Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/406

 384 THE DECLINE AXD FALL nine thousand squires, with a number of ships sufficient for the i embarkation of four thousand five hundred knights and twenty ^ thousand foot ; that during a term of nine months they should be supplied with provisions, and transported to whatsoever coast the service of God and Christendom should require ; and that the republic should join the armament with a squadron of fifty J galleys. It Avas required that the pilgrims should pay, before their departure, a sura of eighty-five thousand marks of silver ; and that all conquests, by sea and land, should be equally divided among the confederates. The terms were hard ; but the emer- gency was pressing, and the French barons were not less profuse of money than of blood. A general assembly was convened to ratify the treaty ; the stately chapel and palace of St. Mark were filled with ten thousand citizens ; and the noble deputies were taught a new lesson of humbling themselves before the majesty of the people. " Illustrious Venetians," said the marshal of Champagne, " we are sent by the greatest and most powerful barons of France, to implore the aid of the masters of the sea for the deliverance of Jerusalem. They have enjoined us to fall prostrate at your feet ; nor will we rise from the ground till you have promised to avenge with us the injuries of Christ." The eloquence of their words and tears,"*'^' their martial aspect and suppliant attitude, were applauded by an universal shout ; as it were, says Jeffrey, by the sound of an earthquake. The vener- able doge ascended the pulpit, to urge their request by those motives of honour and virtue which alone can be offered to a [March, AD. popular assembly ; the treaty was transcribed on parchment, at- ^^^ tested with oaths and seals, mutually accepted by the weeping and joyful representatives of France and Venice, and dispatched to Rome for the approbation of Pope Innocent the Third. ^*^ Two thousand marks were borrowed of the merchants for the first expenses of the armament. Of the six deputies, two repassed the Alps to announce their success, while their four companions macle a fruitless trial of the zeal and emulation of the republics of Genoa and Pisa. ^ A reader of Villehardouin must observe the frequent tears of the marshal and his brother knights. Sachiez que la ot mainte lerme plor^e de piti^ (No. 17) ; mult plorant {tdzd.) ; mainte lerme plorte (No. 34) ; si orent mult piti6 et plore- rent mult durement (No. 60) ; i ot mainte lerme plor^e de piti^ (No. 202). They weep on every occasion of grief, joy, or devotion. 50 [Innocent approved with reserve (for he distrusted Venice, with good reason), making a special condition that no Christian town should be attacked. Cp. Gesta Innocentii, 84.]