,
it was only to praise the valor that he had displayed, and the glory
that he had acquired, in the fields of Durazzo and Larissa. The son of
Guiscard was lodged and entertained, and served with Imperial pomp:
one day, as he passed through the gallery of the palace, a door was
carelessly left open to expose a pile of gold and silver, of silk and
gems, of curious and costly furniture, that was heaped, in seeming
disorder, from the floor to the roof of the chamber. "What conquests,"
exclaimed the ambitious miser, "might not be achieved by the possession
of such a treasure!"--"It is your own," replied a Greek attendant, who
watched the motions of his soul; and Bohemond, after some hesitation,
condescended to accept this magnificent present. The Norman was
flattered by the assurance of an independent principality; and Alexius
eluded, rather than denied, his daring demand of the office of great
domestic, or general of the East. The two Roberts, the son of the
conqueror of England, and the kinsmen of three queens, bowed in their
turn before the Byzantine throne. A private letter of Stephen of
Chartres attests his admiration of the emperor, the most excellent and
liberal of men, who taught him to believe that he was a favorite, and
promised to educate and establish his youngest son. In his southern
province, the count of St. Giles and Thoulouse faintly recognized
the supremacy of the king of France, a prince of a foreign nation and
language. At the head of a hundred thousand men, he declared that he
was the soldier and servant of Christ alone, and that the Greek might be
satisfied with an equal treaty of alliance and friendship. His obstinate
resistance enhanced the value and the price of his submission; and he
shone, says the princess Anne, among the Barbarians, as the sun amidst
the stars of heaven. His disgust of the noise and insolence of the
French, his suspicions of the designs of Bohemond, the emperor imparted
to his faithful Raymond; and that aged statesman might clearly discern,
that however false in friendship, he was sincere in his enmity. The
spirit of chivalry was last subdued in the person of Tancred; and
none could deem themselves dishonored by the imitation of that gallant
knight. He disdained the gold and flattery of the Greek monarch;
assaulted in his presence an insolent patrician; escaped to Asia in the
habit of a private soldier; and yielded with a sigh to the authority
of Bohemond, and the interest of the