volume one

IlISTOKY or THE CllUSADES. 95
advice to tlie daring warrior. "If joii waited then," said
he, " without meeting enemies, you are now going where
you v^'ill find enough to satisfy you. But do not put yourself
either at the head or the tail of the army ; remain in the
centre. I have learnt how to fight with the Tiu'ks ; and
that is the best place you can choose."
The "pohcy of the emperor, however, was not without
efifect. The pride of a great number of the counts and
barons was not proof against his caresses and his presents.
There stiU exists a letter which Stephen of Blois addressed
to Adela his wife, in which he felicitates himself on the
welcome he had received at the court of Byzantium. After
having described all the honours with which he had been
received, he exclaims, whilst speaking of Alexis, " Truly,
there is not at this time such a man beneath the heavens !"
Bohemond could not have been less struck with the liberality
of the emperor. At the sight of an apartment filled with
riches, "There is here," said he, " enough to conquer kingdoms
with." Alexis immediately ordered these treasures to
be conveyed to the tent of the ambitious Bohemond, who at
first refused them with a kind of modesty, and finished by
accepting them with joy. He went so far as to demand the
title of grand domestic or of general of the empire of the
East. Alexis, who had himself held that dignity, and who
knew that it was the road to the throne, had the coiu-age to
refuse him, and contented himself with promising the office
to the future services of the prince of Tarentum.
Thus the promises of the emperor retained for a short
period the Latin princes under his laws. By his skilfully-distributed
favours and flatteries he created a spirit of jealousy
among the leaders of the crusade, ^Raymond de St. Grilles
declared himself against Bohemond, whose projects he
revealed to Alexis ; and whilst this prince debased himself
thus before a foreign monarch, the courtiers of Byzantium
repeated with warmth, that he excelled all the other chiefs
of the crusade, as the sun excels the stars.
The Franks, so dreaded in the field of battle, were powerless
against the skill and address of Alexis, and could not
sustain their advantage amidst the intrigues of a dissolute
court. An abode at Byzantium might become otherv\'ise
dangerous for the Crusaders ; the spectacle of the luxury of