Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/135

Rh more especially those who, like the Venetians, owed their position in the scale of nations entirely to the extent of their trading transactions. Whilst the knights of St. John had been engaged in the defence of the Holy Land, their achievements, brilliant as they were, had been of but slender assistance to the vast populations of Europe, and although religious enthusiasm had been much awakened by the tales of heroism and chivalry which were the theme of troubadour in hail and bower, still little permanent impression was left on the hearers’ mind. Now, however, when in addition to the sacred cause of combating the infidel there was added the more tangible and personal benefit of protection to commerce, a cry of gratitude and warm admiration arose on every side.

The difference between the conduct of the Hospitaller and Templar was freely discussed, and paved the way for that overthrow of the latter Order which was even then dawning on the mind of Philip the Fair. They had both equally earned imperishable laurels by their gallant defence of Acre, and had both shared the same fate in their expulsion from Syria. But from the moment of turning their backs on that scene of strife, how different had been their conduct! The Hospitaller, availing himself of the nearest point from which he could still carry on the objects so dear to him, had established himself almost within sight of those shores from which he had been driven. Unable any longer to compete with his foe on land, he had not hesitated to encounter him on a new element., and those Turkish revere who had for so many years been the terror of the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, were taught to feel that the day had at length arrived when their supremacy should be ended. Instead of the slave marts of Egypt being filled with captive Christian sailors, who had hitherto furnished the bulk of their supply, the tables were now suddenly turned, and the unfortunate Turk, tugging at his oar in one of the numerous galleys of the Hospital, had ample opportunities for reflecting upon the ill-chance which had brought these new and invincible foes across his path.

The Templars, on the other hand, after a brief sojourn in Cyprus, instead of rendering the smallest assistance to their chivalric brethren in this new undertaking, hurried westward