Page:Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian 1674.djvu/74

 and Inundation of Rivers, that it was not unlikely, but what was done by the Emperor and Empress, proceeded as well as the rest, from some supernatural agent. Moreover it was reported that Justinians Mother should of­ten declare to the principal of her Kinred and Friends, That the said Justinian was not the Son of her Husband Sabbatius, nor of any other Man; but that before she was with child, she was visited by a Spirit, present to her touch, but not sight; which Spirit had coition with her, performed the office of her Husband, and vanished like a dream. Some of Justinians Bed­chamber, whose courage and confidence were greater then the rest, affirmed, That as they lay in his Chamber, about midnight, instead of him, they saw a most deformed spirit in his place. There was one among them, who maintained, That he saw Justinian rise out of his Bed (where he never lay long) and walk about the Cham­ber; and that in a short time, his head disap­peared, and yet the Trunk walked on; and that whilest he was in an amaze, and ready to have distrusted his own eyes, of which, he began to be jealous, he saw the head return, and joyn it self to the body. Another declared, That as he was in the presence of Justinian, he saw the head of that Prince change on a sudden into a mass, and confused lump of flesh, where he could not distinguish eyes, or nose, or any other marks of a face: This I write not of my own knowledge, but I had it from persons who assured me it was true, and they had seen it with