o had taken the
bond of friendship, like Julyan and Armel. Moreover, to make it more
certain that they would share the same fate, a stout iron chain was
riveted to their collars of brass, and fastened them together. The chain
as the symbol of their pledge of solidarity held them inseparable,
scathless, wounded, or dead.

On the way to our post in the battle, we beheld the Chief of the Hundred
Valleys passing at the head of the _Trimarkisia_.[6] He rode a superb
black horse, in scarlet housings; his armor was of steel; his helmet of
plated copper, which shone like the sun, was capped by the emblem of
Gaul, a gilded cock with half spread wings. At either side of the Chief
rode a bard and a druid, clad in long white robes striped with purple.
They carried no arms, but when the troops closed in to battle, then,
disdainful of danger, they stood in the front ranks of the combatants,
encouraging these with their words and their songs of war. Thus chanted
the bard at the moment when the Chief of the Hundred Valleys passed by
Joel's column:

"Caesar has come against us.
In a loud voice he asks:
'Do you want to be slaves?
Are ye ready?'

"No, we do not want to be slaves.
No, we are not ready.
Gauls!
Children of the same race,
Let us raise our standards on the mountains and pour down upon the plains.
March on!
March on against Caesar,
Joining in the same slaughter him and his army!
To the Romans!
To the Romans!"

As the bard sang this song, every heart beat with the ardor of
battle.[7]

As the Chief of the Hundred Valleys passed the troop at the head of
which was my father Joel, he reined in his horse and cried:

"Friend Joel, when I was your guest, you asked my name. I answered that
I was called _Soldier_ so long as our old Gaul should be under the
oppressor's scourge. The hour has come when we must show ourselves
faithful to the motto of our fathers: 'In all war, there is but one of
two outcomes for the man of courage: to conquer or to die.'[8] O, that
my love for our common country be not barren! O, that Hesus keep our
arms! Perhaps then the Chief of the Hundred Valleys will have washed off
the stain which covers a name he no longer dares to bear.[9] Courage,
friend Joel, the sons of your tribe are brave of the brave. What blows
will they not deal on this day which makes for the welfare of Gaul!"

"My tribe will strike its best, and with all its might," answ