Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/317

 LV. While the  holy  man's  body  was  still  lying  within,

there came  there  a  great  multitude  from  many  cities,

and the  Poitevin  folk  no  less  than  the  people  of  Tours,

and there  was  a  strife  betwixt  the  two  peoples.

Then said  the  Poitevins  who  had  come  thither;

'He was  our  monk  and  also  our  abbot,

we desire  to  have   him  because  we  lent  him  formerly;

ye have  enjoyed  his  words  and  profited  by  his  teaching,

ye have  conversed  with  him  and  been  strengthened  by  his  blessings,

and have  been  gladdened  by  manifold  wonders;

let all  this  be  enough  for  you. Let us  now  at  least

convey his  soulless  body  with  us.'

Then the  men  of  Tours  answered  thus;

'If ye  say  that  his  miracles  are  enough  for  us,

then know  ye  that  he  wrought  more  miracles  with  you

than he  did  with  us;    and  although  we  pass  over  many,

for you  he  raised  verily  two  dead  men

and for  us  but  one;    and  so  he  often  said,

that he  had  more  might  in  the  monastic  office

than in  the  episcopal  office,  and  we  have  now  need

that he,  being  dead,  should  accomplish  that  which  he  did  not  in  life.

From you  he  was  taken  away  and  given  to  us  by  God,

and after  the  old  tradition  he  ought  to  have  a  sepulchre

in the  same  city  where  he  was  bishop.

If ye  desire  to  have  him  for  the  sake  of  the  monastery

and because  he  was  with  you,  then  know  ye  this,

that he  had  a  monastery  in  Milan  at  the  first.'

In the  midst  of  this  dispute  the  day  came  to  an  end,