A TRUMPETER, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the
enemy. He cried out to his captors, “Pray spare me, and do not take my
life without cause or without inquiry. I have not slain a single man of
your troop. I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass
trumpet.” “That is the very reason for which you should be put to
death,” they said; “for, while you do not fight yourself, your trumpet
stirs all the others to battle.”