To be sure, these consisted of
the richest and most respectable citizens of Leipsic. And these
unfortunate hostages, these spoilt sons of wealth and luxury, were now
forced to bear the whole weight of misfortune, the entire anger of the
victorious enemy. They, whose whole life had been one of indulgence
and effeminacy, had now to undergo the greatest privations, the
hardest sufferings. The cold earth was their bed, a piece of bread
thrown to them their nourishment; and it was a feast to them when one
of the gentlewomen of Leipsic succeeded in obtaining permission to
visit a brother or husband, and was able to smuggle in under her silk
dress a piece of meat or a little bowl of soup for the martyrs. These
cruelties would doubtless have been lessened or abolished if the king
had had positive knowledge of them, or if he had believed that the
city's inability to pay was real, and not a mere pretext. But the
king, vexed by the continually repeated complaints, out of humor at
the obstinate conduct of Leipsic, and mindful of the vandal conduct of
the Saxons at Charlottenburg, had issued strict orders not to trouble
him with this business, and not to report to him about them until they
could at the same time show that the sum demanded had been paid. And
therewith sentence had been passed upon the unfortunate citizens of
Leipsic. No one dared to mention to the king the torments and tortures
to which the hostages of the pitiable town were subjected.
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