While the Priest thus spoke another star shone forth, and directing the Emperor’s attention towards it, Trithemius again addressed him.
“I see, O King, a young and smiling face beam from the newly-risen star. Tearless and blissfully it smiles on you, wearing the look of your glorified wife. Pain and tears are left behind her in the grave, on which they blossom like pale roses. Mary beckons to you from on high to join her in the gardens of God.
“Choose, then, thy sceptre, O Prince. Erect to thy loved wife a monument of deeds. To act is a ruler’s duty. We priests have had bestowed upon us a magic virtue; it consists in wiping away your tears, and animating you to tread the right path with the sceptre of blessings in your hand.
“Be strong, be wise, my Prince, and receive my blessing on your noble path. Farewell.”
The Prince, perceiving the value of the counsel he had received, departed through the night, which now was luminous, with the words of truth.
The promontory on which Trittenheim is situated is clothed with fruit-trees, and rivals in fertility the opposite shore, on which, a little lower down, Neumagen is situated.
Before reaching Neumagen we pass a little chapel, erected at the spot where, according to tradition, the waters of the Moselle ceased to be tinged with the blood shed at Trèves in the massacre of Christian martyrs.
Neumagen enjoys a most agreeable site. Sheltered by the hills which rise at its back, it faces the bold cliffs that now have arisen on the left bank of our river. On ascending the hills at the back of the town we find ourselves on a level platform, with the Moselle on one side of us and the Drohn on the other; beyond these, other table-lands swell into hills, and varied outlines of distant mountains curve into the sky.
On this elevated table-land a refreshing breeze blows, even on the most sultry days, and the tender blue lines of the receding hills give an air of coolness which is delicious to the heated pedestrian. Such variety of scenery as the walking tourist meets on the Moselle is scarcely to be exceeded; hill and dale, mountain, river, wood, and plain, all are there combining their charms.