e Sclavs,
and they obeyed the authority of the king in fear and trembling.

Jarmerik, enriched with great spoils, wished to provide a safe
storehouse for his booty, and built on a lofty hill a treasure-house of
marvellous handiwork. Gathering sods, he raised a mound, laying a mass
of rocks for the foundation, and girt the lower part with a rampart, the
centre with rooms, and the top with battlements. All round he posted a
line of sentries without a break. Four huge gates gave free access on
the four sides; and into this lordly mansion he heaped all his splendid
riches. Having thus settled his affairs at home, he again turned his
ambition abroad. He began to voyage, and speedily fought a naval battle
with four brothers whom he met on the high seas, Hellespontines by race,
and veteran rovers. After this battle had lasted three days, he ceased
fighting, having bargained for their sister and half the tribute which
they had imposed on those they had conquered.

After this, Bikk, the son of the King of the Livonians, escaped from
the captivity in which he lay under these said brothers, and went to
Jarmerik. But he did not forget his wrongs, Jarmerik having long before
deprived him of his own brothers. He was received kindly by the king, in
all whose secret counsels he soon came to have a notable voice; and, as
soon as he found the king pliable to his advice in all things, he led
him, when his counsel was asked, into the most abominable acts, and
drove him to commit crimes and infamies. Thus he sought some device to
injure the king by a feint of loyalty, and tried above all to steel him
against his nearest of blood; attempting to accomplish the revenge of
his brother by guile, since he could not by force. So it came to pass
that the king embraced filthy vices instead of virtues, and made himself
generally hated by the cruel deeds which he committed at the instance of
his treacherous adviser. Even the Sclavs began to rise against him; and,
as a means of quelling them, he captured their leaders, passed a rope
through their shanks, and delivered them to be torn asunder by horses
pulling different ways. So perished their chief men, punished for their
stubbornness of spirit by having their bodies rent apart. This kept the
Sclavs duly obedient in unbroken and steady subjugation.

Meantime, the sons of Jarmerik's sister, who had all been born and bred
in Germany, took up arms, on the strength of their grandsire's title,
against the