THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS. 611 



hold of the body of St. Tiburtius, and afraid to go back to his 

 abbot empty-handed, bribed Lunison with four pieces of gold and 

 five of silver to give him access to the chest. This Lunison did, 

 and Hunus helped himself to as much as would fill a gallon meas- 

 ure (vas sextarii mensuram) of the sacred remains. Eginhard's 

 indignation at the " rapine " of this " nequissimus nebulo " is ex- 

 quisitely droll. It would appear that the adage about the receiver 

 being as bad as the thief was not current in the ninth century. 



Let us now briefly sum up the history of the acquisition of the 

 relics. Eginhard makes a contract with Deusdona for the delivery 

 of certain relics which the latter says he possesses. Eginhard 

 makes no inquiry how he came by them ; otherwise, the trans- 

 action is innocent enough. 



Deusdona turns out to be a swindler, and has no relics. There- 

 upon Eginhard's agent, after due fasting and prayer, breaks open 

 the tombs and helps himself. 



Eginhard discovers by the self -betrayal of his brother abbot, 

 Hildoin, that portions of his relics have been stolen and conveyed 

 to the latter. With much ado he succeeds in getting them back. 



Hildoin's agent, Hunus, in delivering these stolen goods to 

 him, at first declared they were the relics of St. Tiburtius, which 

 Hildoin desired him to obtain ; but afterward invented a story of 

 their being the product of a theft, which the providential drowsi- 

 ness of his companions enabled him to perpetrate from the relics 

 which Hildoin well knew were the property of his friend. 



Lunison, on the contrary, swears that all this story is false, 

 and that he himself was bribed by Hunus to allow him to steal 

 what he pleased from the property confided to his own and his 

 brother's care by their guest Ratleig. And the honest notary him- 

 self seems to have no hesitation about lying and stealing to any 

 extent, where the acquisition of relics is the object in view. 



For a parallel to these transactions one must read a police 

 report of the doings of a " long firm " or of a set of horse-coupers ; 

 yet Eginhard seems to be aware of nothing, but that he has been 

 rather badly used by his friend Hildoin and the "nequissimus 

 nebulo " Hunus. 



It is not easy for a modern Protestant, still less for any one 

 who has the least tincture of scientific culture, whether physical 

 or historical, to picture to himself the state of mind of a man of 

 the ninth century, however cultivated, enlightened, and sincere 

 he may have been. His deepest convictions, his most cherished 

 hopes, were bound up in the belief of the miraculous. Life was a 

 constant battle between saints and demons for the possession of 

 the souls of men. The most superstitious among our modern 

 countrymen turn to supernatural agencies only when natural 



