Page:The Descent of Bolshevism.djvu/60

 the least of their crimes. And they improved upon the method of their Persian colleagues by extending the privileges of their Sect to alien princes and rulers.

"They caused assassination to be committed," one historian states, "at the solicitation of other princes for motives of interest in which religion had no share." In other words, they were a corporation of professional murderers, whose services were at the disposal of any prince or ruler in trouble. It is this Syrian branch, which became independent of Alamut, that is known to the Crusaders. Count Raymond of Tripoli and Conrad of Montferrat were slain probably by the fadais, who had acquired so much power that every scoundrel assumed their name as a convenient cloak for his crimes. Their reign of terror struck the mightiest and the boldest with fear and trepidation. It produced two new diseases in the land—moral torpor and mental paralysis.

And the work of the dagger was reinforced with conspiracies and intrigues for