Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/238

216 THE DECLINE AND FALL bishop of Rome. Several of the nobles embraced the cause of the Greek monarch ; the splendid nuptials of his niece with Odo Frangipani secured the support of that powerful family,!-^^ and his royal standard or image was entertained with due reverence in the ancient metropolis.^^ During the quarrel between Frederic and Alexander the Third, the pope twice received in the Vatican the ambassadors of Constantinople. They flattered his piety by the long-promised union of the two churches, tempted the avarice of his venal court, and exhorted the Roman pontiff to seize the just provocation, the favourable moment, to humble the savage insolence of the Alemanni, and to acknowledge the true representative of Constantine and Augustus. ^•^ Fauureofhis But thcsc Italian conquests, this universal reign, soon escaped esigns fi-om the hand of the Greek emperor. His first demands were eluded by the prudence of Alexander the Third, who paused on this deep and momentous revolution,^-^ nor could the pope be seduced by a personal dispute to renounce the perpetual inherit- ance of the Latin name. After his re-union with Frederic, he spoke a more peremptory language, confirmed the acts of his predecessors, excommunicated the adherents of Manuel, and pro- nounced the final separation of the churches, or at least the empires, of Constantinople and Rome.^^ The free cities of Lombardy no longer remembered their foreign benefactoi', and, without preserving the friendship of Ancona, he soon incurred the enmity of Venice. ^^^ By his own avarice, or the complaints of his subjects, the Greek emperor was provoked to arrest the persons, and confiscate the effects, of the Venetian merchants. This violation of the public faith exasperated a fi-ee and commer- 135 ye derive this anecdote from an anonymou'; chronicle of Fossa Nova, pub- lished by Muratori (Script. Ital. torn. vii. p. 874). [ = Annales Ceccanenses, in Pertz, Mon. xix. 276 S(jq. ^■The Btto-i'Aeioi' crr)>ietoi' of Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 14, p. 99}- is susceptible of this double sense. A standard is more Latin, an image more Greek. !•'" Nihilominus quoque petebat, ui quia occasio justa et tempus opportunum et acceptabile se obtulerant, Romani corona imperii a sancto apostolo sibi rcdderetur ; quoniam non ad Frederici Alamanni. sed ad suum jus asseruit pertinere (Vit. Alc.v- andri III. a Cardinal. Arragonias, in Script. Rerum Ital. torn. iii. par. i. p. 458). His second embassy was accompanied cum immensa multitudine pecuniarum. 138 Niniis alta et perplexa sunt (Vit. Alexandri III. p. 460, 461), says the cautious pope. ^^ MtjSec ixtaov tirai Aeyoji' 'I'wiUtj ttj rtu)7e'pa irpo? r'-qv 7rpeO"j3wTfpai' ira..i djroppayeieruii/ (Cinnamus, 1. iv. c. 14, p. 99). i-*" In his vith book, Cinnamus describes the Venetian war, which Nicetas has not thought worthy of his attention. The Italian accounts, which do not satisfy our curiosity, are reported by the annalist Muratori, under the years 1171, <S:c.