170 WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS v 



If the "Historia Translation is "contained nothing 

 more than has been laid before the reader, up to this 

 time, disbelief in the miracles of which it gives 

 so precise and full a record might well be regarded 

 as hyper-scepticism. It might fairly be said, Here 

 you have a man, whose high character, acute in- 

 telligence, and large instruction are certified by 

 eminent contemporaries ; a man who stood high in 

 the confidence of one of the greatest rulers of any 

 age, and whose other works prove him to be an 

 accurate and judicious narrator of ordinary events. 

 This man tails you, in language which bears the 

 stamp of sincerity, of things which happened within 

 his own knowledge, or within that of persons in 

 whose veracity he has entire confidence, while he 

 appeals to his sovereign and the court as witnesses 

 of others ; what possible ground can there be for 

 disbelieving him ? 



Well, it is hard upon Eginhard to say so, but it 

 is exactly the honesty and sincerity of the man 

 which are his undoing as a witness to the mira- 

 culous. He himself makes it quite obvious that 

 when his profound piety comes on the stage, his 

 good sense and even his perception of right and 

 wrong, make their exit. Let us go back to the 

 point at which we left him, secretly perusing the 

 letter of Deacon Deusdona. As he tells us, its 

 contents were 



that he [the deacon] had many relics of saints at home, and that 

 he would give them to me if I would furnish him with the 



