volume one

HISTORY or TUE CRUSADES. 97
wheu he was forced by his soldiers to advance to the city of
Nicea. There the Christians had been surprised by the
Mussulmans, at the moment their priests were celebrating
the sacrifice of the mass. Yv^omen, children, old men, all
whom weakness or sickness detained in the camp, pursued
to the foot of their altars, had been either borne away into
slavery, or slaughtered by a pitiless enemy. The remembrance
of so great a calamity stifled discord, silenced ambi-
tion, and rekindled zeal for the deliverance of the holy places.
The leaders profited by this terrible lesson, and laid down
useful regulations for the maintenance of discipline. The
formidable armv of the Crusaders advanced in the best order
through the country of the infidels, and commenced the
war with the first days of the spring.
Although the empire of the Seljoucide Tiu-ks, at the period
of the arrival of the Crusaders in Asia, ah'eady inclined
towards its fall, it nevertheless presented a formidable
barrier to the warriors of the AYest. The kingdom of
Ezeroum, or Eoum, extended from the Orontes and the
Euphrates to the neighbourhood of the Bosphorus, and
comprised the richest provinces of Asia Minor. The Turks
were animated by the double enthusiasm of religion and
victory. Abandoning the cares of agricultiu-e and commerce
to the Greeks, their slaves, they knew no profession but that
of arms, or desired other wealth but the booty obtained from
their enemies. Their present chief was the son of Soliman,
whose victories over the Christians had procured him the
name of the Sacred Champion. David, surnamed Kilidge-
Arslan, or the Sicot^d of the Lion., brought up amidst the
troubles of civil war, and for a long time detained a prisoner
in the fortress of Kora^an by the orders of Malek-
Scha, had ascended the throne of his father, and maintained
his position by his valour. He possessed a genius
rich in resources, and a character not to be subdued by
reverses. On the approach of the Crusaders, he summoned
his subjects and his allies to his defence. From all the
provinces of Asia Minor, and even from Persia, the bravest
defenders of Islamism hastened to range themselves beneath
his banner.
Not content with assembling an army, he at first gave all
his attention to the fortifying of the city of Nice, to which