Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/175

Rh having, at all events, some foundation. The opponents of the legend argue upon the gross improbability of the existence of any such monster, with the voracious propensities and extraordinary powers attributed to it. They further assert, that in the middle of the fourteenth century there could have been no difficulty in achieving its destruction, without having recourse to the chivalric but somewhat antiquated expedient of a combat on horseback. The use of Greek fire had long been known, and gunpowder itself was gradually being adopted. With the assistance of these agents it could not have been necessary for the attacking party to have run any great danger in securing the extermination of the reptile. On the other hand, it seems strange that the story should have obtained such very general credence, and have been so universally upheld by succeeding generations. It is an indisputable fact, that the tomb of Gown bore the following inscription:—“ Ingenium superat vires. Deodatus de Gozon eques imanem serpentem interfecit. Ordinario perpetuo militisc tribunatu et extra ordinem pro magisterio functus pmo. chissor pfectus hex a suffragatorib: m. e. raro explo. designatus eat comrnuni care Eq gallorum provincialim posit An MCCCLXVI.”

Which may be thus rendered— “Skill, the conqueror of force. “Deodato de Gozon, knight, slew an enormous serpent. Appointed perpetual commander of the forces, and extraordinary lieutenant to the Master. First president of the council of election, he was by a rare example chosen Grand-Master by the electors. The French Knights of Provence erected this, An MCCCLXVI.”

This monument being dated only thirteen years after Gozon’s death, there does not seem to have been time for a legend to spring up, had it not contained an element of truth.

It may be remarked that, at Coventry, there is still preserved a statue in carved oak of a knight of St. John killing a dragon, which evidently dates back to the fifteenth, or at latest, the sixteenth century. Moreover, it must not be forgotten, that the island had, when under the Greeks, been called Orphieuse, or the isle of serpents, from the number of venomous reptiles swarming therein. That there was some