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diff --git a/79024-h/79024-h.htm b/79024-h/79024-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a60f5bc --- /dev/null +++ b/79024-h/79024-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,19934 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + +<head> + +<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + +<link rel="icon" href="images/img-cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + +<meta charset="utf-8"> + +<title> +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Theophano, by Frederic Harrison +</title> + +<style> +body { color: black; + background: white; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +p {text-indent: 1.5em } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +p.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +p.t2b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +p.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 60%; + text-align: center } + +h1 { text-align: center } +h2 { text-align: center; font-size: 120% } +h3 { text-align: center } +h4 { text-align: center } +h5 { text-align: center } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +p.thought {text-indent: 0% ; + letter-spacing: 2em ; + text-align: center } + +p.letter {text-indent: 1.5em; + font-size: 90%; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +.smcap { font-variant: small-caps } + +p.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.quote {text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.report {text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</style> + +</head> + + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79024 ***</div> + + +<h1> +<br><br> + <span style="color: red">Theophano</span><br> +</h1> + +<p class="t3"> + The Crusade of the Tenth Century<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> + A Novel<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t2"> + By Frederic Harrison<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> + New York and London<br> + <span style="color: red">Harper & Brothers Publishers</span><br> + 1904<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t4"> + Copyright, 1903, by HARPER & BROTHERS.<br> +<br> + <i>All rights reserved.</i><br> +<br> + Published October, 1904.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> + Contents<br> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + CHAPTER<br> +</p> + +<p class="noindent smcap" style="line-height: 1.5"> + I. <a href="#chap01">The Boy Basileus</a><br> + II. <a href="#chap02">The Warden of the Eastern March</a><br> + III. <a href="#chap03">The Betrothal</a><br> + IV. <a href="#chap04">The Young Augusta</a><br> + V. <a href="#chap05">The Dying Emperor</a><br> + VI. <a href="#chap06">The Coronation</a><br> + VII. <a href="#chap07">The Confession</a><br> + VIII. <a href="#chap08">The Sacred Palace</a><br> + IX. <a href="#chap09">The Muster of the Crusade</a><br> + X. <a href="#chap10">The Conquest of Crete</a><br> + XI. <a href="#chap11">The Storming of Chandax</a><br> + XII. <a href="#chap12">Digenes and Fatima: Roman or Saracen</a><br> + XIII. <a href="#chap13">The Caliph of the West</a><br> + XIV. <a href="#chap14">The Conquest of Aleppo</a><br> + XV. <a href="#chap15">Empress and Chamberlain</a><br> + XVI. <a href="#chap16">Cæsar at the Rubicon</a><br> + XVII. <a href="#chap17">The New Basileus</a><br> + XVIII. <a href="#chap18">Emperor and Patriarch</a><br> + XIX. <a href="#chap19">The Saracen Peril</a><br> + XX. <a href="#chap20">An Emperor's Day</a><br> + XXI. <a href="#chap21">Islam and Cross</a><br> + XXII. <a href="#chap22">The Stars in Their Courses</a><br> + XXIII. <a href="#chap23">The March on Antioch</a><br> + XXIV. <a href="#chap24">Love and Falsehood</a><br> + XXV. <a href="#chap25">Love and Troth</a><br> + XXVI. <a href="#chap26">Old Rome</a><br> + XXVII. <a href="#chap27">Old Rome and New Rome—Rivals in Empire</a><br> + XXVIII. <a href="#chap28">Basileus in Council</a><br> + XXIX. <a href="#chap29">The Rising Storm</a><br> + XXX. <a href="#chap30">The Last Campaign</a><br> + XXXI. <a href="#chap31">The Last Agony</a><br> + XXXII. <a href="#chap32">Clytemnestra</a><br> + XXXIII. <a href="#chap33">Retribution</a><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap01"></a></p> + +<h1> + Theophano: The Crusade of<br> + the Tenth Century +</h1> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<h2> +I +<br><br> +The Boy Basileus +</h2> + +<p> +Towards the close of the long reign of Constantine +Porphyrogennetus, seventh of that historic name, +a hunting-party from the royal capital of Constantinople +was occupied in chasing the wild boar on the slopes +of Mount Damatrys on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. +This mountain, now called Bulgarlu, lay a few miles +eastward of Chrysopolis, the modern town of Scutari, +opposite the Golden Horn. In the middle of the tenth +century of our era, when this story opens, the view +from the mountain on the Asian side of the Bosphorus +was, indeed, very different from that which delights +the traveller to-day, but it was hardly less beautiful +in its exquisite union of wood, sea, rocky headland, +stately towers, and domes. +</p> + +<p> +The sun was hardly risen over the eastern hills in +a fresh morning of spring—it was the year of our Lord, +956—when a body of huntsmen, some on foot and some +on mountain-ponies, were seen hastily emerging from +the dense copse of the forest in the early dawn. +Clothed in short, leather jerkins and banded leggings, +with close skull-caps, some carried lances, some bows +and arrows: three held in leash powerful hounds, and +others were bearing stout nets and poles. They were +evidently returning home in haste and with anxiety +painted in all their movements. A mounted man of +some authority now pushed his way to the front and +bade them seek for the nearest house where help and +shelter could be obtained. Coming at last to a +woodman's half-ruined hut, he struck his hunting-spear +thrice against the rude door of the hovel, and +imperiously asked if any man was within. A scared, +half-clothed old man unbolted the entrance, and stood +with bare head, trembling before his questioner. +</p> + +<p> +"Which is the nearest house wherein a wounded man +can be sheltered, and who in this place has any art +in stanching a flow of blood?" called out the horseman. +</p> + +<p> +"St. Michael save us!" cried the old dotard; "has +fighting begun in sight of the Sacred Palace itself?" +</p> + +<p> +"Tush, old fool, there has been a hunting accident, +and a noble youth is now bleeding to death! Where, +I ask again, can we find him shelter and a leech?" +</p> + +<p> +"The house there of Craterus, the Laconian, at the +first turn of the path below, sometimes gives shelter +and accommodation to belated travellers at need," +quavered the terrified hind. "And his daughter has a +gift for tending poor folk in sickness, and has been +known to set a bone and bind up a broken head." +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, a small party of men in hunting-garb +emerged from the dense copse and cautiously descended +the mountain-path. They were bearing some burden +on a rude litter, formed out of the stout poles and heavy +net used to entangle the wild boar in the run from +his lair. As they came down, it was seen that their +charge was a tall and graceful youth, half wrapped in +his hunting-cloak, deeply smeared with blood. He +was not dead, but ghastly pale and almost insensible. +His beautiful head, that might have served for a marble +Antinous, lay white and motionless on a pillow of +purple silk. On each side of him rode a horseman of +noble bearing and athletic frame, both turning their +eyes with a look of anxiety and pain from the fainting +youth to each other, and then looking out along the +path beyond. Close beside the litter walked another +man, grasping with all his force the thigh of the wounded +youth, and striving to stanch the blood that oozed +from it with a folded cloth. +</p> + +<p> +Guided by the horseman in front, they soon reached +the house of Craterus, whom they succeeded in rousing +from his bed with his household. It was a long, +rambling edifice of no pretension without, but with an air +of space and comfort within that no chance visitor +would suspect. Craterus led the bearers and attendants +to a spacious chamber in the rear of the house, +where the youth was laid softly on a couch, and the +old man bade his servants to summon his daughter +and her maid with bandages to bind a wound. The +master himself, with his snow-white beard, his delicate +features, and lofty forehead, might have stood for some +bust of an Attic poet had not his singularly handsome +face been marred by keen, roving, and somewhat +sinister eyes. With foxlike glances he scrutinized the +youth and his companions, while actively busying himself +with all that he could devise to save the sufferer's +life. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment there entered a girl closely veiled +and shrouded in a long, loose wrapper, attended by her +old nurse and a younger maid, bearing bandages and +surgical appliances of a simple kind. The girl herself +was so much concealed by her draperies that little of +her could be seen, except some mysterious beauty like +that of the veiled Isis; for her full wimple betrayed +nothing but the perfect features of a Greek goddess, +with lustrous eyes of deep sapphire. The old nurse +removed the coverings from the limb of the youth, as +he lay white and unconscious from loss of blood, and +her trained hands laid bare the wounded thigh and +leg which, but for the gash caused by the tusk of the +boar, was of the faultless symmetry we see in the +Hermes of Olympia, even as it left the chisel of +Praxiteles. The maiden bent over him in pity and +tenderness, and formed a group as if it were Aphrodite as +she hung over the wounded Adonis. The nurse, +directed by her, and aided by the nervous arm of the +attendant, whose thumb so long had closed the wound, +succeeded in passing a rude but effective tourniquet +round the femoral artery, and having checked the +pumping of the blood downward, they dexterously +bandaged the gaping wound. +</p> + +<p> +A breathless silence ensued as they stood around +with restoratives and strong scents and endeavored to +restore consciousness to the youth. At last, a faint +tinge of color returned to the marble cheeks, and his +lips moved again in inaudible murmurs. Craterus +moistened his mouth with a draught of strong Samian wine, +in which he had mixed some aromatic spices of the +East. With a prolonged sigh at length the boy again +opened his eyes, and a faint smile played round his +blanched lips as he murmured: "Let not my father +know, but carry me to my own lodging before the news +be abroad." +</p> + +<p> +Slowly the wine and drugs that Craterus administered +in measured sips began to tell on the splendid +constitution of the athletic youth who was in the +highest training of body. He held low converse with +his two chief attendants while Craterus, his daughter, +and her women withdrew to the end of the chamber. +</p> + +<p> +"Where am I? Who are these? Whither are you +bearing me?" he asked, in a faint whisper; and, +turning his head, he perceived the master of the house +and the women behind him. Then the young sufferer's +eye caught sight of the veiled girl, whose close +draperies seemed but to increase the grace of her figure. +He saw her lustrous eyes beaming on him, as he lay, +in pity, wonder, and admiration. In all his wanderings +after beauty he had never in his life beheld such +eyes. The fire, the passion, the profound mysteries +they betrayed shot down to the marrow of his bones, +and he sank back amazed and thrilled, exhausted with +the spasm of enjoyment it had caused him. "Let me +thank her who has dragged me from the jaws of death," +he murmured; and with a feeble sign of his outstretched +finger, as if he had been summoning a slave, he beckoned +to the girl to approach. +</p> + +<p> +He took her fingers in both of his own weak, cold +hands; and, looking into her eyes with rapture, he said: +"Who art thou that hast saved me? Is it some angel +that follows Our Lady in heaven above, or, rather, I +think, an oread from the train of our huntress Artemis. +Complete my cure, and restore me to manhood by bending +down and kissing me, as our poets say Artemis on +Latmos would kiss her Endymion." And he drew her +down till her lips touched his; and before she could +speak he had slipped a ring into her hand, whispering: +"Yes, we shall meet again!" +</p> + +<p> +Craterus, who had but imperfectly noticed this scene, +now advanced to his daughter, saying: "Anastasia, my +child, withdraw now to your chamber with your nurse; +you may safely leave the wounded youth to us, and +we will send for you if need arise again." In fact, the +potions of Craterus and the bandages of his daughter +were now doing so much to restore the strength of the +young patient that his companions agreed with the +old man that all immediate danger to life was passed +and that he might safely be transported home by +water. The patient himself insisted—and that in a +tone of imperious command—that he should be +forthwith carried to his barge and conveyed across the +Bosphorus to Constantinople before the city was astir +or rumors of his accident were bruited abroad. With +great care and adroitness the bandages were again +tightened over his thigh; he was supplied with fresh +restoratives and draughts of wine, and carried to the +shore in the litter constructed out of the hunting net +and poles. +</p> + +<p> +As the party descended the hill-side, it was closely +watched by inquiring eyes from the house into which +it had entered so suddenly and with so much mystery. +Neither Craterus nor any of his people had been able +to learn the name or rank of the young huntsman, +notwithstanding all their inquiries and the most curious +search. All they knew was that some young sportsman +from Constantinople had arrived in a barge the +evening before, and had spent the night in the mountain +forest in pursuit of wild boar. Just before dawn +the pony of one of the hunters had fallen in a hole and +thrown its rider, who had been deeply gashed by the +boar, even in the act of spearing the brute to death. +Neither names nor particulars of the party could be +obtained, but suitable rewards had been left for the +help and accommodation afforded them. +</p> + +<p> +Breathless, behind the wooden lattice-work that +formed the blind of her chamber, Anastasia watched +the litter as it was borne down the path, and she +fancied that she caught sight of a kiss wafted towards +her window when the fingers of the helpless youth +were faintly raised to his lips. From his own +doorstep, also, Craterus saw the cavalcade disappear; and, +as his foxlike eyes watched every detail of their dress +and trappings, he shook his head and murmured that +"It might bring him good, but it was wiser to keep +silence and be careful what he did." As he slowly +withdrew to an inner room he found his daughter +waiting for him with eager looks, and ready to ply +him with questions and suggestions. "Who was the +wounded youth?—what did her father think he could +be?—how came they to bring him to his house?—what +did they say when they left?" These, and such +questionings, the girl poured upon her father, who +showed little inclination to answer her inquiries, even +if he had known more than he did. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, my child, I have no means of satisfying your +curiosity. They somewhat peremptorily declined to +give me any kind of information, bidding our servants +keep silence as to their visit, on pain of some harm to +them if they pressed their inquiries. They told me +that the youth was a gallant of the city, whose accident +was not to be made known, lest it should alarm his +parents, and they might prevent his following such +dangerous sports." +</p> + +<p> +"And why, my dear father, may I ask, why were +you in such haste to bid me leave the chamber, even +while the fair youth was still in need of our skill and +comfort? We would gladly do our best for so gentle +and comely a patient." +</p> + +<p> +"Gentle and comely enough, my child, I do not deny, +but you must try to forget him and his accident, for +certain it is that you will never see him again, nor +know his name or his rank." +</p> + +<p> +"I am not so sure of that," she murmured softly to +herself, as she fingered the precious ring which her +father had failed to see given when she had stooped +over the youth on his couch. +</p> + +<p> +The keen eyes of the old man had noticed an expression +on his daughter's face, and he rejoined, in an +impressive tone, "Anastasia, my only child and dearest +hope, I charge you to remember what we are now, +and whence we came. This youth, for all his gentleness +of speech, is proud and wild. He is evidently +some slip of a wealthy, perhaps of a noble, family, and +since he conceals his name and rank there is a mystery, +if not a mischief, in his life. Be he what he may, he is +wholly beyond our sphere. We shall never fall again +in his way, and he would treat us with contempt if +we did." +</p> + +<p> +"Father," said the girl, proudly, her luminous eyes +aglow with light, "have you not often told me of the +race we spring from, and of the blood of heroes that I +inherit from my sainted mother?" +</p> + +<p> +"True is it, Anastasia, O thou glorified image of +my dear departed wife; thou hast, indeed, the blood +of kings of Lacedæmon in thy veins, as thou renewest +the beauty of the goddesses of Greece. Fallen as I +am now in estate, despoiled of my patrimony by the +corsairs of Saracens from Africa, I cannot forget that +I was born of noble race and am the equal of those +minions there across the strait. In wedding your +mother I rose to a height above them. She came +from Lacedæmon, and could trace descent from the +ancient kings of Sparta, who, crushed, plundered, and +slain, as they have been for a thousand years by +Romans, by Goths, by Armenians, Slavonians, and Isaurians, +have maintained the purity of their blood. Cherish +it in thy memory, my child, that my Anastasia +comes of the royal stock which produced such heroes +as Lycurgus, Leonidas, Agesilaos, and Lysander. When +I laid thy mother to rest in the last remnant of her +paternal estate by the banks of Eurotas, I swore by +the Mother of God that I would keep her daughter +worthy of her and worthy of the heroes from whom +both were sprung. Have I not done so, my child—have +I not taught thee to hold thyself higher than +these barbarians of Thrace and Anatolia? Nay, have +I not taught thee to distrust the whining of their +dirty priests and crazy hermits, and to cherish the +purer fancies of our older faith, the inspiration of +Apollo, the insight of Athene, the grace of Aphrodite? +Thou knowest also the inner meaning of these primeval +creeds, as expounded in the mysteries of Mithras and +the Phrygian Mother." +</p> + +<p> +"Would that thou hadst sworn by the Pallas of the +Parthenon," his daughter broke in, "rather than by +these idols worshipped by the mobs in the city. But +am I not worthy then to mate with the son of the +Autocrator himself, if Athene were to turn his eyes +upon me so that he desired me for his wife?" +</p> + +<p> +"His wife?—silly child, put away such absurd and +unwholesome dreams. The Basileus, or the least minion +of his court, would no more think of taking thee to +wife than he would take the meanest scullion in his +kitchen. No, girl, he would take thee for his plaything +for a day, for a week or two, till he flung thee to +some parasite of his own like a cast-off shoe. Wife! wife!" +shrieked the old man—"say rather toy, lap-dog, +slave—not wife! Shall the daughter of Craterus the +Spartan, the descendant of a hundred kings, born of a +mother compared to whom the blood of these Augusti, +children of Basil the stable-boy, is ditch-water—shall +she enter the harem of these vicious mongrels who +cringe round the Sacred Palace? Never! my child, I +would rather see thee dead. Thou art above them in +godlike race as thou art in godlike beauty, thou child +of Helen of Troy, more like to her than ever yet has +been any of her children since. This lad, whoever he +be, though not fit to be thy slave, is far above thee in +legal rank, as he certainly is above thee in fortune. +Think of him no more. Thou wilt never see him again. +And if thou didst, it would be to thy ruin." +</p> + +<p> +Anastasia was not wont to discuss matters with her +father when he had mounted his high horse about the +kings of Sparta and the illustrious ancestry of her +mother, whom she had almost forgotten. Still less did +she take very seriously all his extraordinary ravings +about the mysteries of Mithras and the eternal cult of +Isis, which the old man had mixed up in a strange +medley of occult superstitions. With her keen intellect +and her aspiring temper, Anastasia had been nurtured +by her father from childhood in proud disdain of the +mongrel races of the capital which had now become a +veritable <i>colluvies gentium</i>, as, indeed, from that day +to this it has remained. From infancy she had been +taught to look coldly on the endless ceremonies and +miraculous paraphernalia of the Byzantine Church, +though her practical mind had inclined her to but +little interest in the esoteric mysteries of Mithraism +in which Craterus would dream away whole days. She +regarded these dreams as the unhallowed maunderings +of a morbid mind. And while she outwardly +conformed to the ceremonial cult of the Christians +around her, her maiden day-dreams would ever turn +back to the immortal creations of Hellenic poetry and +myth. She would conjure up to herself visions of a +Helen of Troy, a Clytemnestra, a Medea, even an +Aspasia, and a Thais; she knew the thrilling story of +Byzantine palace history; how Athenais, the daughter +of a philosopher of Athens, had blossomed out into +Eudocia, the Empress; how Theodora had stepped from +the dancing-stage to the throne of the world; how +Irene had divided the Roman realm even with the +mighty Charles himself. +</p> + +<p> +Long after she had quitted her father, Anastasia sat +musing in her own chamber, from time to time scrutinizing +the ring which the wounded youth had given her, +and which she had hastily concealed in her bosom. Again +and again she turned the jewel to the light, and +examined it on every side. Could it be, indeed, an +emerald—a real emerald—of such a size and such lustre? +If it were, indeed, a veritable stone, it was worth a king's +ransom. Could the stranger lad have so magnificent +a ring in his possession, and would he lightly hand it +to an unknown girl? And yet—could a youth, +evidently so noble, so wealthy, bear about on his finger +a thing of paste? Anastasia knew something of +jewels, antique enamels, and sardonyx cameos, as of +reliquaries, crosses, and miraculous ikons, for her +father was supposed to procure such things from time +to time from correspondents he had in Asia Minor and +to dispose of them successfully to the travellers who +would come to his place on their way to the capital +from the East. And Anastasia had half suspected that +the old Corinthian attendant who had charge of her +father's curios had done something more than always +repair or reset the pieces on which she saw him secretly +engaged. +</p> + +<p> +And while she turned the jewel round and round, +she fancied she could read some letters engraved, +but her untrained eye, for all her curiosity, was not +able to put the words together. She called her nurse, +the aged woman who had been about her since her +mother's death, and in whose fidelity she was sure she +could confide. "Charmion," she said, "dear old girl, +here is an adventure. As I was turning over the old +jewel-case of my sainted mother in heaven I found this +ring which had been strangely overlooked by my father +for years. Take it to Leontius in his workshop, and +ask him to tell us what it is, and if he can read these +words that are engraved around the setting. But be +sure you charge him, as he values my favor, to breathe +not a word of it to man or woman—least of all my +father. It would break his heart to think that he had +neglected so dear a relic of my mother—and thou +knowest that all she had of jewels are mine." +</p> + +<p> +The crone eyed the ring with keenness, and her eyes +then fell on her lovely mistress, who bore her scrutiny +with a tranquil smile. She hurried off to Leontius, +who was preparing to "reset" an <i>encolpion</i> that was +destined for a great ecclesiastic. The old engraver +took the ring and examined it with attention and no +small wonder. Then he scrutinized it through a crystal +lens, and tried it against some pieces that he had in a +case by his side. He looked hard at the nurse, and +she looked at him. Neither spoke. "Nurse," he said, +at last, "the ring is one of the finest and largest +emeralds I ever beheld, and it is set in a rare enamel of +exquisite work. Yes, words have been engraved within +the margin, and I will write them on this slip of +parchment." He took his style, and, peering closely +with his crystal lens to the minute letters in the ring, +he wrote, Κυρει Βοηθει Ρωμανω. "No!" said he, "the +last letters must be somewhat defaced. It must be +Ρωμαιοις—Lord! Help the Romans! It could hardly +be Roman! Could it be?" said the old artist in +cameos, talking to himself. +</p> + +<p> +Old Charmion hurried back to Anastasia, too eager +that she might report her news and ply her young +mistress with questions to notice the intense agitation +of mind that Anastasia concealed under her outward +ease. "How came she to find it?" asked the crone +again and again. "How was it overlooked? How had +her mother obtained it? What would she do with it?" +and a thousand similar questions, which Anastasia put +off with affected indifference and studious silence. Nor +could the girl rid herself of the nurse's importunate +curiosity until she had peremptorily insisted on the +attendant leaving her alone in order to prepare her +bath in another chamber. +</p> + +<p> +Left alone, Anastasia sprang up in a whirlwind of +emotion, pacing the room, and flinging up aloft her +shapely arms in the attitude of a priestess at the shrine +of the Delphic Apollo. "Mother of God! Daughter +of Zeus! Queen of Love! Where am I? What is +this? What will come of it? An emerald of priceless +worth! Why, who could wear such a thing but one +from the Palace of Cæsar—wear it—nay, wear it in a +forest chase, in a wild night on the mountain? 'Lord! +Help the Romans!'—who could bear about such a +meaningless prayer? 'Help the Romans!' Yes, the priests +and monks whine out these litanies in their daily +canticles. But does a youth who looks like a young prince +engrave on his seal so stupid a motto? Prince! ah, +what am I saying? Why, what other prince is there +but Romanus, son of our purple-born Constantine, +Basileus of the Romans? Queen of Paphos, and of the +world! He <i>was</i> Romanus—the young Basileus +himself—lovely as Adonis—and he loves me—he shall love +me. Augustus that is to be—and why should not I, +too, be Augusta, by divine right—of beauty?" And +the girl flung herself down on a couch and buried her +face in her hands, as if she needed to shut out from +her eyes the excess of light which beamed down on +her, even as Zeus descended upon Semele in a shower +of burning gold. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap02"></a></p> + +<h2> +II +<br><br> +The Warden of the Eastern March +</h2> + +<p> +While this was passing, the party which was +bearing the wounded young Basileus moved on +with haste and care to the shore of the Bosphorus, +where the barge was moored. The two leading horsemen +pressed on a little in advance to secure the +embarkation with speed. The foremost was a man not +yet of middle life, the very model of chivalrous strength, +audacity, and animation. He was dark of hue, even +for an Eastern Roman, with fiery black eyes, and raven +hair, chiselled features, and an aquiline nose, and a +complexion of clear and delicate olive, just tinted with +color. He wore a hunting-suit, and bore a short +weapon of exquisite form and mounting chased in gold, +of Persian design. His whole bearing was that of a +leader of men, the ideal of a cavalry commander, or +of some knight-errant bent on romantic adventures, +such as those heroes we now read of in the <i>Arabian +Nights</i>. His companion, an older and graver man, +who treated him as of higher rank than himself, now +rode up to the leader, and in low tones seemed +pressing on him some urgent counsels. "My Lord Basil +Digenes, the accident of to-day may be of deep moment +to the whole Roman Empire. If the bandages +of the old Greek and his daughter should fail to hold, +our young charge may yet slip through our fingers +before we can reach the palace. What would be our +fate if we brought home to our king of kings his only +son a corpse?