Chapter XVII: Section THE FIRST: AN ACCOUNT OF THE LORD AISIA (JESUS).――They say

that the birth of the Lord Mesîah took place in the year 3199 of the creation of the world,[489] 2957 after the deluge of Noah,[490] 2015 years after the birth of Ibráhím,[491] and 1510 from the coming of Mosîah (Moses);[492] and when the children of Israél were in the 65th week, which the prophet Dáníel had announced, 752 years after the building of Rome,[493] in the 42nd year of the reign of Cæsar _Tiberius_. When Aísía appeared, the high priest said: “We charge thee, upon thy oath by the living God, say, art thou the son of God?” The blessed and holy Lord Aísîâ replied to him: “I am what thou hast said. Verily, we say unto you, you shall see the son of man seated at the right hand of God, and he shall descend in the clouds of heaven.” They said: “Thou utterest a blasphemy, because, according to the creed of the Yahuds, God never descends in the clouds of heaven.” Ishâîá the prophet has announced the birth of Aîsîá in words the translation of which is as follows: “A branch from the root of Ishaî shall spring up, and from this branch shall come forth a flower in which the spirit of God shall dwell: verily, a virgin shall be pregnant and bring forth a son.” Isháî is the name of the father of Dávid. When they had apprehended Aisîa, they spit upon his blessed face and smote him. Ishâa had predicted it: “I shall give up my body to the smiters, and my cheek to the diggers _of wounds_; I shall not turn my face from those who will use bad words, and throw spittle upon me.” When Aflátes (Pilatus), a judge of the Yahuds, scourged the Lord Aîsiâ in such a manner that his body from head to foot became but one wound, so was it as Ishâía had predicted: “He was wounded for our transgressions; I struck him for his people.” When Pilatus saw that the Yahuds insisted upon the death and the crucifixion of Jesus, he said: “I take no part in the blood of this man; I wash my hands clean of this blood.” The Yahuds answered: “His blood be on us and on our children.” On that account, the Yahuds are oppressed and curbed down, in retribution of their iniquities. When they had placed the cross upon the shoulder of Aísiá, and led him to die, a woman wiped with the border of her garment the face, full of blood, of the Lord Aîsîa; verily, she obtained three images of it, and carried them home: the one of these images exists still in Ispániah, in the royal town which is situated within the country of the king of Portugal; and is shown there twice every year:[494] the other is in the town of Milan, in the country of Italy, and the third in the city of Rome.

[488] _Tarsa_ is derived from _tarsiden_, “fearing, timid, a
Christian, an infidel, a pagan, a worshipper of fire.”

[489] Upon the epoch of the creation of the world we have,
according to Riccioli, 70, according to Dortous de Mairan,
75 or 90, and according to the marquis de Fortia d’Urban,
108 different systems, to which many more may be added.
These epochs vary from 6984 to 3619 years; that of the
Dabistan, 3199, is the lowest known to me.

[490] The deluge is placed:
By the Septuaginta 2250 years before Christ.
―― Archbishop Usher 2348 ―― ―― ――
―― Others 3882 ―― ―― ――

[491] The above epoch differs 94 years from that given by
Archbishop Usher, viz.: 1921 years before Christ.

[492] The above epoch differs 19 years from that given by
Archbishop Usher, viz.: 1510 years before Christ.

[493] The date of the birth of Christ, as given by our
chronologers, varies from 747 to 754 years after the
building of Rome, or is uncertain within seven or six years
(see Chronologie de Jésus-Christ par M. le marquis de
Fortia, p. 102-103, Paris, 1830).

[494] The viscount of Santarem, to whose most extensive
learning in history and geography, I fortunately had an
opportunity in Paris of applying for information upon the
above mentioned fact, gave me the following notice: “In no
town of Portugal do I find any indication of the existence
of these relics. I think that there is, in the statement of
the Dabistán, an error and a confusion with the fact related
by Brandâo, in 1643, viz.: the famous Portuguese prince don
Pietro, son of John I., having, on his return from Jerusalem
to Spain, in 1428, married in the town of Alcoba in
Catalonia, the countess Isabella, daughter of D. Jayme,
count of Urgel, gave to the bishop of Valenza an image of
our Saviour, taken by St. Veronica. These relics were still
preserved in the cathedral of Valenza in Spain, called by
distinction ‘the royal town,’ in the year 1643.” It was a
few years after this (see p. 305), that the author of the
Dabistán might have received from father Francia, the
Portuguese missionary, the account above stated.

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