to Edward, having left the canon who had come with him downstairs by himself, for Edward was at that time housed in an upper room. Simon therefore climbed each of the chamber’s stairs in front of the abbot, the abbot following him; and when he had reached the one to whom he had been sent, ⊗ and when greeting had been made, they sat down together in a friendly way and talked to each other, with Simon standing in front of them the whole time until they left one another. And as he stood there, he turned his eyes neither to this place nor that, but observed them both with a constant gaze, lest suspicious letters should be passed to Edward, or lest a sinister word should be spoken by the abbot on the part of those who had sent him. And when they had spoken together for as long as they wished, the abbot arose, and having asked permission, withdrew. Simon followed him, fearing (perhaps as the abbot suspected) that if he left by walking behind Simon, he might present a devious letter to Edward, into whose presence the abbot had previously arrived (as we have said) following Simon, lest perhaps, if the abbot had gone in front of him, he might secretly have given a letter of suspicious content by tossing it to Edward. Such caution on Simon’s part was in fact very modest compared with other greater precautions of his. Now I shall make an end of speaking about Simon; and seeing that I have written nothing about him except what I have honestly received on trust from trustworthy men (as I suppose), I rightfully ought not to fear the insults, evil-speaking, or lies of any envious person against me on account of his life, which, one way or another, has been clearly explained by me in the smallest matters and in some lofty ones; and those who do not believe the reports of those men will by no means believe Augustine when he says, in the 16^th book of the City of God, at the 11^th chapter,¹ that within the time of his own memory there was one man with two heads, two chests, and four hands, but with one stomach and two feet; and not Orosius either, who tells of a boy who had four feet and four hands, with four eyes and as many ears, double the male organ, born of a maid-servant, as it is shown in the 7^th book of the Ormetista Mundi, at the 11^th chapter;² nor Pliny, in the 7^th book and 5^th chapter of the Natural History,³ relating that a girl still with her parents became a boy, who by the augurs’ command was deported to a desert island; nor likewise will they believe that an infant returned into the womb of his own mother; nor still that 7 infants on one day came out of the womb of one woman as it appears in the tenth book and 4^th chapter;⁴ nor Isidore, in the 11^th book of the Etymologies, at the 3^rd chapter,⁵ saying that some men are born with teeth, some bearded, some white-haired, and that a calf was born from a woman and that another woman gave birth to a serpent; nor besides will they believe that an elephant gave birth to a serpent as it is found in the book of Pliny mentioned above in the said chapter. Analogies of this kind having been produced against the liars on Simon’s account, I ask that no one speak against him by way of