odern
appellation) to the siege of Durazzo. That city, the western key of the
empire, was guarded by ancient renown, and recent fortifications, by
George Palaeologus, a patrician, victorious in the Oriental wars, and a
numerous garrison of Albanians and Macedonians, who, in every age,
have maintained the character of soldiers. In the prosecution of his
enterprise, the courage of Guiscard was assailed by every form of danger
and mischance. In the most propitious season of the year, as his fleet
passed along the coast, a storm of wind and snow unexpectedly arose:
the Adriatic was swelled by the raging blast of the south, and a new
shipwreck confirmed the old infamy of the Acroceraunian rocks. [67] The
sails, the masts, and the oars, were shattered or torn away; the sea
and shore were covered with the fragments of vessels, with arms and dead
bodies; and the greatest part of the provisions were either drowned or
damaged. The ducal galley was laboriously rescued from the waves, and
Robert halted seven days on the adjacent cape, to collect the relics of
his loss, and revive the drooping spirits of his soldiers. The Normans
were no longer the bold and experienced mariners who had explored the
ocean from Greenland to Mount Atlas, and who smiled at the petty dangers
of the Mediterranean. They had wept during the tempest; they were
alarmed by the hostile approach of the Venetians, who had been solicited
by the prayers and promises of the Byzantine court. The first day's
action was not disadvantageous to Bohemond, a beardless youth, [68]
who led the naval powers of his father. All night the galleys of the
republic lay on their anchors in the form of a crescent; and the victory
of the second day was decided by the dexterity of their evolutions, the
station of their archers, the weight of their javelins, and the borrowed
aid of the Greek fire. The Apulian and Ragusian vessels fled to the
shore, several were cut from their cables, and dragged away by the
conqueror; and a sally from the town carried slaughter and dismay to the
tents of the Norman duke. A seasonable relief was poured into Durazzo,
and as soon as the besiegers had lost the command of the sea, the
islands and maritime towns withdrew from the camp the supply of tribute
and provision. That camp was soon afflicted with a pestilential disease;
five hundred knights perished by an inglorious death; and the list of
burials (if all could obtain a decent burial) amounted to ten tho