De prenosticacione eventus belli Sambitarum.
The Sambian Elder's Reconnaissance at Balga
The Sambians send an elder to Balga to investigate the Teutonic brothers' way of life, and the brothers welcome him into their refectory, dormitory, and church.
After the building of the castle of Balga, the Sambians, more carefully inquiring about the condition and way of life of the brothers and wishing to learn more fully, sent one of their elders toward Balga. The brothers, having learned the reason for his journey, gladly received him, showing him all their activities in the refectory, the dormitory, and the church.
The Elder's Report: Alike in Body, Different in Prayer
The elder reports that the brothers are physically like the Sambians but differ in one crucial practice: they rise nightly and gather repeatedly each day to worship their God, something the Sambians do not do.
When he had full knowledge of the brothers' way of life, he returned to the Sambians and said: Know that the brothers are men just as we are; they have slack and soft bellies, just as you see us to have; in arms, food, and other things they are sufficiently like us. But in this they differ from us: they have one practice in their custom which without doubt will destroy us. They themselves rise from their beds every night and gather in the oratory, and several times during the day, and show reverence to their God — something we do not do.
The Prophecy of Defeat and the Mystery of the Brothers' Sustenance
The elder concludes that the brothers' prayer discipline will ensure their victory in war, and adds that they even eat what he mistakes for sprouts and grasses, making them seem superhuman.
Therefore in war they will overcome us without any hesitation. And because this man saw with his own eyes the brothers eating cabbages, which the Prussians did not use, he believed they were sprouts. So he added: they even eat grasses, just like a horse and a mule. Who could resist such men, who in the wilderness without labor find their food?
Read the original Latin
Sambite post edificacionem castri de Balga curiosius exquirentes fratrum condicionem et stalum volentes plenius experiri, miserunt unum de senioribus suis versus Balgam, quem fratres cognita causa itineris sui gratanter susceperunt, omnia facta sua in refectorio, dormitorio et ecclesia ei ostendentes. Qui cum haberet plenam de statu fratrum noticiam, reversus ad Sambitas ait: scitote, quod fratres sunt homines sicut et nos; habent laxos et molles venlres, sicut nos videtis habere; in armis, cibis, et aliis satis conveniunt nobiscum, sed in hoc different a nobis; habent enim unum opus in consuetudine, quod sine dubio destruet nos. Ipsi singulis noctibus surgunt de stratu suo, et conveniunt in oratorio, et in die pluries, et exhibent reverenciam deo suo, quod nos non facimus. Unde in bello nos sine hesitacione aliqua superabunt. Et quia iste vi dit fratres comedentes caules, quibus Prutheni non utebantur, credidit, esse germina, unde addidit: et ipsi eciam comedunt gramina1', sicut equus et mulus; quis posset talibus resistere, qui in solitudine sine labore inveniunt cibum suum?
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