volume one

HISTORY OF THE CEUSADES. 893
in tlie instance of Damascus. They would sacrifice Christian
cities, Jerusalem itself, to the hope of conquering a kingdom.
Noureddin had alread}^ taken ad\^antage of the king of Jerusalem's
being engaged on the banks of the Mle, to get pos-
session of several places Avhich belonged to the Christians.
Bohemond prince of Antioch, ani Raymond count of Tripoli,
had been made prisoners of war, and groaned in the chains of
the Mussulmans, as victims of an ambition which had seduced
the king of Jerusalem far from his Idngdom and the Christian
colonies of which he ought to be the support and defender."
The knights and barons who expressed themselves thus,
added that the sight alone of Egypt would not fail to corrupt
the Christian warriors, and enervate the courage and
jsubdue the patriotism of the inhabitants and defenders of
Palestine. These opinions, however prudent and just, had
no effect upon the king of Jerusalem and the partisans of
the war, among whom was conspicuous the grand master of
the Hospitallers, who had exhausted the riches of his order
by extravagant expenses, and had raised troops for whose
pay he had assigned the treasures of Egypt. The greater
part of the lords and knights, to whom fortune seemed to
be waiting on the banks of the Nile in order to bestow upon
them her favours, suffered themselves to be easily persuaded
to the war, and found it very convenient to consider as an
enemy the sovereign of a country which held out so rich a
booty to them.
AVhilst these preparations for the conquest of Egypt were
in agitation in Jerusalem, the same projects occupied the emirs
and the council of jSToureddin. Onhis return from the banks of
the Nile, Chirkou had announced to the sultan of Damascus,
" that the government of Cairo wanted both officers and sol-
diers ;
and that revolutions, the cupidity of the Pranks, and
the presence of the Syrians, had weakened and ruined the
empire of the Patimites. The Egyptian people," added he,
" accustomed to change masters, Mere neither attached to the
caliph,whom they did not know, nor to the vizier, who brought
upon them all sorts of calamities. They were ready to submit
to the domination of a prince who should be powerful
enough to protect them against both their enemies and the
scourge of ci\Tl wars. The Christians were likewise aware
how feeble this empire was, and it was to be dreaded that