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, Theodore, my good man, we shall save the +boy; the Augustus himself is too just and reasonable +a king to suppose that you and I would neglect his +heir. He knows that we would risk our lives rather +than a hair of his head should be harmed." +</p> + +<p> +"His Majesty Born-in-the-Purple is, indeed, a most +upright judge, and as kind a master as Rome ever saw. +But are you sure that the feeble empress might not +be worked on by women and eunuchs, and our rivals +seek to strike us down in a palace plot?" +</p> + +<p> +"What care I for rivals!" cried Basil, with a smile +of triumph. "I fear no man, and no man of all +Rome fears me. From Cæsar to handmaiden they +love me and know me to be their friend and protector." +</p> + +<p> +"True, indeed! most noble akritas, and therein lies +a matter that is worth thy thought. Hast thou not +noticed how our most illustrious sovereign lord, after +forty-four years of the burden of state, has begun to +weary on his throne? He may—well!—he may +abdicate," he whispered in the ear of Basil, "in favor of +his heir. Our young Basileus has entered on his +eighteenth year, but he may not survive his father. +My Lord Basil, you know his way of life as well as I do. +He will never live to see his father's years. He may +die of this very wound—may the saints save him, +and us, too!—he may die this very day—he may meet +such another chance ere the year is out. What then? +Where will the throne of Rome be then, most illustrious +commander and victorious warden of the marches? +What will happen then?" +</p> + +<p> +"Most sapient chamberlain," said Basil, "his Sacred +Majesty will name a worthy successor, and honor him +with the hand of one of the five princesses, his +daughters. And if the Basileus were to die without such +nomination, the Senate and army chiefs would find +such an emperor themselves as they have so often +done of old." +</p> + +<p> +"And where would they find such a chief?" murmured +the chamberlain, in the insinuating voice of the +courtier; "where but in the person of the most valiant +hero, lord warden of the eastern frontier, victorious +in a hundred fights, the Achilles of our warlike +odes—Basil, of royal name and royal race, offspring of a +Roman princess and a Syrian emir, who had come to +Christ. Basil Digenes, I tell thee, potent akritas and +chief, should the throne of Rome become vacant we +should all look to thee to mount and hold it!" +</p> + +<p> +"Retro! Satanas!" cried out the akritas (<i>i.e.</i>, the +warden of the marches), with a gay gesture of scorn; +"tempt not the most loyal servant of our most High +Sovereign Lord! If his son were not to reign, I tell +thee again, it would have to be some ennobled husband +of one of his Majesty's daughters." +</p> + +<p> +"And who would that be," said the wily chamberlain, +"save that chief on whom the loveliest of them all, +the gentle Agatha, her father's favorite, casts such +looks of tenderness? Why, the Sacred Palace rings +with gossip of her sighs and blushes when the harpers +sing the deeds of 'The Flower of Our Roman Chivalry,' +as the poets name the warden of the eastern march!" +</p> + +<p> +"A truce to thy jests, my lord of the chamber, and +profane not with thy court scandal the name of the +sweetest, purest, most modest virgin in your city of +sin and folly. Things are too serious for idle +jesting, and the fate of Rome and our Holy Church is even +now hanging in the scales of the angel of judgment. +A man who has lived as I have since boyhood, in the +saddle and on the borders, knows what are the perils +and the trials which are gathering round the empire +from the east and from the north." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, forbear such ominous words, most noble lord +warden!" cried the chamberlain, crossing himself more +from habit than from superstition; "was Rome ever so +great and glorious as she is to-day? Behold in the +morning light the splendor of our Eternal City—we can +see afar across the straits the gilded dome of the Holy +Wisdom and of a hundred fanes. Was any autocrator +more truly worshipped and more worthy of our worship +than our Most Majestic Sovereign Born-in-the-Purple? +What invincible armies does he send forth? What +fleets and merchandise crowd the Golden Horn? What +multitudes from all parts of this earth swarm in the +streets of our matchless capital? What a galaxy of +treasure, pomp, and beauty amazes all who are +admitted to the Sacred Palace of our king?" +</p> + +<p> +"Vanity of vanities!" groaned the great soldier, +more to himself than to the chamberlain; "it is thus +that courtiers beguile our Sacred Majesty by idle +vaunts. We who in the distant marches have to bear +the brunt of the enemy, who have to rule those +provinces which he drains to the bone by his ravages—we +know all the peril that encompasses our empire +and threatens its ruin. Egypt, Syria, Sicily have been +torn from it by victorious Saracens and worshippers +of the Prophet. Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria have +forsworn Christ and Rome, and for centuries have +submitted to Allah and the Caliph. On the Cilician +frontier we hold the passes by daily combats, wherein +to-day we find our match—it may be to-morrow our +masters. The savage corsairs, who have seized Crete +and Cyprus, tear to pieces the seaboard of Asia and +of Greece at their own sweet will. Italy is lost to +the empire forever, and these Teutons and Latins are +boasting already that the empire of Rome is one, +and is theirs, not ours. Within a few days' march of +Constantinople itself there is a Bulgarian kingdom +which may pour on us again in an avalanche at any +hour. And beyond them are Slavs, Russ, Petzinacs, +Chazars, and Turks, and many a barbarous horde beyond. +I tell thee, chamberlain, as I have come hither +to tell our sovereign Augustus and his council, that the +empire can be saved no longer but by great and +thoroughly equipped armies of stalwart Romans, not of +hired barbarians—but above all can be saved only by a +mighty soldier, by a great general, by a hero whom +his men will follow to the death." +</p> + +<p> +"And where shall his Majesty and his valiant soldiers +find such a man but in the victor of a hundred fights, +the hero of a thousand war-songs, the glorious lord +warden of the eastern marches—our commander-in-chief +that must be—our sovereign Augustus that +might be—if God in His inscrutable purposes took to +Himself our Sublime Majesty and his adorable son and +heir"—fawned the chamberlain as he stole nearer to +the ear of the akritas, and crossed himself again and +again in contemplation of the twofold imperial obsequies. +</p> + +<p> +"That can never be," replied Basil Digenes, with an +air of deep conviction and thought; "my birth has +made it impossible, inconceivable, almost a sacrilege +to contemplate. My very name reminds the Romans +that I am but half a Roman, and bear in my blood and +skin the color of the Prophet. My noble father, Mousur, +emir of Edessa as he was, born a Syed of the sacred +stock of Islam, and from early youth a hostage at the +court of the governor of Cappadocia, the illustrious +Ducas, forsook his people and his faith for the love of +my mother. Yes, Eudocia Ducas was as noble as he, +fair and good enough to make a saint forswear heaven +to win her. My father made me a soldier of Christ +and of Rome, and such I will live and die. But the +blood of the emirs of Edessa stirs in my veins to-day, +even when I am leading the charge upon their ranks. +And I have seen in the armies of the Prophet courage +as high and hearts as pure as any who worship the +cross. Never will I stoop to join in the insults that +your craven mobs in the city delight to cast at the +children of Hagar. I trust in Christ, but I will not +revile the Prophet or his servants. And now tell me, +most illustrious and most politic lord of the purple +chamber, do you think the patriarch and his priests +and acolytes will ever consecrate under the dome of the +Holy Wisdom me, Digenes—'the half-breed,' the son +of the Saracen, with the blood of the Prophet of Mecca +darkening my very cheek?"—he ground out these words +between his teeth—and then he added with the +ringing voice that was natural to him: "No! my Lord +Theodore, tempt me not with these palace intrigues. +I am proud to serve our Basileus as the warden of the +marches. I will fight—I will sweat and die for Rome +and for Christ. But I am not of the mould in which +your cubicular conspirators are cast." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, dream not that I am capable of hinting at such +treason, my Lord Basil! I sought counsel only in the +lamentable yet conceivable chance that might befall +this empire and our sacred and imperial stock. On +whom, then, would your Eminence propose that we +should turn our hopes, if God in heaven were indeed +to afflict us so sorely?" +</p> + +<p> +"How can you ask?" shouted the lord warden, +almost bounding from his saddle; "there is but one, +and he fills every mouth with his glory. There is but +one man who can save Rome, but one man whom every +Roman warrior will follow, as if he were St. Michael, +with the sword of heaven in his hand. Whom could +I mean but Nicephorus, the commander-in-chief of +the forces of Asia, the greatest hero of the heroic race +of Phocas, son, grandson, brother, and kinsman of +the most valiant commanders whom Rome has ever +known. Ah! had you ever seen our glorious Nicephorus +at the head of his army; had you ever heard +the roar of his men as his eagle eye swept along their +ranks; had you ever watched him as I have, chamberlain, +in the storm of a bloody fight, firm as a rock, +alert as a young lion, keen as a hawk, and sublime +master of the whole battle array—had you ever +seen him in the hour of victory, directing all men +to his will, like Homer's Zeus presiding over the +shock of earthly men below—you would not ask, +most eminent lord of the sacred chamber, who was +the destined savior of Rome—under God and His +mother, be it said—who is our born chief! Why, +man alive—Nicephorus Phocas—whom to follow is +to be blessed—whom to know is to honor and to +serve." +</p> + +<p> +The supple chamberlain was well aware of the +enthusiasm for the Armenian chief, in which all the +fighting men of the empire were agreed; and he knew how +deeply the autocrator himself valued—if he also +feared—the genius of his great captain. But he also knew +how sorely the palace held Nicephorus in dread. They +knew him to be stern, just, of unimpeachable honor, +of almost fanatical piety, and of a loyalty that neither +flattery nor prize could seduce. This terrible soldier, +with his inexorable justice and his inevitable insight, +would be a grievous burden to the palace, and to the +silken minions who thronged its halls. The ingenious +Theodore accordingly made haste to drop the subject +and efface from the mind of the gallant warden the +impression he had sought to instil into it. And as +they had now reached the shore, the whole attention +of the party was occupied in placing the young Cæsar +in safety and in comfort on his luxurious barge. +</p> + +<p> +The task was rapidly and skilfully accomplished +under the masterly care of the lord warden, and soon +the imperial barge was being swiftly oared across the +two or three miles of sea which divided the palace +from the Asian shore. The young Basileus lay peacefully +on purple cushions beneath a rich awning of silk, +tended by his body-servant, who from time to time +moistened his lips with sorbets and cordials, while +the keen glances of Basil watched over his charge as +he directed the course of the boat. Both he and the +chamberlain seemed lost in thought, though the nature +of their meditations was somewhat unlike. +</p> + +<p> +The sun had now risen in a dazzling May morning, +and was bathing in its light that most glorious of all +earth's landscapes. As they rounded the headland of +Keras, that we now call Seraglio Point, the barge was +in the centre of that scene which the ancient and the +modern world has agreed to be the most imposing and +most beautiful that Europe and Asia can show. The +profusion of form and color is, indeed, quite dazzling +to those to whom it is unfamiliar. Bays, gulfs, creeks, +and seas were stretched in endless vistas On every side, +the gentle rippling of those azure waters glancing with +joy in the morning sun. Out of the waters, from point +to point there rose terraces, gardens, towers, palaces, +and churches, radiant in marble and gold, thickly +strewn with groves of beech, acacia, arbutus, and +cypress, dotted about with fruit trees, now in their +snowy blossom. Northward the grand "river" of the +Bosphorus swept slowly down in the majestic tide of +its blue stream, stately cliffs and wooded crags rising +on either side of the strait, and these were clothed with +countless towers, villas, monasteries, and temples. +</p> + +<p> +On their right the Golden Horn ran up far into the +land. This branch of the sea was crowded with every +kind of floating ship—dromons, or warships of the +state, with their brazen beaks, banks of long oars, and +high masts fitted to hurl the shells of Greek fire—the +bright-sailed merchant vessels from west and east: +from Amalphi, Venice, Durrachium, Bari, Naupactus, +Cherson, the Ægean, the Propontis, Smyrna, and +Rhodes. Thousands of busy craft were moored in the +great harbor, while light caiques and skiffs scudded +across the narrow seas. In front of the returning +barge rose the tremendous ramparts, towers, and gates +of new Rome, encircling the vast city with that massive +range of fortifications which for eight centuries flung +back the most valiant assailants, whether from the +north or from the east—those fortifications of which +the pathetic ruins and remnants to-day are the most +majestic memorial of its forces which the ancient world +has left to us. +</p> + +<p> +And behind those miles and miles of wall, battlement, +tower, and gate the Seven Hills of New Rome rose into +the morning sky, one after the other, in picturesque +confusion of terrace, dome, tower, cloister, and palace, +all bowered in groves of flowering shrubs and avenues +of acacia and tall, dark cypress. And all around this +vast and variegated pile—this, the central city of the +world, as all who saw it felt it to be, whether they +were Latin or Greek, Russ or African, Christian or +Moslem, philosopher or barbarian—there mounted up +into the blue welkin countless ranges of wooded hills, +crags, headlands, and far-off mountain outlines, softly +folded in pencilled lines and mists of white haze. +Southward the eye ranged across the Propontis, that +immense inland lake girt with smiling bays, inlets, and +cliffs, with the nine islands we now call the "Princes' +Isles," each clothed with villas, convents, gardens, and +forests. And far beyond, across the sea and hill, rose +dazzling white in the morning sun, in long, broken +ranges of snow, that glorious Bithynian Olympus which +ever looks down over the imperial city like the +heavenly throne of its guardian God. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap03"></a></p> + +<h2> +III +<br><br> +The Betrothal +</h2> + +<p> +In the wooded slopes on the Asian side of the +Bosphorus it was a sultry evening of midsummer. +The sun had already descended behind the mountains +of Thrace, in a deep glow which was reflected in the +glassy sea. A single worshipper was prostrated before +the chief ikon in the tiny shrine of St. Demetrius that +stood in the forest not far from the house of +Craterus the Laconian. The humble dome, lit only by +one struggling lamp beneath the image, was dark and +silent. The eye that had become accustomed to the +gloom could have perceived at last the figure of a girl +at her devotions, completely enveloped in a long, dark +cloak. "Mother of God, be of help to Anastasia," she +murmured again and again; then she listened, now +she waited in silence, and at last she drew furtively +from her bosom a slip of writing that had been flung at +sunset into the open casement of her chamber—"Be +to-night at the shrine of Demetrius." +</p> + +<p> +Yes, at last a light step was heard; and though she +forbore to raise her eyes from the altar and remained in +prostration before it, the worshipper's eager ear +perceived the alert pace of a man who swiftly came up +beside her. It was the tall and graceful youth whose +wound she had tended, now restored to health, in all +the glow of his young beauty and the graceful assurance +of his high estate. He was again in hunting garb, +but round his neck and on his fingers glittered jewels +which even to the rustic eye of Anastasia seemed +worthy of a king's son; and his dagger was of the most +exquisite Damascene work mounted with precious +stones and enamel. He raised her from the ground +with smiles of mingled triumph and admiration, as if +he were a young god who had descended to toy with +an earthly lover. "I told you, my nymph of the +woodman's hermitage, that we should meet again. +And now that they have put back into my veins all +the blood that I lost that night, I come to present my +thanks to the beautiful nurse to whom I owe my life. +Tell me, my lovely wood-nymph, what gift would +please thee most." And, without waiting for an +answer, he threw his powerful arm round the girl +and pressed on her lips a passionate kiss. +</p> + +<p> +Anastasia flung herself out of his arms and started +back, the long, dark cloak falling from her shoulders +to the ground. She stood there in flowing robes of +pure-white gauze that clung to her rounded form and +made her look like the Virgin as she stood abashed +and listened to the angel at the Annunciation. Her +bosom heaved with emotion and indignation; her +cheek was pale but lovely in its pallor, her eyes glowed +with fire, and her open lips seemed to tremble with +unspoken words. At last she found voice to speak: +"Forbear, rude man, to insult a maiden whom our +Lady of Mount Damatrys has taken under her holy +keeping." The gay youth laughed aloud. "Why, +my forest beauty, I thought you knew me! I am +Romanus, son of the Basileus, at your service, to give +you whatever you please to ask—be it jewels, robes, +or charms, but in any case the love of a king's son," +he murmured, seizing her again, and with a look of +genuine rapture. +</p> + +<p> +"This to me, thy consecrated maiden, O Holy +Theotokos!" shrieked Anastasia, with an air of frantic +disdain, as she sank to the pavement and flung herself +down sobbing before the image of the saint. Her agony +and outraged modesty quite touched the young Cæsar, +who, profligate as he had already become, was still +very young and had gentle feelings by nature. In all +his experience of the houris of the palace and the +city, he had met nothing like this before, and the sight +of such wonderful beauty, united to such miraculous +modesty, filled him with a new love, such as he had +never dreamed of in all the adventures of his gay +young life. "Nay," he said, at last, after trying in +vain to alleviate her sobs, "I mean not to offer you +any offence, nor am I such a brute as could give a +moment's pain to the loveliest woman in my father's +empire—to her who has saved my life. Anastasia, I +have loved you since that hour when you seemed to +have come down like the angel who comforts a dying +man. I love you now; I love you to distraction. I +would fling away empire itself if I might keep you. I +swear by our own St. Stephen of the Daphne that I will +give thee a palace near the Augusteum, and thou shalt +have the establishment of a princess. I will have thee +acknowledged by the palace as the chosen love of +Cæsar; and when I am autocrator myself thou shalt +ask of me what thou wilt, O thou most lovely and +dearest of women! I will—" +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, saints in heaven, and thou, Holy Mother of +God!" shrieked Anastasia again, with a fresh outburst +of convulsive sobs, "must I listen to such insults? +If thou art, indeed, Romanus, son of Constantine +Born-in-the-Purple, thou knowest not to whom thou darest +to offer thy dishonorable love. No breath of scandal +has ever tainted me or mine. My birth is, indeed, far +above thine, proud as thou boastest thine. My +ancestors were kings in Greece when all in this land +were barbarians. My blood for a thousand years has +run in royal houses—fallen, despoiled, forgotten, but +pure as the snow on Mount Olympus. Who was thy +great-grandfather's sire, O Romanus of the race of +Basil the Macedonian? Did he know himself—did +any man know—or his own mother? And thou, his +direct descendant, offerest outrages to me, the +daughter of a hundred kings, the chosen maiden of +Our Lady here!"—and she sank back exhausted +with her passion, sobbing aloud—"because I am +lonely, poor, an orphan, and unprotected by man, +though watched over by the Queen of Heaven +above." +</p> + +<p> +And here she broke away with a faint scream; and, +whirling around her limbs the flowing draperies of +white gauze, like a mænad chased by a satyr, she +rushed across the chapel, and, dashing into a small, +dark oratory at the other side, she seemed to seize the +ikon of Our Lady with her hand as if claiming +sanctuary of her patron divinity. +</p> + +<p> +Romanus followed her as soon as his eyes could detect +her in her retreat; and, panting with his effort, +he cried: "Anastasia, listen to me again, and forgive +my words of mad love! I swear by the saints above +that I will make you my wife, so soon as I am seated +on the golden throne," gasped Romanus, now wild +with love, passion, and excitement. +</p> + +<p> +"Swear that we are betrothed this moment in the +sight of God and His saints. Swear it with thy hand +placed on the ikon of Our Lady here, as God shall +save thy soul in the last judgment. Swear thus—'I, +Romanus, take thee, Anastasia, for my wedded wife, +till death do us part.' Swear it with thy hand on this +ikon, made, as thou knowest, by no earthly hand. +Swear as I tell thee, or never see me again!" +</p> + +<p> +Mad with love and half intoxicated with adventure +as he was, Romanus uttered the sacramental words +half in jest and half in earnest; he hardly knew what +he was doing. And as he spoke, the venerable hermit +whose cell adjoined the chapel, a priest who had long +forsaken the world, stepped forth in his ceremonial +robes from the dark corner in which he had been on +his face at his devotions quite concealed from view. +"Amen, amen," the venerable man of God said, with +profound solemnity in the ritual chant. "Those whom +God hath joined together let no man put asunder. +My son and my daughter, go your ways in peace. Ye +are betrothed husband and spouse. May Mary the +Divine Mother and St. Demetrius guide ye both in +blessed wedlock." +</p> + +<p> +And as he spoke Anastasia slipped back into the +arms of her old nurse, Charmion, who was holding her +cloak hard by in another dark corner of the chapel. +The hermit and the two women passed noiselessly out +into the night; and the young Romanus stood alone +in the dark chapel, revolving in his mind what it meant +and what was to be the end of this amour. He had +caught sight of the girl already once or twice in the +three months that had passed during his convalescence, +but always in presence of her nurse or father, and he +felt himself to have sunk madly in love with her +marvellous beauty and queenly air. Of a truth, she could +be no burgher's daughter: he had already heard vague +rumors about Craterus and his royal ancestors. And +where had he seen that old hermit who had so mysteriously +sprung up out of the dark cell beside the altar +of Our Lady? He thought he had once before met +those foxlike eyes and that lofty brow. But the long, +white beard and priestly robes? Priest, monk, +hermit! Had he sworn wedlock before the priest of the +Most High? Betrothed! Married! Was it a jest or +something more? And the wild lad laughed, and then +he drew a deep sigh, and then again he laughed, and +as he left the sacred spot he swore a deep oath by the +saint to whom he never was forsworn that Anastasia +should be his, come what might. And as he passed +on to his attendants who waited for him in the copse +hard by he determined to call to his counsels the +chamberlain, the Lord Theodore, whose skill in +intrigue he knew to be unrivalled, and of whose fidelity +to himself he was entirely assured. +</p> + +<p> +The lord chamberlain listened carefully to the story +of the young prince's adventure and asked him again +and again to repeat exactly what had passed. But the +youth was in a state of transport and excitement so +wild that the true facts were only drawn out of his +memory by degrees. "It would be too great a risk," +said the courtier at last, "to stir up a scandal in +connection with the shrine of St. Demetrius so near to the +city which holds this particular ikon in such awe. +And if the girl still resists all promises and gifts, your +Imperial Highness would be wise to think of her no more." +</p> + +<p> +"Never! never!" shouted the prince, in a passion; +"I will give up the throne itself, my life, my chance +of heaven, but not this girl, whom I have sworn by +St. Stephen of the Daphne to make my wife." +</p> + +<p> +"Surely not!" said Lord Theodore, now in genuine +alarm. "How often has the patriarch, in confession, +warned your Highness against being forsworn by that +saint of all others! But tell me precisely the words +that passed. You never have vowed marriage in +presence of a witness?" +</p> + +<p> +And now the youth, sobered by the evident anxiety +of the wily courtier, rehearsed all the circumstances +and the words spoken in presence of the hermit who +had pronounced at the altar the fatal words of the +betrothal, as the old nurse would witness. +</p> + +<p> +"And the old hermit betrothed you two, if he did +not actually marry you to the woman?" stammered +out the chamberlain; and he struck his forehead in +dismay as he muttered, "God in heaven help us!" For +he well knew the close confidence that existed +between the hermit of St. Demetrius and the venerable +patriarch of Constantinople. He well knew also +how deeply the patriarch abhorred the character and +parasites of the young prince, and how gladly the +bold and sincere high-priest of Hagia Sophia would +see the succession of Romanus fail or be set aside. +Even the experienced craft of Theodore did not suspect +the identity of the hermit, and he never doubted +for an instant that the old priest of St. Demetrius +thoroughly understood and would use all the power +over the court which the incident had given him. +</p> + +<p> +"If, indeed, the sacramental words of marriage, or +even of betrothal, have been pronounced before and by +such a holy man as the hermit, and one so deeply +reverenced in the city, the case is assuredly fit for all +our care and thought," at last murmured the chamberlain. +Should he not himself promote this intrigue? +He reflected. He had heard much already of the +surpassing beauty of Anastasia, of her consummate grace +and adroitness, and of all her pretension to royal birth +in Greece. He began to run over in his mind the +marvellous history of humble beauties who had +mounted the throne of the Sacred Palace. He saw, +as in a vision, how he, Theodore, might rule supreme +in a new reign if he could bind to himself the infatuated +prince and this lovely but utterly untutored +girl as his wife. And he well knew that the title and +the reign of Constantine Born-in-the-Purple were +running down fast into their final sands. +</p> + +<p> +And so the lord chamberlain escorted homeward +his young lord and his apt pupil, himself deeply +meditating on the future and its vast possibilities, while +the love-sick prince lay silent in his barge on the +moonlit water, wrapt in delicious reveries as he +recalled every word and look of his betrothed and +pressed to his lips the kerchief that he had snatched +from her bosom when he held her in his arms. