In the east of Europe, the Greek Fire had been known as early as the year 673; when, according to the historians of the Lower Empire, Callinicus, the philosopher, taught the use of it to the Greeks. He himself had probably derived the knowledge of this composition from the Arabians; for, though powder acting by _detonation_ (and consequently cannon) appears to have been first produced in Europe, and that not earlier than the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Asiatics had the use of powder that would _fuse_ at a very early date. The Greek Fire was discharged from tubes, which could be turned in any direction. The Princess Anna Comnena, in the _Alexiad_, describes its use, as it was employed by the Emperor Alexis against the Pisans, from tubes fixed at the prow of his vessels:--"They (the Pisans) were astonished to see fire, which by its nature ascends, directed against them, at the will of their enemy, downwards and on each side." The receipt for the composition of the Greek Fire may be found in the Treatise of Marcus Grecus. The terrors of these early fire-mixtures were enhanced by the belief that not only they, but the flames kindled by them, were inextinguishable by water: "de quibus fit incendarium quod ab aqua non extinguitur[151]." The Greek Fire did not, however, reach the west of Europe till a much later period. It was objected against its use, that such an agent was contrary to the spirit of religion and the nobleness of chivalry: it was felt that a weapon which could be used alike by the weak and the strong, by the humble and the powerful, might become a dangerous rival to the knightly lance and panoply. [Illustration: 24.] [Illustration: PLATE XXV. GREAT SEAL OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.] FOOTNOTES: [3] De Bello Goth., lib. ii. c. 25. [4] See Archæologia, vol. xxxvi. p. 78. [5] Bk. ii. [6] Lib. ii. c. 27. [7] Vol. i. p. 508, ed. Baluz. [8] Life of Charlemagne, bk. ii. [9] Laws of the Visigoths. [10] Capit. of Charlemagne. [11] Lib, iii. c. 74. [12] Saxons in England, vol. ii. p. 138. [13] Ib., p. 164. [14] Ib., p. 145. [15] Ib., p. 149. [16] Codex diplom. Ævi Sax., no. 956. [17] c. 14. [18] Malmesb., ad an. 1041. [19] Saxons in England, ii. 395. [20] Lib. i. cap. 120. [21] _découvertes et retroussés._ [22] _femmes enragées._ [23] Lib. ii. [24] Lib. iii. [25] Roger of Hoveden, _sub an._ 1055. [26] "Quum ex captivis quæreret Cæsar, quamobrem Ariovistus prœlio non decertaret, hunc reperiebat causam: quod apud Germanos ea consuetudo esset, ut matresfamilias eorum sortibus et vaticinationibus declararent, utrum prœlium committi ex usu esset, necne: eas ita dicere, non esse fas Germanos superare, si ante novam lunam prœlio contendissent."--_Bell. Gall._, lib. i. [27] Agathias. [28] Lib. ii. c. 37. [29] Epist. Greg. Papæ ad Childebert. Apud Scrip, rer. Franc., iv. 17. [30] Holy things. [31] Chalice. [32] Ships. [33] Gale. [34] Chron. of Battle Abbey; Ordericus Vitalis; Wace.