resist. Therefore they were compelled to retreat into the city, but,
as they were entering the gate in crowded flight, the entrance proved
too narrow, and many were crushed to death. It was the fifth day of
the week, and some outside the city were attacking the gate, while
others continued to battle the inhabitants inside the city until
evening.

But because Christ knew once and knows now whom he has chosen, some
men who, so to speak, were not of the kind by means of whom salvation
would come to Israel,[173] when they saw that they were surrounded by
the Turkish army,

and that the day's battle was scarcely ended when night came, they
grew fearful and panic-stricken, aware only of their imminent death.
Petrified, each saw his own life hanging before him, and in their
frightened minds the men saw Turks already before them, about to
strike them with deadly spears. Each lost faith in his own ability
to fight, and therefore turned his mind to flight. Those who gave up
hope in God made a filthy descent into the foul sewers, a worthy
place for those who were giving such a bad example to the troops.
The crawling cowards made their way to the sea, with the skin from
their hands and feet torn away, and their bones stripped of flesh by
the sharp rocks. Like Paul the doctor, who escaped from Damascus by
means of a wall,[174] they showed that the sewers were fitting for
them.[175]

Among those who retreated were a certain William of Normandy, nobly
born, and his brother Alberic, sent to school early, who became a
cleric, and then, out of passion for fighting, dropped away from the
church and foully, like an apostate, became a knight. I would name