and  iixty-nine,  without  3  fword  being  drawn  ^J^'*^^'^*^-^
IS.  z  againft


5*  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE

BOOK  v.  agamft  the  Turks.  Nor  did  the  death  of  Afc-
'^"^'^^^doddiflf  which  happened  foon  after  wards,  de-
liver the  ealiph  from  the  yoke  of  his  new  maf-
ters.  For  Saladin  (or,  according  to  the  true
orthography,  Salaheddin)  that  |;eneral*s  ne-
phew, who  had  diftingiii(hed  hunfdf  greatly
in  the  defence  of  Belbeis,  fucceeding  to  his
uncle  in  the  command  of  the  army,  obtained
likewife  the  dignity  of  foldan  of  JEjgypt.  But
in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  a  powernil  fleet,
with  many  troops  and  a  vaft  abunduce  of
arms  and  military  fiores,  having  come  to  Pto-
lemais  from  Conftanttnople,  purfuant  to  th£
treaty  which  Amakrick  had  made  with  \&-
nuel  Comnenus,  and  a  great  fupply  of  money
out  of  England  and  France  having  been  fent
to  that  king  not  long  before,  he  laid  fiege  to
Damiata,  fituated  on  the  eaftera  mouth  of  the
Nile,  in  conjundion  with  the  Greeks.  The
town  was  bravely  defended  j  {o  that,  after  two
months,  defpairing  to  take  it,  he  retired  with
his  army,  not  a  httle  diminifiied  by  the  lofles
it  had  fuffered,  into  his  own  kingdom,  wUch
his  unjuil  and  unfuccefsful  enterprifes  had
exceedingly  weakened.  The  confederate  fleet,
returning  back  from  Damiata  to  Ptolemais,  was
deftroyed  by  a  temped ;  fo  unprofperous  were
all  the  events  of  this  war,  begun  m  violation
Gill.  Tyr.  of  the  mpft  lacred  laws  of  publick  fcith  !  In
.XX.  c.  19.  ^j^^  following  fummer  of  the  year  eleven  hun-
dred and  feventy,  mod  of  the  cities  in  the  re-
gions of  Syria  and  PhcRnieia,  adjacent  to  Pa-
lelline,    Aleppo,    Tripoli,    Antioch,    Emifla,

Caefarca,


OF  K1N6  HENRY  IL  53

Caefarea,  Laodkea,  Gabulum,  Tyre  and  Hama,  BOOK  v.^
with  numberlds  towns  and  villages  of  leflfer '  >'^"~^
note,  were  totally  overturned,  or  much  hurt,
by  the  fliocks  of  an  earthquake,  one  of  the
greateft  recorded  in  the  hiftory  of  the  world !
Damafcus  alfo  was  endamaged,  though  not  to
the  fame  degree  as  thofe  above-mentioned;
and  both  Turks  /and  Chriftians  in  thofe  parts,
imder  the  afRidion  and  terror  of  fo  dr^dful
9L  calamity,  were  compelled  for  ibme  time  to  a
ceflation  of  arms,  which  the  latter  could  not
otberwife  have  obtained  from  the  former.
