e desertion of the Manichaeans was supplied by some tribes
of Moldavia: a reenforcement of seven thousand Turks replaced and
revenged the loss of their brethren; and the Greek soldiers were
exercised to ride, to draw the bow, and to the daily practice of
ambuscades and evolutions. Alexius had been taught by experience, that
the formidable cavalry of the Franks on foot was unfit for action, and
almost incapable of motion; [80] his archers were directed to aim their
arrows at the horse rather than the man; and a variety of spikes and
snares were scattered over the ground on which he might expect an
attack. In the neighborhood of Larissa the events of war were protracted
and balanced. The courage of Bohemond was always conspicuous, and often
successful; but his camp was pillaged by a stratagem of the Greeks; the
city was impregnable; and the venal or discontented counts deserted
his standard, betrayed their trusts, and enlisted in the service of the
emperor. Alexius returned to Constantinople with the advantage, rather
than the honor, of victory. After evacuating the conquests which he
could no longer defend, the son of Guiscard embarked for Italy, and
was embraced by a father who esteemed his merit, and sympathized in his
misfortune.

[Footnote 77: The Romans had changed the inauspicious name of Epidamnus
to Dyrrachium, (Plin. iii. 26;) and the vulgar corruption of Duracium
(see Malaterra) bore some affinity to hardness. One of Robert's names
was Durand, a durando: poor wit! (Alberic. Monach. in Chron. apud
Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. ix. p. 137.)]

[Footnote 78: (Anna, l. i. p. 35.) By these similes, so different from
those of Homer she wishes to inspire contempt as well as horror for
the little noxious animal, a conqueror. Most unfortunately, the common
sense, or common nonsense, of mankind, resists her laudable design.]

[Footnote 79: Prodiit hac auctor Trojanae cladis Achilles. The
supposition of the Apulian (l. v. p. 275) may be excused by the more
classic poetry of Virgil, (Aeneid. ii. 197,) Larissaeus Achilles, but it
is not justified by the geography of Homer.]

[Footnote 80: The items which encumbered the knights on foot, have been
ignorantly translated spurs, (Anna Comnena, Alexias, l. v. p. 140.)
Ducange has explained the true sense by a ridiculous and inconvenient
fashion, which lasted from the xith to the xvth century. These peaks, in
the form of a scorpion, were sometimes two feet and fastened to the