(a) An Englishman is rather at a loss to tell where our author finds this word. Johnson derives war from werre—old Dutch.—Trans.
[96] Le Père d’Outreman speaks thus of Conon de Béthune: Vir domi militæque nobilis et fœcundus in paucis.—Constantin. Belg. lib. iii. Villehardouin says that Conon de Béthune “was a wise knight and well-spoken.”
[97] Thus went they sailing along by the side of the walls, where they showed Alexius to the Greeks, who from all parts flocked to the mole: Sieurs Greeks, behold your natural lord, of that there is no doubt, &c. &c.—Villehardouin, book iii.
[98] It was nearly at this period that the city of Chrisopolis began to be called Scutari. The name of Scutari is employed by Villehardouin.
[99] The breaking of the chain of the port, according to the account of Nicetas, spread the greatest consternation among the Greeks; and misfortune, says the historian of Byzantium, assumed so many different forms, and produced so surprising a number of afflicting images, that no mind is able to conceive them.
[100] For the first siege we may profitably consult the Letter of the Crusaders to the Pope; the History of Villehardouin; Nicetas, Reign of Alexius; the Chronicle of Dandolo; the War of Constantinople, by D’Outreman, Rhamnusius de Bell. Constantinop. &c. &c.
[101] The name of Barbysses is at present unknown to the Turks, who call this river Kiathana; the Greeks call it Karturicos, names which, in both languages remind us of the paper-mills that are at its mouth.
[102] Nevertheless the superb palaces were ruined by the stones of an extraordinary size that the besiegers launched with their machines, and they were themselves terrified by the heavy masses that the Romans rolled upon them from the walls.—Nicetas, Hist. of Alexius Comnenus, book iii.
[103] The historian of Byzantium says, with regard to this fire, that so lamentable a spectacle was capable of producing floods of tears sufficiently abundant to have extinguished the conflagration.
[104] The marshal of Champagne describes to us the order of battle of the Latins, as it was drawn up according to the tactics of the middle ages. The Crusaders issued from their camp divided into six bodies; they ranged themselves before their palisades. The knights were on horseback, their sergeants and esquires were behind them close to the quarters of their horses; the crossbow-men and archers were in front.