volume one

164! UISTOBY or THE CEUSADES.
"but were prevented by the exhortations of Godfrey and
Bishop Adbemar, who pointed out to them the disgrace
which such a step would bring upon them in the eyes of
both Europe and Asia.
The famine had continued its ravages for more than two
weeks, and the ^Mussulmans pressed on the siege with the
greater ardour, from the conviction that they should soon be
masters of the city. Fanaticism and superstition, which
had precipitated the Crusaders into the abyss in which they
were now plunged, alone had the power to re-animate their
courage, and extricate them from such fearful perils. Prophecies,
revelations, and miracles became every day the more
frequent subjects of report in the Christian army. St.
Ambrose had appeared to a venerable priest, and had told
him that the Christians, after overcoming all their enemies,
would enter Jerusalem as conquerors, and that Grod would
there reward their exploits and their labours.* A Lombard
ecclesiastic had passed the night in one of the churches of
Antioch, and had there seen Jesus Christ, accompanied by
the Virgin and the prince of the apostles. The Son of Grod,
irritated by the conduct of the Crusaders, rejected their
prayers, and abandoned them to the fate they had too richly
merited ; but the Yii'gin fell at the knees of her son, and
by her tears and lamentations appeased the anger of the
Saviour. "Arise," then said the Son of God to the priest,
" go and inform my people of the return of my commiseration
; hasten and annoiuice to the Christians, that if they
come back to me, the houi* of their deliverance is at hand."
They whom God had thus made the depositaries of his
secrets and his will, oftered, in attestation of the truth of
theii' ^'isions, to precipitate themselves from a lofty tower,
to pass through flames, or to submit their heads to the
executioner; but these proofs were not necessary to persuade
the Crusaders, always ready to believe in prodigies, and who
had become more credulous than ever in the moment of
danger and in the excess of their misfortunes. The ima-
* We have thought it our duty to report all these criiraculous visions as
they are found in contemporary historians, because they produced a great
effect upon the mind of the Christians, and that in becoming the origin
and the cause of the greatest events, they are in themselves important
events for histor}'.