borne their share in the horrors of the siege and in the terrible times
which had preceded it.

He told them that this misfortune had befallen Christianity because of
the lukewarmness which had come upon them.

"What profited it," he asked, "if a few knights who remained to defend
the holy sepulcher were heroes? A few heroes cannot withstand an army.
If Christendom after making a mighty effort to capture the holy
sepulcher had not fallen away, the conquest which had been made with so
vast an expenditure of blood would not have been lost. This is a work in
which no mere passing fervor will avail; bravery at first, endurance
afterward, are needed. Many men must determine not only to assist to
wrest the holy sepulcher from the hands of the infidels, but to give
their lives, so long as they might last, to retaining it. It is scarce
to be expected that men with wives and families will take a view like
this, indeed it is not to be desired. But there are single men, men of
no ties, who can devote their whole lives, as did the Knights of the
Orders of the Cross, to this great object. When their life has come to
an end doubtless others will take up the banner that their hands can no
longer hold. But for life it is, indeed, that many of humble as well as
of princely class must bind themselves to take and defend to death the
holy sepulcher."

So, gradually raising the tone of his speech, the friar proceeded; until
at length by his intense earnestness, his wild gesticulations, his
impassioned words, he drew the whole of his listeners along with him;
and when he ceased, a mighty shout of "To the Holy Land!" burst from his
hearers.