He reigned and he could not rule; he was successful and he did not succeed.

His baffled and retreating enemies left him standing, and he could not stand.
He fell finally with that other half-heathen power in the North, with which he had made an alliance against the remains of Roman and Byzantine culture.

He fell because barbarism cannot stand; because even when it succeeds it rather falls on its foes and crushes them.

And after all these things, after all these ages, with a wearier philosophy, with a heavier heart, we have been forced to do again the very thing that the Crusaders were derided for doing.
What Western men failed to do for the faith, other Western men have been forced to do even without the faith.

The sons of Tancred are again in Tripoli.