"The conquest of Zara had scattered the seeds of discord and scandal; the arms of the allies had been stained in their outset with the blood, not of infidels, but of Christians; the King of Hungary and his new subjects were themselves enlisted under the banner of the cross; and the scruples of the devout were magnified by the fear or lassitude of the reluctant pilgrims. The Pope had excommunicated the false Crusaders who had pillaged and massacred their brethren, and only the Marquis Boniface and Simon of Montfort escaped these spiritual thunders,--the one by his absence from the siege, the other by his final departure from the camp." The soldiers became so turbulent as to give constant anxiety to the barons; and the Zaratines were happy at the enmities among the invaders, and encouraged by the Pope's care for their interests. The Crusaders sent humble apologies to the Pontiff, so depicting to him the uncontrollable circumstances which had surrounded them, as in a net, that the heart of Innocent was touched, and he sent to Monteferrato his blessing and pardon for himself and the Crusaders. But Dandolo told the Nuncio that in the affairs of Venice the Pope could scarcely be interested, since his Holiness had no concern in them, and he neither asked nor desired any communication with the Holy See. Dandolo now displayed his remarkable power as a leader. He proposed to the Crusaders that with the Venetians they should winter at Zara. But they, just when they hoped at once to proceed to Palestine, would hear nothing of such a plan, and insisted on their duty to obey literally the commands of the Pope. But Dandolo reminded them that in Zara they had {44} spacious barracks and stables; that they were going to a hostile land where no provision had been made for them; that the winter voyage was dangerous, and, in a word, that it would be madness to leave Zara before the spring. There was much angry altercation, but the calm determination of the Doge prevailed. Indeed, without his consent, how could they go? and the army was ordered into winter quarters. Dandolo, Monteferrato, and the barons were all sumptuously lodged; and the Doge set about measures to insure the permanency of his conquest of Zara. The barons were dreading the tedium of an inactive winter, when a new excitement was afforded by the appearance at Zara of ambassadors from Philip, Emperor of Suabia. There is reason to believe that Dandolo and the Marquis Boniface (of Monteferrato) had already agreed with Philip that these ambassadors should be sent, and that all which follows and depends upon the proposals of the Emperor had been arranged to gratify the selfish ends of the Emperor, the Marquis, and the Doge before they left Venice at all; and was to be done at the expense of the Crusaders, and in direct opposition to the desire of Innocent and to the interests of the Church.