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 the natives was mingled with
hatred and resentment. Every object of desire, a horse, a woman,
a garden, tempted and gratified the rapaciousness of the
strangers; 29 and the avarice of their chiefs was only colored by
the more specious names of ambition and glory. The twelve counts
were sometimes joined in the league of injustice: in their
domestic quarrels they disputed the spoils of the people: the
virtues of William were buried in his grave; and Drogo, his
brother and successor, was better qualified to lead the valor,
than to restrain the violence, of his peers. Under the reign of
Constantine Monomachus, the policy, rather than benevolence, of
the Byzantine court, attempted to relieve Italy from this
adherent mischief, more grievous than a flight of Barbarians; 30
and Argyrus, the son of Melo, was invested for this purpose with
the most lofty titles 31 and the most ample commission. The
memory of his father might recommend him to the Normans; and he
had already engaged their voluntary service to quell the revolt
of Maniaces, and to avenge their own and the public injury. It
was the design of Constantine to transplant the warlike colony
from the Italian provinces to the Persian war; and the son of
Melo distributed among the chiefs the gold and manufactures of
Greece, as the first-fruits of the Imperial bounty. But his arts
were baffled by the sense and spirit of the conquerors of Apulia:
his gifts, or at least his proposals, were rejected; and they
unanimously refused to relinquish their possessions and their
hopes for the distant prospect of Asiatic fortune. After the
means of persuasion had failed, Argyrus resolved to compel or to
destroy: the Latin powers were solicited against the common
enemy; and an offensive alliance was formed of the pope and the
two emperors of the East and West. The throne of St. Peter was
occupied by Leo the Ninth, a simple saint, 32 of a temper most
apt to deceive himself and the world, and whose venerable
character would consecrate with the name of piety the measures
least compatible with the practice of religion. His humanity was
affected by the complaints, perhaps the calumnies, of an injured
people: the impious Normans had interrupted the payment of
tithes; and the temporal sword might be lawfully unsheathed
against the sacrilegious robbers, who were deaf to the censures
of the church. As a German of noble birth and royal kindred, Leo
had free access to the court and confidence of the emperor Henry
the Third; and in search of arms and allies, his ardent zeal
transported him from Apulia to Saxony, from the Elbe to the
Tyber. During these hostile preparations, Argyrus indulged
himself in the use of secret and guilty weapons: a crowd of
Normans became the victims of public or private revenge; and the
valiant Drogo was murdered in a church. But his spirit survived
in his brother Humphrey, the third count of Apulia. The assassins
were chastised; and the son of Melo, overthrown and wounded, was
driven from the field, to hide his shame behind the walls of
Bari, and to await the tardy succor of his allies.

29 (return) [ The biographer of St. Leo IX. pours his holy venom
on the Normans. Videns indisciplinatam et alienam gentem
Normannorum, crudeli et inaudita rabie, et plusquam Pagana
impietate, adversus ecclesias Dei insurgere, passim Christianos
trucidare, &c., (Wibert, c. 6.) The honest Apulian (l. ii. p.
259) says calmly of their accuser, Veris commiscens fallacia.]

30 (return) [ The policy of the Greeks, revolt of Maniaces, &c.,
must be collected from Cedrenus, (tom. ii. p. 757, 758,) William
Appulus, (l. i. p 257, 258, l. ii. p. 259,) and the two
Chronicles of Bari, by Lupus Protospata, (Muratori, Script. Ital.
tom. v. p. 42, 43, 44,) and an anonymous writer, (Antiquitat,
Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. i. p 31-35.) This last is a fragment of
some value.]

31 (return) [ Argyrus received, says the anonymous Chronicle of
Bari, Imperial letters, Foederatus et Patriciatus, et Catapani et
Vestatus. In his Annals, Muratori (tom. viii. p. 426) very
properly reads, or interprets, Sevestatus, the title of Sebastos
or Augustus. But in his Antiquities, he was taught by Ducange to
make it a palatine office, master of the wardrobe.]

32 (return) [ A Life of St. Leo IX., deeply tinged with the
passions and prejudices of the age, has been composed by Wibert,
printed at Paris, 1615, in octavo, and since inserted in the
Collections of the Bollandists, of Mabillon, and of Muratori. The
public and private history of that pope is diligently treated by
M. de St. Marc. (Abrege, tom. ii. p. 140-210, and p. 25-95,
second column.)]

