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 OF THE KOMAN EMPIEE 213 Latin Christians ; but their sole use of the gospel was to sanctify an oath that the lawful owners had not secreted any relic of their inheritance or industry. On the approach of the Normans the lower town of Corinth was evacuated : the Greeks retired to the citadel, which was seated on a lofty eminence abundantly watered by the classic fountain of Pirene : an impregnable fortress, if the want of courage could be balanced by any advantages of art or nature. As soon as the besiegers had surmounted the labour (their sole labour) of climbing the hill, their general, from the commanding eminence, admired his own victory, and testified his gratitude to heaven by tearing from the altar the precious image of Theodore the tutelary saint. The silk weavers of both sexes, whom George transported to Sicily, composed the most valuable part of the spoil, and, in comparing the skilful industry of tlie mechanic with the sloth and cowardice of the soldier, he was heard to exclaim that the distaff and loom were the only weapons which the Greeks were capable of using. The progress ms admiral n A ■ 1. ijii ■ 1 delivers Louis oi this naval armament was marked by two conspicuous events, vn., of the rescue of the king of France and the insult of the Byzantine capital. In his return by sea from an unfortunate crusade, Louis the Seventh was intercepted by the Greeks, who basely violated the laws of honour and religion. The unfortunate encounter of the Norman fleet delivered the royal captive ; and, after a free and honourable entertainment in the court of Sicily, Louis con- tinued his journey to Rome and Paris.^-'-^ In the absence of thei^suitscon- emperor, Constantinople and the Hellespont were left without defence and without the suspicion of danger. The clergy and people, for the soldiers had followed the standard of Manuel, were astonished and dismayed at the hostile appearance of a line of galleys, which boldlj' cast anchor in the front of the Imperial city. The forces of the Sicilian admiral were inadequate to the siege or assault of an immense and populous metropolis ; but George enjoyed the glory of humbling the Greek arrogance, and of iTiarking the path of conquest to the navies of the West. He landed some soldiers to rifle the fruits of the roval jjai-dens, and pointed with silver, or more probably with fire, the arrows which he discharged against the palace of the Caesars. ^•^'^ This playful 129 To this imperfect capture and speedy rescue, I apply the Tmp' hxiyov ^Aflf toO aXui/ai of Cinnamus, 1. ii. c. 19, p. 49. Muratori, on tolerable evidence (Annali d'ltalia, torn. ix. p. 420, 421), laughs at the delicacy of the French, who maintain, niarisque nuUo impediente periculo ad regnum proprium reversum esse : yet I ob- serve that their advocate, Ducange, is less positive as the commentator on Cinna- mus than as the editor of Joinville. '•"' In palatium regium sagittas igneas injecit, says Dandulus ; but Nicetas, 1. ii.