[114] The situation
and trade of Ancona rendered it an important garrison in the heart
of Italy: it was twice besieged by the arms of Frederic; the imperial
forces were twice repulsed by the spirit of freedom; that spirit was
animated by the ambassador of Constantinople; and the most intrepid
patriots, the most faithful servants, were rewarded by the wealth and
honors of the Byzantine court. [115] The pride of Manuel disdained and
rejected a Barbarian colleague; his ambition was excited by the hope of
stripping the purple from the German usurpers, and of establishing,
in the West, as in the East, his lawful title of sole emperor of the
Romans. With this view, he solicited the alliance of the people and the
bishop of Rome. Several of the nobles embraced the cause of the Greek
monarch; the splendid nuptials of his niece with Odo Frangipani secured
the support of that powerful family, [116] and his royal standard or
image was entertained with due reverence in the ancient metropolis.
[117] During the quarrel between Frederic and Alexander the Third, the
pope twice received in the Vatican the ambassadors of Constantinople.
They flattered his piety by the long-promised union of the two churches,
tempted the avarice of his venal court, and exhorted the Roman pontiff
to seize the just provocation, the favorable moment, to humble
the savage insolence of the Alemanni and to acknowledge the true
representative of Constantine and Augustus. [118]

[Footnote 112: For the invasion of Italy, which is almost overlooked by
Nicetas see the more polite history of Cinnamus, (l. iv. c. 1-15, p.
78-101,) who introduces a diffuse narrative by a lofty profession, iii.
5.]

[Footnote 113: The Latin, Otho, (de Gestis Frederici I. l. ii. c. 30,
p. 734,) attests the forgery; the Greek, Cinnamus, (l. iv. c. 1, p.
78,) claims a promise of restitution from Conrad and Frederic. An act of
fraud is always credible when it is told of the Greeks.]

[Footnote 114: Quod Ancontiani Graecum imperium nimis diligerent ...
Veneti speciali odio Anconam oderunt. The cause of love, perhaps of
envy, were the beneficia, flumen aureum of the emperor; and the Latin
narrative is confirmed by Cinnamus, (l. iv. c. 14, p. 98.)]

[Footnote 115: Muratori mentions the two sieges of Ancona; the first,
in 1167, against Frederic I. in person (Annali, tom. x. p. 39, &c.;) the
second, in 1173, against his lieutenant Christian, archbishop of Mentz,
a man unworthy of his name an