Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/353

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 331 more to fear from the veteran genius of Frederic the First, who in his youth had served in Asia under his uncle Conrad, Forty campaigns in Germany and Italy had taught Barbarossa to com- mand ; and his soldiers, even the princes of the empire, were accustomed under his reign to obey. As soon as he lost sight of Philadelphia and Laodicea, the last cities of the Greek fron- tier, he plunged into the salt and barren desert, a land (says the historian) of horror and tribulation.-'' During twenty days, every step of his fainting and sickly march was besieged by the innumerable hordes of Turkmans,-* whose numbers and fury seemed after each defeat to multiply and inflame. The emperor continued to struggle and to suffer ; and such was the measure of his calamities that, when he reached the gates of Iconium, no more than one thousand knights were able to serve on horse- back. By a sudden and resolute assault, he defeated the guai-ds, and stormed the capital, of the sultan,^^ who humbly sued for pardon and peace. The road was now open, and Frederic ad- vanced in a career of triumph, till he was unfortunately drowned in a petty torrent of Cilicia.^'^ The remainder of his Germans was consumed by sickness and desertion, and the emperor's son expired with the greatest part of his Swabian vassals at the siege of Acre. Among the Latin heroes, Godfrey of Bouillon and Frederic Barbarossa alone could achieve the passage of the Lesser Asia ; yet even their success was a warning, and in the last and most experienced ages of the crusades everj- nation preferred the sea to the toils and perils of an inland expedition. ^^ reign of Louis VII. is based on the Historia Ludovici, an extract from the Continuatio Sangernianensis of Aimoin (written c. 1170-80). This original has been edited recently by A. Molinier, V^ie de Louis le Gros par Sugar (caps. 1-7 are the work of the Abbot Suger), 1887.] 27 Terram horroris et salsuginis, terram siccam, sterilem, inamasnam. Anonym. Canis. p. 517. The emphatic language of a sufferer. ^ Gens innumera, sylvestris, indomita, prcedones sine ductore. The sultan of Cogni might sincerely rejoice in their defeat. Anonym. Canis. p. 517, 518. ■•^ See in the anonymous writer in the collection of Canisius, Tagino, and Bohadin (Vit. Saladin. p. 119, 120, c. 70 [/eg. 69]), the ambiguous conduct of Kilidge Arslan, sultan of Cogni, who hated and feared both Saladin and Frederic. 20 The desire of comparing two great men has tempted many writers to drown Frederic in the river Cydnus, in which Alexander so imprudently bathed (Q. Curt. 1. iii. c. 4, 5). But, from the march of the emperor, I rather judge that his Saleph is the Calycadnus, a stream of less fame, but of a longer course. [This judgment is right. Frederick was drowned in the Geuk Su or Calycadnus on his march from Laranda to Seleucia.] 31 Marinus Sanutus, a.d. 1321. lays it down as a precept, Quod stolus ecclesise per terram nulldtenus est ducenda. He resolves, by the divine aid, the objection, or rather exception, of the first crusade (Secreta Fidelium Crucis, 1. ii. pars ii. c. i. P- 37)-