volume one

304 HISTOET OF THE CErSADES.
tribes, Vnieh poured do^vu from Moimt Caucasus, Mount
Taurus, from Koracan aud tlie banks of the Tio^ris. These
tribes, for the most part ^ild and barbarous, mingled among
the Mussulmans of Syria and Mesopotamia, and replaced in
armies and cities the hosts which war had swept awar.
Among the tribes which had thus estabhshed themselves
in Svria, history' must not forget that of the assassins or
Ismaelians, whose sect had sprung up, towards the commencement
of the eleventh century, in the mountains of
Persia. A short time before the first crusade, they took
possession of a part of Libanus, and founded a colony between
Tripoli and Tortosa, which colony was governed by a
chief whom the Franks called
—
tJie Old ALan, or the Lord of
the Mountain. The chief of the Ismaelians only reigned
over about twenty castles or to^^iis, and scarcely more than
sixty thousand subjects : but he had converted despotism
into a species of worship, and his autliority was without
bounds. His subjects considered that he alone was the depositaiy
of the laws of Mahomet, and that aR who opposed
his will merited death. The Old Man of the Mountains,
according to the belief of the Ismaelians. coidd distribute, at
his pleasure, the dehghts of Paradise to his servants ; that he
who died in an act of obedience to his chief, ascended to
heaven, whither the prophet of Mecca welcomed him, whilst
he who died in his bed went tlu-ough long probationary pains
in the next world.
The Ismaelians were divided into three classes : the people,
the soldiers, and the guards. The people lived by the
they were docile,
cultivation of the lands and by commerce ;
laborious, sober, and patient : nothing could exceed the skill,
strength, and courage of the soldiers, whose qualities were
particularly valued in the defence or sieges of cities. The
greater part of the Mussulman princes were very desirous
of having them in their pay.
The most distinguished class was that of the guards or
feda'ls. Xothing was neglected in their education. Prom
their infancy their bodies were strengthened by constant
and violent exercises, and their minds were cultivated by the
study of the arts. They were taught the languages of Asia
and Europe, in order that they might be sent into those
countries to execute the orders of their master. All sorts