CHAPTER XIII - How Nuno Tristam reached the spot where Antam Gonçalvez was, and how he dubbed him knight

Summary

For that the philosopher saith, that the beginning is two parts of the whole matter, 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. 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.