of letting her pass to avoid a fresh skirmish, to which the enemy did not invite them,--for, since they were in sight and their number more than doubled ours, they could not be of such faint hearts as to allow a chattel of theirs to be thus carried off:--despite this, Antam Gonçalvez bade them go at her; for if (he said) they scorned that encounter, it might make their foes pluck up courage against them. And now you see how the word of a captain prevaileth among men used to obey; for, following his will, they seized the Mooress. And those on the hill[N58A] had a mind to come to the rescue, but when they perceived our people ready to receive them, they not only retreated to their former position, but departed elsewhere, turning their backs to their enemies. And so let us here leave Antam Gonçalvez to rest, considering this Chapter as finished, and in the following one we will knight him right honourably. CHAPTER XIII. How Nuno Tristam reached the spot where Antam Gonçalvez was, and how he dubbed him knight. For that the philosopher saith, that the beginning is two parts of the whole matter,[N59] we ought to give great praise to this noble youth, for this deed of his, undertaken with so great boldness; for since he was the first who made booty in this conquest, he deserveth advantage over and above all the others who in after time travailed in this matter. For the custom was among the Romans, as Saint Augustine saith in the book that he made _De Civitate Dei_, and as Titus Livius also saith in his _Decades_, that all those who struck the first blow in battles or were the first to enter into forts or to leap into ships, were granted in return a higher increase of honour, which they bore on the day of triumph in testimony of their valour, as Valerius telleth us more in detail, in the summary that he made of Roman history.[N60] And so let Antam Gonçalvez receive his knighthood, as we purpose to describe in this chapter, and after this we will give him commanderies in the Order of Christ (whose habit he afterwards assumed), making him the private secretary to this great and noble prince. And for the remembrance of his honour, let him be satisfied that he is inscribed in this volume, whose tenor will for ever, so long as writing endureth among men, be a witness of his excellence.