LVI. of Bari, A. D. 871. 3 CHAP. were sometimes tempted to assist or oppose the Moslems of an adverse sect. In the revolution of human events, a new ambuscade was concealed in the Caudine forks, the fields of Cannæ were bedewed a second time with the blood of the Africans, and the sovereign of Rome again attacked or defended the walls of Capua and Tarentum. A colony of Saracens had been planted at Bari, which commands the entrance of the Adriatic Gulf; and their impartial depredations provoked the resentment, and conciliated the union, of the two emperors. An offensive alliance was concluded between Basil the Macedonian, the first of his race, and Lewis, the great-grandson of Charlemagne; and each party supplied the deficiencies of his associate. It would have been imprudent in the Byzantine monarch to transport his stationary troops of Asia to an Italian campaign; and the Latin arms would have been insufficient, if his superior naConquest vy had not occupied the mouth of the Gulf. The fortress of Bari was invested by the infantry of the Franks, and by the cavalry and gallies of the Greeks; and, after a defence of four years, the Arabian emir submitted to the clemency of Lewis, who commanded in person the operations of the siege. This important conquest had been achieved by the concord of the East and West; but their recent amity was soon embittered by the mutual complaints of jealousy and pride. The Greeks assumed as their own the merit of the conquest and the pomp of the triumph; extolled the greatness of their powers, and affected to deride the intemperance and sloth of the handful of Barbarians who appeared under the banners of the Carlovingian prince. His reply is expressed with the eloquence of indignation and truth: "We confess the magnitude of your preparations," says the great-grandson of Charlemagne. "Your armies were indeed แ as numerous as a cloud of summer locusts, who darken the day, flap their wings, and, after a short flight, tumble wea"ry and breathless to the ground. Like them, ye sunk after "a feeble effort; ye were vanquished by your own cowardice; "and withdrew from the scene of action to injure and des"poil our Christian subjects of the Sclavonian coast. We 3 See Constantin. Porphyrogen. de Thematibus, 1. ii. c. xi. in Vit. Basil. LVI. "were few in number, and why were we few? because, af- CHAP. vince of the A. D. 890. These lofty hopes were soon extinguished by the death New proof Lewis, and the decay of the Carlovingian house; and who- Greeks in ever might deserve the honour, the Greek emperors, Basil, Italy, and his son Leo, secured the advantage, of the reduction of Bari. The Italians of Apulia and Calabria were persuaded or compelled to acknowledge their supremacy, and an ideal line from mount Garganus to the bay of Salerno, leaves the far greater part of the kingdom of Naples under the dominion of the eastern empire. Beyond that line, the dukes or republics of Amalfi and Naples, who had never forfeited their voluntary allegiance, rejoiced in the neighbourhood of their lawful sovereign; and Amalfi was enriched by supplying Europe with the produce and manufactures of Asia. But the Lombard princes of Benevento, Salerno, and Capua, were reluctantly torn from the communion of the La 4 The original epistle of the emperor Lewis II. to the emperor Basil, a curious record of the age, was first published by Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 871, No.51...71), from the Vatican MS. of Erchempert, or rather of the anonymous historian of Salerno. 5 See an excellent dissertation de Republica Amalphitanâ, in the Appendix (p. 1...42.) of Henry Brencman's Historia Pandectarum (Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1722, in 4to). 6 Your master, says Nicephorus, has given aid and protection principibus Capuano et Beneventano, servis meis, quos oppugnare dispono... Nova (potias nota) res est quod eorum patres et avi nostro Imperio tributa dederunt (Liutprand, in Legat. p. 484). Salerno is not mentioned, yet the prince changed his party about the same time, and Camillo Pellegrino (Script. Rer. LVI. CHAP. tin world, and too often violated their oaths of servitude and tribute. The city of Bari rose to dignity and wealth, as the metropolis of the new theme or province of Lombardy; the title of patrician, and afterwards the singular name of Catapan, was assigned to the supreme governor; and the policy both of the church and state was modelled in exact subordination to the throne of Constantinople. As long as the sceptre was disputed by the princes of Italy, their efforts were feeble and adverse; and the Greeks resisted or eluded the forces of Germany, which descended from the Alps under the Imperial standard of the Othos. The first and greatest of those Saxon princes was compelled to relinquish the siege of Bari: the second, after the loss of his stoutest bishops and barons, escaped with honour from the bloody Defeat of field of Crotona. On that day the scale of war was turned Otho III. against the Franks by the valour of the Saracens. These corsairs had indeed been driven by the Byzantine fleets from the fortresses and coasts of Italy; but a sense of interest was more prevalent than superstition or resentment, and the caliph of Egypt had transported forty thousand Moslems to the aid of his Christian ally. The successors of Basil amused themselves with the belief, that the conquest of Lombardy had been achieved, and was still preserved, by the justice of their laws, the virtues of their ministers, and the gratitude of a people whom they had rescued from anarchy and oppression. A series of rebellions might dart a ray of truth into the palace of Constantinople; and the illusions of flattery were dispelled by the easy and rapid success of the Norman adventurers. A. D. 983. Ital. tom. ii. pars i. p. 285.) has nicely discerned this change in the style of the anonymous chronicle. On the rational ground of history and language, Liutprand (p, 480.) had asserted the Latin claim to Apulia and Calabria. 7 See the Greek and Latin Glossaries of Ducange (Karɛжavw, catapanus), and his notes on the Alexias (p. 275. Against the contemporary notion, which derives it from Kara Tav, juxta omne, he treats it as a corruption of the Latin capitaneus. Yet M. de St. Marc has accurately observed (Abregé Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 924), that in this age the capitanei were not captains, but only nobles of the first rank, the great valvassors of Italy. 