Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/344

 322 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAPTEE LIX Preservation of the Greek Empire — Nuvihers, Passage, and Event of the Second and Third Crusades— St. Bernard — Reign of Saladin in Egypt and Syria — His Conquest of Jerusalem — Naval Cimsades — Richard the First of England — Pope Innocent the Third ; and the Fowth and Fifth Crusades — The Emperor Frederic the Second — Louis the Ninth of Fra?ice ; and the two last Crusades — Expulsion of the Latins or Franks hy the Mame- lukes Success of In a style less grave than that of history, I should perhaps com- A-iTioeT-ius pare the Emperor Alexius ^ to the jackal, who is said to follow the steps, and to devour the leavings, of the lion. Whatever had been his fears and toils in the passage of the first crusade, they were amply recompensed by the subsequent benefits which he derived from the exploits of the Franks. His dexterity and vigilance secui-ed their first conquest of Nice ; and from this threatening station the Turks were compelled to evacuate the neighbourhood of Constantinople. While the crusaders, with blind valoui*, advanced into the midland countries of Asia, the crafty Greek improved the favourable occasion when the emirs of the sea-coast were recalled to the standard of the sultan. The Turks were driven from the isles of Rhodes and Chios : the cities of Ephesus and Smyrna, of Sardes, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, were restored to the empire, which Alexius enlarged fi-om the Hellespont to the banks of the Maeander and the rocky shores of Pamphylia. The churches resumed their splendour ; the towns were rebuilt and fortified ; and the desert country was peopled with colonies of Christians, who were gently removed from the more distant and dangerous frontier. In these paternal lAnna Comnena relates her father's conquests in Asia Minor, Alexiad, 1. xi. p. 321-325 [c. 5, 6], 1. xiv. p. 419 [c. i] ; his Cilician war against Tancred and Bohe- mond, p. 328-342 [c. 7-12] ; the war of Epirus, with tedious prolixity, 1. xii. xiii. [c. 1-12], p. 345-406 ; the death of Bohemond, 1. xiv. p. 419 [c. i]. [The best com- plete history of the events described in this Chapter, from .'.D. iioo to 1291, is the new work of Rohricht, Die Geschicbte des Konigreichs Jerusalem, 1898.]