But Beelzebub stood up, and replied, saying: ‘It is impossible to draw them all off from the castle; some, you may be sure, will lie there to keep that; wherefore it will be but in vain thus to attempt, unless we were sure that they will all come out.’ He therefore concluded that what was done must be done by some other means. And the most likely means that the greatest of their heads could invent, was that which Apollyon had advised to before, namely, to get the townsmen again to sin. ‘For,’ said he, ‘it is not our being in the town, nor in the field, nor our fighting, nor our killing of their men, that can make us the masters of Mansoul; for so long as one in the town is able to lift up his finger against us, Emmanuel will take their parts; and if he shall take their parts, we know what time of day it will be with us. Wherefore, for my part,’ quoth he, ‘there is, in my judgment, no way to bring them into bondage to us, like inventing a way to make them sin. Had we,’ said he, ‘left all our doubters at home, we had done as well as we have done now, unless we could have made them the masters and governors of the castle; for doubters at a distance are but like objections refelled with arguments. Indeed, can we but get them into the hold, and make them possessors of that, the day will be our own. Let us, therefore, withdraw ourselves into the plain, (not expecting that the captains in Mansoul should follow us,) but yet, I say, let us do this, and before we so do, let us advise again with our trusty Diabolonians that are yet in their holds of Mansoul, and set them to work to betray the town to us; for they indeed must do it, or it will be left undone for ever.’ By these sayings of Beelzebub, (for I think it was he that gave this counsel,) the whole conclave was forced to be of his opinion, namely, that the way to get the castle was to get the town to sin. Then they fell to inventing by what means they might do this thing.
Then Lucifer stood up, and said: ‘The counsel of Beelzebub is pertinent. Now, the way to bring this to pass, in mine opinion, is this: let us withdraw our force from the town of Mansoul; let us do this, and let us terrify them no more, either with summons, or threats, or with the noise of our drum, or any other awakening means. Only let us lie in the field at a distance, and be as if we regarded them not; for frights, I see, do but awaken them, and make them more stand to their arms. I have also another stratagem in my head: you know Mansoul is a market-town, and a town that delights in commerce; what, therefore, if some of our Diabolonians shall feign themselves far-country men, and shall go out and bring to the market of Mansoul some of our wares to sell; and what matter at what rates they sell their wares, though it be but for half the worth? Now, let those that thus shall trade in their market be those that are witty and true to us, and I will lay my crown to pawn it will do. There are two that are come to my thoughts already, that I think will be arch at this work, and they are Mr. Penny-wise-pound-foolish, and Mr. Get-i’the-hundred-and-lose-i’the-shire; nor is this man with the long name at all inferior to the other. What, also, if you join with them Mr. Sweet-world and Mr. Present-good; they are men that are civil and cunning, but our true friends and helpers. Let these, with as many more, engage in this business for us, and let Mansoul be taken up in much business, and let them grow full and rich, and this is the way to get ground of them. Remember ye not that thus we prevailed upon Laodicea, and how many at present do we hold in this snare? Now, when they begin to grow full, they will forget their misery; and if we shall not affright them, they may happen to fall asleep, and so be got to neglect their town watch, their castle watch, as well as their watch at the gates.
‘Yea, may we not, by this means, so cumber Mansoul with abundance, that they shall be forced to make of their castle a warehouse, instead of a garrison fortified against us, and a receptacle for men of war. Thus, if we get our goods and commodities thither, I reckon that the castle is more than half ours. Besides, could we so order it that it shall be filled with such kind of wares, then if we made a sudden assault upon them, it would be hard for the captains to take shelter there. Do you not know that of the parable, “The deceitfulness of riches choke the word”? and again, “When the heart is over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life,” all mischief comes upon them at unawares?
‘Furthermore, my lords,’ quoth he, ‘you very well know that it is not easy for a people to be filled with our things, and not to have some of our Diabolonians as retainers to their houses and services. Where is a Mansoulian that is full of this world, that has not for his servants and waiting-men, Mr. Profuse, or Mr. Prodigality, or some other of our Diabolonian gang, as Mr. Voluptuous, Mr. Pragmatical, Mr. Ostentation, or the like? Now these can take the castle of Mansoul, or blow it up, or make it unfit for a garrison for Emmanuel, and any of these will do. Yea, these, for aught I know, may do it for us sooner than an army of twenty thousand men. Wherefore, to end as I began, my advice is, that we quietly withdraw ourselves, not offering any further force, or forcible attempts, upon the castle, at least at this time; and let us set on foot our new project, and let us see if that will not make them destroy themselves.’
