ld be the
reward of his falsehood, and that his sincerity would be punished with
immediate death. He affected to yield, but as soon as he was conducted
within hearing of the Christians on the rampart, "Friends and brethren,"
he cried with a loud voice, "be bold and patient, maintain the city;
your sovereign is informed of your distress, and your deliverers are
at hand. I know my doom, and commit my wife and children to your
gratitude." The rage of the Arabs confirmed his evidence; and the
self-devoted patriot was transpierced with a hundred spears. He deserves
to live in the memory of the virtuous, but the repetition of the same
story in ancient and modern times, may sprinkle some doubts on the
reality of this generous deed. _3._ The recital of a third incident may
provoke a smile amidst the horrors of war. Theobald, marquis of Camerino
and Spoleto, supported the rebels of Beneventum; and his wanton cruelty
was not incompatible in that age with the character of a hero. His
captives of the Greek nation or party were castrated without mercy, and
the outrage was aggravated by a cruel jest, that he wished to present
the emperor with a supply of eunuchs, the most precious ornaments of the
Byzantine court. The garrison of a castle had been defeated in a sally,
and the prisoners were sentenced to the customary operation. But the
sacrifice was disturbed by the intrusion of a frantic female, who, with
bleeding cheeks dishevelled hair, and importunate clamors, compelled
the marquis to listen to her complaint. "Is it thus," she cried, "ye
magnanimous heroes, that ye wage war against women, against women who
have never injured ye, and whose only arms are the distaff and the
loom?" Theobald denied the charge, and protested that, since the
Amazons, he had never heard of a female war. "And how," she furiously
exclaimed, "can you attack us more directly, how can you wound us in
a more vital part, than by robbing our husbands of what we most dearly
cherish, the source of our joys, and the hope of our posterity? The
plunder of our flocks and herds I have endured without a murmur, but
this fatal injury, this irreparable loss, subdues my patience, and calls
aloud on the justice of heaven and earth." A general laugh applauded her
eloquence; the savage Franks, inaccessible to pity, were moved by
her ridiculous, yet rational despair; and with the deliverance of the
captives, she obtained the restitution of her effects. As she returned
in trium