After a period of rest and debauchery, the army of the Crusaders, led on by King Richard, began to march towards Jerusalem.  Saladin harassed his advance and rendered the strongholds on the way defenceless and ravaged the whole country.  Richard was nevertheless ever victorious.  His great personal bravery struck terror into the Moslems, and he won an important victory over them at Arsur.  Dissensions now broke out among chiefs of the Crusaders, and Richard himself proved to be a very uncertain leader in regard to the strategy of the campaign.  So serious were these drawbacks that the ultimate aim of the enterprise was thereby frustrated, and the Crusaders never attained to their great object, which was the re-conquest of Jerusalem.  At the time when the Christian armies were in possession of all the cities along the coast, from Jaffa to Tyre, and the hosts of Saladin were seriously disorganised, a treaty was concluded and King Richard sailed back on the return journey to England.  The glory acquired by Saladin, and the famous campaigns of Richard Cour de Lion, have rendered the Third Crusade the most memorable in history, and the exploits of the heroes on both sides shed a lustre on the arms of both Moslems and Christians.

Saladin died about a year after the conclusion of this peace, at Damascus, A.D. 1193, at the age of fifty-seven.  With less rashness and bravery than Richard, Saladin possessed a firmer character and one far better calculated to carry on a religious war.  He paid more attention to the results of his enterprises; more master of himself, he was more fit to command others.  When mounting the throne of the Atabegs, Saladin obeyed rather his destiny than his inclinations; but, when once firmly seated, he was governed by only two passions,—­that of reigning and that of securing the triumph of the Koran.  On all other subjects he was moderate, and when a kingdom or the glory of the Prophet was not in question, the son of Ayyub was admired as the most just and mild of Muhammedans.  The stern devotion and ardent fanaticism that made him take up arms against the Christians only rendered him cruel and barbarous in one single instance.  He displayed the virtues of peace amidst the horrors of war.  “From the bosom of the camps,” says an Oriental poet, “he covered the nations with the wings of his justice, and poured upon his cities the plenteous showers of his liberality.”  During his reign many remarkable public works were executed.  The Muhammedans, always governed by fear, were astonished that a sovereign could inspire them with so much love, and followed him with joy to battle.  His generosity, his clemency, and particularly his respect for an oath, were often the subjects of admiration to the Christians, whom he rendered so miserable by his victories, and of whose power in Asia he had completed the overthrow.  Previous to his death, Saladm had divided the kingdom between his three sons; El-Afdhal received Damascus, Southern Syria, and Palestine, with the title of sultan; El-Aziz obtained the kingdom of Egypt, and Ez Zahir the princedom of Aleppo.