;
but, instead of traversing the hills of Epirus, he turned his arms
against Greece and the islands, where the spoils would repay the labor,
and where the land and sea forces might pursue their joint operations
with vigor and effect. But, in the Isle of Cephalonia, his projects
were fatally blasted by an epidemical disease: Robert himself, in the
seventieth year of his age, expired in his tent; and a suspicion of
poison was imputed, by public rumor, to his wife, or to the Greek
emperor. This premature death might allow a boundless scope for the
imagination of his future exploits; and the event sufficiently
declares, that the Norman greatness was founded on his life. Without
the appearance of an enemy, a victorious army dispersed or retreated
in disorder and consternation; and Alexius, who had trembled for his
empire, rejoiced in his deliverance. The galley which transported the
remains of Guiscard was ship-wrecked on the Italian shore; but the
duke's body was recovered from the sea, and deposited in the sepulchre
of Venusia, a place more illustrious for the birth of Horace than for
the burial of the Norman heroes. Roger, his second son and successor,
immediately sunk to the humble station of a duke of Apulia: the esteem
or partiality of his father left the valiant Bohemond to the inheritance
of his sword. The national tranquillity was disturbed by his claims,
till the first crusade against the infidels of the East opened a more
splendid field of glory and conquest.

Of human life, the most glorious or humble prospects are alike and
soon bounded by the sepulchre. The male line of Robert Guiscard was
extinguished, both in Apulia and at Antioch, in the second generation;
but his younger brother became the father of a line of kings; and the
son of the great count was endowed with the name, the conquests, and the
spirit, of the first Roger. The heir of that Norman adventurer was
born in Sicily; and, at the age of only four years, he succeeded to
the sovereignty of the island, a lot which reason might envy, could she
indulge for a moment the visionary, though virtuous wish of dominion.
Had Roger been content with his fruitful patrimony, a happy and grateful
people might have blessed their benefactor; and if a wise administration
could have restored the prosperous times of the Greek colonies, the
opulence and power of Sicily alone might have equalled the widest
scope that could be acquired and desolated by the sword of war. Bu