But the power of Constantine was distracted by a Turkish war; the
mind of Henry was feeble and irresolute; and the pope, instead of
repassing the Alps with a German army, was accompanied only by a
guard of seven hundred Swabians and some volunteers of Lorraine.
In his long progress from Mantua to Beneventum, a vile and
promiscuous multitude of Italians was enlisted under the holy
standard: 33 the priest and the robber slept in the same tent;
the pikes and crosses were intermingled in the front; and the
martial saint repeated the lessons of his youth in the order of
march, of encampment, and of combat. The Normans of Apulia could
muster in the field no more than three thousand horse, with a
handful of infantry: the defection of the natives intercepted
their provisions and retreat; and their spirit, incapable of
fear, was chilled for a moment by superstitious awe. On the
hostile approach of Leo, they knelt without disgrace or
reluctance before their spiritual father. But the pope was
inexorable; his lofty Germans affected to deride the diminutive
stature of their adversaries; and the Normans were informed that
death or exile was their only alternative. Flight they disdained,
and, as many of them had been three days without tasting food,
they embraced the assurance of a more easy and honorable death.
They climbed the hill of Civitella, descended into the plain, and
charged in three divisions the army of the pope. On the left, and
in the centre, Richard count of Aversa, and Robert the famous
Guiscard, attacked, broke, routed, and pursued the Italian
multitudes, who fought without discipline, and fled without
shame. A harder trial was reserved for the valor of Count
Humphrey, who led the cavalry of the right wing. The Germans 34
have been described as unskillful in the management of the horse
and the lance, but on foot they formed a strong and impenetrable
phalanx; and neither man, nor steed, nor armor, could resist the
weight of their long and two-handed swords. After a severe
conflict, they were encompassed by the squadrons returning from
the pursuit; and died in the ranks with the esteem of their foes,
and the satisfaction of revenge. The gates of Civitella were shut
against the flying pope, and he was overtaken by the pious
conquerors, who kissed his feet, to implore his blessing and the
absolution of their sinful victory. The soldiers beheld in their
enemy and captive the vicar of Christ; and, though we may suppose
the policy of the chiefs, it is probable that they were infected
by the popular superstition. In the calm of retirement, the
well-meaning pope deplored the effusion of Christian blood, which
must be imputed to his account: he felt, that he had been the
author of sin and scandal; and as his undertaking had failed, the
indecency of his military character was universally condemned. 35
With these dispositions, he listened to the offers of a
beneficial treaty; deserted an alliance which he had preached as
the cause of God; and ratified the past and future conquests of
the Normans. By whatever hands they had been usurped, the
provinces of Apulia and Calabria were a part of the donation of
Constantine and the patrimony of St. Peter: the grant and the
acceptance confirmed the mutual claims of the pontiff and the
adventurers. They promised to support each other with spiritual
and temporal arms; a tribute or quitrent of twelve pence was
afterwards stipulated for every ploughland; and since this
memorable transaction, the kingdom of Naples has remained above
seven hundred years a fief of the Holy See. 36

33 (return) [ See the expedition of Leo XI. against the Normans.
See William Appulus (l. ii. p. 259-261) and Jeffrey Malaterra (l.
i. c. 13, 14, 15, p. 253.) They are impartial, as the national is
counterbalanced by the clerical prejudice]

34 (return) [ Teutonici, quia caesaries et forma decoros

Fecerat egregie proceri corporis illos
Corpora derident Normannica quae breviora
Esse videbantur.

The verses of the Apulian are commonly in this strain, though he
heats himself a little in the battle. Two of his similes from
hawking and sorcery are descriptive of manners.]

35 (return) [ Several respectable censures or complaints are
produced by M. de St. Marc, (tom. ii. p. 200-204.) As Peter
Damianus, the oracle of the times, has denied the popes the right
of making war, the hermit (lugens eremi incola) is arraigned by
the cardinal, and Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 1053, No. 10-17)
most strenuously asserts the two swords of St. Peter.]

36 (return) [ The origin and nature of the papal investitures are
ably discussed by Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii.
p. 37-49, 57-66,) as a lawyer and antiquarian. Yet he vainly
strives to reconcile the duties of patriot and Catholic, adopts
an empty distinction of “Ecclesia Romana non dedit, sed accepit,”
and shrinks from an honest but dangerous confession of the
truth.]

