deemed it more
convenient to destroy them by famine than to smite them with the sword, I
should already have gotten forcible mastery of the city, and they would
have reaped the fruits of their voyage hither by undergoing the law of
vengeance."

On returning to camp, Peter the Hermit was about to set forth in detail,
before all the people of the crusaders, the answer of Corbogha, his
pride, his threats, and the pomp with which he was surrounded; but
Godfrey de Bouillon, "fearing lest the multitude, already crushed beneath
the weight of their woes, should be stricken with fresh terror," stopped
Peter at the moment when he was about to begin his speech, and, taking
him aside, prevailed upon him to tell the result of his mission in a few
words, just that the Turks desired battle, and that it must be prepared
for at once. "Forthwith all, from the highest to the lowest, testify the
most eager desire to measure swords with the infidels, and seem to have
completely forgotten their miseries, and to calculate upon victory. All
resume their arms, and get ready their horses, their breastplates, their
helmets, their shields, and their swords. It is publicly announced
throughout the city that the next morning, before sunrise, every one will
have to be in readiness, and join his host to follow faithfully the
banner of his prince."

Next day, accordingly, the 28th of June, 1098, the feast of St. Peter and
St. Paul, the whole Christian army issued from their camp, with a portion
of the clergy marching at their head, and chanting the 68th Psalm, "Let
God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!" "I saw these things, I who
speak," says one of the chroniclers, Raymond d'Agiles, chaplain to the
count of Toulouse: "I was there, and I carried the spear of the Lord."
The crusaders formed in twelve divisions; and, of all their great chiefs,
the count of Toulouse alone was unable to assume the command of his; he
was detained in Antioch by the consequences of a wound, and he had the
duty of keeping in check the Turkish garrison, still masters of the
citadel. The crusaders presented the appearance of old troops ill clad,
ill provided, and surmounting by sheer spirit the fatigues and losses of
a long war; many sick soldiers could scarcely march; many barons and
knights were on foot; and Godfrey de Bouillon himself had been obliged to
borrow a horse from the count of Toulouse. During the march a gentle
rain refreshed souls as well as bodies,