Page:Select historical documents of the Middle Ages.djvu/497

Rh man to whom I had given the carpet ordered the ship's master, after passing a certain promontory, to put me ashore and let me die of hunger. This he did because he had searched my baggage to see if I had any purple vestments concealed, and, when he had wanted to take one, I had prevented him. Oh ye Michaels, ye Michaels, where have I ever found so many of you and such ones! For my keeper in Constantinople gave me over to his rival Michael—a bad man to a worse, the worse one to a rascal. My guide was also called Michael—a simple man, indeed, but one whose saintly simplicity harmed me almost as much as the wickedness of the others. But from the hands of these little Michaels I came into thine, O great Michael—half hermit, half monk! I tell thee and I tell thee truly; the bath will not avail thee, in which thou dost assiduously get drunk for love of St. John the Baptist! For those who seek God falsely, shall never merit to find Him!

(The manuscript containing Liutprand's report breaks off here suddenly.)