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The Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Juliene (The Life and Passion of Saint Juliana)

 



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I the Feaderes ant i the Sunes ant i the Hali Gastes nome, Her Biginneth
the liflade ant te passiun of Seinte Juliene.


(1) In ure Lauerdes luve, the Feader is of frumscheft, ant i the deore
wurthmunt of His deorewurthe Sune, ant i the heiunge of the Hali Gast, the of
ham ba glideth, an Godd unaginninde, euch godes ful: alle leawede men the
understonden ne mahen Latines ledene, litheth ant lusteth the liflade of a
meiden, | thet is of Latin iturnd to Englische leode, with thon thet teos hali leafdi
in Heovene luvie us the mare, ant thurh this lihinde lif leade us to thet eche,
thurh hire eadi erndunge, thet Crist is swithe icweme.


(1) Theos meiden ant teos martyr thet Ich of munne wes Juliene inempnet,
i Nichomedese burh al of heathene cun icumen ant akennet, ant hire fleshliche
feader Affrican hehte, the heande ant heascede mest men the weren Cristene ant
droh ham thurh derve pinen to deathe. (2) Ah heo, as theo thet te hehe
heovenliche Lauerd hefde His luve ilenet, leafde hire ealdrene lahen ant bigon
to luvien then áá liviende God, the lufsume Lauerd thet schupte alle scheaftes
ant wealdeth ant wisseth, efter thet His wil is, al thet ischeapen is.


(1) Wes i thon time, as the redunge telleth, the modi Maximien keiser i Rome
heriende ant heiende heathene maumez with unimeath muchel hird ant with heh
duhethe, ant fordemde alle theo the o Drihtin bilefden. (2) Thes mihti Maximien
luvede an Eleusium bivoren monie of his men: akennet of heh cun, ant swithe
riche of rente, ant yung mon of yeres. (3) Thes yunge mon Eleusius, thet thus wes
wel with the king, hefde iunne feolahschipe to Affrican ant wes iwunet ofte to
cumen with him | to his in ant iseon his dohter.



(1) As he hefde enchere bihalden swithe yeorne hire utnume feire ant
freoliche yuhethe, felde him iwundet inwith in his heorte with the flan the of luve
fleoth, swa thet him thuhte thet ne mahte he nanes weis withute the lechnunge of
hire luve libben. (2) Ant efter lutle stunde withute long stevene, wes himseolf
sonde to Affrican hire feader, ant bisohte him yeorne thet he hire yeve him, ant
he hire walde menskin with al thet he mahte as the thing i the world thet he meast
luvede. (3) Affrican wiste thet he wes swithe freo-iboren ant walde wel bicumen
him a freoi-boren burde, ant yetede him his bone. (4) Ha wes him sone ihondsald,
thah hit hire unwil were, ah ha truste upon Him thet ne truked na mon thet
trewliche Him truste, on ant eode to chirche euche dahethes dei to leornin Godes
lare, biddinde yeorne with reowfule reames thet He wissede hire o hwuche wise
ha mahte witen hire meithhath from mones man unwemmet.



(1) Elewsius, thet luvede hire, thuhte swithe longe thet ha neren to brudlac
ant to bed ibrohte. (2) Ah heo, forte werien hire with him summe hwile, | sende
him to seggen thet nalde ha nawt lihten se lahe to luvien, ne nalde ha neolechin
him for na liviende mon ear then he were under Maximien, hehest i Rome, thet
is heh reve. (3) He, ase timliche as he hefde iherd this, biyeted te keiser thet he
yette him al thet he walde, ant lette, as me luvede tha, leaden him i cure up o fowr
hweoles ant teon him yeonte tun thron from strete to strete. (4) Al the cure wes
overtild thet he wes itohen on, with purpres ant pelles, with ciclatuns ant cendals
ant deorewurthe clathes, as the thet se heh thing hefde to heden ant se riche
refschipe to rihten ant to readen. (5) Tha he hefde thus idon, sende hire thus to
seggen: hire wil he hefde iwraht; nu his ha schulde wurchen.



(1) Juliene the eadie, Jhesu Cristes leofmon, of his blisfule luve balde hire
seolven, ant sende him al openliche bi sonde to seggen: “This word ha send te:
‘For nawt thu havest iswech te. (2) Wreathe se thu wreathe, do thet tu do wult. (3)
Nule ich, ne ne mei ich lengre heolen hit te: yef thu wult leaven the lahen thet tu
livest in ant leven i Godd Feader ant in His deorwurthe Sune, ant i the Hali Gast
folkene frovre an Godd | thet is igret with euches cunnes gode, ich chule wel
neome the. (4) Ant yef thet tu nult no, thu art windi of me ant other luve sech
the.’” (5) Tha the hehe reve iherde this ondswere bigon to wrethen swithe, ant
cleopede hire feder forth ant feng on to tellen hwuch word ha sende him. (6)
Efter thet, he wende forte habben al thet heo wilnede.


(1) Affrican, hire feader, wundrede him swithe ant bigon to swerien: “Bi the
ilke godes thet me is lath to gremien, beo hit soth thet tu seist, to wrather heale
ha seith hit! (2) Ant ich wulle o great grome al biteachen hire the, ant tu do hire
al thet tu wult.”


(1) He thonkede him, ant heo wes icleopet forth. (2) Ant Affrican, hire feader,
feng on earst feire on to lokin yef he mahte with eani luve speden. (3) “Juliene,”
quoth he, “mi deorewurthe dohter! (4) Sei me hwi thu forsakest thi sy ant ti
selhthe, the weolen ant te wunnen the walden awakenen ant waxen of the wedlac
thet ich reade the to. (5) Hit nis nan ethelich thing the refschipe of Rome, and tu
maht, yef thu wult, beon burhene leafdi ant of alle the londes the therto liggeth.”



(1) Juliene the eadie ontswerede him ant seide, “Yef he wule luvien ant leven
Godd almihti thenne mei he speoken throf ant speden inohreathe. (2) For yef he
thet nule no, ich segge the thet soth is ne schal he wiven on me. (3) Sei nu hwet
ti wil is.”


(1) Affrican wreathede ant | swor swithe deopliche: “For the drihtfule godd
Apollo, mi lauerd, ant mi deore leafdi, the deorewurthe Diane, thet ich muche
luvie, yef thu haldest her-on, ich schal leote wilde deor toluken ant toteore the ant
yeove thi flesch fode to fuheles of the lufte.”


(1) Juliene him ondswerede ant softeliche seide, “Ne lef thu nawt, leove feader,
thet tu offeare me swa. (2) Ich swerie ayein the, for Jhesu Crist, Godes Sune, thet
ich on leve ant luvie as leoflukest ant lufsumest Lauerd, thah ich cwic beo forbearnd
bathe lim ant lith i leitinde leie, nulle, ich the her-onont — threate se thu threate
— buhe ne beien.”


(1) Affrican feng eft on, ant to fondin | ongon yef he mahte eanisweis with
olhnunge wenden hire heorte, ant leoftede luveliche ant seide hire sikerliche, thet
ne schulde ha lihtliche wilni na wunne thet ha ne schulde wealden, with then an
thet ha walde hire wil wenden.


(1) “Nai,” quoth ha “thet nis nawt. (2) Schulde ich do me to him, thet alle
deoflen is bitaht ant to eche death fordemet, to forwurthe with him, worlt buten
ende, i the putte of Helle for his wedlackes weole other for ei wunne? (3) To sothe
ich hit segge the: unwurth hit is me. (4) Ich chulle thet he wite hit ful wel, ant tu
eke mid al, ich am to an iweddet thet ich chulle treowliche withute leas luvien thet
is unlich him ant alle worltliche men. (5) Ne nulle ich neaver mare Him lihen ne
lea|ven, for weole ne for wunne, for wa ne for wontreathe, thet ye me mahen
wurchen.”


(1) Hire feader feng on to wreaththin swithe ferliche ant easkede hire
hokerliche, “Ant hwet is he, thes were thet tu art to iweddet, thet tu havest withute
me se forth thi luve ilenet, thet tu letest lutel of al thet tu schuldest luvien? (2) Ne
ich nes neaver — thet ich wite — yet with him icnawen.”


(1) “For Gode,” quoth the meiden, “thin hearm is the mare. (2) Nawt forthi
thet tu navest iherd of him yare: thet is, Jhesu, Godes Sune, thet forte alesen
moncun thet schulde beon forloren al, lette lif o Rode. (3) Ich ne seh Him neaver,
ant thet me ofthuncheth, ah ich Him luvie ant wulle don ant leve on as o Lauerd.
(4) Ne schal me firsen Him from nowther deovel ne mon.”


(1) “For mi lif,” quoth hire feader, “the schal lathin his luve for thu schalt
habbe throf hearm ant scheome bathe. (2) Ant nu thu schalt on alre earst, as on
ernesse swa beon ibeaten with bittere besmen thet tu wani thet tu were, wummon
of wummone bosum, to wrather heale eauer iboren i the worlde.”


(1) “Swa much,” quoth thet meiden, “ich beo Him the leovere se ich derfre
thing for His luve drehe. (2) Wurch thu thet ti wil is.”


(1) “Ye,” quoth he, “blitheliche!”

(1) Ant het swithe heatterliche strupen hire steort-naket ant leggen se luther
| liche on hire leofliche lich thet hit litheri o blode. (2) Me nom hire ant dude swa
thet hit yeat adun of the yerden ant heo bigon to yeien: “Beaten se ye beaten, ye
Beliales budeles, ne mahe ye nowther mi luve ne mi bileave lutlin towart te
liviende Godd, mi leofsume leofmon, the luvewurthe Lauerd; ne nulle ich leven
ower read, the forreadeth ow seolf; ne the mix maumez — the beoth thes feondes
fetles — heien ne herien for teone ne for tintreohe thet ye me mahe timbrin.”



(1) “Na, nult tu?” quoth Affrican. (2) “Hit schal sone sutelin, for ich chulle
sende the nu ant biteache thi bodi to Eleusium the riche thet reve is over Rome
ant he schal the forreaden ant makie to forswelten, as his ahne wil is, thurh al thet
eaver sar is.”


(1) “Ye,” quoth this meiden, “thet mei Godd welden. (2) Ne mahe ye nawt do
me bute thet He wule theavien ant tholien ow to donne to mucli mi mede ant te
murhthe thet lith to meithhades menske. (3) For eaver se ye nu her mearreth me
mare, se mi crune schal beon brihttre ba ant fehere. (4) Forthi, ich chulle
blitheliche ant with blithe heorte drehen eaver-euch derf for mi leofmones luve
the lufsume Lauerd, ant softe me bith euch sar in His servise. (5) Thu wult, thu
seist, ayeove me to Eleusium the luthere: Ayef | me, for nawiht ne yeove ich for
inc nowther. (6) Thet ye mahen ane pine me here, ah hit ne hearmeth me nawt;
ah helpeth ant heveth up ant maketh mine murhthes monifalde in Heovene. (7)
Ant yef ye doth me to death, hit bith deore to Godd, ant ich schal blithe bicumen
to endelese blissen, ant ye schulen, wrecches — wei ower wurthes, thet ye weren
i the worlt iboren ant ibroht forth to wrather heale — ye schule sinken adun to sar
ant to eche sorhe, to bitternesse ant to bale deope into Helle.”



