army. Had the diminished strength and
numbers of the Latins allowed them to grasp the whole circumference
of four thousand yards, (about two English miles and a half, ) to what
useful purpose should they have descended into the valley of Ben Hinnom
and torrent of Cedron, or approach the precipices of the south and east,
from whence they had nothing either to hope or fear? Their siege was
more reasonably directed against the northern and western sides of the
city. Godfrey of Bouillon erected his standard on the first swell of
Mount Calvary: to the left, as far as St. Stephen's gate, the line of
attack was continued by Tancred and the two Roberts; and Count Raymond
established his quarters from the citadel to the foot of Mount Sion,
which was no longer included within the precincts of the city. On the
fifth day, the crusaders made a general assault, in the fanatic hope of
battering down the walls without engines, and of scaling them without
ladders. By the dint of brutal force, they burst the first barrier;
but they were driven back with shame and slaughter to the camp: the
influence of vision and prophecy was deadened by the too frequent abuse
of those pious stratagems; and time and labor were found to be the only
means of victory. The time of the siege was indeed fulfilled in forty
days, but they were forty days of calamity and anguish. A repetition
of the old complaint of famine may be imputed in some degree to the
voracious or disorderly appetite of the Franks; but the stony soil of
Jerusalem is almost destitute of water; the scanty springs and hasty
torrents were dry in the summer season; nor was the thirst of the
besiegers relieved, as in the city, by the artificial supply of cisterns
and aqueducts. The circumjacent country is equally destitute of trees
for the uses of shade or building, but some large beams were discovered
in a cave by the crusaders: a wood near Sichem, the enchanted grove of
Tasso, was cut down: the necessary timber was transported to the camp by
the vigor and dexterity of Tancred; and the engines were framed by some
Genoese artists, who had fortunately landed in the harbor of Jaffa. Two
movable turrets were constructed at the expense, and in the stations, of
the duke of Lorraine and the count of Tholouse, and rolled forwards with
devout labor, not to the most accessible, but to the most neglected,
parts of the fortification. Raymond's Tower was reduced to ashes by
the fire of the besieged, but his