CAP: III.
To come againe to Constantinople for to go toward the holy land.
tomb of Saint John the Evangelist
NOW come we againe for to know the way from Constantinople. He that will go through Turkey, he goeth through the citie of Nyke,1and passeth throughthe gate of Chivitot that is right highe, and it is a myle and a halfe from Nyke, and who so wyll go by the brache2of Sainct George, and by the Greeke sea there as Sainct Nicolas lyeth, and other places. First men come to the yle of Silo, and in that ile groweth mastike upon small trees as plomtrees, or chery trees. And then after men go through the ile of Pathmos, where Saint John the Evangelist wrote the Apocalips and I do you to wete,3when our Lorde Jesu Christ died, Saint John the Evangelist was of the age of xxxii yeare and he lived after the passion of Christ lxiii4year and then died. Fro Pathmos men go to Ephesim which is a faire citie and neare to the sea, and there died sainct John & he was buried behind the high aulter in a tombe, and there is a fayre church, for Christen men were wont to holde that place, but in the tombe of sainct John is nothing but Manna, for his body was translated5into paradise, & the Turkes hold now that citie and the church, and all Asia the lesse, & therefore is Asia the lesse called Turkey. And ye shall understand that sainct John did make his grave ther in his lyfe and laied himselfe therein all quick6& therefore some say he dyed not, but that he resteth there unto the day of judgement, and therefore truely there is a great marvaile, for men may see there apertly7yeearth of the tombe many times stirre and move, as there were a quick thing under. And from Ephesim, men go through many iles in the sea unto the citie of Pateran8where sainct Nicolas was borne and so to Marca9where he by the grace of God was chosen Bishop, and there groweth right goodwyne and strong, that men call the wyne of Marca. From thence men go to the yle of Crete, which the Emperor gave sometime to Jonais.10And then men passe through the yles of Cophos and Lango11of the which yles Ipocras12was lord, and some say that in the yle of Lango is Ipocras daughter in maner of a Dragon, which is a hundred foote long as men saye, for I have not seene it, and they of the yles call hir the lady of the countrey, and she lyeth in an olde castell and sheweth hir thrise in the yeare, and she doth no man harme and she is thus changed from a damosell to a dragon through a goddesse that men call Diana, and men say that she shall dwell so unto the tyme that a knighte come that is so hardy as to go to hir and kisse hir mouthe, and then shall she tourne againe to hir owne kinde, and be a woman, and after that she shall not live long. And it is not long sith13a knight of the Rodes14that was hardy and valiant said that he would kisse hir, and whan the Dragon began to lifte up hir head againste him, and he saw it was so hideous, he fled awaye, and the Dragon in hir anger bare the knight on a roche, and of15that cast him into the sea and so he was lost.
1:? Salonika.2:See foot note,ante, p. 19.3:Know.4:Pynsonsays 67.5:Taken up to heaven.6:Living, alive.7:Openly.8:Patera, a city of Lycia.9:Myra, also in Lycia.10:The Genoese.11:The island of Cos.12:Hippocrates, the famous physician, who was born at Cos.13:Since.14:The island of Rhodes.15:Off.
1:? Salonika.
2:See foot note,ante, p. 19.
3:Know.
4:Pynsonsays 67.
5:Taken up to heaven.
6:Living, alive.
7:Openly.
8:Patera, a city of Lycia.
9:Myra, also in Lycia.
10:The Genoese.
11:The island of Cos.
12:Hippocrates, the famous physician, who was born at Cos.
13:Since.
14:The island of Rhodes.
15:Off.