e had no thought that other than a
holy body should be laid in it. "Now let the empress be laid in it and
buried in some sacred place, for she, I think, is sanctified." "You have
spoken well," says the emperor; "she shall be buried yonder in my lord
Saint Peter's Church, where bodies are wont to be interred. For before
her death she made this request of me, that I should have her buried
there. Now go about your task, and place your sepulchre in the best
position in the cemetery, where it ought rightfully to be." John
replies: "Very well, my lord." John at once takes his leave, and
prepares the sepulchre with great skill; a feather-bed he placed inside,
because the stone was hard and cold; and in order that the odour may
be sweet, he spreads flowers and leaves about. Another reason for doing
this was that no one might perceive the mattress he had laid within
the grave. Already Mass had been said for the dead in the churches and
parishes, and the bells were tolling continuously as is proper for the
dead. Orders are given to bring the body to be laid in the sepulchre,
which John with all his skill has constructed so richly and handsomely.
In all Constantinople none remains, whether small or great, who does
not follow the body in tears, cursing and reproaching Death. Knights and
youths alike grow faint, while the ladies and damsels beat their breasts
as they thus find fault with Death: "O Death," cries each, "why didst
thou not take ransom for my lady? Surely, thy gain was slight enough,
whereas the loss to us is great." And in this grief Cliges surely bears
his part, as he suffers and laments more than all the others do, and it
is strange he does not kill himself. But still he decides to put this
off until the hour and the time shall come for him to disinter her and
get possession of her and see whether she be alive or not. Over the
gave stand the men who let down the body into its place; but, with John
there, they do not meddle with the adjustment of the sarcophagus, and
since they were so prostrated that they could not see, John had plenty
of time to perform his special task. When the coffin was in its place,
and nothing else was in the grave, he sealed up tightly all the joints.
When this was done, any one would have been skilful who, except by
force or violence, could take away or loosen anything which John had put
inside.

(Vv. 6163-6316.) Fenice lies in the sepulchre until the darkness of
night came on. But thirty kn