LVI. " and educated in the arts and manners, of this CHAP. "fortunate ifle, departed long fince to enrich "the Barbarians with our treafures, and now "returns with her favage allies, to contaminate "the beauties of her venerable parent. Already "I behold the fwarms of angry Barbarians: our " opulent cities, the places flourishing in a long peace, are fhaken with fear, defolated by "flaughter, confumed by rapine, and polluted by intemperance and luft. I fee the maffacre "or captivity of our citizens, the rapes of our virgins and matrons 29. In this extremity (he "interrogates a friend) how muft the Sicilians "act? By the unanimous election of a king "of valour and experience, Sicily and Calabria "might yet be preferved 30; for in the levity "of the Apulians, ever eager for new revolutions, "I can repofe neither confidence nor hope 13. "Should Calabria be loft, the lofty towers, the "numerous youth, and the naval strength, of 131 129 Conftantia, primis a cunabulis in deliciarum tuarum affluentiâ diutius educata, tuifque inftitutis, doctrinis et moribus informata, tandem opibus tuis Barbaros delatura difceffit: et nunc cum ingentibus copiis revertitur, ut pulcherrima nutricis ornamenta barbaricâ fœditate contaminet. . . . . . Intueri mihi jam videor turbulentas barbarorum acies.... civitates opulentas et loca diuturnâ pace florentia, metû concutere,cæde vaftare, rapinis atterere, et fœdare luxuriâ: hinc cives aut gladiis intercepti, aut servitute depreffi, virgines conftupratæ, matronæ, &c. ..... 130 Certe fi regem non dubiæ virtutis elegerint, nec a Saracenis Chriftiani diffentiant, poterit rex creatus rebus licet quafi defperatis et perditis fubvenire, et incurfus hoftium, fi prudenter egerit, propulfare. 131 In Apulis, qui, femper novitate gaudentes, novarum rerum ftudiis aguntur, nihil arbitror fpei aut fiduciæ reponendum. LVI. 66 CHAP. "Meffina "3, might guard the paffage against a foreign invader. If the favage Germans co"alefce with the pirates of Meffina; if they de ftroy with fire the fruitful region, fo often "wafted by the fires of mount Etna 133, what refource will be left for the interior parts of "the island, thefe noble cities which fhould never "be violated by the hoftile footsteps of a Barba"rian 134? Catana has again been overwhelmed by an earthquake: the ancient virtue of Syra"cufe expires in poverty and folitude 35; but "Palermo is ftill crowned with a diadem, and "her triple walls inclofe the active multitudes of Chriftians and Saracens, If the two nations, "under one king, can unite for their common ἐσ fafety, they may rush on the Barbarians with invincible arms. But if the Saracens, fatigued by a repetition of injuries, fhould now retire ❝and rebel; if they fhould occupy the caftles of "the mountains and fea-coaft, the unfortunate "Chriftians, expofed to a double attack, and "placed as it were between the hammer and the anvil, muft refign themselves to hopeless and muro 132 Si civium tuorum virtutem et audaciam attendas, rum etiam ambitum denfis turribus circumfeptum. -.333 Cum crudelitate piraticâ Theutonum confligat atrocitas, et inter ambuftos lapides, et Ethnæ flagrantis incendia, &c. 134 Eam partem, quam nobiliffimarum civitatum fulgor illuftrat, quæ et toti regno fingulari meruit privilegio præminere, nefarium effet.... vel barbarorum ingreffû pollui. I wish to transcribe his florid, but curious, description of the palace, city, and luxuriant plain of Palermo. 135 Vires non fuppetunt, et conatus tuos tam inopia civium, quam paucitas bellatorum elidunt. 136 99 LVI. « inevitable fervitude "3." We must not forget, CHAP. that a priest here prefers his country to his religion; and that the Moflems, whofe alliance he feeks, were still numerous and powerful in the ftate of Sicily. of the of Sicily by the em peror Henry VI. A. D. 1194 The hopes, or at least the wishes, of Falcandus, Conquest were at first gratified by the free and unanimous. kingdom election of Tancred, the grandfon of the first king, whose birth was illegitimate, but whofe civil and military virtues fhone without a blemish. During four years, the term of his life and reign, he stood in arms on the fartheft