718 Report on Shoa [No. 140. 



to the people of Tigre, and proclaimed that all who were disposed to 

 embrace the Jesuitical faith might repair to the deluded emperor ; whilst 

 those who held to the ancient belief, should forthwith gather under his 

 standard ; and finding himself shortly afterwards at the head of a large 

 army, he marched towards the royal camp, resolved to establish the 

 ancient doctrine of the land, or to perish in the attempt. 



The Abuna Simeon, who had attained the venerable age of one 

 hundred years, joined the army of the defenders of the Alexandrian 

 faith, and in giving his Patriarchal blessing assured the soldiery, 

 that all who should fall in the combat died the death of a martyr, and 

 would receive their reward in heaven. The desired effect was produced, 

 and the hearts of the entire force burned with one eager zeal to meet 

 the accursed enemies of their religion. 



On the appearance of the inflamed force, a reconciliation was attempt- 

 ed, and the daughter of the emperor was made the bearer of terms to 

 her rebel lord. Her tears and entreaties were however totally disregard- 

 ed. The impetuous youth prepared for instant attack, and the princess 

 had barely time to regain her father's tent, when hostilities were com- 

 menced. 



The soldiers of the viceroy rushed furiously upon the royal encamp- 

 ment, and Aclius succeeded in forcing his way, at the head of a small 

 body of troops, to the very pavilion of his father-in-law. But he was 

 here struck from his horse by a stone, and stumbled upon the ground. 

 A panic seized the army of the fallen leader, and the rabble casting away 

 their arms, fled in all directions. 



The aged Abuna found himself alone and deserted in the same spot 

 which he had occupied during the attack. His years and high clerical 

 learning disarmed the violence of the Abyssinian soldiery, but a Portu- 

 guese partizan at length threw himself upon the Patriarch, and regard- 

 less of his white and venerable hairs, transfixed him with a spear. 

 A frightful massacre ensued, and the heads of the principal leaders of the 

 unsuccessful rebellion were exposed on the gates of the capital, as a 

 bloody warning to the seditious. 



Strengthened by this signal victory, other points of the Alexandrian 

 creed were attacked in succession, and the time of the Jesuits was fully 

 occupied in the translation into Ethiopic of sundry dogmatical treatises 

 on subjects of disputed faith. But the barbarism of the language was 



