Brother Fabian's Manuscript :: :: University of Virginia Library

These be the three that followed the Star:
Caspar, Melchior, Balthazàr.
They were Kings, but the Gospel calls them Wise;
Nor let this be matter of doubt or surprise,
For they lived in the olden time, and then
'Twas the custom of Kings to be Wise men.
But let us not therefore sinfully err
By interpreting “Magus” as Sorcerer;
For though Simon did rightly bear the name,
Yet in this case it meaneth not the same,
As was plain to be seen when Simon flew
On the foul fiend's back up into the blue,
For the fiend at the praying of Peter and John

Shot him off like a sack, and brake his neck-bone.
And as 'twould be heresy to suppose
That a like mischance could have happened to those,
So the name of Magus, 'tis equally clear,
Not always intendeth a Sorcerer.
They were Kings, and Three Wise Kings, in faith,
And we learn whence they came by what David saith,
Quod reges Tharsis et insulæ
With those of Saba and Araby
To the Prince of Peace should their gifts present,
The King whom all GENTES SERVIENT.
But some there be of the Doctors who say
That they came from Mesopotamia,
A land which lieth, as they surmise,
Betwixt two rivers of Paradise,
Phison, to wit, and Hiddekel;—
But that which we know not we cannot tell.

Orietur stella ex Jacob, I
Have read in the book named Numeri,

Where the Advent Balaam doth foretel,
Et consurget virga de Israel
Which is to say that the Kings from afar
Should arise and follow after the Star;
For “virga,” which meaneth a rod, 'tis clear,
He useth for kingly sceptre here.
So when they beheld the Star, they knew
By its looks that Balaam's words were true,
And they rose with their camels and companies,
And gifts of most precious merchandise;
And came, for the Star was guiding them
To the gates of the great Jerusalem.
“Where is the child? What news, what news
“Of Him who is born the King of the Jews?”
And they answered, “O Kings, our news is none,
“For Kaiser Herod hath never a Son.”

Then Herod himself came forth, in dread,
And spake to the Three Wise Kings, and said,
With glozing words: “O Kings of the East,

“I have heard it told by Prophet and Priest,
“That the Christ who shall come of David's stem
“Shall be born in the city of Bethlehem;
“If there ye find him, return and tell,
“That myself may worship the Child as well.”

Then the Star sailed on, and the Kingly Three,
With their gifts, and camels, and company,
Followed amain by valley and hill
And river and flat, till the Star stood still
O'er the holy spot where the Child-King lay
In a stable in Bethlehem Ephrata.

And now ye may see why the Kings were Wise,
For foolish Kings would have doubted their eyes
When they saw the Star stand still in the air;
For who could have dreamed that a King was there,
There, in the stable, with ox and ass?
Yet the Wise Men knew it might come to pass,
And they entered the stable reverently

As the Court of a kinglier majesty,
The Court of the King of Kings, whose sway
The Princes of Earth must all obey.
And there on his Mother's knees He sate,
A new-born Child in His low estate;
But they saw through the veil of outward things
The Lord of Lords, and the King of Kings,
And every mother, and every child,
For the sake of that Maiden undefiled
And her spotless Son they knew should be
God's witness on earth to eternity.
And they knelt and worshipped, and each laid down
At the feet of the Child his sceptre and crown.

Then Caspar offered his gifts of gold,
To signify thus, as the Doctors hold,
That the child was King. And behold, the Child
Took the gold in his little hands and smiled,
And gave, all earthly gold above,
In return—the Heavenly gold of Love.

Then Melchior came with his frankincense,
Meaning thereby in a mystic sense,
That the Child was God. And behold, the Child
Took the spice in his little hands and smiled,
And for earthly incense, the story saith,
Gave the Heavenly frankincense of Faith.

Then Balthazàr knelt last with the myrrh,
Bitter and precious, from whence we infer
That the Child was Man. And behold, the Child
Took the myrrh in his little hands and smiled,
And did for his earthly myrrh assign
The Heavenly myrrh of a Hope divine.

And Mary maid, with her mother's hand
Gave each of the Three a swaddling band,
A swaddling band of those that He wore,
As a token to treasure for evermore,
And humbly, humbly, the Three Wise Men
Turned each to his country, home again;

And the Star that had risen to bid them come,
Turned back to the East to guide them home.

Then laid they aside all earthly state
Their Heavenly sovereign to emulate;
Laid by the sceptre, and crown, and ball,
And the golden robe and the purple pall:
And their gold and rubies they gave to the poor,
For the sake of the Child whose gifts they bore;
And preached in the city and wilderness
The news of the new-born Prince of Peace.

Full forty years by desert and town
They told of His Advent up and down,
Till good Saint Thomas the Three did find,
As they taught in the furthest parts of Ind,
And baptized them all in the name of Christ,
As appears by an old Evangelist,
Who saith besides that the Holy One
Gave them other and brighter crowns to don,

For He crowned them all, ere He called them home,
With the thorny crown of martyrdom,
And, beyond the gates of the world of strife,
Evermore with the golden crown of Life.

And the Empress Helena gathered their bones,
And set them with gold and with ruby stones,
And treasured them up in a holy shrine
Of the church in the city of Constantine.
But when Godfrey was King of Jerusalem,
Bishop Eustace to Milan translated them,
And thence, with a nail of the Holy Cross,
They were stolen by Emperor Barbaross,
And Bishop René laid every bone
In the shrine of the Kings, in the Church of Cologne,
And there in rubies written in full,
Ye may read for a ducat on every skull
The names of the Three who followed the Star,
Caspar, Melchior, Balthazàr.

Domino Gratias. Haply to-night
I shall speak of the shepherds, and tell you aright
Of Abishai, Sobothai, Balchias,
And what is implied by the Ox and Ass.