Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/229

 who was  envious  of  his  works,  and  he  was  bound

when he  was  fifteen  winters  old,  being  sent  to  war

with one  of  his  slaves  who  was  his  comrade,

whom he  himself  served  rather  than  he  him;

and they  ate  together  even  as  equals.

Three years  he  marched  with  the  common  soldiers

without weapons,  ere  he  was  baptized,

being unspotted,  nevertheless,  by  worldly  defilement

wherein mankind  especially  sin.

Towards his  fellow-soldiers  he  had  kindly  feeling,

and great  love,  and  modest  patience,

and true  humility  above  man's  measure.

He had  as  great  temperance  in  his  food

as if  he  had  been  a  monk  rather  than  a  soldier;

and for  his  noble  qualities  all  his  fellow-soldiers

reverenced him  with  a  marvellous  love.

He was  not  as  yet  baptized,  but  he  fulfilled,  nevertheless,

the deeds  of  baptism  with  perfect  works,

so that  he  succoured  the  oppressed,  and  fed  the  poor,

and clothed  the  naked,  and  kept  nothing  for  himself

of his  military  pay  in  his  scrip,

save what  he  daily  had  for  food,

even as  the  gospel  saith:   '  Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow.'

II. On a  certain  occasion  he  was  travelling  forward  through  a town

called Amiens,  in  a  bitter  winter,

in such  severe  cold  that  some  men  died  of  it.

Then he  met  there  a  poor  man,  naked,

beseeching the  riders  that  they  would  give  him  some  clothing;