the freedom of his peers, and the counts
to obey the authority of their leader. The son of Guiscard trod in the
footsteps of his father; and the two destroyers are compared, by the
Greeks, to the caterpillar and the locust, the last of whom devours
whatever has escaped the teeth of the former. After winning two battles
against the emperor, he descended into the plain of Thessaly, and
besieged Larissa, the fabulous realm of Achilles, which contained the
treasure and magazines of the Byzantine camp. Yet a just praise must
not be refused to the fortitude and prudence of Alexius, who bravely
struggled with the calamities of the times. In the poverty of the state,
he presumed to borrow the superfluous ornaments of the churches: the
desertion of the Manichaeans was supplied by some tribes of Moldavia: a
reenforcement of seven thousand Turks replaced and revenged the loss of
their brethren; and the Greek soldiers were exercised to ride, to draw
the bow, and to the daily practice of ambuscades and evolutions. Alexius
had been taught by experience, that the formidable cavalry of the
Franks on foot was unfit for action, and almost incapable of motion; his
archers were directed to aim their arrows at the horse rather than the
man; and a variety of spikes and snares were scattered over the ground
on which he might expect an attack. In the neighborhood of Larissa the
events of war were protracted and balanced. The courage of Bohemond was
always conspicuous, and often successful; but his camp was pillaged by
a stratagem of the Greeks; the city was impregnable; and the venal or
discontented counts deserted his standard, betrayed their trusts,
and enlisted in the service of the emperor. Alexius returned to
Constantinople with the advantage, rather than the honor, of victory.
After evacuating the conquests which he could no longer defend, the
son of Guiscard embarked for Italy, and was embraced by a father who
esteemed his merit, and sympathized in his misfortune.

Chapter LVI: The Saracens, The Franks And The Normans.--Part IV.

Of the Latin princes, the allies of Alexius and enemies of Robert, the
most prompt and powerful was Henry the Third or Fourth, king of Germany
and Italy, and future emperor of the West. The epistle of the Greek
monarch to his brother is filled with the warmest professions of
friendship, and the most lively desire of strengthening their alliance
by every public and private tie. He congratulates Henry on hi