'Hold!' he cried, 'I will have more--more still! You are a nation of
feasters;--we will rival you in your banquets when we have stripped you
of your banqueting robes! To the gold, the silver, the silk, and the
cloth, I will add yet more--three thousand pounds weight of pepper, your
precious merchandise, bought from far countries with your lavish
wealth!--see that you bring it hither, with the rest of the ransom, to
the last grain! The flesh of our beasts shall be seasoned for us like
the flesh of yours!'
He turned abruptly from the senators as he pronounced the last words,
and began to speak in jesting tones and in the Gothic language to the
council of warriors around him. Some of the ambassadors bowed their
heads in silent resignation; others, with the utter thoughtlessness of
men bewildered by all that they had seen and heard during the interview
that was now close, unhappily revived the recollection of the broken
treaties of former days, by mechanically inquiring, in the terms of past
formularies, what security the besiegers would require for the payment
of their demands.
Pages:
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708