Third Millennium Library
 

THE LIFE OF SALADIN AND THE FALL OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM

 

CHAPTER VI

THE CONQUEST OF EGYPT.

1164-1169.

 

FOR two centuries Egypt had suffered the rule of a dynasty of heretical Caliphs who boasted a descent from Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed, and were hence known as the Fatimids. They professed the peculiar mystical philosophy of the Shiites, maintained the incarnation of the Divine Reason in the Imams sprung from Ali and Fatima, and believed in the coming of the Mahdy, the last inspired leader of the same elect descent. Notwithstanding the rigid orthodoxy of the vast majority of the Egyptians, who followed the teaching of the great Sunnite Imam al-Shafi, whose tomb in the desert, outside the southern wall of Cairo, is still an object of profound reverence, the Fatimid Caliphs imposed their authority with little difficulty upon a people accustomed to submission and pliable in matters of faith; and for several generations wielded a power which stood unrivalled among Mohammedan states. Their navies disputed the command of the Mediterranean with those of the Caliphs of Cordova; they successfully occupied Sicily, and raided Sardinia and Corsica; their ships frequented the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and even coasted West Africa through the Straits of Gibraltar; their caravans traded with Asia and Europe, and penetrated the heart of Africa even to Lake Chad; their armies held Syria and Arabia as well as Egypt, and excited perpetual alarm in their decayed rivals, the orthodox Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad. Their wealth, the fruit of the great Indian trade, which passed through their customs-houses to the merchants of Venice and Pisa, was fabulous, if we may credit the amazing inventory of jewels and treasure recited by the Arab historians; the luxury and prodigality of their court were the wonder of foreign envoys; the walls and gates and mosques of Cairo bear witness to their splendid conception of what was due to the royal city, yet what remains of their architecture is but a vestige of the noble works upon which they are known to have lavished all the resources of decorative art.

Egypt has proved herself the Capua of more than one conquering race. The Fatimid Caliphs, abandoning the simplicity of their early days, when they ruled as missionaries among the simple hardy Berbers of Qayrawan, reveled in the wealth and luxury of their beautiful palaces at Cairo, and were content after a while to devote themselves to the unique pursuit of pleasure, and to leave the obnoxious labor of government to their servants. Their viziers gradually usurped all sovereign powers, and even assumed the title of King, whilst the Fatimid pontiff, buried in the cushions of his harem, retained only the mysterious spiritual authority with which the “true Imam”  was invested in the eyes of all devout followers of the sect of Ali. The Caliph of Cairo, on his jeweled throne, became as much a puppet as his rival of Baghdad. Cabals and factions were the natural consequences of bureaucratic rule, and the Fatimid kingdom, divided against itself, with a population imperfectly reconciled to the Shiite sect, might easily have fallen a prey to any determined invader. The long immunity of Egypt was due chiefly to the weakness of her neighbors. The Seljuks had indeed deprived her of Syria, but the Seljuk empire had split into fragments before an invasion of Egypt had been attempted. The only power that menaced the Fatimid government in the first half of the twelfth century was the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Franks were not only in possession of the Syrian coast and many inland fortresses, but were ambitious fighting men, bent upon plunder. Fortunately for Egypt, the Crusaders fought at least as much for gold as for glory, and there is no doubt that the later Fatimids procured their indulgence by a prudent application of subsidies, if not a settled annual tribute.

The arrival of Nur-al-Din upon the scene of Syrian politics, especially after his conquest of Damascus, introduced a highly disturbing influence. The King of Syria and the King of Jerusalem were now rival powers: neither could allow the other to increase his strength by the annexation of Egypt, and thus to acquire a vantage-ground from the south. Each coveted the delta of the Nile, and each watched his rival with jealous vigilance. The Egyptian viziers, the real governors of the country, fully alive to the possibilities of the situation, set themselves to coquet with both parties, and to play off one against the other. In the end they carried the game too far, and gave Saladin an opportunity which he did not neglect.

