Fire and steel, he said, should
sweep it from the face of the earth.
[Illustration: THUSNELDA IN THE GERMANICUS TRIUMPH.]
Weinsberg at length was compelled to yield, and Conrad, hot with anger,
determined that his cruel resolution should be carried out to the
letter, the men being put to the sword, the city given to the flames.
This harsh decision filled the citizens with terror and despair. A
deputation was sent to the angry emperor, humbly praying for pardon, but
he continued inflexible, the utmost concession he would make being that
the women might withdraw, as he did not war with them. As for the men,
they had offended him beyond forgiveness, and the sword should be their
lot. On further solicitation, he added to the concession a proviso that
the women might take away with them all that they could carry of their
most precious possessions, since he did not wish to throw them destitute
upon the world.
The obdurate emperor was to experience an unexampled surprise. When the
time fixed for the departure of the women arrived, and the city gates
were thrown open for their exit, to the astonishment of Conrad, and the
admiration of the whole army, the first to appear was the duchess, who,
trembling under the weight, bore upon her shoulders Duke Welf, her
husband.
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