Chapter 20.4-7
Martin of Tours was invited to dinner by the emperor Maximus in Trier.
The best and most noble men came to dinner, as if they had been summoned to a feast day: Euodius, the prefect and also consul, a man who was always more just than anyone else; two counts endowed with the greatest power; the brother of the king; and his uncle. Martin's priest took his place in the middle of these men, while Martin himself sat on a stool placed beside the king.
Near the middle of the banquet, as was the custom, a servant offered a bowl to the king. He ordered that the bowl should be given instead to the holy bishop, expecting and arranging it so that he might receive the cup from the right hand of that man. But Martin, after he drank, passed the bowl to his priest, judging that no one present was worthier to drink after himself. If he handed the cup to either the king, or to one of those men sitting near the king, his integrity might not have been preserved, so he offered it to his priest.
The emperor, and all of those who were present, admired that he did; he pleased them greatly with the very deed through which they had been disregarded. The news that Martin had done at the king's lunch what none of the other bishops had ever done at banquets with the lowest officials was well publicised throughout the entire palace.
(trans. Goodrich 2015: 45)
