Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/223

OF THE EOMAN EMPIEE 201 more numerous than his own. A multitude of Italians had been the victims of their own fears ; but only thirty of his knights were slain in this memorable day. In the Roman host, the loss of Greeks, Turks, and English amounted to five or six thousand : ^* the plain of Durazzo was stained with noble and royal blood ; and the end of the impostor Michael was more honourable than his life. It is more than probable that Guiscard was not afflicted by Eurazzo t"^keii A D the loss of a costly pageant, which had merited only the con- ios2, Feb. 8 ' tempt and derision of the Greeks. After their defeat, they still persevered in the defence of Durazzo ; and a Venetian commander supplied the place of George Palaeologus, who had been im- prudently called away from his station. The tents of the be- siegers were converted into barracks, to sustain the inclemency of the winter ; and in answer to the defiance of the garrison Eobert insinuated that his patience was at least equal to their obstinacy.-'^ Perhaps he already trusted to his secret correspond- ence with a Venetian noble, who sold the city for a rich and honourable marriage. At the dead of night several rope-ladders were dropped from the walls ; the light Calabrians ascended in silence ; and the Greeks were awakened by the name and trumpets of the conqueror. Yet they defended the street three days against an enemy already master of the rampart ; and near seven months elapsed between the first investment and the final surrender of the place. From Durazzo the Norman duke ad- vanced into the heart of Epirus or Albania ; traversed the first mountains of Thessaly ; surprised three hundred English in the city of Castoria ; approached Thessalonica ; and made Constan- tinople tremble. A more pressing duty suspended the prosecu- tion of his ambitious designs. By shipwreck, pestilence, and the sword, his army was reduced to a third of the original numbers ; and, instead of being recruited from Italy, he was in- formed, by plaintive epistles, of the mischiefs and dangers which had been produced by his absence : the revolt of the cities and barons of Apulia ; the distress of the pope ; and the approach or invasion of Henry king of Germany. Highly presuming that '••'Lupus Protospata (torn. iii. p. 45) says 6000; William the Apulian more than 5000 (1. iv. p. 273). Their modesty is singular and laudable : they might with so little trouble have slain two or three myriads of schismaties and infidels ! "5 The Romans had changed the inauspicious name of Epi-damm/s to Dyrra- chiuni (Plin. iii. 26), and the vulgar corruption of Duracium (see Malaterra) bore some affinity to liardness. One of Robert's names was Durand, a diirainio : Poor wit ! (Alberic. Monach. in Chron. apud Muratori, Annali d' Italia, torn. i.. p. 137).