Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/409

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 387 hostilities of the fleet and army were directed against Zara,^" a siege of zara. strong city of the Sclavonian coast^ which had renounced its al- legiance to Venice and implored the protection of the king of Hungary."''^ The crusaders burst the chain or boom of the har- bour ; landed their horses^ troops, and military engines ; and com- pelled the inhabitants, after a defence of five days, to surrender at discretion ; their lives were spared, but the revolt was punished [Nov. 24] by the pillage of their houses and the demolition of their walls. The season was far advanced ; the French and Venetians resolved to pass the winter in a secure harbour and plentiful countiy ; but their repose was disturbed by national and tumultuous quarrels of the soldiers and mariners. The conquest of Zara had scattered the seeds of discoi-d and scandal ; the arms of the allies had been stained in their outset with the blood, not of infidels, but of Chris- tians ; the king of Hungary and his new subjects were themselves enlisted under the banner of the cross, and the scruples of the devout were magnified by the fear or lassitude of the reluctant pilgrims. The pope had excommunicated the false crusaders, who had pillaged and massacred their brethren ; ^'' and only the marquis Boniface and Simon of Montfort escaped these spii'itual thunders ; the one by his absence from the siege, the other by his final departure from the camp. Innocent might absolve the simple and submissive penitents of France ; but he was provoked by the stubborn reason of the Venetians, who refused to confess their guilt, to accept their pardon, or to allow, in their temporal concerns, the interposition of a priest. The assembly of such formidable powers by sea and land had Alliance of revived the hopes of young ^'^ Alexius ; and, both at Venice and ^th^?"*^" Zara, he solicited the arms of the crusaders for his own restora- ttryoSS'g'^*' Alexins ''' Jadera, now Zara, was a Roman colony, which acknowledged Augustus for its parent. It is now only two miles round, and contains five or six thousand in- habitants ; but the fortifications are strong, and it is joined to the mainland by a bridge. See the travels of the two companions, Spon and Wheler (Voyage de Dalmatie, de Grtee, &c. torn. i. p. 64-70; Journey into Greece, p. 8-14) ; the last of whom, by mistaking Sesteriia for Sestertii, values nn arch with statues and columns at twelve pounds, If in his time there were no trees near Zara, the cherry- trees were not yet planted which produce our incomparable ynarasquin. ^Katona (Hist. Critica Reg. Hungariae, Stirpis Arpad. torn. iv. p. 536-558) collects all the facts and testimonies most adverse to the conquerors of Zara. ''9 See the whole transaction, and the sentiments of the pope, in the Epistles of Innocent III. Gesta, c. 86-88. '^ modern reader is surprised to hear of the valet de Constantinople, as applied to young Alexius on account of his youth, like the infants oi Spain, and the nobilissifnus puer of the Romans. The pages and valets of the knights were as noble as themselves (Villehardouin and Ducange, No. 36).