Chascuns regardoit ses armes....

que par tems en arons mestier, (c.

67.) Such is the honesty of courage.] In relating the invasion of a great empire, it may seem strange that I have not described the obstacles which should have checked the progress of the strangers.

The Greeks, in truth, were an unwarlike people; but they were rich, industrious, and subject to the will of a single man: had that man been capable of fear, when his enemies were at a distance, or of courage, when they approached his person.

The first rumor of his nephew's alliance with the French and Venetians was despised by the usurper Alexius: his flatterers persuaded him, that in this contempt he was bold and sincere; and each evening, in the close of the banquet, he thrice discomfited the Barbarians of the West.