The pedigree of Robert of Guiscard 37 is variously deduced from
the peasants and the dukes of Normandy: from the peasants, by the
pride and ignorance of a Grecian princess; 38 from the dukes, by
the ignorance and flattery of the Italian subjects. 39 His
genuine descent may be ascribed to the second or middle order of
private nobility. 40 He sprang from a race of valvassors or
bannerets, of the diocese of Coutances, in the Lower Normandy:
the castle of Hauteville was their honorable seat: his father
Tancred was conspicuous in the court and army of the duke; and
his military service was furnished by ten soldiers or knights.
Two marriages, of a rank not unworthy of his own, made him the
father of twelve sons, who were educated at home by the impartial
tenderness of his second wife. But a narrow patrimony was
insufficient for this numerous and daring progeny; they saw
around the neighborhood the mischiefs of poverty and discord, and
resolved to seek in foreign wars a more glorious inheritance. Two
only remained to perpetuate the race, and cherish their father’s
age: their ten brothers, as they successfully attained the vigor
of manhood, departed from the castle, passed the Alps, and joined
the Apulian camp of the Normans. The elder were prompted by
native spirit; their success encouraged their younger brethren,
and the three first in seniority, William, Drogo, and Humphrey,
deserved to be the chiefs of their nation and the founders of the
new republic. Robert was the eldest of the seven sons of the
second marriage; and even the reluctant praise of his foes has
endowed him with the heroic qualities of a soldier and a
statesman. His lofty stature surpassed the tallest of his army:
his limbs were cast in the true proportion of strength and
gracefulness; and to the decline of life, he maintained the
patient vigor of health and the commanding dignity of his form.
His complexion was ruddy, his shoulders were broad, his hair and
beard were long and of a flaxen color, his eyes sparkled with
fire, and his voice, like that of Achilles, could impress
obedience and terror amidst the tumult of battle. In the ruder
ages of chivalry, such qualifications are not below the notice of
the poet or historians: they may observe that Robert, at once,
and with equal dexterity, could wield in the right hand his
sword, his lance in the left; that in the battle of Civitella he
was thrice unhorsed; and that in the close of that memorable day
he was adjudged to have borne away the prize of valor from the
warriors of the two armies. 41 His boundless ambition was founded
on the consciousness of superior worth: in the pursuit of
greatness, he was never arrested by the scruples of justice, and
seldom moved by the feelings of humanity: though not insensible
of fame, the choice of open or clandestine means was determined
only by his present advantage. The surname of Guiscard 42 was
applied to this master of political wisdom, which is too often
confounded with the practice of dissimulation and deceit; and
Robert is praised by the Apulian poet for excelling the cunning
of Ulysses and the eloquence of Cicero. Yet these arts were
disguised by an appearance of military frankness: in his highest
fortune, he was accessible and courteous to his fellow-soldiers;
and while he indulged the prejudices of his new subjects, he
affected in his dress and manners to maintain the ancient fashion
of his country. He grasped with a rapacious, that he might
distribute with a liberal, hand: his primitive indigence had
taught the habits of frugality; the gain of a merchant was not
below his attention; and his prisoners were tortured with slow
and unfeeling cruelty, to force a discovery of their secret
treasure. According to the Greeks, he departed from Normandy with
only five followers on horseback and thirty on foot; yet even
this allowance appears too bountiful: the sixth son of Tancred of
Hauteville passed the Alps as a pilgrim; and his first military
band was levied among the adventurers of Italy. His brothers and
countrymen had divided the fertile lands of Apulia; but they
guarded their shares with the jealousy of avarice; the aspiring
youth was driven forwards to the mountains of Calabria, and in
his first exploits against the Greeks and the natives, it is not
easy to discriminate the hero from the robber. To surprise a
castle or a convent, to ensnare a wealthy citizen, to plunder the
adjacent villages for necessary food, were the obscure labors
which formed and exercised the powers of his mind and body. The
volunteers of Normandy adhered to his standard; and, under his
command, the peasants of Calabria assumed the name and character
of Normans.