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap04"></a></p> + +<h2> +IV +<br><br> +The Young Augusta +</h2> + +<p> +The lord chamberlain was not the man to +disappoint the young prince, his future master; and +for some months he had carried on a most elaborate +series of schemes and intrigues. He plunged into +these all the more that he perceived how rapidly the +health of the emperor was sinking day by day. +Constantine Porphyrogennetus was himself aware of his +decline. One night he had received a solemn embassy +from Olga, the czarina of the Russ, with more than +usual ceremonial. A great feast had been celebrated +in the golden banqueting hall, or chrysotriklinos. This +gorgeous chamber was roofed by a spacious dome +of rich mosaic designs and lighted by sixteen +windows ranged around the base of the dome. In the +centre hung a vast chandelier of silver, while the walls +were decorated with figures of saints on a background +of golden mosaic. The floor was paved with precious +marbles, now covered with rare carpets and rugs, and +the emperor, with the patriarch and three other +great officers, had dined at the golden table of high +state. +</p> + +<p> +The feeble emperor, who had struggled to go through +all the appointed offices of a ceremonial banquet, had +been borne by his cubiculars of the chamber through +the great silver gates that led into the Long Saloon; +and, while dessert and condiments were served to his +guests in the Aristaion, he was carried into the +imperial bedchamber and laid upon a couch. +</p> + +<p> +There the most majestic autocrator sank down with +so much exhaustion that the Augusta and her son, +Romanus, were summoned to his side. +</p> + +<p> +It was a scene that night in the innermost privy +chambers of the sovereign to point an epigrammatic +essay on vanity or a pathetic sermon upon death. +While the rude envoys from the Russian capital in +Kiev were conducted, open-eyed and stolid as they +were, from one gorgeous hall to another, and were +plied with every sight that could fill them with awe +of the autocrator of the Romans; while the marble +corridors, anterooms, and portals that surrounded the +Golden Banqueting Hall were crowded with senators, +cubiculars, proto-spathaires, acolytes, and patricians, +all in state robes, with chains and badges of office, +and with them in picturesque confusion were mixed +the guard of honor and the quaint uniforms of the +Varangian battle-axemen, the Mighty Lord of the +World and King of Kings lay faintly reclining on a +couch. His head was supported by his youngest +daughter, Agatha, who hung over her father with +loving care. Beside him, on a low stool, sat the aged +Empress Helena, herself not much stronger than her +husband, and by her side the tall, handsome figure of +the young Basileus, in all the glow of his youthful grace +and the jewelled robes of state in which he now was +arrayed. +</p> + +<p> +"Our son has come, my lord and august spouse," +the Augusta began, in winning tones, "to ask a blessing +of his imperial father, and to pray for his sanction to +the marriage as to which our Romanus has already +spoken to us both. The noble lady Euphemia, the +wife of our lord chamberlain, is the kinswoman of the +beautiful Theophano, and has duly presented her at +my court. The Lord Theodore himself has made +ample inquiries, and finds that this lady is of royal +descent from the ancient kings of Sparta, and is +herself as acccomplished and discreet as she certainly is +surpassingly beautiful. If it be the will of my lord +the sovereign, the Lady Euphemia, who is now, with +her fascinating kinswoman, in my private apartments, +will introduce her to your Sacred Majesty, and she will +ask a blessing on her betrothal to our son." +</p> + +<p> +"We have long desired to see our son well wedded +before we are called to Christ ourselves," the gentle +emperor began, "and have long felt grieved that he +could never decide on his choice. But so all-important +is the conduct of the future Basilissa that perhaps +he did well to wait. If this lady be of royal birth, and +if our trusty Theodore and his virtuous lady are fully +assured of her discretion, deportment, and breeding, +our son shall have his way and his father's blessing. +How is she named, my son, and since when and from +whence has she come to our court?" +</p> + +<p> +"She is called Theophano, my royal father, a name +we all love and honor as that of my darling sister. +And this wonder of the world is but recently arrived +at the palace of her kinswoman, the Lady Euphemia, +from the banks of the Eurotas, in the Peloponnesus, +where her father once held a now decayed principality. +Let me bring her to the presence of your Majesty; +and your profound understanding of ceremonial +deportment will perceive how truly this royal lady was +designed by Heaven itself to be a Basilissa." +</p> + +<p> +With the emperor's consent, the chamberlains and +ladies of the court at once summoned the Lady +Euphemia, accompanied by her kinswoman Theophano. +The young Basileus himself stepped forward as the +lord cubicular-in-waiting announced the noble ladies +in due form, and led his Theophano to the couch of +his father, himself beaming on her with admiration +and love. As she slowly advanced, with the three +appropriate reverences in use, the serene composure of +her countenance just mantling over with subdued +blushes, all eyes in the chamber were bent on her, and +every soul felt a thrill of wonder and admiration. +Theophano was now arrayed in silk-embroidered robes, +the most sumptuous which the art of Constantinople +could provide, and adorned with priceless jewels which +Romanus and Theodore had managed to procure from +the recesses of the sacred treasure-cell in the chapel +of St. Theodore behind the Chrysotriklinos. +</p> + +<p> +In casting off the virginal simplicity of Anastasia, +the aspirant Theophano had taken on a new bearing +along with the change of name. Her manner was +that of a queen, and of a queen who was wont to bend +all men to her slightest caprice. She took her place +in the imperial circle as if she herself had been born +in the purple chamber. And even the lovely Agatha, +the princess by her side, seemed more fit to be her +lady-in-waiting than her sister-in-law. Never had the +imperial palace been graced by such dazzling beauty +and such royal grace. And even the autocrator himself, +oracle of dignity and behavior as he was, was +bewitched into the pleasant belief that at last his +truant son had, indeed, found a royal lady worthy to +continue the race of the Constantines Born-in-the Purple. +</p> + +<p> +"Approach, royal maiden of the Spartan line," said +the easy and affectionate Augustus, enchanted with +the beauty and dignity of the girl; "come and kiss thy +father that adopts thee, and perform the ceremonial +obeisance in use to our queen, the Augusta, whose +daughter thou art to be." +</p> + +<p> +Theophano moved forward gently, with every eye +on her steps, radiant and majestic as if Here were +entering the expectant circle of Olympus. During the +three months that she had passed in the palace of the +lord chamberlain, where she had been under the +protection of the Lady Euphemia and had accepted +nothing but the ceremonial courtship of the infatuated +prince, Theophano had been carefully trained in all +the minutiæ of the etiquette of that most ceremonious +of all imperial courts. Her genius for seduction had +made her a consummate mistress of all the graces of +a court. And born actress as she was, she went through +the ordeal of these formal obeisances with such perfect +dignity and charm that, while the whole company +were delighted with her bearing, the emperor himself +was in uncontrollable raptures which his own fine +manners could hardly conceal. +</p> + +<p> +To the morbid imagination of the now enfeebled +emperor, whose innermost religion had long been the +maintenance not so much of the empire itself as of +the traditions of the imperial ceremonial, the prospect +of a marriage of the youthful Basileus to a magnificent +woman, worthy indeed of the golden throne, was an +event of the first magnitude and of almost divine +dispensation. "And thinkest thou, my sweet +Basilissa-elect, that thou wilt have strength to comport thyself +exactly in all the appointed usages of an imperial +marriage?" said the doting Constantine Born-in-the-Purple, +"for it needs the memory of a proto-cubicular to go +through the ceremonials without a slip, and the +majesty of St. Helena herself, our imperial ancestress, +to bear thyself fitly in that day of days." +</p> + +<p> +"Most august sovereign lord and father," softly +murmured Theophano, in an attitude of profound +reverence, "I have been permitted by her Sacred Majesty's +favor to offer up my prayers for help to our most Holy +Lady in the Daphne here, and a special assurance has +been vouchsafed to me that by her aid I shall be equal +to the duties that will devolve on me on that auspicious +day." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou shalt hear in the authentic words of the +autocrator himself how the marriage ceremonial of a +Basileus is performed," said Constantine, quite roused +to infatuation at the prospect of seeing his own court +ritual enacted in his presence. "Send for the +reader-in-waiting, and let them bring in the roll of my book +on the <i>Ceremonies in Use at Court</i>. I will have the +chapter of 'Royal Marriage' rehearsed this very night +in presence of the royal bridegroom and bride that +are to be." +</p> + +<p> +The parchment roll, the scribe, and the reader (never +far from the side of the imperial pedant) were at once +in attendance. +</p> + +<p> +"Here, here is the passage," cried the feeble despot, +foolishly fumbling the rolls in his eagerness to turn to +his own much-treasured revelations of deportment. +"Give me the first book of our <i>Basileia Taxis</i>—turn +to Chapter XXXIX.—on the 'Ritual for an Imperial +Marriage.' Now read—where we say how the divine +service is held in the shrine of St. Stephen the +Proto-martyr in our Daphne, and so on." +</p> + +<p> +The reader approached, and amid profound silence +read as follows, the imperial dotard nodding and +smiling feebly to his family as each passage gave him +new delight: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="letter"> +"When the imperial pair have been duly diademed in the +Sacred Office, they pass though the Octagon and the Augusteum +and by the Golden Hand, and they are received by the +magistroi and patricians in the Œnopodium, and the ceremonial +procession is formed. The Factions are arranged in +the Triclinium on both sides near the stairs of the Magnaura. +Then the choirs of the two Factions chant, 'Long, long, long,' +and all respond, 'Long, long life: long and for evermore!' Then +the solos take it up—'Our Saviour, preserve our Lords: +Holy Ghost, protect our Augustus! Sovereign Bridegroom, +may God have thee in His holy keeping! May God in heaven +give thee grace abounding in thy wedlock! May He who of +old time blessed the marriage in Cana bless thy marriage also, +and may He visit thy spouse, so that offspring may be born of +thee in the Purple Chamber. This day is a festival of joy to +the Roman people, wherein our Lord (Romanus) is espoused +to our Lady (Theophano), our most blessed Augusta.' Then +the wedded pair pass on to the hall where the Factions are +feasted, and again the two choirs renew their chants, singing +'Hail! All hail! Sovereign of the Romans, blessed be thy +coming and that of thy consort!' And the people shout, +'Blessings on thee, joy of the Romans, glory of the Purple. +Blessings on thee, lady, whom all desire to behold! May God +hear the prayers of thy people!' And thence the wedded +pair proceed to the nuptial alcove, where they lay down their +diadems on the bridal bed of state; and hence they pass through +the portico to the Hall of the Nineteen Couches, where the +feast is spread." +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +The younger members of the family now began to +show visible signs of fatigue as the reader poured out +the interminable catalogue of salaams, processions, +chants, and antiphones prescribed in the imperial +<i>Manual of Etiquette</i>. And the exhaustion of the invalid +emperor was so obvious, in spite of his enthusiasm +and elation, that the Augusta induced her lord to +command the close of the reading and to retire to rest in +the Sacred Chamber. +</p> + +<p> +The marriage of the young Basileus Romanus with +the illustrious Princess Theophano of Lacedæmon was +celebrated with all the splendor of that age of pomp +and all the elaborate ceremonial ordained by that +most rigid of all imperial purists. Constantine +Porphyrogennetus, who was now become little more than the +grand master of the ceremonies in his own palace, the +veritable "Grand Monarque" and "Roi Soleil" of the +tenth century, seemed to have recovered something +of his strength from the supreme satisfaction of seeing +one of his own highest functions carried out to +perfection in every detail, and by the prospect of an +assured succession to the Basilian dynasty in the fruitful +marriage of his only son. The birth of another Basil, +hereafter to be known as the mighty warrior, "The +Slayer of the Bulgarians," was soon followed by that +of another Constantine, destined to be eighth emperor +of that glorious name. The Basilian dynasty seemed +saved; and the Sacred Palace was the scene of an +endless round of magnificent ceremonies, fantastic +amusements, incessant scandals, and sinister intrigues. +</p> + +<p> +Marriage, alas! seemed only to have given the young +Basileus increased zest for wild sports and scandalous +adventures, which were rapidly destroying his health +and sapping what was left in him of moral fibre. Now +he plunged into the forests of Thrace, now into those +of Bithynia, to hunt the boar or the bear, exhausting +himself in midnight fatigues and exposure to all +weathers and seasons. From time to time he was seen +in the Tzykanisterion, or polo-ground, in the east side +of the palace between the pharos and the sea-wall. +Here the young nobles, having the <i>entrée</i>, were wont +to engage in polo and other exercises on horseback. +This spacious practising-ground had been extended +and levelled by the Emperor Basil. And here his +royal descendant loved to exhibit his prowess as a +player in that manly game of polo which the +Byzantines had adopted from the Persians. The young +prince had been trained from boyhood in the game +by the noble Basil Digenes, who had an hereditary +gift for this sport, and who alone was regarded as the +match of Romanus. It was no flattery when the best +players in the kingdom yielded the victory to the +splendid horsemanship and keen eye of the imperial +athlete, while the courtiers and ladies of the royal +households surveyed the games from arcades of the +terrace above. First one and then another of the +beauties who thronged those gay companies would +be chosen by the gallant prince to receive the crown +or garland which was the winner's prize; and the +vagrant amours of his insatiable fancy gave as much +ceaseless gossip to the witty and frivolous court as +ever did a Louis at Versailles or a Charles at +Whitehall. Not that the adventures of Romanus were +confined in any sense to the Sacred Palace, nor his +love-making to maids of honor or high-born dames. Frolics, +sports, orgies, carouses of all kinds—wine, women, +mummers, acrobats—all came alike to Romanus with +his thirst for excitement and pleasure. Old soldiers +and the wary administrators of the government looked +sad and doubtful. But Theophano herself, whose +discreetness and virtue had been so fully approved and +certified by the Augusta and by the Lady Euphemia, +was not seen to complain of or even to perceive the +excesses of her boy lord. Indeed, some scandalous +old dames who attended on the aged Empress Helena +had been heard to insinuate (with much shaking of +heads and many a "My dear, if I only could speak") +that Theophano had more than once flung into the +arms of her lawful mate a pretty young thing about +her own person, who in no way thereby seemed to +forfeit her mistress's favor. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap05"></a></p> + +<h2> +V +<br><br> +The Dying Emperor +</h2> + +<p> +Constantine Born-in-the-Purple, who, +if he had degenerated into a ceremonial martinet, +was neither depraved nor idiotic, watched with sorrow +and shame the excesses of his only son, though his easy +indulgence and his enfeebled will prevented him from +interfering to check them. And, steeped as he was in +the narcotic poison of a crowd of parasites and +sycophants, he had yet too much experience of empire and +of the enormous burdens of its ruler not to turn with +a heavy heart to the ominous storm-clouds around +his throne. He felt himself dying by inches; and, in +spite of the extravagant adulation that formed his daily +existence, he had too much sense not to be aware that +he was leaving his empire to a broken and reckless +debauchee, his wife and daughters to an ambitious +and unscrupulous rival, and the frontiers of his vast +dominions a prey to powerful enemies—to the advancing +tide of the Prophet, to the savage corsairs who +swept the Ægean Sea and the coasts of Asia, and to +the barbarous hordes on the Ister and the Danapris, +who hung like avalanches from the northern steppes +ready to burst on the plains below. Long and weary +were the secret councils which the broken Augustus +would hold with minister or general, high-priest, +philosopher, or monk, whom from time to time he +would call to offer him advice. +</p> + +<p> +The emperor of the Romans at Constantinople, +feeble and pedantic as was Constantine himself, was +still surrounded by statesmen of great experience and +sagacity, who were served by an immense army of +trained officials and zealous administrators. This +secular organization kept in life and activity the vast +fabric of civilized government which had been built up +by a long succession of Constantines, Basils, and Leos, +and which was carried back by tradition to the ages +of Justinian and Theodosius, even to those of the +Antonines and Trajan. It was far in advance of any +engine of government then existing on earth, unless +it were for the moment in Andalusia; and it maintained +the framework of civilization and of imperial +administration at an age when both the Asiatic and +the Teutonic polities were in a state of flux and +rudiment. The sovereign lord of Constantinople still held +in subjection the manifold races of his heterogeneous +dominion by means partly of the overwhelming +tradition of Roman rule, partly by the mysterious +consecration he received from the Orthodox Church, but +practically by the instrument of a trained and organized +service, both civil and military, much as the czar +of Russia and the padishah of Roum have held their +kingdoms together in spite of corruption, folly, and +intrigue in the court, and at times gross incompetence +on the throne itself. +</p> + +<p> +On one day, at the close of Constantine's life and +reign—he was now in his fifty-fifth year—nearly all +of which time he had been nominally Basileus, the +emperor held long and anxious privy council with several +of his great officers of state. The conclave had been +almost forced upon him by the vehement expostulations +of the patriarch, the venerable Polyeuctus. This +famous prelate had been brought from his monastery, +where his austere piety and zealous spirit had covered +him with a halo of sanctity, in order to purge the +Holy See of St. Sophia from the scandalous extravagances +of Theophylact, when that horse-racing patriarch +had been killed by a vicious stallion he had bred. +Polyeuctus did not hesitate to rebuke even the sacred +person of Augustus himself before his whole congregation. +And, much as Constantine resented and feared +the warnings of the ardent patriarch, he silently +admitted the justice and honesty of the stern monk and +fully understood the secret of his unbounded influence. +On this occasion the patriarch was supported +by the patrician, Joseph Bringas, lord high admiral +and lord commander of the eunuchs, who, eunuch +as he was himself, was a man of great intellect and +power, and practically the chief authority within the +Sacred Palace. He had brought with him to the +imperial cabinet Sisinnios, one of the proto-spathaires +and prefect of the city; the proto-secretis, or chief +secretary, Theophylact Matzitzikos; and his Honor +Judge Joseph, one of the spatharo candidates, president +of the High Court of Justice. These five councillors +were all men capable of governing an empire +and fully aware of the perils around it. +</p> + +<p> +The patriarch began, as was natural from his exalted +office and the fiery nature of the man: "Most august +sovereign, the critical condition of thy kingdom and +the manifest disorder of thine own household require +thy most serious concern; and we, thy servants, and +servants by thy favor, be it said, of the Most High +God and of His precious realm, have come to warn +thee, O King, even as the prophet Samuel gave +warning to Saul and the blessed St. Paul to Festus. +Thy only son and our future Basileus is filling this +city and thy Sacred Palace with his fooleries, his +stage-players, his orgies, and his wantoning. The +woman whom thou gavest him to wife does nothing +to restrain his vices. Would that we could see in her +any virtues of her own. She wastes the treasures of +thy kingdom on effeminate displays and unworthy +favorites. She is forming in thy palace a party who +are alien to thee and to thine; she is seeking to attach +to herself the most unscrupulous adventurers she can +find, and is manifestly grasping for herself the power +of the state. She openly flouts her Sacred Majesty +the Empress, and permits her minions to speak evil +of the princesses, thy honored daughters. In private +she mocks at the sacred offices of the Church, and has +suffered them to profane the very altar in her private +chapel of St. Theodore. Chastise her offences, O +king, and banish her to a convent in some distant +island, or thy son, thy wife, and thy daughters will +be made the victims of her jealousy, and thy golden +throne may be occupied one day by some paramour +of her own whom she has chosen to place in power +by her side." +</p> + +<p> +"Forbear, forbear from such awful words," groaned +the miserable emperor, who sat propped up on his +cushions and cowering at each blow of the monk's +words as if he were struck with a scourge. "Forbear, +most venerable patriarch, in the name of Christ, Our +Lord, and the Holy Mother who bore Him. For +mercy's sake cease thy maledictions, and tell me how +can I, the loving but the dying father of my +headstrong son, venture to chastise him as a boy, and how +can I part him from the wife he has chosen to wed, +and how tear her down from the high place of state +which I have given her myself. Alas! alas!" cried +the broken old father, wringing his thin hands as hot +tears poured down his emaciated cheeks, "have I not +striven to train up my son in every virtue and in +princely deportment to make him worthy of the royal +part he was to bear; and this, this is the end of all +my pains and my teaching, of the many tutors and +my own writings. And she whom I gave him to wife +seemed so able to bear all the duties of Basilissa and +to understand the great part she had assumed. And +this is the end of our love and our forethought." And +the poor old man wept bitter tears. +</p> + +<p> +"It is not for me, most august sovereign," replied +the zealous prelate, "it is not for us, the servants of +the Most High God, absorbed as we are in sacred things, +to offer thee counsel in things of the world; nor am I +skilled in devising machinations of policy to deal with +sublunary intrigues. This most sagacious counsellor +here, the Lord Bringas, or the illustrious patrician +Sisinnios, can advise thee in such things which belong +to their province. 'Tis mine, O King, only by fastings, +watchings, and adoration at the altar of God, to +receive such warnings as His mercy vouchsafes to +convey to men by the unworthy channel of His anointed +priests. And as one of the humblest of these servants +of the Most High, I tell thee, Lord Sovereign Augustus, +to thy face, thou art harboring in thy palace a woman +such as thy imperial ancestors have harbored of +old—an Irenei a Eudocia, a Theodora—ay, even such a +one as Ahab, King of Israel, once harbored to the ruin +of his kingdom and his house." Constantine quivered +and sobbed in silence. And the patriarch solemnly +folded around him his robe of office and slowly left the +imperial presence with no visible sign of obeisance, +adding only: "I go hence to my place in the Holy +Wisdom, to partake of the body and blood of Him +in whose sight the kings of the earth are worms and +dust. I go to pray for thee and for this realm and +people of Christ." +</p> + +<p> +The patriarch, whose supreme office and reputation +for sanctity placed him for the time on more than an +equality with the weak and yet conscientious emperor, +quitted the council, leaving Constantine overwhelmed +with his emotions and the other officials somewhat +alarmed at such an outburst. At last Joseph Bringas, +a real statesman and a man of energy and prudence, +ventured to say: "Most august sovereign, it is not +for thy lay servants to answer the accusations which +his Holiness the Patriarch holds it his duty to +deliver to his sovereign. If the words he has presumed +to speak have been put into his heart by God Himself, +thy royal wisdom will not fail to judge. For us, mere +lay ministers and thy counsellors in earthly policy, it +is enough to consider what is politic, practicable, and +prudent to be done, for the sake of thy sacred person, +thy family, and thy throne. It is not for us to judge +thy royal son, his Highness the Basileus, but I venture +to appeal to his father's heart if his errors are more +than the failings of such extreme youth. His natural +disposition is excellent and his goodness of heart makes +him indulgent to those about him. To put him under +restraint would be to light up a civil war; to assail +the royal lady, his lawful spouse, would involve a +revolution in the palace which would soon spread to the +city. A strong hand to guide his youth and to check +the disorders of thy household is all that is needed. +The favor of your Majesty has given me authority in +the past. Extend and continue thy royal favor to +thy devoted servant, and with the aid of these +councillors here, we will answer for peace and order at +home." +</p> + +<p> +"Intrust me with ample authority to arrest and +deport any favorite of his Highness who may be +organizing sedition in the city, and I will answer for the +conduct of the Factions at all times," said Sisinnios the +prefect. +</p> + +<p> +"And the logothete, your Majesty's treasurer," said +the chief secretary, "must be authorized to refuse +those incessant advances which he is called upon to +honor, ostensibly for the ornaments and household of +her Royal Highness, but which we have reason to +know are being accumulated for a very different object." +</p> + +<p> +"The existence of your Majesty's empire depends +on a rigid administration of the imperial finances," +broke in the patrician Bringas. "The payment of +tribute has been seriously reduced for years past by +the ravages of the Moslem invaders on the East, and +especially by the corsairs of Crete. But the whole +of our seaboard and Asian frontier will be drained of +its resources unless we can restore the supremacy of +Roman arms, so much shaken by these infidel hordes. +Your Majesty has one great soldier in your armies. +To him no triumphs are too great to be achieved—a +soldier of courage and genius, that may vie with +Heraclius, or Narses, or Belisarius himself. Need I +say that I mean Nicephorus, the Armenian of the +warlike race of Phocas? Place him, O king, at the +head of a powerful army and a fleet of equal strength, +give him thy imperial command to restore the supremacy +of the Cross, and the Roman name shall be again +as great in the two continents as was ever that of +Justinian or Theodosius; and Christendom will be rid +forever of the accursed brood of Hagar." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, but this is just what the Lord Akritas of the +Eastern Marches told us," interrupted the distracted +Basileus, "when I summoned him to advise us on our +policy in the East." +</p> + +<p> +"Most mighty sovereign, it is what every real soldier +has said for a generation, and what every wise man at +home knows to be the truth." +</p> + +<p> +"Have we not made this favorite hero of our armies +a grand marshal of the empire, commander-in-chief +of the forces of the East? Have we not loaded him +with honors, appanages, and favors from our throne?" +</p> + +<p> +"And he has won each honor that your Majesty has +been pleased to vouchsafe to him, by saving a province +or by increasing the empire," said the chief eunuch. