to God than those whose whole spirit was devoted to him. For them,
whose only virtue perhaps was that they were not idolaters,
everything went well; they were frequently victorious, and had an
abundance of everything. But for these Christians, victories came
about only with great difficulty, at great cost; they had little
wealth, and they lived in continual and great need, leading the lives
not of knights but of piously impoverished monks. All of this is
explained, however, by the grace of reason, when we recall that "God
torments with whips every child whom he loves,"[180] and to those
whom he deprives of the things of this world out of the rigor of his
teaching, he gives spiritual gifts, out of the affection of his sweet
love.

Therefore, after Peter had told what the blessed Andrew had revealed
in a dream to him about the Lord's lance, the Christian people were
filled with joy, and, in anticipation of the marvelous event, emerged
out of the depths of despair. Lead by this man,[181] everyone rushed
to the designated place, and a hole was dug beside the altar of the
Lord in the church of the blessed Peter. After thirteen men had dug
up the earth from dawn to dusk, Peter himself found the Lance. What
they saw before them corresponded in every way with the dream-vision
which had been reported to them; they all began to rejoice, and their
boldness against the enemy matched their joy. They bore off the
lance with great exultation, and from that day forth they confidently
went about planning to wage war. Then the leaders of the Christian
army met in council, considered together what action was needed, and
decided that the wisest thing to do before fighting was to meet first
with the Turks, to urge them not to occupy Christian territory, not
to drive the servants of Christ out of their lands, and not to kill
them, but instead to remain within their own territories, content