Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 6 | Page 9

both Saladin and Frederic.] [Footnote 26: The desire of
comparing two great men has tempted many writers to drown Frederic
in the River Cydnus, in which Alexander so imprudently bathed, (Q.

Curt. l. iii c. 4, 5.) But, from the march of the emperor, I rather judge,
that his Saleph is the Calycadnus, a stream of less fame, but of a longer
course. Note: It is now called the Girama: its course is described in
M'Donald Kinneir's Travels. - M.] [Footnote 27: Marinus Sanutus, A.D.
1321, lays it down as a precept, Quod stolus ecclesiae per terram
nullatenus est ducenda. He resolves, by the divine aid, the objection, or
rather exception, of the first crusade, (Secreta Fidelium Crucis, l. ii.
pars ii. c. i. p. 37.)] The enthusiasm of the first crusade is a natural and
simple event, while hope was fresh, danger untried, and enterprise
congenial to the spirit of the times. But the obstinate perseverance of
Europe may indeed excite our pity and admiration; that no instruction
should have been drawn from constant and adverse experience; that the
same confidence should have repeatedly grown from the same failures;
that six succeeding generations should have rushed headlong down the
precipice that was open before them; and that men of every condition
should have staked their public and private fortunes on the desperate
adventure of possessing or recovering a tombstone two thousand miles
from their country. In a period of two centuries after the council of
Clermont, each spring and summer produced a new emigration of
pilgrim warriors for the defence of the Holy Land; but the seven great
armaments or crusades were excited by some impending or recent
calamity: the nations were moved by the authority of their pontiffs, and
the example of their kings: their zeal was kindled, and their reason was
silenced, by the voice of their holy orators; and among these, Bernard,
^28 the monk, or the saint, may claim the most honorable place. ^*
About eight years before the first conquest of Jerusalem, he was born of
a noble family in Burgundy; at the age of three- and-twenty he buried
himself in the monastery of Citeaux, then in the primitive fervor of the
institution; at the end of two years he led forth her third colony, or
daughter, to the valley of Clairvaux ^29 in Champagne; and was
content, till the hour of his death, with the humble station of abbot of
his own community. A philosophic age has abolished, with too liberal
and indiscriminate disdain, the honors of these spiritual heroes. The
meanest among them are distinguished by some energies of the mind;
they were at least superior to their votaries and disciples; and, in the
race of superstition, they attained the prize for which such numbers
contended. In speech, in writing, in action, Bernard stood high above

his rivals and contemporaries; his compositions are not devoid of wit
and eloquence; and he seems to have preserved as much reason and
humanity as may be reconciled with the character of a saint. In a
secular life, he would have shared the seventh part of a private
inheritance; by a vow of poverty and penance, by closing his eyes
against the visible world, ^30 by the refusal of all ecclesiastical
dignities, the abbot of Clairvaux became the oracle of Europe, and the
founder of one hundred and sixty convents. Princes and pontiffs
trembled at the freedom of his apostolical censures: France, England,
and Milan, consulted and obeyed his judgment in a schism of the
church: the debt was repaid by the gratitude of Innocent the Second;
and his successor, Eugenius the Third, was the friend and disciple of
the holy Bernard. It was in the proclamation of the second crusade that
he shone as the missionary and prophet of God, who called the nations
to the defence of his holy sepulchre. ^31 At the parliament of Vezelay
he spoke before the king; and Louis the Seventh, with his nobles,
received their crosses from his hand. The abbot of Clairvaux then
marched to the less easy conquest of the emperor Conrad: ^* a
phlegmatic people, ignorant of his language, was transported by the
pathetic vehemence of his tone and gestures; and his progress, from
Constance to Cologne, was the triumph of eloquence and zeal. Bernard
applauds his own success in the depopulation of Europe; affirms that
cities and castles were emptied of their inhabitants; and computes, that
only one man was left behind for the consolation of seven widows. ^32
The blind fanatics were desirous of electing him for their general; but
the example of the hermit Peter was before his eyes; and while he
assured the crusaders of the divine favor, he prudently declined a
military command, in which failure and victory would have been
almost equally