only by the length of their swords and spears. When our men saw that
they were caught in a non-stop battle, and had no opportunity at all
to eat or drink, even if they had had a great supply of food, they
built a wall out of cement and stone, and quickly surrounded it with
many machines, so that they would have a feeling of greater security.
In the citadel, a group of Turks remained who would, almost
continually, come out to harass our men in battle, while other Turks
remained in the field, facing the fortification. On the following
night, a kind of fire appeared in the western sky, falling between
the enemy camps. To both sides the sight of the falling fire seemed
miraculous. In the morning, the Turks left the place in which the
celestial fire had fallen as quickly as possible, and set themselves
up in front of the gate that Bohemund was guarding. The portent
which had appeared clearly before them announced the destruction that
was obviously approaching them, had they understood it. The
inhabitants of the citadel, who made frequent, relentless sorties
against our army, their bows always stretched, inflicted wounds and
death upon our men. The Turks who surrounded the city outside, and
who occupied all the territory near the walls, vigilantly blocked
every entrance to the city, so that the Christians were unable to
leave or to enter, except at night, and even then only secretly. The
enemy had assembled here in such great numbers and with such wealth,
that everywhere one looked there were only men and tents, expensive
furnishings, the brilliance of variegated costumes, flocks of cattle
and sheep to be eaten, and women dressed as though they were, so to
speak, temples. To add to this list of luxury, young women came with
quivers full of arrows, looking like a new form of the ancient Diana;
they seemed to have been brought here not to fight, but rather to
reproduce. When the battle was over, those who were present asserted
that new-born babies, born by women brought for this purpose on the