from city to city by Salman el Assur, who was favourable to him. In one of these journeys he found one of his countrymen, Gabelus, in Rages, a city of the Medes, in great want, and he advanced him ten talents of silver, taking only a note of hand in receipt for it.

But when Salman el Assur died, and Sennacherib came to the throne, after the humiliating retreat of the Assyrian army from before Jerusalem, the captive Israelites became hateful to the soldiery, and Israelites were continually stabbed in open day in Ninive and

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left dead in the streets. On these occasions Tobias would go out and bring the dead bodies to his own house, and bury them by night. He was reported for this, to the king, and only escaped by being kept concealed, until Sennacherib was assassinated by his own sons. On this happening, Tobias returned to his house in peace.

As Tobias on a festival day of the Lord was giving a feast to his friends, his son came in with the news that one of the children of Israel lay slain in the street whereupon Tobias, remembering the words of the prophet Amos, "Your festival days shall be turned into lamentation and mourning," rose up fasting and went to the body, to carry it to his own house. Now all his neighbours blamed him, saying, "Once already commandment was given for thee to be slain in this matter, and thou didst scarce escape the sentence of death, and dost thou again bury the dead?" But Tobias feared God more than the king, and continued to bury the bodies of those who were slain. On one of these occasions he lost his eyesight from falling asleep close to the walls of his own house, under a swallow's nest, the droppings from which falling upon his eyes, blinded him.

Soon after this Tobias fell into great poverty, and his friends and kinsmen began to mock him, saying: "Where is thy hope for which thou gavest alms and buriedst the dead?" Tobias quietly replied: "Speak not so, for we are the children of the saints, and look for that life which God will give to those who never change their faith from him.' His wife also turned

against him, and said: "It is evident thy hope is turned to nothing, and thy alms now appear." And with these and other like words she upbraided him.

§ 39. Tobias sends his Son to recover the sum lent to Gabelus.

Tobias now consulted with his wife, whether they could not send their son to recover the sum of money lent to Gabelus; and having with difficulty persuaded the mother to consent, Tobias called his son, and giving him good advice, he told him to find a trustworthy companion, and to prepare to set out on his journey to Rages, in the country of the Medes, saying: "Fear not, my son; we lead, indeed, a poor life, but we shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin and do that which is good." The young Tobias went out and returned with St. Raphael the Archangel, who had been sent by God to accompany him, but whom he did not know at the time to be other than what he appeared, viz., a young man, Azarias by name, whose family was known to his father. When all was ready for the journey, they set out together, and Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him. They lodged the first night by the river Tigris. And as Tobias went out to wash his feet in the river, behold, a monstrous fish came up to devour him. And Tobias being afraid of him, cried out with a loud voice, saying: "Sir, he cometh upon me!" And the Angel said to him: "Take him by the gill, and draw him to thee." And when he had done so, he drew him out upon the land, and the fish began to pant before his feet. Then the Angel said to him: "Take

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out the entrails of this fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee: for these are necessary for useful medicines." And when he had done so, they roasted the flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way: the rest they salted, as much as might serve them till they came to Rages the city of the Medes. Then Tobias asked the Angel, and said to him: "I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me, what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish?" And the Angel answering, said to him: "If thou put a little piece of its liver upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them. And the gall is good for anointing the eyes, in which there is a white speck, and they shall be cured."

Proceeding on their journey they came to the house of Raguel, the kinsman of Tobias, where the young Tobias became acquainted with Sara, Raguel's fair daughter, and married her; the liver of the fish serving to drive away the devil who had killed seven of her former bridegrooms the first night of their marriage. When the Angel had first pointed out Sara to him for a bride, Tobias had expressed his fears, on account of the report which he had heard of the death of her seven suitors. The Angel, however, reassured him, explaining, that they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves and from their mind, and give themselves to their lusts as the horse and mule which have not understanding, over them, the devil hath power.

§ 40. Return of the young Tobias to his father. The Restoration of his sight to the old man.

While the younger Tobias was celebrating his marriage, his companion went forward to Rages and received the money from Gabelus. When their festivities were drawing to a close, Tobias desiring to return home, said to his father-in-law: "I know that my