and was regarded as a favor from
heaven. Just as the battle was commencing, Corbogha, struck by the
impassioned, stern, and indomitable aspect of the crusaders, felt
somewhat disquieted, and made proposals, it is said, to the Christian
princes of what he had refused them the evening before--a fight between
some of their knights and as many Saracens; but they in their turn
rejected the proposition. There is a moment, during great struggles,
when the souls of men are launched forth like bomb-shells, which nothing
can stop or cause to recoil. The battle was long, stubborn, and, at some
points, indecisive: Kilidge-Arslan, the indefatigable sultan of Nicaea,
attacked Bohemond so briskly, that, save for the prompt assistance of
Godfrey de Bouillon and Tancred, the prince of Antioch had been in great
peril. But the pious and warlike enthusiasm of the crusaders at length
prevailed over the savage bravery of the Turks; and Corbogha, who had
promised the khalif of Bagdad a defeat of the Christians, fled away
towards the Euphrates with a weak escort of faithful troops. Tancred
pursued till nightfall the sultans of Aleppo and Damascus and the emir of
Jerusalem. According to the Christian chroniclers, one hundred thousand
infidels, and only four thousand crusaders, were left on the field of
battle. The camp of the Turks was given over to pillage; and fifteen
thousand camels, and it is not stated how many horses, were carried off.
The tent of Corbogha himself was, for his conquerors, a rich prize and an
object of admiration. It was laid out in streets, flanked by towers, as
if it were a fortified town; gold and precious stones glittered in every
part of it; it was capable of containing more than two thousand persons;
and Bohemond sent it to Italy, where it was long preserved. The
conquerors employed several days in conveying into Antioch the spoils of
the vanquished; and "every crusader," says Albert of Aix, "found himself
richer than he had been at starting from Europe."

This great success, with the wealth it was the means of spreading, and
the pretensions and hopes it was the cause of raising amongst the
crusaders, had for some time the most injurious effects. Division set in
amongst them, especially amongst the chiefs. Some abandoned themselves
to all the license of victory, others to the sweets of repose. Some,
fatigued and disgusted, quietly prepared for and accomplished their
return home; others, growing more and m