rdinary judgment on other points as to be
capable of answering difficult questions with the marvellous propriety
and truth which distinguished the replies of Rodaja.

The poor man had often entreated that some case might be given to him
wherein he might enclose the brittle vase of his body, so that he might
not break it in putting on the ordinary clothing. He was consequently
furnished with a surplice of ample width, and a cloth wrapper, which he
folded around him with much care, confining it to his waist with a
girdle of soft cotton, but he would not wear any kind of shoes. The
method he adopted to prevent any one from approaching him when they
brought him food, was to fix an earthen pot into the cleft of a stick
prepared for that purpose, and in this vessel he would receive such
fruits as the season presented. He would not eat flesh or fish; nor
would he drink anything but the water of the river, which he lapped from
his hands.

In passing through the streets, Rodaja was in the habit of walking
carefully in the middle of them, lest a tile should fall from the houses
upon his head and break it. In the summer he slept in the open air, and
in the winter he lodged at one of the inns, where he buried himself in
straw to his throat, remarking that this was the most proper and secure
bed for men of glass. When it thundered, Rodaja trembled like an aspen
leaf, and would rush out into the fields, not returning to the city
until the storm had passed.

His friends kept him shut up for some time, but perceiving that his
malady increased, they at last complied with his earnest request that
they would let him go about freely; and he might be seen walking through
the streets of the city, dressed as we have described, to the
astonishment and regret of all who knew him.

The boys soon got about him, but he kept them off with his staff,
requesting them to speak to him from a distance, lest they should break
him, seeing that he, being a man of glass, was exceedingly tender and
brittle. But far from listening to his request, the boys, who are the
most perverse generation in the world, soon began to throw various
missiles and even stones at him, notwithstanding all his prayers and
exclamations. They declared that they wished to see if he were in truth
of glass, as he affirmed; but the lamentations and outcries of the poor
maniac induced the grown persons who were near to reprove and even beat
the boys, whom they drove away for the mom