that place they clepe Horeb, whereof holy writ speaketh, ET
AMBULAVIT IN FORTITUDINE CIBI ILLIUS USQUE, AD MONTEM OREB; that is
to say, 'And he went in strength of that meat unto the hill of God,
Horeb.' And there nigh is the vine that Saint John the Evangelist
planted that men clepe raisins of Staphis. And a little above is
the chapel of Moses, and the rock where Moses fled to for dread
when he saw our Lord face to face. And in that rock is printed the
form of his body, for he smote so strongly and so hard himself in
that rock, that all his body was dolven within through the miracle
of God. And there beside is the place where our Lord took to Moses
the Ten Commandments of the Law. And there is the cave under the
rock where Moses dwelt, when he fasted forty days and forty nights.
But he died in the Land of Promission, and no man knoweth where he
was buried. And from that mountain men pass a great valley for to
go to another mountain, where Saint Catherine was buried of the
angels of the Lord. And in that valley is a church of forty
martyrs, and there sing the monks of the abbey, often-time: and
that valley is right cold. And after men go up the mountain of
Saint Catherine, that is more high than the mount of Moses; and
there, where Saint Catherine was buried, is neither church nor
chapel, nor other dwelling place, but there is an heap of stones
about the place, where body of her, was put of the angels. There
was wont to be a chapel, but it was cast down, and yet lie the
stones there. And albeit that the Collect of Saint Catherine says,
that it is the place where our Lord betaught the Ten Commandments
to Moses, and there, where the blessed Virgin Saint Catherine was
buried, that is to understand in one country, or in one place
bearing one name; for both that one and that other is clept the
mount of Sinai. But it is a great way from that one to that other,
and a great deep valley between them.