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, but if we place in the hands of this adored +general a power so vast, will not ambition prompt him +to turn his arms against our dynasty in the person +of our too careless son?" asked the ever-timid and +suspicious sovereign. +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus Phocas," said the chief eunuch, "is +the soul of loyalty and the mirror of honor. He is as +utterly incapable of treason, rebellion, or even +disobedience as the archangel Michael beside the throne +of God. Few, indeed, are the trusted officers of your +Majesty's armies to whom I would counsel you to +confide such paramount authority in arms. Nor, +indeed, for that matter, would I like to counsel that it +be confided to any of your Majesty's servants at home," +said Joseph Bringas, as he looked at his colleagues +with a significant smile. +</p> + +<p> +"I would not advise the bringing home this great +soldier from Asia. But Nicephorus Phocas may be +trusted to be true to death while he is serving his +sovereign in arms abroad. We may trust him even +as we may trust the saints in heaven." +</p> + +<p> +"And do our trusty councillors here present in +audience share the confidence of our most noble lord +admiral in the loyalty of the grand marshal?" asked +the Basileus, still hesitating. "Are ye all sure that when +he possesses the collective forces of our empire, he will +still remain servant of the illustrious dynasty that was +founded by our mighty ancestor Basil, of pious and +glorious memory?" +</p> + +<p> +"If his power be limited to the armies, and he be +occupied in Asia, we are all as sure of it as the Lord +Bringas himself," replied the three officials appealed +to. +</p> + +<p> +"We will ponder and reflect on your advice," murmured +the feeble sovereign, now thoroughly exhausted +both in body and in mind. "We thank you, noble and +trusty councillors, for your attendance upon us and +your sage counsels. In the mean time, let the grand +marshal of our Eastern armies be summoned to the +Sacred Palace that we may confer with so illustrious +a chief." +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus Phocas was duly summoned by imperial +messenger, with the official despatch sealed with the +vermilion cipher; but he never saw his punctilious +and procrastinating master. +</p> + +<p> +Constantine Porphyrogennetus was now dying. +Enfeebled by internal disease, he was exhausted by +chronic fevers, for which his physicians prescribed the +baths of Prusa, in Bithynia. The medicinal waters +rather aggravated his malady, and he turned from +earthly to spiritual resources, visiting the monasteries +around Mount Olympus, carried in his golden litter +from cell to cell while he shared the watches, the +services, the pallet of the most famous anchorites, joining +in their prayers, hymns, and prostrations. All was +in vain. He was borne down to the shore of the +Marmora, whence the royal dromon, or galley, conveyed +him by an easy transport to the Sacred Palace. +</p> + +<p> +It was a cold and dreary November when the mighty +Augustus was for the last time carried back to the +hieros koiton, or imperial bedchamber, the magnificence +of which seemed to mock the helplessness of +the sinking potentate. The patriarch was summoned +with his acolytes to administer the last offices of +religion according to the rites of the Orthodox Church. +The venerable Augusta sank down exhausted with +grief and anxiety. The princesses were gathered round +their father's couch, and Agatha, the youngest, was +bending over him with incessant care to smooth his +pillow and moisten his lips. The monarch in his +expiring moments asked for his son. But no son was +there. The reckless Romanus had gone off with a +gay retinue of courtiers to hunt in the forests on the +Asian side of the Bosphorus, and all the messengers +had failed to meet him. The eunuchs of the royal +chamber, the chief physician, and his Holiness the +Patriarch, watched the last agony of the sovereign. +At a sign from the physician who held the pulse of the +dying man, the chief eunuch of the chamber closed +the eyes and covered the face of the dead. +</p> + +<p> +Then, with a loud voice which rang through the +awe-struck and silent chamber, the Patriarch Polyeuctus +sprang from his knees, and, raising aloft the +crucifix, he cried: "Go forth hence, O king. The King +of Kings, the Lord of Lords, has called thee to Himself." +</p> + +<p> +At these thrilling words the Princess Agatha shrieked +aloud and the venerable Augusta fainted. The +other princesses flew to aid their mother: Zoe, the +eldest, cried aloud for the ladies-in-waiting to carry +the Augusta to her own bedchamber, the sacred +apartment of the empress regnant. +</p> + +<p> +But here the door of that chamber was flung open, +and Theophano stood in the entrance like some fierce +and majestic fury presiding over a scene of carnage. +She was surrounded by her own chamberlains, eunuchs, +and ladies of honor. "Bear not the widow hither, I +command ye. There is no Augusta here but one—and +I am your Basilissa to-day. The chamber of the +empress is for me, and I share it with no relict of the +dead. Here, carry off your late king to prepare him +for the tomb. This sacred koiton is for my lord +Romanus, second of that auspicious name, most mighty +and illustrious Baselius of the Romans. In his name +I charge ye, get ye all hence." +</p> + +<p> +Appalled by this sudden apparition, as if it had +been some evil spirit issuing from the depths of hell, +and yet well aware of all that might be brought about +by the waywardness of Romanus and the malice of +Theophano, the family and retinue of the dead +sovereign shrank away in tears and groans beneath the +triumphant smiles of the new Augusta and the mocking +menaces of the attendants she had brought. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap06"></a></p> + +<h2> +VI +<br><br> +The Coronation +</h2> + +<p> +It was just daybreak on a bright morning of +the year 960 A.D., near the Hebdomon barracks, +outside the walls of Constantinople; and a general +movement towards the city could be seen on the +shores of the Propontis. The sun was nearly risen +over the eastern hills and was reflected in the smooth +water of that inland sea. The harbor and shore were +covered with gay sailing vessels and boats hurrying +towards the city, of which the walls and towers were +some three miles distant. From the circular castle of +Cyclobion, half a mile nearer the city, were pouring +forth masses of troops, both horse and foot, which +were being marshalled in the broad exercising-ground +that lay between Hebdomon and the city walls. At +this moment two officers in resplendent array, mounted +on light Arab chargers and followed by orderlies and +grooms, issued from the huge gateway of the fortress +and crossed the drawbridge into the road that led to +the Golden Gate. +</p> + +<p> +Both warriors wore the gilded cuirasses, greaves, and +armlets of the imperial guard; their long lances and +embossed shields were borne by their attendants. The +elder, a dark and bronzed Armenian of mature age, +was leading the way and explaining the concourse to +his companion, an athletic, fair-haired youth from +Norway. In truth, the young and noble Eric had +been driven from his home by the conquering Dane, +and had just found his way to friends among the +Varangian guard to take service with the Byzantine +Cæsar. His birth, reputation, and skill in arms had +gained him a warm welcome, and Bardas Skleros, who +was one of the veteran generals of the Eastern army, +had taken him into favor and made him his aide-de-camp. +To-day, the long-anticipated date fixed for the +consecration of the new Basileus, Bardas had promised +the Norwegian tyro to show him the capital and +the army which he had just joined and to introduce +him at court in person. The young hero, to whom all +this splendor, pomp, and array were a dazzling novelty, +strove hard not to betray by a look his wonder and +admiration; while the politic chief sought in every +way to arouse his curiosity and to fill his rude mind +with a fitting awe. +</p> + +<p> +As they rode past the long ranks of troops waiting +their orders to join in the procession, each company +and squadron in various equipments and from different +nations, Bardas was received with salutes and cheers +from the men whom he had often led to battle. +</p> + +<p> +"These are our Dyrrhachian Highlanders," said the +general, as they passed the huge mountaineers from +the Dalmatian coast in their rough capotes and short +claymores; "and next to them are companies from the +Peloponnesian Islands. Next come the Patzinak +foreigners, who have volunteered for service under our +standard. See those giants there: they are Russ, who, +dissatisfied with their own czar, have taken the oath +to our lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Are they all of different race, costume, weapon," +said the puzzled lad, "for they seem to speak different +tongues—not one of which can I understand or name?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said the Bardas, "for the ceremony of to-day +they are purposely chosen from the various nations +which fill our armies. All are Romans, all are sworn +to die for our sovereign and august Basileus. But +he never asks them to forsake their own tongue, nor +their own accoutrements and arms, nor any of the +habits to which they have been bred. Each company +has its own chief and interpreter, and the word of +command is given in the speech they love." +</p> + +<p> +"Are they not all even worshippers of the Cross?" +said the pious Eric, as he devoutly crossed himself. +"Are they not so much as baptized?" +</p> + +<p> +"Cæsar," said the general, with a dry smile, "is +proud to know that they serve him with loyal faith +to the last breath of their life. He knows that their +souls are safe if they die in his service, for his service +is the defence of the Church and the Cross. They +have had their baptism of blood, and in good time they +will have their baptism of water. Besides," he +muttered between his teeth, "since these gallant fellows +never converse with other regiments, they have no +temptation to mutiny or intrigue. And since many +of them have no occasion to call in a priest, they are +never disturbed in mind by anything that happens in +Church or State." +</p> + +<p> +"The soldier of Rome," said Bardas, with a keen +look into the eyes of his young friend, "has nothing +to do with politicians or with monks. Discipline, +obedience, fidelity make up his whole duty to God and +man. His religion is to serve Rome and its divine +autocrator!" Here a shout of welcome and a crashing +salute of more than ordinary vigor surprised the +young Norwegian, who noticed the gleam of pride +that lighted up the general's face. "Ay," said +Bardas, "these are my own Armenians, the brigade I +raised in my native mountains. Did you ever see more +likely-looking men-at-arms?" +</p> + +<p> +And now, as they drew up near the walls, they saw +the splendid array of the Varangian host, into which +Eric had just been admitted, with their scale coats of +mail and their terrific battle-axes, drawn up in line +around the Golden Gate of triumph. +</p> + +<p> +At last the young Scandinavian beheld that mighty +range of fortifications stretching for some three miles +from the Propontis to the Golden Horn—those historic +walls of Constantinople which for a thousand years +defied the onslaught of a series of invaders. The land +walls of the city are still, even in their abandonment +and ruin, the most impressive monument of its military +skill that the ancient world has left us. In the tenth +century they rose in three distinct lines of circumvallation, +with broad causeways between each line and +in front an immense moat more than sixty feet broad +and some twenty feet deep. Each of the three lines +of ramparts, which rose in increasing height, one +behind the other, was surmounted by battlements, the +two inner lines being strengthened by towers, also +crowned with battlements and pierced with narrow +embrasures. The towers of the wall rose to a height +of fifty feet above the outer peribolos, or terrace, which +separated the second from the outer wall. The last +defence, the huge inmost wall, rose to a height of forty +feet from the broad terrace which separated it from +the middle wall. It had ninety-six tremendous towers +at distances of one hundred and eighty feet apart, +which rose to a height of sixty feet above the terrace, +and thus were about one hundred feet above the level +of the moat. The great inner wall was fifteen feet +thick, faced with blocks of limestone on its outer and +inner face. The entire transverse width of this +complicated fortification, not counting the moat, from the +outer wall to the inside of the inmost line, measured +about one hundred and fifty feet. In height the +serried line of towers rose to ninety feet above the +surrounding country and also above the level of the +city within. +</p> + +<p> +The young barbarian could no longer restrain his +emotions of wonder and enthusiasm. He reined in +his charger and stood awe-struck at the sight of such +a fortress; and, falling back to his native tongue, +muttered some broken exclamations in a mixture of creeds +about Odin, Asgard, Valhalla, and the Mother of God. +The wily chief eyed his young charge with inward +satisfaction. +</p> + +<p> +"We shall have ample time to study the fortifications +on some other day; and you shall soon be +instructed in all the means of defence they possess. +Some day you shall attend the rampart drill, and see +how the troops are trained to rush along the level +terrace from tower to tower; how the successive lines +of defence are manned; how, from the battlements +above, the engines of war are arrayed which pour +bolts, stones, molten lead, and our Greek fire on any +invader who might be rash enough to come within +their range." +</p> + +<p> +Eric mused in silence. He had seen the log +stockades of his native land, and had known them drenched +in blood and crackling with fire as they fell before a +fierce attack. He had borne arms within the circular +palisades on the Vistula and the Danube, which the +Slavs and the Bulgarians styled their capitals and +royal cities. He had even been a prisoner in Kiev, +the renowned city of the Russ, of which the fame had +spread up the Baltic and through the whole Scandinavian +peninsula. But these were but the fastnesses +of savages compared with the vast and scientific +circumvallations which protected the capital and palace +of the Cæsars. +</p> + +<p> +"The rebel angels might as well hope to scale the +heaven and throne of the Almighty," said the chief; +"but let us hasten on to the court and the Sacred +Palace, for you may expect to see greater wonders to-day." +</p> + +<p> +The horsemen rode on amid the tramp of various +troops advancing to take up their positions in the city +and crowds of country people from the neighboring +villages who were hurrying to see the show. And now +the chief pointed out to his companion the beautiful +Golden Gate, outside of which was posted a company +of Varangians. This noble monument, of which +we see the ruin built up into the Turkish fort of the +Seven Towers, was a triumphal arch of the great +Theodosius, but now incorporated in the mighty +circumvallations constructed by his grandson. It was +wholly of marble, upheld by lofty classical columns, +and at this date was still in perfect preservation. The +royal gate was reserved for the emperor and his special +guests, and, of course, was now closed and guarded. +Our horsemen passed into the city through the public +gate that adjoined, along with the troops and the +crowd. +</p> + +<p> +Once within the city, they pressed on along the Via +Triumphalis, that ran parallel to the sea, a course of +some four miles to the Golden Palace and the Augusteum. +The great street was lined with palaces, churches, +colonnades, and public buildings, the windows and +balconies being festooned with draperies and colored +curtains, and the roadway strewn with bright sand +and enlivened with flowers and wreaths of myrtle, +rosemary, and laurel. They hastened past the Forum of +Arcadius, with its column, one hundred and fifty-eight +feet high, surrounded by bas-reliefs of battle scenes in +imitation of the Column of Trajan at Rome. Thence +they passed to the Forum of Theodosius, and so on +through ever-increasing crowds to the Middle Street +(Mesé) and the Forum of Constantine. This splendid +area, in shape an ellipse, surrounded by two tiers of +porticos, with a marble arch at either end, was +adorned with public buildings, monuments, statues, +and crosses; in its centre the Porphyry Column, which +still remains in its ruined state in the heart of the city. +In the tenth century it was still uninjured and +surmounted with the statue of the venerable founder of +New Rome. The chief explained to the awe-struck +viking the story of this sacred symbol; and the simple +youth remained dumb with astonishment before such +signs of magnificence and power. As he passed countless +palaces, porticos, churches, statues, and memorials +he was made dizzy with the infinite multitudes in the +crowd; and his martial ardor was roused by the sight +of the various troops of horse and foot which occupied +the entire line and restrained the eagerness of the mob. +</p> + +<p> +At the Forum of Constantine the two horsemen +alighted, gave their chargers to the attendants, and +proceeded on foot to the Augusteum. Here the +crowds were more dense, the adornments of the +streets more brilliant, and the array of troopers more +solid. At sight of the chief and his companion, all +barriers were removed and the military lines were +opened; and with throngs of officials, priests, and +nobles in gala attire, the general and his aide strode +on till they reached the great open space south of +the vast church and fronting the bronze gateway of +the Sacred Palace. +</p> + +<p> +"This mighty fane before us," said Bardas to his +friend, "is the Metropolitan Church of the Divine +Wisdom, built by Justinian the Great more than four +hundred years ago. It outshines all temples of God +in the world both in size and beauty, as the Roman +Empire outshines all other states. These statues and +monuments in the forum around are the precious +gifts of a line of beneficent princes. That glorious +equestrian statue in the centre of the square is our +ever-to-be-venerated emperor Justinian of immortal +memory. And opposite is the bronze gateway that +leads into the corridors of the Sacred Palace. Follow +me, my son, and try to wear a look of less amazement +and confusion at what you see. I have obtained +permission from the parakeimomenos himself that you shall +be in attendance on me to-day in the palace and the +procession that will shortly be formed." +</p> + +<p> +They passed in at the gorgeous gates of gilt bronze +amid salutes by the imperial guard and reverences +by the ushers addressed to the general, and wandered +at leisure from court to court, along the corridors and +porticos filled with marble and bronze statues, +adorned with mosaic pictures, and now hung with +tapestries and Eastern embroideries. The vast halls +and cloisters were crowded with nobles and officials +in robes of state and the higher chiefs of the army in +their most splendid uniforms and jewelled arms. +Gradually they joined the gay crowd, as it gathered up to +form the procession from the sacred apartments within. +At last, three ringing blasts from the silver trumpets +summoned the ranks to close, and the formal ceremonial +of the day began. +</p> + +<p> +First came a company of Varangians—stately warriors +from the North—Scandinavians, Russians, Saxons, +with long limbs and flaxen or red hair—the imperial +body-guard, in gilt mail tunics, armlets, and greaves, +carrying the peculiar weapon of their country, the +huge battle-axe surmounted by a sickle-shaped halberd. +Then came a group of ushers and palace officials in +splendid civil garb. Next followed the court officials in +their due order of precedence—silentiaries, chamberlains, +masters of the robes and masters of the horse, +high stewards, court eunuchs, and privy-councillors, +grooms of the chamber, and dispensers of the royal +largesses, the chancellor, and the logothete, or +minister of finance. +</p> + +<p> +A fresh company of guards—these from the Eastern +cavalry—separated this part of the procession from the +rest. Then came an almost interminable procession +of priests, each bearing huge wax tapers, choristers, +acolytes, and incense-bearers, with a long array of +crosses, ikons, and holy emblems. The priests were in +their bright robes of high ceremony, embroidered copes +charged with long palls bearing the Greek cross on +each fold. The choristers chanted a psalm as they +passed on, and the incense-bearers swung their silver +censers; and as the miraculous ikons passed the +privileged spectators, by whom the courts were lined, +bowed to the earth in reverence of each holy emblem. +At last, a fresh group of priests bore along the true +cross of St. Helena, or rather the portion of it +enclosed in an enamelled and jewelled cross of solid +silver, and the miracle-working rod of Moses, the girdle +and veil of the Mother of God, and the portrait of +Christ, "not made by human hands," which had been +vouchsafed to men on earth. All these were received +with profound reverences from the spectators in their +stations as they were borne along amid the glitter +of the tapers and the perfume of incense. +</p> + +<p> +And now came a third group, headed by grooms +of the chamber, lords-in-waiting, and masters of +the household, all in flowing robes of embroidered +silk of various color and pattern. At last stalked +by, the observed of all beholders, who cringed and +cowered before him, the parakeimomenos himself, +the eunuch Joseph, the lord high chamberlain and +president of the imperial privy council, who was +practically the real ruler of the empire. Then came +a pause and a hush of expectation. And lastly there +advanced, headed by a further company of guards—tawny +mountaineers from the Anatolian Theme—and +by a band of musicians with trumpets, cymbals, drums, +and fifes, the new Basileus and Basilissa themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Romanus II. was arrayed in a corselet and armlets +of gold over his purple tunic, which shone with jewels +and pearls; and from his shoulders hung the long folds +of the imperial scaramangion. His legs had already +been fitted with the quaint scarlet boots, or leggings, +which were the ensign of an emperor. His scabbard +was scarlet, enamelled and jewelled. He wore on his +brow a fillet with precious amulets, but as yet no crown; +for the crown was borne along beside him by Polyeuctus, +the venerable patriarch, supported and assisted +by the prelates of his cathedral in their most gorgeous +robes of office. Behind the Basileus, in a dazzling +group of court beauties, ladies-in-waiting, of mistresses +and ladies of the robes, came the new Basilissa herself, +in a tunic of silk gauze of the hues of the rainbow, +covered with full robes of massive embroideries and +blazing with precious stones, pearls, and pendants. +Pride, joy, hope beamed from the lovely countenance +of the empress, and was reflected as it were in that of +the emperor. As they passed slowly along the corridors, +courts, and colonnades, the privileged spectators, +who lined them, broke forth at the bidding of the +silentiary, or usher, with fervid cries of, "Many, many +happy years!" "Holy! Holy! Holy! Glory to God +in the highest, and peace on earth! To our great +Basileus and Autocrator Romanus, many years of +life!" And as the empress passed, again they chanted, +thrice, "Long life to our blessed Augusta. Welcome, +Theophano. May God keep thee, most pious lady of +our sovereign lord!" It may be doubted if Romanus +II. were the most glorious emperor of his mighty line, +and yet more if Theophano were the most pious of +royal princesses; but this is certain, that in all that +concourse of brilliant men and lovely women in the +wonderful panorama of that crowded day, in all that +empire which stretched from far Calabria to the +Chersonesus, from the Adriatic to the Caucasus and +the Euphrates, there could be found no more brilliant +figure than that of the young Romanus, and no such +dazzling beauty as that of the Greek Theophano herself. +</p> + +<p> +A space separated the imperial group from the rest +of the cortège. Then, in gorgeous robes of samite +embroidered in gold thread, advanced alone the huge form +of Basil the eunuch, the royal bastard, now grand +master of the ceremonies. He was followed by a group +of general officers in their most splendid uniform of +parade. All eyes were now turned upon the illustrious +chief, who stalked on in front of the line—the generalissimo +of the Oriental armies—the first soldier of the +empire. +</p> + +<p> +"See, the hero comes," said Bardas Skleros, in a +whisper, to Eric, as the adored chief turned a friendly +glance on his trusty comrade and a piercing look on +his athletic attendant, who now took their places in +the brilliant group of officers of the staff. Nicephorus +Phocas, the most eminent chief of a long line of Armenian +nobles, the most heroic warrior of a family of +famous men of war, was now in the flower of his +strength, at forty-six years of age. His natural olive +complexion had been tanned and burned almost to a +dark hue in the incessant campaigns he had fought +since his boyhood amid the suns of Mesopotamia and +the snowy passes of Cilicia. He wore his hair long +and flowing, with a crisp beard just beginning to be +tinged with gray. His nose was long and aquiline, +his eyes were dark, of an intense fire under a penthouse +of thick, black eyebrows. Of middle height, he had +the trunk and shoulders of a giant, with abnormal +depth of chest, and the long, muscular arms with +which he had more than once in battle cleft a mailed +enemy to the chine. His look was stern and pensive, +lighted up at moments, as it were, with a sombre fire +within. He was taciturn and immovable by habit, +so that hardly a gesture or a look ever betrayed his +purpose or his thought. To-day he stalked on alone, +his mind far away from the Sacred Palace, with neither +comrade nor lieutenant by his side; and he just +acknowledged with his hand the cheers and obeisances +with which he was received. It was noticed that he +alone of all that brilliant throng had chosen to attend +the procession in his well-worn tunic and his close +helm and corselet of action, in the same accoutrements +and arms in which he was wont to appear on +many a bloody field. And as his scrutiny fell on the +warlike figure of Eric, the young Scandinavian felt a +thrill to the marrow of his bones; and to his fantastic +Northern imagination it seemed to him that Odin himself +was searching him with a look to judge if the lad +were yet worthy to enter into the Valhalla of heroes. +Slowly the immense procession passed on to the +royal gate, where the emperor mounted his cream-colored +charger of the purest stock of Arabia, richly +caparisoned with jewelled and golden ornaments. +When the Augusteum was reached—the forum in +front of the palace bounded by St. Sophia and the +Hippodrome—the Basileus was received by an immense +crowd of privileged and official spectators, who +again raised the chant of "Long, long life and happy +years to our Augustus and autocrator!" Here was +renewed the ancient ceremony of ages, dating from +the time when Cæsar was the true commander-in-chief. +Romanus dismounted and was raised on an immense +shield, upborne by general officers, the heads of the +senate and the palace, and even nominally by the +patriarch himself; and, amid volleys of cheers—"Long +life and happy years!"