volume one

430 HISTORY OF THE CErSADES.
capitulation, did not f\iil to add a new splendour to his
triumph with the Mussulmans, and caused him to be regarded
as the favourite of the Prophet.
All the warriors who were in Jerusalem when the capitulation
was signed, obtained permission to retire to Tvre or
Tripoh. The conqueror granted life to the inhabitants, and
allowed them to purchase then' liberty. All Christians, with
the exception of the Greeks and Syrians, received orders to
quit Jerusalem at the expu-ation of four days. The rate of
ransom was fixed at ten pieces of gold for the men, five for
the women, and two for the chddren. Such as could not
purcliase their liberty, remained in slavery.
These conditions had at first been received "with joy by
the Christians ; but when they saw the day approach on
which they were to leave Jerusalem, they experienced nothing
but the most bitter grief at quittins: the holy places. They
watered the tomb of Christ with their tears, and regretted
that thev had not died to defend it : thev visited Calvary
and the churches they were never to see again, amidst groans
and sighs ; they embraced each other in the streets, weeping
and lamenting over their fatal dissensions. Such as were
unable to pay their ransom, and would only quit Jerusalem
to become shives to the Saracens, gave themselves up to all
the excesses of despair. But such, in. these deplorable
moments, was their attachment to the religion whose precepts
they had not always followed, that the insults offered
to the sacred objects of their worship, afflicted them more
than their own misfortunes.
At lenofth the fatal dav* arrived on which the Christians
were to quit Jerusalem. All the gates were shut except
that of David, by which the people were to go out. Saladin,
seated on an elevated throne, saw all the Chi-istians pass
before him. The patriarch, followed by the clergy, appeared
the first, carrving the sacred vases, the ornaments of the
* Most historians say that Saladin granted a delay of forty days to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the position that matters were in,
Saladin could not remain forty days before a captured city ; and what
proves that historians are mistaken in this respect is, that they themselves
say that Saladin took Jerusalem in the beginning of October, and that he
set out on the day of AH Saints, which is always the first of November,
from Ptolemais to go to the siege of the city of Tyre.