The famine had continued its ravages for more than two weeks, and the Mussulmans pressed on the siege with the greater ardour, from the conviction that they should soon be masters of the city. Fanaticism and superstition, which had precipitated the Crusaders into the abyss in which they were now plunged, alone had the power to reanimate their courage, and extricate them from such fearful perils. Prophecies, revelations, and miracles became every day the more frequent subjects of report in the Christian army. St. Ambrose had appeared to a venerable priest, and had told him that the Christians, after overcoming all their enemies, would enter Jerusalem as conquerors, and that God would there reward their exploits and their labours.[121] A Lombard ecclesiastic had passed the night in one of the churches of Antioch, and had there seen Jesus Christ, accompanied by the Virgin and the prince of the apostles. The Son of God, irritated by the conduct of the Crusaders, rejected their prayers, and abandoned them to the fate they had too richly merited; but the Virgin fell at the knees of her son, and by her tears and lamentations appeased the anger of the Saviour. “Arise,” then said the Son of God to the priest, “go and inform my people of the return of my commiseration; hasten and announce to the Christians, that if they come back to me, the hour of their deliverance is at hand.” They whom God had thus made the depositaries of his secrets and his will, offered, in attestation of the truth of their visions, to precipitate themselves from a lofty tower, to pass through flames, or to submit their heads to the executioner; but these proofs were not necessary to persuade the Crusaders, always ready to believe in prodigies, and who had become more credulous than ever in the moment of danger and in the excess of their misfortunes. The imagination of both leaders and soldiers was easily led away by the promises which were made to them in the name of Heaven. The hopes of a more prosperous future began to re-animate their courage. Tancred, as a good and loyal knight, swore, that as long as he had sixty companions left, he would never abandon the project of delivering Jerusalem. Godfrey, Hugh, Raymond, and the two Roberts took the same oath. The whole army, after the example of their leaders, promised to fight and to suffer until the day appointed for the deliverance of the holy places.