the Istoria
Civile of Giannone.]

Chapter LXII: Greek Emperors Of Nice And Constantinople.--Part III.

I shall not, I trust, be accused of superstition; but I must remark
that, even in this world, the natural order of events will sometimes
afford the strong appearances of moral retribution. The first Palaeologus
had saved his empire by involving the kingdoms of the West in rebellion
and blood; and from these scenes of discord uprose a generation of iron
men, who assaulted and endangered the empire of his son. In modern times
our debts and taxes are the secret poison which still corrodes the bosom
of peace: but in the weak and disorderly government of the middle ages,
it was agitated by the present evil of the disbanded armies. Too idle
to work, too proud to beg, the mercenaries were accustomed to a life of
rapine: they could rob with more dignity and effect under a banner and
a chief; and the sovereign, to whom their service was useless, and
their presence importunate, endeavored to discharge the torrent on some
neighboring countries. After the peace of Sicily, many thousands of
Genoese, _Catalans_, [47] &c., who had fought, by sea and land, under
the standard of Anjou or Arragon, were blended into one nation by the
resemblance of their manners and interest. They heard that the Greek
provinces of Asia were invaded by the Turks: they resolved to share the
harvest of pay and plunder: and Frederic king of Sicily most liberally
contributed the means of their departure. In a warfare of twenty years,
a ship, or a camp, was become their country; arms were their sole
profession and property; valor was the only virtue which they knew;
their women had imbibed the fearless temper of their lovers and
husbands: it was reported, that, with a stroke of their broadsword, the
Catalans could cleave a horseman and a horse; and the report itself
was a powerful weapon. Roger de Flor [477] was the most popular of their
chiefs; and his personal merit overshadowed the dignity of his prouder
rivals of Arragon. The offspring of a marriage between a German
gentleman of the court of Frederic the Second and a damsel of Brindisi,
Roger was successively a templar, an apostate, a pirate, and at length
the richest and most powerful admiral of the Mediterranean. He sailed
from Messina to Constantinople, with eighteen galleys, four great
ships, and eight thousand adventurers; [478] and his previous treaty was
faithfully accomplished by Andronicus