Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/208

 186 THE DECLINE AND FALL He grasped with a rapacious, that he might distribute with a liberal, hand ; his primitive indigence had taught the habits of frugality ; the gain of a merchant was not below his attention ; and his prisoners were tortured with slow and unfeeling cruelty [c. A.D. 1046] to force a discovery of their secret treasure. According to the Greeks, he departed from Normandy with only five followers on horseback and thirty on foot ; yet even this allowance appears too bountiful ; the sixth son of Tancred of Hauteville passed the Alps as a pilgrim ; and his first military band was levied among the adventurers of Italy. His brothers and countrjanen had divided the fertile lands of Apulia : but they guarded their shares with the jealousy of avarice ; the aspiring youth was driven forwards to the mountains of Calabria, and in his first exploits against the Greeks and the natives it is not easy to dis- criminate the hero from the robber. To surprise a castle or a con- vent, to ensnare a wealthy citizen, to plunder the adjacent villages for necessary food, were the obscure labours which formed and exercised the powers of his mind and body. The volunteers of Normandy adhered to his standard ; and, under his command, the peasants of Calabria assumed the name and character of Normans. His ambition As the gcnius of Robert expanded with his fortune, he a!d.T(^^io80 awakened the jealousy of his elder brother, by whom, in a transient quarrel, his life was threatened and his liberty re- strained. After the death of Humphrey, the tender age of his sons excluded them from the command ; they were reduced to a private estate by the ambition of their guardian and uncle ; [AD. 1057] and Guiscard was exalted on a buckler, and saluted count of Apulia and general of the republic. With an increase of au- thority and of force, he resumed the conquest of Calabria, and soon aspired to a rank that should raise him for ever above the heads of his equals. By some acts of rapine or sacrilege he had incurred a papal excommunication : but Nicholas the Second was easily persuaded that the divisions of friends could terminate only in their mutual prejudice ; that the Normans were the faithful champions of the Holy See ; and it was safer to trust [Synod of the alliance of a prince than the caprice of an aristocracy. A lOMfAu^t synod of one hundred bisliops was convened at Melphi ; and the ^^ count interrupted an important enterprise to guard the person and execute the decrees of the Roman pontiff. His gratitude and policy conferred on Robert and his posterity the ducal title,^-^ •^' The acquisition of the ducal title by Robert Guiscard is a nice and obscure business. With the good advice of Ginnnone, Muratori, and St. Marc, I have endeavoured to form a consistent and probable narrative.