Note 325 — Chapter XXI
Reading edition
'So also we find it recorded during the siege of Malta, that some hesitation having displayed itself on the part of the slaves in exposing themselves, during their pioneering labours, to a fire more than ordinarily deadly, the Grand Master directed some to be hanged and others to have their ears cut off, "pour encourager les autres" as the chroniclers quaintly and simply record.' Porter's 'History of the Knights of Malta,' ii. 272.