Pagina 138 van 1118

"There was no right about it," exclaimed the podestà. "To beat an

ambassador-a man whose person is sacred! Father, do you think

this was an action becoming a knight?"

"Yes, sir; of a knight," cried the count, "I think I know what

belongs to a knight. Oh! if it had been an affair of fists, that

would have been quite another thing, but a cudgel soils no one's

hands."

"I am not speaking of this, Sir Count; I am speaking of the laws

of knighthood. But tell me, I pray you, if the messengers that

the ancient Romans sent to bear defiance to other nations, asked

permission to deliver the message; find, if you can, a writer who

relates that such messenger was ever cudgelled."