Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/298

276 THE DECLINE AND FALL revived by the hospitable entertainment than their venom was again inflamed; they stung their benefactor, and neither gardens nor palaces nor churches ^^^ were safe from their depredations. For his own safety, Alexius allured them to pass over to the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus; but their blind impetuosity soon urged them to desert the station which he had assigned/ib and to rush headlong against the Turks, who occupied the road of Jerusalem. The hermit, conscious of his shame, had with- drawn from the camp to Constantinople; and his lieutenant, ^Kl1?f] Walter the Pennyless, who was worthy of a better command, attempted, without success, to introduce some order and pru- dence among the herd of savages. They separated in quest of prej^ and themselves fell an easy prey to the arts of the Sultan. By a rumour that their foremost companions were rioting in the spoils of his capital, Soliman tempted the main body to descend into the plain of Nice; they were overwhelmed by the Turkish arrows; and a pyramid of bones *" mformed their companions of the place of their defeat. Of the first crusaders, three hundred thousand had already perished, before a single city was rescued from the infidels, before their graver and more noble brethren had completed the preparations of their enterprise.*^ «a [In the suburbs; they were not admitted into the city.] «b [Their station was Nicomedia and its neighbourhood (Gesta Fr. ii. 4). including Civetot (Albert, i. 16; Gesta Fr. ii. 8) and Helenopohs (Anna, x. 6).J 42 Anna Comnena (Alexias, 1. x. p. 287 [c. 6]) describes this oori^ koAo..^? as a mountain, i,*,,Abr ^^l fidSo^ Ka nKdro^ iiioKoyi^jrajoi' [a^okaf^Payov]- in the Siege OI Nice such were used by the Franks themselves as the materials of a wall. [It was near 'the river Dracon, which had been fixed as the boundary between the Empire and Rum.] 43 [See table on opposite page.] [leu. KiliJ Arslan]