In the Crusades, Peire Vidal took the deepest interest. We have already seen that he himself went to Palestine, but he worked for the cause by his songs more usefully than by his actual presence. I cannot refrain from quoting a few stanzas of one of his _sirventeses_ in the original _langue d’oc_, which may serve as an example of the poet’s energy in admonishing and reproaching those who were idle in the service of God: Baros Jesus qu’en crotz fo mes, Per salvar crestiana gen, Nos manda totz comunalmen, Qu’anem cobrar lo saint paes, On venc per nostr’amor morir. E si nol volem obezir, Lai on feniran tuit li plag, N’auzirem maint esquiu retrag. Reis aunitz val meins que pages, Quan viu a lei de recrezen, E plorals bes qu’autre despen, E pert so quel pair’ a conques. Aitals reis fari’ad aucir, Et en lag loc a sebelir, Quis defen a lei de contrag, E no pren ni dona gamag. The ‘infamous King’ thus denounced is Philip Augustus of France, whom the troubadours hated and despised almost as unanimously as they extolled Alfonso of Aragon. This poem, apart from its political allusions, is remarkable as a specimen of Peire Vidal’s peculiar manner of mixing the two different forms of _canzo_ and _sirventes_ together (compare p. 141). Immediately after the passage about the French King just quoted the poet broaches his favourite theme of love, and explains how the unseasonable passion of mature ladies is sure to destroy the whole courteous world. This sudden change occurs in a similar manner in another _sirventes_ where, after having reproached the same Philip Augustus as a coward and miser, the poet continues with great _naïveté_, ‘But now I must turn my song to my lady, whom I love more than my own eyes or teeth.’ Peire Vidal’s faults and errors were in great measure the result of the exaggerated sentiments of the time, and do not detract from his high poetical genius. The best of his contemporaries estimated him correctly, and forgave the great poet the extravagance of his character. ‘The greatest fool,’ says Bartolomeo Zorgi, another celebrated poet of the time, ‘is he who calls Peire Vidal a fool; for without sense it would be impossible to make poems like his.’ The exact date of Peire’s death we cannot tell. Most likely it took place about 1210. CHAPTER XVII. BERTRAN DE BORN.