volume one

200 niSTORT OF THE CRUSADES.
letter written by tlie emir of Ptolemais to the emir of
Cresarea. " The cursed race of the Christians," wrote the
emir, " have just passed through my territories, and will
soon cross yours ; let the chiefs of all the Mussulman cities
be warned of their march, and let them take measures to
crush oiu' enemies." This letter was read in the councd of
the princes, and before all the army. The Crusaders, according
to the account of Eaymond d'Agiles, an eye-witness,
broke out into loud expressions of surprise and joy, no
longer doubting that God protected theii' enterprise, since
he sent the birds of heaven to reveal to them the secrets of
the infidels. Filled with new enthusiasm, they continued
their route, drawing away from the sea, and lea\'ing Anti-
patride and Jaffa on their right. They saluted in the east
the heights of Ephraim, and took possession of Lydda (the
ancient Diospolis), celebrated by the martyrdom of St.
George, and of Ramla, famous for the birth and tomb of
Samuel.
"When arrived at this last-named city, the Christians had
only a march of sixteen miles to be before Jerusalem. The
leaders held a council, in which some of them proposed to
go and attack the infidels in Eg^^t, instead of undertaking
the siege of the holy city.* " AS'^hen," said they, "we shall
have conquered the sidtan of Eg^-pt, the cities of Alexandria
and Cairo, with Palestine and most of the kingdoms of the
East, will fall under our power. If we go straight to Jeru-
salem, we shall want both water and provisions, and we shall
be obliged to raise the siege, without having the power to
undertake anything else." Such of the leaders as did not
agree with this opinion, answered, " That the Christian army
amounted to no more than fifty thousand combatants, and
that it would be m.adness to begin a march to distant, and,
to them, unkno^vn regions, and where they could look for no
assistance. On all sides they must expect dangers and
obstacles : nowhere should they be free from the dread of
* It is Raymond d'Agiles alone who speaks of this strange deliberation
of the leaders ; if this historian had not been present, we could give no
credit to it.— See Raym. d'Jffiles, in the Collection of Bongars, p. 173.
Albert d'Aix contents himself with saying that the leaders, after having
traversed the territory of Ptolemai's, deliberated whether they should not
go to Damascus.