the glory of humbling the Greek arrogance, and of marking
the path of conquest to the navies of the West. He landed some soldiers
to rifle the fruits of the royal gardens, and pointed with silver, or
most probably with fire, the arrows which he discharged against the
palace of the Caesars. [111] This playful outrage of the pirates of
Sicily, who had surprised an unguarded moment, Manuel affected to
despise, while his martial spirit, and the forces of the empire, were
awakened to revenge. The Archipelago and Ionian Sea were covered with
his squadrons and those of Venice; but I know not by what favorable
allowance of transports, victuallers, and pinnaces, our reason, or
even our fancy, can be reconciled to the stupendous account of fifteen
hundred vessels, which is proposed by a Byzantine historian. These
operations were directed with prudence and energy: in his homeward
voyage George lost nineteen of his galleys, which were separated and
taken: after an obstinate defence, Corfu implored the clemency of her
lawful sovereign; nor could a ship, a soldier, of the Norman prince, be
found, unless as a captive, within the limits of the Eastern empire. The
prosperity and the health of Roger were already in a declining state:
while he listened in his palace of Palermo to the messengers of victory
or defeat, the invincible Manuel, the foremost in every assault, was
celebrated by the Greeks and Latins as the Alexander or the Hercules of
the age.

[Footnote 109: The silence of the Sicilian historians, who end too soon,
or begin too late, must be supplied by Otho of Frisingen, a German, (de
Gestis Frederici I. l. i. c. 33, in Muratori, Script. tom. vi. p. 668,)
the Venetian Andrew Dandulus, (Id. tom. xii. p. 282, 283) and the Greek
writers Cinnamus (l. iii. c. 2-5) and Nicetas, (in Manuel. l. iii. c.
1-6.)]

[Footnote 110: To this imperfect capture and speedy rescue I apply
Cinnamus, l. ii. c. 19, p. 49. Muratori, on tolerable evidence, (Annali
d'Italia, tom. ix. p. 420, 421,) laughs at the delicacy of the French,
who maintain, marisque nullo impediente periculo ad regnum proprium
reversum esse; yet I observe that their advocate, Ducange, is less
positive as the commentator on Cinnamus, than as the editor of
Joinville.]

[Footnote 111: In palatium regium sagittas igneas injecit, says
Dandulus; but Nicetas (l. ii. c. 8, p. 66) transforms them, and adds,
that Manuel styled this insult. These arrows, by the compiler, Vincent
de Beau