37 (return) [ The birth, character, and first actions of Robert
Guiscard, may be found in Jeffrey Malaterra, (l. i. c. 3, 4, 11,
16, 17, 18, 38, 39, 40,) William Appulus, (l. ii. p. 260-262,)
William Gemeticensis, or of Jumieges, (l. xi. c. 30, p. 663, 664,
edit. Camden,) and Anna Comnena, (Alexiad, l. i. p. 23-27, l. vi.
p. 165, 166,) with the annotations of Ducange, (Not. in Alexiad,
p. 230-232, 320,) who has swept all the French and Latin
Chronicles for supplemental intelligence.]

38 (return) [ (a Greek corruption), and elsewhere, (l. iv. p.
84,). Anna Comnena was born in the purple; yet her father was no
more than a private though illustrious subject, who raised
himself to the empire.]

39 (return) [ Giannone, (tom. ii. p. 2) forgets all his original
authors, and rests this princely descent on the credit of
Inveges, an Augustine monk of Palermo in the last century. They
continue the succession of dukes from Rollo to William II. the
Bastard or Conqueror, whom they hold (communemente si tiene) to
be the father of Tancred of Hauteville; a most strange and
stupendous blunder! The sons of Tancred fought in Apulia, before
William II. was three years old, (A.D. 1037.)]

40 (return) [ The judgment of Ducange is just and moderate: Certe
humilis fuit ac tenuis Roberti familia, si ducalem et regium
spectemus apicem, ad quem postea pervenit; quae honesta tamen et
praeter nobilium vulgarium statum et conditionem illustris habita
est, “quae nec humi reperet nec altum quid tumeret.” (Wilhem.
Malmsbur. de Gestis Anglorum, l. iii. p. 107. Not. ad Alexiad. p.
230.)]

41 (return) [ I shall quote with pleasure some of the best lines
of the Apulian, (l. ii. p. 270.)

Pugnat utraque manu, nec lancea cassa, nec ensis
Cassus erat, quocunque manu deducere vellet.
Ter dejectus equo, ter viribus ipse resumptis
Major in arma redit: stimulos furor ipse ministrat.
Ut Leo cum frendens, &c.
- — — — — — -
Nullus in hoc bello sicuti post bella probatum est
Victor vel victus, tam magnos edidit ictus.]

42 (return) [ The Norman writers and editors most conversant with
their own idiom interpret Guiscard or Wiscard, by Callidus, a
cunning man. The root (wise) is familiar to our ear; and in the
old word Wiseacre, I can discern something of a similar sense and
termination. It is no bad translation of the surname and
character of Robert.]

As the genius of Robert expanded with his fortune, he awakened
the jealousy of his elder brother, by whom, in a transient
quarrel, his life was threatened and his liberty restrained.
After the death of Humphrey, the tender age of his sons excluded
them from the command; they were reduced to a private estate, by
the ambition of their guardian and uncle; and Guiscard was
exalted on a buckler, and saluted count of Apulia and general of
the republic. With an increase of authority and of force, he
resumed the conquest of Calabria, and soon aspired to a rank that
should raise him forever above the heads of his equals.

