Dom Casmurro

by Machado de Assis

CXLVI - There Was No Leprosy

There was no leprosy, but there were fevers for all these human lands, whether old or new. Eleven months later, Ezekiel died of a typhoid fever, and was buried in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem, where the two friends of the university raised a tomb to him with this inscription, taken from the prophet Ezekiel, in Greek: "You were perfect in your ways." They sent me both the Greek and Latin texts, the drawing of the grave, the expense account and the rest of the money he was carrying; he would pay three times as much to keep it off.

As I wanted to check the text, I consulted my Vulgate, and I thought it was accurate, but it still had a complement: "You were perfect in your ways from the day of your creation." I stopped and asked quietly, "When would it be the creation of Ezekiel? "No one answered me. Here is another mysterio to gather the many of this world. After all, I drank well and went to the theater.