6o 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a thousand years ago, and was neither a great king nor a great 

 warrior. These works are — 1. " The Life of the Emperor Karl." 

 2. " The Annals of the Franks." 3. " Letters." 4. " The History 

 of the Translation of the Blessed Martyrs of Christ, SS. Marcel- 

 linns and Petrus." 



It is to the last, as one of the most singular and interesting 

 records of the period during which the Roman world passed into 

 that of the middle ages, that I wish to direct attention.* It was 

 written in the ninth century, somewhere, apparently, about the 

 year 830, when Eginhard, ailing in health and weary of political 

 life, had withdrawn to the monastery of Seligenstadt, of which he 

 was the founder. A manuscript copy of the work, made in the 

 tenth century, and once the property of the monastery of St. 

 Bavon on the Scheldt, of which Eginhard was abbot, is still 

 extant, and there is no reason to believe that, in this copy, the 

 original has been in any way interpolated or otherwise tampered 

 with. The main features of the strange story contained in the 

 " Historia Translationis " are set forth in the following pages, in 

 which, in regard to all matters of importance, I shall adhere as 

 closely as possible to Eginhard's own words : 



"While I was still at court, busied with secular affairs, I often thought of the 

 leisure which I hoped one day to enjoy in a solitary place, far away from the 

 crowd, with which the liberality of Prince Louis, whom I then served, had pro- 

 vided me. This place is situated in that part of Germany which lies between the 

 Neckar and the Main,t and is nowadays called the Odenwald by those who live 

 in and about it. And here having built, according to my capacity and resources, 

 not only houses and permanent dwellings, but also a basilica fitted for the per- 

 formance of divine service and of no mean style of construction, I began to think 

 to what saint or martyr I could best dedicate it. A good deal of time had passed 

 while my thoughts fluctuated about this matter, when it happened that a certain 

 deacon of the Roman Church, named Deusdona, arrived at the court for the pur- 

 pose of seeking the favor of the king in some affairs in which he was interested. 

 He remained some time ; and then, having transacted his business, he was about 

 to return to Eome, when one day, moved by courtesy to a stranger, we invited 

 him to a modest refection; and while talking of many things at table, mention 

 was made of the translation of the body of the blessed Sebastian,! and of the neg- 

 lected tombs of the martyrs, of which there is such a prodigious number at Eome: 

 and the conversation having turned toward the dedication of our new basilica, I 

 began to inquire how it might be possible for me to obtain some of the true relics 

 of the saints which rest at Rome. He at first hesitated, and declared that he did 

 not know how that could be done. But observing that I was both anxious and 

 curious about the subject, he promised to give me an answer some other day. 



* My citations are made from Teulet's " Einhardi omnia quse extant opera," Paris, 

 1840-1843, which contains a biography of the author, a history of the text, with transla- 

 tions into French, and many valuable annotations. 



\ At present included in the duchies of Hesse-Darmstadt and Baden. 



% This took place in the year 826 a. n. The relics were brought from Eome and de- 

 posited in the Church of St. Medardus at Soissons. 



