ABSTRACT
In the journey the Viceroy made that summer, 1 he arrived at the Emperor's court and found there such bad news concerning the behaviour ofhis wife, the Emperor's eldest daughter, 2 that he was on extremely bad terms with her, and on much worse terms with the Emperor because the latter would not permit her offence to be judged, as is the custom; for such matters are decided by legal means, as I have said previously, and they do not try so much to keep this sort of thing from being known nor do they avoid the bad name that results from this when the said woman is not condemned and the adulterer not fined; but things have become so scandalous that the more illustrious the women are the less attention is paid to their licentiousness; and, if they are ladies of royal blood, called ousoros, meaning princesses, the husband has no right at all to take legal action against them nor can they say to them, 'You have behaved well or badly,' but must endure everything in a good spirit; and if they are true Catholics, they have an exceptional opportunity to prove their great personal merit and to practice the virtue of patience and rare tolerance. I recall that we spoke earlier of certain oxen of huge size, whose horns are so stupendous that they serve as wine casks, each of which holds ten to fifteen canadas. These poor husbands and those oxen are both called gueches. 3 By this I do not mean that there is any relationship between them, but I do say that if they were to grow, as the common people mistakenly proclaim, the husbands and the oxen would be in close competition, there being doubt as to which of their horns were larger. And because our Viceroy publicly took much greater offence at the wrong done him than is usual in that land, seeing that he could not punish his wife as she deserved, he let himself sink so deeply into resentment and melancholy that he decided to make an excessive show of it, for which
purpose,returningtohisviceroyalty,heformedaplantoputinto
effectanunusualrebellionwhichhehadworkedoutbeforehandwith
thebestandmostpowerfulpeopleofthekingdomofTigreagainstthe
Emperor,whowastwicehisfather-in-lawandhadinvestedhimwith
greatpowersandresponsibilities.Thismanwasofanillustriousfamily,
thelordofgreatlands,andofveryhighbirth.Manyheretics,displeased
withtheprogresstheCatholicfaithwasmaking,especiallytheirmonks,
whowereitsmortalenemies,seizedupontheopportunitypresented
bytheViceroy'sdispleasure,and,perceivinghisdispositionofmind,
sostirreduptheftreandwovethewebthattheyobtainedtheirdesire,
sothattheViceroyrevolted,secondedbyalltherest,invokingtheir
ancientfaithofAlexandriaagainsttheRomanfaith,sothatthe
malcontentswouldhavereasonstojointhem,andthewickedpeople
andvagabondscouldgainfromtherebellion;for,beingsonumerous,
thesepeopleareeasilystirredtomuchrebelliousactivityandtoattempt
anykindoftrouble.Theonlyuncertaintywashowtheconspirators
couldbeassuredthatsomeoftheirnumberwouldnotgobackontheir
promises,especiallytheViceroy,severalofwhosesonswerenephews
oftheEmperorandfrequentedhiscourt.Theywerealsoawareofthe
naturalinclinationoftheAbyssinianstoforgiveeasily,eveninthecase
ofoffenceslikethese.Ifthemanwhoisacrueltyranttodayasksfor
forgivenesstomorrow,everythingisforgottenandheremainsagreat
lord.TheywerethereforeafraidthattheViceroymightbepardoned,
pickingupthebestcardsforhimselfandleavingthemallinthetrap;
sotheyagreedthataFathershoulddieatthehandsofallthe
conspirators,withtheViceroybeingthefirsttostrikehim,sothatit
wouldbeimpossiblefortheEmperortopardonanyofthemandthey
allwouldbeundergreaterobligationandmorediligentincarrying
forwardtheirconspiracy,havingnohopeofachievingpardon.Since
Iwasaloneinthatkingdom,thedeathsentencewasgiventome.For
thispurposetheViceroyimmediatelyhadastrongfortressmade,where
hecouldfortifyhimselfinanybattlewhentheEmperorsentsoldiers
toattackhim.Whenthiswasdone,hesentmeamessagetogoand
seehim,sayingthathehadanimportantmattertodiscusswithme.
