' Go, and sell all thy goods, and give the worth to the poor,
and then shalt thou have treasure in the kingdom of heaven.'
XX. On one occasion Martin was mounting to an upper floor,
but the steps of the ladder had been previously injured,
and snapped suddenly so that he fell down,
and was much weakened with many wounds,
so that he lay sick in his private dwelling.
That night there came to him an angel,
whilst he himself was beholding, and smeared his limbs
with healing salve, and he soon after this, in the morning,
went forth whole, as if he had never been ill.
XXI. Maximus, the emperor who was in Martin's days,
very often invited the venerable man,
whenever he spoke with him, to be his guest;
but he always withheld himself from his banquet,
saying that he could not be his guest
who had slain one emperor and banished another.
Then Maximus answered Martin, and said
that he had never received the government of his own will,
but was chosen by his soldiers against his will
to the kingdom, and could not resist;
and that he could not strive against God's will,
and therefore had to defend himself with weapons;
saying also that no man had been slain by him
save those only who were fighting against him.
So Martin was inclined by the emperor's defence
and also by his entreaty to go to his banquet.
He would never be obsequious nor speak with flattery,
not even to the emperor, as his companions did;
even as he in the same feast manifested by an act of his.
He sat by the emperor, and they were very blithe
on account of Martin's feasting with them, and they bare to the emperor
even as it was customary, wine in a goblet.
Then bade he the cupbearer offer it first to Martin,