By some acts of rapine or sacrilege, he had incurred a papal
excommunication; but Nicholas the Second was easily persuaded
that the divisions of friends could terminate only in their
mutual prejudice; that the Normans were the faithful champions of
the Holy See; and it was safer to trust the alliance of a prince
than the caprice of an aristocracy. A synod of one hundred
bishops was convened at Melphi; and the count interrupted an
important enterprise to guard the person and execute the decrees
of the Roman pontiff. His gratitude and policy conferred on
Robert and his posterity the ducal title, 43 with the investiture
of Apulia, Calabria, and all the lands, both in Italy and Sicily,
which his sword could rescue from the schismatic Greeks and the
unbelieving Saracens. 44 This apostolic sanction might justify
his arms; but the obedience of a free and victorious people could
not be transferred without their consent; and Guiscard dissembled
his elevation till the ensuing campaign had been illustrated by
the conquest of Consenza and Reggio. In the hour of triumph, he
assembled his troops, and solicited the Normans to confirm by
their suffrage the judgment of the vicar of Christ: the soldiers
hailed with joyful acclamations their valiant duke; and the
counts, his former equals, pronounced the oath of fidelity with
hollow smiles and secret indignation. After this inauguration,
Robert styled himself, “By the grace of God and St. Peter, duke
of Apulia, Calabria, and hereafter of Sicily;” and it was the
labor of twenty years to deserve and realize these lofty
appellations. Such sardy progress, in a narrow space, may seem
unworthy of the abilities of the chief and the spirit of the
nation; but the Normans were few in number; their resources were
scanty; their service was voluntary and precarious. The bravest
designs of the duke were sometimes opposed by the free voice of
his parliament of barons: the twelve counts of popular election
conspired against his authority; and against their perfidious
uncle, the sons of Humphrey demanded justice and revenge. By his
policy and vigor, Guiscard discovered their plots, suppressed
their rebellions, and punished the guilty with death or exile:
but in these domestic feuds, his years, and the national
strength, were unprofitably consumed. After the defeat of his
foreign enemies, the Greeks, Lombards, and Saracens, their broken
forces retreated to the strong and populous cities of the
sea-coast. They excelled in the arts of fortification and
defence; the Normans were accustomed to serve on horseback in the
field, and their rude attempts could only succeed by the efforts
of persevering courage. The resistance of Salerno was maintained
above eight months; the siege or blockade of Bari lasted near
four years. In these actions the Norman duke was the foremost in
every danger; in every fatigue the last and most patient. As he
pressed the citadel of Salerno, a huge stone from the rampart
shattered one of his military engines; and by a splinter he was
wounded in the breast. Before the gates of Bari, he lodged in a
miserable hut or barrack, composed of dry branches, and thatched
with straw; a perilous station, on all sides open to the
inclemency of the winter and the spears of the enemy. 45

43 (return) [ The acquisition of the ducal title by Robert
Guiscard is a nice and obscure business. With the good advice of
Giannone, Muratori, and St. Marc, I have endeavored to form a
consistent and probable narrative.]

44 (return) [ Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 1059, No. 69) has
published the original act. He professes to have copied it from
the Liber Censuum, a Vatican Ms. Yet a Liber Censuum of the xiith
century has been printed by Muratori, (Antiquit. Medii Aevi, tom.
v. p. 851-908;) and the names of Vatican and Cardinal awaken the
suspicions of a Protestant, and even of a philosopher.]

45 (return) [ Read the life of Guiscard in the second and third
books of the Apulian, the first and second books of Malaterra.]

The Italian conquests of Robert correspond with the limits of the
present kingdom of Naples; and the countries united by his arms
have not been dissevered by the revolutions of seven hundred
years. 46 The monarchy has been composed of the Greek provinces
of Calabria and Apulia, of the Lombard principality of Salerno,
the republic of Amalphi, and the inland dependencies of the large
and ancient duchy of Beneventum. Three districts only were
exempted from the common law of subjection; the first forever,
the two last till the middle of the succeeding century. The city
and immediate territory of Benevento had been transferred, by
gift or exchange, from the German emperor to the Roman pontiff;
and although this holy land was sometimes invaded, the name of
St. Peter was finally more potent than the sword of the Normans.
Their first colony of Aversa subdued and held the state of Capua;
and her princes were reduced to beg their bread before the palace
of their fathers. The dukes of Naples, the present metropolis,
maintained the popular freedom, under the shadow of the Byzantine
empire. Among the new acquisitions of Guiscard, the science of
Salerno, 47 and the trade of Amalphi, 48 may detain for a moment
the curiosity of the reader. I. Of the learned faculties,
jurisprudence implies the previous establishment of laws and
property; and theology may perhaps be superseded by the full
light of religion and reason. But the savage and the sage must
alike implore the assistance of physic; and, if our diseases are
inflamed by luxury, the mischiefs of blows and wounds would be
more frequent in the ruder ages of society. The treasures of
Grecian medicine had been communicated to the Arabian colonies of
Africa, Spain, and Sicily; and in the intercourse of peace and
war, a spark of knowledge had been kindled and cherished at
Salerno, an illustrious city, in which the men were honest and
the women beautiful. 49 A school, the first that arose in the
darkness of Europe, was consecrated to the healing art: the
conscience of monks and bishops was reconciled to that salutary
and lucrative profession; and a crowd of patients, of the most
eminent rank, and most distant climates, invited or visited the
physicians of Salerno. They were protected by the Norman
conquerors; and Guiscard, though bred in arms, could discern the
merit and value of a philosopher. After a pilgrimage of
thirty-nine years, Constantine, an African Christian, returned
from Bagdad, a master of the language and learning of the
Arabians; and Salerno was enriched by the practice, the lessons,
and the writings of the pupil of Avicenna. The school of medicine
has long slept in the name of a university; but her precepts are
abridged in a string of aphorisms, bound together in the Leonine
verses, or Latin rhymes, of the twelfth century. 50 II. Seven
miles to the west of Salerno, and thirty to the south of Naples,
the obscure town of Amalphi displayed the power and rewards of
industry. The land, however fertile, was of narrow extent; but
the sea was accessible and open: the inhabitants first assumed
the office of supplying the western world with the manufactures
and productions of the East; and this useful traffic was the
source of their opulence and freedom. The government was popular,
under the administration of a duke and the supremacy of the Greek
emperor. Fifty thousand citizens were numbered in the walls of
Amalphi; nor was any city more abundantly provided with gold,
silver, and the objects of precious luxury. The mariners who
swarmed in her port, excelled in the theory and practice of
navigation and astronomy: and the discovery of the compass, which
has opened the globe, is owing to their ingenuity or good
fortune. Their trade was extended to the coasts, or at least to
the commodities, of Africa, Arabia, and India: and their
settlements in Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and
Alexandria, acquired the privileges of independent colonies. 51
After three hundred years of prosperity, Amalphi was oppressed by
the arms of the Normans, and sacked by the jealousy of Pisa; but
the poverty of one thousand 5111 fisherman is yet dignified by
the remains of an arsenal, a cathedral, and the palaces of royal
merchants.

