Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/307

 OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 285 the pilgrimage ; their portable treasures were conveyed in bars of silver and gold ; and the princes and barons were attended by their equipage of hounds and hawks, to amuse their leisure and to supply their table. The difficulty of procuring sub- sistence for so many myriads of men and horses engaged them to separate their forces ; their choice or situation determined the road ; and it was agreed to meet in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, and from thence to begin their operations against the Turks. From the banks of the Meuse and the Moselle, Godfrey of Bouillon followed the direct way of Ger- many, Hungary, and Bulgaria ; and, as long as he exercised the sole command, every step afforded some proof of his prudence and virtue. On the confines of Hungary he was stopped three weeks by a Christian people, to whom the name, or at least the abuse, of the cross was justly odious. The Hungarians still smarted with the wounds which they had received from the first pilgrims; in their turn they had abused the right of defence and retaliation ; and they had reason to apprehend a severe revenge from an hero of the same nation, and who was engaged in the same cause. But, after weighing the motives and the events, the virtuous duke was content to pity the crimes and misfortunes of his worthless brethren ; and his twelve deputies, the messengers of peace, requested in his name a free passage and an equal market. To remove their suspicions, Godfrey trusted himself, and afterwards his brother, to the faith of Carloman, king of Hungar}', who treated them with a [Caiomaa] simple but hospitable entertainment : the treaty was sanctified by their common gospel ; and a proclamation, under pain of death, restrained the animosity and licence of the Latin soldiers. From Austria to Belgrade, they traversed the plains of Hungary', without enduring or offering an injury ; and the proximity of Carloman, who hovered on their flanks with his numerous cavalry, was a precaution not less useful for their safety than for his own. They reached the banks of the Save ; and no sooner had they passed the river than the king of Hungary restored the hostages and saluted their departure with the fairest wishes for the success of their enterprise. With the same conduct and discipline, Godfrey pervaded the woods of Bulgaria and the frontiers of Thrace ; and might congratulate himself that he had almost reached the first term of his pil- grimage without drawing his sword against a Christian adversary. After an easy and pleasant journey through Lorabardy, from Turin to Aquileia, Playmond and his provincials marched forty