(1) Affrican hire feader bitterliche iteonet bitaht te hire Eleusium, the luthere
reve of Rome, ant lette bringen hire bivoren his ehsihthe as he set ant demde the
hehe burh-domes. (2) As he biseh ant biheold hire lufsume leor lilies ilicnesse, ant
rudi ase rose, ant under hire nebscheft al se freoliche ischapet, weorp a sic as a
wiht thet sare were iwundet. (3) His heorte feng to heaten ant his meari mealten;
the rawen rahten of luve thurh euch lith of his limes. (4) Ant inwith bearnde of
brune swa ant cwakede, as of calde, thet him thuhte in his thonc thet ne bede he
i the worlt nanes cunnes blisse bute hire bodi ane, to wealden hire with wil efter
thet he walde. (5) Ant bigon with swotnesse soffte to seggen:



(1) “Mi lif ant mi leofmon ant leafdi yef thu wel wult, | bithench thet ich in
Rome richest am ant iboren hehest. (2) Hwi dest tu us ba so wa thurh thi muchele
unwit ant wurchest so wrathe? (3) Nulli ich the na mare uvel then thi seolf waldest.
(4) Ah leof me were thet tu thi luthere thonc lefdest, ant te wel schal with alle
wunne iwurthen, ant neaver of thi wil ne schulde the nawt wontin. (5) Ant loke
alswa the lahen as al thet cun, thet tu art of icumen ant akennet, on leveth ant
luvieth. (6) Hwi leavest tu ham the ane, ant wurtheth ha the so lathe? (7) Ne wen
thu nawt the ane with thi wisdom to overstihen ham alle.”



(1) “Let,” quoth ha, “Elewsi, ant stew swucche wordes, for ne beoth ha riht
nohtes. (2) For, yef thu cneowe ant were cuth with the King thet is over alle kinges
icrunet in Heovene, lutel waldest tu leoten of ower lahelese lahen thet leareth ow to
luten dedliche schaften, as ye schulden to | Godd, ant gremieth ower Schuppent.
(3) For the cwike deovlen doth ham-thrin, on hwet ye bileveth, ant hwen so ye
herieth ham, ye herieth thet unhwiht ant buheth as to healent. (4) Ant he wule ower
hwile bitterliche yelden, for ne wergeth he neaver to wurchen ow al thet wandrethe,
world àà buten ende. (5) Do thet tu don wult, for nulle ich the nan other don, bute
yef thu lithe and leve min lare, ant luvie Godd almihti, ant leave alle the lahen
thet tu list inne.”


(1) “Me, leof,” quoth Elewsius, “yef me swa | biluvede, hit were sone iseid the
keiser ant ikudd to the kinge, ant he me walde warpen ut of mine wike ant demen
me to deathe.”


(1) Ant heo him onswerede: “Yef thu dredest so muchel an dedlich mon the
liveth al ayein lay, and leneth al his luve in liflese schaften, on his Schuppent
scheome, ant art offruht swa to leosen his freontschipe, schuld ich thenne
forsaken Jhesu Crist, Godes sune, the is ort ant ende of al thet eaver god is, the
wule efter this lif — thet ich lete lutel of — for His lufsum luve, thet ich livie with
Himseolf i the sy ant the selhthe of heovenriches wunnen? (2) Speche thu maht
spillen ant ne speden nawiht! (3) Thah thu me buste and beate, as thet is bitaht
te, ant to derve pine don me ant to dreori deth, thah thu, famon, flea me, ne schal
| tu for na slaht, the sonre seo me slakien to luvien ant to leven o then liviende
Godd, alre gume Lauerd.”


(1) The reve feng to rudnin i grome of great heorte, ant het his heathene men
strupin hire steort-naket ant strecchen o ther eorthe, ant hwil thet eaver six men
mahten idrehen, beaten hire beare bodi, thet ha al were bigoten of the blode. (2)
Ha duden al as he bed, ant hwil thet ha beoten hire bigunnen to yeien: “This is
a biginnunge of the sar ant of the scheome thet tu schalt drehen yef thu nult to
ure wil buhen ant beien. (3) Ah yet thu maht, yef thu wult, burhe the seolfen. (4)
Ant yef thu mare withseist, alre monne, wurthe him wurst of wa ant of wontreathe
the ne wurche the meast.”


(1) “Doth,” quoth ha, “deofles limen al thet te deoflen — hwas driveles ye
beoth — driveth ow te donne. (2) Lutel me is of ower luve, leasse of ower laththe,
ant of thes threates riht noht. (3) Wite ye hit to wisse!”


(1) “Nu,” cweden ha, “Wa him the ne fondi todei for te wurche the wurst!”

(1) Ther wes sorhe to seon on hire freoliche flesch hu ha ferden therwith. (2)
Ah heo hit al thuldeliche tholede for Drihtin, ant hwen ha felde meast sar,
sikerlukest seide, “Haldeth longe | ne leave ye neaver for nulle ich leaven His
luve thet ich on leve ne for luve nowther ne for luther eie.”


(1) Eleusius iherde this ant feng his neb to rudnin ant tendrin ut of teone. (2)
Ant hehte swithe neomen hire ant teon bi the top up. (3) Ant swa me dude sone,
swa thet ha hongede feor from ther eorthe, bi the vax ane ant leiden tha se
lutherliche on hire on euch halve thet euch dunt defde in hire leofliche lich, the
biyet of the yerden al o gure-blode. (4) “Lauerd Godd almihti,” quoth ha, “loke
to Thi meiden. (5) Thu fondedest Abraham, ant fundest him treowe; lef me thet
ich mote The treowliche luvien. (6) Halt me, Healent min, Jhesu Crist, Godes
Sune, as Thu havest bigunnen, for nam ich strong of na thing buten of Thi
strengthe. (7) Ant o The i truste al, ant nawt o me seolven, ant her ich bihate The
swuch hope ich habbe to Thin help. (8) Milde Godd almihti, ne schal neaver mi
luve ne mi bileave towart Te lutlin ne lihen for na derf ne for na death thet ich
schule drehen.”


(1) Tha Eleusius seh thet ha thus feng on to festnin hire seolven i sothe
bileave, thohte he walde don hire anan ut of dahene, ant bed bilive bringen forth
brune-wallinde bres, ant healden hit se, wal-|-hat hehe up on hire heaved thet hit
urne endelong hire leofliche lich adun to hire helen. (2) Me dude al as he het. (3)
Ah the worldes Wealdent — thet wiste Sein Juhan His ewangliste unhurt i the veat
of wallinde eoli ther he wes idon in, thet ase hal com up throf as he wes hal
meiden — the ilke lives Lauerd wiste Him unwemmet, His brud, of the bres thet
wes wallinde, swa thet ne thuhte hit hire buten ase wlech weater al thet ha felde. (4)
Eleusius warth wod tha nuste hwet segen, ah hehte swithe don hire ut of his eh
sihthe, ant dreaien in to dorc hus, to prisunes pine. (5) Ant swa ha wes idon sone.




(1) Heo, as ha thrinne wes, i theosternesse hire ane, feng to cleopien to Crist
ant bidde theos bone: “Lauerd Godd almihti, mi murhthe ant mi mede, mi sy ant
al the selhthe thet ich efter seche, Thu sist al hu ich am bisteathet ant bistonden,
festne mi bileave! (2) Riht me ant read me, for al mi trust is on The. (3) Steor me
ant streng me, for al mi strengthe is of The. (4) Mi feader ant mi moder, forthi
thet ich nule The forsaken, habbeth forsake me; ant al mi nestfalde cun, thet
schulde beo me best freond, beoth me meast feondes, ant mine inhinen, alre
meast heamen. (5) Herewurthe Healent, habbe | ich Thin anes help: Ich am
wilcweme. (6) Ne forleaf Thu me nawt, luviende Lauerd. (7) As Thu biwistest
Daniel bimong the wode liuns ilatet se luthere, ant te threo children the chearre
nalden from the lahen thet ha schulden luvien, Ananie ant Azarie ant Misahel
inempnet, as Thu, al Wealdent, biwistest ham unwemmet with thet ferliche fur i
the furneise, swa Thu, wunne of the worlt, wite me ant were, ant witere ant wisse
thurh Thi wisdom to wite me with sunne. (8) Lauerd, lives lattow, lead me thurh
this lease, this lutle leastinde lif, to the havene of heale, as Thu leaddest Israeles
leode of Egipte bute schip, dru-fot, thurh the Reade Sea ant asenchtest hare van
the ferden ham efter. (9) Ant Tu, folkes Feader, aval mine vamen, ant Tu,
Drihtin, todrif the deovel thet me derveth for ne mei na monnes strengthe
withuten Thin stonden him toyeines. (10) Lef me thet ich mote, mihti meinfule
Godd, iseon him ischeomet yet, the weneth me to schrenchen ant schunchen of
the nearowe wei thet leadeth to eche lif. (11) Loke me from his lath, liviende
Lauerth. (12) Make me war ant wite me with his crefti crokes thet ha me ne
crechen. (13) Were me swa with then unwine, helpleses Heale, thet Tu beo iheiet
ant iheret eavre in eorthe as in Heovene. | (14) Beo thu áá iblescet, Lauerd, as
Thu were ant art ant schalt beon in eche.”



(1) As ha theos bone hefde ibeden, com a kempe of Helle on englene heowe,
ant feng on to motin thus with this meiden: “Juliene, mi leofmon, thu havest for
mi luve muchel idrohen ant idrahen. (2) Thu havest feorliche fan thet te fehteth
ayein. (3) Ha greithith theo grome nu alles cunnes pinen. (4) Ne mei ich tholien
thet ha thus mearren the na mare! (5) Thu art inoh ifondet ant tu havest mi
freondschipe inoh swithe ofservet. (6) Me areoweth thi sar! (7) Ah hercne nuthe
mi read: wurch Eleusius wil, for ich the yeove leave.”


(1) Thes meiden wes awundret swithe of thes wordes ant as ha wes offearet,
feng on to freinin: “Hwet wiht,” quoth ha, “art tu thet thulli word me bringest?”


(1) “Ich hit am,” quoth the unwiht, “Godes heh engel, forte segge the this
isent te from Heovene.” (2) Ha wundrede hire swithe, ant as theo the nes nawt of
lihte bileave, stille, bute steavene on heh in hire heorte cleopede to Criste.


(1) “Jhesu,” quoth ha, “Godes Sune thet art Thi Feader wisdom, wisse me, Thi
wummon, hwet me beo to donne. (2) Ant yef Thi deore wil is, do me to
understonden thet the this seith me yef he beo Thi sonde.”


