"Do you admit this, sir?"
Herman looked around anxiously, as if seeking a loophole of escape.
"Knight Herman," said Barbarossa, menacingly, "take care to make no mistake! A denial will avail you nothing, but will only increase the severity of your punishment."
"Under the impression that I had traitors before me, I did demand twelve gold pieces; but as God is my judge, I had no intention of either violating the law, or abusing the Emperor's name."
"However," said Barbarossa, "you have abused your position; you have robbed our subjects; listen then to your sentence: We deprive you of your office and your arms, and declare you degraded from the rank of noble. Your escutcheon shall be broken by the executioner, and a mangy dog shall drag the pieces around the walls of the city of Milan."
Herman heard the first words of his sentence with a contemptuous smile upon his face; but when the Emperor spoke of ordering his escutcheon to be dragged in the mire, he shuddered, changed color, and fell on his knees before the throne.
"Mercy! Pity!" he cried. "Condemn me to death if you will, but do not dishonor the escutcheon of my family."
"Silence! Your sentence has been pronounced, and it shall be executed," said Frederic.
"Sire," resumed Herman, dragging himself like a worm to the foot of the throne, "gracious lord, kill me, but in pity do not inflict this outrage. See these scars," (and tearing open his doublet, he bared his breast;) "I received them fighting in your cause, and yet now you would doom me to eternal ignominy!"
"Lead him away," said the stern lawgiver, unmoved by the prayers of the abject wretch.