Constantinople were disturbed at the sight of so many battalions
assembling, and they held a meeting to determine what to do. Fearful
that the city would be crushed by the great number of men who were
arriving, and that the provinces would be taken over and devastated,
they decided, after considering several alternatives, that their
tyrant should demand an oath from the Franks that they would never
harm him or his people. When our leaders learned of this, they
showed great contempt and scorn. They understood clearly that if the
initial army happened to deviate from this pact, it would be
necessary for such a large army, stripped of all resources by poverty,
to wage war against the perfidious prince, contrary to the oaths
they had taken. "And certainly," they said, "Even if no fear of what
might happen in the future weighed upon us, the fact that we had been
compelled by the puny Greeks, laziest of all people, to swear an oath
would be to our eternal shame. We cannot doubt that they would say
that we, willy-nilly, had submitted to their rule." The emperor came
to mighty Bohemund about this matter, and was ready to entice him
whom he greatly feared with gifts, for Bohemund had often defeated
him in battle; Alexis concentrated particularly on Bohemund, because
he regarded him as his greatest rival. Therefore he offered him land
the other side of Antioch, whose length would take fifteen days to
cross, and whose width would take no less than eight days to cross.
The great man's firmness was broken by this offer, and what Hugh the
Great had promised, compelled by necessity and the enticement of
money, Bohemund agreed to swear to on condition that if Alexis
reneged on what he had agreed to, he himself would not have to carry
out what he had sworn to. If anyone asks why he and the others
relaxed their firmness by swearing oaths to the tyrant, he should
understand that the leaders were helping their fellow soldiers in God
out of necessity, for they would have been in dire poverty if they