V WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS 171 



means of returning to Rome ; he had observed that I had two 

 mules, and if I would let him have one of them and would 

 despatch with him a confidential servant to take charge of the 

 relics, he would at once send them to me. This plausibly ex- 

 pressed proposition pleased me, and I made up my mind to test 

 the value of the somewhat ambiguous promise at once ; l so 

 giving him the mule and money for his journey I ordered my 

 notary Ratleig (who already desired to go to Rome to offer his 

 devotions there) to go with him. Therefore, having left Aix- 

 la-Chapelle (where the Emperor and his Court resided at the 

 time) they came to Soissons. Here they spoke with Hildoin, 

 abbot of the monastery of St. Medardus, because the said deacon 

 had assured him that he had the means of placing in his posses- 

 sion the body of the blessed Tiburtius the Martyr. Attracted 

 by which promises he (Hildoin) sent with them a certain priest, 

 Hunus by name, a sharp man (hominem callidum], whom he 

 ordered to receive and bring back the body of the martyr in 

 question. And so, resuming their journey, they proceeded to 

 Rome as fast as they could. (Cap. i. 3.) 



Unfortunately, a servant of the notary, one 

 Reginbald, fell ill of a tertian fever, and impeded 

 the progress of the party. However, this piece of 

 adversity had its sweet uses ; for three days before 

 they reached Rome. Reginbald had a vision. 

 Somebody habited as a deacon appeared to him 

 and asked why his master was in such a hurry to 

 get to Rome ; and when Reginbald explained their 

 business, this visionary deacon, who seems to have 

 taken the measure of his brother in the flesh with 

 some accuracy, told him not by any means to 



1 It is pretty clear that Eginhard had his doubts about the 

 deacon, whose pledges he qualifies as sponsiones incertce. But, 

 to be sure, he wrote after events which fully justified scep- 

 ticism. 



