I fancy, nor lie here longer, when I see in what straits we are. Our
enemy, we may be sure, did not open war upon us till he felt he had
everything amply ready; yet none of us shows a corresponding anxiety
to enter the lists of battle in the bravest style.

"And yet, if we yield ourselves and fall into the king's power, need
we ask what our fate will be? This man, who, when his own brother, the
son of the same parents, was dead, was not content with that, but
severed head and hand from the body, and nailed them to a cross. We,
then, who have not even the tie of blood in our favour, but who
marched against him, meaning to make a slave of him instead of a
king--and to slay him if we could: what is likely to be our fate at
his hands? Will he not go all lengths so that, by inflicting on us the
extreme of ignominy and torture, he may rouse in the rest of mankind a
terror of ever marching against him any more? There is no question but
that our business is to avoid by all means getting into his clutches.

"For my part, all the while the truce lasted, I never ceased pitying
ourselves and congratulating the king and those with him, as, like a
helpless spectator, I surveyed the extent and quality of their
territory, the plenteousness of their provisions, the multitude of
their dependants, their cattle, their gold, and their apparel. And
then to turn and ponder the condition of our soldiers, without part or
lot in these good things, except we bought it; few, I knew, had any
longer the wherewithal to buy, and yet our oath held us down, so that
we could not provide ourselves otherwise than by purchase. I say, as I 21
reasoned thus, there were times when I dreaded the truce more than I
now dread war.

"Now, however, that they have abruptly ended the truce, there is an