There are guards in the city by day and by night, and they
are placed at the four gates, and outside the walls of the seventh
ring, above the breastworks and towers and inside mounds.
These places are guarded in the day by women, in the night by
men. And lest the guard should become weary of watching,
and in case of a surprise, they change them every three hours,
as is the custom with our soldiers. At sunset, when the drum
and symphonia sound, the armed guards are distributed. Cav-
alry and infantry make use of hunting as the symbol of war
and practise games and hold festivities in the plains. Then
the music strikes up, and freely they pardon the offences and
faults of the enemy, and after the victories they are kind to
them, if it has been decreed that they should destroy the walls
of the enemy's city and take their lives. All these things are
done on the same day as the victory, and afterward they never
cease to load the conquered with favors, for they say that there
ought to be no fighting, except when the conquerors give up the
conquered, not when they kill them. If there is a dispute
among them concerning injury or any other matter (for they
themselves scarcely ever contend except in matters of honor),
the chief and his magistrates chastise the accused one secretly,
if he has done harm in deeds after he has been first angry. If
they wait until the time of the battle for the verbal decision,
they must give vent to their anger against the enemy, and he
who in battle shows the most daring deeds is considered to have
defended the better and truer cause in the struggle, and the
other yields, and they are punished justly. Nevertheless, they
are not allowed to come to single combat, since right is main-
tained by the tribunal, and because the unjust cause is often
apparent when the more just succumbs, and he who professes