156 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OP MICHAEL SCOT 



upon Palermo at the time of Frederick's marriag 

 may have been, in part at least, the occasion 

 that interest which both the Emperor and h 

 astrologer took in the healing art. These epidemic 

 which in several of their most fatal forms are no 

 only known by tradition, were the dreaded scour^ 

 of the Middle Ages ; their prevalence being no doul 

 due to the rude and insanitary habits of life whi( 

 were then universal. We read of another infectioi 

 sickness which attacked Frederick and his crusade 

 when they were on the point of sailing from Brindi 

 in 1227. The season was one of terrible heat, i 

 great indeed that one chronicle says the rays of tl 

 sun melted solid metal ! Lying in the confinemei 

 of their galleys on an unhealthy coast the troo] 

 suffered severely. At last rain fell, but immed 

 ately poisonous damps arose from the steaming so 

 and the plague began to show itself. Two bisho] 

 and the Landgrave of Thuringia were among tl 

 victims of the pestilence, and very many of tl 

 crusaders died. Frederick himself ran considerab 

 risk of his life. Against the advice of his physicic 

 he had exposed himself to the sun in the course 

 his journey to Brindisi. After three days with tl 

 fleet he was obliged to return on account of tl 

 state of his health, when he at once went to ti 

 waters at Pozzuoli, which proved a successful cur 

 Michael Scot must have entered into these affai 

 with a large concern and responsibility for h 

 master's health, and we shall think much of tl 

 importance and consequence he enjoyed at this tin 

 when we remember that the chief object of his cai 

 as a physician was the life of one on whom interes' 

 that were more than European then depended. 



