Note 117 — BOOK III.

All these details of the siege and the taking of Antioch, which appear to belong to the epopea, are taken literally from the ancient historians of the crusades. See Albert d’Aix, lib. iii. and iv.; William of Tyre, lib. v.; Robert the Monk, lib. v. and vi.; and the authors of the Collection of Bongars. All these historians agree in the principal circumstances. The monk Robert, in the recital that he makes of it, expresses his surprise in these words: “Non est lingua carnis quæ satis valeat enarrare, quid Francorum manus valuit persundare.” Foulcher de Chartres, who, according to common opinion, was the first to mount the ladder of ropes, never speaks of himself in his narration, which fact is luite consistent with the spirit of the Christian knights.