OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 351 effect of temper and zeal ; but I cannot believe that a soldier, so free and feai'less in the use of his lance, would have descended to whet a dagger against his valiant brother, Conrad of Mont- ferrat, Avho was slain at Tyre by some secret assassiiis.^^ After ^^■'^- "^^j the surrender of Acre and the departure of Philip, the king of England led the crusaders to the recovery of the sea-coast ; and the cities of Caesarea and Jaffa were added to the fragments of the kingdom of Lusignan. A march of one hundred miles from Acre to Ascalon was a great and perpetual battle of ^^J'*!^^'""- eleven days.^^ Jn the disorder of his troops, Saladin remained ^^'^ on the field with seventeen guards, without lowering his stan- Pattie of 11 1 1 iz-ii 111 1 Arsuf. Sept. dard or suspendmg the sound or his brazen kettle-drum : he i, a.d. iisi] again rallied and renewed the charge ; and his preachers or heralds called aloud on the Lhiitaricuis manfully to stand up against the Christian idolaters. But the progress of these idolaters was irresistible ; and it was only by demolishing the walls and buildings of Ascalon that the sultan could prevent them from occupying an important forti*ess on the confines of Egypt. During a severe Avinter the armies slept ; but in the spring the Franks advanced within a day's march of Jerusalem, under the leading standard of the English king ; and his active spirit intercepted a convoy, or caravan, of seven thousand camels. Saladin ®^ had fixed his station in the holy city ; but the city was struck with consternation and discord : he fasted ; he prayed ; [june, a.d. he preached ; he offered to share the dangers of the siege ; but ^^^ his Mamalukes, who remembered the fate of their companions at Acre, pressed the sultan with loyal or seditious clamours to preserve his person and their courage for the future defence of the religion and empire.^^ The Moslems were delivered by 82 Yet he was guilty in the opinion of the Moslems, who attest the confession of the assassins that they were sent by the king of England (Bohadin, p. 225) ; and his only defence is an absurd and palpable forgery (Hist, de I'Acad^mie des Inscriptions, torn. xvi. p. 155-163), a pretended letter from the prince of the assassins, the Sheich, or old man of the mountain, who justified Richard, by assuming to himself the guilt or merit of the murder. [For the forged letter see Rohricht, Regesia Regni Hierosol. 715. Cp. Itin. regis Ric. V. c. 26, where the old man of the mountain is called Senior de Musse, i.e., of Masyilf, a fort of the Assassins in the Ansariya Mts. See S. Guyard, Un grand-maitre des Assassins.]
- ■'■ [The march was 60 miles from Acre to Jaffa, where there was a long halt.
Richard approached twice within sight of Jerusalem, Jan. and June, 1192.] ^ See the distress and pious firnuicss of Saladin, as they are described by Bohadin (p. 7-9 ; 235-237), who himself harangued the defenders of Jerusalem. Their fears were not unknown to the enemy (Jacob, a Vitriaco, 1. i. c. 100, p. 1 123; Vinisauf, 1. v. c. 50, p. 399). ^^ Yet, unless the sultan, or an Ayoubite prince, remained in Jerusalem, nee Curdi Turcis, nee Turci essent obtenijjeraturi Curdis (Bohadin, p. 236). He draws aside a corner of the political curtain.
