P COUNT OF SARNO SLAIN. 221 place where the count of Sarno* had pitched his tents, and his men, the Italians, who were with him. And they slew them and discomfited them; and they fled, put to flight by the sword‡; they stayed not, for the Lord drave them, and the count was left and about sixty men with him, and his hands were not bounds when they were attacked. And the Turks mocked him, and cut his head from him, and took it with them, and returned unto the fortress rejoicing and merry in heart with one banner which they seized, and of them they missed but a small number of people, and two were taken alive. 886. And they went out again on the twenty-fifth of the same month at noon, in the heat of the day. And they fell upon the place of the Spaniards when they were sleeping and tired, and thirsty also, and their soul fainted within them. And they slew of them about six hundred men with the edge of the sword, for the Turks are a people that jeopardeth their lives unto death. And the Spaniards were smitten with blindness at that time by the blowing of the storm and the sand of the sea, which was driven into their faces, and they turned their backs and not the face, and fell slain to the ground. .מסארנה * + Num. xiv. 44. Lev. xxvi. 6. § 2 Sam. iii. 34. || Judges v. 17. 220 SIEGE OF GOLETTA. P and behind us:" and they besieged it about a month of days. And the Turks went out against them, and the Arabs who ride daily upon swift horses, swifter than the leopards and stronger than the lions*; and they warred against them day by day. And the men of the emperor made trenches round about, so that they could not pass over against them, for they hunted their steps that they could not go. And the Turks who were at Goletta threw great stones into the camp of the emperor and into his ships by day and by night, all those days, until they became tired of throwing; but they destroyed only very few, because of the number of their trenches, and by their little understanding; or because they fought from heaven against them, they shut their eyes lest they might see it. 884. And the men of the emperor brought down from the ships seventeen battering-rams of the best battering-rams of brass which they had brought with them, and they also builded a fort near Goletta, and besieged it, and Goletta was besieged. 885. And there came out from Goletta about six hundred Turks, all men, on the twenty-third day of the fourth month. And they fell upon the + Lam. iv. 18. * 2 Sam. i. 23. i. e. Their want of skill. P COUNT OF SARNO SLAIN. 221 place where the count of Sarno* had pitched his tents, and his men, the Italians, who were with him. And they slew them and discomfited them; and they fled, put to flight by the sword‡; they stayed not, for the Lord drave them, and the count was left and about sixty men with him, and his hands were not bound§ when they were attacked. And the Turks mocked him, and cut his head from him, and took it with them, and returned unto the fortress rejoicing and merry in heart with one banner which they seized, and of them they missed but a small number of people, and two were taken alive. 886. And they went out again on the twenty-fifth of the same month at noon, in the heat of the day. And they fell upon the place of the Spaniards when they were sleeping and tired, and thirsty also, and their soul fainted within them. And they slew of them about six hundred men with the edge of the sword, for the Turks are a people that jeopardeth their lives unto death. And the Spaniards were smitten with blindness at that time by the blowing of the storm and the sand of the sea, which was driven into their faces, and they turned their backs and not the face, and fell slain to the ground. .מסארנה * + Num. xiv. 44. Lev. xxvi. 6. § 2 Sam. iii. 34. Judges v. 17. 222 MULEY HASSAN MADE TRIBUTARY. P 887. And Muley Hassan, king of Tunis, came into the camp on the thirtieth day of the same month, and about three hundred men with him. And the emperor sent the best of the princes who were there to meet him, and they honored him much, and he bowed down to the ground before the emperor, and entreated him saying, "I know thee by name*; but thou hast added much to thy famet. For like as an angel of God, so is my Lord the emperor; and a king as thou art at this day, would not wish to trample upon his kingdom and cities and houses, for the hearts of many kings of this country are not like unto me, they will incline to thee with obedience day by day, and will serve thee. But I will not be like one of them, to lick the dust of thy feet all the days of my life. Therefore I will not ask of thee my lord, the emperor; and I will not try any thing small nor great, only I will serve thee in the sincerity of my heart, and thou shalt act toward me kindly, for as the man is, so is his strength¶." And the emperor answered and said, "Fear not, neither be faint-hearted**, for I also have the heart of a king like unto thee, my people is like unto thy people this day; I will show thee kindness, * Exod. xxxiii. 12. 2 Sam. xiv. 17. Comp. Is. xlix 23. ** Is. vii. 4. +1 Kings x. 7. Judges viii. 21. קא MULEY HASSAN MADE TRIBUTARY. 223 and I will bring thee again into thine office*, only. let the throne be exalted." And the emperor spake more good and comfortable words unto him, for his bowels did yearn over him†. And he went out from before him, and they brought him into the tent which the emperor had pitched for him, and he set a watch over him, and his allowance was a perpetual allowance given him of the emperor all the days he was theret. [xp] And the emperor gave unto him silver and gold; and he divided it among three hundred men who came with him. 888. And to the rest of his men, and his nobles, the Arabs, who did not turn after him, he sent, saying, "Let Barbarossa not entice you when he speaks to turn you away from the emperors, for his heart is peaceable towards us; as for me, he will bring me back to mine office, and every one shall seek his God after his own will: for as for the drinking according to the law of the Christians, none will compel; for so the emperor has appointed to me, and he will not alter the thing that is gone out of his lips¶, only in the throne will he be *Gen. xl. 13; xli. 13. 2 Kings xxv. 30. + Gen. xlix. 30. Esther i. 8. Rabbi Joseph means to say, no Mahommedan would be compelled to drink wine. Ps. lxxxix. 34 [35]. |