Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/322

300 THE DECLINE AND FALL and wherever less art and labour had been applied, the ground was supposed to be defended by the riv^er, the morass, and the mountains. Notwithstanding these fortifications, the city had been repeatedly taken by the Persians, the Arabs, the Greeks, and the Turks ; ^^ so large a circuit must have yielded many pervious points of attack ; and, in a siege that was formed about the middle of October, the vigour of the execution could alone justify the boldness of the attempt. Whatever strength and valour could perform in the field, was abundantly discharged by the champions of the cross : in the frequent occasions of sallies, of forage, of the attack and defence of convoys, they were often victorious ; and we can only complain that their exploits are sometimes enlarged beyond the scale of probability and truth. The sword of Godfrey ^'^ divided a Turk from the shoulder to the haunch, and one half of the infidel fell to the ground, while the other was transported by his horse to the city gate. As Robert of Normandy rode against his antagonist, " I devote thy head," he piously exclaimed, "^ to the daemons of hell," and that head was instantly cloven to the breast by the resistless stroke of his descending faulchion. But the reality or report of such gigantic prowess ^~ must have taught the Moslems to keep within their walls, and against those walls of earth or stone the sword and the lance were unavailing weapons. In the slow and successive labours of a siege the crusaders were supine and ignorant, without skill to contrive, or money to purchase, or in- dustry to use the artificial engines and implements of assault. In the conquest of Nice they had been powerfully assisted by the wealth and knowledge of the Greek emperor : his absence was poorly supplied by some Genoese and Pisan vessels that were attracted by religion or trade to the coast of Syria ; the stores were scanty, the return precarious, and the communica- ^5 [One of the most important fortifications for a besieger of Antioch to seize was the tower of Bagras, or St. Luke, which commanded the pass over Mount Amanus to Ale.xandretta. It was fortified strongly by Nicephorus Phocas, when he besieged the city in 968. ] 86 Ensem elevat, eumque a sinistri parte scapularum tanti virtute intorsit, ut quod pectus medium disjunxit spinam et vitaha interrupit ; et sic lubricus ensis super crus dextrum integer exivit ; sicque caput integrum cum dextra parte corporis immersit gurg^te, partemque quae equo prcesidebat remisit civitati (Robert Mon. p. 50). Cujus ense trajectus, Turcus duo factus est Turci ; ut inferior aher in urbem equitaret, alter arcitenens in flumine nataret (Radulph. Cadom. c. 53, p. 304). Yet he justifies the deed by the slupejuiis viribus of Godfrey ; and William of Tyre covers it by obstupuit populus facti novitate . . . mirabilis (1. v. c. 6, p. 701). Yet it must not have appeared incredible to the knights of that age. 8' See the exploits of Robert, Raymond, and the modest Tancred, who imposed silence on his squire (Radulph. Cadom. c. 53).