hey are not in the field, that they may not eat their
bread in idleness, they are fitting and repairing their armor and their
clothing, or employing themselves in such occupations as the will of the
Master requireth or their common necessities render expedient. Among
them there is no distinction of persons; respect is paid to the best and
most virtuous, not the most noble. They participate in each other's
honor, they bear one anothers' burdens, that they may fulfil the law of
Christ.

"An insolent expression, a useless undertaking, immoderate laughter, the
least murmur or whispering, if found out, passeth not without severe
rebuke. They detest cards and dice, they shun the sports of the field,
and take no delight in the ludicrous catching of birds (hawking), which
men are wont to indulge in. Jesters and soothsayers and story-tellers,
scurrilous songs, shows, and games, they contemptuously despise and
abominate as vanities and mad follies. They cut their hair, knowing
that, according to the apostle, it is not seemly in a man to have long
hair. They are never combed, seldom washed, but appear rather with rough
neglected hair, foul with dust, and with skins browned by the sun and
their coats of mail.

"Moreover, on the approach of battle they fortify themselves with faith
within and with steel without, and not with gold, so that, armed and not
adorned, they may strike terror into the enemy, rather than awaken his
lust of plunder. They strive earnestly to possess strong and swift
horses, but not garnished with ornaments or decked with trappings,
thinking of battle and of victory, and not of pomp and show, studying to
inspire fear rather than admiration....

"Such hath God chosen for his own, and hath collected together as his
ministers from the ends of the earth, from among the bravest of Israel,
who indeed vigilantly and faithfully guard the Holy Sepulchre, all armed
with the sword, and most learned in the art of war....

"There is indeed a temple at Jerusalem in which they dwell together,
unequal, it is true, as a building, to that ancient and most famous one
of Solomon, but not inferior in glory. For truly the entire magnificence
of that consisted in corrupt things, in gold and silver, in carved
stone, and in a variety of woods; but the whole beauty of this resteth
in the adornment of an agreeable conversation, in the godly devotion of
its inmates, and their beautifully ordered mode of life. That was
admired for its