Note 228 — BOOK XII. (continued 2)

The Chronicle of Ibn-ferat gives some details of this council of the Mussulman princes. The Western historians say nothing of it. It is a pity that James of Vitri, who was sent to the camp of the Saracens to propose the capitulation, should have preserved a profound silence upon so important a circumstance. We have several times remarked that the Arabian historians, when the Mussulmans experience reverses, content themselves with saying, “God is great; may God curse the Christians!” We find the same inconvenience in the Western historians, who are almost always silent when the Christians are conquered.