volume one

niSTOllY OF THE CRUSADES. 479
city. It liad advanced wifchin half a bow-shot, when the
Mussulmans issued from their gates, and precipitated themselves
in front of this enormous mass, which grew nearer
and nearer, and already threatened their walls. Armed with
swords, pickaxes, and 'shovels, they attacked the troops employed
in forwarding it, using every effort to remove it back
towards the plain ; but were only able to arrest its progress
by dio-ging vast and deep ditches in its passage.
Among all the Christian warriors, the French distinguished
themselves greatly, and directed their efforts principally
against the Cursed Tower, which was erected at the eastern
sfde of the city. A great part of the walls began to tall,
and must soon offer a passage to the besieging army. AVar,
famine, and disease had weakened the garrison ; the city
had not soldiers enough left to defend the ramparts and
move about the machines employed against those of the
Christians. The place not only stood in need of provisions,
but of warlike munitions and Greek fire. The warriors who
had gone through so much, began to feel discouragement,
and the people loudly murmured against Saladin and the
emirs. In this extremity, the commander of the garrison
came and proposed a capitulation to Philip Augustus, who
swore by the God of the Christians that he would not spare
a sinc^le inhabitant of Pfcolemais, if the Mussulmans did not
restore all the cities that had fallen into their power since
the battle of Tiberias. -,
' ^
-ni -t
The chief of the emirs, irritated by the relusal ot I'lniip,
retired, saying that he and his companions would rather
bury themselv'es beneath the ruins of the city, than listen to
such terms, and that they would defend Ptolemais as a lion
On his return into the place,
defends his blood-stained lair.
the commander of the Saracens communicated his courage,
or rather his despair, to every heart. When the Christians
resumed their assaults, they were repulsed with a vigour
that astonished them. " The tumultuous waves of the
Franks," says an Arabian author, " rolled towards the place
with the rapidity of a torrent ; they mounted the half-rumed
walls as wild goats ascend the steepest rocks, whilst the
Saracens precipitated themselves upon the besiegers like
stones detached from the summits of mountains."
In one general assault, a Florentine knight of the family