8. Ου μόνον δια πολεμων άκριβως ετεταγμένων το τοί8τον υπηγάγε το εθνος (the Lombards), αλλα και αγχίνοια χρησάμενος, και δικαι συνη και χρησότητι επιεικώς τε τοις προσερχομένοις προσφερομενος και την ελευθερίαν αυτοις πατης τε δουλείας, και των άλλων φορολογικών XapiCoμevos (Leon. Tactic. c. xv. p. 741). The little Chronicle of Beneventum (tom. ii. pars i. p. 280.) gives a far different character of the Greeks during the five years (A. D. 891...896) that Leo was master of the city. LVI. Anecdotes. The revolution of human affairs had produced in Apulia CHAP. and Calabria, a melancholy contrast between the age of Pythagoras and the tenth century of the Christian æra. At the former period, the coast of Great Greece (as it was then styled) was planted with free and opulent cities: these cities were peopled with soldiers, artists, and philosophers; and the military strength of Tarentum, Sybaris, or Crotona, was not inferior to that of a powerful kingdom. At the second æra, these once flourishing provinces were clouded with ignorance, impoverished by tyranny, and depopulated by Barbarian war; nor can we severely accuse the exaggeration of a contemporary, that a fair and ample district was reduced to the same desolation which had covered the earth after the general deluge. Among the hostilities of the Arabs, the Franks, and the Greeks, in the southern Italy, I shall select two or three anecdotes expressive of their national manners. 1. It was the amusement of the Saracens to profane, as well A. D. 873. as to pillage, the monasteries and churches. At the siege of Salerno, a Musulman chief spread his couch on the communion-table, and on that altar sacrificed each night the virginity of a Christian nun. As he wrestled with a reluctant maid, a beam in the roof was accidentally or dextrously thrown down on his head; and the death of the lustful emir was imputed to the wrath of Christ, which was at length awakened to the defence of his faithful spouse.10 2. The Sa- A. D. 874. racens besieged the cities of Beneventum and Capua: after a vain appeal to the successors of Charlemagne, the Lombards implored the clemency and aid of the Greek emperor." A fearless citizen dropt from the walls, passed the 9 Calabriam adeunt, eamque inter se divisam reperientes funditus depopu lati sunt (or depopularunt), ita ut deserta fit velut in diluvio. Such is the text of Herempert, or Erchempert, according to the two editions of Caraccioli (Rer. Italic. Script. tom. v. p. 23.) and of Camillo Pellegrino (tom. ii. pars i. p. 246). Both were extremely scarce, when they were reprinted by Muratori. 10 Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 874, No. 2.) has drawn this story from a MS. of Erchempert, who died at Capua only fifteen years after the event. But the cardinal was deceived by a false title, and we can only quote the anonymous Chronicle of Salerno (Paralipomena. c. 110), composed towards the end of the xth century, and published in the second volume of Muratori's Collection. See the Dissertations of Camillo Pellegrino (tom. ii. pars i. 231...281, &c.). 11 Constantine Porphyrogenitus (in Vit. Basil. c. 58. p. 183) is the original author of this story. He places it under the reigns of Basil and Lewis II; yet the reduction of Beneventum by the Greeks is dated A. D. 891, after the decease of both of those princes. LVI. CHAP. intrenchments, accomplished his commission, and fell into the hands of the Barbarians, as he was returning with the welcome news. They commanded him to assist their enterprise, and deceive his countrymen, with the assurance that wealth and honours should be the reward of his falsehood, and that his sincerity would be punished with immediate death. He affected to yield, but as soon as he was conducted within hearing of the Christians on the rampart, "Friends "and brethren," he cried with a loud voice," be bold and patient, maintain the city; your sovereign is informed of " your distress, and your deliverers are at hand. I know my doom, and commit my wife and children to your gra"titude." The rage of the Arabs confirmed his evidence; and the self-devoted patriot was transpierced with an hundred spears. He deserves to live in the memory of the vir tuous, but the repetition of the same story in ancient and modern times, may sprinkle some doubts on the reality of A. D.930. this generous deed.12 3. The recital of the third incident may provoke a smile amidst the horrors of war. Theobald, marquis of Camerino and Spoleto,13 supported the rebels of Beneventum; and his wanton cruelty was not incompatible in that age with the character of an hero. His captives of the Greek nation or party, were castrated without mercy, and the outrage was aggravated by a cruel jest, that he wished to present the emperor with a supply of eunuchs, the most precious ornaments of the Byzantine court. The garrison of a castle had been defeated in a sally, and the prisoners were sentenced to the customary operation. But the sacrifice was disturbed by the intrusion of a frantic female, who, with bleeding cheeks, dishevelled hair, and importunate clamours, compelled the marquis to listen to her 12 In the year 663, the same tragedy is described by Paul the Deacon (de Gestis Langobard. 1. v. c. 7, 8. p. 870, 871. edit. Grot.), under the walls of the same city of Beneventum. But the actors are different, and the guilt is imputed to the Greeks themselves, which in the Byzantine edition is applied to the Saracens. In the late war in Germany, M. d'Assas, a French officer of the regiment of Auvergne, is said to have devoted himself in a similar manner. His behaviour is the more heroic, as mere silence was required by the enemy who had made him prisoner (Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XV. c. 33. tom. ix. p. 172). 13 Theobald, who is styled Heros by Liutprand, was properly duke of Spoleto and marquis of Camerino, from the year 926 to 935. The title and office of marquis (commander of the march or frontier) was introduced into Italy y the French emperors (Abregé Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 645...732, &c.). |