volume one

HISTOET OF THE CHUSAEES. 447
Greeks, and were of service to the Germans ; for Frederick,
after having put the troops of Isaac to flight, took every
advantage of his victory. Isaac, constantly intoxicated by
the incense of his courtiers, and seduced by the promises of
the monks, only replied to the victories of Frederick by
letters full of haughtiness and menaces ; he refused to
acknowledge him as emperor, and could see nothing but a
vassal in a prince Avho was marching in triumph towards his
capital. Whilst his subjects were from ail parts Hying before
the Germans, he gave himself in his letters the titles of onost
suhlime, most powerful emperor, the angel of the ivhole earth ;
and caused the ambassadors of Frederick to be imprisoned.
The patriarch of Constantinople preached, by his orders, in
the church of St. Sophia, the mm-der of the Latins.
Nevertheless, terror at length took possession of the heart
of Isaac, and from that moment this prince altered the tone
of his language, and became the most humble of suppKants.
Frederick was now for him, the most virtuous emperor of the
Germans, and he voluntarily granted him much more than
he had before refused him. After having required hostages,
he himself gave them, and fed during several months an
army he had sworn to destroy. He endured without a
murmur the violences which the Crusaders committed in
their passage,- and treated an army that laid waste his provinces
as if they had saved his empire. The emperor of
Germany received magnificent presents, and all the vessels
of the Greek navy were employed in transporting the
Crusaders into Asia.
The Germans embarked at GaUipoli, and crossed the
Hellespont. The sight, of the coasts of Asia, and the easy
victories they had obtained over the Greeks, made them
forget the obstacles and dangers of a long and painful
march. They saw nothing in the regions they were about
to traverse but laurels to be gathered and kingdoms to be
destroyed or founded ;
prospect disappeared.
but it was not long ere this brilliant
"Whilst they remained in the terri-
tories of Isaac, they had to suffer from the perfidy of the
Greeks ; and when they arrived among the Turks, they had
fresh enemies to contend with. The sultan of Iconium, who
had been as liberal of his promises as the emperor of Constantinople,
did not prove at aU more faithful to his word.