Going frankly to the centurion, he said, "I am willing.

Lend me thy sword and shield." "And the helm and breastplate ?" asked the Roman.
"Keep them.

They might not fit me." The arms were as frankly delivered, and directly the centurion was ready.

All this time the soldiers in rank close by the gate never moved; they simply listened.

As to the multitude, only when the combatants advanced to begin the fight the question sped from mouth to mouth, "Who is he ?" And no one knew.
Now the Roman supremacy in arms lay in three things--submission to discipline, the legionary formation of battle, and a peculiar use of the short sword.