thing in this world is not to serve this ideal or that one, but with all
one's soul to serve the ideal which one has chosen.

When, a few months after, the story of their glorious end arrived at
Assisi, Francis discerned a feeling of pride among his companions and
reproached them in lively terms; he who would so have envied the lot of
the martyrs felt himself humbled because God had not judged him worthy
to share it. As the story was mingled with some words of eulogy of the
founder of the Order, he forbade the further reading of it.[18]

Immediately after the chapter he had himself undertaken a mission of the
same kind as he had confided to the Brothers of Morocco, but he had
proceeded in it in an entirely different manner: his was not the blind
zeal which courts death in a sort of frenzy and forgets all the rest;
perhaps he already felt that the persistent effort after the better, the
continual immolation of self for truth, is the martyrdom of the strong.

This expedition, which lasted more than a year, is mentioned by the
biographers in a few lines.[19] Happily we have a number of other
papers regarding it; but their silence suffices to prove the sincerity
of the primitive Franciscan authors; if they had wanted to amplify the
deeds of their subject, where could they have found an easier
opportunity or a more marvellous theme? Francis quitted Portiuncula in
the middle of June and went to Ancona, whence the Crusaders were to set
sail for Egypt on St. John's Day (June 24th).

Many friars joined him--a fact which was not without its inconveniences
for a journey by sea, where they were obliged to depend upon the charity
of the owners of the boats, or of their fellow-travellers.