THERE WAS NO LEPROSY
There was no leprosy, but there are fevers in every land of human habitation, in the New World and the Old. Eleven months later Ezequiel died of typhoid fever and was buried in the vicinity of Jerusalem by his two university friends, who erected a tomb with this inscription in Greek, taken from the prophet Ezekiel: ‘Thou wast perfect in thy ways.’ They sent me both texts, in Latin and Greek, a sketch of the tomb, the bill for the expenses and the rest of the money he had with him. I would have paid three times this never to see him again.
As I wished to verify the text, I consulted my Vulgate and found it was correct but that it also had this complement: ‘Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created.’ I stopped, and in a hushed voice, asked, ‘When was the day of Ezequiel’s creation?’ No one answered me. Another mystery to add to all the others of this world. In spite of everything I dined well and went to the theatre.