volume one

364 niSTORY OF the ceusades.
was said of Edessa, the loss of wliicli had raised the entire
"West to arms, nor of the conquest of Aleppo, which had
been proposed bv Eaymond of Antioch. From the beginning
of the reign of Baldwin, the princes and lords of Palestine
had cherished a project for extending their conquests
beyond Libanus, and gaining possession of Damascus. As
the Christians, when they entered into a Mussulman province
or city, divided amongst them the lands and the
houses of the conquered, the people who dwelt on the barren
mountains of Judea, the greater part of the warriors of
Jerusalem, and even the clergy, all appeared to direct their
wishes towards the territory of Damascus, which offered the
rich booty to its captors of pleasant habitations, and fields
covered with golden harvests. The hope of driving the
Mussulmans from a fertile province, and enriching them-
selves with their spoils, made them even forgetful of the redoubtable
power of Xoiireddin and the Attabecks. In the
assembly at Ptolemais, it was resolved to commence the war
by the siege of Damascus.
All the troops assembled in Gralilee in the beginning of the
spring, and advanced towards the source of the Jordan, commanded
by the king of France, the emperor of Germany, and
the king of Jerusalem, preceded by the patriarch of the holy
city, bearing the true cross. The Christian army, to which
were attached the knights of the Temple, and of St. John,
in the early days of June set out from Melchisapar, a little
city, memorable for the miraculous conversion of St. Paul,
and crossing the chains of Libanus, encamped near the town
of Dary, from whence they could see the city of Damascus.
Damascus is situated at the foot of the Anti-Libanus,
fortv-five leagues from Jerusalem ; hills covered "with trees
and verdure arise in the neio-hbourhood of the citv, and in
its territory were several towns which have maintained a
name in history. A river which falls impetuously from the
mountains, rolls over a golden-coloured sand, and separating
into several branches, waters the city, and bears freshness
and fertility to the valley of Ahennefsage, or the valley of
violets, planted with all sorts of fruit-trees. The city of
Damascus was celebrated in the remotest antiquity, having
seen both the rise and fall of the city of Palmyra, whose
ruins are still objects of curiosity and wonder in its neigh-