FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118  
119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   >>   >|  
ldwin, and all the writers, honor the names of these two galleys, felici auspicio.] [Footnote 811: Pietro Alberti, a Venetian noble and Andrew d'Amboise a French knight.--M.] [Footnote 82: With an allusion to Homer, Nicetas calls him enneorguioV, nine orgyae, or eighteen yards high, a stature which would, indeed, have excused the terror of the Greek. On this occasion, the historian seems fonder of the marvellous than of his country, or perhaps of truth. Baldwin exclaims in the words of the psalmist, persequitur unus ex nobis centum alienos.] [Footnote 83: Villehardouin (No. 130) is again ignorant of the authors of _this_ more legitimate fire, which is ascribed by Gunther to a quidam comes Teutonicus, (c. 14.) They seem ashamed, the incendiaries!] [Footnote 84: For the second siege and conquest of Constantinople, see Villehardouin (No. 113--132,) Baldwin's iid Epistle to Innocent III., (Gesta c. 92, p. 534--537,) with the whole reign of Mourzoufle, in Nicetas, (p 363--375;) and borrowed some hints from Dandolo (Chron. Venet. p. 323--330) and Gunther, (Hist. C. P. c. 14--18,) who added the decorations of prophecy and vision. The former produces an oracle of the Erythraean sibyl, of a great armament on the Adriatic, under a blind chief, against Byzantium, &c. Curious enough, were the prediction anterior to the fact.] Constantinople had been taken by storm; and no restraints, except those of religion and humanity, were imposed on the conquerors by the laws of war. Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, still acted as their general; and the Greeks, who revered his name as that of their future sovereign, were heard to exclaim in a lamentable tone, "Holy marquis-king, have mercy upon us!" His prudence or compassion opened the gates of the city to the fugitives; and he exhorted the soldiers of the cross to spare the lives of their fellow-Christians. The streams of blood that flowed down the pages of Nicetas may be reduced to the slaughter of two thousand of his unresisting countrymen; [85] and the greater part was massacred, not by the strangers, but by the Latins, who had been driven from the city, and who exercised the revenge of a triumphant faction. Yet of these exiles, some were less mindful of injuries than of benefits; and Nicetas himself was indebted for his safety to the generosity of a Venetian merchant. Pope Innocent the Third accuses the pilgrims for respecting, in their lust, neither age nor sex, nor religious
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118  
119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Nicetas

 

Footnote

 

Constantinople

 
Baldwin
 
marquis
 

Innocent

 
Venetian
 

Villehardouin

 

Gunther

 

Greeks


revered
 

exclaim

 

general

 

lamentable

 

sovereign

 
future
 

prediction

 

anterior

 

Curious

 
Byzantium

Adriatic

 
Boniface
 

Montferrat

 

conquerors

 

imposed

 

restraints

 

religion

 
humanity
 

exiles

 

mindful


benefits

 

injuries

 

faction

 

triumphant

 

Latins

 

driven

 

exercised

 

revenge

 

indebted

 

respecting


religious

 

pilgrims

 

accuses

 

generosity

 

safety

 

merchant

 
strangers
 

fellow

 

Christians

 

streams