volume one

318
HISTOEY or THE CKUSADES.
promises of an -iiiLknown soldier appeared to them to have
no security, and to inspire no confidence ; they said the
kin^^dom of Jerusalem did not want for enemies to combat,
or conquests to attempt ; it was their duty to attack the
most formidable, and protect the others as useful auxiliaries.
This advice, which was the most reasonable, was that which
obtained the smallest number of suffrages. Wonders were
related of the country they were about to conquer ; Bosra
was the capital of Upper Arabia, all the riches of that
countr}^ appeared abeady to belong to the Christians, and
all who opposed a conquest so brilliant and so easy were
accused of treason. They deliberated in the midst of
tumult,* and the cries of a misled multitude smothered the
voice of reason and prudence. The coimcil of the barons
and the principal people decided that an expedition, upon
which so many hopes were built, should be undertaken.
The Christian army was soon on its march, and across the
mountains of Libanus. When it arrived in the territory of
Damascus, its first conflict was with the Saracens gathered
together to oppose its passage. After sustaining several
severe encounters, the Christians succeeded in gaining the
country called Traconite, where they found nothing but plains
burnt up by the ardent rays of the sun. The roads were
difficult, and the locusts ha^ing fallen into the wells and
cisterns, had poisoned all the waters. The inhabitants, con-
cealed in subterranean caverns, laid ambushes in all direc-
tions for the Christian army ;
whilst the Mussulman archers,
planted upon all the hills and acchvities, left the warriors of
Jerusalem not a moment's repose. The misfortunes of the
army (it is William of Tyre who speaks) increased every
day, and there wa^ poured upon the Christians such a quan-
tity, and as it were continually, of all sorts of arrows, that
they appeared to descend upon them Wee hail or heavy rain
upon houses covered icith slates and tiles, men and beasts
heing stucTc all ot'er icith them. Nevertheless, the hope of
winning a rich city sustained the courage of the Christian
soldiers, and enabled them to brave all these perils. But
* "William of Tyre attributes the determination of the king and the
barons to the cries of the populace of Jerusalem ; the same historian
relates this expedition with many details in his sixteenth book, ch. vii.
xiii.
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