|
[English Translation] of doing things, for fear that they become corrupt & decline from the good food & discipline that they have received for a long time. These Centurions or Captains have a Millenier above them of greater power & dignity, to whom the Centurions report everything that happens in this nobility, he is named the honorable Millenier of the nobility, & those who have such a charge wear a coat of arms of crimson velvet, with the arms of the King embroidered in gold, the rest of the coat is sprinkled with trophies of war; have a thousand crowns of pension, & the Centurions four hundred. Those of the nobility who have means, do not receive any money from the public, considering among themselves it more honorable to give, & to use liberality, than to take, having no necessity, avarice being considered among them one of the most vile vices with which gallant men can be tainted. As for the poor, whose income from their house does not exceed five hundred pounds, sometimes still burdened with children, or debts, they are given three hundred pounds, in addition to the ones they have to feed their horse. So that with this pay & pension, they maintain themselves very honestly, being regulated at a low K 4 |
| 1. |