ther trusted nor beloved: the
contempt of the princes was mixed with fear, and the fear of the natives
was mingled with hatred and resentment. Every object of desire, a
horse, a woman, a garden, tempted and gratified the rapaciousness of the
strangers; [29] and the avarice of their chiefs was only colored by
the more specious names of ambition and glory. The twelve counts were
sometimes joined in the league of injustice: in their domestic quarrels
they disputed the spoils of the people: the virtues of William were
buried in his grave; and Drogo, his brother and successor, was better
qualified to lead the valor, than to restrain the violence, of his
peers. Under the reign of Constantine Monomachus, the policy, rather
than benevolence, of the Byzantine court, attempted to relieve Italy
from this adherent mischief, more grievous than a flight of Barbarians;
[30] and Argyrus, the son of Melo, was invested for this purpose with
the most lofty titles [31] and the most ample commission. The memory
of his father might recommend him to the Normans; and he had already
engaged their voluntary service to quell the revolt of Maniaces, and to
avenge their own and the public injury. It was the design of Constantine
to transplant the warlike colony from the Italian provinces to the
Persian war; and the son of Melo distributed among the chiefs the gold
and manufactures of Greece, as the first-fruits of the Imperial bounty.
But his arts were baffled by the sense and spirit of the conquerors of
Apulia: his gifts, or at least his proposals, were rejected; and they
unanimously refused to relinquish their possessions and their hopes for
the distant prospect of Asiatic fortune. After the means of persuasion
had failed, Argyrus resolved to compel or to destroy: the Latin powers
were solicited against the common enemy; and an offensive alliance was
formed of the pope and the two emperors of the East and West. The throne
of St. Peter was occupied by Leo the Ninth, a simple saint, [32] of a
temper most apt to deceive himself and the world, and whose venerable
character would consecrate with the name of piety the measures least
compatible with the practice of religion. His humanity was affected by
the complaints, perhaps the calumnies, of an injured people: the impious
Normans had interrupted the payment of tithes; and the temporal sword
might be lawfully unsheathed against the sacrilegious robbers, who were
deaf to the censures of the church. As a