(1) Ant com sihinde adun softe from Heovene, a stevene thet seide, “Juliene
the eadie, | iblescet beo the time thet tu ibore were. (2) Nule nawt thi leofmon
tholie na leas thing to lihe the longe. (3) Hit is the stronge unwiht the stont ter of
Helle! (4) Ga nu neor ant nim him, ant with the bondes thet ter beoth bind him
heteveste. (5) Godd almihti yeveth the mahte forte don hit, ant tu schalt leaden
him al efter thet te liketh, ant he schal al telle the — unthonc in his teth — thet
tu wilnest to witen, ant kenne the ant cuthen al thet tu easkest.”



(1) This eadi meiden, as ha wes iwisset thurh then engel, leop to ant ilahte
him ant seide: “Sei me swithe hwet tu beo ant hweonene ant hwa the hider sende.”



(1) Ant he with thet ilke feng to wenden heowes ant warth swuch as he wes:
unhwiht of Helle. (2) “Leafdi,” quoth he, “leaf me ant ich chulle seggen.”


(1) “Do swithe sei me, for ich chulle lowse the ant leten hwen me thuncheth!”

(1) “Deore leafdi,” quoth he tha, “ich hit am, the deovel Belial, of alle
unwreste unwihtes the wurste ant meast awariet, for nis me neaver wel ne nes,
bute hwen ich makede moncun to wurche to wundre. (2) Ich hit am thet weorp ut
Adam ant Eve of Paraise selhthe; ant ich hit am thet makede Caym the acursede
acwalde his brother Abel. (3) Ant ich hit am thet makede Nabugodonosor, the
kene king of Caldey, makien the maumez igoten al of golde, ant ich | hit am thet
makede thet te threo children icoren over the othre weren idust to fordon i thet
ferliche fur of the muchele oven. (4) Ant ich hit am thet makede then muchele
witti witege, Ysaie, beon isahet thurh ant thurh to deathe. (5) Ant ich hit am thet
makede to ontenden Jerusalem ant Godes deore temple todriven al to duste. (6)
Ant ich hit am thet makede ant readde Israeles folc to leaven i the wildernesse the
Lauerd thet alesde ham of Pharaones theowdom ant makede ham godes igotene
to heien ant to herien! (7) Ant ich hit am the reafde the riche Iob his ahte, swa
thet he weolewede of wontrethe i the mixne. (8) Ant ich hit am thet sumchearre
wes thurh the wise Salomon ethalden. (9) Ant ich hit am thet makede Sein Iuhan
the Baptiste beon heafdes bicorven, ant Seinte Stephene isteanet, ant ich hit am
thet spec thurh Simunes muth, the wicche the weorrede eaver ayein Peter ant
Pawel. (10) Ant ich hit am the readde Nerun, the riche keiser of Rome, to don o
rode Peter ant to biheafdin Pawel. (11) Ant ich makede the cniht to thurlin Godes
side with scharpe speres ord! (12) Thah ich talde aldei yet ich mahte tellen, for
ma wundres ich habbe iwraht thene ich mahte munien, ant ma monne bone ibeon
then ei of mine brethren.”


(1) “Do sei me,” quoth the meithen, “hwa sende the to me, ant hwa | is
meister over the.”


(1) “Leafdi,” quoth he, “Belzeebub, the balde thurs of Helle.”

(1) “Hwet is,” quoth ha, “his werc? (2) Ant hwet wurcheth he mest?”

(1) “Leafdi, yef thi wil is, he ifint euch uvel ant bithencheth hit al, ant sendeth
us thenne thider as him thuncheth. (2) Ant hwen we nawt ne spedeth, ne ne
mahen wrenchen sum rihtwis of the weie, we dearieth ant ne durren nohwer cume
bivoren him, ant he heterliche hat theo thet habbeth iwraht efter his wille, hwer
se ha us ifinden, beaten us ant binden, ant don us mare wa on then ei mon mahte
tholien. (3) Forthi we moten, leafdi, buhen swithe ant beien to ure luvewurthe
feader ant wurchen alle his willes.”


(1) “Sei,” quoth ha, “witerluker yet, hu ye wurcheth ant o hwuche wise ye
bichearreth Godes children.”


(1) “Leafdi,” quoth he, “Juliene, the ich font ant habbe ifolhet me to wrather
heale, ich wende iwis to leade the into thine ealdrene lahen ant makie to leaven
the luve of thi Lauerd, ant feng on to fondin the, ah ich am aveallet. (2) Ich chulle
kenne the nu al thet tu easkest: hwer se we eaver iseoth mon other wummon eani
god biginnen, we wepnith us ayein ham ant makieth iswiken al thet best mahte
wenden hare heorte, ant makien ham to thenchen thohtes ther-toyelnes, ant
wendeth to other willes thet ham wulleth hearmin. (3) Ant makieth ham forte
leose lust for te bidde yeorne thet Godd bineo|me ham the wil thet we in ham
warpeth. (4) Ant ha unstrengith therwith, ant we strengeth therwith on ham, and
overstiheth al, ear ha lest wenen. (5) Ant yef we seoth ham yeornliche sechen to
chirche, ant ter swithe bi hamseolf bireowsin hare sunnen, ant leofliche lustnin
Hali Chirche lare, ther we beoth yetten bisiliche ham abuten (ant mare ther then
elleshwer) to letten ham, yef we mahen, wrenchen hare thonkes towart unnette
thinges. (6) Ah hwucche se beoth se stealewurthe thet ha understonden ham, ant
warpeth ut with strengthe ut of hare heorte unwreaste willes thet ich ham in
warpe, ant yeornliche yeiyeth efter Godes grace to help ant to heale, ant thenne
meast hwen the preost in with the Messe noteth Godes licome, thet He nom of
thet lathlese meiden. (7 ) Ther is riht bileave ant inwardliche bonen swa icweme
to Godd thet i thet ilke time we biginneth to fleon ant turneth to fluhte. (8) This
is al thet we doth Cristemen, ant eggith eaver to uvele.”


(1) “Me, ye eateliche wihtes,” quoth thet eadi wummon, “hu durre ye eaver
neomen ow to Cristes icorene?”


(1) “Me sei me, seli meiden,” quoth he, “hu derst tu halde me ant hondlin se
heterliche bute thuh thet tu art trusti o thi Lauerd. (2) Ant ich do as thu dest,
truste o mi lauerd thet is meister | of alle mixschipes, ant wurche his wil over al
ase forth as i mei. (3) Ant yef ich mahte forthre ich walde beo the feinre. (4) Ah
nat i hwet unseli sith makede me her to sechen, bute mi muchele unselhthe sohte
the to seonne. (5) Wumme áá — thet sihthe se sariliche hit sit me. (6) Ne set me
neaver na thing se luthere ne se sare. (7) Wei hwi nefde ich iwist hwuch weane me
wes towart? (8) Ne mi kinewurthe feader ne cuthe nawt warnin of thulli wa his
foster? (9) Forlet me nu, leafdi, ant ich chulle al bileave the ant folhin an other,
other ich chulle forwreie the to mi meinfule feader. (10) Ah wel ich warni the
vore, hit nis nawt thin biheve.”


(1) “O,” quoth ha, Juliene, Jhesu Cristes leofmon, “threatest tu me,
wrecche?(2) The schal iwurthen, Godd hit wat, godes the wurse.”


(1) Ant grap a great raketehe, thet ha wes with ibunden, ant bond bihinden
his rug ba twa his honden thet him wrong euch neil ant blakede of the blode, ant
duste him ruglunge adun riht to ther eorthe. (2) Ant stondinde o the steorve, nom
hire ahne bondes ant bigon to beaten then Belial of Helle, ant he to rarin
reowliche, to yuren ant to yein, ant heo leide on se lutherliche thet wa wes him o
live.


(1) “O mi leafdi Juliene,” quoth he, “evening with apostel, patriarchen ilich,
ant leof with alle martyrs, englene feolahe, ant archanlene freond! (2) Frithe | me
ane hwile, ich halsi the o Godes half, ant on His Sune Rode thet we se muchel
dredeth, ant o the pine ant o the death thet He droh for moncun milce have ant
merci, wummon, of mi wrecchedom.”


(1) “Stew the, steorve of Helle!” quoth thet eadie meiden. (2) “Merci nan nis
with the, forthi ne ahest tu nan milce to ifinden! (3) Ah sei me swithe, mare of the
wa thet tu havest mid woh iwraht mon.”


(1) “Leafdi, leaf the hwile ant hald thine eadi honden. (2) Ich habbe iblend men
ant ibroken ham the schuldren ant te schonken, i fur iwarpen ham ant i water, ant
hare ahne blod ich habbe ofte imaket ham to spitten ant to speowen, ant te an to
sclein then other, ant a hon him seolven. (3) Me, witti wummon, hu wult tu thet ich
endi the the tale the waxeth áá as ich telle? (4) Se feole ich habbe ifulet of theo the
neren iblescet nawt se wel as ham bihofde, thet ne mahte hit na mon rikenin ne
reden. (5) Of al thet uvel i the world, hwet wult tu wurse? (6) Ich am, of the
sprunges, the an thet hit meast of springeth, ne neaver athet tis dei nes ich thus
ihondlet. (7) O, the mihte of meithhad, hu thu art iwepnet to weorrin ayein us!
(8) Yet tu wurchest us wurst, of al thet us wa deth, as thu dudest eavre. (9) Ah we
schule sechen efter wrake on alle theo thet te biwiteth, ne ne schulen ha neaver
beo sker of ure weorre. (10) We wulleth meidenes áá mare heanen ant heatien, |
ant thah monie etsterten us, summe schulen stutten. (11) O Jhesu, Godes Sune,
The havest Thin hehe seotel o meithhades mihte — hire to muche menske — wa
wurchest Tu us therwith! (12) To wel Thu witest ham the treowliche habbeth hire
in heorte ihalden, yef ha milde ant meoke beon as meiden deh to beonne.” (13)
With thet he this hefde iseid, bigon swa te yuren thet monie weren awundret hwet
tet yur were.


(1) Eleusius, the reve, het lokin yef ha livede ant bringen hire bivoren him yef
ha were o live. (2) Heo the weren ihaten forth ant funden hire thus, ant of thet
grisliche gra weren agrisen swithe, leadden hire thah forth. (3) Ant heo leac eaver
efter hire then laddliche of Helle thet olhnede swithe ant bed tus ant bisohte, “Mi
leove leafdi Juliene, ne make thu me nawt men to hutung ne to hokere; thu havest
ido me wa inoh, thah thu ne do me wurse! (4) Ich habbe, wumme, forloren mi
leove feaderes freontschipe. (5) Ne neaver mare her onuven ne der ich cumen
bivoren him. (6) Mihti meiden, leaf me o Godes half, ich halsi the! (7) Ne beoth
Cristene men — yef hit is soth thet me seith — merciable ant milzfule? (8) Ant tu
art bute reowthe! (9) Have merci of me for the Lauerdes luve, thi luvewurthe
leafdi, i the bidde.” (10) Ant heo leac him eaver endelong the cheping chepmenne
to huting. (11) Ant heo leiden to him, sum with | stan, sum with ban, ant sleatten
on him hundes, ant leiden to with honden. (12) As he wes imaket tus earmest alre
thinge, ant berde as the ful wiht, thet ter flue monie, se thet eadi wummon
wergede sumhwet, ant reat him with the raketehe unrudeliche swithe ant weorp
him forth from hire awei into a put of fulthe.