This advice was highly applauded by them all, and was accounted the very masterpiece of hell, namely, to choke Mansoul with a fulness of this world, and to surfeit her heart with the good things thereof. But see how things meet together! Just as this Diabolonian council was broken up, Captain Credence received a letter from Emmanuel, the contents of which were these: That upon the third day he would meet him in the field in the plains about Mansoul. ‘Meet me in the field!’ quoth the Captain; ‘what meaneth my lord by this? I know not what he meaneth by meeting me in the field.’ So he took the note in his hand, and did carry it to my Lord Secretary, to ask his thoughts thereupon; for my Lord was a seer in all matters concerning the King, and also for the good and comfort of the town of Mansoul. So he showed my Lord the note, and desired his opinion thereof. ‘For my part,’ quoth Captain Credence, ‘I know not the meaning thereof.’ So my lord did take and read it and, after a little pause, he said, ‘The Diabolonians have had against Mansoul a great consultation to-day; they have, I say, this day been contriving the utter ruin of the town; and the result of their council is, to set Mansoul into such a way which, if taken, will surely make her destroy herself. And, to this end, they are making ready for their own departure out of the town, intending to betake themselves to the field again,’ and there to lie till they shall see whether this their project will take or no. But be thou ready with the men of thy Lord, (for on the third day they will be in the plain,) there to fall upon the Diabolonians; for the Prince will by that time be in the field; yea, by that it is break of day, sun-rising, or before, and that with a mighty force against them. So he shall be before them, and thou shalt be behind them, and betwixt you both their army shall be destroyed.’
When Captain Credence heard this, away goes he to the rest of the captains, and tells them what a note he had a while since received from the hand of Emmanuel. ‘And,’ said he, ‘that which was dark therein hath my lord the Lord Secretary expounded unto me.’ He told them, moreover, what by himself and by them must be done to answer the mind of their Lord. Then were the captains glad; and Captain Credence commanded that all the King’s trumpeters should ascend to the battlements of the castle, and there, in the audience of Diabolus and of the whole town of Mansoul, make the best music that heart could invent. The trumpeters then did as they were commanded. They got themselves up to the top of the castle, and thus they began to sound. Then did Diabolus start, and said, ‘What can be the meaning of this? they neither sound Boot-and-saddle, nor Horse-and-away, nor a charge. What do these madmen mean that yet they should be so merry and glad?’ Then answered one of themselves and said, ‘This is for joy that their Prince Emmanuel is coming to relieve the town of Mansoul; and to this end he is at the head of an army, and that this relief is near.’
The men of Mansoul also were greatly concerned at this melodious charm of the trumpets; they said, yea, they answered one another, saying, ‘This can be no harm to us; surely this can be no harm to us.’ Then said the Diabolonians, ‘What had we best to do?’ and it was answered, ‘It was best to quit the town;’ and ‘that,’ said one, ‘ye may do in pursuance of your last counsel, and by so doing also be better able to give the enemy battle, should an army from without come upon us. So, on the second day, they withdrew themselves from Mansoul, and abode in the plains without; but they encamped themselves before Eye-gate, in what terrene and terrible manner they could. The reason why they would not abide in the town (besides the reasons that were debated in their late conclave) was, for that they were not possessed of the stronghold, and ‘because,’ said they, ‘we shall have more convenience to fight, and also to fly, if need be, when we are encamped in the open plains.’ Besides, the town would have been a pit for them rather than a place of defence, had the Prince come up and inclosed them fast therein. Therefore they betook themselves to the field, that they might also be out of the reach of the slings, by which they were much annoyed all the while that they were in the town.
Well, the time that the captains were to fall upon the Diabolonians being come, they eagerly prepared themselves for action; for Captain Credence had told the captains over night, that they should meet their Prince in the field to-morrow. This, therefore, made them yet far more desirous to be engaging the enemy; for ‘You shall see the Prince in the field to-morrow’ was like oil to a flaming fire, for of a long time they had been at a distance: they therefore were for this the more earnest and desirous of the work. So, as I said, the hour being come, Captain Credence, with the rest of the men of war, drew out their forces before it was day by the sally-port of the town. And, being all ready, Captain Credence went up to the head of the army, and gave to the rest of the captains the word, and so they to their under-officers and soldiers: the word was ‘The sword of the Prince Emmanuel, and the shield of Captain Credence;’ which is, in the Mansoulian tongue, ‘The word of God and faith.’ Then the captains fell on, and began roundly to front, and flank, and rear Diabolus’s camp.
Now, they left Captain Experience in the town, because he was yet ill of his wounds, which the Diabolonians had given him in the last fight. But when he perceived that the captains were at it, what does he but, calling for his crutches with haste, gets up, and away he goes to the battle, saying, ‘Shall I lie here, when my brethren are in the fight, and when Emmanuel, the Prince, will show himself in the field to his servants?’ But when the enemy saw the man come with his crutches, they were daunted yet the more; ‘for,’ thought they, ‘what spirit has possessed these Mansoulians, that they fight us upon their crutches?’ Well, the captains, as I said, fell on, and did bravely handle their weapons, still crying out and shouting, as they laid on blows, ‘The sword of the Prince Emmanuel, and the shield of Captain Credence!’
Now, when Diabolus saw that the captains were come out, and that so valiantly they surrounded his men, he concluded that, for the present, nothing from them was to be looked for but blows, and the dints of their ‘two-edged sword.’