Note 155 — Chapter IX · SAXON AND FRANCONIAN EMPERORS.
Reading edition
'In timporibus adeo a dyabulo est percussus ut infra dierum octo spacium eodem sit in vulnere mortuus,' says the chronicler, crediting with but little of his wonted cleverness the supposed author of John's death, who well might have desired a long life for so useful a servant.
He adds a detail too characteristic of the time to be omitted—'Sed eucharistiæ viaticum, ipsius instinctu qui eum percusserat, non percepit.'