than the army of Walter the Pennyless it was that led
by Peter the Hermit. Being better provided with means, they were not
reduced to the necessity of pillage in their progress through Hungary;
and had they taken any other route than that which led through Semlin,
might perhaps have traversed the country without molestation. On their
arrival before that city, their fury was raised at seeing the arms and
red crosses of their predecessors hanging as trophies over the gates.
Their pent-up ferocity exploded at the sight. The city was
tumultuously attacked, and the besiegers entering, not by dint of
bravery, but of superior numbers, it was given up to all the horrors
which follow when Victory, Brutality, and Licentiousness are linked
together. Every evil passion was allowed to revel with impunity, and
revenge, lust, and avarice,--each had its hundred victims in unhappy
Semlin. Any maniac can kindle a conflagration, but it requires many
wise men to put it out. Peter the Hermit had blown the popular fury
into a flame, but to cool it again was beyond his power. His followers
rioted unrestrained, until the fear of retaliation warned them to
desist. When the King of Hungary was informed of the disasters of
Semlin, he marched with a sufficient force to chastise the Hermit, who
at the news broke up his camp and retreated towards the Morava, a broad
and rapid stream that joins the Danube a few miles to the eastward of
Belgrade. Here a party of indignant Bulgarians awaited him, and so
harassed him as to make the passage of the river a task both of
difficulty and danger. Great numbers of his infatuated followers
perished in the waters, and many fell under the swords of the
Bulgarians. The ancient chronicles do not mention the amount of the
Hermit's loss at this passage, but represent it in general terms as
very great.

At Nissa the Duke of Bulgaria fortified himself, in fear of an assault;
but Peter, having learned a little wisdom from experience, thought it
best to avoid hostilities. He passed three nights in quietness under
the walls, and the duke, not wishing to exasperate unnecessarily so
fierce and rapacious a host, allowed the townspeople to supply them
with provisions. Peter took his departure peaceably on the following
morning, but some German vagabonds falling behind the main body of the
army, set fire to the mills and house of a Bulgarian, with whom, it
appears, they had had some dispute on the previous evening. The
citize