The cause of Nur-al-Din’s first interference in arms in the affairs of Egypt was an appeal from a deposed vizier. In a time of frequent assassinations and changes of ministers, Shawar, the Arab governor of Upper Egypt, made his way to the vizierate in January, 1163, only to be deposed in seven months’ time and driven out of the country by Dirgham, the Warden of the Gate and commander of the Barkiya battalion. Shawar fled to Nur-ed-din at Damascus and implored succor. It was not the first time that an Egyptian vizier had proposed terms of alliance to the Syrian King, but Shawar’s proposals were the prodigal pledges of desperation. He offered to pay the whole cost of an invasion, and afterwards to give Nur-al-Din a third of the Egyptian revenue in annual tribute. The King of Syria was not indifferent to the importance of obtaining a hold upon Egypt: he knew that it was the master-key of the political situation, and would form a prolific source of revenue. Yet he hesitated to accept Shawar’s overtures. Distrust of the man himself, and apprehension of the risks to which an expedition would be exposed when marching through the desert on the Crusaders’ flank, made him pause.

1164] First Invasion of Egypt.

Events, however, moved too fast for his prudence. Dirgham quarreled with Amalric over the yearly subsidy, and the new King of Jerusalem with prompt decision invaded Egypt in September, 1163, to exact the usual tribute. Dirgham, after a severe defeat near Bilbays, ingeniously avoided total discomfiture by breaking down the dams and causeways and flooding the country with the imprisoned waters of the Nile, then at its height. Amalric had already retired to Palestine, but half satisfied with some sort of composition, when Dirgham, hearing of Shawar’s negotiations at Damascus, perceived his error in not conciliating the Latin King, and hastened to proffer an eternal alliance, to be cemented by increased tribute. This step must have been known to Nur-al-Din: fortified by an auspicious consultation of the Koran, he immediately cast his former scruples to the winds; and before Amalric could intervene, Shawar was on the march to Egypt (April, 1164), supported by a strong force of Turkmans from Damascus, led by Asad-al-Din Shirkuh, with Saladin on his staff. The Egyptians were defeated at Bilbays, but rallied again under the walls of Cairo.

For several days indecisive conflicts took place, Shawar holding Fustat, and the other the castle of Cairo. Then, to raise funds, Dirgham possessed himself of the “money of the orphans”, and at once the people began to fall away from him. Worse still, he was deserted by the Caliph and the army. Driven to bay, for the last time he sounded the “assembly”. In vain the drums beat and the trumpets blared, masha-Allah! on the battlements: no man answered. In vain the desperate Emir, surrounded by his bodyguard of five hundred horse, all that remained to him of a powerful army, stood suppliant before the Caliph’s palace for a whole day, even until the evening call to prayer, and implored him by the memory of his forefathers to stand forth at the window and bless his cause. No answer came; “the guard itself gradually dispersed, till only thirty troopers were left. Suddenly a warning cry reached him: Look to thyself and save thy life!— and lo! Shawar’s trumpets and drums were heard, entering from the Gate of the Bridge”.

Then at last the deserted leader rode through the Zuweyla gate out into the streets beyond, calling on the people, who had once adored him and battened on his favor, to rise and do battle in his cause; they only hooted and cursed, as is the manner of the multitude towards fallen favorites. Still he rode on, till his horse, maddened by the tumult, threw its rider, beside the sacred chapel of “our Lady Nafisah”. Instantly the fickle folk hacked off his head, and bore it in triumph through the streets; his body they left to be worried by the curs. Such was the tragic end of a brave and gallant gentleman, poet, and paladin; courteous and comely in face and bearing, cultivated in mind and accomplished in every manly sport; one who could write like Ibn-Muqla, and composed poems with double rhymes; “the best horseman of his age”, and as stout an archer as ever drew bow in Egypt.

1164] Amalric before Bilbays.

Shawar, restored to power, in May, 1164, was eager to see the backs of the allies who had effected his reinstatement. He cautiously excluded Shirkuh from the fortified city of Cairo, and kept him in the suburbs. Then safe, as he thought, within his own strong walls, he defied his ally, broke all his promises, and refused to pay the indemnity. Shirkuh was not the man to forego his rights or condone broken faith; he sent Saladin to occupy Bilbeys and the eastern province. This hostile movement compelled Shawar in turn to appeal to Amalric. Now the King of Jerusalem plainly foresaw the ruin of the Christian cause in Palestine, penned in “between the devil and the deep sea”, if Nur-al-Din should once gain a firm footing in Egypt, and he willingly sent the same army with which he had intended to support Dirgham against the very man whom he was now to protect. The tables were thus turned: the Franks were now the allies of their former enemy, and the savior of the Egyptian vizier had become his foe.

