volume one

160 HISTOET OF THE CRUSADES.
fice of his last war-horse, and found himself, as were all the
other Crusaders, reduced to the most cruel necessities.
Many of the Crusaders endeavoured to fly from a city
which presented to them nothing but the image and the
prospect of death; some fled by sea, through a thousand
dangers, whilst others cast themselves amongst the Mussulmans,
where they purchased a little bread by the abandonment
of Christ and his religion. The soldiers necessarily
lost courao^e when they saw that coimt de Melun, who so
often defied death in the field, a second time fly from famine
and misery. His desertion was preceded by that of the
count de Blois, who bore the standard of the Crusaders, and
presided at their councils. He had quitted the army two
days before the taking of Antioch, and when he learned the
arrival of Kerbogha, he, with his troops, immediately
marched towards Constantinople.
Deserters made their escape during the darkness of night.
Sometimes they precipitated themselves into the ditches of
the city, at the risk of their lives ; sometimes they descended
from the rampart's by means of a cord. Every day the
Christians found themselves abandoned by an increasing
number of their companions ; and these desertions added to
their despair. Heaven was invoked against the dastards
Grod was implored that they might, in another life, share the
fate of the traitor Judas. The ignominious epithet of ropedancers
(sauteurs de corde) was attached to their names,
and devoted them to the contempt of their companions.
"William of T}*re refuses to name the crowd of knights who
then desei-ted the cause of Jesus Christ, because he considers
them as blotted out from the book of life for eA'er.* The
wishes of the Christiims against those who fled were but too
completely fulfilled ; the greater part perished from want,
and others were killed by the Saracens. Stephen, count of
Chartres, more fortunate than his companions, succeeded in
reaching the camp of Alexius, who was advancing with an
army towards Antioch. To excuse his desertion, he did not
fail to paint, in the darkest colours, all the misfortunes and
dangers of the Christians, and to make it appear by his
* Alii raulti, quorum nomina non tenemus, quia delecta de libro vitae,
praesenti operi non sunt inserenda.— Will, of Tyre, lib. iv.
;