volume one

36
HISTOET OF THE CEUSADES.
try, and became zealots for a relic or for a sect. In war,
superstition pointed out to tlie Grreeks lucky and unlucky
davs, in ^Yllich a general ought or ought not to give battle
and as religion inspii-ed in them nothing beyond an apathetic
resio-nation in reverses, they consoled themselves for the
loss of provmces by accusing their inhabitants of heresy.
Among the Greeks, stratagem and perfidy were decorated
•^-ith the name of policy, and received the same encomiums
as valour; they esteemed it as glorious to deceive their
enemies as to conquer tliem. Their soldiers were followed to
the seat of war by light chariots, which carried their arms; and
they had perfected every machine which could supply the place
of courage in either sieges or battles. Their armies displayed
great military pomp, but were deficient in soldiers. The
onlv thing they inherited from their ancestors was a turbu-
lent and seditious spirit, which mixed itself with their
effeminated manners, and was sure to break out when their
country was threatened with danger. Discord unceasingly
reigned among both the army and the people ; and they
continued madly to dispute the right to an empire whose
very existence was menaced, and blindly gave up its defence
to barbarians and strangers. In short, the corruption of the
Greeks was so great, that they could neither have endured
a good prince nor good laws. jS^icephorus Phocas, who had
formed the project of re-establishing discipline, died assas-
sinated. Zimisces had also paid with his life for his efforts
to rouse the Greeks from their pusillanimous degradation.
"Wlien the emperor Eomanus-Diogenes was made prisoner by
the Tui'ks, his misfortunes were the signal for a fresh revolt
against his person. Sent back ^ith honours by the sultan
of Persia, he met with nothing but executioners in an empire
he had endeavoured to defend, and died with misery and
despair in a desert island of the Propontis.
AVhilst the empne of the East approached near to its fall,
and appeared sapped by time and corruption, the institutions
of the AYest were in their infancy. The empire and the
laws of Charlemagne no longer existed. Xations had no
relations with each other, and mistaking their political
interests, made wars without considering their consequences
or their dangers, and concluded peace, without being at all
aware whether it was advantageous or not. Eoyal authority
;