The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon [1896]
[Footnote 52: Latrocinio armigerorum suorum in multis sustentabatur, quod quidem ad ejus ignominiam non dicimus; sed ipso ita praecipiente adhuc viliora et reprehensibiliora dicturi sumus ut pluribus patescat, quam laboriose et cum quanta angustia a profunda paupertate ad summum culmen divitiarum vel honoris attigerit. Such is the preface of Malaterra (l. i. c. 25) to the horse-stealing. From the moment (l. i. c. 19) that he has mentioned his patron Roger, the elder brother sinks into the second character. Something similar in Velleius Paterculus may be observed of Augustus and Tiberius.]
[Footnote 53: Duo sibi proficua deputans animae scilicet et corporis si terran: Idolis deditam ad cultum divinum revocaret, (Galfrid Malaterra, l. ii. c. 1.) The conquest of Sicily is related in the three last books, and he himself has given an accurate summary of the chapters, (p. 544 - 546.)]
[Footnote 54: See the word Milites in the Latin Glossary of Ducange.]
[Footnote 55: Of odd particulars, I learn from Malaterra, that the Arabs had introduced into Sicily the use of camels (l. i. c. 33) and of carrier- pigeons, (c. 42;) and that the bite of the tarantula provokes a windy disposition, quae per anum inhoneste crepitando emergit; a symptom most ridiculously felt by the whole Norman army in their camp near Palermo, (c. 36.) I shall add an etymology not unworthy of the xith century: Messana is divided from Messis, the place from whence the harvests of the isle were sent in tribute to Rome, (l. ii. c. 1.)]
[Footnote 56: See the capitulation of Palermo in Malaterra, l. ii. c. 45, and Giannone, who remarks the general toleration of the Saracens, (tom ii. p. 72.)]
[Footnote 57: John Leo Afer, de Medicis et Philosophus Arabibus, c. 14, apud Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. xiii. p. 278, 279. This philosopher is named Esseriph Essachalli, and he died in Africa, A. H. 516, A.D. 1122. Yet this story bears a strange resemblance to the Sherif al Edrissi, who presented his book (Geographia Nubiensis, see preface p. 88, 90, 170) to Roger, king of Sicily, A. H. 541, A.D. 1153, (D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 786. Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 188. Petit de la Croix, Hist. de Gengiscan, p. 535, 536. Casiri, Bibliot. Arab. Hispan. tom. ii. p. 9 - 13;) and I am afraid of some mistake.]
[Footnote 58: Malaterra remarks the foundation of the bishoprics, (l. iv. c. 7,) and produces the original of the bull, (l. iv. c. 29.) Giannone gives a rational idea of this privilege, and the tribunal of the monarchy of Sicily, (tom. ii. p. 95 - 102;) and St. Marc (Abrege, tom. iii. p. 217 - 301, 1st column) labors the case with the diligence of a Sicilian lawyer.]
To Robert Guiscard, the conquest of Sicily was more glorious than beneficial: the possession of Apulia and Calabria was inadequate to his ambition; and he resolved to embrace or create the first occasion of invading, perhaps of subduing, the Roman empire of the East. ^59 From his first wife, the partner of his humble fortune, he had been divorced under the pretence of consanguinity; and her son Bohemond was destined to imitate, rather than to succeed, his illustrious father. The second wife of Guiscard was the daughter of the princes of Salerno; the Lombards acquiesced in the lineal succession of their son Roger; their five daughters were given in honorable nuptials, ^60 and one of them was betrothed, in a tender age, to Constantine, a beautiful youth, the son and heir of the emperor Michael. ^61 But the throne of Constantinople was shaken by a revolution: the Imperial family of Ducas was confined to the palace or the cloister; and Robert deplored, and resented, the disgrace of his daughter and the expulsion of his ally. A Greek, who styled himself the father of Constantine, soon appeared at Salerno, and related the adventures of his fall and flight. That unfortunate friend was acknowledged by the duke, and adorned with the pomp and titles of Imperial dignity: in his triumphal progress through Apulia and Calabria, Michael ^62 was saluted with the tears and acclamations