—from the vast throng +in the porticos and terraces around, he was saluted +as Cæsar, even as Trajan, Constantine, and Theodosius +had been hailed by the army as successors of +Julius and Augustus. +</p> + +<p> +This secular ceremony accomplished, the Basileus +and Basilissa, with their trains, ascended the staircase +which led to their place in the Hippodrome. In due +order they appeared in the cathisma, or raised balcony, +at the northern or straight end of the vast circus, +which for hours had been filled by an immense +concourse of citizens. As the imperial pair, in their +gorgeous array, appeared at the rail in front of their +lofty balcony, the sight was one that struck dumb the +raw Norwegian halberdier, and would profoundly +impress even the most experienced sight-seer of modern +times. On each side of the long Hippodrome there +rose, tier after tier on the marble steps crowned with +open colonnades, a gathering of at least three hundred +thousand spectators. In their proper places were +seated the Factions, now organized and recognized +political clubs. On the city side were seated in proper +uniform the Green Faction, on the sea side were the +Blues, and from ten thousand trained voices, at the +baton of their leaders and at the word of "Salute!" +there broke forth, time after time, and in answering +strophe and antistrophe, the ordained chant, "Long +life and happy years to our Augustus and autocrator, +Romanus"—"Holy! Holy! Holy! to God in the highest, +and peace on earth!" The Cæsar descended; and, +on this occasion, by special favor, as he was proud of +his beauty and his consummate horsemanship, Romanus +rode in state on his cream charger round the +entire arena. As he passed each block of the enormous +throng he was received with deafening cheers and +the eternal chant of "Long life and happy years!" He +was now disrobed from the stately diabetesion and +scaramangion, and had chosen to exhibit his exquisite +limbs in the uniform of a cataphractic trooper in full +campaigning equipment. And as he careered round +the long Hippodrome, curveting on his fiery Arab, the +superstitious Byzantine burghers imagined that they +saw the blessed St. George himself. +</p> + +<p> +When he was returned to the cathisma aloft and +had taken his seat on the throne which stood high above +the gates whence the chariots started, the Basileus +signed to the parakeimomenos that it was his wish +for the games to begin. The marshals and heralds +now cleared the race-course, and four chariots of four +horses each were shot forth from the carceres. The +race was followed with shouts, yells, and screams of +excitement by the vast host in the circus. More races +ensued, and displays of various strange beasts from +Asia and from Africa: camels, elephants, giraffes, +ostriches, and lions were paraded round the ring; +and deputations from wild frontier tribes, in strange, +outlandish costumes, advanced to pay reverence and +offer gifts to the Cæsar—naked Nubians, seamen +from the Ægean Islands, vikings from the Baltic, +Russ exiles and outlaws, and hillmen from the +Caucasus in huge sheepskins and with bows and arrows. +</p> + +<p> +The shows in the Hippodrome were continued long +after the Basileus and Basilissa had left their thrones +in the cathisma. This day of most exhausting +ceremonies had yet to receive its final and most important +function, in the solemn consecration of the imperial +pair in the cathedral church by the patriarch. The +emperor again crossed the Augusteum to the portal of +the great church. He had now been relieved of his +military array, and had been formally clothed in the +gorgeous robes of imperial state, brocaded with gold, +gems, and quaint devices. At the entrance to St. Sophia +the Basileus was received by the patriarch and +all his clergy; and while his steward of the largess +presented gifts to the holy places, the emperor, the +empress, and all their principal attendants were +supplied with lighted tapers, with which they entered the +narthex. They were conducted into the vestry, where +fresh robings took place, and even some refreshments +were offered to the exhausted princes. After a short +rest the sacred ordinances of the ceremony began. +Emperor and empress, in turn, duly prostrated themselves +before the holy images, crosses, and emblems, and +devoutly kissed the miraculous ikon. The procession +advanced to the centre of the mighty dome, the choir +chanting hymns and repeating, "Holy! Holy! Holy! Glory +to God in the highest and peace on earth!" and the ushers +and prelates placed the royal personages on the thrones +prepared for them. The patriarch himself, in the +bema, or chancel, within the semicircular apse, opened +the stated prayers, and the coronation liturgy was +chanted, the close of each invocation being marked by +the chant of the choristers. Advancing from the +chancel to the ambon, the patriarch caused the gospel +of the day to be read out, and again he uttered the +prayers of the rubric. This ambon was a raised +platform of colored marble, surmounted by short columns +supporting a canopy of alabaster and mosaic. It was +reached by a flight of marble steps, both on the eastern +and the western sides, and formed a kind of stage +between the chancel, or apse, and the centre of the great +dome; and it served at once as reading station and +stand for important ceremonies. Hither the Basileus +was led by one range of stairs, the patriarch standing +at the opposite end and the crown being held beside +him. The crown itself was perfumed with incense +and blessed by the patriarch by placing his hands on +it. Then, summoning the emperor to his side, the +patriarch raised the crown aloft and solemnly placed +it on the head of the Basileus, crying, "Holy! God in +Three! bless our august autocrator and Basileus!" Then +the Basilissa was led forth by her attendant +eunuchs and borne up into the ambon, where the +emperor himself placed her crown on his consort's head. +They both then were attended to their thrones in front +of the chancel, and the rest of the ceremony was +concluded, the patriarch having now returned from the +ambon to the bema. +</p> + +<p> +There he celebrated mass himself and partook of the +elements in solemn form. Thereupon the Basileus was +led into the bema and stood beside the silver altar. +His crown is taken from his head and held by the chief +deacon, while the Basileus on his knees partakes of the +body and blood of Christ. The patriarch again blesses +him and anoints him with holy oil, and cries over his +bowed head: "May the Lord be mindful of the power +of thy kingdom in His universal kingdom, now and +always, for ever and ever. Amen." Thereupon the +emperor stooped low and thrice kissed the hand of +the patriarch, and remained in silent prayer amid +a breathless pause. At last the autocrator rose and +was led to his throne beside the empress. And at +once the choir burst forth with the peals of the organ +and the blare of silver trumpets, and the chants of the +choir in the galleries were renewed. The imperial +procession was reformed. Hundreds of pendent +chandeliers held lighted candles and glass lamps. The +incense poured upward in wreaths to the saints, +archangels, and cherubim in the mosaics of the domes, +and amid a blaze of color and the rustlings of a +thousand robes of silk and brocade the imperial +cortège passed into the open square. As they issued +from the portal, a roar of voices ascended from the +crowd without, with renewed shouts of "Long life and +happy years to Romanus and Theophano! Augustus +ever victorious and Augusta beloved of the Mother +of God!" +</p> + +<p> +The imperial procession, with its multitude of officials, +soldiers, eunuchs, and priests, passed into the +bronze gates of the palace amid infinite acclamations, +the murmur of a vast mass of excited human beings, +and the incessant strains of martial music. They +proceeded to the hall of the excubitors, or body-guard, +where a banquet of three hundred guests was held. +The Basileus and Basilissa themselves were conducted, +with a series of obeisances and forms, to the privy +chambers of the Sacred Palace, where, after a fitting +rest, they supped in the Hall of the Nineteen Couches +with the patriarch and a few of the highest officials of +the empire. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap07"></a></p> + +<h2> +VII +<br><br> +The Confession +</h2> + +<p> +The young viking had been dismissed from his +attendance on General Bardas; and, stunned as he +had been by the noise and marvellous sights of the day, +his senses reeling from the fumes of the incense and his +eyes aching from the incessant panorama he had +witnessed, he ventured to enter the great temple alone +that he might recall his thoughts from the whirl in +which they swam. The crowd had left the building; +a few sacristans here and there were extinguishing +the last lights; the air within was heavy with the +scent of flowers and incense. The young soldier raised +his eyes from the checkered floor to the walls resplendent +with the most magnificent marbles cut from the +Eastern and African quarries, and thence to the enormous +monoliths crowned with capitals of intricate work +of acanthus and vine leaves. He little understood +the nature of the mighty dome under which he stood; +still less, how the marvellous pictures in gold and +colored glass which filled the vaults had been made. To +his untutored eye, the figures of the archangel Michael, +of the Mother of God, and of the Saviour of Mankind +seemed to him miraculous appearances of these +sacred and divine beings in their proper persons. +Fainting under the sense of superstitious terror, +exhausted in body and mind by all the excitements of +the day, the young Norwegian, whom neither man nor +brute had ever dismayed for an instant, sank down +beneath an ikon in a dark corner of the aisle, and, +striving in vain to utter a few coherent prayers, he +bowed himself to earth, muttering, "God, be merciful +to one of the least of Thy servants!" +</p> + +<p> +How long he remained in this posture he never knew; +but when coherent thought returned to him again +he saw by a dim lamp two men in a distant corner of +the aisle: one a priest in his seat of confession, the +other a bronzed veteran, wrapped in a long military +cloak, on his knees before the man of God. The priest +was a young monk whose emaciated face bore witness +to a life of austere sacrifice. The warrior bore the +look of the illustrious stratelatos—Nicephorus Phocas—a +look which no man who had ever seen it could forget. +</p> + +<p> +The young soldier was thunderstruck to see at such +a moment, in such a place and with such a look, the +chief whom he believed to be within the Sacred Palace +in the place of honor at the coronation feast. The +mighty general was on his knees before the monk; his +proud countenance was now wrung with remorse and +some dark purpose within his mind. To Eric's heated +imagination it seemed as if he had intruded on some +hallowed scene, as if he were watching his Saviour in +the Garden of Gethsemane awaiting his hour of passion. +The guardsman stole away in the gloom of the side +aisles, muttering prayers to all the saints whose names +and offices he knew or could remember. +</p> + +<p> +A severe struggle was, indeed, passing between the +anchorite and the general—a critical moment in the +life of the mighty commander of the Eastern armies. +The monk, Abraham, had been made known to +Nicephorus by his venerated uncle, Maleinos. The monk +was now known as Athanasius. His eloquence, zeal, +and saintly character had deeply impressed Nicephorus, +who held him in profound veneration. This monk +was the sole confessor of the general. +</p> + +<p> +"Holy father," he was saying, in a hoarse whisper, +"I have lived from youth upward as a man of war, to +which I was bred by my father and my grandfather +of noble memory; and, if I have done deeds of blood, +it was in obedience to the orders of my commanders +and of our lord the Basileus. But Christ has said that +they who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. +I have always hoped to die in some glorious field, my +sword red with the blood of followers of the False +Prophet. But now I, who never feared mortal men, +tremble to think of myself as standing at the judgment-seat +of a God of love and mercy. I feel at last—too +late, alas!—how a life such as mine has dishonored the +gospel of Christ. And if He spare me a few years +longer, they will be too short to wipe out my sins by +penance and groans and the solitary life of a hermit. +Father, I have come to ask from thee a blessing, and thy +good word to the monks of St. Demetrius on Olympus, +whither I am about to withdraw forever to a cell." +</p> + +<p> +"My son," replied the monk, "if God has given thee +success as a soldier, it was to serve some wise purpose +of His own. Thou hast neither that humility nor that +patience which it becomes an eremite to possess, and +without which all penances and prayers are in vain. Thou +art too old to learn our hard and cheerless way of life. +Thou hast no experience of the raptures of the soul +when it communes with the beings above in glory. +Thou art not the stuff of which saints are made or with +which the saints can hold converse." +</p> + +<p> +"Ask my troopers," said the hero, proudly, "if I +have not lived a life as hard as any hermit of Mount +Athos!" +</p> + +<p> +"And of humility and peace and meditation such +as theirs?" said the monk, with a gentle sadness that +entirely covered the sarcasm of his question. +</p> + +<p> +"Show me how I can humble myself more than I +do at this hour, at the feet of thee and of Christ. It is +peace that I ask. And as to meditation—how often +in the watches of the night, in the tented field, have I +lain awake seeking the Lord and His blessed saints, +till I had a vision of the Babe smiling in His mother's +arms, and I knew by that sign that in the morning I +should win a new fight for the Cross." +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, Christ means thee to win yet other fights in +His name, for the peril of the Cross was never greater +than it is now. But how comest thou to be here at +this hour? Will not the Basileus and his courtiers +mark thy absence from the feast and accuse thee of +treason against the throne?" +</p> + +<p> +"Does Nicephorus Phocas care for the yelping of +these parasites and eunuchs? Is he anything to-day +to the Basileus himself or to the crowds in the Golden +Palace? Can you think that the Basileus is troubled +at his absence—ay—or the—the—the he-women or +the she-men who prowl about the imperial koiton?" +he added at last, after a broken sentence wherein +he seemed to choke down some words that rose to his +lips. +</p> + +<p> +"I know of many she-men in that court, but of only +one he-woman," said the subtle priest, suddenly +catching at a new thought and casting on the soldier a +piercing glance. "What! Has the proud Basilissa +dared to affront the first soldier of the empire and +maddened him to forswear the service of his Majesty +in his wrath? I thought a Phocas was of too stern a +mould to be goaded or turned from his duty by the +insolence of a spoiled beauty!" +</p> + +<p> +"Father, it is done. And neither man nor woman +in the court will miss Nicephorus or wonder at his +absence. I have sent a trusted messenger to the lord +high chamberlain to beg from his Sacred Majesty +permission to retire from all my offices and leave to +enter a hermitage. And his lord high eunuchship will +take good care that his Majesty grants my prayer. +That is how I come to be here. My sovereign lord +Romanus will be glad to be rid of his gloomy +commander-in-chief, and our sovereign lady Theophano +will jest about the surly monster in the blood-stained +tunic as she is unrobing with her maids of honor; and +she will finish the epigram she was beginning to-day." +</p> + +<p> +"What! Did she address thee in public?" +</p> + +<p> +"She beckoned me towards her side as the procession +was forming, and called out, so loud that the wife +of Lord Demetrius and others could hear, 'Wear not +so gloomy a countenance, for my sake, lord +commander of the eastern themes, or our loyal Byzantines +will fly from the sight of thee, as they say the +Hagarenes so often fly when thy plume is to the +front!' These were her very words—I hear them ringing in +my ears; and then she smiled on me the smile that +no man forgets." +</p> + +<p> +"And is it possible that the 'Terror of the Hagarene,' +as they truly name thee, will suffer the idle word of a +woman to turn his life, to break the keenest sword +in Christendom, if not to put in peril this empire of +Rome and of Christ?" +</p> + +<p> +"Father, I tell thee it is done. My life as a layman +is ended. My surrender of office is already in the +hands of our autocrator. I am no longer a soldier. +I am a postulant for the holy life—in what remains to +me on this earth," he muttered, with a deep sigh. +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus, my son in God," said the monk, with +solemnity that was almost stern, "thou art hiding the +truth from thy father-confessor. To mislead the priest +in confession is to seek to mislead God Himself. And +He who reads all thoughts and sees to the heart of man +will surely avenge the insult to His servant who is +betrayed in his holy office. Nicephorus, I charge thee, +in the name of the Mother of God, hide not the truth +from me as thou canst not hide it from God! Thou +art bewitched by a woman! Who has seduced thee to +sin?" +</p> + +<p> +"Father, as I live by bread, I have never sinned +with woman, nor has woman ever sinned with me! +My sins, as God knoweth, are sins of violence and +wrath and blood and pride; but of love never, of lust +of the flesh nothing, ay, of self-indulgence, I may say +without a boast, not an hour since I first grew a beard. +Monk, I tell thee that of woman I am as pure as thou—ay," +he added, with a bitter word, "much more +worthy of the crown of virginity than are many monks +of East and of West." +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus Phocas, palter not with words in this +sacred office," rejoined the monk, now rising to stern +authority in exercise of his divine mandate, and +addressing the great soldier with such power as he +himself was wont to use in giving his orders on the field. "I +said thou art bewitched by a woman. Again I ask +thee in confession, what woman has bewitched thee +so to change thy life?" +</p> + +<p> +The chief answered not a word; but he sank down +flat on the marble pavement, and lay prostrate, +writhing in agony and shame and despair, his huge limbs +convulsed and his powerful hands clinched in his +passion. A long silence ensued, hardly broken by the +sobs and groans of the chief, as his frame was shaken +with a tumult of emotions. +</p> + +<p> +"God gives me no right to grant His absolution till +the truth is confessed and penance is prescribed," said +the monk at last, in measured and solemn tones, and +he waited till the storm of feeling had grown calm. +</p> + +<p> +"Holy father," said the chief at last, rising from +the pavement but still on his knees, his head bowed +down and his hands clasped under him, speaking in +a low and broken voice, "my sin is in thought, as yet +known only to God and to my heart. I have done no +act of wrong. I will do no act of wrong. But I am +consumed with a fire within me, and I must be far +away from this city of sin—this palace of folly and +lust and vanity—this pandemonium of eunuchs, pimps, +and panders. I must flee from this woman—this new +Theodora—this second Irene. The thought of her +haunts me day and night. When she first began to +mock the battered warrior, whose grisly boar's head, +she said, might well be used to frighten the Hagarene +babies when they whined, a thrill went through +me—no! not of pain or anger—no! not of shame—no! rather +of pleasure. I found myself waiting in the +portico where she would take the air with her girls +and creatures, and she would pinch my rough cheek +and call me Vulcan, looking herself, indeed, the +Goddess of Beauty, as fabled by those pagan poets that +the courtiers still love to recite." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, why this to me?" broke in the monk, in manifest +disgust. "What matters all this to thee or to me? +Quit this city of folly and sin, and be off hence to thy +command in the marches of Taurus, to stop the ravages +of the Hagarenes who threaten the people of Christ." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou hast not heard all, holy father, or I should +not now be here and on my knees. I tell thee the +woman has seen her power. These subtle daughters of +Eve know by instinct when the sons of Adam begin +to feel weak. The flashing rays from those eyes burn +me. They pierce my eyes with fiery points, as it were +when some royal traitor is blinded by red-hot needles. +She smiles triumphant when she sees me quiver, and, +woman-like, she loves to see me quiver again before +her." +</p> + +<p> +"Leave her, and begone to the East," broke in the +priest, with no little impatience and contempt in his +voice. +</p> + +<p> +"That I cannot do while I remain an imperial officer +of state. She has her purposes: she means to make +me her creature, her tool, her lover—her—I know +not how—I know not what is in her thought. She +despises her own lord; she tempts him to wallow +further in the mire of his harlots, eunuchs, and +catamites. She has great designs and aspiring thoughts. +She needs a commander who has the trust of our +troops. Father, I tell thee, she has need of me; and +I burn for her. She knows her power and my shame." +</p> + +<p> +A long pause followed, and neither spoke. The +monk meditated in silence. At last he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus Phocas, it cuts me to the heart to hear +a warrior of high renown confess to being tempted into +the toils of a woman such as this. I judge it to be a +passing madness, which distance and thy own great +duties and labors alone can cure. The monks of +St. Demetrius shall not be poisoned by the presence +among them of thy fevered soul. Thou art not fit in +the sight of God and His Mother for the spiritual life; +thou art sorely needed by God and His Son for the +martial life. Rome and Christ can be saved from +Mohammed only by thee. Thou hast sinned against +Christ and His Virgin Mother by idly toying with the +imperial temptress. See her no more, but hasten to +thy post in the Anatolian Mountains. There, in thy +lonely tent, pray nightly to the immaculate one for +her blessing and pass the day in the saddle among the +scattered outposts of thy menaced command. On this +condition alone can I give thee absolution for thy sin—sin +as black in the sight of Christ and His Mother as if +thou hadst been taken in open adultery and dragged +to execution as a traitor. Accept this penance, or +remain unanealed in thy sin and thy shame!" +</p> + +<p> +The silence lasted for a space, till it grew acutely +painful to both. With groans and tears and writhings, +the chief at last uttered the fatal words, "I obey +the Holy Mother Church!" +</p> + +<p> +Then the monk rose to his full height; and, with a +look of triumphant authority and a voice of thrilling +power, as he placed his long, thin, emaciated hands +on the bare head of the chief, he said: "Christ absolves +thee from thy sin, and accepts thy obedience and +service. Pass to thy appointed command, and do thy +duty as a soldier of Rome and of Christ. I purge thee +of thy sins in the name of the Trinity and of the +Mother of God, into whose holy keeping I now commit +thee! Nicephorus Phocas, go in peace, and may God +be with thee!" +</p> + +<p> +"I go," murmured the chief, exhausted by his long +agony and strife; "I go to my ruin—to my shame—to +my death." +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap08"></a></p> + +<h2> +VIII +<br><br> +The Sacred Palace +</h2> + +<p> +The gay and luxurious young Basileus was no +sooner installed on his father's throne than he +redoubled the riot and debauchery that had been kept +in restraint—or, at least, in concealment—by +Constantine Born-in-the-Purple. Romanus, who had been +born in the purple himself, whose legitimacy as +Augustus could not be disputed, while his personal +popularity as a gallant and gracious prince was renowned +far and wide, saw not the slightest reason to curb or to +restrain his excesses. He replaced most of the aged +and trusty counsellors of his father with parasites and +favorites of his own; and the revels and buffooneries +to which he gave himself reminded the serious of the +orgies of Elagabalus or Michael the Drunkard. +Wrestlers from Cappadocia, singers and lutists from the +Lesbian theatres, boys who might have stood as +models for the Apollino of the Vatican or the +Hermaphrodite of the Louvre, lounged about the koiton of +the Basileus of New Rome. The Basilissa was not +much seen in those sacred precincts; for she troubled +herself as little about the Basileus and his amusements +as he did about her and hers. Indeed, women were +no longer welcomed in the harem of the voluptuous +Romanus. Theophano had her own court, her privy +purse, her favorites, her eunuchs, her guards—and her +own schemes. +</p> + +<p> +A week hardly passed since the coronation +ceremonies when Romanus, who had prolonged his feast +late into the waning day, was surrounded by his +creatures and his scandalous favorites, led on by +Chærina, a disfrocked prelate, and now his coryphæus +of the hermaphrodites. He had just listened to a +fescennine song by his favorite buffoon, at which the +parasites sought to surpass the applause of the Cæsar, +when, in the midst of a posture-dance by one of his +young athletes, the parakeimomenos sent his secretary +to beg for an audience with the Basileus. +</p> + +<p> +"Bring him in!" cried Romanus, jovially; "if his +Eminence will promise not to scold. I am never too +busy to see my invaluable Nestor and fidus Achates. +And so begone, all of ye! satyrs, fauns, and young +devils who would make a sinner of St. Peter himself." +</p> + +<p> +Romanus, debauched as he was, was neither a fool +nor an utter fribble; and he thoroughly understood +that if he was to enjoy his pleasures and his popularity, +he must place the government of the empire in able +hands. Accordingly, he had given his confidence to +the lord high chamberlain, the eunuch Joseph +Bringas, whom he created anew the president of the +privy council and of the senate. Joseph, indeed, was +a statesman of consummate ability and vast +experience. Eunuch as he was, he had courage, energy, +caution, and profound knowledge of men and of things. +It had long been the tradition of the empire to intrust +the ultimate seals of office and the most important +arcana of state to men who, either by their sacerdotal +rank or the cruel ambition of their parents and +sovereigns, were incapable of succeeding to the purple +themselves. Men so prepared from infancy for +confidential employment about the cabinet and +bed-chambers of Basileus and Basilissa were in no way +disparaged thereby, but held an honorable rank almost +analogous to that of dukes in modern times. Joseph +was as well qualified to direct the fortunes of the +empire as any one of the many millions within it; and +Romanus well knew his value—how much his own +peace, good name, perhaps his throne and his life, +depended on the brain and will of such a statesman. +</p> + +<p> +After the ceremonious reverences by the parakeimomenos +on entering the august presence—reverences +which the good-natured Basileus cut short with a +pleasant welcome, "What brings ye here, my lord, +with so gloomy a look—at so unreasonable a +season—to disturb our peace?" +</p> + +<p> +"I have grave news from Miletus, most august +sovereign, which I cannot keep from your royal wisdom +for an hour. An infidel fleet has eluded our guardships +off Cnidus and Naxos, has swept up the Ægean, +and has stormed and sacked the city of Miletus with +horrible outrages of blood and lust. They have carried +away ten thousand girls and youths into captivity, +after massacring their parents." +</p> + +<p> +"From whence do they come, these children of +wrath; and how are we to find them if they have made +good their escape?" +</p> + +<p> +"They come from the island of Crete, which they +first overran in the disturbed time of your royal +predecessor, Michael the Stammerer, long before the +august dynasty of Basil had mounted the throne. +There, generation after generation, they have +established their power, harassing the Christian people and +forming almost impregnable fortresses and arsenals. +They issue thence from its hundred ports, as you +must remember, time after time, sweeping the Ægean +Sea up to the very gates of the Hellespont. You have +heard of the terrible sack of Thessalonica in the age of +your royal grandfather, Leo the Learned. And you +must remember the incessant efforts in the late reign, +and finally the disastrous expedition of Gongyles which +cut your father's royal heart to its core, and doubtless +shortened his life. The very existence of this haunt +of infidels and pirates is a menace to the empire, and +drains its life-blood, its children, and its wealth. Our +harried people, plundered and decimated, cannot pay +the taxes due from them, and the finances of your +Majesty are distressed. There is just arrived at the +capital a young son of the late governor of the Samian +Theme, who has escaped from captivity, when the +flourishing town of Miletus was stormed and laid in +ruins. He saw his gallant father murdered and +tortured, his mother defiled and murdered by these Hagarene +demons, and his sisters carried off with himself to +their harems in Candax, their stronghold in the island. +The lad was preserved by his rare beauty for these +monsters; and I crave your Majesty's grace to admit +him to your presence, that you may hear from the +lips of an eye-witness the horrors and the desolation +to which the most loyal and industrious of your +Majesty's servants are subject." +</p> + +<p> +"My excellent friend and sweet counsellor, could +not this affair of state be submitted to the wisdom of +our privy council to-morrow—or, indeed, at its next +meeting—and perhaps with previous inquiry into the +facts and conditions? And yet—well! if the lad be +noble, and the Antinous you describe (and, by St. Sebastian, +these Paynims have a pretty taste in boys!), +why, I might see him at once—if he be within our +palace and presentable at this hour." +</p> + +<p> +With this consent, the politic minister introduced +to the presence of his sovereign the poor lad, who was +encouraged to tell his horrible story and the sufferings +of his family. He was, indeed, a youth of rare beauty +and winning artlessness of manner. He still wore the +girl's dress in which he had made his escape from the +Saracen harem. After battling for days in an open +boat in which he sailed forth at night alone, he had +been fortunately picked up by a trading-vessel that +brought him into Greek waters. The slight robe he +wore had been almost torn in rags from his graceful +limbs, and sufficed to show that it was no girl, but a +stripling of the finest Ionic type. The terrible life that +he had passed of late had given him an energy and +seriousness beyond his years. He spoke with eloquence, +fire, and not a few sobs and tears as he told +his awful tale. The voluptuous Basileus, whose thirst +for adventure equalled his enjoyment of beauty, fixed +his eyes on the lad, graciously encouraged him to +speak, and listened with open ears to the thrilling and +piteous tale. +</p> + +<p> +Young Glaucus told how peaceful and happy the +town of Miletus seemed one bright Sunday morning, +when the churches were full and the streets were +thronged with gay crowds. No one was alarmed +when a fleet of dromons was observed in the offing, +treacherously hung with the imperial ensigns. