guor and fatigue, intercept and vanish the three most powerful
emirs of the Saracens? and did not their defeat precipitate the fall
of the city? Bari is now fallen; Tarentum trembles; Calabria will be
delivered; and, if we command the sea, the Island of Sicily may be
rescued from the hands of the infidels. My brother," accelerate (a
name most offensive to the vanity of the Greek,) "accelerate your naval
succors, respect your allies, and distrust your flatterers."

These lofty hopes were soon extinguished by the death of Lewis, and the
decay of the Carlovingian house; and whoever might deserve the honor,
the Greek emperors, Basil, and his son Leo, secured the advantage, of
the reduction of Bari The Italians of Apulia and Calabria were persuaded
or compelled to acknowledge their supremacy, and an ideal line from
Mount Garganus to the Bay of Salerno, leaves the far greater part of the
kingdom of Naples under the dominion of the Eastern empire. Beyond
that line, the dukes or republics of Amalfi and Naples, who had never
forfeited their voluntary allegiance, rejoiced in the neighborhood of
their lawful sovereign; and Amalfi was enriched by supplying Europe
with the produce and manufactures of Asia. But the Lombard princes of
Benevento, Salerno, and Capua, were reluctantly torn from the communion
of the Latin world, and too often violated their oaths of servitude and
tribute. The city of Bari rose to dignity and wealth, as the metropolis
of the new theme or province of Lombardy: the title of patrician, and
afterwards the singular name of _Catapan_, was assigned to the supreme
governor; and the policy both of the church and state was modelled in
exact subordination to the throne of Constantinople. As long as the
sceptre was disputed by the princes of Italy, their efforts were feeble
and adverse; and the Greeks resisted or eluded the forces of Germany,
which descended from the Alps under the Imperial standard of the
Othos. The first and greatest of those Saxon princes was compelled to
relinquish the siege of Bari: the second, after the loss of his stoutest
bishops and barons, escaped with honor from the bloody field of Crotona.
On that day the scale of war was turned against the Franks by the valor
of the Saracens. These corsairs had indeed been driven by the Byzantine
fleets from the fortresses and coasts of Italy; but a sense of interest
was more prevalent than superstition or resentment, and the caliph of
Egypt had transporte