342 THE DECLINE AND FALL lated the temperance, he surpassed the chastity, of his Arabian prophet. Both in faith and practice he was a rigid Musuhnan ; he ever deplored that the defence of religion had not allowed him to accomplish the pilgrimage of Mecca ; but at the stated hours, five times each day, the sultan devoutly prayed with his brethren ; the involuntary omission of fasting was scrupulously repaid ; and his perusal of the Koran on horseback, between the approaching armies, may be quoted as a proof, however ostentatious, of piety and courage. ^ The superstitious doctrine of the sect of Shafei was the only study that he deigned to encourage ; the poets were safe in his contempt ; but all pro- fane science was the object of his aversion ; and a philosopher, who had vented some speculative novelties, was seized and strangled by the command of the royal saint. The justice of his divan was accessible to the meanest suppliant against himself and his ministers ; and it was only for a kingdom that Saladin would deviate from the rule of equity. While the descendants of Seljuk and Zenghi held his stirrup, and smoothed his gar- ments, he was affable and patient with the meanest of his servants. So boundless was his liberality, that he distributed twelve thousand horses at the siege of Acre ; and, at the time of his death, no more than forty seven drams of silver, and one piece of gold coin, were found in the treasury ; yet in a martial reign, the tributes were diminished, and the wealthy citizens enjoyed, without fear or danger, the fruits of their iudustiy. Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, were adorned by the royal foundations of hospitals, colleges, and mosques ; and Cairo was fortified with a wall and citadel ; but his works were consecrated to public use ; "^^ nor did the sultan indulge himself in a garden or palace of private luxury. In a fanatic age, himself a fanatic, the genuine virtues of Saladin commanded the esteem of the Christians ; the emperor of Germany gloried in his fi-iendship ; "^^ the Greek emperor solicited his alliance j^ and the conquest of Jerusalem diffused, and perhaps magnified, his fame both in the East and West. His conquest During its short existence, the kinffdom of Jerusalem ^ was of the ° JO kingdom. A.D. 1187, "^y' ^' His civil and religious virtues are celebrated in the first chapter of Bohadin (p. 4-30), himself an e)'e-witness and an honest bigot.
- 2 In many works, particularly Joseph's well in the castle of Cairo, the sultan
and the patriarch have been confounded by the ignorance of natives and travellers. •>* Anonym. Canisii, tom. iii. p. ii. p. 504. ^■* Bohadin, p. 129, 130. 65 For the I.atin kingdom of Jerusalem, see William of Tyre, from the i.xth to the xxiid Ijook. Jacob, a Vitriaco, Hist. Hierosolym. 1. i. and Sanutus, Secrela Fidelium Crucis, 1. iii. p. vi,-i.x.