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a startling cry ran through the city when +it was discovered that the ships were not from the +imperial fleet, but were Saracen rovers filled with +armed pirates. The boy described the gallant fight +made by his father, who manned the walls with all the +available fighting men—the furious assault by engines +and missiles of the enemy—and their ultimate entrance +by an unguarded postern. Once in possession of the +arsenal, the town was given over to fire and sword. +The youth wept as he told of the horrid fate of his +father and his mother, how all that was valuable and +precious was torn out of the houses, how the streets +ran with blood, how churches had been burned, and +thousands of citizens who had fled to them for refuge +perished in the flames. For three days and nights +massacres continued, the booty was gathered in the +holds of the ships, and a city of fifty thousand +inhabitants had been laid desolate. Ten thousand virgins, +young women, and lads of tender age, among them +nuns torn from their sacred monasteries with the +children they had gathered round them, were collected in +the market-place, stripped, inspected, catalogued like +cattle at a fair, and finally put up to public auction +and sold to the highest bidders, a portion both of the +fairest virgins and youths being reserved for the +commanders and chiefs. +</p> + +<p> +The Basileus, to whom the more personal and thrilling +part of Glaucus's narrative was as fascinating as a +romance, put many questions to the youth as to all +his adventures and experiences, when the politic +minister seized the first opportunity to dismiss the lad +that he might impress the imperial mind with the need +of action. +</p> + +<p> +"My sovereign lord," he said, solemnly, "the truth +is this—that a flourishing city, the centre of a most +industrious province, is blotted out from thy royal +dominions; its population is destroyed or dispersed; +panic is spread through the islands and seaboard of the +Ægean Sea, and a revenue of fifty thousand pieces of +gold is lost to the imperial treasury. The capital itself +is hardly safe; nor can I or any servant of thy throne +answer for its stability while this cancer is consuming +the vitals of the empire." +</p> + +<p> +"You desire, then, most resourceful of counsellors, +to increase the strength and alertness of our fleet in the +southern waters. Well, be it so. Double the fleet at +Halicarnassus and Cnidus, station a second fleet at +Cythera, and let both be provided with a new squadron +of cruisers. Oh, best of all parakeimomenoi, thou +shalt have an order for their cost, though I may not +buy myself a new Arabian charger nor a Lydian singer +for the next six months. My empire shall come first, +my lord high chamberlain, as I am Roman by name +and in soul!" +</p> + +<p> +"We know the glorious spirit that animates the +heroic line of Basil, Leo, and Constantine," broke in +the wily eunuch, "but the need of the hour is far +more serious than your Majesty conceives. The story +brought by this eye-witness of the latest disaster, +which has just been so vividly told to your grace, +makes it clear that no vigilance or force in the fleet +can restrain the audacity of these Saracens, so long as +they can issue at will from their arsenals in Crete, and +can in a night's voyage betake themselves to this secure +stronghold after every raid on our coasts. After Crete +is again our own, we shall restore to Rome all that the +Hagarene has wrested from thy royal ancestors. Most +gracious Lord Basileus, thy throne is in peril while +Crete is in the power of the False Prophet and his +unbelieving crews of pirates. Crete must be Cæsar's, +or Constantinople will not remain his own forever!" +</p> + +<p> +"Crete, Crete! most inconsistent of lord privy +councillors, have you not told me even to-day that Crete +is impregnable to our forces by land or by sea; and is +not that the answer which I and my father continually +have received when we insisted on having it conquered +by our arms?" +</p> + +<p> +"By our forces as now or lately they have been +organized, Crete was and is practically impregnable; nay, +it would be madness to attempt its reconquest by +any forces that your Majesty now has on foot. But +by an adequate force, by an irresistible fleet and an +invincible army, such as the empire can yet equip, +Crete can be, shall be, retaken. Nothing is +impregnable that Rome and Cæsar resolve to subdue!" +</p> + +<p> +"And thou hast just told me, my lord-of-short-memory, +how the boasted expedition of Gongyles +ended in disaster, and how cruelly it wounded my +royal father and his kingdom." +</p> + +<p> +"The expedition sent forth by thy royal father, +great as it was, was not adequate for its tremendous +task. It will be my case to equip a fleet and an army +which will be ample—even for the formidable work of +storming Candax and restoring Crete to the empire +of Rome." +</p> + +<p> +"And where shall we find the commander who is to +succeed in the task in which thy illustrious predecessor +Gongyles so egregiously failed?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is just in that, my august sovereign lord, in +which I plant my trust. Rome has still one invincible +soldier to whom no mission is impossible. The entire +equipment, strength, and numbers of the fleet and the +army to be raised must be intrusted to one man, and +that man must have absolute command and undivided +authority by sea and on land, and the right to give +orders of every sort, as if he were Cæsar himself." +</p> + +<p> +"And that man is—?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus Phocas, O king of kings, the general-in-chief +of the orient themes—he who never yet failed +his sovereign lord." +</p> + +<p> +"Ho! ho! ho! My most incomprehensible of privy +councillors," broke in the Basileus, with a ringing +laugh, "what has converted your sagacity to the fierce +Armenian hero? We thought ye were anything but +friends. And stanch as I know him to be, and +inestimable in the Anatolian marches, is it not tempting +his virtue too much if we give him our sovereign +authority without a limit, and place him in effective +command of the whole resources of our state—and that +within a day's sail of our Byzantine capital? No, +my lord parakeimomenos, never will I put temptation +such as this in the way of any man, were he the +archangel Michael with his sword drawn! I have said +it. Send your Belisarius off to the Saracen +frontier—and place a good month's march between him and +us." +</p> + +<p> +"The reconquest of Crete, my august lord and +king, will take Nicephorus far enough away, and will +occupy him long enough; and, indeed, may expose +him to death and disaster, even more than the Saracen +frontier. Nicephorus Phocas we all know to be the +one great officer of the empire who is incapable of +treason as he is of fear. And has not the infallible eye +of my lord Basileus perceived that the temptations +of Nicephorus Phocas lie not in the power he commands +nor in the themes he controls, but rather they are +within the Sacred Palace itself, and in the light that +shines upon him there?" added the eunuch, in his +most subtle and insinuating tone. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah!" cried Romanus, quickly, as a frown crossed +the joyous and beautiful face of the young Cæsar, "thou +counsellest me to find employment for this Hercules of +mine lest he prove himself troublesome at home in +sheer wantonness of heart and lack of heroic +occupation. My lord high chamberlain, we understand you +at last—we thank you and commend your frankness. +Would that your colleagues of our council were +equally vigilant and outspoken. My lord, we will +hear more of this. Come to-morrow with the rest of +our privy council. This matter is critical and +urgent." The Basileus spoke with a seriousness and a dignity +which he had not shown in the long interview, and as +became an emperor of Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Romanus now dismissed his prime-minister with +real expressions of confidence, and relieved him of +much of the ceremonial obeisances which the wily +"bed-fellow" of his sovereign was too prudent to omit. And +the Basileus was already considering what new dissipation +would best distract his mind from the cares of +empire, and from the lurking suspicion which the +ambiguous words of the great eunuch had planted for +the first time in the careless heart of the prince. But +at this moment the peace of the imperial privacy was +disturbed by a fresh intrusion of a very different kind. +Vehement expostulations, mixed with the sobs and +cries of women, were heard at the door of the chamber. +The noises and confusion increased until at last the +guards and ushers of the royal presence found +themselves unable to resist the pressure of women, who, +with shrieks of grief and indignation, forced their way +through the amazed and abashed group of attendants. +They were the royal princesses, own sisters of Romanus +himself, beloved and honored daughters of Constantine +Born-in-the-Purple, and, like their father and their +brother, equally porphyrogennetoi, with all the +divinity that did then hedge such royal birth and origin. +Zoe, the eldest of five, and next to her Theodora, each +breaking from the feeble and half-hearted restraint +ostensibly offered them by the confidential +eunuch-in-waiting, were the first to burst upon the privacy +of their brother. +</p> + +<p> +They were women of beauty, refinement, and high +culture. Constantine, who was a loving and indulgent +father, had been only too willing to keep his girls +around him in the palace, and fell into the advice of +his politic counsellors to delay their marriage, lest a +husband, who would be a son-in-law of the emperor, +might endanger or disturb the succession of his own +son. The Basileus, absorbed in art and literature as +he was, took care to provide the princesses with all +the learning and accomplishments of the age, while he +surrounded them with every luxury and delight which +the most beautiful and most luxurious palace in the +world could offer. Young, gay, and cultivated, they +had never till this day known an hour's anxiety nor +a pang more serious than the loss of a pet bird or +a hitch in their own most decorous and virginal flirtations. +</p> + +<p> +"Sovereign lord, brother, Romanus," shrieked Zoe, +as she flung herself down with her sister at the feet of +the uneasy Basileus, "these barbarous wretches +pretend that they have your sign-manual to an order to +expel us from the palace—us, your own sisters, +daughters of your father, who is hardly cold in his +tomb—have orders to seize and force us off this very +day!" And here she burst into such an agony of +sobs that her voice became inarticulate, her fine +countenance was convulsed with passion and terror, +and her imperial robes and ornaments were disordered +by the prolonged struggle she had made to reach the +throne of Cæsar. "They say, too, now," she screamed +out in her despair, "that your order is to have us all +imprisoned in a convent, buried out of sight of the +world, robed like nuns in brown serge, without hair +or ornament—nay, this lying priest dares to say that +we are all to take the veil forever." +</p> + +<p> +"They must have forged this pretended order! Our +brother is not so cruel!" shrieked Theodora, beside +her sister, like her convulsed in tears and writhing on +the marble pavement. "Romanus, can you bear to +see us suffer—we who have played together from +childhood—we who have never had an angry word in our +lives—we who have so often saved you from our +father's anger? Say that you are not such a monster +as to condemn your father's children to a living death!" And +here both sisters sank down with sobs, and strove +on their knees to reach the feet of their brother and +take his hand. "Brother, brother, speak!" they both +shrieked. But the eunuchs held them back from the +hem of Cæsar's robe, while Romanus stammered out: +"No! no! We cannot settle such a matter here, and in +such a way. Back to your woman's chambers, my +children, and calm yourselves. This is a matter of +state, for the council to deal with." +</p> + +<p> +His hesitating words only roused fresh storms of +wailing from the women, for now the three other sisters, +Theophano, Anna, and Agatha, managed to force their +way into the room, from the corridor where they had +heard what already had passed. They, too, flung +themselves down in a group round the perplexed +Basileus, who seemed torn by his two spirits +within—unscrupulous selfishness and easy good-nature. The +scene became one of wild confusion. The five princesses, +calling on their brother by every word of pity +that could touch his heart, and mingled with screams +of indignation at the dreadful fate to which he was +condemning them; the chamberlains, eunuchs, cubiculars, +striving aimlessly to shield their sovereign from +the storm, and yet hesitating to offer indignity to the +royal ladies, to whom till yesterday they had been +the humblest of courtiers; the sovereign lord of the +world, torn in half by natural feelings and selfish +purpose, made a tableau that could only be reproduced +by the stage. The tumult and excitement had now +roused the Sacred Palace. The great chamberlain, +Joseph Bringas, returned again to assist his sovereign +by his counsels, and with him one or two of the great +officers of state, who had been summoned to the +coronation ceremonies. The illustrious John Tzimisces, +the right arm of Nicephorus Phocas and the second +soldier of the empire, was seen in the throng behind +Theodora, to whose hand he was known to aspire; and +there, too, was the young hero, Basil Digenes, at sight +of whom (the courtiers would whisper) Agatha had +been seen to blush. Romanus himself could no longer +restrain his tears. "All this must be considered, my +sweet girls," he said, as he raised the tender Agatha +from the ground and kissed her on her pale cheek. +A thrill passed round the court, and the women felt +they were saved. +</p> + +<p> +But at this moment a new group broke into the +assemblage. A tall, gaunt, and terrible-looking monk, +escorted by his acolytes, bearing an enamelled crucifix, +with an ikon embossed with gems, stalked haughtily up +to the very throne, and, planting the holy emblem before +him with his right hand, he cried aloud, in a stern +voice, to the vacillating Basileus, "Sovereign Lord, +Augustus, autocrator over men on earth, thou wilt +not forget that thou art the servant of the King of +Kings, who is above, whose minister and interpreter +we churchmen are. Thy royal decree, bearing the +vermilion signet, and duly enrolled in thy chancery, +has lawfully devoted to Christ and to the Mother of +God these illustrious virgins of thy father's house, in +order that they may pass into the more Sacred Palace +of our Blessed Lady, wherein they will live with the +angels and not with men. They are already children +of Our Lady, and are devoted eternally to the blessed +life of virginity. The office which thy wisdom and +piety has committed to my charge by thy imperial +decree—to have them arrayed in the garb of Holy +Church and consecrated to the holy life—this is a +formal ceremony which their own ignorance and needless +alarm has interrupted. But in the records of +heaven, as the archangel above has graven it in the +mystic book of life, their bodies, like their souls, are +already consecrated to Christ. To tear from Him His +chosen bride would be sacrilege and outrage on His +holy name. My Lord Basileus, I claim these royal +virgins to present them to my Saviour and to my +Church." +</p> + +<p> +All shrank back aghast at the words of the monk. +It was John, the superior of the venerated convent of +Stoudion, a fanatic of iron type, whose austerities and +inflexibility had won him a wide ascendency in the +city, where his influence was only second to that of +the patriarch himself. The weak and perplexed Basileus +was plunged again in bewilderment. He had begun +to feel the cruelty of his own edict; but he well knew +the dangerous power that the monk of Stoudion +possessed and the relentless nature of the man in the +cause of Holy Church and the virgin life. And now +a fresh apparition struck terror and compunction into +the heart of the Basileus. The groups parted as there +advanced amid solemn silence the stately figure of +the Basilissa-Dowager, Helena, daughter of the late +Emperor Romanus Lecapenus, widow of the late +Emperor Constantine. She was robed in deep mourning, +and her eyes alone betrayed the excitement and +agonies she had endured. She stood before her son, +with her daughters around her, looking like a Niobe +or a Hecuba who sought to avert the stroke of fate +from her offspring. +</p> + +<p> +"I stand here, my son, whom death has just made +my sovereign, to learn if it can be truth that thou hast +dared to consign the mother that bore thee to a +convent. Am I also, who have queened it in this Sacred +Palace for a whole generation, to be torn from my +children and my home, from life and air, and thrust +into the desolation of a nunnery? Romanus, if thou +art bent on being a new Nero, a second Orestes, stab +me in this womb which bore thee, as I stand here; and +may God and the Mother of God witness between thee +and me!" +</p> + +<p> +"Mother, I cannot bear it—I will not—I meant it not. +These priests have beguiled me. They have bereft me +of reason," gasped Romanus, in an agony of tears and +sobs, and he strove to fold his mother in his arms. +</p> + +<p> +"It was no priest that beguiled thee, Romanus, my +beloved child. It was no priest, and no minister of +state. It was the sorceress, the demon, the base-born +creature from the tavern, who was the death of thy +father and has been a curse to thyself!" +</p> + +<p> +These words were still ringing round the dome of +the imperial chamber when Theophano glided in at +the head of a splendid array of cubiculars, eunuchs, +guards, and pages, in all the glamour of her imperial +vestures and her divine beauty, with a smile of +triumph on her lips and the glance as of an angry Juno +in her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"My King, my lord, my hero," burst forth the +Empress, as she flung her siren's arms about the neck +of her husband and fascinated him with the basilisk +fire of her eyes, "I am come to save thee and keep +thee true to thyself. Can the mighty autocrator of +Rome be twisted and turned from his purpose by the +cries of girls and the scoldings of a crone? Wilt thou +suffer the majesty of thy own imperial purple to be +besmirched by the ribaldry which passes among slaves +in the street? In flinging their nicknames at thy wife +they are committing treason against thy sacred +person. Who is the daughter of Lecapenus to bandy +insults at me, the daughter of a hundred kings of Sparta +down from Leonidas of Thermopylæ. Does the widow +know who was her own grandfather, for Lecapenus, +the foundling, himself never boasted of a sire? And +cannot she remember the day when his sons, her own +brothers, had their father, the mock emperor of a day, +seized in his bed and flung into a monastery in an +island? There, in like manner, it is time that she +should go, this Hecuba, the widow-scold, and her +shrieking girls. It is the rule of this empire to keep +no secret traitors near the throne, be they men or +women—and especially women," she added, with a +cruel sneer, "for they tempt men to be traitors and +become their dupes and their tools. The Sacred Palace +has no room for widows—no, nor for virgins! Their +place is in the House of God, where they live with +the angels, and are no longer the snare of men. My +sovereign lord, submit to Holy Church, for whom +the father here present speaks; be guided by thy privy +council, whose voice the lord chamberlain has brought +thee to-day!" +</p> + +<p> +The wretched lad cowered under this torrent of +reproaches and commands. In breathless silence he +turned his eyes from the monk to the chamberlain, +and thence he fixed them on the ground in sore +perplexity and utter bewilderment. Stifled sobs alone +broke the agonizing silence. +</p> + +<p> +"Romanus, my husband, my lover!" hissed the +Basilissa at last, as she forced him to look into her +eyes, and he felt the perfume of her breath steal into +the marrow of his bones—"Romanus, my lord, I say, +choose between me and them! Dost thou choose them +and to see me no more? For I swear to thee by the +Mother of God in the Daphne, that unless the widow +and her girls do retire to the convent they are decreed +to inhabit, I take the veil myself and forswear thee +and thy palace forever!" +</p> + +<p> +This threat, supported by so sacramental an oath +that no man had ever known to be broken, shook the +young Cæsar from head to foot. He folded his wife +in his arms, and she sank on his bosom in a well-acted +scene of rapturous affection. At the sight of this final +decision the princesses shrieked aloud. Their mother +flung herself forward and sought to snatch the robe +of her son, but was checked by the crucifix which the +monk struck fiercely down between them. The lord +high chamberlain gave the signal, and uttered one +sharp word to the royal guard and accubitors. The +eunuchs sprang forward and seized the princesses, +who screamed and struggled in their unholy grasp. +The ladies of their retinue joined in the <i>mêlée</i> and +sought to tear their beloved mistresses from their +jailers' hands. A wild hubbub broke forth. "Save +us!" "Spare us!" "Cruel brother!" "Wicked woman!" +"Ungodly priest!" were the broken phrases heard above +the shrieks of the women. After an unseemly struggle, +such as ill became a palace and was cruel indignity +to royal ladies, they were dragged through the corridors +and hurried in litters to the convents which +yawned to receive them. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor, torn to pieces and almost fainting under +the storm of his emotions, flung himself down on a +couch, buried his face in his embroidered robe, and wept +the most bitter tears he had known since childhood. +</p> + +<p> +Theophano turned from him with a look of scorn and +pity. "The granddaughter of the Scythian barber," +said she, in the ear of her principal eunuch, "will not +again fling names at the descendant of Spartan kings!" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap09"></a></p> + +<h2> +IX +<br><br> +The Muster of the Crusade +</h2> + +<p> +A glorious July morning in the year of Our Lord, +960, was irradiating the shores of the Propontis +and the porticos and domes of Byzantium, and +already the city and palace of the Cæsars were crowded +with brilliant throngs and gala trappings of expectant +triumph. All the terraces which commanded a view +of the sea were full of eager sight-seers. The walls +that girdled the city on the sea-side were covered with +dense groups; and the sea itself, from the Golden Horn +to the Princes' Islands, was alive with thousands of +vessels of every description as far as the eye could +reach. The mighty expedition to recover Crete from +the infidel was at last about to sail. +</p> + +<p> +In the Sacred Palace itself a throng of courtiers and +high officials were gathered in the Tzikanisterion, or +polo-ground, and in the gardens, porticos, and +arcades that adjoined it, waiting for their Majesties and +the great ministers of state, who were to watch the +fleet at its departure and wish godspeed to its illustrious +commander. In the corridors and cloisters of the +palace all was animation and a hubbub of greetings, +inquiries, and ardent anticipations. A group of +gentlemen of the wardrobe, grooms of the chamber, and a +silentiary, were discussing the exact constitution of +the vast expedition. Nicetas, the Paphlagonian, a +<i>vestiarius</i>, or gentleman of the wardrobe, was loudly +exclaiming that so powerful an armament had never +left the Golden Horn since the age of the great Heraclius. +</p> + +<p> +"It is so many generations since that occurred," +rejoined Dionysius, attached to the cubicular service, +"that we cannot make any comparisons; and no one +is bound to take literally all the fulsome eulogies we +read in the Heracliads of George of Pisidia, I suppose." +</p> + +<p> +Here they were joined by Theodosius the deacon, +who already was preparing materials for his own iambics +on "The Conquest of Crete." "Let us remember," said +he, "the well-omened words of George, when he +addressed his king: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "'Return triumphant with thy sable greaves<br> + Dyed crimson in the blood of heathen foes."