long a time. They would, in all probability,
have fallen upon each other, had there been no Turks in Palestine upon
whom they might vent their impetuosity. Godfrey proceeded to Edessa, to
aid his brother Baldwin in expelling the Saracens from his principality,
and the other leaders carried on separate hostilities against them as
caprice or ambition dictated. At length the impatience of the army to be
led against Jerusalem became so great that the chiefs could no longer
delay, and Raymond, Tancred, and Robert of Normandy marched forward with
their divisions, and laid siege to the small but strong town of Marah.
With their usual improvidence, they had not food enough to last a
beleaguering army for a week. They suffered great privations in
consequence, till Bohemund came to their aid and took the town by storm.
In connexion with this siege, the chronicler, Raymond d'Agilles (the same
Raymond the chaplain who figured in the affair of the Holy Lance), relates
a legend, in the truth of which he devoutly believed, and upon which Tasso
has founded one of the most beautiful passages of his poem. It is worth
preserving, as shewing the spirit of the age and the source of the
extraordinary courage manifested by the Crusaders on occasions of extreme
difficulty. "One day," says Raymond, "Anselme de Ribeaumont beheld young
Engelram, the son of the Count de St. Paul, who had been killed at Marah,
enter his tent. 'How is it,' said Anselme to him, 'that you, whom I saw
lying dead on the field of battle, are full or life?'--'You must know,'
replied Engelram, 'that those who fight for Jesus Christ never die.' 'But
whence,' resumed Anselme, 'comes that strange brightness that surrounds
you?' Upon this Engelram pointed to the sky, where Anselme saw a palace of
diamond and crystal. 'It is thence,' said he, 'that I derive the beauty
which surprises you. My dwelling is there; a still finer one is prepared
for you, and you shall soon come to inhabit it. Farewell! we shall meet
again to-morrow.' With these words Engelram returned to heaven. Anselme,
struck by the vision, sent the next morning for the priests, received the
sacrament, and although full of health, took a last farewell of all his
friends, telling them that he was about to leave this world. A few hours
afterwards, the enemy having made a sortie, Anselme went out against them
sword in hand, and was struck on the forehead by a stone from a Turkish
sling, which sent him to heaven, to the