Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/427

 or THE ROMAN EMPIRE 405 in the eyes of the Greeks.^^ While the fugitives deserted their posts and cast away their arms, the Latins entered the city under the banners of their leaders ; the streets and gates opened for their passage ; and either design or accident kindled a third con- flagration, which consumed in a few hours the measure of three of the largest cities of France. ^^ In the close of the evening, the barons checked their troops and fortified their stations ; they were awed by the extent and populousness of the capital, which might yet require the labour of a month, if the churches and palaces were conscious of their internal strength. But in the morning a suppliant procession, with crosses and images, an- nounced the submission of the Greeks and deprecated the wrath of the conquerors : the usurper escaped through the golden gate ; the palaces of Blachernae and Boucoleon were occupied by the count of Flanders and the marquis of Montferrat ; and the em- pire, which still bore the name of Constantine and the title of Roman, was subverted by the arms of the Latin pilgrims. ^*''^ Constantinople had been taken by storm ; and no resti'aints, Piuageofcon- except those of religion and humanity, were imposed on the [Apru, 12, 13] conquerors by the laws of war. Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, still acted as their general ; and the Greeks, who revered his name as their future sovereign, were heai'd to exclaim in a lamentable tone, " Holy marquis-king, have mercy upon us ! " His prudence or compassion opened the gates of the city to the fugitives ; and he exhorted the soldiers of the cross to spare the lives of their fellow-Christians. The streams of blood that flow down the pages of Nicetas may be reduced to the slaughter of two thousand of his unresisting countrymen ; i^i and the greater ^^ With an allusion to Homer, Nicetas calls him ewli hpyvCa^ [eiweop-yuio;], nine orgya;, or eighteen yards high, a stature which would indeed have excused the terror of the Greek. [In Murz. c. 2, p. 754, ed. B.] On this occasion, the historian seems fonder of the marvellous than of his country, or perhaps of truth. Baldwin exclaims in the words of the psalmist, Persequitur unus e.x nobis centum alienos. ^'■> Villehardouin (No. 130) is again ignorant of the authors of /his more legitimate fire, which is ascribed by Gunther to a quidani comes Teutonicus (c. 14). They seem ashamed, the incendiaries ! 100 por the second siege and conquest of Constantinople, see Villehardouin (No. U3-132), Baldwin's iid Epistle to Innocent III. (Gesta, c. 92, p. 534-537), with the whole reign of Mourzoufle in Nicetas (p. 363-375); and borrow some hints from Dandolo (Chron. Venet. p. 323-330) and Gunther (Hist. C. P. c. 1418), who add the decorations of prophecy and vision. The former produces an oracle of the Erythraean sybil, of a great armament on the Adriatic, under a blind chief, against Byzantium, &c. Curious enough, were the prediction anterior to the fact. 1"! Ceciderunt tamen ei die civium quasi duo millia, &c. (Gunther, c. 18). Arithmetic is an excellent touchstone to try the amplifications of passion and rhetoric.