volume one

niSTOKT OF THE CRUSADES. 35
of the Greeks and Eg}^tians. It was an easy matter to
raise armies, to which were promised the spoils of the
enemies of the prophet and his k^gitimate vicar. All who
had not shared in the booty of preceding wars flocked to
the standards, and the wealth of Gfreece soon became the
prey of Turkish horsemen, who had but recently issued from
their deserts with A\-oollen caps and stirrups of M^ood. Of
all the hordes subject to the dynasty of Seldjouc, the troops
that mvaded Syria and Asia Minor were the poorest, the
most wild, and the most intrepid.
In the depth of their misery, the Greeks of the conquered
provinces scarcely dared to lift their eyes to the sovereigns
of Byzantium, who had not had the courage to defend tliem,
and therefore left them no hope that they would assist them
in their troubles. In the midst of revolutions and civil
wars, the Greek empire was hastening to its fall. Since
the reign of Heraclius, Constantinople had seen eleven of
its emperors put to death in their own palace. Six of these
masters of the world had terminated their days in the
obscurity of cloisters ; several had been mutilated, deprived
of sight, and sent mto exile ; the purple, stained and degraded
by so many revolutions, decorated only wicked and contemptible
princes, or men without character or virtue.
Theu' whole employment was their own personal safety;
and they were compelled to share their power with the
accomplices of their crimes, of whom they lived in a constant
state of dread. They frequently sacrillced cities and provinces,
to purchase from their enemies a few moments of
security, and aj^peared to have nothing to ask of fortune
beyond the existence of the empire during their own worth-
less Hves.
The Greeks still cherished great names and great remembrances,
of which they were proud, but which only served
to show their present weakness and degradation. In the
midst of the luxury of Asia and the monuments of Greece
and Bome, they were scarcely less barbarous than other
nations. In their tlieological disputes they had lost the
true spirit of the Evangelists ; among them everything
was corrupted, even religion. A universal bigotiy, says
Montesquieu, depressed their courage and paralyzed the
whole empire. They neglected the dangers of their coun-