o mitigate this mark of the subjection of the Comneni to the sultan. p.
116.--M.]

[Footnote 22: The portrait of the French Latins is drawn in Nicetas
by the hand of prejudice and resentment: ouden tvn allwn eqnvn eiV
''AreoV?rga parasumbeblhsqai sjisin hneiconto all' oude tiV tvn caritwn
h tvn?mousvn para toiV barbaroiV toutoiV epexenizeto, kai para
touto oimai thn jusin hsan anhmeroi, kai ton xolon eixon tou logou
prstreconta. [P. 791 Ed. Bek.]

[Footnote 23: I here begin to use, with freedom and confidence, the
eight books of the Histoire de C. P. sous l'Empire des Francois, which
Ducange has given as a supplement to Villehardouin; and which, in a
barbarous style, deserves the praise of an original and classic work.]

The Latin conquerors had been saluted with a solemn and early embassy
from John, or Joannice, or Calo-John, the revolted chief of the
Bulgarians and Walachians. He deemed himself their brother, as the
votary of the Roman pontiff, from whom he had received the regal title
and a holy banner; and in the subversion of the Greek monarchy, he might
aspire to the name of their friend and accomplice. But Calo-John was
astonished to find, that the Count of Flanders had assumed the pomp
and pride of the successors of Constantine; and his ambassadors were
dismissed with a haughty message, that the rebel must deserve a pardon,
by touching with his forehead the footstool of the Imperial throne. His
resentment [24] would have exhaled in acts of violence and blood: his
cooler policy watched the rising discontent of the Greeks; affected
a tender concern for their sufferings; and promised, that their first
struggles for freedom should be supported by his person and kingdom.
The conspiracy was propagated by national hatred, the firmest band of
association and secrecy: the Greeks were impatient to sheathe their
daggers in the breasts of the victorious strangers; but the execution
was prudently delayed, till Henry, the emperor's brother, had
transported the flower of his troops beyond the Hellespont. Most of the
towns and villages of Thrace were true to the moment and the signal; and
the Latins, without arms or suspicion, were slaughtered by the vile and
merciless revenge of their slaves. From Demotica, the first scene of
the massacre, the surviving vassals of the count of St. Pol escaped to
Adrianople; but the French and Venetians, who occupied that city, were
slain or expelled by the furious multitude: the garrisons th