verge of the Apulian frontier, against the powers of Germany; and the reftitution of a royal captive, of Conftantia herself, without injury or ranfom, may appear to furpass the most liberal measure of policy or reafon. After his decease, the kingdom of his widow and infant fon fell without a ftruggle; and Henry purfued his victorious march from Capua to Palermo. The political balance of Italy was deftroyed by his fuccefs; and if the pope and the free cities had confulted their obvious and real intereft, they would have combined the powers of 136 At vero, quia difficile eft Christianos in tanto rerum turbine, fublato regis timore Saracenos non opprimere, fi Saraceni injuriis fatigati ab eis cœperint diffidere, et caftella forte maritima vel montanas munitiones occupaverint ; ut hinc cum Theutonicis fummâ virtute pugnandum illinc Saracenis crebris infultibus occurrendum, quid putas acturi funt Siculi inter has depreffi anguftias, et velut inter malleum et incudem multo cum difcrimine conftituti? hoc utique agent quod poterunt, ut fe Barbaris miferabili conditione dedentes, in eorum fe conferant poteftatem. O utinam plebis et procerum, Chriftianorum et Saracenorum vota conveniant; ut regem fibi concorditer eligentes, barbaros totis viribus, toto conanime, totifque defideriis proturbare contendant. The Normans and Sicilians appear to be confounded. earth LVI. CHAP. earth and heaven to prevent the dangerous union of the German empire with the kingdom of Sicily. But the subtle policy, for which the Vatican has fo often been praised or arraigned, was on this occafion blind and inactive; and if it were true that Celestine the third had kicked away the Imperial crown from the head of the proftrate Henry "37, fuch an act of impotent pride could ferve only to cancel an obligation and provoke an enemy. The Genoefe, who enjoyed a beneficial trade and establishment in Sicily, liftened to the promise of his boundless gratitude and speedy departure 3: their fleet commanded the ftreights of Meffina, and opened the harbour of Palermo ; and the first act of his government was to abolish the privileges, and to feize the property, of these imprudent allies. The laft hope of Falcandus was defeated by the difcord of the Chriftians and Mahometans: they fought in the capital; feveral thousand of the latter were flain; but their furviving brethren fortified the mountains, and difturbed above thirty years the peace of the island. By the policy of Frederic the fecond, fixty thoufand Saracens were tranfplanted to Nocera in Apulia. In their wars against the Roman church, the emperor and his fon Mainfroy were ftrength 137 The teftimony of an Englishman, of Roger de Hoveden (p. 689.), will lightly weigh against the filence of German and Italian hiftory (Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. x. p. 156.). The priefts and pilgrims, who returned from Rome, exalted, by every tale, the omnipotence of the holy father. 138 Ego enim in eo cum Teutonicis manere non debeo (Caffari, Annal. Genuenfes, in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. vi. p. 367, 368.). ened LVI. ened and disgraced by the fervice of the enemies CHAP. 139 For the Saracens of Sicily and Nocera, see the Annals of Muratori (tom. x. p. 149. and A. D. 1223. 1247), Giannone (tom. ii. p. 385.), and of the originals, in Muratori's Collection, Richard de St. Germano (tom. vii. p. 996.), Matteo Spinelli de Giovenazzo (tom. vii. p. 1064.), Nicholas de Jamfilla (tom. x. p. 494.), and Matteo Villani (tom. xiv. 1. vii. p. 103.). The last of these infinuates, that in reducing the Saracens of Nocera, Charles II. of Anjou employed rather artifice than violence. 140 Muratori quotes a paffage from Arnold of Lubec (1. iv. c. 20.): Reperit thefauros abfconditos, et omnem lapidum pretioforum et gemmarum gloriam, ita ut oneratis 160 fomariis, gloriofe ad terram fuam redierit. Roger de Hoveden, who mentions the violation of the royal tomb and corpfes, computes the fpoil of Salerno at 200,000 ounces of gold (p. 746.). On thefe occafions, I am almost tempted to exclaim with the liftening maid in La Fontaine," Je "voudrois bien avoir ce qui manque.” Norman |