'A certain farmer
prayed to Heaven for rain, and murmured when it fell not at his
need. To punish his impatience, Allah,' said the santon, 'sent
the Euphrates upon his farm, and he was destroyed, with all his
possessions, even by the granting of his own wishes.'"
"Most truly spoken," said the Marquis Conrade. "Would that the
ocean had swallowed up nineteen parts of the armaments of these
Western princes! What remained would better have served the
purpose of the Christian nobles of Palestine, the wretched
remnant of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. Left to ourselves, we
might have bent to the storm; or, moderately supported with money
and troops, we might have compelled Saladin to respect our
valour, and grant us peace and protection on easy terms. But
from the extremity of danger with which this powerful Crusade
threatens the Soldan, we cannot suppose, should it pass over,
that the Saracen will suffer any one of us to hold possessions or
principalities in Syria, far less permit the existence of the
Christian military fraternities, from whom they have experienced
so much mischief.
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