than live with shame.' When Tirante henrd this his evil resolution, he said, 'all knights who will follow arms, and perform the rules of arms for the sake of renown, ought to be cruel, and to have a scat in the midst of Hell;' and he took out his dagger, and placed the point of it upon one of the knight's eyes, holding it in one hand, and with the other hand be struck a great blow upon the head of the hilt of the dagger, so that he drove it through and through." The judges of the field were twelve in number, six of them had a book of the conquerors, and the other six had a book of the vanquished, and those who died without yielding were written down as martyrs of arms; but those who yielded and cried for mercy had their process made as bad knights, and were held in great dishonour and infamy. Tirante fights the Lord of Vill'Ermes, according to the terms of the combat, in his shirt, with a garland on his
l 5
