- (04) BIBLIOGRAPHIE HELLENIQUE XVII TOME PREMIER
- 92 CHRISTOPHER A.NGELL, a Grecian, who tasted of many stripes and torments inflicted by the Turkes for the faith which he had in Christ Iesus. AT OXFORD Printed by Iohn Lichfeild, and William Wrench, Printers to the famous Vniversitie. 1617. In-4° de 8 feuillets non chiffres, divises en deux cahiers de 4 feuil- '°ls chacun, signes Λ-Β. Armes de l'universite d'Oxford sur le titre, "lis dans le texte. Rarissime plaquette. Traduction de l'opuscule decrit sous le n° precedent. Bibliothe que Bodleienne : Seld. 4°. A 57. art (3). La rarete de cette Relation nous fait un devoir de reproduire ici le passage ou Christophe Angelos raconte les mauvais traitements 4U1 lui furent infliges par les Turcs. By reason of the defect of teachers, I travelled through many places in Greece that I might supply that want, profi- '"ig in some places more, in some lesse. At length, I came to Athens & studied there. Now the captaine of that place was an Hagarene and a deadly enemy to all christians which dwelt at Athens : besides this he was very covetous and cruel 1, Uniust, and did much wrong to the Athenians. By reason Vvhereof the Athenians went to the great Turke three severall times, and complained of the iniuries which he had offered 'hem. Whereupon the great Turke sent certaine noble men *° hang him ; but by reason of his ritches & hobilitie they c°uld not accomplish that they were sent for. The captain upon these complaints was greivously offended with the Athenians : & farther to satisfie his owne greedy desires he °Pprcssed many strangers. Amongst the rest seeing mee also, who was a stranger and unknowne of all, immediately hee layes hands'upon me, dili- BlBLlOGnAPllIE lini.l.EMQUE t — 8 114 BIBLIOGRAPHIE HELLΙNIQUE gently examined me concerning the name of the governour of my native country. I answered that it was now almost twentie yeares since I left my country for study and learning s;ike ; and that I had not as yet returned to my country, and therefore knew not the name of the governour thereof. Then he answered me : If you knowe not your govcrnour, you must goe to prison. Whether when I came, they clapt a paire ot holts upon my legs. Not long after, the governour called many of the .'Jfurkes, who derive their beginning from Mahomet, and then he tooke mee out of prison, and brought me before them, and said unto them behold a Spanish traitor. They all cryed out : tis true as you say; he is a traiterons Spaniard, as we knowe by his beard, for it is long and picked and blacke, and his clothes are of a Spanish red (for I did weare appareil of reJ colour, such as the ehiefe of the greeke monkes use also). And some of the christians standing by made answer for me to the Turkes that this was the usuall appareil of the better sort of the greek monkes. But the Turkes, withstood that, saying that the monkes habits were made of courser cloth, but mine was of finer, and therefore a Spanish garment : this they said, not that the cloth was indeed finer then that of other monkes, but that they might uniustly picke a quarrell & bring some accusation, whereby they might punish nice. After this they began to intice mee saying : Our Easter is ncere at hand, and if thou wilt deny thy Christ, we promise thee (and that we may not deceave thee as concerning our promise, wee swearc) that, if thou wilt become a Turke, thou shalt greatly honour our feast day,, and for this we will make thec a centurion, besides other great honours which wait upon thee. Now it is the manner of the Turks, when they sweare, not to falsifie their words, and thrice in this manner they tempted me. But I denied them ahvaies, telling them that my care was not for honours, but that I desired rather to die in the same religion, for which my father and mother died also. Then one of the governours came and, plucking mee by the beard and the haire ANNΙE 1617 . Il of the head, buffeted mee, saying : Why seeing I turned l'urke, maist not thou also (for before time he had beene a christian) ? I answered him that I cared not what hee had done, I allow not of it. Then he threwe me on the ground and trampled upon my head before all the congregation of Turkcs and christians. And afterwards they shut mee up in close ward, meaning after a few houres to bring mee out againe to punishment, that for feare of stripes I might turne Turke. And certaine christian slaves belonging to the captaine, who were of the westerne church, came to me saying : Now is the time that thou shalt bee scourged to death unlesse thou turne. And they besought me snying : it is better to die than turne Turke. I answered : God forbid that I should deny Christ the true God ; I wil first die an hundred times in one day before I deny my Saviour Christ. Then my conscience said to me in private : But can i then indure torments even unto death ? Then my reason answered : Christ was a man, and yet he suffered on the crosse to death, and that not for himselfe, but others. But then 1 reasoned againe : Christ was both God and man, therefore hee could withstand the terrors of death; but I am a fleshly man, and perchance I cannot undergoe the cruell pangs of death. But my conscience solved all this doubt, in