1 And Joseph and Mary continued with the child in the cave, secretly and without showing themselves in public, so that no one knew nothing. But after three days, that is. On the 23rd of Tebeth, which is January 9, behold, the wise men from the East, who had left their country nine months before, and who had with them a numerous army, arrived at the city of Jerusalem. The first was Melkon, king of the Persians; the second, Gaspar, king of the Indians; and the third, Baltasar, king of the Arabs. And the commanders of his army, vested with general command, were twelve in number. The cavalry troops that accompanied them numbered twelve thousand men, four thousand from each kingdom. And they had all arrived, by order of God, from the land of the magi, their homeland, located in the eastern regions. Because, as we have already mentioned, as soon as the angel had announced to the Virgin Mary her future motherhood, he went, carried by the Holy Spirit, to warn the kings to go and worship the newborn child. And they, having made their decision, gathered together in one place, and the star that preceded them led them, with their troops, to the city of Jerusalem, after nine months of travel.
2 And they camped around the city, where they remained three days, with the princes of their respective kingdoms. Although they were brothers and sons of the same father, armies of different languages and nationalities walked in their entourage. The first king, Melkon, brought, as gifts, myrrh, aloes, muslin, purple, linen ribbons, and also the books written and sealed by the finger of God. The second king, Gaspar, provided, in honor of the child, spikenard, cinnamon, cinnamon and incense. And the third king, Balthasar, brought with him gold, silver, precious stones, fine pearls and sapphires of great price.
3 And, when they arrived at the city of Jerusalem, the star that preceded them momentarily hid its light, so who stopped and stopped. And the kings of the magi and the numerous troops of their knights said to one another: What to do now, and in what direction to march? We ignore it, because the star has guided us until today, and here it has just disappeared, abandoning us and leaving us in anguishing trouble. So let’s get information about the child, and look for the exact place where he is, and then we will continue our route. And everyone unanimously agreed that this was most reasonable.
4 And King Herod, seeing the numerous cavalry encamped menacingly around the city, was filled with great fear. . And, starting to reflect, he said to himself: Who are those men who camp there with a numerous army, and who have an enormous force, treasures, vast riches and luxurious objects? None of them have come to present themselves to me, and their leaders are so great and victorious that they have not taken a single step to complete me. Then the king sent for the princes of his court and his highest dignitaries and, meeting in council, they said to each other: How shall we act with these people, who bring a numerous army under their command, and who are leaders? brave?
5 And the princes said to Herod: O king, command that this city be well guarded by the warriors of your guard, lest those foreigners surprise it clandestinely, seize it by force, and take the inhabitants into captivity! The king replied: You speak well, but let us first use friendly means, and then we will see. And the princes said: O king, order that all your troops gather together, that they display vigilant energy, and that they remain alert and on arms! And, in the meantime, send able men to these people as deputies, who will go to parley with them, and ask them, fairly and in detail, where they come from and where they are going.
6 Then Herod chose three princes, learned and learned men, to go and interview the foreigners on his behalf. . And, arriving at these, both of them greeted each other with mutual consideration, and sat down. And the princes said: Venerable men and powerful kings, explain to us the reason for your coming to our country. The wise men said: Why do you ask us that question, if we are the ones who have come to question you? We come from Persia, a distant region, and we are in a hurry to continue our route. The princes said: Listen to us, for the love of God. Our king is in the city, and, upon noticing that you were settling here for observation, he hoped that you would introduce yourself to him, because he would like to see you, hear you, speak to you, and converse with you. But, since you were not in a hurry to go visit him, he has sent us in search of you, to invite you to appear at his palace, in order to be informed, with all respect, of your intentions, and to know what you want.
7 The wise men said: And why does your king need us? If he has a question to ask us, we, for our part, have nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to express to anyone. The princes said: Do you come, then, as friends or with violent designs? The wise men said: Freely and joyfully we have come from our nation here. No one has subjected us to such an interrogation, and now you intend to probe us! The princes said: The king is the one who ordered us to come to see you, to hear you and to speak to you. Since you have camped on the outskirts, a smell of aromatic essences has come from your tents, and filled our entire city. Are you merchants, who dedicate yourself to great trade, or powerful lords familiar to kings, who bring in abundance refined perfumes of all the precious flowers, which they try to exchange in some rich country? The magicians said: We are none of that, nor do we have anything to sell, and we only ask for our way.