(1) Com baldeliche forth bivore the reve as he set on his dom seotle,
schiminde hire nebscheaft schene as the sunne. (2) The reve, tha he seh hire,
thuhte muche sullich ant bigon to seggen: “Juliene, sei me ant beo soth cnawes:
hwer were the itaht theose wicchecreftes, thet tu ne telest na tale of nanes cunnes
tintreohe, ne ne dredest nowther death ne cwike deoflen?”


(1) “Her me, heathene hund,” quoth thet eadi meiden. (2) “Ich heie ant herie
Godd feader, ant His sulliche Sune, Jhesu Crist hatte, ant te Hali Gast, Godd as
the othre, threo ant nawt threo godes, ah is eaver an ant ihwer untweamet. (3) He,
kempene King, haveth todei overcumen Helles bule, Belial, baldest of alle, ant ti
sire Sathanas thet tu levest upon. (4) Ant ti feader hatest, ant his heaste forthest
ant wel bisemeth the to beon ant bikimeth to beo streon of a swuch strunde. (5)
Ah eaver beo acurset, colt of swuch cunde! (6) The mihti mildfule Godd, thet
ich áá munne, yef me mihte of Heo|vene, him forte hearmin ant te forte
schenden, ant makien to scheomien thet schalt swucche shuken heien ant herien.
(7) Weila, as thu were iboren, wrecche, o wrathe time, thet ti sari sawle ant ti
sorhfule gast schal with swucche ploiveren pleien in Helle! (8) Reve, areow the
seolven. (9) Unseli mon, bisih the, hei Godd, ant her me! (10) Jhesu is se
milzful thet He walde blitheliche Heovenes heale to alle. (11) Ah hwa se o bote
ne geath ne schal he beon i borhen.”


(1) “Ye!” quoth Eleusius. (2) “Haldest tu yetten up o thi yuhelunge? (3)
Wenest tu thet we beon se eth to biwihelin? (4) Ah we schulen iseo nu, for hit schal
sone sutelin hu thi wichecreft schal wite the ant werien.”


(1) Ant lette o wodi wise a swithe wunderlich hweol meten ant makien, ant
thurh-spitien hit al with spaken ant felien, thicke ant threofalt with irnene gadien,
kene to keorven al thet ha rinen to ase neil-cnives. (2) Ant stod the axtreo istraht
o twa half into stanene postles, thet hit, as hit turnde, ne overtoke nohwer
bineothen to ther eorthe. (3) Grisen him mahte thet sehe hu hit gront into hwet
se hit ofrahte. (4) Me brohte hire vorth, as Beliales budel bet, ant bunden hire
therto hearde ant heteveste. (5) He dude on either half hire fowre of hise cnihtes
forte turnen thet hweol with hondlen imaket thron o thet eadi | meiden, se swithe
as ha mahten; ant het, o lif ant o leomen, swingen hit swiftliche ant turnen hit
abuten. (6) Ant heo, as the deovel spurede ham to donne, duden hit unsperliche
thet ha bigon to broken al as thet istelede irn strac hire in over al, ant from the
top to the tan, áá as hit turnde, tolimede hire ant toleac lith ba ant lire. (7)
Bursten hire banes ant thet meari bearst ut, imenget with the blode. (8) Ther me
mahte iseon alre sorhene meast, the i thet stude stode.



(1) As ha yeide to Godd ant walde ayeoven hire gast into His honden, se ther
lihtinde com an engel of Heovene, ant reat to thet hweol swa thet hit al toreafde.
(2) Bursten hire bondes, ant breken alle clane, ant heo, ase fischhal as thah ha
nefde nohwer hurtes ifelet, feng to thonki thus Godd with honden up ahevene:
“Drihtin undeathlich, an Godd almihti alle othre unlich, Heovene wruhte ant
eorthes ant alle iwrahte thinges, The ich thonki todei alle Thine deden. (3) Thu
makedest mon of lame ant yeve him liviende gast ilich to Theseolven, ant settest
for his sake al thet i the worlt is. (4) Ah he forgulte him anan thurh the eggunge
of Eve, ant wes iput sone ut of paraise selhthen. (5) Weox swa his team her thet
ne mahte hit na mon tellen, ah swa swithe hit sunegede thet tu hit forsenctest al
in Noees flod bute eahte thet Tu frithedest. (6) Thu chure | seoththen i the alde
lahe, Abraham ant Isaac, Jacob ant his children, ant yeve to Joseph (thet wes the
yungeste) hap i Pharaones halle. (7) Longe ther efter Thu leddest Moyses, thet Tu
se muchel luvedest, bute brugge ant bat thurh the Reade Sea ant al his
cunredden, thear as al Pharaones ferde fordrencte. (8) Ant feddest ham fowrti yer
i the wildernesse with heovenliche fode, ant wurpe under hare vet hare fan alle
ant brohtest ham, thurh Iosue, into Ierusalemes lond thet Tu ham bihete. (9)
Ther wes i Samueles dei Saul the forme king, kempene icorenest. (10) In a weorre
as he wes, Thu dudest i the lutle Davith the selhthe thet he slong ant ofsloh with
a stan to deathe the stronge Golie, ant readdest him to rixlen i Saules riche. (11)
Thus Thu makest, milde Godd, alle theo muchele the makieth ham meoke, ant
theo the heith ham her leist swithe lahe. (12) Threfter, tha the thuhte — ithonket
hit beo the! — lihtest hider to us of heovenliche leomen ant nome blod ant ban
i thet meare meiden, ant were I Bethleem iboren moncun to heale. (13) Ant to the
hirden schawdest te, thet te engles to The tahten, ant of the threo kinges were
kinewurdliche iwurdget, weoxe ant wrahtest wundres. (14) Ah ear, Thu were
ioffret ant with lac aleset ant i Iordanes flum of Sein Iuhan ifulhet. (15) Thu
healdest alle unhale ant te deade of deathe. (16) Aleast, as the biluvede, lettest an
of | the tweolve thet Tu hefdest icoren chapi the ant sullen, ant tholedest pine ant
passiun thurh Giwes read o Rode, deidest, ant were idon dead i thruh of stane.
(17) Stepe adun ant struptest ant herhedest Helle arise, ant Thin ariste cuddest
Thine icorene, ant stuhe abuve the steorren into the heste heovene. (18) Ant
kimest, King, o Domesdei to deme cwike ant deade. (19) Thu art hope of heale.
(20) Thu art rihtwises weole ant sunfules salve. (21) Thu art an thet al maht ant
nult nawt bute riht. (22) Iblescet beo Thu eavre the ah eaver-euch thing heien ant
herien; ant ich do, deore Drihtin, Thi meiden, an thet ich am, ant luvie The to
leofmon luvewende Lauerd thet havest se muche for me iwraht withute mine
wurthes. (23) Beo, mi blisfule Godd, with me, ant wite me with the deoveles
driveles ant with hare creftes. (24) Wurch yet swucche wundres, forthi deorewurthe
nome, thet te reve rudni ant scheomie with his schucke ant Tu beo áá iwurdget,
as Thu art wurthe wurthmunt, from worlde into worlde. (25) Amen withuten
ende.”





(1) With this as ha stute, stoden the cwelleres, ant yeiden lud-stevene: “Mihti
Lauerd is The thet Juliene on leveth. (2) Ne nis na godd buten He, we beoth wel
icnawen. (3) Reve, us reoweth ure sith thet we se longe habbeth ilevet thine
reades.” (4) Ant wenden alle anesweis abute fif hundret, the stoden ant yeiden alle
in a stevene: “Luvewurthe wummon, we wendeth alle to thet Godd thet tu on
trustest. | (5) Forlore beo thu, reve, with false bileave, ant iblescet beo Crist ant
alle His icorene. (6) Do nu deadliche on us al thet tu do maht. (7) Make us, reve,
ananriht misliche pinen. (8) Ontend fur ant feche hweol! (9) Greithe al thet tu
const grimliche bithenchen. (10) Forthe al thi feaders wil, thes feondes of Helle.
(11) To longe he heold us as he halt te nuthe, ah we schulen heonne forth halden
to Jhesu, Godes kinewurthe Sune, moncun Alesent.” (12) Swa the reve gromede
thet he gristbetede. (13) Wod he walde iwurthen! (14) Ant sende o wodi wise forth
to Maximien, the mihti caisere of Rome, her of hwet he readde. (15) Ant he ham
het euch fot, heafdes bikeorven. (16) Fif hundret itald of wepmen, ant of wimmen
an hundret ant thritti, thrungen euch an bivoren other forte beo bihefdet. (17)
Ant ferden alle martyrs, with murhthe, to Heovene.



(1) Eleusius the hwile lette his men makien a muche fur mid alle, ant bed
binden hire swa the fet ant te honden, ant keasten hire into the brune cwic to
forbearnen. (2) As ha lokede up ant seh this lei leiten, biheolt towart Heovene
with honden a hevene, ant thus to Crist cleopede:


(1) “Ne forleaf Thu me nawt nu i this nede, Lauerd of live! (2) Mildheortfule
Godd, milce me, Thi meiden, ant mid Ti softe grace salve mine sunnen. (3) Jhesu,
mi selhthe, ne warp Thu me nawt ut of Thin ehsihthe! (4) Bihald me ant help me,
ant of this reade lei reaf ant arude me, swa thet | tes unseli ne thurve nawt
seggen: ‘Thi Lauerd thet tu levest on ant schulde thi scheld beon, hwer is he
nuthe?’ (5) Ne bidde ich nawt, Drihtin, this for deathes drednesse; ah false swa
hare lahe ant festne i Thine icorene treowe bileave. (6) Schaw, mi mihti Godd, Thi
meinfule mahte ant hihendliche iher me, iheiyet ant iheret áá on ecnesse.”


(1) Nefde ha bute iseid swa thet an engel ne com se briht as thah he bearnde
to thet ferliche fur, ant i thet lei lihte, ant acwente hit anan, eaver-euch sperke.
(2) Ant heo stod unhurt ther amidheppes, heriende ure Healent with heheste
stevene. (3) The reve seh hit acwenct ant bigon to cwakien, se grundliche him
gromede, ant set te balefule beast, as eaver ei iburst bar thet grunde his tuskes,
ant feng on to feamin ant gristbeatien grisliche upo this meoke meiden, ant
thohte with hwuch mest wa he mahte hire awealden. (4) Ant het fecchen a veat,
ant with pich fullen, ant wallen hit walm-hat ant het warpen hire thrin, hwen hit
meast were iheat ant wodelukest weolle.



(1) As me dude hire thrin ha cleopede to Drihtin, ant hit colede anan ant
warth hire ase wunsum as thah hit were a wlech beath, iwlaht for then anes in for
te beathien. (2) Ant smat up ayein theo the iyarket hit hefden, ant forschaldede
of ham, as hit up scheat | alle italde bi tale, seove sithe tene, ant forthre yet five.
(3) Tha the reve this iseh, rende hise clathes ant toc himseolf bi the top ant feng
to fiten his feonden ant lastin his lauerd.



