faith that I have pledged.” Accordingly when his wounds were healed, his captor sold him to a Frisian in London, who, finding that he could not be bound, finally released him on his parole and permitted him to ransom himself. Whatever the motive, it is thus clear that the victor possessed the right of life and death over his captive, even when taken in cold blood; and the traditions, as well as the historical records of the northern nations are filled with instances of its exercise. ----- Footnote 324: Deut. Staatsges. i. 72, § 15. Footnote 325: Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer, p. 320, with the numerous examples there given. So Fleta. “Fiunt autem homines servi de iure gentium captivitate: bella enim orta sunt, et captivitates sequutae. Fiunt etiam de iure civili, per confessionem in curia fisci factam.” Lib. i. c. 3. § 3. Footnote 326: A whole army may be devoted as victims by the conquerors. “Sed bellum Hermunduris prosperum, Cattis exitiosius fuit, quia victores diversam aciem Marti ac Mercurio sacravere, quo voto equi, viri, cuncta, victa occidioni dantur.” Tac. Annal, xiii. 57. “Lucis propinquis barbarae arae, apud quas tribunos ac primorum ordinum centuriones mactaverant: et cladis ... superstites, pugnam aut vincula elapsi, referebant ... quot patibula captivis, quae scrobes,” etc. Tac. Annal. i. 61. Footnote 327: Hist. Eccles. iv. 22. Footnote 328: This is confirmatory of the statement in the last chapter, that, strictly speaking, the _Comes_ could not marry. One cannot see why the assertion should have been made on any other grounds: his great anxiety was to prove himself not a comes or minister, and as one argument, he states himself to be “uxoreo nexu constrictus.” -----