THE LAST DAYS OF MICHAEL SCOT 165 



Library in that city, 1 and in another, preserved in 

 Padua, 2 we find the following title : ' Here begin 

 certain prophecies of Michael Scot, the most illus- 

 trious astrologer of Lord Frederick the Emperor, 

 which declare somewhat of the future, to wit, of 

 certain Italian cities.' This shows that verses, 

 bearing to have been composed by Scot, were 

 current at an early date, though the scribe of 

 the Paduan manuscript has forgotten to fulfil the 

 promise he makes in his title, for that which 

 follows it is not the poetry of Scot but only a dull 

 treatise on Latin prosody. 



It is to Salimbene that we owe the preservation 

 of these verses in their most complete form. He 

 must have taken much interest in them, as he is 

 careful to give, not only the original Latin, but 

 an Italian translation as well. From his pages 

 then we shall borrow the text of these curious lines. 3 

 According to Salimbene they are these : 



* Regis vexilla timens, fugiet velamina Brixa, 

 Et suos non poterit filios, propriosque, tueri. 

 Brixia stans fortis secundi certamine Regis, 

 Post Mediolani sternentur moenia gryphi. 

 Mediolanum territum cruore fervido necis, 

 Resuscitabit viso cruore mortis. 

 In numeris errantes erunt atque silvestres. 

 Deinde Vercellus veniunt Novaria Laudum. 

 Affuerit dies, quod aegra Papia erit, 

 Vastata curabitur moesta dolore flendo. 

 Munera quae meruit diu parata vicinis, 

 Pavida mandatis parebit Placentia Regis. 

 Oppressa resiliet, passa damnosa strage, 

 Cum fuerit unita in firmitate manebit. 

 Placeiitia patebit grave pondus sanguine mixtum. 

 Parma parens viret, totisque frondibus uret 



1 L. ii. xvii. 338, p. 183vo. 



2 Bibl. Univ. No. 1557, p. 43. This MS. is of the fifteenth century. 



3 ' Chronica F. Salimbene,' Parma 1857, pp. 176-177. 



