Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/119

107 LETTER OF PRESTER JOHN. 107 various works in gold, silver, and jewels ; and is perpetually per- fumed by the odour of the balsams burnt in it. " Our bed is of sapphire. Why does our Dignity choose to adopt the title of Priest ? That is what your prudence need not be sur- prised at. We have in our court many officers, whose dignity, functions, and titles, are borrowed from the ecclesiastical hierarchy. There are even some who are superior to us with respect to their divine functions. Thus the master of our pantry is a primate as well as a king ; our cupbearer, an archbishop and king ; our chamber- lain, bishop and king; our marshal, archimandrate and king; our chief cook is an abbe and a king ; it is therefore not repugnant to our Majesty to adopt the titles of which our court is full. If we have chosen an inferior title and rank, it has been out of humility. Our empire extends on one side for four months' journey, on the other no one can know how great it is. If you can count the sands of the sea, and the stars of heaven, you may number my domains, and reckon my power." Such is the pompously extravagant epistle addressed by Prester John to the Emperor Comnenus ; and many missives in the same style were sent at various epochs to the Emperors of the East and West, to the Pope, the King of France, and even, it is said, to the King of Portugal.* These curious documents contained, like that we have copied, an ostentatious account of the fabulous power of this royal pontiff, but nowhere suffi- ciently exact indications of the locality of his dominions to enable us to identify them. Every one was convinced, nevertheless, of the existence of this extraordinary per- sonage, and the wonders of his empire formed a common theme for discussion. It represented the Eldorado of the time, in the excited imaginations of the people. The great renown of Prester John induced the Pope Alexander III. to write to him (in 1177), and he ad-
 * Alberic, Chronicon, p. 346.