A.D. 1184. PBOPKECY OF PHA-RAMELLA. endeavour to prove (since in many things it has fallen out as he predicted) that under a kind of veil, these fables bear the impress of truth ; and, as in no respect it fell out otherwise than he had predicted, the very same day, gnashing his teeth, that same brother whose death he had predicted, ended his life in the greatest agony. Upon this, the brother who had pronounced those prophetic lines, bursting into tears in the presence of all, was not ashamed to confess, in the contrition of his heart, whatever during his life he had been guilty of ; and, as befitted a religious man, received the communion with the greatest devoutness; after receiving which, he immediately breathed forth his spirit, saying, ' Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.' " Now when the public had heard of these things, and others of a similar nature, they were greatly alarmed, and the nearer that pestilential season, which the before-named astrologers had predicted, drew nigh, the more did exceeding terror come upon all, both clergy and laity, rich and poor, and drove great numbers of them to a state of desperation. A certain writing however, which Pharamella, the son of Abdallah of Cordova, sent to John, bishop of Toledo, gave them some comfort ; it was to the following effect : " Pharamella, son of Abdallah of Cordova, an Arabian by parentage, and brought up in the palace of the great king Evenjacob, who is called ' El Emir Amimoli,' to John, bishop of Toledo, bishop of those persons who are called Christians, health, beyond all those who call upon God. They who fear God, the Creator of all things, shall be exalted, and they also who adore Him with pure hands and with a heart entirely cleansed. We have seen some men of your persuasion, dissimilar to ourselves in dress and in language, who were merchants, and had very good woollen cloths of various colours on sale. They stated that they had come from a far distant land, which is called the ' land of the Elders/ that is to say, the kingdom of the Franks. Among other matters, we learned from them through an interpreter, Ferdinand by name, a fellow-citizen of yours, and at present a captive with us, that certain false astrologers of the west, who were ignorant of the virtues of the heavenly bodies48 and the effects produced by the five wandering ones,48 and the two lights49 which move of themselves in epicycles and eccentric circuits, through their houses and dignities, have 4f 49 He probably alludes to the name of the planets. The sun and moon.