OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 227 and Constantinople had almost been swept away by this im- petuous deluge. In the tempest Alexius steered the Imperial vessel with dexterity and courage. At the head of his armies he was bold in action, skilful in stratagem, patient of fatigue, ready to improve his advantages, and rising from his defeats with inexhaustible vigour. The discipline of the camp was revived, and a new generation of men and soldiers was created by the example and the precepts of their leader. In his inter- course with the Latins, Alexius was patient and artful ; his discerning eye pervaded the new system of an unknown world ; and I shall hereafter describe the superior policy with which he balanced the interests and passions of the champions of the first crusade."^ In a long reign of thirty-seven years, he subdued and pardoned the envy of his equals ; the laws of public and private order were restored ; the arts of wealth and science were cultivated ; the limits of the empire were enlarged in Europe and Asia ; and the Comnenian sceptre was transmitted to his children of the third and fourth generation. Yet the difficulties of the times betrayed some defects in his character ; and have exposed his memory to some just or ungenerous reproach. The reader may possibly smile at the lavish praise which his daughter so often bestows on a flying hero ; the weakness or prudence of his situation might be mistaken for a want of personal courage ; and his political arts are branded by the Latins with the names of deceit and dissimulation. The increase of the male and female branches of his family adorned the throne and secured the succession ; but their princely luxury and pride oifended the patricians, exhausted the revenue, and insulted the misery of the people. Anna is a faithful witness that his happiness was destroyed, and his health was broken, by the cares of a public life ; the patience of Constan- tinople was fatigued by the length and severity of his reign ; and, before Alexius expired, he had lost the love and reverence of his subjects. The clergy could not forgive his application of the sacred riches to the defence of the state ; but they applauded his theological learning and ardent zeal for the orthodox faith, which he defended with his tongue, his pen, and his sword. His character was degraded by the superstition of the Greeks ; and the same inconsistent principle of human nature enjoined the emperor to found an hospital for the poor and infirm, and to direct the execution of an heretic, who was 71 [For the Normans, cp. below, chap. Ivi. ; for the First Crusade, chap. Iviii. For the reigns of Alexius, John, and Manuel : F. Wilken, Rerum ab Alex. i. Joh. et Man. Comnenis gest. libri iv. i8u.]
