ited a moderate succor,
perhaps of ten thousand soldiers, but he was astonished by the approach
of so many potent chiefs and fanatic nations. The emperor fluctuated
between hope and fear, between timidity and courage; but in the crooked
policy which he mistook for wisdom, I cannot believe, I cannot discern,
that he maliciously conspired against the life or honor of the French
heroes. The promiscuous multitudes of Peter the Hermit were savage
beasts, alike destitute of humanity and reason: nor was it possible for
Alexius to prevent or deplore their destruction. The troops of Godfrey
and his peers were less contemptible, but not less suspicious, to the
Greek emperor. Their motives _might_ be pure and pious: but he was
equally alarmed by his knowledge of the ambitious Bohemond, and his
ignorance of the Transalpine chiefs: the courage of the French was
blind and headstrong; they might be tempted by the luxury and wealth of
Greece, and elated by the view and opinion of their invincible strength:
and Jerusalem might be forgotten in the prospect of Constantinople.
After a long march and painful abstinence, the troops of Godfrey
encamped in the plains of Thrace; they heard with indignation, that
their brother, the count of Vermandois, was imprisoned by the Greeks;
and their reluctant duke was compelled to indulge them in some freedom
of retaliation and rapine. They were appeased by the submission of
Alexius: he promised to supply their camp; and as they refused, in the
midst of winter, to pass the Bosphorus, their quarters were assigned
among the gardens and palaces on the shores of that narrow sea. But an
incurable jealousy still rankled in the minds of the two nations, who
despised each other as slaves and Barbarians. Ignorance is the ground of
suspicion, and suspicion was inflamed into daily provocations: prejudice
is blind, hunger is deaf; and Alexius is accused of a design to starve
or assault the Latins in a dangerous post, on all sides encompassed with
the waters. Godfrey sounded his trumpets, burst the net, overspread the
plain, and insulted the suburbs; but the gates of Constantinople were
strongly fortified; the ramparts were lined with archers; and, after
a doubtful conflict, both parties listened to the voice of peace and
religion. The gifts and promises of the emperor insensibly soothed
the fierce spirit of the western strangers; as a Christian warrior, he
rekindled their zeal for the prosecution of their holy enterp