in
triumph; a pious enthusiasm restored to all present entire confidence;
and with loud shouts they demanded battle. The chiefs judged it proper
to announce their determination to the chief of the Mussulmans; and for
this mission they chose Peter the Hermit, who was known to them as a bold
and able speaker. Peter, on arriving at the enemy's camp, presented
himself without any mark of respect before the Sultan, Corbogha,
surrounded by his satraps, and said, "The sacred assembly of princes
pleasing to God who are at Antioch doth send me unto thy Highness, to
advise thee that thou art to cease from thy importunities, and that thou
abandon the siege of a city which the Lord in His divine mercy hath given
up to them. The prince of the apostles did wrest that city from
idolatry, and convert it to the faith of Christ. Ye had forcibly but
unjustly taken possession of it. They who be moved by a right lawful
anxiety for this heritage of their ancestors make their demand of thee
that thou choose between divers offers: either give up the siege of the
city, and cease troubling the Christians, or, within three days from
hence, try the power of our arms. And that thou seek not after any, even
a lawful, subterfuge, they offer thee further choice between divers
determinations: either appear alone in person to fight with one of our
princes, in order that, if victorious, thou mayest obtain all thou canst
demand, or, if vanquished, thou mayest remain quiet; or, again, pick out
divers of thine who shall fight, on the same terms, with the same number
of ours; or, lastly, agree that the two armies shall prove, one against
the other, the fortune of battle." "Peter," answered Corbogha
ironically, "it is not likely that the affairs of the princes who have
sent thee be in such state that they can thus offer me choice betwixt
divers proposals, and that I should be bound to accept that which may
suit me best. My sword hath brought them to such a condition that they
have not themselves any longer the power of choosing freely, and that
they be constrained to shape and unshape their wishes according to my
good pleasure. Go, then, and tell these fools that all whom I shall find
in full possession of all the powers of the manly age shall have their
lives, and shall be reserved by me for my master's service, and that all
other shall fall beneath my sword, as useless trees, so that there shall
remain of them not even a faint remembrance. Had I not