Along the road Bohemond (1), Prince (2) of Antioch, came into his service. The Sultan honoured him, treated him graciously, granted him large sums of money, and presented him with splendid robes (3).

Imād al-Kātib was travelling in his company and recorded each stop, stage by stage and station by station (4), until he said:

“On Monday we crossed the spring of ʿAyn al-Ḥarr (5) to the plain of Marj Yabūs (6), and hardship had vanished. There the notables of Damascus—its leading men, its best and most virtuous—converged upon him (7). On Tuesday we encamped at al-ʿArādah (8); [those who came out to meet us offered choice mounts and gifts] (9) in the usual way. At dawn on Wednesday—the sixteenth of Shawwal—we entered the garden of Damascus (10) in peace and security, save that we are not immortal. The Sultan had been absent for four years, so Damascus brought forth its treasures and displayed its women, children, and men. It was a day of adornment: most of the townsfolk came out, the people gathered in the forenoon, and gladness and joy spread everywhere. He rejoined his sons, both grown and young (11), and envoys of kings from every land presented themselves. He spent the rest of the year hunting and attending the Dār al-ʿAdl, deciding cases and acting with beneficence and generosity.

When ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā arrived, a poet praised him with a qaṣīdah, saying (12):

[ khafīf metre ]
By her father! Had it not been for the coquetry of her eyes,
I would never have composed a single verse of love-poetry;
For the praises of the victorious king
would have been worthier of my labour of thought (13).
A sovereign whose justice has filled every realm (14),
as his beneficence has encompassed all creation (15).