destroy us, in the very city, Antioch, which they have just captured.
I am in possession of the lofty citadel in the heart of the city.
Since I can either put to death those who are shut up there, or place
them in abject captivity, I do not want you meanwhile to be tortured
with worry out of concern for us, but I want you to know that we are
completely in control. Therefore give yourselves up to pleasures: in
greater security than that to which you are accustomed, eat the
finest foods; lie with multitudes of wives and concubines to
propagate the race, so that the increasing number of sons may oppose
the Christians, whose number now grows. I swear by the high
Thunderer, that I, protected by the blessed Mahomet, will not appear
before the eyes of your majesty until I have subdued the royal city,
that is, Antioch, as well as neighboring Syria, the Greeks and the
Epirites, whom they call the Bulgars, and I have conquered the
Apulians and Calabrians as an additional ornament to your glory.
Farewell.

Kherboga's mother, who lived in the city of Aleppo, came to him at
this time, and sadly offered him counsel: "I would like to know
whether what is said of you is true." Her son replied, "What is
that?" She said, "They say that you are going to fight the Franks."
He replied, "Absolutely true." She said, "Son, best of men, I dare
to appeal to your native nobility not to fight them, lest you mar
your reputation. Since the brilliance of your arms gleams as far as
the furthest reaches of the Indian Ocean, and remote Thule resounds
with your praise, why would you soil your weapons with the blood of
poor men, whom it does not pay to attack, and from whose defeat you
can gain no glory? Since you can compel distant kings to tremble,
why harm wretched foreigners? My son, I say that you rightly despise
them as individuals, but you should know for a fact that the