Letter 122
To his Brother
May all good things befall the priests of Axomis!
While the soldiers were hiding themselves in the gorges of the mountains to take care of
their precious lives, these priests called the peasants about them, and led them straight
from the very church door against the enemy, and then they called upon God, and erected a
trophy in the Myrtle Valley! This is a long ravine, deep and covered with forests. The
barbarians, when they found no resistance in their way, rashly entered this dangerous
defile, but they had to meet the valiant Faustus, the deacon of the church. This man,
unarmed, when marching at the head of his troops, was himself the first to encounter a
hoplite. He snatches up a stone, not to hurl it, but, holding it in his hand and leaping
upon him as with a clenched fist he strikes the other violently on the temple. He knocks
him down, strips him of his armour, and heaps many of the barbarians upon him. If any
other man gave proof of courage in that battle, it is to Faustus that credit is due, both
on account of his personal bravery, and for the orders which he gave at the critical
moment.
For my part, I would willingly give a victors wreath to all those who
participated in the engagement, and I would have their names proclaimed by the voice of a
herald, for they were the first to do brave deeds, and to show panicstricken souls that
the barbarians are not Corybantes nor the demons who serve Rhea, but men like ourselves,
who can be wounded and killed. And if only we are men in such a crisis as this, even the
second prize will be honourable. Fate perchance might accord us even the first, if instead
of being fifteen irregulars, hiking in a valley to forage, we were able to give battle in
the open, in regular warfare, mass against mass.