Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/424

 406 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. The Venetians continued to be opposed to the designs of Innocent, and years afterwards were reproached by him for sending wood, arms, and other munitions of war ^ to the Sara- cens in Alexandria. At a later period Innocent reproached them for mocking the Holy See, and injuring the cause in the Holy Land by inducing pilgrims who were able to fight to go to Crete and assist the republic instead of combating the Sara- cens. In the next crusade, which was also due to the in- domitable energy of the same pontiff, the Venetians were, as far as possible, excluded from all participation in it. Innocent named Ancona and Brindisi as the ports of embarkation for Oxitre-mer. It wis impossible that an event so important as the con- quest of the city could have been without beneficial suits of the results to Western Europe. Against the destruc- westera tiou of SO mucli that is valuable w^e may set off a urope. knowledsre of the comforts of a civilized and com- paratively luxurious life conveyed to the "West by men who, as we gather from all contemporary^ accounts, had been pro- foundly affected by the signs of wealth with which they w^ere surrounded. Many small but valuable advances in Western civilization are due to the conquest. Silk-weaving had been better understood in Constantinople than in any Western city, but Venice was soon able to rival her ancient enemy. Various seeds and plants found their way to the West. The diversion of the trade of Constantinople from the Bosphorus to the Adriatic or into overland routes probably benefited and helped to develop the civilization of Western Europe. The com- merce of the empire passed into the hands of foreigners and rivals, and of these Venice naturally obtained the largest share. The valuable products of Central Asia which found their way into the ports of the Azof and the Euxine, and which had been reserved jealously b}'- the citizens of Constan- tinople for themselves, even at the time when the emperors were granting capitulations for trade in every other part of the empire, all these now w^ent to Venice. Most of this trade ^nno. "Ep."xii. p. 142.