ory; and when Shirkoh in return seized the city of
Balbek and held it as security, Shawer sent to Amaury, King of
Jerusalem, for succor. Amaury, the bravest if not the wisest of the
Crusader kings, thinking that here was a chance of striking a double
blow, readily acceded, and joining the Fatimite army forced Shirkoh to
retire. It was, however, only in order to collect new forces. Next
year he was back again. Alexandria was taken by his nephew, and held
for three months against the combined forces of Christians and
Fatimites. At last a peace was agreed upon: both Christians and
Damascenes were to retire, each party to have a share in the revenues
of Egypt. The first part of the contract was faithfully carried out;
the second part neither Syrian nor Christian expected to be obeyed.
And now the same ambition possessed the mind both of Amaury and of
Nur-ed-Din. This was nothing less than the conquest of Egypt. Both
perceived that the Fatimite power was gone. Both realized the fact
that the country could easily be overrun. As for the Christian king,
he had dreams of a splendid and luxurious capital, grander than his
own narrow city set in the midst of the mountains; his knights,
orientals now and fallen from the old western rudeness, looked on with
envy at the luxuries of these weak Mohammedans; it would be a fine
thing to transfer the capital of the Christian kingdom in the East to
Cairo, leaving Jerusalem as a Christian Mecca, a city for the priests.
And the Syrian sultan, for his part, would restore the unity of Islam,
would unite Egypt with Syria, and by the strength of that union would
destroy the Christian and recover the Holy Places. These were schemes
worthy of statesman or of soldier. The only question was--how were
they to be realized?

The point which Amaury failed to understand was this. He who moved
first was bound to lose. For he would draw upon himself the other two.
Amaury moved first. We cannot follow the Christian king on his
disastrous attempt. It is sufficient to say that Shirkoh, after a
brief struggle, remained master of the field and of Egypt, and that
the fall of the Latin kingdom, thus rendered possible, was only
delayed until the consolidation of the new power was complete.

Immediately after his final victory Shirkoh died, and was succeeded by
his nephew Yussuf ibn Ayub, now called Salah-ed-Din (Shield of
Religion), el Melek el Mansur (the Victorious King), and Emir el
Jayush (Commander-in-chief