even of Constantine himself, were violated and ransacked
by their degenerate successor Alexius Comnenus, in order to enable him
to pay the "German" tribute exacted by the menaces of the emperor Henry.
See the end of the first book of the Life of Alexius, in Nicetas, p.
632, edit.--M.]

[Footnote 140: Muratori quotes a passage from Arnold of Lubec, (l. iv.
c. 20:) Reperit thesauros absconditos, et omnem lapidum pretiosorum et
gemmarum gloriam, ita ut oneratis 160 somariis, gloriose ad terram suam
redierit. Roger de Hoveden, who mentions the violation of the royal
tombs and corpses, computes the spoil of Salerno at 200,000 ounces of
gold, (p. 746.) On these occasions, I am almost tempted to exclaim
with the listening maid in La Fontaine, "Je voudrois bien avoir ce qui
manque."]

Chapter LVII: The Turks.--Part I.

The Turks Of The House Of Seljuk.--Their Revolt Against
Mahmud Conqueror Of Hindostan.--Togrul Subdues Persia, And
Protects The Caliphs.--Defeat And Captivity Of The Emperor
Romanus Diogenes By Alp Arslan.--Power And Magnificence Of
Malek Shah.--Conquest Of Asia Minor And Syria.--State And
Oppression Of Jerusalem.--Pilgrimages To The Holy Sepulchre.

From the Isle of Sicily, the reader must transport himself beyond the
Caspian Sea, to the original seat of the Turks or Turkmans, against whom
the first crusade was principally directed. Their Scythian empire of the
sixth century was long since dissolved; but the name was still famous
among the Greeks and Orientals; and the fragments of the nation, each
a powerful and independent people, were scattered over the desert from
China to the Oxus and the Danube: the colony of Hungarians was admitted
into the republic of Europe, and the thrones of Asia were occupied by
slaves and soldiers of Turkish extraction. While Apulia and Sicily
were subdued by the Norman lance, a swarm of these northern shepherds
overspread the kingdoms of Persia; their princes of the race of Seljuk
erected a splendid and solid empire from Samarcand to the confines of
Greece and Egypt; and the Turks have maintained their dominion in Asia
Minor, till the victorious crescent has been planted on the dome of St.
Sophia.

One of the greatest of the Turkish princes was Mahmood or Mahmud, [1]
the Gaznevide, who reigned in the eastern provinces of Persia, one
thousand years after the birth of Christ. His father Sebectagi was the
slave of the slave of the slave of the