(1) “Swithe,” quoth he, “with hire ut of min ehsihthe thet ich ne seo hire nawt
heonne forth mare, ear the buc of hire bodi ant tet heaved liflese liggen isundret.”
(2) Sone se ha this iherde, ha herede Godd of Heovene ant warth utnume glead,
forthis ha hefde iwilnet. (3) Me leadde hire ant leac forth, ant heo wes ethluke.


(1) As ha stutte i thet stude ther the fordemde schulden death drehen, tha
com the ilke Belial thet ha hefde ibeaten feorren to bihinden ant bigon to yeien:
“A, stalewurthe men, ne spearie ye hire nawiht. (2) Ha haveth us alle scheome
idon. (3) Schendeth hire nuthe! (4) Yeldeth hire yarow borh efter thet ha wurthe
is. (5) A, stalewurthe men, doth hire bilive to death buten abade.”


(1) Juliene the eadie openede hire ehnen ant biheold towart him, as he thus
seide; ant tet bali blencte, ant breid him ayeinwart bihinden hare schuldren as for
a schoten arewe. (2) “Wumme thet ich libbe,” quoth he, “ich beo nunan ilaht. (3)
Ah ilecche ha me eft, ne finde ich na leche. (4) Igripe ha me eanes ne ga i neaver
mare threfter o grene.” (5) Ant leac him ayeinwart, as the beare unhwiht, in alre
diche deofle wei — ne mahte nawt letten. (6) As ha schulde stupin ant strecche
forth | thet swire, ha bed first, ant feng on thus for te learen theo the ther weren:



(1) “Lusteth me, leove men, ant litheth ane hwile. (2) Bireowsith ower sunnen, ant
salvith with soth schrift ant with deathbote! (3) Leaveth ower unlahan ant buldeth upo
treowe eorthe thet ne dredeth na val for wind ne for wedere. (4) Lokith thet te
heovenliche Lauerd beo grund-wal of al thet ye wurcheth, for thet stont studevest,
falle thet falle. (5) Yeieth to Godd in Hali Chirche thet He yeove ow wit wel forte
donne, ant strenge ow with His strengthe ayein the stronge unwiht thet secheth eaver
ant áá ow to forswolhen. (6) Lustnith lustiliche hali writes lare ant livieth threfter.
(7) Wel him the waketh wel ant i this lutle hwile wit her himseolven, ant
heorteliche siketh ofte for his sunnen. (8) This worlt went awei as the weater the
eorneth, ant ase sweven imet aswint hire murhthe, ant al nis bute a leas wind thet
we i this worlt livieth. (9) Leaveth thet leas is ant leoteth lutel throf, ant secheth
thet sothe lif thet áá leasteth, for this lif ye schulen leoten — ant nuten ye neaver
hwenne — ant reopen ripe of thet sed thet ye her seowen; thet is, undervo yeld
of wa other of wunne efter ower werkes. (10) Swithe ich biseche ow thet ye bidden
for me, brethren ant sustren.” (11) Ant custe | ham coss of peis alle as ha stoden.
(12) Ant biheold uppart, ant hehede hire stevene:



(1) “Lauerd Godd almihti, ich thonki The of Thine yeoven. (2) Nim yeme to
me nuthe. (3) Thu luvest over alle thing treowe bileave, ne lef Thu neaver to Thi
va Thin ilicnesse thet Tu ruddest of death thurh Thi death o Rode! (4) Ne let Tu
me neaver deien i the eche death of Helle! (5) Underveng me to The ant do me
with thine i thet englene hird with meidenes imeane. (6) Ich ayeove The mi gast,
deorrewurthe Drihtin, ant do hit, blisfule Godd for Thin iblescede nome to ro ant
to reste.” (7) With thet ilke ha beide hire ant beah duvelunge adun, bihefdet, to
ther eorthe. (8) Ant te eadie engles with the sawle singinde sihen into Heovene.



(1) Anan threfter, sone com a seli wummon bi Nichomedesse burh o rade
towart Rome. (2) Sophie wes inempnet, of heh cun akennet, ant nom this
meidenes bodi ant ber hit into hire schip biwunden swithe deorliche i
deorrewurthe clathes. (3) As ha weren i watere com a storm thet te schip ne mahte
na mon steorin, ant drof ham to drue lond in to Champaine. (4) Ther lette
Sophie, from the sea a mile setten a chirche ant duden hire bodi thrin in a
stanene thruh, hehliche, as hit deh halhe to donne.


(1) The reve sone se he wiste thet ha wes awei ilead, leop | for hihthe with lut
men into a bat ant bigon to rowen swiftliche efter, for te reavin hit ham ant i the
sea senchen. (2) Ant arisen stormes se sterke ant se stronge, thet te bordes of this
bat bursten ant tobreken, ant te sea sencte him on his thrituthe sum, ant therto
yet fowre, ant draf ham adrenchet dead to the londe, ther ase wilde deor limmel
toluken ham ant tolimeden eaver-euch lith from the lire. (3) Ant te unseli sawlen
sunken to Helle, to forswelten i sar ant i sorhe eaver.



(1) Thus the eadi Juliene wende thurh pinen, from worldliche weanen to
Heoveriches wunnen, i the nomecuthe burh Nicomede inempnet, i the sixtenthe
dei of Feoverreres moneth, the fowrtuthe kalende of Mearch thet is seoththen.



(1) Heo us erndi to Godd the grace of Himseolven the rixleth in threohad ant
tah is untweamet. (2) Iheret ant iheiet beo He Him ane as He wes ant is eaver in
eche.


(1) Hwen Drihtin o domesdei windweth his hweate
Ant warpeth thet dusti chef to Hellene heate,
He mote beon a corn i Godes guldene edene,
The turnde this of Latin to Englische ledene,
Ant he thet her least on wrat swa as he cuthe. (2) Amen.


In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, here begins
the life and the passion of Saint Juliana.


(1) In the love of our Lord, who is the Father of creation, and in the dear wor-
ship of His precious Son, and in the praise of the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from
them both, one God without beginning, full of every good thing: all unlearned people
who cannot understand the language of Latin, hear and listen to the life of a maiden
which is translated from Latin into the English language, so that this holy lady in
Heaven may love us the more, and through this deceitful life may lead us to that
eternal one, through her blessed intercession, which is very pleasing to Christ.


(1) This maiden and this martyr that I commemorate was named Juliana, came
from and was born to an entirely heathen family in the city of Nichomedia, and her
fleshly father was called Africanus, who oppressed and persecuted most men who
were Christian and put them to death through terrible tortures. (2) But she, as one
to whom the high heavenly Lord had given His love, left her elders’ laws and began
to love then the ever living God, the lovely Lord who created all creatures, and
rules and directs, according to His will, all that is created.


(1) In that time, as the legend tells, the proud emperor Maximian was in
Rome worshiping and praising heathen idols with an immeasurably large court
and with a noble company, and he condemned all those who believed in the
Ruler. (2) This mighty Maximian loved, above many of his men, one Eleusius:
descended from noble kin, and very rich from rent, and a young man of years. (3)
This young man Eleusius, who was so well off with the king, had given friendship
to Africanus and was accustomed often to come with him to his house and to see
his daughter.


(1) When he had at one time beheld very earnestly her exceedingly fair and
beautiful youth, he felt himself wounded inside in his heart with the arrows which
fly from love, so that it seemed to him that he could not in any way live without
the medicine of her love. (2) And after a little while without a long delay, he was
himself the messenger to Africanus her father, and he eagerly besought Africanus
to give her to him, and he would honor her with everything that he might as the
thing that he loved most in the world. (3) Africanus knew that he was of very noble
birth and that a nobly born lady would suit him well, and granted him his boon.
(4) She was soon betrothed to him, although she was unwilling, but she trusted in
Him who does not fail anyone who truly trusts in Him, and went to church at
dawn every day to learn God’s lore, praying earnestly with pitiful cries that He
guide her as to what way she might keep her maidenhood unblemished from sex
with a man.


(1) To Eleusius, who loved her, it seemed too long that they were not brought
to marriage and bed. (2) But she, in order to defend herself against him for some
time, sent for him to say that she did not at all wish to descend so low to love, nor
did she wish to approach him for any living man until he was directly beneath
Maximian, the highest in Rome, that is, the high reeve. (3) He, as soon as he had
heard this, obtained from the emperor the promise that he would grant him all
that he wished; and, as was the custom, he had him set in a four-wheeled chariot
and drawn through the town in it from street to street. (4) The entire chariot that
he was drawn in was canopied with purple cloths and satin, with cloth of gold and
fine linen and precious cloths, like one who had to attend to so high a thing and
had to direct and arrange so powerful a governorship. (5) When he had done this
he sent to her to say thus: he had fulfilled her wish, now she should fulfill his.


(1) Juliana the blessed, Jesus Christ’s beloved, emboldened herself with His
blissful love, and sent to him by messenger to say entirely in public: “This word
she sends to you: ‘You have troubled yourself for nothing. (2) Angry as you may
be, do what you will. (3) I will not, nor can I, conceal it from you any longer: if you
will leave the law that you live in and believe in God the Father, and in His precious
Son, and in the Holy Ghost, comfort of men, one God who is glorified with every
kind of good, I will well accept you. (4) And if you will not, you are done with me
and should seek another love.’” (5) When the high reeve heard this answer he began
to grow very angry, and he called her father forth and began to tell what message
she sent him. (6) After that, he expected to have everything that he wished.


(1) Africanus, her father, was very surprised and began to swear: “By the same
gods that I hate to anger, if what you say is true, she says it to disastrous fortune!
(2) And in great anger I will hand her over entirely to you, and you may do to her
all that you wish.”


(1) He thanked him, and she was called forth. (2) And Africanus, her father,
began at first to see whether he might succeed with any love. (3) “Juliana,” he
said, “my precious daughter! (4) Say to me why you forsake your triumph and
your happiness, the good fortune and delight which would awaken and wax from
the wedlock that I recommend to you. (5) It, the reeveship of Rome, is no
inconsiderable thing and you might, if you wish, be the lady of the city and of all
the lands which lie nearby.”


(1) Juliana the blessed answered him and said: “If he will love and believe in
God Almighty then he may speak about it and succeed soon enough. (2) But if he
does not wish that, I say to you that it is true he shall not marry me. (3) Say now
what your will is.”


(1) Africanus grew angry and swore very deeply: “By the noble god Apollo, my
lord, and by my dear lady, the precious Diana, whom I love very much, if you hold
to this, I will have wild beasts pull and tear you to pieces and give your flesh as
food to the birds of the sky!”


(1) Juliana answered him and softly said: “Do not at all believe, dear father, that
you frighten me with this. (2) I swear again to you, for Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in
whom I believe and love as the most lovely and most gracious Lord, that were
I burned alive both limb and joint in flaming fire, I would not, in regard to this
— threaten however you threaten — bow to or obey you.”


(1) Africanus started again, and tried to test if he might in any way turn her
heart with flattery, and cajoled kindly and said to her that certainly, she would not
lightly desire any delight that she would not possess on the condition that she
would change her will.


