OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 397 bearer was probably slain), the banner of the republic was fixed on the rampart ; twenty-five towers were rapidly occupied ; and, by the cruel expedient of fire, the Greeks were driven from the adjacent quarter. The doge had dispatched the intelligence of his success, when he was checked by the danger of his con- federates. Nobly declaring that he would rather die with the pilgrims than gain a victory by their destruction, Dandolo re- linquished his advantage, recalled his troops, and habtened to the scene of action. He found the six weary diminutive battles of the French encompassed by sixty squadi-ons of the Greek ca- valry, the least of which was more numerous than the lai'gest of their divisions. Shame and despair had provoked Alexius to the last effort of a general sally ; but he was awed by the firm order and manly aspect of the Latins ; and, after skirmishing at a distance, Avithdrew his troops in the close of the evening. The silence or tumult of the night exasperated his fears ; and the timid usurper, collecting a treasure of ten thousand pounds of gold, basely deserted his wife, his people, and his fortune ; threw himself into a bark, stole through the Bosphorus, and landed in shameful safety in an obscure harbour of Thrace. As soon as they were apprised of his flight, the Greek nobles sought pardon and peace in the dungeon where the blind Isaac expected each hour the visit of the executioner. Again saved and exalted by the vicissitudes of fortune, the captive in his Imperial robes was replaced on the throne, and surrounded with prostrate slaves, whose real terror and affected joy he was incapable of discerning. At the dawn of day hostilities were suspended ; and the Latin chiefs were surprised by a message from the lawful and reigning emperor, who was impatient to embrace his son and to reward his generous deliverer s.*i But these generous deliverers were unwilling to release their Eestoration hostage, till they had obtained from his father the payment, or peror Isaac at least the promise, of their recompense. They chose four am- hu°son^' '^ bassadors, Matthew of Montmorency, our historian the marshal juiyiT' of Champagne, and two 'enetians, to congratulate the emperor. The gates were thrown open on their approach, the streets on both sides were lined with the battle-axes of the Danish and "1 For the first siege and conquest of Constantinople, we may read the original letter of the crusaders to Innocent III. Gesta, c. 91, p. 533, 534 ; Villehardouin, No. 75-99 ; Nicetas in Alexio Comneno, 1. iii. c. 10, p. 349-352 ; Dandolo, in Chron. p. 322. Gunther and his abbot Martin were not yet returned from their obstinate pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or St. John d'Acre, where the greatest part of the company had died ot the plague.
