_ 113 _ All lost heart in the siege. Apathy gripped them like a plague. They died like animals without having anyone to bury them and all of them without exception called out for confession from me. They gathered together and always all saw themselves mortally ill, so what could not be captured with great bravado, was later surrendered, there being no troops. Some forty-five men died in the siege, apart from about a hundred wounded and another hundred, who arrived sick from the siege, dead in Ormuz. They revealed in their own words the error they had committed through me against God and, entering Ormuz, they threw themselves at my feet, weeping copiously and raising their hands to God, because He had arranged the circumstances whereby, they would have plenty of time to see me. They then all asked for a confession and wanted nothing more than to finish it and die. Witness my sadness when I saw so many Christians at my feet. Some were dying, others weeping. I did not know what to do, I went about embracing all of them and giving them a great deal of comfort. I pleaded with them to express a desire to confess with the Fathers as well, of whom there were five, because, on my own, I was unable to attend to 400 men. However, they did not want to, saying that they were already damned,
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