(1) “No,” said she, “that is nothing. (2) Should I join myself to him who is
entirely committed to devils and doomed to eternal death, to perish with him,
world without end, in the pit of Hell for the benefit of his wedlock or for any
reward? (3) To you I truly say: it is worthless to me. (4) I wish that he knew full
well and you also with everyone: I am wedded to one whom I will truly love
without lies who is unlike him and all worldly men. (5) I will never more lie to or
leave Him for fortune or joy, for woe or for misery, which you may do to me.”



(1) Her father began to grow very horribly angry and asked her mockingly,
“And who is he, this husband to whom you are wedded, to whom you have given
your love, without me, so far that you make light of all that you should love? (2)
As of now, I was never — that I know — introduced to him!”


(1) “By God,” said the maiden, “your harm is the greater! (2) It is not because
you have not heard of him before: that is, Jesus, God’s Son, who in order to
redeem mankind that would be completely lost, relinquished his life on the Rood.
(3) I never saw Him and that displeases me, but I love Him and will do so and
believe in Him as Lord. (4) Nor shall either devil or man take me away from Him."


(1) “Upon my life,” said her father, “His love will become hateful to you, for
you will have both harm and shame for it. (2) And now you will, first of all, as a
foretaste be beaten so with sharp rods that you will lament that you were ever
born to evil fortune in the world, a woman from a woman’s womb.”


(1) “I will be,” said that maiden, “so much the more beloved to Him as I suffer
the more grievous thing for His love. (2) Work what is your will!”


(1) “Yes,” said he, “happily!”

(1) And he very fiercely ordered her to be stripped stark-naked and beaten so
wickedly on her lovely body that it lathered in blood. (2) She was seized and it was
done so that blood poured down off the rods and she began to cry out: “However
badly you beat me, you beadles of Belial, you can lessen neither my love nor my
belief toward the living God, my beloved lover, the loveworthy Lord; nor will I
believe your advice, which leads you to destruction; nor will I praise or glorify
your filthy idols — which are vessels of the Fiend — for any pain or torture that
you may contrive.”


(1) “No, will you not?” said Africanus. (2) “It shall soon be clear, for I will
send you now and surrender your body to Eleusius the noble who is reeve of
Rome, and he will lead you to destruction and make you die in agony as is his own
will, through all that is ever painful.”


(1) “Yes,” said this maiden, “God may control that. (2) You may do nothing
to me except what He will permit and allow you to do to multiply my reward and
the mirth that pertains to maidenhood’s honor. (3) For however much you hurt
me here, the more my crown will be both brighter and fairer. (4) Therefore, I will
joyfully and with a joyful heart endure every single suffering for the love of my be-
loved, the lovely Lord, and every torment will be soft to me in His service. (5) You
wish, you say, to give me up to Eleusius the wicked: give me to him, for I care
nothing at all for either of you two! (6) You who can only torture me here but it
harms me not at all, but helps me and lifts me up and makes my mirths manifold
in Heaven. (7) And if you put me to death, it will be dear to God, and I will
become happy because of endless blisses, and you will, you wretches — alas for
your fates, that you were born into the world and brought forth to evil fortune —
you will sink down to suffering and to eternal sorrow, to bitterness and to bale,
deep into Hell!”


(1) Africanus her father, bitterly enraged gave her to Eleusius, the wicked
reeve of Rome, and had her brought before his eyes as he sat and decided the
high city court judgments. (2) As he saw and beheld her lovely face in the likeness
of a lily and red as rose, and everything below her face so beautifully shaped, he
heaved a sigh like a creature that was sorely wounded. (3) His heart began to heat
up and his marrow to melt; the rays of love reached through every joint of his
limbs. (4) And inside he burned from fire so and quaked, as if from cold, that it
seemed to him in his mind that he wanted no kind of bliss in the world but her
body alone, to possess her with his will according to what he wished. (5) And he
began with sweetness to say softly:


(1) “My life and my beloved and lady, if you wish well, consider that I am the
richest in Rome and the highest born. (2) Why do you do such woe to us both
through your great lack of reason and act so angrily? (3) I wish you no more evil
than you yourself wish. (4) But I would prefer that you leave your wicked purpose,
and it will go well for you with every joy, and you will never lack anything you
desire. (5) And consider, in comparison, the customs which all your kin, whom
you are come from and are descended from, believe in and love. (6) Why do you
alone abandon them, and why have they become so loathsome to you? (7) Do not
at all expect yourself alone, with all your wisdom, to overpass them all!”


(1) “Cease,” said she, “Eleusius, and stop such words because they are not at
all right! (2) For if you knew and were familar with the King who is crowned over
all kings in Heaven, little would you esteem your lawless customs which teach you
to bow down to lifeless idols as you should to God, and which anger your Creator.
(3) For the living devils set themselves inside of them, in whom you believe, and
whenever you praise them, you praise that demon and bow to it as if to a savior.
(4) And He will bitterly repay your time, for He will never grow weary working for
you all that woe, world forever without end. (5) Do what you wish to do, for I will
do nothing else for you, unless you listen to and believe my teaching, and love
God Almighty, and abandon all the customs to which you are in subjection.”


(1) “But beloved,” said Eleusius, “if I were so inclined, it would soon be told
to the emperor and reported to the king, and he would cast me out of my office
and condemn me to death!”


(1) And she answered him: “If you dread so much one mortal man, who lives
entirely against the law, and who bestows all his love on lifeless things, a shame
upon his Shaper, and if you are so afraid to lose his friendship, should I then
forsake Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who is the beginning and the end of all that is
ever good, who wishes after this life — which I care little for — for his lovely love
that I live with Him in the triumph and the happiness of the joys of the heavenly
kingdom? (2) You can waste speech and succeed not at all! (3) Though you buffet
me and beat me, since it is your right, and put me to cruel torture and to a dreary
death, although you, enemy, flay me, you will not, for any slaughter, see me
slacken in loving and believing in the living God, Lord of all men.”


(1) The reeve began to grow red from rage in his swollen heart, and com-
manded his heathen men to strip her stark-naked and to stretch her upon the
earth, and for six men to beat her bare body for as long as they could, so that she
was entirely drenched from the blood. (2) They did entirely as he ordered and
while they beat her they began to shout: “This is a beginning of the pain and of
the shame that you will endure if you will not bow to and obey our will! (3) But
yet, you may save yourself if you wish. (4) And if you still refuse, may there be
misfortune and misery of all men to he who does not do his best to work on you.”


(1) “Do,” said she, “you devil’s limbs, all that the devils — whose drudges you
are — drive you to do. (2) Your love matters little to me, your loathing less, and
these threats matter nothing at all! (3) Know it for certain!”


(1) “Now,” said they, “Woe to him who does not try today to do the worst to you!”

(1) There was sorrow then to see how they fared with her beautiful flesh. (2)
But she patiently endured it all for the Lord, and when she felt the worst, she said
most certainly, “Keep it up for a while and do not ever stop, for I will not leave
His love which I believe in, neither for love nor for any wickedness.”


(1) Eleusius heard this and his face began to grow red and inflamed from
rage. (2) And he commanded quickly that she be seized and pulled up by the hair.
(3) And it was soon done, so that she hung far from the earth by the hair alone,
and they laid then on her so horribly on every side that every blow sank into her
lovely body, which became completely drenched in gore-blood from the rods. (4)
“Lord God Almighty,” said she, “Watch over Your maiden! (5) You tested
Abraham and found him true; grant that I may truly love you. (6) Hold fast to me,
my Savior, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as you have begun to, for I am not strong
from anything but from Your strength. (7) And I trust entirely in You and not in
myself, and here I vow to You that I have this hope in your help. (8) Mild God
Almighty, neither my love nor my belief in you shall ever lighten or prove false
because of any pain or any death that I will suffer.”


(1) When Eleusius saw that she began to fortify herself in true belief, he
thought he would immediately put her days to an end, and he ordered quickly for
boiling molten brass to be brought forth, and commanded it to be poured boiling
hot, so high up on her head that it flowed along her lovely body down to her
heels. (2) Everything was done as he commanded. (3) But the world’s Ruler —
who kept Saint John His Evangelist unhurt in the vat of boiling oil in which he
was placed, so that he arose from it as whole as if he were a whole virgin — the
same Lord of life kept His bride for Himself, untouched by the brass that was
boiling, so that all that she felt seemed to her nothing but lukewarm water. (4)
Eleusius became mad then and did not know what to say, but ordered her quickly
taken out of his eyesight and dragged into a dark house, to the pain of prison. (5)
And so she was soon put there.


(1) She, since she was inside in the darkness alone, began to call out to Christ
and prayed this prayer: “Lord God Almighty, my joy and my reward, my triumph
and all the happiness I seek, you see how I am all beset and surrounded: make
fast my belief! (2) Guide me and advise me, for all my trust is in you. (3) Steer me
and strengthen me, for all my strength is from you. (4) Because I will not forsake
you, my father and my mother have forsaken me; and all my closest kin, those
who should be my best friends, are my greatest foes, and my household, the
greatest of all churls. (5) Praiseworthy Savior, I have your help alone: I am well
pleased. (6) Do not forsake me, loving Lord. (7) As you guarded Daniel among
the wild lions looking so wicked, and the three children named Ananie and Azarie
and Misahel who would not turn aside from the laws that they would love, as you,
Ruler of all, protected them unblemished from that fearsome fire in the furnace,
so you, joy of the world, guard and defend me, and protect and guide through
your wisdom to keep me from sin. (8) Lord, leader of life, lead me through this
false life, this little lasting life, to the harbor of salvation, just as you led Israel’s
people from Egypt without a ship, dry footed, through the Red Sea and drowned
their foes who followed after them. (9) And you, Father of the people, fell my
foes, and you, Ruler, drive off the devil who torments me, for no man’s strength
may stand against him without your strength! (10) Give me leave that I might,
mighty powerful God, see him shamed yet, he who thinks to deceive me and
frighten me away from the narrow path that leads to eternal life. (11) Protect me
from his malice, living Lord. (12) Make me wary and guard me against his crafty
tricks so that they do not catch me. (13) Defend me so against the fiend, Savior
of the helpless, that you may be praised and glorified forever on earth as in
Heaven. (14) May you be forever blessed, Lord, as you were and are and shall be
into eternity.”


(1) Just as she had prayed this prayer, a champion of Hell came in the shape
of an angel, and began to speak thus with this maiden: “Juliana, my beloved, you
have received and suffered much for my love. (2) You have frightening foes who
fight against you. (3) Enraged, they are preparing all kinds of tortures for you. (4)
I cannot abide them to harm you any more! (5) You are tested enough and you
have earned my friendship plenty enough. (6) Your pain grieves me! (7) Now
listen to my advice: do Eleusius’ will, for I give you leave.”


(1) This maiden was quite astonished by these words and since she was frightened
she began to ask: “What creature,” said she, “are you who brings such words to me?”


(1) “I am he,” said the fiend, “God’s high angel sent to you from Heaven to say
this to you.” (2) She was very surprised, and, since she was not of an unquestioning
nature, silently, but in a loud voice in her heart, called out to Christ:


(1) “Jesus,” said she, “God’s Son who is your Father’s wisdom, guide me, your
woman, as to what I should do. (2) And if it is Your dear will, make me understand
whether he who says this to me is Your messenger.”