On the arrival of the Crusaders the Syrian army entrenched itself at Bilbays, where it resisted all the assaults of Amalric for three months. A fortunate diversion at last came to its relief. Nur-al-Din was waging a successful campaign in Palestine. After a reverse at the hands of Gilbert de Lacy and Robert Mansel, he had taken Harim (Harenc) and was laying siege to Banias (Caesarea Philippi) then commanded by Walter Chesney; and Amalric was sorely wanted at home to protect his own kingdom, always dangerously exposed upon its eastern marches. Nor was Shirkuh less anxious to extricate himself from a situation where, attacked all day and every day, penned in behind weak earthworks, and running short of food, his position was neither safe nor agreeable. An armistice was accordingly arranged, and the two parties came to terms. On the 27th of October, the Syrians marched out of their camp and filed off between the lines of the allied Crusaders and Egyptians, Shirkuh himself, battle-axe in hand, bringing up the rear. A Frankish officer, surprised at this warlike attitude, asked the truculent old warrior whether he was afraid that the Christians would attack him in spite of their pledge. “Let them try!” said Shirkuh, and passed on. In accordance with the agreement, the army returned to Damascus, where they found that Nur-al-Din’s victories had been crowned by the surrender of Banias in mid October, and the capture of Bohemond Prince of Antioch, Raymond Count of Tripoli, with Hugh of Lusignan, and other noted knights, who were led in chains to Aleppo.

The expedition to Egypt had ended without glory, but it had accomplished its object; it had spied out the land, and Shirkuh was able to report favorably on the possibility and advantages of annexation. Egypt was a country, he said, “without men” and with a precarious and contemptible government. Its wealth and defenselessness invited aggression. The ambitious general was devored by desire for a viceregal throne at Cairo, and from this time forth he persistently urged Nur-al-Din to authorize the conquest of Egypt. The bolder spirits at court supported his importunity, and the Caliph of Baghdad accorded his blessing and encouragement to a project which involved the deposition of his heretical rival. Nur-al-Din, ever cautious, resisted these influences for a while, but at last gave way,— possibly because rumors had reached him of a closer union between Shawar and the Franks, which soon proved to be well founded.

1167] Second Invasion of Egypt.

It was, in fact, a race for the Nile. Shirkuh started first, at the beginning of 1167, with two thousand picked horsemen, and, taking the desert route by Gazelle Valley (Wady-al-Ghizlan) to avoid a collision with the Franks, but encountering on the way a violent and disastrous sandstorm, reached the Nile at Atfih, some forty miles south of Cairo, where he might cross to the west bank without fear of molestation. He had hardly carried his army over, however, when Amalric appeared on the east side, having hurried from Palestine as soon as he heard of the enemy's movements. The two armies followed the opposite banks down to Cairo, where Amalric pitched his camp close to Fustat, whilst Shirkuh took up a position exactly facing him at Giza. There each waited for the other to begin operations. Meanwhile Shawar had recovered from his surprise at the sudden irruption of the Franks whom at first he had not recognized with certainty as foes or friends, and began to testify his gratitude for their protection in a substantial form. Amalric took the opportunity of the vizier’s amicable dispositions to place their alliance on a more formal basis. Convinced of the unstable character of the Minister, he resolved to have a treaty ratified by the Caliph in person. The conditions were that Egypt should pay the King two hundred thousand gold pieces, then and there, and a further like sum at a later date, in return for his aid in expelling the enemy. On this agreement Amalric gave his hand to the Caliph’s representatives, and claimed a like ratification from the Caliph himself.

1167] Audience of the Caliph.

The introduction of Christian ambassadors to the sacred presence, where few even of the most exalted Moslems were admitted, was unprecedented; but Amalric was in a position to dictate his own terms. Permission was granted, and Hugh of Caesarea with Geoffrey Fulcher the Templar were selected for the unique embassy. The vizier himself conducted them with every detail of oriental ceremony and display to the Great Palace of the Fatimids. They were led by mysterious corridors and through guarded doors, where stalwart Sudanis saluted with naked swords. They reached a spacious court, open to the sky, and surrounded by arcades resting on marble pillars; the paneled ceilings were carved and inlaid in gold and colors; the pavement was rich mosaic. The unaccustomed eyes of the rude knights opened wide with wonder at the taste and refinement that met them at every step;— here they saw marble fountains, birds of many notes and wondrous plumage, strangers to the western world; there, in a further hall, more exquisite even than the first, “a variety of animals such as the ingenious hand of the painter might depict, or the license of the poet invent, or the mind of the sleeper conjure up in the visions of the night, — such, indeed, as the regions of the East and the South bring forth, but the West sees never, and scarcely hears of”. At last, after many turns and windings, they reached the throne room, where the multitude of the pages and their sumptuous dress proclaimed the splendor of their lord. Thrice did the vizier, ungirding his sword, prostrate himself to the ground, as though in humble supplication to his god; then, with a sudden rapid sweep, the heavy curtains broidered with gold and pearls were drawn aside, and on a golden throne, robed in more than regal state, the Caliph sat revealed.

