Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/203

Rh "I see," said he, with seriousness, "that thou art wondering at my sword. Know then that the synods permit swords to the clergy and even balistas and catapults, on a journey, and we are on a journey. Moreover, when the Holy Father forbade swords and red garments to priests, he surely had men of low station in mind. God created the noble for arms, and whoso should wish to disarm him, would resist God's eternal decrees."

"I have seen Henryk, Prince of Mazovia, who took part in tournaments," answered Zbyshko.

"He is not to be blamed because he took part in tournaments," replied the abbot, raising his finger; "but because he married, and moreover unhappily, for he married a fornicariam et bibulam mulierem, who from youth, as they say, worshipped Bacchus and was moreover adulteram, from whom nothing good could come."

Here he stopped his horse and exhorted with still greater seriousness,—

"Whoso wishes to choose a wife, and to marry, must see that she is God-fearing, of good habits, a housekeeper, and neat,—all of which is enjoined not only through the fathers of the church, but through a certain pagan sage by name Seneca. And how wilt thou know that thou hast hit well if thou know not the nest from which thy comrade for a lifetime is chosen? For another sage of the Lord says, Pomus nam cadit absque arbore (The apple falls from its tree). As the ox, so the skin, as the mother, so the daughter,—from which take this lesson, sinful man, seek a wife not in the distance, but near by; for if thou find a malicious and gallant one, thou wilt weep for her more than once, as wept that philosopher whose quarrelsome mate used to throw out always on his head in her anger aquam sordidam (dirty water)."

"In secula seculorum (For the ages of ages), amen!" thundered in unison the wandering clerics, who, always answering the abbot in that way, were not very careful whether they answered according to meaning.

All listened to the abbot's words with deep attention, wondering at his eloquence and skill in the Scriptures. He did not direct this conversation straight at Zbyshko, but rather turned to Zyh and Yagenka, as if to edify them in particular. Yagenka understood evidently what the point was, for she looked carefully from beneath her long eyelashes at the youth, who wrinkled his brows and dropped his head, as if in deep meditation over what he had heard.