answer of the damsel to this was " 'May I he rather devoured by the yawning earth, I pray, or burned by the gleaming flames of the hurled thunderbolt,13 than that I should take any man for my husband but the king of Navarre.' " Accordingly, the emperor of Africa sent envoys to Sancho, king of Navarre, by whom he begged that he would come to him, for the purpose of marrying his daughter, and he would give him as much money as he should desire, besides the whole of the land that lies between the extremities of the territory of the king of Portugal and the mountain of Muncian, which divides the territories of the Pagans in Spain from those of the king of Arragon. But while the king of Navarre was on the way to him, Boyac El Emir Amimoli, emperor of Africa, died ; so that when the said king of Navarre arrived in Africa he found the emperor dead, and the son of the emperor as yet but a little child, and not fit to govern the kingdom ; while there were many competitors with him for the empire. On the king of Navarre coming to him, fully expecting that he should receive the damsel before-mentioned as his wife, the boy who was to reign said to him, that if he was ready to assist him and to serve him in his endeavours to obtain the empire, he would give him his sister in accordance with the promises of his father ; but if not, he would place him in confinement, from which he should never be released. Seeing himself thus placed in a dilemma, he chose to serve under him rather than be placed in confinement ; in conformity with the maxim of Saint Augustin ; " "When a person is shut up within walls that he may not escape, let him precipitate himself from the part where the wall is lowest." Accordingly, the Lord granting it, and Sancho, king of Navarre, using his best endeavours, the son of the Emir Amimoli within three years subdued all his adversaries, and became emperor. In the meantime, Alphonso, king of Castille, and the king of Arragon, invaded the territories of the said king of Navarre, one of them on one side, the other on the other ; in consequence of which, Alphonso, king of Castille, took from him twenty-four towns, and the king of Arragon eighteen. In the year of grace 1191, being the second year of the reign of king Bichard, the said king Bichard, and Philip, king of the Pranks, were together at Messina, in Sicily, on the day of 13 « Dévorer ante precor subito telluris hiatu, Aut rutilo missi fulminis igne cremer."