MOUNT ATHOS. 



201 



moment. The attention of the whole convent was directed to the dif- 

 ferent caravans of pilgrims, who were arriving at every instant ; they 

 were in general well mounted, each of them armed with a musket, a 

 pair of pistols, and a sword. After dinner, their mirth became ex- 

 tremely noisy, and my companion, Mr. Carlyle, who wished much to 

 know the subject of their songs, found they were very similar to the 

 old border songs in England, describing either the petty wars of 

 neighbouring Agas, or the successful opposition on the part of the 

 Albanians to Pashas sent from the Turkish court. 



Our stay being thus delayed at Batopaidi, until the Easter festivals 

 were over, we had an opportunity of forming some acquaintances in 

 the convent. The Pro-Hegoumenos, the Secretary, and the Didascalos 

 all men of letters, as well as a Bishop of Triccala, who having been 

 exiled by the Porte from his see had chosen this convent for his resi- 

 dence. On our showing to him a manuscript of Josephus in the 

 convent library, and expressing our regret that we could not recollect 

 where the controverted passage was which speaks of Christ, he al- 

 most instantly pointed it out to us, but added, at the same time, that 

 though such a passage, written by a Jew, would be a strong confirm- 

 ation of the divine mission of Christ, yet that the manuscript we were 

 examining* was of a date too recent to determine whether it might not 

 be an interpolation of the original text. We also visited the vener- 

 able Ex-Patriarch of the Greek church, Procopio, who had been 

 banished hither fifteen years ago from his throne at Constantinople. 

 He took no share in the affairs of the convent, but I perceived he was 

 treated with great attention, and his hand kissed with as much vener- 

 ation as if he had still retained the power as well as the title of 

 Patriarch, for he was always addressed navayior^Tela-ac, " All Holi- 

 ness." He had formerly been Bishop of Smyrna, and spoke of the 



* The passage is in Antiq. xviii. 4. 798. It is found in all the copies of Josephus' 

 work now extant, both printed and in MS. ; in a Hebrew translation kept in the Vatican 

 Library, and in an Arabic translation preserved by the Maronites of Mount Libanus. 

 Hale's Chronology, vol. ii. part 2. 951. 



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