from the Hellespont to the confines of Syria, and barred the
pilgrimage of Jerusalem, his name was Kilidge-Arslan, or Soliman, of the
race of Seljuk, and son of the first conqueror; and in the defence of a
land which the Turks considered as their own, he deserved the praise
of his enemies, by whom alone he is known to posterity. Yielding to the
first impulse of the torrent, he deposited his family and treasure in
Nice; retired to the mountains with fifty thousand horse; and twice
descended to assault the camps or quarters of the Christian besiegers,
which formed an imperfect circle of above six miles. The lofty and solid
walls of Nice were covered by a deep ditch, and flanked by three hundred
and seventy towers; and on the verge of Christendom, the Moslems were
trained in arms, and inflamed by religion. Before this city, the French
princes occupied their stations, and prosecuted their attacks without
correspondence or subordination: emulation prompted their valor; but
their valor was sullied by cruelty, and their emulation degenerated into
envy and civil discord. In the siege of Nice, the arts and engines of
antiquity were employed by the Latins; the mine and the battering-ram,
the tortoise, and the belfrey or movable turret, artificial fire, and
the _catapult_ and _balist_, the sling, and the crossbow for the casting
of stones and darts. In the space of seven weeks much labor and blood
were expended, and some progress, especially by Count Raymond, was
made on the side of the besiegers. But the Turks could protract their
resistance and secure their escape, as long as they were masters of
the Lake Ascanius, which stretches several miles to the westward of the
city. The means of conquest were supplied by the prudence and industry
of Alexius; a great number of boats was transported on sledges from
the sea to the lake; they were filled with the most dexterous of his
archers; the flight of the sultana was intercepted; Nice was invested by
land and water; and a Greek emissary persuaded the inhabitants to accept
his master's protection, and to save themselves, by a timely surrender,
from the rage of the savages of Europe. In the moment of victory, or at
least of hope, the crusaders, thirsting for blood and plunder, were awed
by the Imperial banner that streamed from the citadel; and Alexius
guarded with jealous vigilance this important conquest. The murmurs of
the chiefs were stifled by honor or interest; and after a halt of nine