he ruler of the Roman empire, (l. iv. p. 274.)]

[Footnote 86: The narrative of Malaterra (l. iii. c. 37, p. 587, 588) is
authentic, circumstantial, and fair. Dux ignem exclamans urbe incensa,
&c. The Apulian softens the mischief, (inde quibusdam aedibus exustis,)
which is again exaggerated in some partial chronicles, (Muratori,
Annali, tom. ix. p. 147.)]

[Footnote 87: After mentioning this devastation, the Jesuit Donatus
(de Roma veteri et nova, l. iv. c. 8, p. 489) prettily adds, Duraret
hodieque in Coelio monte, interque ipsum et capitolium, miserabilis
facies prostrates urbis, nisi in hortorum vinetorumque amoenitatem
Roma resurrexisset, ut perpetua viriditate contegeret vulnera et ruinas
suas.]

The deliverer and scourge of Rome might have indulged himself in a
season of repose; but in the same year of the flight of the German
emperor, the indefatigable Robert resumed the design of his eastern
conquests. The zeal or gratitude of Gregory had promised to his valor
the kingdoms of Greece and Asia; [88] his troops were assembled in
arms, flushed with success, and eager for action. Their numbers, in the
language of Homer, are compared by Anna to a swarm of bees; [89] yet the
utmost and moderate limits of the powers of Guiscard have been already
defined; they were contained on this second occasion in one hundred
and twenty vessels; and as the season was far advanced, the harbor of
Brundusium [90] was preferred to the open road of Otranto. Alexius,
apprehensive of a second attack, had assiduously labored to restore the
naval forces of the empire; and obtained from the republic of Venice an
important succor of thirty-six transports, fourteen galleys, and
nine galiots or ships of extra-ordinary strength and magnitude. Their
services were liberally paid by the license or monopoly of trade, a
profitable gift of many shops and houses in the port of Constantinople,
and a tribute to St. Mark, the more acceptable, as it was the produce
of a tax on their rivals at Amalphi. By the union of the Greeks and
Venetians, the Adriatic was covered with a hostile fleet; but their
own neglect, or the vigilance of Robert, the change of a wind, or the
shelter of a mist, opened a free passage; and the Norman troops were
safely disembarked on the coast of Epirus. With twenty strong and
well-appointed galleys, their intrepid duke immediately sought the
enemy, and though more accustomed to fight on horseback, he trusted his
own life, and the l