The vizier humbly presented the foreign knights, and set forth in lowly words the urgent danger from without and the great friendship of the King of Jerusalem. The Caliph, a swarthy youth emerging from boyhood,  replied with suave dignity: He was willing, he said, to confirm in the amplest way the engagements made with his beloved ally. But when asked to give his hand in pledge of faithfulness, he hesitated, and a thrill of indignation at the strangers’ presumption ran through the listening court. After a pause, however, the Caliph offered his hand —gloved as it was— to Sir Hugh. The blunt knight spoke him straight: “My lord, troth has no covering: in the good faith of princes, all is naked and open”. Then at last, very unwillingly, as though derogating from his dignity, the Caliph, forcing a smile, drew off the glove and put his hand in Hugh’s, swearing word by word to keep the covenant truly and in all good faith.

The treaty thus ratified, Amalric attempted to throw a bridge of boats across the Nile; but the presence of the enemy on the other side defeated the plan, and he resorted to another. Finding an island where the river forked into its two main streams, he conveyed his army over to it by night, and thence to the other side, in ships. Shirkuh discovered the movement too late to oppose, and finding the enemy landed he retreated to Upper Egypt. The King pursuing came up with him at “the two Gates” (al-Baban), ten miles south of Minya. Here was a plain, on the border where the cultivated land touched the desert, and numerous sandy hills gave cover to the combatants. Shirkuh’s captains at first advised him not to risk a battle; but one of them stood forth and said stoutly, “Those who fear death or slavery are not fit to serve kings: let them turn ploughmen, or stay at home with their wives”. Saladin and others applauded; and Shirkuh, always ready for hard knocks, gladly gave battle (18th April, 1167). He put the baggage in the centre, covered by Saladin's troop, which was to bear the first brunt of the attack. Saladin’s orders were to fall back when pressed and draw the enemy in pursuit, and then to press them in turn, as the fight might allow. Shirkuh himself took command of the right wing, composed of a body of picked horsemen, which was to cut up the enemy’s rear, consisting of the less war-like Egyptians. It fell out as he expected. The Franks were drawn away by Saladin; the Egyptians were cut up and routed; and when the Crusaders, returning from the pursuit, found their allies fled, they also hastily retreated, abandoning their baggage and leaving Hugh of Caesarea among the prisoners. The victors, however, were not strong enough to follow up the success, march on to Cairo, and run Shawar and Amalric to earth. Taking the lesser risk, Shirkuh went north by a desert route and entered Alexandria without opposition. Here he installed Saladin as governor, with one half of his army, while with the other he again turned southwards to levy contributions in Upper Egypt.

The joint forces of the Franks and Egyptians now invested Alexandria, whilst the Christian fleet held the coast. The defense of the city was Saladin’s first independent command, and he quitted himself well. He had but a thousand followers of his own, in the midst of a mongrel and partly foreign populace, who, as malcontents, were not sorry to take part against a feeble government, or to defend their city against the savage and bloodthirsty Franks; yet, as merchants and tradesmen, could not conceal their terror of the siege-machines and infernal engines which the “infidels”  brought against their walls.

Provisions, moreover, ran short; and short rations make a humble stomach. At last they rose in a tumult and openly talked of surrender: “Why suffer we these things for a stranger and a cause which is not ours?” Saladin meanwhile had sent to his uncle for help, and Shirkuh was hurrying down from Kos laden with treasure. The news put fresh heart into the people, already spurred on by Saladin’s spirited exhortations and the promise of reinforcement, or frightened into a desperate courage by his tales of the monstrous barbarities inflicted by the Franks upon the vanquished. They held out for seventy-five days, in spite of hunger and incessant assaults, till it became known that Shirkuh was at the Abyssinians’ Lake, laying siege to Cairo. On this, Amalric gave up all thoughts of Alexandria, and a peace was arranged (4 August, 1167), by which both parties agreed to leave Egypt to the Egyptians. Alexandria was surrendered to Shawar; prisoners were exchanged; and Shirkuh led the exhausted remnant of his two thousand troopers back to Damascus. Before leaving, Saladin was honorably entertained in Amalric’s camp for several days but rather, one suspects, as a hostage than as a guest. The experience, nevertheless, may have been valuable. He must have seen something of knightly order and discipline, and may here have formed a friendship with Humphrey of Toron, who was on terms of brotherliness with at least one Saracen emir. It is even probable  that this was the occasion when Saladin received Christian Knighthood at Humphrey’s hands.

