the men of the city heard thereof, they took hold of each other's hand; one half took hold on spears, and one half made the women and the children to flee, and their soul was unto them a prey. And there were only left in their destruction† the feeble, who delayed to flee. And they took them, and put forth their hand unto the spoil, and left no gleanings. And they kindled a fire at one end of the city, and went their way. Also at Cornega, a small city, they did according as they had done at Monte Rosso; and they took there also clothes and vessels, and nine souls of men. Then the men of Genoa feared, and said one to another, "We are verily guilty, in that we have sent out this grinding oppressor from our handt. The Lord is righteous." And Dragut went on his journey, and overflowed Catalonia, and passed through§. And two open cities he gave up to be spoiled, and went

.מונטי רוסו *

Comp. Gen. xlii. 21.

Ps. cvii. 20.

§ Is. viii. 8.

קכז

DORIA PURSUES DRAGUT, 1545.

405

his way unto Algier. And the ships of Andrea* Doria pursued after them. And as they returned, they met in Corsica two small galleys of the Ishmaelites, and took them, and put their feet into irons. And they took another ship in the seat of Piombino and led her unto Naples, for there was his station.

1150. And the queen of Spain, the wife of Philip, the emperor's son, died after she had borne a male child in the month of July; and they mourned over her many days.

1151. And in the month Sivan, in the year three hundred and five, was Israel scattered: the Lord thought to destroy the captives of Jerusalem who were at Salonichit, and the Lord slew among the people a very great slaughter. And they went as fugitives and vagabonds from city to city, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth‡. And there also no rest was given unto them§. And there came one that had escaped, and said, "A fire of God has overwhelmed Salonichi, and destroyed the foundations thereof." For a fire came out from the house of Abraham Catalan, the grocer, in the night of the second day, on the fourth day of the month Ab, which is the fifth month; and it destroyed about eight thousand

.אנטוניאו *

‡ Is. ii. 19.

.Thessalonica,סאלוניקי +

Comp. Lam. v. 5.

406

GREAT FIRE IN SALONICHI.

קכז

houses in a little moment, and about two hundred souls of man; and the cry of the city went up toward heaven. Woe unto the eyes which have seen eighteen of our prayer-houses, and our glory, and the books of our Law, and the believers of our Law become a burning, and fuel of fire*. And they had no strength in their hand to save them. The young and the old lay on the ground desolate in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet embraced dunghills naked, but they were not ashamed on the day of the Lord's anger. And it came to pass, when it was heard in the open cities that the King, the Lord, spake terrors, that great mourning was among the Jews, many being in sackcloth and ashes||. Trembling took hold upon them¶, and horror on that bitter day, a shaking of the knees, and pain in all loins; and their faces gathered blackness. Blessed be the true Judge! And the children of Israel bewailed the burning which the Lord had kindled**. And after this also, there was a great plague among the people, until those who buried became weary, and the mourners and bewailers ceased. And the Jews retained no strength at that time, and Israel became very low. And the Turks put the grocer who had kindled the fire

* Is. ix. 4.

+ Lam. ii. 21.

Comp. Hos. xiii, 1.

¶ Exod. xv. 15. Ps. xlviii. 7.

‡ Lam. iv. 5.
Esth. iv. 3.

** Levit. x. 6.