ſhould we preſume to declare all hiſtory fabulous, or unfounded, in which the events did not exactly coincide with our ideas of probability, we ſhould expoſe our own pride and narrowneſs of ſentiment, which cannot ſubmit to credit any thing, but ſuch as we can exactly reconcile to ſuch principles, as we may premiſe as neceſſary to truth.
The hiſtory of the Cruſades, an expedition almoſt as unaccountable as that of Jaſon, undertaken by a ſet of military adventurers, in an age nearly as rude and as warlike as that of the Argonauts, is diſguiſed in the proſe accounts We have of it, with as much[1] imagery as the poem of Apollonius Rhodius, and little leſs incredible. Yet we do not therefore queſtion the exiſtence of Peter the Hermit, of Godfrey of Bouillon, or of Raymond of Toulouſe; or deny, that ſuch perſons conducted armies into Paleſtine, and actually founded a kingdom there, which ſubſiſted for more than two centuries.
But to return to the ſubject.
From Athenæ Ponticæ to the river Prytanis 40 ſtadia. This is marked as a river in D'Anville, but is not ſo ſpecified in Arrian, although I think it is implied. Here was a palace of King Anchialus, probably the one mentioned afterwards by Arrian, as King of the Heniochi. From Prytanis to the river Pyxites 90 ſtadia. This
- ↑ See the account of the viſion, that led to the diſcovery of the head of the ſpear which pierced the ſide of our Lord, when on the croſſ, which was to enſure victory to thoſe, who were in poſſeſſon of this holy relic. Robert. Monlch. lib. vii. Baldriei Archiepiſc. Hiſt. Hieroſol. lib. iii. Raymond de Agiles, p. 155. Viſion of the Crucifxion, and of St. Mark the Evangeliſt. Raymond de Agiles, pp. 166, 157. Viſion of Peter the Hermit. Albert. Aquenii §. v. Effects of pieces of the croſſ in defeating the Turks, recorded in the ſame writer, with much more in the same ſtrain. Geſta Dei per Francos.
