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Itinerary
35
and, trusting in the number and valour of his men, was confident of
success. Meanwhile the sultan had ascended a lofty tower, where he sat in
expectation, eyeing the country beneath him and the armies that were
ready to engage, and hoping in a short time to see accomplished what his
sanguine mind had promised. The emperor, seeing some of his men
alarmed at the unusual multitude of the enemy, displayed the confidence
of a noble chieftain, and raising his hands to heaven, gave thanks to God in
the sight of all, that the inevitable necessity was at length arrived for that
combat which had so long been deferred by the flight of the enemy. At
these words, all were inspired with fresh ardour, as they looked on the
emperorÕs placid countenance; and one old man, weak though he was,
supplied an incentive of valour to many who were young and strong. What
God is so great as our God? All that multitude who were so sure of victory
that they brought chains with them rather than swords, were overthrown
in a moment: and at once the city was taken and occupied, and the enemy
without vanquished; everywhere were blood and death, and heaps of slain,
their number impedes their flight, and they fall by those very means on
which they had counted for triumph. The battle is now fought hand to
hand; the bows are snapped asunder; the arrows no longer fly, and they
have scarcely room to wield their swords. Thus everything is thrown into
confusion by the multitude, and what our enemies intended for our ruin,
turns out to our greater glory; the flying war, which had been waged
among brambles and the gorges of rocks, is now carried on in a fair and
open field; the Christians satiate their fury, which had so often been put
forth in vain. The Turks experience, against their will, how well their
enemies can fight hand to hand whom they had so often provoked at a
distance.
This splendid victory was not granted unworthily by the Divine
excellence to His faithful servants: for they observed chastity in the camp,
and discipline when under arms: in all, and above all, was the fear of the
Lord; with all was the love of their neighbour; all were united in brotherly
affection, as they were also companions in danger. The sultan, when the
city was taken, seeing that there remained to him only the tower in which
he was, sent hastily to the emperor, throwing all the blame upon his son,

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Itinerary
36
and professing his own innocence; promising, moreover, as much gold as
he should demand, and whatsoever persons he should name as hostages
for his observance of the treaty. The emperor, alas! too easy, accepted what
was offered and gave what was asked: in this less worthy of praise,
because he let go that man of blood and treachery whom he had almost in
his possession, when it would have been more honourable to slay him than
to keep alive so great an enemy to the Christian name. The hostages were
given and the treaty confirmed; but the wickedness of that malignant
traitor did not rest there; for, whilst the Christians were continuing their
march far beyond Iconium, he attacked them, sometimes by ambuscade,
sometimes openly in the field. The hostages were asked what this meant,
and they told a falsehood which suited their own purpose: they said that
the Turks were a wild race whom no one could govern; that they wandered
about with no fixed habitation, having no property of their own, and
always trying to obtain that of others either by robbery or theft. They
attacked us however less boldly, knowing that many of their men had
fallen, for, by a moderate computation, 22,000 of the Turks had been slain
in former conflicts.
Chapter XXIV. Ñ How the Emperor Frederic, arriving in Armenia, is drowned in