volume one

HISTOIIT or TUE CEUSADES. 267
arms, was precisely that which checked and bounded their
conquests.
When we think of their ever reviving discords, of the
calamities which were the consequences of thein, of that
excess of bravery that made them commit so many faults,
of that want of foresight which they almost always evinced
on the eve of great dangers, one thmg alone surprises
us, and that is, that they did not entirely fail in their enter-
prise.
Philosophy may, with some justice, oppose its reasonings
to the marvels of this war ; but she will tind in it an abundant
source of profound and new observations. In it she
will see man with his inexplicable contrasts ; in it she will
meet with the passions, with all that characterizes them, with
all they possess that most plainly exhibits the hmnan heart
and mind. Reason, without doubt, must deplore the disorders,
the excesses, and the delirium of the Crusaders ; but
such is human weakness, that we always interest ourselves
in great events wherein man is fully developed.
The imagination of the most indifferent must be struck
w4th the instances of heroism which the history of the crusades
aboimds in. If many of the scenes of this great
epoch excite our indignation or ou.r pity, how many of the
events fill us with admiration and surprise ! How many
names, rendered illustrious by this war, are still the pride of
families and nations ! That which is perhaps most positive
in the results of the first crusade, is the glory of our
fathers,—that glory which is also a real good for a country
for great remembrances found the existence of nations as
well as families, and are the most noble sources of patriotism.
In remotest antiquity, one of those passions which sometimes
act upon a wliole people, precipitated Greece upon
Asia. This war, famous and rich in exploits, inflamed the
imagination of the Grreeks, and was for a great length of
time celebrated in their temples and upon their stage. If
great national remembrances inspire us with the same enthu-
siasm, if we entertain as strong a respect as the ancients for
the memory of our ancestors, the conquest of the Holy Land
must be for us as glorious and memorable an epoch as the
war of Troy was for the people of Greece. These two wars,
however cUfierent in their motives, present almost the same
;