E02604: Gregory of Tours, in his Glory of the Confessors (39), tells how his father was twice cured from gout: in both cases Gregory, then a young boy, saw someone in a vision; the first time this person told him to put a small piece of wood with the name of *Joshua (Old Testament leader of the Israelites, S00258) under his father's pillow; the second time to burn the internal organs of a fish. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 587/588.

Gregory of Tours, Glory of the Confessors 39

Nam recolo gestum in infantia, cum pater meus ab infirmitate humoris podagricie laboraret, et ardore febrium ac doloribus multis adtenuatus, lectulo decubaret, vidisse me in visu noctis personam dicentem mihi: 'Legisti', ait, 'librum Hiesu Navae? Cui ego: 'Nihil aliud litterarum praeter notas agnovi, in quorum nunc studio constrictus adfligor. Nam hic liber prorsus si sit ignoro'. Et ait: 'Vade', inquid, 'facitoque hastulam parvulam ex ligno, quod hoc nomen recipere possit, scriptumque ex atramento sub paterni capitis fulchrum colloca. Erit enim ei praesidium, si quod loquor impleveris'. Mane autem facto, matri quae videram indicavi; iubet impleri visionis praecepto. Quod cum fecissem, statim genitor ab infirmitate convaluit. Decurso quoque alterius anni curriculo, iterum ab hoc incommodo capitur. Accenditur febris, intumescunt pedes, dolore pessimo nervos intorquet. Haec. perferenter, dum cum magno gemitu in stratu decumberet, vidi iterum personam in visione interrogantem mihi, si librum Tobiae cognitum nunc haberem. Respondi, quod non legerem. Qui ait: 'Noveris, hunc fuisse caecum, cuius filius, angelo comite dum iter ageret, in flumine piscem coepit, cuius indice angelo cor iecorque sublatum, patris subfumicat oculos, qui statim, fugatis tenebris, lumen recepit. Vade igitur tu et fac similiter, et accipiet refrigerium dolorum genitor tuus'. Haec matri referens, confestim pueros ad amnem dirigit; piscis capitur, sublatisque de extis quae iussa fuerant, et prunis inposita. Ad ubi primum fumus odoris patrem attigit, protinus tumor dolorque discessit.

'For I recall what happened when I was a young boy. My father suffered from an affliction of gout and was weakened by the burning of fevers and many pains. While he lay on his bed, I saw in a vision during the night a person who spoke to me. He said: ‘Have you read the book of Joshua, the son of Nun?’ I replied to him: ‘I have learned no more than the letters of the alphabet (notae litterarum), in the study of which I am now diligently engaged. I do not know whether this book even exists.’ The person said: ‘Go and break from a piece of wood a small chip that is big enough to bear this name; after writing the name in ink put the chip beneath the pillow [under] your father’s head. The chip will protect him, if you do what I say.’ At daybreak I told my mother what I had seen; she ordered that the instructions of my vision be carried out. When I had done this, immediately my father recovered from his illness. After the cycle of another year went by my father again was seized by this affliction. A fever burned, his feet were swollen, and a severe pain twisted his nerves. As he endured these afflictions, he lay down on his bed with a loud groan. Again I saw the person in a vision, [this time] asking me whether I was now familiar with the book of Tobit. I replied that I had not read it. The person said: ‘[If you read it,] you would know that there was a blind man whose son had an angel as a companion while he journeyed. The son caught a fish in the river, and with his angel as guide he took out the heart and liver. He burned these beneath his father’s eyes; immediately the blindness vanished and the father regained his sight. Go therefore and do likewise, and your father will receive relief from his pains.’ I told these instructions to my mother, who immediately sent servants to the river. A fish was caught, and what had been commanded was taken from its internal organs and placed on coals. As soon as the smoky scent reached my father, immediately the swelling and the pain disappeared.'

Text: Krusch 1969, 322. Translation: Van Dam 2004, 31-32.