behoveth, that every of them hold three horses and a camel. And by
the cities and by towns be admirals, that have the governance of
the people; one hath to govern four, and another hath to govern
five, another more, and another well more. And as many taketh the
admiral by him alone, as all the other soldiers have under him; and
therefore, when the soldan will advance any worthy knight, he
maketh him an admiral. And when it is any dearth, the knights be
right poor, and then they sell both their horse and their harness.

And the soldan hath four wives, one Christian and three Saracens,
of the which one dwelleth at Jerusalem, and another at Damascus,
and another at Ascalon; and when them list, they remove to other
cities, and when the soldan will he may go to visit them. And he
hath as many paramours as him liketh. For he maketh to come before
him the fairest and the noblest of birth, and the gentlest damosels
of his country, and he maketh them to be kept and served full
honourably. And when he will have one to lie with him, he maketh
them all to come before him, and he beholdeth in all, which of them
is most to his pleasure, and to her anon he sendeth or casteth a
ring from his finger. And then anon she shall be bathed and richly
attired, and anointed with delicate things of sweet smell, and then
led to the soldan's chamber; and thus he doth as often as him list,
when he will have any of them.

And before the soldan cometh no stranger, but if he be clothed in
cloth of gold, or of Tartary or of Camaka, in the Saracens' guise,
and as the Saracens use. And it behoveth, that anon at the first
sight that men see the soldan, be it in window or in what place
else, that men kneel to him and kiss the earth, for that is the
manner to do reverence to the soldan of them that speak with him.