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ARRIVAL IN VENICE. 251 SO complete a failure as a crusade as the world had taken it to be. We must look to others for the unpleasant facts. The author of the ^'Devastatio'" states that the troubles of the Crusaders began even before their arrival in Venice. The Lombards charged them heavy prices for victuals. When they reached the city they were cast out of the houses and compelled to go to Lido. The Crusaders were there treated in every respect as captives. Provisions were sold to them at famine prices. A sistarius of corn cost 50 soldi. The Yenetian rulers gave orders that no one should ferry any of the foreigners out of the island. The want of pro- visions and the sense of their helplessness created a panic among them. Those who could escaped. Some went home; some hastened to other ports in the hope of finding ships for Egypt or Syria. The summer heats caused a terrible mor- tality among the crowded host, so that, according to the same author, the living could scarcely be found to bury the dead. According to Robert de Clari, the doge himself came to recognize that the Yenetian policy of pushing the Crusaders in their distress too far was mischievous. "Sirs," said he, addressing his council, "if we let these men go home we shall be looked on as rogues and tricksters. Let us propose to them that, if they will pay us the 36,000 marks out of their share of the first conquest they make, we will transport them beyond sea." There was no proposal here to take Zara or to attack Constantinople. The Outre-mer to which they were to be transported was understood to be the land of the infidel. The conquests they were to make were to be the lawful spoils of a crusading war. There was nothing whatever in the sug- gestion to make it unacceptable to the Crusaders who gave heed to their vow. Hence, when the doge, having obtained the consent of the Yenetian council, submitted the proposal to them, they accepted it gladly. A way had been found out of their difiiculty. They were to leave the fever grounds of 1 " Dcvastatio Constantinopolitana." This is another MS. brought to light by recent research, though its existence has been long known. See " Chroniques Greco-Romanes," par Charles Hopf.