follows or pursues them, for all have abandoned the quest. But
Cliges does not delay; he goes to his uncle, King Arthur. He
sought him till he found him, and has made to him a complaint and
an outcry against his uncle the emperor, who, in order to
disinherit him, had taken wife dishonourably, when he should not
have done so, seeing that he had pledged his word to Cliges'
father that never in his life would he have a wife. And the king
says that with a navy will he sail to Constantinople, and fill a
thousand ships with knights and three thousand with infantry,
such that nor city nor borough nor town nor castle, however
strong or high it be, will be able to endure their onset. And
Cliges has not forgotten to thank the king then and there for the
aid which he is granting him. The king sends to seek and to
summon all the high barons of his land, and has ships and boats,
cutters and barques sought out and equipped. With shields, with
lances, with targes, and with knightly armour he has a hundred
ships filled and laden. The king makes so great a preparation to
wage war that never had even Cesar or Alexander the like. He has
caused to be summoned and mustered all England and all Flanders,
Normandy, France, and Brittany, and all tribes, even as far as
the Spanish passes. Now were they about to put to sea when
messengers came from Greece, who stayed the expedition and kept
back the king and his men. With the messengers who came was John,
who was well worthy to be believed, for he was witness and
messenger of nought that was not true and that he did not know
for certain. The messengers were high men of Greece, who were
seeking Cliges. They sought and asked for him until they found
him at the court of the king, and they have said to him: "God
save you, sire. On the part of all the inhabitants of your
empire, Greece is yielded and Constantinople given to you,
because of the right that you have to it. Your uncle--as yet you
know it not--is dead of the grief that he had because he could
not find you. He had such grief that he lost his senses: never
afterwards did he either eat or drink, and he died a madman. Fair
sire, return now hence, for all your barons send for you. Greatly
do they desire and ask for you, for they will to make you
emperor." Many there were who were blithe at this message, but on
the other hand there were man who would gladly have left their
homes, and who would have been mightily pleased if the host had
set ou