(1) And a voice came, descending down softly from Heaven, which said: “Juliana
the holy, blessed be the time that you were born. (2) Your beloved will not suffer any
false thing to deceive you for long. (3) It is the fierce demon from Hell who stands
there! (4) Go near him now and grab him, and with the bonds which are there bind
him cruelly tight. (5) God almighty gives you the strength to do it, and you shall
control him completely just as you please; and he will tell you — damn his teeth! —
everything that you wish to know, and declare and make known to you all that you
ask.”


(1) This blessed maiden, since she was guided by the angel, leapt forward and
caught hold of him and said: “Say to me quickly what you are, and where you came
from, and who sent you here!”


(1) And at that moment he began to change shape and became such as he was: a
fiend of hell. (2) “Lady,” said he, “release me and I shall tell you.”


(1) “Do tell me quickly, for I will release you and let you go when I like!”

(1) “Dear lady,” said he then, “I am he, the devil Belial, of all the wretched devils
the worst and the most wicked, for I am not and was not ever happy except when I
made mankind commit shameful actions. (2) I am the one who cast out Adam
and Eve from the happiness of Paradise; and I am the one who made Cain the
accursed kill his brother Abel. (3) I am the one who made Nebuchadnezzar, the
cruel king of Caldee, make the idols cast entirely of gold, and I am the one who
made it so that the three children chosen over the others were flung into that
fearsome fire of the huge oven. (4) And I am the one who caused the great wise
prophet, Isaiah, to be sawed through and through to death at that time. (5) And
I am the one who caused Jerusalem to be burned and God’s dear temple reduced
entirely to ash. (6) And I am the one who made and advised Israel’s folk to
abandon the Lord who freed them from Pharaoh’s thralldom, in the wilderness;
and they made for themselves gods cast of metal to praise and to worship! (7) And
I am the one who stole the rich Job’s goods, so that he wallowed from misery in
the midden-heap. (8) And I am the one who once was held captive by Solomon
the wise. (9) And I am the one who caused Saint John the Baptist to be beheaded,
and Saint Steven be stoned, and I am the one who spoke through the mouth of
Simon, the witch, who always made war against Peter and Paul. (10) And I am the
one who advised Nero, the rich emperor of Rome, to crucify Peter and to behead
Paul. (11) And I made the knight pierce God’s side with a sharp spear’s point!
(12) If I spoke all day I might tell more, for more crimes have I wrought than I
can recall, and I have been the bane of more people than any of my brothers.”


(1) “Do tell me,” said the maiden, “who sent you to me and who is master over
you.”


(1) “Lady,” said he, “Beelzebub, the bold demon of Hell.”

(1) “What,” said she, “is his work? (2) And what does he do the most?”

(1) “Lady, if it is your will, he discovers every evil and devises it all, and he
sends us then to where it seems best. (2) And when we do not succeed and cannot
wrench someone righteous from the right path, we cower and do not dare come
before him, and he fiercely orders those who have done his will, wherever they
find us, to bind us and beat us and to work us more woe than any man might
endure. (3) Therefore we must, lady, bow down to and obey our lovable father,
and carry out all his desires.”


(1) “Say,” said she, “more plainly still, how you operate and in what ways you
deceive God’s children.”


(1) “Lady,” said he, “Juliana, whom I have found and have followed to evil
fortune, I truly thought to lead you into your elders’ laws and make you leave the
love of your Lord, and I began to test you, but I am defeated. (2) I will now
declare to you all that you ask: wheresoever we see man or woman begin any
good, we arm ourselves against them and make them desert all that might turn
their hearts to the best, and make them think thoughts to the contrary, and turn
to other desires that will harm them. (3) And we make them lose the desire to
pray eagerly that God deprive them of the desire that we put in them. (4) And
they grow weak with it, and we grow strong in them from that desire, and engulf
them completely, before they least expect it. (5) And if we see them eagerly visit
church, and there, all by themselves, repent of their sins and lovingly listen to
Holy Church’s teaching, there we are still busily about them (and more there than
elsewhere) to hinder them if we may, and to wrench their thoughts toward vain
things. (6) But whoever is so stalwart that they understand, with strength from
their hearts they cast out from the wicked desires that I cast into them, and
eagerly cry after God’s grace for help and for salvation, and especially when the
priest during the Mass partakes of God’s body, which He took from that flawless
maiden. (7) There true belief and heartfelt prayers are so pleasing to God that at
that same time we begin to flee and turn to flight. (8) This is all that we do to
Christians and we egg them on always to evil.”


(1) “But, you hateful fiends,” said that blessed woman, “how dare you ever
visit Christ’s chosen ones?”


(1) “But tell me, blessed maiden,” said he, “how dare you hold me and handle
me so violently, unless you are confident in your lord. (2) And I do as you do:
trust in my lord who is master of all villainies, and do his will over everything as
far as I may. (3) And if I could do further, I would be the gladder. (4) But I do not
know what unhappy fate made me search here unless my great ill luck sought to
see you. (5) Woe is me forever — so sorely does that sight grieve me! (6) Nothing
ever grieved me so wickedly or so painfully. (7) Alas, why did I not know what
wretchedness was upon me? (8) And did my royal father not think to warn his
child of such woe? (9) Let me go now, lady, and I will leave you completely alone
and follow another, or I will denounce you to my mighty father. (10) But I warn
you well beforehand, it is not to your benefit.”


(1) “Oh,” said she, Juliana, Christ’s beloved, “do you threaten me, wretch? (2)
It will turn out, God knows it, so much the worse for you.”


(1) And she grabbed a great chain that she was bound with, and bound both
his two hands behind his back so that each of his nails twisted painfully and
became black from the blood, and flung him backwards straight down to the
earth. (2) And, standing on top of that pestilent creature, she seized her own
bonds and began then to beat Belial of Hell, and he began to howl pitifully, to
yowl and yell, and she laid on so fiercely that he was sorry to be alive.


(1) “Oh my lady Juliana,” said he, “equal to the apostle, like the patriarchs,
and beloved among all the martyrs, angels’ fellow and archangels’ friend! (2)
Spare me for a minute, I beg you in God’s name and on his Son’s Cross which we
dread so much, and on the pain and the death that he suffered for humankind:
have pity and mercy, woman, upon my wretchedness.”


(1) “Shut up, you pestilence from Hell!” said that blessed maiden. (2) “There
is no mercy for you because you should not enjoy any mercy! (3) But tell me
quickly more of the woe that you have wrongfully wrought upon humans.”


(1) “Lady, leave off a moment and hold back your blessed hands. (2) I have
blinded men and broken them, both shoulders and shanks, flung them into fire and
water, I have often made them spit and spew their own blood, and the one to slay
the other, and then hang himself. (3) But, wise woman, how do you wish me to end
for you the tale which always grows as I tell it? (4) I have befouled so many of those
who were not so well blessed as they should have been, that no man might
reckon nor estimate it. (5) Of all that evil in the world, what worse do you want?(6)
I am, of the wells of all that evil in the world, the one from which it wells up the
most, and never until this day was I treated so. (7) Oh, the might of maidenhood,
how you are armed to wage war against us! (8) Even now, out of everyone who
hurts us, you do us the worst, as you always did. (9) But we will strive for
vengeance on all those who protect you, and they will never be free from our war.
(10) We will ever more humiliate and hate maidens, and although many escape
us, some shall not escape. (11) Oh Jesus, God’s Son, you who have your high seat
in maidenhood’s might — a great honor to her — you work us woe through that!
(12) You protect them too well who truly have her held in the heart, if they be
mild and meek as a maiden should be.” (13) As soon as he had said this, he began
to howl so that many were wondering what that howl could be.


(1) Eleusius the reeve demanded to see if she lived, and ordered her brought
before him if she were alive. (2) Those who were ordered went forth and found her
so, and were very terrified of that grisly evil spirit, though they yet led her forth. (3)
And she dragged always behind her the loathly thing from Hell who cajoled very
much and begged thus and besought her: “My dear lady Juliana, do not let everyone
hoot and holler at me; you have done me enough woe, even if you do me no worse!
(4) Woman, I have lost my dear father’s friendship. (5) And never again from here on
do I dare come before him. (6) Mighty maiden, release me for God’s sake, I beg you!
(7) Are not Christian people — if it is true what you tell me — merciful and mild? (8)
And you are without pity! (9) Have mercy on me, for the Lord’s love, your love-worthy
lady, I pray you.” (10) And she dragged him always along, to the hooting of the
marketing merchants. (11) And they laid on him, some with stones, some with bones,
and set hounds on him, and laid on him with hands. (12) So while he became the most
miserable of all things, and cried aloud as a foul creature so that many flew there, that
blessed woman became wearied somewhat and she flung him with the chain very
roughly and cast him forth away from her into a pit of filth.


(1) She came boldly forth before the reeve as he sat on his judgment seat, her face
bright, blazing like the sun. (2) The reeve, when he saw her, thought it a great marvel
and began to say: “Juliana, tell me and be truthful: where were you taught those
witchcrafts, by which you hold no account of any kind of torment, nor fear neither
death nor living devils?”


(1) “Hear me, heathen hound,” said that blessed maiden. (2) “I praise and glorify
God the Father and his marvelous son called Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, God
as the other gods, three and not three but always one and everywhere undivided. (3)
He, king of champions, has today overcome Hell’s bull Belial, boldest of all, and your
sire Satan, whom you believe in. (4) And your father ordered you, and you carry out
his order; and it suits you well and becomes you to be the progeny of such a race. (5)
But may you always be cursed, colt of such a stock! (6) May the mighty merciful
God, whom I always keep in mind, give me might from Heaven to hurt him
and put him to shame, and to make ashamed whoever will praise and glorify
such fiends. (7) Alas, wretch, that you were born at an evil hour, because your sorry
soul and your sorrowful ghost will play with such playfellows in Hell! (8) Reeve,
pity yourself. (9) Unhappy man, behold, yourself praise God and hear me! (10)
Jesus is so merciful that he happily desires Heaven’s salvation for everyone. (11)
But whoever does not do penance will not be saved.”


(1) “Indeed!” said Eleusius. (2) “Do you still keep to your squawking? (3) Do
you think that we are so easy to beguile? (4) But we will see now, for it will soon
become clear how your witchcraft guards and keeps you.”


(1) And frantically he had fashioned and made a most terrifying wheel, and
had it filled throughout with spokes and with rims, thick and threefold with spikes
of sharp iron, to carve everything that they came upon like razors. (2) And the
axle stood, extended on both sides into stone pillars, so that as it turned, the
wheel did not reach anywhere underneath on the earth. (3) It could terrify anyone
who saw how it ground into whatever it came upon. (4) She was brought forth, as
Belial’s beadle bid, and they bound her to it hard and cruelly tight. (5) He placed
four of his knights on either side of her to turn that wheel, with handles made for
it, as hard as they could on that blessed maiden, and he ordered them, upon life
and limb, to swing it swiftly and to turn it about. (6) And they, as the devil spurred
them to do, did so unsparingly so that she began to break apart as that steel-hard
iron struck her all over, and from the top to the toes always as it turned, it
dismembered her and pulled apart both limb and flesh. (7) Her bones burst and
that marrow burst out mingled with the blood. (8) Whoever stood in that place
could see there the greatest of all sorrows.


