Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/335

And on the way I found my letter < before me, >
Which had started me.
And as it started me who was asleep, by its voice
It also led me through the light proceeding from it.
For the royal letter made of Serean^[1] tissue
Shone sometimes before my eyes
< And by its voice and guidance
It encouraged again my haste. >
And love leading and drawing me
I passed by Labyrinth,^[2]
Left Babylon to my left
And came to the great Mesene,
< The port of the merchants, >
Situated at the seashore.
< And my precious garment, which I had taken off,
And the cloak, with which I was clothed—
From the heights of Warkan my parents had sent
By their treasurers,
Whom they had intrusted with them because of their faithfulness. >

112. But I remembered no more its splendor
For as a young boy I left it in the palace of the father.
Suddenly I saw the < glorious > garment
Looking like a mirror of mine. I beheld it entirely in me,
I knew and saw myself wholly by it.
<

1. According to Phiny [sic] hist. nat. VI, 17 (20), 54 f.; XXXVI, 14 (41), the ancients received their silken materials from Ser, in northwestern China.
2. Syriac: Sarbug.