volume one

112 HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES.
Saracens, they quarrelled for their blood-stained habits. In
the excess of their delight, some of the soldiers would put
on the armour of their enemies, and clothing themselves in
the flowing robes of the Mussulmans, would seat themselves
in the tents of the conquered, and, with imitative gestures,
ridicule the luxury and customs of Asia. Such as were
without arms took possession of the swords and crooked
sabres of the Saracens, and the archers filled their quivers
with the arrows which had been shot at them during the
fight.
The intoxication of victory, however, did not prevent
their doing justice to the bravery of the Turks, who, from
that time, boasted of having a common origin with the
Franks. Contemporary historians, who praise the valour of
the Turks, add, that they only wanted to be Christians to
make them quite comparable to the Crusaders. That which,
otherwise, proves the high idea the Crusaders entertained of
their enemies, is, that they attributed their victory to a
miracle. Two days after the battle, says Albert of Aix,
although no one was pursuing them, the infidels continued
flying, exclaiming as they went, " It is the icill of God ! It
is the tvill of QodV'^ After the victory, the Christian army
invoked the names of St. George and St. Demetrius, who
had been seen, as they said, fighting in the ranks of the
Christians. This pious fable was accredited among both
the Latins and Grreeks. A long time subsequent to the
victory, the Armenians erected a church in the neighbourhood
of Dorylaeum, where the people were accustomed to
assemble on the first Friday of March, and believed that
they saw St. Greorge appear on horseback, lance in hand.
Whilst the Crusaders were felicitating themselves on
their victory, the sultan of jS'ice, who did not dare again to
encounter the Christians in the field, undertook to desolate
the country which he coidd not defend. At the head
of the wreck of his army, and ten thousand Arabs who had
joined him, he preceded the march of the Christians, and
laid waste his own provinces. The Turks burnt the harvests,
pillaged the cities, the boiirgs, and the houses of the Christians,
and carried away in their train the ^^dves and children
of the Greeks, whom they detained as hostages. The banks
of the Meander and the Ca'ister, Cappadocia, Pisidia,