in giving his consent to their enterprise, had forbidden them to turn
their arms against any Christians. But they contrived to persuade
themselves that the pope's words were not to be understood too exactly;
and at a meeting in the great church of St. Mark, Henry Dandolo, the
doge or duke of Venice, took the cross, and declared to the vast
multitude of citizens and Crusaders who crowded the church that,
although he was ninety-four years of age, and almost or altogether
blind, he himself would be the leader.

A fleet of nearly five hundred vessels sailed from Venice accordingly
(Oct., 1202), and Zara was taken after a siege of six days, although the
inhabitants tried to soften the feelings of the besiegers by displaying
crosses and sacred pictures from the walls, as tokens of their
brotherhood in Christ. After this success, the Crusaders were bound by
their engagement to go on to Egypt or the Holy Land; but a young Greek
prince, named Alexius, entreated them to restore his father, who had
been dethroned by a usurper, to the empire of the East; and, although
the French were unwilling to undertake any work that might interfere
with the recovery of the Holy Land, the Venetians, who cared little for
anything but their own gain, persuaded them to turn aside to
Constantinople.

When the Crusaders came in sight of the city, they were so astonished at
the beauty of its lofty walls and towers, of its palaces and its many
churches, that (as we are told) the hearts of the boldest among them
beat with a feeling which could not be kept down, and many of them even
burst into tears. They found the harbour protected by a great chain
which was drawn across the mouth of it; but this chain was broken by the
force of a ship which was driven against it with the sails swollen by a
strong wind. The blind old doge, Henry Dandolo, stood in the prow of the
foremost ship, and was the first to land in the face of the Greeks who
stood ready to defend the ground. Constantinople was soon won, and the
emperor, who had been deposed and blinded by the usurper, was brought
from his dungeon, and was enthroned in the great church of St. Sophia,
while his son Alexius was anointed and crowned as a partner in the
empire.

But quarrels soon arose between the Greeks and the Latins. Alexius was
murdered by a new usurper; his father died of grief: and the Crusaders
found themselves drawn on to conquer the city afresh for themselves.
This conquest was disgraced