BOOK FIVE

In addition to the spiritual reward this little work of mine may
bring, my purpose in writing is to speak as I would wish someone else,
writing the same story, would speak to me. For my mind loves what
is somewhat obscure, and detests a raw, unpolished style. I savor
those things which are able to exercise my mind more than those
things which, too easily understood, are incapable of inscribing
themselves upon mind always avid for novelty. In everything that I
have written and am writing, I have driven everyone from my mind,
instead thinking only of what is good for myself, with no concern for
pleasing anyone else. Beyond worrying about the opinions of others,
calm or unconcerned about my own, I await the blows of whatever words
may fall upon me. And so let us take up what we have begun, and
calmly bear the judgements that men bark at us.

We do not think it possible for anyone to tell what happened at the
siege of Antioch, because, among those who were there, no one can be
found who could have seen everything that happened everywhere in the
city, or who could have understood it entirely in the order in which
it happened. Since we have already briefly touched upon the
privations and misfortunes of war that they suffered, it now seems
proper to pass on to how they managed to end the siege, and what the
fruits of such labor were.

One of the Turkish leaders in the city was called Pyrrus; having
become familiar with Bohemund by some means or other, he began