<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +"If thou canst compose such a poem as that of +George, most reverend deacon, thou wilt, indeed, be +famous," said Dionysius; "but is it not a somewhat +doubtful compliment to insinuate that Nicephorus +when he returns in triumph is to be installed in the +vermilion buskins?" +</p> + +<p> +"A truce to unseemly gibes on such an auspicious +day," said the poetic deacon. "I have been collecting +in my note-book the exact figures which show the +strength of the fleet and army, and from a friend of +mine, who is employed as scribe on the general staff, +I have obtained a copy of the official return prepared +for the privy council." +</p> + +<p> +"Well! let us hear as much of it as is lawful to be +divulged to mere civilians as we are," said the other +speakers, with one voice. +</p> + +<p> +"Know, then," said the deacon, with importance, +"that the entire armament, both on sea and on land, +has been organized and equipped by the ever-victorious +Nicephorus Phocas, commander-in-chief, whom God +and His Mother preserve." +</p> + +<p> +"And have the ministers of state, and above all the +most noble lord of the bedchamber, had no hand in +the work? We know that they have been toiling night +and day for six months," said Stephanos, the +silentiary, who was a creature of the eunuch Joseph. +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly," rejoined the deacon, anxious to +retrieve his slip of speech, "the great minister of our +imperial master has brought to bear on the task the +whole of his unequalled energy and experience. And +he has toiled to satisfy the demands and plans of the +commander. Nicephorus designed the whole array, +which the parakeimomenos carried into execution. As +both soldier and statesman recognized that the future +of Rome hangs on the issue of this critical war, they +have worked together as one brain—the general bringing +to bear his consummate mastery of tactics, the +minister exerting his wonderful control over all the +resources of the empire." +</p> + +<p> +"And Rome has at last risen to the occasion," said +Dionysius; "it was time that she did!" +</p> + +<p> +"Everything has been ordered in the manner +prescribed by our late blessed Lord Constantine +Born-in-the-Purple, whom the saints are now conducting to +paradise, as he has set forth in the first book of his +<i>Memoirs and Regulations</i>. But in many arms, and +especially in cavalry, the strength has been much +increased by the foresight of Nicephorus. The first +brigade is formed of Thracians and Macedonians from +the mountains of Rhodope and Hæmus. Then are +enrolled picked troops from the eastern themes, +Cappadocians, Lycaonians, Anatolians, Isaurians, Mardaites, +Opsicians, and Galatians—those tall, fierce descendants +of the northern invaders of old. Of course, +Nicephorus has selected, for the centre and bulk of his +army, his own Armenian regiments, whom he has so +often led to victory. But Bringas himself has +insisted on adding a division of Russ, those Scandinavian +mercenary giants who are willing to serve under +our eagle. And there are no less than twenty-five +squadrons of the wild horsemen from the northern +frontier, beyond the Ister and the Euxine, who call +themselves Hungarians, Patzinaks, and Khazars, and +I know not what outlandish names they bear—names +uncouth enough to fit into iambic verse!" said the +poet, with a sigh. +</p> + +<p> +"Unspeakable barbarians and unbaptized heathen +is what I call them," said Dionysius. +</p> + +<p> +"They fight for the Cross stoutly enough, and they +follow the general to the death," said the deacon; "they +are undoubtedly the finest light horsemen that God +ever made. The Hagarenes of the desert, for all their +pure-bred steeds, are no match for these hairy +barbarians of the steppes." +</p> + +<p> +"And what may the total of the forces amount to?" +asked Dionysius, eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"The roll that I have seen copied from the lists +signed by General Nicephorus himself, and countersigned +by Lord Bringas, brings up the total of all +arms, of all nations and tongues, to fifty-seven +thousand eight hundred and ninety. Each nation fights +with its own arms, costume, and officers, interpreters +to each company conveying in their barbarous jargons +the Greek word of command." +</p> + +<p> +"No such army ever left the Golden Horn!" they +all cried at once. "May Mary Hodogetria bring them +home in triumph!" +</p> + +<p> +Here a movement in the gay throng led the speakers +to pass into the lovely garden adjoining the +polo-ground, the arcades around which were crowded with +ladies of the court. The parterres and terraces, as +they rose one above another, were bowers of roses, +myrtles, vines, oleanders, and carnations, and the air +was heavy with the perfume of their blossom. A +group of fair women, in their brightest robes of silk +gauze and lace, saluted the poet and his friends, as they +joined them in the open terrace hung with awnings of +Oriental tapestry. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell us poor, ignorant women, O most reverend +deacon," said the beautiful Theodora, the young wife +of a new lord-in-waiting, "what are the names and +uses of all these myriads of ships that we see at anchor +in the bay; and explain to us all the mysteries of the +marvellous instruments with which they are filled." +</p> + +<p> +The poet was only too ready to dilate on his favorite +theme, and to display his official information. +</p> + +<p> +"Gracious Lady Theodora, and sweet ladies," he +said, "I am delighted to do your bidding. The entire +fleet consists of vessels, large and small, no less than +three hundred and sixty in number, but, of course, +most of these are transports, cutters, and smaller boats. +The great ships of war that they call dromons are one +hundred and twenty-three in number, each carrying +from two hundred and fifty to three hundred men, +about one-quarter of whom are from the regular army. +The cruisers of the Pamphylian build carry one +hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty men. Of +these swift ships there are ninety-five. The ships of +war, with double or single banks of oarsmen, thus +number two hundred and eighteen, and carry +altogether forty-nine thousand two hundred and fifty +men, about half of whom are oarsmen and seamen +from the Peloponnesus and the Ægean Islands, and +from the Asian coasts." +</p> + +<p> +"And what do you call this great ship moored close +against the harbor of Boucoleon near us?" asked +Theodora—"the one with three banks of oars, I mean." +</p> + +<p> +"That is the commander's own flag-ship—<i>The Archangel +Michael</i>—one of the largest dromons or war-ships +that we have. It is waiting now to receive him on +board." +</p> + +<p> +"And what is the great turret in the middle of her?" +asked the fair girl. +</p> + +<p> +"That is the war-tower to which the fighting men +ascend in action—the <i>xylocastron</i>—from the bulwarks +of which they pour down missiles, stones, and molten +lead." +</p> + +<p> +"And the smaller turret in front, with the brazen +throat like the dragon which St. George slew with his +spear?" she asked again. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that is the barbette, from which our siphons +shoot forth the Greek fire that is the terror of our foes. +Each dromon carries three of these guns, which spout +forth streams of this liquid and unquenchable fire +through the brazen throat of the dragon at the prow. +Beside which, the ships carry grenades, or pots of this +combustible liquid, arranged in rows round the +bulwarks. You can see them hung like oil-jars round the +bulwarks of the <i>St. Michael</i>. This is our secret; and +our Greek fire makes our ships invincible at close +quarters." +</p> + +<p> +"And for what are all these clumsy-looking merchant +and traffic vessels which seem to be swarming on the +sea?" +</p> + +<p> +"These are the great transports, filled with the men, +horses, artillery, and stores. They number one +hundred and forty-two. They carry an average of fifty +men each, and number in all seven thousand one +hundred, thus making a grand total of fifty-seven +thousand eight hundred and ninety. Everything has been +carefully thought out by the general and the +council. I can even show you the figures," said the +deacon, in his ardor drawing forth his tablets, wherein he +had copied down the main items of the equipment. +"Yes, here are the lists. Every war-ship carries aboard +her some seventy men-at-arms. In her storage are +seventy coats of mail, eighty helmets, twenty-four light +corselets, one hundred swords, eighty lances, seventy +shields, twenty halberts, one hundred javelins, and +one hundred bolts, with twenty cross-bows, and fifty +bows with double strings each; ten thousand arrows, +two hundred darts, ten thousand caltrops or prongs, +fifty surcoats, fifty steel caps, and seventy baking-pans." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, spare us these catalogues of weapons, good +deacon; poor girls as we are do not so much as know +what all these mean!" +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, but I have not nearly done," said Theodosius, +"for there are all the munitions of war—battering-rams, +with their iron rams' heads, and turtle-back +shields to protect them from assault; catapults, with +their windlasses, to hurl rocks and bolts at the walls; +cranes, palisades, mallets, barrels, cables, spars, ropes, +one hundred axes, one hundred ship's adzes, three +thousand pounds of lead, two hundred pounds of zinc, +two hundred pounds of tin, three thousand pounds of +iron, three thousand nails, one thousand spades, two +thousand buckets; and, for each ship, one hundred and +twenty spare oars, masts, sails, hawsers, and anchors—" +</p> + +<p> +But here the poet was interrupted by shouts of +laughter from the women, who had been deluged with +too much of his official catalogues. "We are not in +training for the admiral's cabinet!" cried they. +</p> + +<p> +"And how will you get these uncouth names into the +iambics of your cantos, O friend of the Muses?" asked +Nicetas, of the robing-room, and turned the laugh +against the poor deacon. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," said he, "did not Homer fill the second +<i>Iliad</i> with his catalogue of the ships and their captains? +The world shall rehearse my <i>Iliad—The Taking of Crete</i>—a +thousand years hence. Have you heard my +invocation? Something new and sublime, I can assure +you. Listen to this: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Old Rome, our mother, grudge not to thy child<br> + That New Rome shall an equal glory boast.<br> + Thy Scipios and thy Cæsars have not yet<br> + Drained to the dregs the flowing cup of Fame—"<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +But before the poet could recite any more of his +epic, which he fondly believed would outlive the <i>Iliad</i> +and the <i>Odyssey</i>, and which has certainly fulfilled his +boast by surviving a thousand years, the courtiers +thronged to the upper terrace, where the heralds and +ushers announced the approach of their Majesties. +Presently Romanus appeared, in a magnificent tunic +and robe of soft samite, embroidered and brocaded +with a pattern of the Basileus spearing a lion, and +with other quaint devices, and a light diadem that +shone with emeralds and rubies. He was surrounded +by a suite of his principal officials and not a few of his +parasites, among whom the fair young Glaucus of +Miletus had been enrolled, much against his own desire. +And foremost rose the tall form of the parakeimomenos, +Joseph Bringas, to-day more than ever the +real wielder of power. +</p> + +<p> +"The saints above have vouchsafed to us a glorious +morning for the great start, most fortunate of lord +chamberlains and most mighty of eunuchs," said the +prince, gayly. "At whose altar have you besought such +a boon?" +</p> + +<p> +"At the shrine of St. Romanus, my sovereign lord, +most fortunate of kings," said the politic Joseph. +"My task has been but to carry out the orders of your +Majesty, and to satisfy the demands of the soldier to +whom your wisdom has committed the fortune of +Rome." +</p> + +<p> +"Let the chief be summoned, then, that we may give +him our royal blessing and speed him on his enterprise, +which you men of craft and forebodings will not suffer +me to lead in person." +</p> + +<p> +"Rome and this city, which God guards, would not +be safe if Cæsar had quitted it, sire! The lord +commander-in-chief waits your Majesty's summons." +</p> + +<p> +The crowds parted and formed in an expectant circle +as the form of Nicephorus was seen advancing to do +homage to the Basileus. Arrayed in resplendent armor, +he looked grave, resolute, and confident as he rose +from the ceremonial obeisances that custom prescribed. +</p> + +<p> +The Basileus received his great vassal with dignity, +honor, and friendliness, and addressed him his vows +for his triumph with all the graciousness that made +Romanus popular with his servants and people. +</p> + +<p> +"We envy you the honor of leading so vast a host, +which my taskmasters of the council will not permit +me to join, greatly as I desire to fight by the side of so +illustrious a warrior. Nor need I tell you, my lord +general, that the whole resources of our empire are +committed to your charge, and that Rome has now no +other army, and no second fleet." +</p> + +<p> +"Most gracious sovereign, no man knows so well as +Nicephorus himself how great a trust has been +committed to his hands; and no man is more sensible of the +supreme confidence with which his king has honored +his demands for men, arms, ships, and material, nor +of the zeal with which your Majesty's council have +supplied him with all that he required. We whose +lives have been passed on the Asian frontier, in +battling with the ever-increasing hordes of the False +Prophet, well know that Rome or Islam must fall in +the end; that this royal city itself must become one +day the chief throne of the infidel, unless we drive him +back into his deserts and his steppes. For some +hundred and fifty years he has been master of Crete, and +has continually strengthened his power, and defied all +our efforts to recover it. While he holds it, thy +empire is being bled to death, O king! It must be won +back, or Rome is ruined. We must stake our all on +this venture, and no sacrifice is too great for such an +end. My lord Basileus, we go forth with the aid of +Christ and His Blessed Mother to save the Cross and +His people. We will win back Crete for the Cross and +for Rome, or I and my men, or such parts of us as the +Hagarene dogs have not devoured, will lie rotting on +the soil of that island. God be merciful to us miserable +sinners, and strengthen the hands of us weak servants +of His holy name!" +</p> + +<p> +But here, as the chief ended his audience with the +Basileus and was passing away with the official +reverences in use, he received a special summons from the +empress, who, with her officers and ladies, was standing +apart in a more retired part of the royal portico. +Theophano was radiant in her most lovely smile and in +her most airy draperies of summer. She was wrapped +in diaphanous clouds of silk gauze, dyed with the hues +of the softest sunrise, and all dazzling with pendent +jewels and patins of gold. She beamed on the hero, +as he advanced to her feet, and overwhelmed him with +her praises and fervent prayers for his return in +triumph. Nicephorus prostrated himself before her, and +seized the hand she permitted him to kiss. She bent +over him till her lips almost touched his head, and she +whispered in his ear, as her perfumed breath filled the +soul of the warrior to intoxication: "Come back to us, +thou new Belisarius, in glory, and thou wilt find in the +Sacred Palace a more generous Theodora. Forget not +that the savior of Rome is ever destined to become its +master!—master of Rome, and master of Rome's mistress." +</p> + +<p> +Stunned by the manner of his reception, with these +mysterious words ringing in his ears, the chief bowed +himself from the presence and nerved his whole nature +to the great task he had in hand. His officers and +staff, after the prescribed ceremonies of presentation +and leave-taking were fulfilled, followed him to the +port of Boucoleon, with its marble quays and staircase, +whence the barges in waiting took them to their ships. +When the commander-in-chief and his captains were +on board and all was ready to weigh anchor, the Basileus +and Basilissa, each surrounded with a brilliant +court, mounted the imperial stand that had been built +up at the water's edge to witness the scene. It was +surely one of the most magnificent that the eye of man +had ever till that day beheld. Far out to sea, across +that grand bay, now glancing in the morning sun and +surrounded with mountains, headlands, and distant +towers and churches, the vast fleet was spreading its +colored sails. The decks were crowded with soldiers +in various arms and accoutrements; some were the +mail-clad cataphracti, the Varangian guards, with huge +axes and gilt corselets, the Thracians in their stout +jerkins of leather and sheepskins, the Scythians and +Russ in bearskin and sables, the Isaurian mountaineers +in white capotes. The masts of the war-ships were +topped with emblems and banners of fantastic design, +and their gilt and bronze prows represented the gaping +jaws of beasts of prey. The shouts of the captains +standing on high in their turrets, re-echoed by the +boatswains below, as the anchors and hawsers were swung +in to the monotonous songs of the seamen, resounded +across the waters. And now the rowers settled down +in their benches and the huge sweeps slowly began to +plunge through the foaming waves in response to the +rhythmic beat of their leaders. At the appointed moment +the Basileus himself gave the sign to the patriarch, +who was stationed in a commanding spot, surrounded +by his prelates, clergy, deacons, choir, and acolytes, +who carried aloft the most venerated ikons, pictures, +and crucifixes that the sacred edifices could yield. +</p> + +<p> +A profound hush then fell on the vast throng, and +the rowers held up their vessels on their oars, as one +by one the captains ceased to shout and commanded +a solemn silence for prayer. Then was heard far +across the waters the shrill voice of the aged Polyeuctus, +blessing the fleet and invoking the Divine aid, and +ending with the "Holy! Holy! Holy! Triune God and +Blessed Mother of God, preserve in Thy holy keeping +this army and this fleet which goes forth to save Thy +people from the apostate children of Ismael!" Then +the choir took up the words, and thrice repeated the +invocation of the patriarch. This was followed by a +hymn, wherein the immense body of monks, churchmen, +and catechumens joined, so that the volume of +voices rang out across the sea to the shores on the +other side of the strait. And as the last notes of the +choir died away, a roar of cheers broke forth in endless +bursts of farewell and godspeed from the hundreds of +thousands who lined the walls and terraces and who +had been gathered to see the great departure—from +the point where the light-house stands on the Golden +Horn at the eastern corner of the city, round to the +shore of Hebdomon on the western plain beyond the +walls. As each battle-ship and transport passed within +hearing of the mighty roar of voices, the crews and +troops on board returned the shout, and the trumpets +and cymbals, drums and fifes, rang out their martial +notes with a crashing sound. They were followed for +some short distance by crowds of light-sailing craft and +gayly trimmed caiques, which carried out to the fleet +the holiday sight-seers from the city. And so, with +wild hopes, resounding cheers, and solemn anthems of +prayer and blessing, the great crusade of the tenth +century sailed forth to do battle with the Saracen. +</p> + +<p> +All through the day the vast fleet of war-ships and +lighter vessels kept on their southwesterly course in +the bright sunshine, with a gentle breeze that blew +down the straits from the Euxine Sea, and till late in +the evening eager crowds from the city remained +watching the sight on the walls and on the open terraces +above. As the last battle-ship disappeared in the +offing they gathered in the fora and porticos discussing +the event, while the churches, shrines, and wayside +oratories were filled with worshippers in supplication +and silent prayer. All through that eventful +day, and far into the night, the priests and monks +throughout the city kept pouring forth their endless +chants and monotonous invocations to all the saints +and divinities in turn, amid ten thousand Trisagions +and Kyries, clouds of incense and procession of ikons. +</p> + +<p> +But all this time of national exultation and hope, +gloom and despair hung heavily in the massive +convents wherever women who had been forced to take +the veil as nuns lived out their dreary lives "with the +angels," as the euphemism in use would put it. And +in none was there a deeper despair than in the +Myrelaeon convent, where the princesses Anna and Agatha +were immured. After the terrible scene with their +brother, as told in the last chapter, the queen-mother +and her five daughters had been dragged forth by the +eunuchs and cubiculars of the Sacred Palace and carried +off to the convent of Canicleion (or the Rubric). It +had once been the palace of the magnificent Theoctistus, +the finance minister, who held the vermilion seals +and had been murdered under Michael the Drunkard, +when the Basileus had converted his victim's splendid +abode into a monastery. Once within its fatal portals, +the royal ladies were at the mercy of the inexorable +John, the abbot of the Stoudion, who had torn them +from the weakness of Romanus. In spite of their +protests, their shrieks of rage, and on the part of the +younger women their convulsive struggles, the monk +had their long hair cut short, their royal vesture taken +off; and while three sturdy sisters held them by main +force, they were dressed in the coarse brown serge +robes of the order of St. Basil. They were literally +dragged to the altar and the mockery of the consecration +service was gone through, the fanatic John troubling +himself little that the vows of the order were not +distinctly uttered by any of them, and were not uttered +at all, even as a pretence, by the two youngest +princesses, who obstinately refused to give any consent to +the act of their immolation as brides of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +It was soon found that the queen-mother was so +cruelly affected in mind and in body by all that she had +suffered that her very life and reason were despaired +of, and Romanus was easily induced by her entreaties +to suffer her to return to a secluded wing of the palace, +where she remained in strict retirement and a hopeless +invalid for the few months that she had still to +breathe. Nor did Theophano herself offer any +opposition to this, when she found the queen-mother so +utterly fallen from power and so feeble in body and +mind. +</p> + +<p> +The five princesses in the Canicleion nunnery were +enabled to meet and take counsel together, and by +their prestige as sisters of the reigning emperor, their +rank as undoubted porphyrogennetoi, and their own +ability and force of character, they soon recovered +much of their influence. It became known to the +confidantes of the empress that they were conspiring to +recover their liberty and rank, that in spite of all the +exhortations and orders of the abbot, who insisted on +confessing them himself, they still retained in private +their lay dresses and habits, and obstinately declined +to observe the fastings and austere rules of the order +to which they were supposed to be vowed. Secret +friends and partisans of influence obtained the ear of +the politic Joseph, who thought it high time to have +some counterpoise to the ambition of the empress; +and at length, by his secret connivance, the +good-natured Romanus was willing to mitigate his cruel +decree, and a tacit compromise was effected. The +princesses were allowed to inhabit royal palaces and +to receive the appanages and privileges of their rank, +upon their formal consent to accept their consecration +to the virgin life of professed nuns. The three elder +princesses outwardly conformed to this arrangement. +They were installed in the palace of Antiochus, near +the Hippodrome and the great church of St. Sophia, +living like the noble and royal canonesses of western +Europe, but, except in the matter of betrothal and +marriage, not otherwise deprived of their imperial +honors. And ultimately, as we know, the Princess +Theodora became herself empress, as wife of John +Tzimisces. +</p> + +<p> +The two younger princesses stoutly refused the +compromise, and would not accept the obligation of +nunship; and Agatha, her father's favorite and the most +thoughtful of the whole family, insisted on treating the +ceremony of her consecration as a blasphemous mockery. +She persuaded her sister Anna to join her in the +refusal. Both of them were therefore removed to a +still more secluded nunnery, that of Myrelaeon, a +palace formerly built by their mother's father, +Lecapenus, when regent. It stood on the upper reaches +of the Golden Horn, at the water-side, not far from the +walls beyond Blachernæ. In that which once was +the guard-room of old, a chamber which hung over +the sea and was far removed from the sights and +gayeties of the city, the Princess Agatha was immured +as a prisoner of state, but even there she was able to +have occasional intercourse with her sister Anna, and +also with her aunt, the ex-Empress Augusta Sophia, +widow of Christopher, eldest son of Romanus Lecapenus. +She also, at the fall of that family from the purple, had +been consigned to the life of a strict nun in the same +convent of Myrelaeon. It was, in truth, a kind of suttee +of Byzantine manners that the widow or discarded wife +of a fallen prince or noble should be consigned to a +nunnery in some secluded monastery near the capital. +The fall of the House of Lecapenus had been so complete, +and the good-will of the Empress Helena towards +her unfortunate sister-in-law was so effective, that +the ex-Empress Augusta Sophia was still able, through +the old adherents of her family, to obtain very considerable +authority, always short of her own delivery from +the convent, which at her age she no longer sought. +</p> + +<p> +This night she was exerting all her powers of +persuasion to induce the sisters Anna and Agatha to +accept the conditions of comparative restoration to +lay life to which the three elder princesses had already +consented. She pressed them to remember the youth, +generous nature, and unquestioned autocracy of their +brother, the emperor, the hope of gradual improvement +in their terms, and the danger of further +incensing so terrible a woman as the empress. +</p> + +<p> +"Twenty years have passed," said the aged ex-empress, +"since I, too, was thrust from the Sacred Palace, +where I once was honored as the wife of a Cæsar. I +have grown accustomed to my quiet lot in my old +age, and I would not now exchange these sombre +robes for those of an Augusta, even if I could. I, too, +once had a proud spirit, but it is broken and dead as +I am to the world. My sweet child, you will never be +able to endure the trial. Yield to your brother, who +with all his faults has a heart to be touched, and +you may yet find a happy life, and, who knows, perhaps +an illustrious marriage, worthy of your birth in +the purple and your royal race." +</p> + +<p> +The clear-sighted Agatha might feel the worldly +wisdom of her aunt's advice, which had already brought +the gentle Anna to the melting mood, but the last words +of the ex-Empress Augusta Sophia, about her birth and +royal race, touched a secret chord in the heart of the +girl who had so often quivered when she heard it said +that few were fit to mate with princesses of the House +of Basil. +</p> + +<p> +She flushed, and with a look of resolution and fire +that would become a virgin martyr, she replied: "Never +will I dishonor myself and forswear the teaching that +my mother gave me, by consenting to treat as a +consecration to Christ the outrage inflicted on me when +the monk and his nuns forced on me the mockery of +this garb. I have poured out my soul in prayer to +my Saviour and to His Blessed Mother in heaven. +They have heard my cries and my sorrows, and a +spirit within me has revealed it to my heart, that the +good Lord Himself does not vouchsafe to accept the +forced sacrifice of his devoted handmaiden. No, my +dear aunt, they may imprison me, they may torture +me, they may kill me, but they shall never force me +to profess myself by a lie the bride of Christ!" This +conversation was now interrupted by the entrance of +one of the sisters of the nunnery who had been assigned +as attendants of the princess. She came, she said, with +a peremptory message from the Abbot John himself, +who required the immediate presence of the nun, Sister +Euphemia, the name given to Agatha "in religion," +in the confessional of the chapel. This unexpected +summons the princess was inclined to defy, but her +aunt warned her of the danger of flagrant disobedience +to the all-powerful prelate, and