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was conferred on William of the iron arm, who, in the language of the age, is styled a lion in battle, a lamb in society, and an angel in council. ^25 The manners of his countrymen are fairly delineated by a contemporary and national historian. ^26 "The Normans," says Malaterra, "are a cunning and revengeful people; eloquence and dissimulation appear to be their hereditary qualities: they can stoop to flatter; but unless they are curbed by the restraint of law, they indulge the licentiousness of nature and passion. Their princes affect the praises of popular munificence; the people observe the medium, or rather blond the extremes, of avarice and prodigality; and in their eager thirst of wealth and dominion, they despise whatever they possess, and hope whatever they desire. Arms and horses, the luxury of dress, the exercises of hunting and hawking ^27 are the delight of the Normans; but, on pressing occasions, they can endure with incredible patience the inclemency of every climate, and the toil and absence of a military life." ^28

[Footnote 20: Liutprand, in Legatione, p. 485. Pagi has illustrated this event from the Ms. history of the deacon Leo, (tom. iv. A.D. 965, No. 17 - 19.)]

[Footnote 21: See the Arabian Chronicle of Sicily, apud Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom. i. p. 253.]

[Footnote 22: Jeffrey Malaterra, who relates the Sicilian war, and the conquest of Apulia, (l. i. c. 7, 8, 9, 19.) The same events are described by Cedrenus (tom. ii. p. 741 - 743, 755, 756) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. p. 237, 238;) and the Greeks are so hardened to disgrace, that their narratives are impartial enough.]

[Footnote 23: Lydia: consult Constantine de Thematibus, i. 3, 4, with Delisle's map.]

[Footnote 24: Omnes conveniunt; et bis sex nobiliores,

Quos genus et gravitas morum decorabat et aetas,

Elegere duces. Provectis ad comitatum

His alii parent. Comitatus nomen honoris

Quo donantur erat. Hi totas undique terras

Divisere sibi, ni sors inimica repugnet;

Singula proponunt loca quae contingere sorte

Cuique duci debent, et quaeque tributa locorum.

And after speaking of Melphi, William Appulus adds,

Pro numero comitum bis sex statuere plateas,

Atque domus comitum totidem fabricantur in urbe. Leo Ostiensis (l. ii. c. 67) enumerates the divisions of the Apulian cities, which it is needless to repeat.]

[Footnote 25: Gulielm. Appulus, l. ii. c 12, according to the reference of Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii. p. 31,) which I cannot verify in the original. The Apulian praises indeed his validas vires, probitas animi, and vivida virtus; and declares that, had he lived, no poet could have equalled his merits, (l. i. p. 258, l. ii. p. 259.) He was bewailed by the Normans, quippe qui tanti consilii virum, (says Malaterra, l. i. c. 12, p. 552,) tam armis strenuum, tam sibi munificum, affabilem, morigeratum, ulterius se habere diffidebant.]

[Footnote 26: The gens astutissima, injuriarum ultrix .... adulari sciens .... eloquentiis inserviens, of Malaterra, (l. i. c. 3, p. 550,) are expressive of the popular and proverbial character of the Normans.]

[Footnote 27: The hunting and hawking more properly belong to the descendants of the Norwegian sailors; though they might import from Norway and Iceland the finest casts of falcons.]

[Footnote 28: We may compare this portrait with that of William of Malmsbury, (de Gestis Anglorum, l. iii. p. 101, 102,) who appreciates, like a philosophic historian, the vices and virtues of the Saxons and Normans. England was assuredly a gainer by the conquest.]

Chapter LVI: The Saracens, The Franks And The Normans.

Part II.

The Normans of Apulia were seated on the verge of the two empires; and, according to the policy of the hour, they accepted the investiture of their lands, from the sovereigns of Germany or Constantinople. But the firmest title of these adventurers was the right of conquest: they neither loved nor trusted; they were neither trusted nor beloved: the contempt of the princes was mixed with fear, and the fear of