1168] Frank Garrison at Cairo.

The Christians claimed the campaign as a triumph, and the evacuation of Alexandria as a surrender; but if the Arab chroniclers are right in saying that Amalric paid Shirkuh fifty thousand pieces of gold to go away, the advantage would appear to have been on the side of the Moslems. On the other hand, the Franks, in violation (apparently) of their agreement, not only left a Resident or Prefect at Cairo, but insisted on furnishing the guards of the city gates from their own soldiers; they also increased the annual subsidy to be paid by Shawar to the King of Jerusalem to one hundred thousand gold pieces. The apparent inconsistency of these arrangements at Alexandria and Cairo may be explained by the supposition that the Christians, alarmed by the news of Nur-al-Din's successes in Palestine, were eager to get home at all costs, and therefore abandoned their chances against Shirkuh, however propitious; yet did not leave Egypt without clinching their hold upon the shifty vizier at Cairo.

Not content with this hold, the more impetuous among Amalric’s counselors presently began to urge the complete conquest of Egypt, and their advice was strongly supported by the garrison they had left at Cairo and Fustat, who had naturally the best means of discovering the weakness of the defenses. The King of Jerusalem withstood these counsels in vain. He had doubtless discovered by this time that the only safe policy was to conquer Damascus first, and make the Kingdom safe on the east, with the great Syrian desert for its frontier, before attempting to annex Egypt—since invasion meant exposing his rear to the assaults of Nur-al-Din. Moreover, Egypt, he said, was their milk cow; and he pointed out the bad policy of turning a friend into an enemy and throwing Shawar into the arms of Nur-al-Din—with whom he was already supposed to be intriguing—, but he argued to no purpose. His captains were bent upon invasion and confident of success, and at last he allowed himself to be persuaded. In open violation of his word, as understood by the Saracens, and at least without the shadow of an excuse, he once more marched into Egypt; but now he entered as an enemy where before he had been bidden as an ally. Arrived at Bilbays on the 3d of November, 1168, he added to perfidy the crime of wholesale massacre,—he spared neither age nor sex, says the Latin chronicler, in the devoted town.

1168] Burning of Fustat.

This barbarous act at once ranged the Egyptians on the side of Nur-al-Din, and inspired them to heroic exertions. They took advantage of the Christians’ foolish loitering, to marshal their forces and strengthen their defenses. The old city of Fustat, for three hundred years the metropolis of Egypt, and still a densely populated suburb of Cairo, was by Shawar’s orders set on fire, that it might not give shelter to the Franks (12 November, 1168). Twenty thousand naphtha barrels and ten thousand torches were lighted. The fire lasted fifty-four days, and its traces may still be found in the wilderness of sand heaps stretching over miles of buried rubbish on the south side of Cairo. The people fled  as from their very graves, the father abandoned his children, the brother his twin; and all rushed to Cairo for dear life. The hire of a camel for the mile or two of transit cost thirty pieces of gold. The capital itself was in a tumult of preparation for the attack. Amalric did not keep it long in suspense, but he was forced to abandon the usual camping ground (the Birket-al-Habash) on account of the suffocating smoke from Fustat.

The assault, however, was postponed by the negotiations which Shawar adroitly contrived, to buy off his greedy assailants. There was more pretence than honesty in his diplomacy, for he was sending at the same moment couriers to Damascus to implore the aid of Nur-al-Din. The young Caliph of Egypt wrote himself, and even enclosed some of his wives’ hair as a supreme act of supplication which no gentleman could resist.   

