S. JEROME’S DIVINE LIBRARY.

Then, all things being prepared that were to be carried on the way, Tobias said farewell to his father and mother, and they both walked together.

And when they had set out, his mother began to weep, and to say: You have taken the staff of our old age, and have sent him away from us. Would that the money itself, for which you sent him, had never existed. For our poverty was sufficient for us, that we might count as riches this, that we saw our son. And Tobias said to her: Do not weep, our son will arrive safe, and will return safe to us, and your eyes will see him. For I believe that the good angel of God accompanies him, and will well arrange all things that are done concerning him, so that he may return to us with joy. At this voice, his mother ceased to weep, and was silent.

A [Chap. VI.] Tobias set out, and a dog followed him, and he stayed the first night by the river Tigris. And he went out to wash his feet, and behold, a huge fish came out to devour him. Tobias, terrified by it, cried out with a loud voice, saying: Lord, it is attacking me. And the angel said to him: Seize its gill, and draw it to you. Which, when he had done, he pulled it onto dry land, and it began to palpitate before his feet. Then the angel said to him: Gut this fish, and keep its heart, and its gall, and its liver for yourself: for these are necessary as useful medicines. Which, when he had done, he roasted its flesh, and they took it with them on the way: they salted the rest, which would suffice for them until they arrived in Rages, a city of the Medes. Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech you, brother Azarias, to tell me, what remedy will these things have, which you ordered me to save from the fish? And the angel answering, said to him: If you place a small piece of its heart upon coals, its smoke drives away every kind of demon, whether from a man or from a woman, so that it will no longer approach them. And the gall is useful for anointing the eyes in which there is a white film an opaque, sight-obscuring layer, often called a leukoma or cataract, and they shall be healed original: "Tota isthæc pericope... in Palatino ms. desideratur." (This entire passage is missing in the Palatine manuscript).

And Tobias said to him: Where do you want us to stay? And the angel answering, said: There is here a man named Raguel, a kinsman from your tribe, and he has a daughter here named Sarah, but he has neither son nor any other daughter except her. All his substance is due to you, and it is fitting that you take her as your wife. Ask her therefore from her father, and he will give her to you as a wife. Then Tobias answered, and said: I hear that she has been given to seven men, and they died; and I have also heard this, that a demon kills them. I fear therefore, lest perhaps these things should happen to me also: and since I am the only one to my parents, I might bring their old age down with sorrow to the underworld inferos the grave/abode of the dead. Then the angel Raphael said to him: Listen to me, and I will show you who they are, over whom the demon can prevail. For those who receive marriage in such a way that they exclude God from themselves and from their mind, and give themselves over to their lust, just as the horse and the mule, which have no understanding:

the demon has power over them. You, however, when you have taken her, having entered the chamber, be continent from her for three days, and you shall occupy yourself with nothing else but prayers with her. On that very night, with the liver of the fish burned, the demon will be put to flight. On the second night, however, you will be admitted into the communion of the holy patriarchs. On the third night, however, you will obtain the blessing, so that children may be born of you in health. And the third night having passed, you will take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, driven by the love of children rather than by lust, so that in the seed of Abraham you may obtain the blessing in children.

B [Chap. VII.] They entered, however, to Raguel, and Raguel received them with joy. And Raguel, looking at Tobias, said to Anna his wife: How similar is this young man to my cousin! And when he had said this, he said: From where are you, young men, our brothers? But they said: We are of the tribe of Naphtali, from the captivity of Nineveh. And Raguel said to them: Do you know Tobias, my brother? And they said: We know him. And when he spoke many good things about him, the angel said to Raguel: Tobias, about whom you ask, is the father of this one. And Raguel threw himself forward, and with tears kissed him, and weeping upon his neck, said: May a blessing be upon you, my son, because you are the son of a good and most excellent man. And Anna his wife, and Sarah their daughter, wept.

C After they had spoken, Raguel ordered a ram to be killed, and a banquet to be prepared. And when he urged them to sit down to dinner, Tobias said: I will not eat or drink here today, unless you first confirm my petition, and promise to give me Sarah your daughter. When this word was heard, Raguel was terrified, knowing what had happened to those seven men who had entered to her: and he began to fear lest perhaps this might happen to him similarly. And when he hesitated, and gave no answer to the petitioner, the angel said to him: Do not be afraid to give her to this one, since your daughter is owed as a wife to this one who fears God; for that reason no other could have her. Then Raguel said: I do not doubt that God has admitted my prayers and my tears into his sight. And I believe that for this reason he made you come to me, that she might be joined to her own kin according to the law of Moses: and now do not have any doubt that I will hand her over to you. And taking the right hand of his daughter, he handed it to the right hand of Tobias, saying: May the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you, and may he himself join you, and fill his blessing in you. And having accepted a document, they made a marriage contract. And after these things they feasted, blessing God.

And Raguel called to himself Anna his wife, and ordered her to prepare another room. And he brought in Sarah his daughter there original: "Introduxit in eum Saram... filia mi, pro mea.", and she wept. And he said to her: Be of strong heart, daughter.