c among his men who are thus killed and wounded, but he
is not slow to revenge. He has found at hand, by his side, a long
and heavy beam, and goes to strike therewith a traitor; and
neither the foeman's shield nor hauberk availed him a whit
against being borne to the ground. After him, he attacks the
count; in order to strike well he raises the beam; and he deals
him such a blow with his square-hewn beam that the axe falls from
his hands; and he was so stunned and so weak, that if he had not
leaned against the wall his feet would not have supported him.

With this blow the battle ceases. Alexander leaps towards the
count and seizes him in such wise that he cannot move. No need is
there to tell more of the others, for easily were they vanquished
when they saw their lord taken. They capture them all with the
count and lead them away in dire shame even as they had deserved.
Of all this, King Arthur's host who were without, knew not a
word; but in the morning when the battle was ended they had found
their shields among the bodies; and the Greeks were raising a
very loud lamentation for their lord but wrongly. On account of
his shield which they recognise they one and all make great
mourning, and swoon over his shield, and say that they have lived
too long. Cornix and Nerius swoon; and when they come to
themselves they blame their lives for being yet whole in them.
And so do Torins and Acoriondes; the tears ran in streams from
their eyes right on to their breasts. Life and joy are but
vexation to them. And above all Parmenides has dishevelled and
torn his hair. These five make so great a mourning for their lord
that greater there cannot be. But they disquiet themselves in
vain; instead of him, they are bearing away another; and yet they
think that they are bearing away their lord. The other shields
too cause them much sorrow by reason whereof they think that the
bodies are those of their comrades; and they swoon and lament
over them. But the shields lie one and all; for of their men
there was but one slain who was named, Neriolis. Him truly would
they have borne away had they known the truth. But they are in as
great distress about the others as about him; and they have borne
and taken them all. About all but one they are mistaken; but even
like a man who dreams, who believes a lie instead of truth, the
shields made them believe that this lie was true. They are
deceived by the shields. They have set out with the bodies of