This time the King of Syria did not hesitate; he was nettled at the poor results of the two previous expeditions, and indignant with the Franks for what he held to be a flagrant breach of faith. He might even have gone in person, but that he was preoccupied with the unsettled state of Mesopotamia. He lost no time, however, in dispatching a force of two thousand picked troopers from his own guard, with six thousand paid Turkmans of approved valor, under the command of Shirkuh, supported by a large staff of emulous emirs. The only one to hold back was, strange to say, Saladin himself. He had been his uncle's right hand in the former campaigns, but he still loved his old retirement and the discourse of pious men; and when Shirkuh, in the presence of Nur-al-din, said “Now, Yusuf, make ready for the march”, Saladin answered: “By Allah, if the sovereignty of Egypt were offered me, I would not go: what I endured at Alexandria I shall never forget”.

Then Shirkuh said to Nur-al-Din, “Needs must he come with me”, and Nur-al-Din turned to the young man and repeated the words, “Needs must that you go with your uncle”. In vain Saladin pleaded his aversion to the campaign and his lack of means; Nur-ed-din would not listen, but supplied him with horses and arms and bade him make ready: “ So I went”, said Saladin, recounting the scene in later years, “I went like one driven to my death”. Thus were accomplished the words of the Koran: '”Perchance ye hate a iking although it is better for you and perchance ye love a thing although it is worse for you: but God knoweth and ye know not”. Nur-al-Din himself superintended the marshalling of the army at the Spring Head, a day's march from Damascus, and gave every man a present of twenty gold pieces, whilst he committed to Shirkuh two hundred thousand dinars for his military chest.

1169] Third Invasion of Egypt.

On the 17th of December, 1168, the third expedition began its march to Egypt, once more to rescue Shawar, in name, but in fact with far larger designs. Amalric, always needy and greedy, was still waiting before Cairo for more of the vizier’s promised gold, when Shirkuh suddenly effected his junction with the Egyptians (8 January, 1169), evading the Frank army which had gone out to intercept his advance. Deceived by Shawar and outgeneraled by Shirkuh, the discomfited king retired to Palestine, without offering battle, having gained, as the proverb has it, nothing better than the “boots of Honeyn”.

The Syrians entered Cairo in triumph, and were welcomed as deliverers. The grateful Caliph gave audience to Shirkuh and invested him with a robe of honor, clothed in which he returned to display himself to the army. Shawar, inwardly devoured by jealousy and alarm, rode out daily to the Syrian camp, in great state, with all his banners, drums and trumpets, and overwhelmed the general with protestations of devotion; but meanwhile he took no steps to perform his engagements to Nur-al-Din, but was actually meditating a treacherous arrest of Shirkuh and his officers at a friendly banquet. The Syrian leaders soon determined that he was not to be trusted, and Saladin and Jurdik resolved to get rid of him. As the vizier was riding out to visit the general, who chanced to be paying his respects to the venerated tomb of the Imam al-Shafi, Saladin  and his men dragged him from his horse and made him prisoner. Whatever doubts Shirkuh may have entertained as to the fate of Shawar were set at rest by a peremptory order from the Caliph himself, who, like a slave emancipated from a rigorous master, demanded the head of the vizier. It was sent, and thus ended the brief and checkered career of a remarkable and politic minister; an Arab chief, moreover, of ancient lineage, with all the Bedouin’s daring and the ancestral love of poetry—insomuch that he once filled Omara’s mouth with gold in delight at an ode—and, it must be added, with the Arab’s full share of falsehood and deceit.

1169] Death of Shirkuh.

The Caliph al-Adid, who was much impressed by the gallant bearing of his deliverers, immediately appointed Shirkuh to the vacant office, clad him in the robes of vizier, invested him with plenary powers, and  gave him the titles of “Victorious King”  and  “Commander-in-chief” (18th Jan., 1169). The people were as pleased as the pontiff; they had liked the jolly soldier as he rode over the country a year and a half ago, even though he was levying taxes; and the Cairenes appreciated the liberal manner in which he had disbursed from his heavy military chest, and had refreshed them with the looting of Shawar’s palace, where they left not so much as a cushion for his lavish successor to sit on! The Arab poet saw more clearly when he remarked that the claws of “the Lion” were now fastened in his prey. The “Lion of the Faith”, however, lived scarcely more than two months to enjoy his quarry, but died suddenly on the 23rd of March, 1169—the result of over-eating; for he was a mighty trencherman and addicted to heavy feeding. In person, Shirkuh was short and stout, choleric of face, and fierce by nature; nor had Allah endowed him with a superfluity of intelligence. Yet he was a bold and capable soldier, emulous of glory, patient under hardships, liberal beyond his means, and beloved of his men; and he had the grace to die at the right moment. The way was now open for Saladin.