8 The princes asked: Which way? And the wise men answered: The one through whom the Lord will lead us, in justice, to the land of good. By order of God and by common agreement, we have come here. It’s been nine months since we set out, and we still couldn’t reach our destination on time. The star that guided us continually preceded us, and, at the end of each stage of our journey, it stopped above our heads. When, once again on our way, we quickened our march, the star, left behind, took the lead again, and so on until this place. Now, its light has disappeared from our sight, and, plunged into uncertainty, we do not know what to do.
9 And the princes went to tell the king everything that the wise men shared with them. Then Herod decided to go in person to meet them, and, once he was in their camp, he asked them: For what purpose have you made such a long journey to this land, with such a large army and with such rich gifts? And the wise men answered: We come from Persia, from the East. Because of our nationality, we are called magicians. We have arrived here led by a star, and the cause of our journey is having seen in our country that a king has been born in the country of Judea. Our object is to visit and worship Him.
10 Herod, who heard this, was deeply disturbed and terrified. He questioned the foreigners: From whom did you learn what you say, or who told it to you? And the wise men answered: We have received written testimony of this from our ancestors, which was kept under a sealed document. And, for long years, from generation to generation, our fathers and their children’s children have remained in expectation, until the moment in which that word has been fulfilled before us, since it has been manifested to us in a vision, at the command of God and by the ministry of an angel. And we have arrived at this place, which the Lord has indicated to us. Herod said: Where does this testimony come from, known only to you?
11 The wise men said: Our testimony does not come from any man. It is a divine order concerning a plan which the Lord has promised to fulfill in favor of the children of men, and which has been preserved among us to this day. Herod said: Where is that book, which your people possess to the exclusion of all others? The wise men said: No other people know him, neither by hearsay nor by their own intelligence, and only our people have a written testimony of him. Because, when Adam had abandoned Paradise, and when Cain had killed Abel, the Lord granted our first father the birth of Seth, the son of consolation, and, with him, that letter written, signed and sealed by the finger of the Lord. God himself. Seth received it from his father, and gave it to his sons. They gave it to his children to his children, from generation to generation. And, until Noah, they were ordered to carefully guard said letter. Noah gave it to his son Shem, and his sons passed it on to their own. And these, in turn, gave it to Abraham. And Abraham gave it to Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the High God, by whose means our people received it, in the time of Cyrus, monarch of Persia, and our fathers deposited it with great honor in a special room. Finally, the letter reached us. And we, possessors of that written testimony, knew beforehand the new monarch, son of the king of Israel.
12 When Herod heard this, the heart of Herod was filled with rage, and he said, Show me those written signs, which you possess. The wise men said: What we have promised to send to his direction, and to fulfill in his name, we cannot open, nor show it to anyone. Then Herod ordered the magi to be detained by force. However, suddenly, the palace, in which a multitude of people resided, was shaken by a frightful commotion. The columns collapsed on four sides, and the entire foundation of the palace collapsed with great ruin. A large crowd outside fled in terror, and those inside the building, large and small, were left dead, seventy-two in number. At the sight of which all those who had come to that place fell at Herod’s feet, and besought him, saying, Let them go on their way quietly. And his son Archelaus also knelt before his father, and addressed the same prayer to her.
13 The impious Herod consented to his son’s wish, and dismissed the wise men, asking them in a friendly tone: What do you want me to do for you? And the wise men answered: We have no other request to make of you but this: What is written in your law? What do you read in it? And Herod said, What do you mean? And the wise men asked: Where is Christ, king of the Jews, going to be born? And when Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when all the chief priests and scribes of the people had been summoned, he asked them: Where will the Christ be born? And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, the city of David. And Herod said to the wise men, Go there and ask diligently for the child, and when you find it, let me know, so that I also may go and worship him. But the impious tyrant spoke of this fate, to put the child to the sword, through that perfidiously discovered information.
14 And the wise men immediately rose up and prostrated themselves before Herod and before all the city of Jerusalem, and continued their route. And behold, the star, which they had seen before, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child Jesus was. And, rejoicing with great joy, they dismounted each one from his mount, and immediately made their trumpets, their fifes, their drums, their harps, and all their other musical instruments resound, in honor of the newborn son of the king of Israel. . Kings, princes and the entire crowd of the procession, singing a song, began to dance and, with full voice, with joy, with recognition, with a jubilant heart, they blessed and praised God, for having considered them worthy of arriving on time at Bethlehem. , to contemplate the glory of the great day, illustrated by the mystery that was shown before them.
