Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/328

 306 THE DECLINE AND FALL The state of the Turks or caliphs of Egypt Norman clerk presumed to sift, with a philosophic spirit, the truth of the legend, the circumstances of the discoveiy, and the character of the prophet ; and the pious Bohemond ascribed their deliverance to the merits and intercession of Christ alone. For a while the Provincials defended their national palladium with clamours and arms ; and new visions condemned to death and hell the profane sceptics who presumed to scrutinise the truth and merit of the discovery. The prevalence of incredulity compelled the author to submit his life and veracity to the judg- ment of God. A pile of faggots, four feet high and fourteen feet long, was erected in the midst of the camp ; the flames burnt fiercely to the elevation of thirty cubits ; and a narrow path of twelve inches was left for the perilous trial. The un- fortunate priest of Marseilles traversed the fire with dexterity and speed : but his thighs and belly were scorched by the intense heat ; he expired the next day, and the logic of believing minds will pay some regard to his dying protestations of innocence and truth. Some efforts were made by the Provincials to substitute a cross, a ring, or a tabernacle, in the place of the holy lance, which soon vanished in contempt and oblivion. ^"^ Yet the revelation of Antioch is gravely asserted by succeeding his- torians; and such is the progress of credulity that miracles, most doubtful on the spot and at the moment, will be received with implicit faith at a convenient distance of time and space. The prudence or fortune of the Franks had delayed their in- vasion till the decline of the Turkish empire. i'^*' Under the manly government of the three first sultans, the kingdoms of Asia were united in peace and justice ; and the innumerable armies which they led in person were equal in courage, and superior in discipline, to the barbarians of the West. But at the time of the crusade, the inheritance of Malek Shah was dis- puted by his four sons ; their private ambition was insensible of the public danger ; and, in the vicissitudes of tlieir fortune, the royal vassals were ignorant, or regai-dless, of the true object of their allegiance. The twenty-eight emirs who marched with the standard of Kerboffa were his rivals or enemies ; their hastv levies were drawn from the towns and tents of Mesopotamia and 105 "pije tyQ antagonists who express the most intimate knowledge and the strongest conviction of the miracle, and of the fraud, are Raymond des Agiles and Radulphus Cadomensis, the one attached to the Count of Toulouse, the other to the Norman prince. Fulcherius Carnotensis presumes to say, Audite fraudem et non fraudem ! and afterwards, Invenit lanceam, fallaciter occultatam forsitan. The rest of the herd are loud and strenuous. It""' .See M. de Guignes (torn. ii. p. ii. p. 223, &c. ) ; and the articles of Barkiarok, Mohajnmed, Sangiar, m d'Herbelot. i