that the martyrs were fleshly men and sinners, yet by the grace of God were strengthned to die, therefore by the same grace shall I be sustained. And in this cogitation I was much conforted, and prevailed in spirit, & wholy gave myselfe over to suffer death : and they lead me streight waies to the place of execu- tion, and bound me hand and foot in maner of a crosse upon the earth, as appeareth by this figure. Ici, il y a un bois fort grossiθrement gravι, qui reprιsente Christophe Angelos entre ses deux bourreaux. Since here I have no witnesses that for the present may testi- be the truth of these my sufferings, therefore I call the eternall father and Gcd of all, both witnesse and iudgc in this maner ; U6 BIBLIOGRAPHIE HELLΙNIQUE The eternall God punish mee tn this world a;id in that to come, if I have not thus suffered from the Turkcs uniustly for my faith in Christ, as is under written. For they laid on the earth thicke peeces of timber like the beames of a house, and to them they bound me, and then they began to beat mee with scourges, as appeares in the figure. Two men, dipping their rods in salt water, began to scourge me; and, when the. one was lifting up his hand, the other was ready to strike, so that I could take no rest, and my paine was most grievous; and so they continued beating me, saying : Turne Turke, and we will free thee. But I answered them in no case, untill they made me halfe dead. Then they rested a while, saying : Ilee is surely very constant, and will not deny his religion : but we will tell him that wee will let him goe, if hee will say that the Athenian marchants which are in Venice, sent him to betray Athens to the Spaniards. And then thev began to beate me on the feet, savino' : Confesse that the Athenians which traffiquc in Venice, sent thee to betray Athens to the Spaniards, and we will let thee goe. Now the Turkcs would have me bearc false witnesse against the Athenians, that thereby they might take them, and slay them for the hatred which was betweene the fifovernour and the Athenians. I said nothing to this, and till this time I understood what the Turkes said, but from this moment, that is from that lime in which they said twice or thrice to me : Confesse that the Athenians sent thee to betray Athens, I answered nothing, I understood nothing, I was perfectly dead, and so remained for the space of an houre ; and again, after an houre, by the grace of God, I revived. Then the Turkes tooke all my substance, my bookes I meane and riches; & I was much in debt, till by the recpiest of many noble men I Mas freed from prison. And, after a weeke, they counselled among themselves to take me, and in one houre to kill me or make mee turne Turke by whipping and other torments. But this laying wait was made known to all the christians, both men and women in Athens, and to me also. ANNΙE 1617 117 I fled from Athens and wand ring abroad found expert mar- chants which knewe well both England and many other places, and I inquired diligently of them were I might find wise men, with whom I might keepe my religion and not loose niy learning. They told me : In England you may have both, for the English men love the Grecians and their learning, and it is a monarchie where are found many very honest, wise and liberal] men : but in Germany, France and Italy, they have continually civill warres. Therefore I came in a streight course to England, and came through Flanders to Yarmouth in England, where by good fortune I met with the bishop of that diocese who examined me diligently and found the testimonies which I brought from our bishops and clergy of Peloponnesus and other places. And hee with the rest of ministerie bestowed money on nice according to their faculties, and sent me with letters to Cambridge (for he himselfe was a Cambridge man), and the doctors of Cambridge receaved me kindly and frankly, and I spent there almost one whole yeare, as the testimonie of Cambridge can witnesse1. Then I fell sicke, that I could scarce breath, and the physitians and doctors counselled me to goe to Oxford, because (said they) the aire of Oxford is far better than that of Cambridge. And so I came to this famous universilie of Oxford ; & now I live here studious these many yeares'2. On trouve, ΰ la suite de la Relation proprement dite, An Epistle in commendation of England and the Inhabitants thereof, dont le texte grec figure dans la plaquette dιcrite sous le n° prιcιdent. Nous avons sous les yeux le manuscrit d'une fort mιdiocre tra- duction latine de cet opuscule, faite sur l'anglais postιrieurement ΰ 1836. Voici, ΰ titre de spιcimen, le dιbut du morceau que nous venons de reproduire : Quum magistri non essent a quibus edocerer, multos Grcire 1° is peregrinatus sum, desiderio motus ea discendi qua? 1. Voir ci-dessus, puge 111, le certifiait auquel Christophe Angelos fait allusion dans rc passage. 2. Feuillets 3 recto a 5 recto. ignorabam. Athenas veni, ibique studio operam dedi. Qui vero huic urbi prsidebat Agarenus, cuique Athenas iucolenti christiano infensus, necnon avarus, crudelis, iniustus, Athe- niensibus noxissimiis erat. Quamobrem Athenienses imperato- rem Turcorum ter adierunt, de iniuriis sibi ab eo illatis conquerentes, etc.
