“Curate, ut splendor meo sit clypeo clarior, Quam solis radii esse olim, quum sudum ’st, solent: Ut, ubi usus veniat, contra conserta manu, Præstringat oculorum aciem in acie hostibus.” _Plautus._ The Duke of Normandy was a bold man, and was not disposed to attempt any thing that he was not prepared to pursue to the end. He knew that Harold, with the power of England at his disposal, was no despicable enemy, and he resolved to fortify his cause in every possible way. The sea was to him an object of great dread, as he knew it would be to his followers. “If,” he said, “he could attack and punish them without crossing the sea, he would willingly have done so; but he would rather cross the sea than not revenge himself and pursue his right.” William sent messengers to Harold demanding the crown, and reminding him of his oath. He would not have done this had he lost any time by it. Harold’s reply was worthy of a constitutional monarch. “It is true that I took an oath to William; but I took it under constraint. I promised what did not belong to me; a promise which I could not in any way perform. My royal authority is not my own; I could not lay it down against the will of my country; nor can I, against the will of the country, take a foreign wife.”[69] William referred the case to the Pope. Harold, conscious that he was acting inconsistently with his oath, fearing that the cause would not be impartially heard, or not choosing to submit the destinies of England to the decision of a foreigner, made no appeal to the Holy Father. The result of William’s application was, that the Pope “granted his request, and sent him a gonfanon, and a very precious, rich, and fair ring, which, he said, had under the stone one of St. Peter’s hairs. With these tokens he commanded, and in God’s name granted to him, that he should conquer England, and hold it of St. Peter.”[70]