Note 341 — BOOK VIII.

The march and the contests of the Christians and the Mussulmans are described in fullest detail by Omad-al-Kabel, secretary to Saladin, in his book entitled the Pheta; and by Schahabeddin, author of the Roudalain. These two historians almost always make the Mussulmans triumph. “We have,” say they, “animated the tongues of lances and swords to speak to the Christians, and to hear their words. Then God rendered sweet to us all that was bitter, and by his goodness drew near to us all that was at a distance.” We shall not follow these two historians, nor even Bohaddin, through the combats of the Mussulmans and Christians, combats in which the latter are, by their account, always conquered, and yet always continue to advance into their enemy’s country.