volume one

UiSTOllY or THE CIlUSADErf, 217
which Titus v/as encamped when his soldiers penetrated into
the galleries of the temple. The rolling tower, and the
other machines of war which the duke of Lorraine had
caused to be constructed, were transported with incredible
difficulty in face of the walls he intended to attack. Tancred
and the two Roberts got ready their machines, between
the gate of Damascus and the angular tower, which was
afterwards called the toiver of Tancred.*
AVlien the Saracens, at daybreak, saw these new dispositions,
they were seized witli astonishment and affright. The
Crusaders might have taken profitable advantage of the
alarm which this change created in the enemy, but upon
steep ground it was difficult to bring the towers up close to
the walls. Raymond in particular, who was charged with
the attaclc on the south, found himself separated from the
rampart by a ravine, which it was necessary to have filled
up. He immediately made it known, by a herald-at-arms,
that he would pay a denier to every person who should cast
three stones into it. A crowd of people instantly flew to
second the eftbrts of his soldiers ; nor could the darts and
arrows, which were hurled like hail from the ramparts, at all
relax the ardour and zeal of the assailants. At length, at
the end of the third day, all was finished, and the leaders
gave the signal for a general attack.
On Thursday, the 14th of July, 1099, as soon as day appeared,
the clarions sounded in the camp of the Christians ;
all the Crusaders flew to arms ; all the machines were in
motion at once ; the stone-machines and mangonels vomited
showers of flints, whilst under the cover of tortoises and
galleries, the rams were brought close to the walls. The
archers and cross-bo\vmen kept up a continual discharge
against the rampart ; whilst the most brave planted their
ladders in places where the wall seemed to offer least resist-
* Raymond d'Agiles says that Godfrey's tower was transplanted by
night a mile from the spot where it had been constructed ; which leads us
to believe that the principal attack was directed near the gate of Cedar,
towards the entrance of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. For the rest, we must
regret that M. de Chateaubriand, who has written a very interesting
dissertation upon the military positions of Tasso, has not thrown light
upon the obscurities of the historians which present themselves in this
portion of their accounts of the siege.