“Silence!” cried M. de Seyton, the lieutenant of the Scotch guards; and the commissioners entered and again arranged themselves in the apartment.

M. de Thou, hearing them summon the criminal recorder of the presidial of Lyons to pronounce the sentence, involuntarily launched out in one of those transports of religious joy which are never displayed but by the martyrs and saints at the approach of death; and, advancing toward this man, he exclaimed: 

“Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona!”

Then, taking the hand of Cinq-Mars, he knelt down bareheaded to receive the sentence, as was the custom.  D’Effiat remained standing; and they dared not compel him to kneel.  The sentence was pronounced in these words: 

“The Attorney-General, prosecutor on the part of the State, on a charge of high treason; and Messire Henri d’Effiat de Cinq-Mars, master of the horse, aged twenty-two, and Francois Auguste de Thou, aged thirty-five, of the King’s privy council, prisoners in the chateau of Pierre-Encise, at Lyons, accused and defendants on the other part: 

“Considered, the special trial commenced by the aforesaid attorney- general against the said D’Efiiat and De Thou; informations, interrogations, confessions, denegations, and confrontations, and authenticated copies of the treaty with Spain, it is considered in the delegated chamber: 

“That he who conspires against the person of the ministers of princes is considered by the ancient laws and constitutions of the emperors to be guilty of high treason; (2) that the third ordinance of the King Louis XI renders any one liable to the punishment of death who does not reveal a conspiracy against the State.

   “The commissioners deputed by his Majesty have declared the said
   D’Effiat and De Thou guilty and convicted of the crime of high
   treason: 

   “The said D’Effiat, for the conspiracies and enterprises, league,
   and treaties, formed by him with the foreigner against the State;

   “And the said De Thou, for having a thorough knowledge of this
   conspiracy.

“In reparation of which crimes they have deprived them of all honors and dignities, and condemned them to be deprived of their heads on a scaffold, which is for this purpose erected in the Place des Terreaux, in this city.

“It is further declared that all and each of their possessions, real and personal, be confiscated to the King, and that those which they hold from the crown do pass immediately to it again of the aforesaid goods, sixty thousand livres being devoted to pious uses.”

After the sentence was pronounced, M. de Thou exclaimed in a loud voice: 

“God be blessed!  God be praised!”

“I have never feared death,” said Cinq-Mars, coldly.

Then, according to the forms prescribed, M. Seyton, the lieutenant of the Scotch guards, an old man upward of sixty years of age, declared with emotion that he placed the prisoners in the hands of the Sieur Thome, provost of the merchants of Lyons; he then took leave of them, followed by the whole of the body-guard, silently, and in tears.