volume one

HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES. 153
all the Christians that should be found in the city. The
renegade was then sent back to his post, loaded with
praises for his carefulness and fidelity. At the approach
of night everything appeared tranquil in Antioch, and
Phirous, escaped from such threatening danger, awaited the
Crusaders in the tower which he had agreed to surrender to
them.
As his brother commanded a tower near his own, Phirous
went to find him, and sought to engage him in the plot.
"Brother," said he to him, "you know that the Crusaders
have quitted their camp, and that they are gone to meet the
army of Kerbogha. When I think of the miseries they
have endured, and on the death which threatens them, I
cannot help feeling a sort of pity for them. Tou are not
ignorant, likewise, that this night all the Christian inhabi-
tants of Antioch, after having undergone so many outrages,
are going to be massacred by the orders of Accien. I cannot
help pitying them ; I cannot forget that we were born
in the same religion, and that we were formerly brothers."
These words did not produce the effect he expected. " I am
surprised," replied his brother, " that you should pity men
who ought to be objects of horror to us. Before the Christians
appeared under the walls of Antioch, we were loaded
with benefits. Since they have besieged the city, we have
passed our lives in dangers and alarms. May all the evils
they have brought upon us recoil upon them ! As to the
Christians who live amongst us, do you not know that the
greater part of them are traitors, and that they think of
nothing but delivering us up to the sword of our enemies ?"
On finishing these words, he cast a threatening look upon
Phirous. The renegade saw that he was suspected. He
could not acknowledge a brother in the man who refused to
be his accomplice, and as his only answer, plunged his
dagger into his heart.
At length the decisive moment arrived. The night was
dark, and a rising storm increased the depth of the obscurity.
The ^-ind, which rattled among the roofs of the buildings,
and the peals of thunder, prevented the sentinels from hearing
any noise around the ramparts. The heavens seemed
inflamed towards the west, and the sight of a comet which
then appeared in the horizon, seemed to announce to the