hould Calabria be lost, the lofty towers,
the numerous youth, and the naval strength, of Messina, might guard the
passage against a foreign invader. If the savage Germans coalesce with
the pirates of Messina; if they destroy with fire the fruitful region,
so often wasted by the fires of Mount AEtna, what resource will be left
for the interior parts of the island, these noble cities which should
never be violated by the hostile footsteps of a Barbarian? Catana has
again been overwhelmed by an earthquake: the ancient virtue of Syracuse
expires in poverty and solitude; but Palermo is still crowned with a
diadem, and her triple walls enclose the active multitudes of Christians
and Saracens. If the two nations, under one king, can unite for their
common safety, they may rush on the Barbarians with invincible arms. But
if the Saracens, fatigued by a repetition of injuries, should now
retire and rebel; if they should occupy the castles of the mountains and
sea-coast, the unfortunate Christians, exposed to a double attack,
and placed as it were between the hammer and the anvil, must resign
themselves to hopeless and inevitable servitude." We must not forget,
that a priest here prefers his country to his religion; and that the
Moslems, whose alliance he seeks, were still numerous and powerful in
the state of Sicily.

The hopes, or at least the wishes, of Falcandus were at first gratified
by the free and unanimous election of Tancred, the grandson of the first
king, whose birth was illegitimate, but whose civil and military virtues
shone without a blemish. During four years, the term of his life and
reign, he stood in arms on the farthest verge of the Apulian frontier,
against the powers of Germany; and the restitution of a royal captive,
of Constantia herself, without injury or ransom, may appear to surpass
the most liberal measure of policy or reason. After his decease, the
kingdom of his widow and infant son fell without a struggle; and Henry
pursued his victorious march from Capua to Palermo. The political
balance of Italy was destroyed by his success; and if the pope and the
free cities had consulted their obvious and real interest, they would
have combined the powers of earth and heaven to prevent the dangerous
union of the German empire with the kingdom of Sicily. But the subtle
policy, for which the Vatican has so often been praised or arraigned,
was on this occasion blind and inactive; and if it were true that
Celestine