(1) As she cried out to God and wished to give up her ghost into His hands,
an angel of Heaven came descending, and it crashed into that wheel so that it
shattered completely. (2) Her bonds burst and broke up completely, and she, as
fish-whole as though she had nowhere felt hurt, began to thank God thus with her
hands uplifted: “Immortal Lord, one almighty God unlike all others, maker of
Heaven and of earth and of all created things, I thank you today for all of your
deeds. (3) You made man from earth and gave him a living spirit similar to
yourself and made for his sake all that is in the world. (4) But he fell into sin right
away because Eve egged him on and he was soon put out of the joys of paradise.
(5) His progeny grew so much here that no one could tell it, but they sinned so
much that you drowned them all in Noah’s flood, except for eight whom you
protected. (6) Afterwards, in the old law, you chose Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and
his children, and gave to Joseph (who was the youngest) happiness in Pharaoh’s
hall. (7) Long after that you led Moses, whom you loved so much, and all of his
kindred through the Red Sea without a bridge or boat, whereas all the Pharaoh’s
host drowned. (8) And you fed them for forty years in the wilderness with
heavenly food and cast under their feet all of their foes and, by means of Joshua,
you brought them into the land of Jerusalem which you had promised to them.
(9) In Samuel’s day Saul was the first king, the choicest of champions. (10) When
he was at war, You bestowed on the little David such grace that he slung and slew
to death with one stone the strong Goliath, and advised him to rule in Saul’s
kingdom. (11) Thus you make great, mild God, all those who make themselves
meek, and those who glorify themselves here you lay very low. (12) After that,
when it pleased you — may you be thanked for it! — you came down to us here
from heavenly light and took blood and bone in that noble maiden, and were born
in Bethlehem for the salvation of humankind. (13) And to the shepherds you
showed yourself, whom the angels led to you, and you were royally worshiped by
the three kings, and grew and worked wonders. (14) But before that, you were
offered and redeemed with a gift, and baptized in the river Jordan by Saint John.
(15) You healed all the sick and raised the dead from death. (16) Finally, as it
pleased you, you let one of the twelve that you had chosen trade and sell you, and,
through the Jews’ plot, you suffered pain and passion on the Cross, died, and
were put dead in a coffin of stone. (17) You stepped down and stripped and
harrowed Hell, arose, and made known your Resurrection to your chosen ones,
and ascended above the stars into the highest heaven. (18) And you will come,
king, on Doomsday to judge the quick and dead. (19) You are hope for salvation.
(20) You are the wealth of the righteous and the salve of the sinful. (21) You are
the one who can do all and wishes for nothing but justice. (22) Blessed be you
forever, whom every creature ought to praise and glorify; and I do, dear Lord,
your maiden, alone that I am, and I love you as a lover, lovely Lord, you who have
done so much for me without any merits of mine. (23) Be with me, my blissful
God, and guard me against the devil’s drudges and against their tricks. (24) Work
yet such wonders, for your precious name, that the reeve with his devils may
redden and be shamed and you may always be glorified, since you are worthy of
worship, from world into world. (25) Amen without end.”


(1) With this, as she stopped, the executioners stood and yelled loud-voiced: “A
mighty Lord is the one whom Juliana believes in. (2) There is no God but he, we
acknowledge. (3) Reeve, our conduct grieves us that we have so long believed in
your counsels.” (4) And they all converted, about five hundred, who stood and
cried all in one voice: “Loveworthy woman, we all turn to that God whom you
trust. (5) Lost are you, reeve, with false belief and blessed be Christ and all his
chosen. (6) Now do to us cruelly everything that you can do. (7) Make for us,
reeve, all kinds of tortures right now. (8) Kindle the fire and fetch the wheel! (9)
Prepare all that you can cruelly contrive! (10) Carry out completely your father’s
will, the fiend from Hell. (11) Too long he held us as he holds you now, but we
will henceforth hold to Jesus, God’s royal Son, humankind’s redeemer.” (12) The
reeve was so angry that he ground his teeth. (13) He was about to go mad! (14)
And he sent frantically forth to Maximian, the mighty emperor of Rome, to find
out what he advised about it. (15) And Maximian ordered that the heads be
chopped off of every one of them. (16) Five hundred men in total, and of women
one hundred and thirty, thronged each one before the other to be beheaded. (17)
And they made their way with mirth, all martyrs, to Heaven.


(1) Eleusius meanwhile also had his men make a huge fire, and ordered them
to bind her, both the feet and the hands, and cast her into the fire alive to burn
up. (2) As she looked up and saw this flame lit, she looked toward Heaven with
hands upraised and cried out thus to Christ:


(1) “Do not forsake me now in this need, Lord of life! (2) Mild-hearted God,
pity me, your maiden, and with your gentle grace salve my sins. (3) Jesus, my
happiness, do not cast me out of your eyesight! (4) Behold me and help me, and
take and rescue me from this red flame so that these wicked men may not have
cause to say: ‘Your Lord, in whom you believe and who should be your shield —
where is he now?’ (5) I do not beg this, Lord, for fear of death; but falsify their law
and fasten true belief in your chosen ones. (6) Show, my mighty God, your strong
power and quickly hear me; be praised and glorified forever into eternity.”


(1) She had scarcely said so when an angel came, as bright as though he
burned, to that fearsome fire and he alighted into that flame and quenched it at
once, every single spark. (2) And she stood there unhurt in the midst of it,
praising our Savior with the loudest voice. (3) The reeve saw it quenched and
began to shake, so deeply did it anger him: and the baleful beast sat, like any
bristled boar that ever ground his tusks, and began to foam and horribly grind his
teeth at this meek maiden, and considered by what greatest pain he might master
her. (4) And he ordered a vessel fetched and filled with pitch, and boiled it
boiling-hot and commanded her to be cast inside, when it was the hottest and
boiled most bitterly.


(1) As she was placed inside it she cried out to the Lord and it cooled
immediately and became as pleasant for her as though it were a luke-warm bath,
made warm just for the purpose of bathing. (2) And it surged up against those
who had prepared it and scalded them to death as it shot up, all told in number
seven times ten, and five still more. (3) When the reeve saw this, he tore his
clothes and grabbed himself by the hair and began to quarrel with his fiends and
curse his lord.


(1) “Quickly!” said he, “get her out of my eyesight so that I do not see her any
more before the trunk of her body and the lifeless head lie sundered!” (2) As soon
as she heard this, she praised God of Heaven and became exceedingly glad, since
she had desired this. (3) She was led and dragged forth, and she was easy to drag.


(1) As she paused in that place where the condemned were accustomed to
suffer death, then that same Belial whom she had beaten came from far behind
and began to cry out: “Ah, stalwart men, do not spare her at all! (2) She has put
us all to shame. (3) Kill her now! (4) Give her ready repayment for what she
deserves. (5) Ah, stalwart men, put her to death now without delay!”


(1) Juliana the blessed opened her eyes and looked toward him as he said
thus, and that evil one flinched and sprang backwards behind their shoulders as
if in fear of a fired arrow. (2) “Woe is me that I live!” said he, “I am soon caught.
(3) But should she catch me again I will not find rescue. (4) Once she grasps me,
I will nevermore afterwards live on the earth.” (5) And he jerked himself
backwards, like the Devil himself, into the ditch of all demons — he could not stop
himself. (6) As she was about to stoop and stretch forth the neck, she prayed first
and began thus to instruct those who were there:


(1) “Listen to me, dear people, and hear me for a while. (2) Repent your sins
and heal them with true shrift and with penance! (3) Leave your evil customs and
build upon trustworthy ground so that you fear no fall from wind or from weather.
(4) See to it that the heavenly Lord is the foundation of all that you do, for He
stands steadfast, fall what may befall. (5) Cry out to God in Holy Church so that he
gives you the knowledge to do well and strengthens you with His strength against
the strong fiend, who seeks always and forever to swallow you. (6) Listen eagerly to
Holy Scripture’s teaching and live according to it. (7) It is well for him who is
very vigilant and who in this little time here guards himself, and heartily sighs
often for his sins. (8) This world wends away like the water which flows, and, like
a dream dreamt, its joy fades away, and all that we experience in this world is
nothing but a false wind. (9) Leave what is false and reckon it little, and seek that
true life that lasts forever, for you will leave this life — and you never know when
— and reap the harvest from that seed which you sow here; that is, accept the
yield of woe or of joy according to your works. (10) Earnestly, I beseech you that
you pray for me, brothers and sisters.” (11) And she kissed them all with the kiss
of peace as they stood. (12) And she looked upward, and raised up her voice:


(1) “Lord God Almighty, I thank You for Your gifts. (2) Take care of me now!
(3) You love above all things true belief; do not ever leave to your foe your
likeness, which you rescued from death through your death on the Rood! (4) Do
not ever abandon me to die in the unending death of Hell! (5) Take me to you
and place me with your own in that angels’ company among the fellowship of
maidens. (6) I give you my spirit, precious Lord, and commit it, blissful God, for
your blessed name, to peace and to rest.” (7) With that she bent herself and bowed
headlong down, beheaded, to the earth. (8) And the blessed angels singing
departed with the soul into Heaven.


(1) Soon afterwards, there came a holy woman riding toward Rome by the city
of Nicomedia. (2) She was called Sophie, descended from high kin, and she took
this maiden’s body, wrapped very preciously in rich clothes, and carried it into
her ship. (3) When they were on the water, there came a storm through which no
man could steer the ship, and it drove them onto dry land into Campagna. (4)
There Sophie, a mile from the sea, founded a church and placed her body inside
in a coffin of stone, solemnly, as one ought to do for a saint.


(1) The reeve, as soon as he learned that she had been carried off, hastily
leaped into a boat with a few men and began to row swiftly after, in order to seize
the body from them and sink it into the sea. (2) And there arose storms so stark
and so strong that the boards of this boat burst and broke apart, and the sea sank
him and thirty of his men, and still four more in addition, and drove them
drowned dead to land, where wild beasts tore them apart limb from limb and
ripped every single joint from the flesh. (3) And the unholy souls sank to Hell, to
perish miserably in pain and in sorrow forever.


(1) Thus the blessed Juliana passed through torments, from worldly woes to
the joys of the heavenly kingdom, in the renowned city named Nicomedia on the
sixteenth day of the month of February, which is after the fourteenth Calends of
March.


(1) May she, through her pleading to God, secure for us the grace of Him who
rules in the Trinity and yet is undivided. (2) May he be praised and glorified, Him
alone, as He was and is, forever into eternity.


(1) When the Lord on Doomsday winnows his wheat
And drives that dusty chaff to hellish heat,
May he be a grain on God’s golden threshing floor,
Who translated this from Latin into the English language,
As well as he who last wrote in this book as best he could. (2) Amen.