In spite of all these fortifications of nature and art,[95] Antioch had been several times taken. It fell at once into the power of the Saracens, in the first age of the Hegira; it was afterwards retaken by the Greeks, under Nicephorus Phocas; and, fourteen years before, the Turks had rendered themselves masters of it. At the approach of the Christians, the greater part of the Saracens of the neighbouring cities and provinces had sought security in Antioch for themselves, their wives, and treasures. Baghisian,[96] or Accien, grandson of Malek-Scha, who had obtained the sovereignty of the city, had shut himself up in it, with seven thousand horse and twenty thousand foot-soldiers. The siege of Antioch presented many difficulties and dangers. The chiefs of the Crusaders deliberated upon the propriety of undertaking it; and the first who spoke in the council thought that it would be imprudent to commence a siege at the beginning of winter. They did not dread the arms of the Saracens, but the rains, the tempests, and the horrors of famine. They advised the Crusaders to await in the provinces and neighbouring cities the arrival of the aid promised by Alexius, and the return of spring, by which time the army would have repaired its losses, and received beneath its standards fresh reinforcements from the West. This counsel was listened to with much impatience by the greater part of the leaders, among whom were conspicuous the legate Adhemar and the duke of Lorraine. “Ought we not, at once,” said they, “to take advantage of the terror spread among the enemy? Is it right to leave them time to rally and recover from their alarm? Is it not well known that they have implored the succour of the caliph of Bagdad and the sultan of Persia? Every moment of delay may strengthen the armies of the Mussulmans, and rob the Christians of the fruits of their victories. You talk of the arrival of the Greeks; but do we stand in need of the Greeks to attack enemies already many times conquered? Was it necessary to await for new Crusaders from the West, who would come to share the glories and the conquests of the Christian army, without having shared its dangers and its labours? As to the rigours of winter, which they appeared so much to dread, it was an insult to the soldiers of Jesus Christ to think them incapable of enduring cold and rain. It was, in some sort, to compare them to those birds of passage which fly away and hide themselves in secret places, when they see the bad season approach.[97] It was, besides, impossible to think that a siege could be protracted to any length with an army full of ardour and courage. The Crusaders had only to remember the siege of Nice, the battle of Dorylæum, and a thousand other exploits. Why should they be restrained by the fear of want and famine? Had they not hitherto found in war all the resources of war? They must know that victory had always supplied the wants of the Crusaders, and that abundance awaited them in that