XXIXThe Cymry were treated well in the old city, though the elders shook their heads with dismay when they saw the great number of the army, now over a thousand in strength, and wondered whether this act of hospitality might not bankrupt their treasure chests forever. The taxes must be increased forthwith, they decided; and in the same breath they wondered whether it might not be easier merely to commit suicide when the Cymry had passed on towards Caerwent. That was the old Roman military custom, for the commander to fall on his sword after a defeat, and what was this but a defeat, though a celebration of a victory, in a land which was now groaning in its beggary?
Yet they need not have feared. Artos gave orders that no man was to eat that night. A fast was declared, as an act of penance
