How after death the spirit's pilgrimage
Might be decreed. So every thirty nights
They held their feast; most fierce was their desire
To tear with bloody jaws the flesh of men 160
To be their food. Then He, who with strong might
Stablished this world, was mindful how that saint
Abode in misery 'mongst stranger men,
Fast bound in chains--that saint who for His sake
Had suffered from the Hebrews, had withstood
The magic incantations of the Jews.

Where in Achaia holy Andrew dwelt,
Guiding his people in the way of life, 170
A voice was heard from out the heavens above.
To him, that steadfast saint, the Lord of hosts,
Glory of kings, Creator of mankind,
Unlocked the treasure of His heart, and thus
In words He spake:--"Thou shalt go forth and bear
My peace, and journeying shalt fare where men,
Devourers of their kind, possess the land,
And hold their home secure by murderous might.
This is the custom of that multitude:
Within their land they spare no stranger's life,
But when those evil-doers chance to find
A helpless wight in Mermedonia, 180
Death must be dealt and cruel murder done.
I know that 'mongst those townsmen, fast in chains,
Thy brother dwells, that saint victorious.
It lacks but three nights of the time ordained,
When, midst that people, by the hard-gripped spear,