volume one

HISTORY OF THE CEUSADES. 351
which was not in accordance with the principles of honour.
Neither had they faith in the misfortunes with which they
were threatened, and relied upon Providence and their own
valour to enable them to siu-mount all obstacles. The most
fervent of the pilgrims dreaded any delay in the march of
the Crusaders, and this fear increased their scruples ; at
length the loyalty of the knights, the general pious impatience
to behold the sacred places, and perhaps also the pre-
sents and the seductions of Manuel, procured a triumph for
the party advocating moderation.
The emperor was nevertheless alarmed at seeing a body of
warriors, full of confidence and courage, thus deliberate so
near to him on the conquest of his capital. The homage
that the barons and knights paid him did not at all re-assure
him as to their intentions. To hasten their departure, he
caused a report to be spread that the Grermans had gained
great victories over the Turks, and that they had made
themselves masters of Iconium. This succeeded even beyond
Manuel's hopes.
"When the Crusaders, impatient to pursue the Turks, were
leaving Constantinople, they were surprised by an eclipse of
the sun. A superstitious multitude saw in this phenomenon
nothing but a fatal presage, and believed it to be either the
warning of some great calamitj^, or of some new treachery
on the part of Manuel ;
and the fears of the pilgrims were
not long in being realized. Scarcely had they entered
Bithynia when they were taught how to appreciate the false
reports and perfidy of the Grreeks. Louis, when encamped
upon the shores of the Lake Ascanius, in the neighbourhood
of Nice, received information of the complete defeat of the
G-ermans. The sultan of Iconium, on the approach of the
Christians of the West, had assembled all his forces, and at
the same time solicited the aid of the other Mussulman
powers to defend the passages of Asia Minor. Conrad,
whom William of Tyre styles vir simplex, whom le Pere
Maimbourg compares to a victim crowned with flowers that
is being led to slaughter, had advanced, on the faith of some
unknown guides, into the mountains ot Cappadocia. Impatient
to be before the French, for whom he was to have
waited, he marched on in perfect ignorance of the roads, and
without provisions to feed the multitude which followed him.