THE TEMPLARS. 291 instructed to send to Paris, under sure guard, all Templars desir- ing to defend their Order.* February 3, 1310, was the day named in this new citation. By the 5th Templars began to pour in, nearly all eager to defend their Order. They accumulated until the commission was embar- rassed how to deal with them, and finally, on March 28, five hun- dred and forty-six who had offered to defend were assembled in the garden of the episcopal palace, where the commissioners ex- plained to them what was proposed, and suggested that they should nominate six or eight or ten of their number to act as pro- curators ; they would not again have an opportunity of meeting, and the commission would proceed on the 31st, but the procura- tors should have access to them in their several prisons, and should agree with them as to what defence should be offered. A pro- miscuous crowd, whose differences of dialect rendered intercom- munication impossible, abandoned by their natural leaders and thus suddenly brought together, was not fitted for deliberation on so delicate an emergency. Many hesitated about acting with- out orders from the Master, for all initiative on the part of sub- ordinates was strictly forbidden by the Rule. The commissioners seem to have been sincerely desirous of getting the matter into some sort of shape, and finally, on the 31st, they ordered their notaries to visit the houses in which the Templars were confined and report their wishes and conclusions. This was a process requiring time, and the reports of the notaries after making their daily rounds are pitiful enough. The wretched prisoners floundered helplessly when called upon to resolve as to their action. Most of them declared the Order to be pure and holy, but knew not what to do in the absence of their superiors. There was a general clamor, often on bended knees, for readmis- sion to the sacraments. Many begged to be assured that when they died they should be buried in consecrated ground ; others offered to pay for a chaplain out of the miserable allowance doled to them ; some asked that the allowance be increased, others that they should have clothes to cover their nakedness. They were urgent in the impossible request that they should have experts and learned men to advise with and appear for them, for they
- Procfcs, I. 47-53.
