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And I, a roistering champion famous through all Lithuania, before

whom the greatest lords had been wont to tremble, who had not

lived a day without a battle, who would not have allowed the

Pantler, no, not the King himself, to do me wrong; I, who was

driven to fury by the least disagreement-I, then, though angry

and drunken, held my peace like a lamb!-as though I had suddenly

beheld the consecrated Host!174

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"How many times did I wish to open my heart and even to humble

myself to implore him; but when I looked into his eyes and met

his gaze cold as ice, I felt shame for my emotion; I hastened

once more to discourse as coldly as I might of suits at law and

of the district diets, and even to jest. All this, to be sure,

was from pride, in order not to debase the name of the Soplicas,

in order not to lower myself before a magnate by a vain request

and receive a refusal-for what gossip there would have been among

the gentry, if they had known that I, Jacek--

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