OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 217 cial peojjle : one hundred galleys were launched and armed in as many days ; they swept the coasts of Dalmatia and Greece ; but, after some mutual wounds, the war was terminated by an agreement, inglorious to the empire, insufficient for the republic ; and a complete v^engeance of these and of fresh injuries was reserved for the succeeding generation. The lieutenant of Man- uel had informed his sovereign that he was strong enough to quell any domestic revolt of Apulia and Calabria ; but that his foi-ces were inadequate to resist the impending attack of the king of Sicily. His prophecy was soon verified ; the death of Palaeologus devolved the command on several chiefs, alike emi- nent in rank, alike defective in military talents ; the Greeks were oppressed Ijy land and sea ; and a captive remnant, that escaped the swords of the Normans and Saracens, abjured all future hostility against the person or dominions of their con- queror.i^i Yet the king of Sicily esteemed the courage and constancy of Manuel, who had landed a second army on the Italian shore ; lie respectfully addressed the new Justinian, soli- cited a peace or truce of thirty years, accepted as a gift the regal title, and acknowledged himself the military vassal of the Rom in empire. ^^- The Byzantine Caesars acquiesced in this shadow of dominion, without expecting, perhaps without de- Peacewiththe 1 ■ r -Ki 11 n 1 Normans. sirnig, the service oi a iSorman army; and the truce or tnu-ty a.d. use years Avas not disturbed by any hostilities between Sicily and Constantinople. About the end of that period, the throne of Manuel was usurped by an inhuman tyrant, who had deserved the abhorrence of his country and mankind : the sword of William the Second, the grandson of Roger, was drawn by a fugitive of the Comnenian race ; and the subjects of Andronicus might salute the strangers as friends, since they detested their sovereign as the worst of enemies. The Latin historians ^^^ ex- Last war of the Grecits patiate on the rapid progress of tlie four counts who invaded and i^onnans. "I This victory is mentioned by Romuald of Salerno (in Muratori, Script. Ital. torn. vii. p. 198). It is whimsical enough that in the praise of the king of Sicily Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 13, p. 97, 98) is much warmer and more copious than Falcandus (p. 268, 270). But the Greek is fond of description, and the Latin historian is not fond of William the Bad. '^^For the epistle of William I. see Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 15, p. loi, 102) and Nicetas (1. ii. c. 8). It is difficult to affirm whether these Greeks deceived them- selves, or the public, in these flattering portraits of the grandeur of the empire. 1^^ I can only quote of original evidence, the poor chronicles of Sicard of Cre- mona (p. 603), and of Fossa Nova (p. 875), as they are published in the viilh tome of Muratori's historians. The king of Sicily sent his troops contra nequitiam An- dronici ... ad acquirendum imperium C. P. They were capti aut confusi . . . decepti captique, by Isaac.
