s afforded by the
disorders of the first pilgrims Agriculture must have been unskilful
and languid among a people, whose cities were built of reeds and timber,
which were deserted in the summer season for the tents of hunters and
shepherds. A scanty supply of provisions was rudely demanded, forcibly
seized, and greedily consumed; and on the first quarrel, the crusaders
gave a loose to indignation and revenge. But their ignorance of the
country, of war, and of discipline, exposed them to every snare. The
Greek praefect of Bulgaria commanded a regular force; [381] at the
trumpet of the Hungarian king, the eighth or the tenth of his martial
subjects bent their bows and mounted on horseback; their policy was
insidious, and their retaliation on these pious robbers was unrelenting
and bloody. [39] About a third of the naked fugitives (and the hermit
Peter was of the number) escaped to the Thracian mountains; and
the emperor, who respected the pilgrimage and succor of the Latins,
conducted them by secure and easy journeys to Constantinople, and
advised them to await the arrival of their brethren. For a while they
remembered their faults and losses; but no sooner were they revived by
the hospitable entertainment, than their venom was again inflamed; they
stung their benefactor, and neither gardens, nor palaces, nor churches,
were safe from their depredations. For his own safety, Alexius allured
them to pass over to the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus; but their blind
impetuosity soon urged them to desert the station which he had assigned,
and to rush headlong against the Turks, who occupied the road to
Jerusalem. The hermit, conscious of his shame, had withdrawn from the
camp to Constantinople; and his lieutenant, Walter the Penniless, who
was worthy of a better command, attempted without success to introduce
some order and prudence among the herd of savages. They separated in
quest of prey, and themselves fell an easy prey to the arts of the
sultan. By a rumor that their foremost companions were rioting in the
spoils of his capital, Soliman [391] tempted the main body to descend
into the plain of Nice: they were overwhelmed by the Turkish arrows; and
a pyramid of bones [40] informed their companions of the place of their
defeat. Of the first crusaders, three hundred thousand had already
perished, before a single city was rescued from the infidels, before
their graver and more noble brethren had completed the preparations of
their