520 FIRE IN CREMONA, A.D. 1553. קמג valor in great multitudes; and he went out against the emperor with a numerous people, and with a mighty hand. 1310. In those days, when the Duke Maurice and the Marquess Alberto were in their house, after the emperor had sent them away from him, there was strife between them, and they gathered together men of valor. And those that were numbered of the duke were about twenty thousand footmen, and three thousand horsemen. And the host of the marquess was about sixteen thousand footmen, and four thousand horsemen. When they joined battle, the earth shook at their voice, and there fell of them about fifteen thousand men; and the hand of the men of the duke prevailed; and they took Alberto alive. And when the shooters shot, they slew Maurice, so that he fainted and died*. And it came to pass, when they were amazed, that Alberto fled from them, and returned unto his place, and into his country, and the war ceased. 1311. In that year, in the month of June, fire fell from heaven upon the high tower which was at Cremona; and it devoured the wood upon which the bells rested, and the shop which was at the lower part of the tower. And it burned *Jonah iv. 8. THE TURKISH AND FRENCH FLEET, 1553. 521 there night and day, and they could not quench it, not even with many waters*. And they said, "This is the finger of Godt." And an old man said, "Let there be taken strange firet, and let it be put upon this fire, that they become ones, then the waters will be able to quench it." And they did so, and the fire was quenched. Then said they, "Wisdom is better than strength|| ;" and they gave thanks unto God. 1312. And at the end of the month of August, the king brought his camp within the distance as it were of a bowshot of the camp of the emperor¶; but the emperor would not come out against the king on the day of the battle, but remained upon his ward between the trenches in the ground, which he had made for his camp round about. And the destroyer went out of both camps, and they joined battle; and the hand of the emperor's men prevailed; and the liers in wait of the emperor went also out, and there fell slain of the king's camp about ten thousand men. And of the emperor's men there lacked but a few, for they were led on with wise counsel**; and the king and his men feared and removed, and stood *Cant. viii. 7. † Exod. viii. 19. § Ezek. xxxvii. 17. Lev. x. 1. Eccl. ix. 16. ** Prov. xx. 18; xxiv. 6. 522 THE TURKISH AND FRENCH FLEET, 1553. P afar off*. And the emperor pursued not after him, for the winter began; and during many days there was rain upon all the eartht. So he gathered his host into the cities on the borders, and remained there; and the king also gathered his host into the fortresses; and the country had rest. 1312. In those days there was no king in England‡, for their king, Edward, was dead, and the government was left in the hand of his sister, the daughter of his father; and they buried him in the sepulchre of the kings. 1313. And the ships of Solyman came with the ships of King Henry, bearing the men of war whom the king had in Siena, and weapons of war in abundance; and they fell suddenly upon the island of Corsica, which was under the government of Genoa. And they took all the cities of the plain and all its fortresses, as a man taketh a piece of an ear; then the fortress Calvo alone was left unto the Genoese; and the French surrounded it, and it remained in siege and in straitness many days§. 1314. And the lords of Genoa gathered men of valor and ships in abundance, to go to its help, to deliver it from the hand of its spoilers. And the * Exod. xx. 18. ↑ Gen. vii. 12. § Deut. xxviii. 53. 55. 57. קמג THE TALMUD BURNED, A.M. 5313. 523 emperor and the duke of Florence succoured them; and they waxed very mighty*. 1315. In those days, a priest, one of the brethren of St. Francis, whose name was Corneglio of Montalcinot, was converted, and he cut off the flesh of his foreskin, to serve the Lord our God, and the spirit came upon him‡, and he set his face like a flints to preach unto many in the streets of the city of Rome, against their law and against their Messiah, and they seized him and burned him with fire. 1316. Then they who raved against our nation, brought their slander to Pope Julius the Third, saying, "That there were passages in the Talmud, which speak against their law." And he wrote letters into all the circuits of Italy, and commanded them to burn all the books of the Talmud with fire. And the decree was given at Rome¶, and at Bologna, and at Venice; this burning happened in the month Marchesvan, three hundred and fourteen, because of the greatness of its sins** : see, O Lord, and considertt! And in the rest of the cities of Italy the Jews assembled, and proclaimed fasts, and clothed themselves in sack 524 THE TALMUD BURNED, A.M. 5313. קמג cloth*, and cried unto the Lord in their distresst, and He was long suffering with them, because he delighteth in mercy‡. 1317. And there was war in Piedmont and in Corsica at that time. The author, Joseph the priest, saith, "Hitherto the Lord hath holpen me to write this Book of Chronicles, which was completed at the end of the month Cheshwan, in the year, AND the things that shall come upon them MAKE HASTE§.' May the Lord deem us worthy|| to write other books without end, and see the pleasantness of his temple, and the building of his house in Jerusalem. Amen. Such be his pleasure." When Zerachiah¶, the Levite, the son of the author's sister, saw the beauty of this glorious Book, and the honey , mundum, purum esse apud Rabbinos est etiam mereri, dignum esse in Piel dignum censere.-Buxtorf Lex. Rab. .זרחיה דד |