chap, iv.] ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. 249

were thistles all over the plain, and the Turks setthem on fire. Only for St. George on a whitehorse, and holding a red flag, all the Christianswere lost. 1 Glorious young Baldwin might havesaved himself at the beginning of these disasters,but refused to leave his army; like St. Louis inanother memorable defeat. 2 Yet not calamity,but repose was the true gangrene of the Franks.So Zengui thought, and he was right. It wasJoscelin the Second’s enervating dissoluteness thatlost Edessa, and so it shall be soon with Antioch,the two strong outworks of Jerusalem howeverdistant; and thence the same foul disease shall goon eating its way, till it ruins Palestine and theholy city itself. Therefore it was, that Zengui(according to the Mahometans, a blessed servant)used fraud to the utmost against Edessa, before hehad recourse to force. So weakened, he overcame;and by the sword condemned the people of Edessato eternal silence; and diminished into Orfa, it isnow a poor place, of little strength. Well mightthe Imaums sing: u 0 Mahomet, Prophet ofHeaven, in your name have we destroyed theseidolatrous sinners, and torrents of blood have runfor the triumph of your law! ” Edessa, that hadacquired much power under the Franks (observes1 Michaud : Hist., ii. 102. 2 Id.: Id., ii. 102.