46 (return) [ The conquests of Robert Guiscard and Roger I., the
exemption of Benevento and the xii provinces of the kingdom, are
fairly exposed by Giannone in the second volume of his Istoria
Civile, l. ix. x. xi and l. xvii. p. 460-470. This modern
division was not established before the time of Frederic II.]

47 (return) [ Giannone, (tom. ii. p. 119-127,) Muratori,
(Antiquitat. Medii Aevi, tom. iii. dissert. xliv. p. 935, 936,)
and Tiraboschi, (Istoria della Letteratura Italiana,) have given
an historical account of these physicians; their medical
knowledge and practice must be left to our physicians.]

48 (return) [ At the end of the Historia Pandectarum of Henry
Brenckmann, (Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1722, in 4to.,) the
indefatigable author has inserted two dissertations, de Republica
Amalphitana, and de Amalphi a Pisanis direpta, which are built on
the testimonies of one hundred and forty writers. Yet he has
forgotten two most important passages of the embassy of
Liutprand, (A.D. 939,) which compare the trade and navigation of
Amalphi with that of Venice.]

49 (return) [ Urbs Latii non est hac delitiosior urbe,

Frugibus, arboribus, vinoque redundat; et unde
Non tibi poma, nuces, non pulchra palatia desunt,
Non species muliebris abest probitasque virorum.
—Gulielmus Appulus, l. iii. p. 367]

50 (return) [ Muratori carries their antiquity above the year
(1066) of the death of Edward the Confessor, the rex Anglorum to
whom they are addressed. Nor is this date affected by the
opinion, or rather mistake, of Pasquier (Recherches de la France,
l. vii. c. 2) and Ducange, (Glossar. Latin.) The practice of
rhyming, as early as the viith century, was borrowed from the
languages of the North and East, (Muratori, Antiquitat. tom. iii.
dissert. xl. p. 686-708.)]

51 (return) [ The description of Amalphi, by William the Apulian,
(l. iii. p. 267,) contains much truth and some poetry, and the
third line may be applied to the sailor’s compass:—

Nulla magis locuples argento, vestibus, auro
Partibus innumeris: hac plurimus urbe moratur
Nauta maris Caelique vias aperire peritus.
Huc et Alexandri diversa feruntur ab urbe
Regis, et Antiochi. Gens haec freta plurima transit.
His Arabes, Indi, Siculi nascuntur et Afri.
Haec gens est totum proore nobilitata per orbem,
Et mercando forens, et amans mercata referre.]

5111 (return) [ Amalfi had only one thousand inhabitants at the
commencement of the 18th century, when it was visited by
Brenckmann, (Brenckmann de Rep. Amalph. Diss. i. c. 23.) At
present it has six or eight thousand Hist. des Rep. tom. i. p.
304.—G.]