Then Cliges did
not forget to thank the King for the aid he offered him. The
King sends out to seek and summon all the high barons of the
land, and causes to be requisitioned and equipped ships, war
vessels, boats, and barks. He has a hundred ships loaded and
filled with shields, lances, bucklers, and armour fit for
knights. The King makes such great preparations for the war that
never did Caesar or Alexander make the like. He orders to
assemble at his summons all England, and all Flanders, Normandy,
France, and Brittany, and all the men as far as the Pyrenees.
(43) Already they were about to set sail, when messengers arrived
from Greece who delayed the embarkation and kept the King and his
people back. Among the messengers who came was John, that trusty
man, for he would never be a witness or messenger of any news
which was not true, and which he did not know for a certainty.
The messengers were high born men of Greece, who came in search
for Cliges. They made inquiry and asked for him, until they
found him at the King's court, when they said to him: "God save
you, sire! Greece is made over to you. and Constantinople is
given to you by all those of your empire, because of the right
you have to them. Your uncle (but you know it not) is dead of
the grief he felt because he could not discover you.
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