ith had a strong and serious influence on
their practice; and that the soldiers of the cross, the deliverers of
the holy sepulchre, prepared themselves by a sober and virtuous life
for the daily contemplation of martyrdom. Experience blows away this
charitable illusion; and seldom does the history of profane war display
such scenes of intemperance and prostitution as were exhibited under
the walls of Antioch. The grove of Daphne no longer flourished; but the
Syrian air was still impregnated with the same vices; the Christians
were seduced by every temptation [95] that nature either prompts or
reprobates; the authority of the chiefs was despised; and sermons and
edicts were alike fruitless against those scandalous disorders, not less
pernicious to military discipline, than repugnant to evangelic purity.
In the first days of the siege and the possession of Antioch, the Franks
consumed with wanton and thoughtless prodigality the frugal subsistence
of weeks and months: the desolate country no longer yielded a supply;
and from that country they were at length excluded by the arms of the
besieging Turks. Disease, the faithful companion of want, was envenomed
by the rains of the winter, the summer heats, unwholesome food, and the
close imprisonment of multitudes. The pictures of famine and pestilence
are always the same, and always disgustful; and our imagination may
suggest the nature of their sufferings and their resources. The remains
of treasure or spoil were eagerly lavished in the purchase of the vilest
nourishment; and dreadful must have been the calamities of the poor,
since, after paying three marks of silver for a goat and fifteen for a
lean camel, [96] the count of Flanders was reduced to beg a dinner, and
Duke Godfrey to borrow a horse. Sixty thousand horse had been reviewed
in the camp: before the end of the siege they were diminished to two
thousand, and scarcely two hundred fit for service could be mustered on
the day of battle. Weakness of body and terror of mind extinguished
the ardent enthusiasm of the pilgrims; and every motive of honor and
religion was subdued by the desire of life. [97] Among the chiefs, three
heroes may be found without fear or reproach: Godfrey of Bouillon was
supported by his magnanimous piety; Bohemond by ambition and interest;
and Tancred declared, in the true spirit of chivalry, that as long as
he was at the head of forty knights, he would never relinquish the
enterprise of Palestine.