15 Upon seeing all that apparatus, and hearing all that noise, Joseph and Mary, confused and afraid, fled from there, and the baby Jesus was left alone in the cave, lying in the animals’ manger. But the princes and the great lords of the wise men stopped Joseph, and said to him: Old man, what fear is yours, and why do you do this? We, in truth, are also men like you. Joseph replied: Where do you come from at this hour, and what do you intend, coming here with so numerous an army? The wise men replied: We have come from a distant land, our homeland Persia, and we come with a great variety of gifts and offerings. We want to know the newborn child, who is the king of the Jews, and worship him. If by chance you know it for sure, tell us specifically the place where it is located, so that we can go see it. Hearing this, Mary entered the cave with joy, and, lifting the child in her arms, she felt her heart filled with joy. And then she, blessing and praising and glorifying God, she sat in silence.
16 For the second time the wise men questioned Joseph in this way: Venerable old man, inform us exactly, telling us where he is. the newborn child. Joseph, with his finger, showed them the cave from afar. And Mary nursed her son, and she put him again in the manger of the stable. And the wise men came joyfully to the entrance of the cave. And, seeing the child in the animals’ manger, kings, princes, great lords, and all the rest of the multitude that made up his numerous army prostrated themselves before him, with their faces against the ground. And each one brought his gifts and offered them.
17 First came Gaspar, king of India, carrying spikenard, cinnamon, cinnamon, incense and other essences fragrant and aromatic, which spread a perfume of immortality in the grotto. Then Balthasar, king of Arabia, opening the chest of his opulent treasures, took out of it, to offer them to the child, gold, silver, precious stones, fine pearls and sapphires of great price. In turn, Melkon, king of Persia, presented myrrh, aloa, muslin, purple, and linen ribbons.
18 And as soon as each had offered his gifts in honor of the royal son of Israel, the wise men came out of the grotto, and, the three meeting outside it, they began mutual consultation with each other. And they exclaimed: Amazing is what we have just seen in such a poor redoubt, devoid of everything! No house, no bed, no room, but a gloomy, deserted and uninhabited cavern, where these people do not even have what they need to find shelter. What good has it been for us to come from so far away to meet him? Let us open ourselves to each other in mutual sincerity. What marvelous sign have we beheld here, and what wonder has appeared to each of us? The brothers said together: Yes, you are right. Let’s tell each other our respective vision. And they asked Gaspar, king of India: When you offered him the incense, what appearance did you recognize in him?
19 And King Gaspar answered: I recognized in him the son of God incarnate, sitting on a throne of glory, already the legions of incorporeal angels, who formed his retinue. They said: It’s okay. And they asked Balthasar, king of Arabia: When you brought him your treasures, under what form did the child appear to you? And Baltasar answered: He appeared to me in the manner of a king’s son, surrounded by a numerous army, who worshiped him on their knees. They said: The vision is very own. And Melkon, subjected to the same interrogation as his brothers, explained: I saw him as the son of man, as a being of flesh and blood, and I also saw him physically dead between tortures, and later rising alive from the tomb. Upon hearing such confidences, the kings, full of astonishment, said to themselves with astonishment: A new prodigy is what these three visions suggest. Because our testimonies do not agree with each other, and yet it is impossible for us to deny a fact evident by our own eyes.
20 And very early in the morning the kings rose up and said to one another, Let us go. together to the cave, and let’s see if any other sign appears clearly to us. And Gaspar entered the grotto, and saw the child in the manger of the stable. And, bowing down, he prostrated himself, and had the second vision, that of Baltasar, to whom the child was shown in the manner of an earthly monarch. And, when he left, he related the case to the others in these terms: I have not had my first vision, but yours, Baltasar, the one that you have told us. And Baltasar entered in his turn, and found the child in his mother’s lap. And, bowing down, he prostrated himself before him, and neither did he have his vision of the previous day, in which the child appeared to him as the son of a king, but as the son of man, with his flesh killed in torment, and then resurrected and returned to life. life. And he went to communicate this to the other brothers, saying to them: I have not renewed my first vision, but contemplated that of Melkon, just as he has told it to us. Then Melkon entered, and found the Christ sitting on a sublime throne. And, bowing, he prostrated himself before him, and he no longer saw him as he had seen him the first time, dead and returned to life, but as Gaspar saw him, as God made flesh and born of the Virgin. Full of joy, Melkon hurriedly went to warn the other brothers, saying to them: I have not had my first vision, but that of Gaspar, for I saw God, sitting on a throne of glory.
