himself in the water; but heavenly virtue fortified him with patience, so that he did it not. Of a truth the lion kept the child unharmed, by God's ordinance; the shepherds of the country, seeing that the lion bare the child thus alive, ran after and rescued it; and also the husbandmen rescued the other child from the wolf. Verily, both the herdsmen and the husbandmen were of one district, and they fed the children with them; but Eustace their father supposed that they had been devoured by the wild beasts; so he went lamenting, and saying; ' Well away! How did I but now grow like the tree which is beautifully adorned with fruits, and am now like the twig that is cut off the tree and cast away in a great storm, and buffeted on all sides. Alas! in how great abundance I once was, and am now bereaved like an enslaved captive; formerly I was master of the soldiers, and compassed about with a great company; now I am left alone, nor have I even my children. But Thou, Lord, forsake me not, nor despise my tears; I remember, dear Lord, that Thou saidest that I should be tried, even as Job, but in some things I suffer more than he. He, verily, although his goods were lost to him, nevertheless his dunghill was left to him that he might sit thereupon; I, indeed, suffer anguish in exile. He had friends who comforted him and sorrowed with him, but I verily have wild beasts in this wilderness, that have taken away my bairns; he had his wife with him who refreshed him, though he suffered (the loss of) his bairns. I verily on all sides am unhappy, being without offspring, nor even a spark of my kindred is left to me, but I am like the boughs which in the desert are beaten on all sides by storms. Dear Lord, reject Thou not Thy servant's manifold words; I, indeed, sorrow in such wise that I speak more than is fit. Set, Lord, a guard on my mouth that my heart yield not to evil words, lest I be cast away from Thy countenance. Dear Lord, give me now rest from my manifold tribulations.'
And with these words he went weeping into the town which is called Dadissus, and there dwelt, and procured for himself food by his work. Then after a great time he prayed the lords of the town that lie might occupy their fields and earn him meed; and he lived
