part of God is purified by chewing and digesting, and the purified
part is turned into angels, who are said to depart from us in
belching and flatulence: how many angels may be believe were produced
by the flesh eaten by these pigs and by the great farts they let go?
But, laying aside the comic remarks intended to mock his followers,
my point is that they did not think that he was God, but a just man
and leader, through whom divine laws might be transmitted. They
imagined that he had been taken up into heaven, with only his heels
left as a monument for his faithful adherents, who visit them with
great veneration, and condemn eating pork, because pigs consumed
their lord with their bites.

After the pagan heresy had grown strong over a long time, and for
many generations, the people whom we have mentioned above invaded
Palestine, Jerusalem, and the Holy Sepulchre, and captured Armenia,
Syria, and the part of Greece that extends almost to the sea which is
called the Arm of Saint George. Among all the Eastern kingdoms, the
Babylonian empire was from ancient times the most powerful, and ruled
over many kingdoms. However, the kingdom of the Parthians, whom we,
because of changes in the language, call the Turks, is pre-eminent in
military matters, in horsemanship, and in courage, although it is a
very small country. And so the Babylonian emperor occupied the areas
we just mentioned with a large army, but in the course of time he
lost them, as the Turks grew in number, and the Assyrians were
defeated. More energetic, and in command of an astute boldness, they
were attacking the empire of Constantinople and seemed about to
besiege the city, when the emperor of the Greeks, frightened by their
frequent and relentless incursions, sent a letter to France, written
to the elder Robert, count of Flanders,[71] offering him reasons that
might urge him to defend endangered Greece. He did not approach him