21 After having seen all these things, the kings gathered together again in consultation. And they exchanged impressions about the vision that each one had perceived and understood. And they said to each other: Let us now retire to our lodge. Tomorrow, very early, we will return for the third time to the grotto, and we will make sure in a positive and definitive way if the one that the Lord has shown us is really there. And having returned to their tent, they remained joyful there until daybreak. And getting up, they came to the opening of the cave, into which they entered one by one. And they looked and recognized the child, and they had the same vision of him as they had had the first time. And, transported with joy, they told one another what they had discovered, and went to announce it to all their army in these terms: Truly, this child is indeed God and the son of God, who has shown himself to each one. of us under an outward appearance in relation to the gifts that we have respectively offered him. And he has received our greetings and the homage of our gifts with sweetness and kindness. And everyone, kings, princes, great lords and the entire multitude of the numerous army that was there, had faith in the baby Jesus.
22 And again King Melkon took the book of the Testament, which he kept in his house as an inheritance from the first ancestors , as we already noted, and presented it to the child, saying: Here is your letter, which you gave to our ancestors in custody, signed and sealed by you. Take this authentic document that you have written, open it and read it, because the chirograph is in your name. And the document was the one whose text remained hidden under a sheet, and which the wise men had not dared to open, and even less to give to the Jews and their priests, because they were not worthy of becoming children of the kingdom of God. , destined as they were to deny the Savior, and to crucify Him.
23 Said document had been given by God to Adam, which, after his expulsion from Paradise, he had taken possession of great pain, following the murder perpetrated by Cain on the person of his brother Abel. But, when he had seen the first punished by God, and himself thrown out of glorious Eden for his disobedience, he also found himself tormented in his sons, by the affliction of the spectacle of Abel dead and Cain condemned to seven punishments. Adam, even more saddened and immersed in deeper mourning, no longer maintained marital relations with Eve. And, after two hundred and forty years after leaving Paradise, God, in his mercy, sent him an angel, and ordered him to enter Eve. And he gave birth to Seth, a name that means son of consolation. And, because Adam wanted to become God, he decided to become man, in the excess of his piety and his love for our unfortunate species. And he promised our first father that, according to his prayer, he would write and seal with his own finger a scroll in letters of gold, which would have the following cover: In the year six thousand, on the sixth day of the week, the same in which I created you, and at the sixth hour, I will send my only son, the divine Word, who will take flesh in your race, and who will become the son of man, and who will restore you again to your original dignity, by the supreme torments of his cross. And then you, Adam, united to me with a pure soul and an immortal body, will be deified, and will be able, like me, to discern good and evil.
24 And this document, which Adam gave to Seth, Seth to Enoch, Enoch to his sons, and that as such luck passed from one descendant to another, until Noah; that Noah gave to Shem, Shem to his children, and his children to his children until Abraham; that Abraham gave Melchizedek the high priest; which Melchizedek gave to another, and these to others still, until it reached the hands of Cyrus, who carefully kept it in a special room, where it was preserved until the time of the nativity of Christ: that document was the same one that the wise men offered to the baby Jesus. And, as the kings and all their entourage had fulfilled their vows and their prayers, after three days of staying in the grotto, they deliberated among themselves, and said to each other: We must not forget what was promised. We go to the cave for the last time, to worship the child, and then we will resume our journey in peace. And, with one accord, they entered the stable, and again had exactly their respective visions. And, moved with great fear, they prostrated themselves before the newborn, and bore testimony of faith in him, saying to him: You are God and son of God. And, leaving the grotto, they continued in its surroundings the entire day until the next. And, with joy and joy, they blessed and praised God.
25 And in the morning, at dawn, on the first day of the week, the 25th of Tébéth and January 12, they prepared to leave for their country. And, as they were deliberating whether they should meet Herod again, behold, a voice spoke to them, saying: Do not return to Herod, the impious tyrant, for he wants to kill that tender infant. And having heard this, the wise men gave up passing through the city of Jerusalem, and returned to their own country by another way. And, glorifying Christ, God of the universe, they marched to their homeland, possessed of joy and following the route along which the Lord led them.