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COUNT OF SARNO SLAIN.

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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 heart with one banner which they seized, and of them they missed but a small number of people, and two were taken alive.

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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.

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MULEY HASSAN MADE TRIBUTARY.

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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.
§ 1 Sam. iii. 23.

Judges viii. 21.

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MULEY HASSAN MADE TRIBUTARY.

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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 there. [p] 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. § Deut. xiii. 5.

|| Esther i. 8. Rabbi Joseph means to say, no Mahommedan

would be compelled to drink wine.

Ps. lxxxix. 34 [35].

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LUDOVICO MENDEZ SLAIN.

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greater than I*; and every one shall return unto his place in peacet."

889. And the Turks fell upon the place of the Spaniards on the fourth day of the month of July, and slew among them a great slaughter‡. And they took one banner; and also Ludovico Mendez, the chief captain of their host, the Turks slew with the edge of the sword. And they pursued after them, and returned unto Goletta; and the earth was rent at the voice of the rams which they discharged when they returned, for gladness of heart; and they hung the banner on the wall, and its head turned downward to the ground, and this was a shame to the uncircumcised.

890. And the nobles of the emperor set the battering-rams round about Goletta on the fourteenth day of the fifth month. And they discharged guns against it, and battered its walls from morning until noon, and the earth was rent at their voice. The large and small ships also filled their hand, and threw stones therein from the east and from the west; and the sea and the earth trembled. Its walls were shaken, and the thick smoke went up toward heaven, and the sun withdrew his shining§. The Turks also filled their hand as at other times, and again slew in the

*Gen. xli. 40.
Comp. Num. xxxi. 7.

+ Exod. xviii. 23.
§ Joel ii. 10; iii. 15.

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GOLETTA TAKEN.

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ships with a great slaughter. And from their ships they threw also sling-stones in abundance into the camp of the uncircumcised; and there died on that day much people.

891. And the men of the emperor went out from the camp before the artillery had ceased to discharge, and before they heard the high-sounding trumpets; and they approached Goletta, swifter than the leopard and stronger than the lions. And they scaled the walls, and made breaches in it. And the Turks could not withstand, but turned the neck, because the fear of the guns fell upon them. them. And the caul of their heart was rent*, they fought not as at other timest before, but left Goletta as it was, and fled unto Tunis with shame ; and the uncircumcised slew at that time all the feeble behind them, they left not any soul§; and there fell of the Turks about six hundred men in that slaughter, and of the uncircumcised also some were taken in their pits, for they made war with good advice¶; and they set fire to the gunpowder, and it destroyed all who went up first, and their stink went up toward heaven**.

*Hos. xiii. 8.

Deut. xxv. 18. || i. e. Ambuscades.

** Joel ii. 20.

† Judges xvi. 20; xx. 30, 31.

§ Deut. xx. 16.

¶ Prov. xx. 18

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