the attendant sister +whispered in her ear that a great surprise and +unexpected deliverance might yet be in store for her. The +princess accordingly submitted to the command, and +was conducted through the corridors to the darkened +chapel of the convent, where she took her place +on her knees in the accustomed place of confession. +The prelate was already seated in his recess, +and as usual had chosen to cover his whole person +in his monastic garb, and to conceal his face in his +cowl. +</p> + +<p> +"My daughter," he began, in a voice purposely +simulated and subdued to a whisper, "I have called +thee to confession to learn if thou art still resolved to +resist the superior of thy order, and to defy the +mandates of Mother Church in repudiating thy consecration +to Christ as His bride." +</p> + +<p> +"Father, I tell thee plainly, for I will treat thee +with more frankness and with more courtesy than thou +hast treated me—I am no bride of Christ. No threat +and no cruelty shall ever force me to utter or to act a +falsehood, which I hold to be a profanation of His +holy name. I am no bride in heaven—no, nor shall +I ever be a bride on earth," she uttered, with a deep +sigh that she could not restrain, and abruptly ended +her half-spoken sentence. +</p> + +<p> +"My daughter, hast thou indeed registered a vow +to lead a solitary life, and never to listen to the love +of any man?" said the monk, with a new eagerness in +his voice, that seemed to tremble at his own words. +</p> + +<p> +"No man has ever sought my love, I tell thee," she +said haughtily to such a question, "nor will I, even in +confession, bring my lips to utter what Agatha might +answer if he did. If she ever had such dreams, they +are vanished in the black night that has fallen upon +my miserable life. But what means, my father +abbot, this sudden summons to me this night, and what +are my maiden dreams or vows to thee or to thine? +Why am I here? What is it that thou askest of me?" +</p> + +<p> +"Royal lady," said the monk, now dropping his voice +to an impassioned whisper, "thy maiden dreams are +all in all to one who loves thee better than his own +soul, and who is at this moment risking life, torture, +and mutilation, in the effort to protect and save thee. +Nay, do not start or flee, noblest, purest, bravest of +women! Steel thy nerves to be still, and listen to our +schemes to rescue thee from this dungeon of the priests. +Nay, by the Mother of God! do not move or cry out, +for three sisters of the convent wait within sight of us, +and only one of them is in our plot. Remain as thou +art, and listen to one who, on the field of battle, on the +stormy seas, on the solitary mountains of his home, +has learned to pray to thy image along with that of +the blessed Agatha, whose name thou bearest, as the +true saint of his faith and his hope. Listen to him +now, for he has come through fire and water to save +thee!" +</p> + +<p> +At the first words of this most startling address the +maiden had detected the manly tones of the young +hero of her day-dreams, and wild hopes and exultation +thrilled through her veins as she steeled herself +to retain her attitude of a penitent, and to hear out +the mysterious story of the confessor. +</p> + +<p> +"See who it is that has dared to seek thee thus," +said he, as he threw back the cowl and showed her +the gallant features of Basil Digenes, the Romanized +son of the emir of Edessa. +</p> + +<p> +"By the aid of the venerable princess, thy aunt +and fellow-prisoner, I have matured a plan of escape +for thee. Three of the sisters of this convent are our +confederates in the scheme, and by their help I have +succeeded to-night in assuming the part of thy tyrant, +the abbot. My own lady-sister, Theodosia, as thou +knowest, the wife of the patrician, George Comnenus, +is now in her summer palace on the island of +Proconnesus, where she will receive and conceal thee until +the heart of Romanus is softened, for the family of +the Comneni is too powerful to be defied. To-night, +at midnight, I will be waiting beneath thy chamber +window with two of thy ladies who served thee in +the palace, and a stout crew of boatmen. The three +sisters of this convent who are entirely devoted to our +service will supply thee with fitting lay dress, and also +with a rope-ladder to descend from the window on to +the waters below, where the boat shall be ready to +convey thee to my sister. Thou hast heart for such +an enterprise, true daughter of the lion race of Basil, +I know full well, if thou canst trust the honor of the +son of the Saracen," said the enamored young hero +of the marches, who, even in his stormy life of +adventure, had never embarked upon a more chivalrous +escapade. He gazed on the maiden with a deep and +rapturous appeal in his countenance. +</p> + +<p> +Agatha paused and communed with herself. Then +without a word she took the hand of the pretended +confessor, and gently pressed it with her own. +</p> + +<p> +"And can Agatha learn to love him whom she has +already learned to trust?" said her ardent lover, as +he kissed her hand again and again. +</p> + +<p> +"It will be time to speak to her of love," she said, +softly, "when Agatha has put off the garb of Euphemia +the nun. But that I will do this very night, with +the help of Our Lady in heaven above. Into her holy +keeping I commit my body and my soul!" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap10"></a></p> + +<h2> +X +<br><br> +The Conquest of Crete +</h2> + +<p> +The scene now shifts to that magnificent island of +southern Greece, whence in prehistoric ages so +many germs of ancient civilization had been carried to +the main-land. The northern headlands and bays of +Crete were still wrapped in dim twilight, while a +glorious sun of July had tinted the topmost crags of +Mount Ida, and its beams gradually swept downward +on to the lower ranges, upland pasturages, woodlands, +and teeming meadows of that beautiful island. From +point to point, as the day rose, the eye caught sight +of bands of swarthy Africans, for the most part in white +tunics, armed with spear and sword, while mailed emirs +in turbans and snowy burnoose hurriedly passed from +post to post across the glens. Light-clad messengers +on quick Arab barbs dashed across the open spaces +or scrambled up the rocky path to some castle on its +pinnacle of stone. Far as the eye could reach the whole +coast seemed alive with excitement and moving hosts. +</p> + +<p> +From the bay that faces the petty islet then called +Dia, a small band of Arab spearmen were hurriedly +dragging three bound prisoners to an eminence which +commanded a range of view both east and west. There +was displayed on a lofty lance-head the streaming +standard of the chief emir, around whom were grouped +camels and barbs with embroidered housings, mailed +warriors, and ebon footmen from the Soudan. When +the party had dragged their captives to the +commander, by a gesture he ordered them to be brought +to his presence, and called for an interpreter to put +his question in the Greek tongue. The Emir Abd-el-Aziz, +the governor of Crete, looked what he was, one +of the heroes of Islam in the long death-grapple which +for seven centuries and a half the Crescent maintained +against the Cross of Rome. He well knew the vital +importance of defending the island which his creed +had held for one hundred and thirty years. All his +demands for help from the Asian side had been paralyzed +by the internal confusions of the caliphate of +the East. The urgent embassy he had despatched to +the great Abd-er-Rahman, the caliph of Spain, had not +yet returned. Left with his single island force to meet +the mighty host and navy of Rome, he strained every +nerve to resist the Christians to the death. +</p> + +<p> +"Who are these men, and where were they taken?" +he asked the leader of the band who had brought +them—the captain, in fact, of one of the corsairs which +had scoured the Ægean Sea with such success. +</p> + +<p> +"Last night," said the seamen, "as we were watching +the advance of the misbelievers, we sighted three of +his despatch-boats on the lookout for a good landing. +We cut off one of them, and after a stout fight dragged +the survivors ashore, Allah be praised!" +</p> + +<p> +"What have you learned of the enemy's strength?" +said the emir. +</p> + +<p> +"We have sighted three squadrons, each of which +is believed to contain more than one hundred sail. +And they are within a few hours of the coast." +</p> + +<p> +"Require the prisoners to report the strength of the +enemy and the place where they seek to land. If they +speak, they shall be free to serve the one God and His +Prophet. If they refuse, send for the provost marshal +and his men." +</p> + +<p> +The alternative was duly interpreted to the wretched +captives, bleeding with their wounds and panting from +the haste with which they had been dragged. A smile +of defiance was their only answer. The two foremost +prisoners were seamen from Chios; the third was no +soldier, but a landsman from Thessalonica, pressed +into the service of the oars. +</p> + +<p> +One of the emir's staff now stepped forward and +took charge of the question. "One!" he shouted; +and as the prisoner neither spoke nor moved, the +provost marshal's men slashed off his ears and his nose. +Not a groan escaped the prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +"Two!" he shouted, and within two minutes more +the wretch was flung on the ground and his eyes +were gouged out in sight of his shuddering comrades. +</p> + +<p> +Silence ensued, broken only by the moans of the +sufferer with his muttered prayer to the Mother of +God and the stifled groans of the two who were +awaiting the same fate. +</p> + +<p> +"Three!" and all around held their breath to listen; +but no sound passed the Chian's lips, and he bit his +lips to choke his moan. A deathly pause followed. +"Christ receive me," muttered the man. Then, with +a sign from the captain, a scimitar crashed through +the victim's neck, and his mutilated head rolled to the +feet of his companions in agony. +</p> + +<p> +The sickening scene was repeated with the second +Chian, who suffered and died with the same stoical +silence. +</p> + +<p> +But as his head rolled towards the Thessalonian +prisoner and covered him with blood, the courage of the +third man gave way, and with a shriek he offered to +disclose all he knew. +</p> + +<p> +A long and close examination, carried on with no +small persuasion from the instruments of torture and +mutilation so liberally displayed by the provost +marshal and his men, at length wrung from the prisoner +a full and fairly accurate description of the forces led +by Nicephorus, and also of the place and time in +which they might be expected to disembark. +</p> + +<p> +The emir now called a council of war, and, giving his +lieutenants his final orders, sent mounted men in every +direction to marshal his host for the coming struggle. +The bay, with its sandy beach on which the prisoners +had been brought ashore, seemed the spot where the +Christian host would attempt to land. And Abd-el-Aziz +with promptitude and skill arranged his forces +in a circle round the amphitheatre which commanded +the bay. He had hardly finished his dispositions when +the great fleet was descried in the offing, as in three +separate squadrons it bore down to concentrate in the +bay. Shouts of triumph, war-songs from a thousand +throats, chants to Allah, and the name of his Prophet +mingled with the sound of horses and camels and the +orders and incitements of the emirs in command. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly and in uniform mass the Roman fleet moved +on, till it filled the entire bay, and came so near the +shore that the voices of the captains could be heard +on land. The huge chelandion, The Archangel Michael, +the flag-ship of the commander, was in the centre, and +from it there was now sent forth a powerful barge +propelled by twenty-four oarsmen, on which stood +Nicephorus in person to direct the entire movement. For +a space, both mighty hosts waited in silence, watching +for the first opportunity to strike. Then Nicephorus, +bareheaded and unarmed—for he had laid aside his +helmet, corselet, greaves, and his spear and sword—stood +up at the prow of his barge, and, raising his +hands aloft, and gazing upward to heaven, offered in +the sight of Christian and infidel his solemn dedication +of his force to Christ. +</p> + +<p> +"Almighty Creator of this Thy universe, behold the +army of Thy people at the frontier of Thy enemies. +Look down on them. Thou who canst destroy with a +breath the thousand towers of the ungodly, strengthen +the hearts of Thy chosen soldiers. Root out from them +any craven fear. Bring to shame the promises of the +false prophets who set themselves against Thee. Show +forth this day who is the true Peter and who is the +author of false lies. Make manifest, O Lord, who it +is that is the camel-driver, who is the profligate, who +is the contriver of all craft and abomination!" +</p> + +<p> +Such was the prayer reported in the iambics of +Theodosius the deacon, who was present in the +expedition as chaplain on the high admiral's flag-ship, +and was full of thoughts to adorn the immortal <i>Iliad</i> +he designed on "<i>The Capture of Crete</i>" in five cantos, +which have come down to us after a thousand years. +And in the same veracious poem we learn that the +ever-victorious commander of the crusade then +caused himself to be fully armed. He put on his +golden corselet and plumed helmet, and, equipped with +his buckler and mighty spear, he bade the oarsmen +row his barge along the line of battle-ships, while he +thus addressed his men in that voice of thunder which +they knew and loved: +</p> + +<p> +"Soldiers, captains, my friends, my children, +fellow-servants of the Most High, ye who are the sinews of +Rome and liegemen of our sovereign lord the king, +look at this fair shore and island, with its rich and +fragrant pastures, valleys, hills, and bright towns. +Once all these were part and parcel of our Rome, our +fatherland—once they were in the realm of our king. +Once, I say, in years gone by, till sloth and vice +betrayed them to the enemy, drove out our people and +gave them to the infidel. Charge these barbarians, +then, with a stout heart. Take their cities with your +swords. Take their women, take their children, and +their children's children. Ye have nothing to fear +from their puny darts. Ye need not be amazed if +they do draw your blood. Wash out your sins with the +red blood of the misbelievers—these blaspheming +savages. They who fall will be honored by our lord and +master, who will amply provide for their women and +children. This is my last word, men. Hold your +shields firm and close. Clinch your spears well in +front. Show yourselves true sons of Rome. Let not +that great name be put to shame by you!" +</p> + +<p> +While the chief had been speaking, the Saracen +battalions had rapidly drawn down to the shore, and were +now arrayed in long, dense lines round the bay, both +horse and foot, prepared to contest the landing; but +their javelins were not powerful enough to reach the +ships. +</p> + +<p> +"Bowmen, advance!" now roared the admiral, and +a hundred captains re-echoed the order along the line. +Instantly a swarm of barges advanced with long sweeps +to the beach, each holding fifty bowmen from the +Thracian and Dyrrachian highlands, armed with the +most effective weapons of that age. These poured +upon the Saracens' lines a rain of arrows and bolts so +dense and deadly that it completely broke the ranks +of the defenders. They fell back sullenly from bank +to bank, leaving the shore strewn with dead and +wounded men, horses, camels, and mules. +</p> + +<p> +The gallant emir now reformed his broken forces +on a higher range of hills, just out of bow-shot from +the ships. Then they beheld the advance of the main +Christian host. The ships were driven straight on to +the sandy shore, and from them descended masses of +heavy-armed foot-soldiers, with round bucklers, long +spears, and massive battle-axes. Forming up in close +phalanx, these Macedonian guards, in hauberk and +round helmets, fixed shield to shield like an iron wall, +and advanced in dense array to the charge. They were +led on the right wing by the Russians and Norsemen of +the imperial guard, whose huge stature, fair, long hair, +and gleaming halberds formed a strange contrast to +the lighter arms of the swarthy and wiry children of +the desert. +</p> + +<p> +On came the Roman phalanx without a pause, for +the slighter javelins and missiles of the Saracen could +make but small impression on the closely locked wall +of the Varangian shields. In the midst of each +battalion was seen a bishop with his canons in stole, alb, +and chasuble, bearing aloft a crucifix of gold, +ornamented with jewels and enamel, and a fragment of +the true Cross. They broke forth into a hymn to the +Mother of God, whom they invoked to lead them on +to victory. And in the hymn the mailed infantry of +Rome joined; and from ten thousand throats broke +forth the prayer to Christ to aid His soldiers against +the miscreant railers of His holy name. So they +marched steadily on to the foot of the hills, whereon +the Hagarenes were massed. Then at the sound of +"Charge!" with fierce yells and shouts of "Rome!" +"Christ!" and "Mary!" they rushed up the heights, +the warlike and poetic deacon tells us, "like mountain-lions," +in his enthusiasm as he watched them from his +barge. +</p> + +<p> +The lighter army of the emir could not stand the +shock of this tremendous phalanx, so far heavier in +men, arms, and numbers, and with all their courage +and skill they wavered and fell back. Then a sight, +strange, indeed, to these children of the desert, struck +wonder and dismay into their ranks. It was a new +device to which Nicephorus and his engineers had given +all their thoughts. The bulky transports of shallow +draft, on which the cavalry had been stowed, were +driven ashore till they grounded on the sand. Their +bulwarks opened, and from them were lowered by +cranes broad and stout bridges, which had been slung +to the masts, so as to form a gangway from the deck +to the beach. Thence poured out dense squadrons of +cavalry fully equipped with lance and mail. They +scoured the plain from end to end as they slew the +broken fugitives and the helpless wounded. Foremost +among these terrible horsemen were the cataphracti +or cuirassiers, mostly Sarmatians or Anatolians, +from the Asian steppes, clad in close-fitting coats and +greaves of mail from head to foot, and using alternately +the bow, the sword, the light lance, and a small, +round shield. These nimble and expert troopers cut +up the broken ranks of the Saracens, trampled down +all who had turned to fly, and left no living thing on +the field where they had passed. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of the roar of battle the poetic deacon +clung to the commander-in-chief, who, now on his +charger, and with his staff, commanded the cavalry +in person. It was even now his chief care to prevent +his forces, in their heat, from becoming too far scattered +over the broken country. He knew that with his vast +fleet of transports and barges the sea was a danger +greater than the Saracen army. This was now effectually +repelled and shattered. The whole ground they +had occupied was strewn with their dead. Far as the +eye could see, every village was in flames and every +post of the enemy was sacked and levelled. Galloping +to the nearest homestead, Nicephorus sternly bade +his men reform in order to re-embark. He ordered +them to cease the wanton slaughter of women and +children, whom the Sarmatians and Anatolians were +engaged in massacring like sheep. With his own hand +he cut down a ferocious Cappadocian whom he saw +in the act of hacking to pieces an infant. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment the general was attracted by the +shrieks of a woman who dashed out of one of the +houses, the roof of which was already on fire. She +was closely pursued by a band of wild, irregular +horsemen from the Caucasian border, who, furious and +blood-stained, were following her like hounds after +their prey. Her dress, which had been that of the +Moors, was torn in shreds, and only half concealed +her fair limbs and graceful form. She rushed screaming +to the presence of the general, whom she addressed +in gasps, but in the pure Greek tongue. "Save me, +keep back these wretches!" she cried. "I am a Roman, +the daughter of a senator, and a worshipper of Christ +and His Mother." "Who art thou, my daughter?" +said the chief. "I am Theodora, the only child of +Cedrenus, once governor of Cappadocia. I was +captured by corsairs while on a voyage across the Ægean +Sea to join my father, dragged to this island, where I +have been for two years the slave of the Emir Nazireddin, +whose house these savage men have sacked and +burned." +</p> + +<p> +"Hast thou forsworn Christ and His Holy Mother?" +asked the chief. +</p> + +<p> +"Never have I done so in thought, word, or deed, +most noble lord, though I have been forced to submit +to the indignities and to listen to the blasphemies +of these unbelievers. My master, who had wives of +his own creed, cared little what were the thoughts of +a slave, or what were her prayers." +</p> + +<p> +"Are there many Roman women, Christians and +virtuous, in like case?" +</p> + +<p> +"There are hundreds in every town along the coast, +who have been seized in ships at sea or carried off from +the storming of a seaport in the empire. This island +must now contain at least twenty thousand Roman +women such as I am, forced to wear the garb of Islam +and to serve the followers of the Prophet—all young—for +the rest they kill off at sight as useless encumbrances." +</p> + +<p> +"Go in safety and in honor, my daughter," said +Nicephorus, gently, "these officers of mine shall see to +your protection." His brow darkened, and he called +round him his chief officers and secretaries. He said: +</p> + +<p> +"See that this orgy be stopped and bring back my +army to our ships. This Christian and innocent girl +is the daughter of my friend and comrade—whose soul +may God receive in mercy—and she was like to be +outraged and massacred by my own men under my very +eyes. Our work in the Lord is not half done until we +save and rescue these miserable daughters of our +people and bring them back to our country and to Christ." +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus, whose life had been passed in continual +battle with the sons of Hagar, was far from sharing in +the wild exultation of his soldiers; nor did he at all +believe that his first victory, however brilliant, was +enough to complete the campaign. He well knew the +courage, the resolution, the fanaticism of the Saracens +of the East, and especially of the race which had held +Crete for nearly a century and a half against all the +power of Rome. He took up fortified positions on the +northern coast, supported by his fleet, which +blockaded every port. He sent forth strong detachments +to secure the principal centres. And he despatched a +powerful force of cavalry and mounted infantry under +Pastilas, a general of valor and experience, into the +heart of the island, with strict orders to keep constant +watch both day and night against surprises, and to +practise the utmost caution against the wiles of the +treacherous foe. +</p> + +<p> +A terrible blow justified his warning. For days +Pastilas had been sending despatches to report that +his squadrons had swept everything before them and +had seized immense booty—horses, camels, cattle, +provisions, and valuables without limit—and were +concentrating in the great central plain, whence they would +dominate the whole island. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus sat late one night in his tent pondering +his plans with a map and studying reports of his scouts, +when his officers gave notice of a mounted messenger +advancing at a gallop. In a moment the horseman, +bedraggled, torn, and bleeding as he was, flung himself +from his foaming and exhausted mount, and threw +himself down before the chief. +</p> + +<p> +"A great disaster, my lord general, an ambush, a +rout of our force, of which I am one of the few survivors. +Our commander and all his officers slain. Everything +and every man the prey of the Hagarenes. They +drew our whole force into a trap, as it passed through +a wooded defile, and surrounded us on every side. +Pastilas died fighting like a lion at bay. But his entire +command is destroyed, save a few fugitives, of whom +I am one." +</p> + +<p> +"And my orders?" said the chief. "Where were +the scouts, the outposts, the eyes of the general?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is not for me, a plain captain of the Defensors, +with the reserve, stationed far to the rear, whence I +could see and learn little, to pass judgment on my +commander. And I fear me much that no one of +his officers in the main battle survives. Pastilas had +captured and dispersed scores of the enemy's detachments, +had swept the land without a check, had seized +horses, stores, slaves, women, wine, and gold; and his +men could not be held from revelry, riot, and sloth." +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus listened in silence, with lips drawn tight, +and breathing hard. He dismissed the messenger with +a gesture, and groaned to himself. "Thus was Crete +lost to Rome by our ancestors. Thus will Rome be +lost to Christ, unless His people turn their hearts to +understand the desperate war they have to wage with +the False Prophet. A brave man was Pastilas, who +has served Rome and God right well until this day. +May he find mercy above! On earth he will be +remembered as one who brought this cause a second +time to the verge of ruin." +</p> + +<p> +The chief had hardly overestimated the gravity of +the situation. The Saracen hosts were now all drawn +into their vast central citadel of Chandax, whence they +issued in continual sorties and raids both by day and +night. The tremendous fortress was closely beleaguered, +but the strain of so great a siege wore down the +Roman army, decimated by three successive blows—the +overwhelming of Pastilas, with the flower of the +cavalry, next the incessant sorties and ambuscades, +and, lastly, fever, cold, and want of food. The +magnificent host that had set forth so proudly in midsummer +from the Golden Horn had dwindled to a third in the +winter, and the immense stores it carried were +exhausted. The Saracen stronghold was indeed at its +last extremity. But all through that terrible winter it +was hard to say if the defenders or the besiegers were in +the worst plight or were the nearer to famine and +exhaustion. Easter of 961 A.D. was at hand, when, at +the urgent demand of Nicephorus, a new levy was sent +out with adequate supplies under the command of +Basil Digenes, the Acritas, the chivalrous warden of +the marches. It was, indeed, sorely needed. +</p> + +<p> +The vast stronghold of the Saracens of Crete looked +as proud and as menacing as ever. Chandax—so +named from the fosse, within which the first Mussulman +conquerors of the island had intrenched themselves +one hundred and thirty years before—rose from +a precipitous rock overhanging the northern coast of +the island; and in successive generations it had been +raised to be one of the most powerful fortresses of the +Eastern world. Its huge walls were defended with a +long chain of lofty towers, from the battlements of +which swarthy bowmen shot down every living thing +that approached the circuit, while the gates and +posterns would suddenly pour forth by day or by night +bands of light horse or foot which harassed the camp, +burned the engines, and cut off the pickets. +</p> + +<p> +The Moslem fortress was now closely invested and +cut off from all succor by a range of trenches and +earthworks running round it from sea to sea, and it +was attacked night and day by every device known +to the siege-train of the tenth century, an art in which +the Byzantines had preserved and greatly extended +the traditions and machines of old Rome. All +attempts to scale the lofty curtain with ladders had +been beaten off with fearful loss, after desperate +combats at all hours of day or night. Protected by +mantlets, hurdles wattled with osiers and covered with hides, +the besiegers had pushed on their works close up to +the walls, which they now battered with huge rams +and pierced with sharp-headed bores. The rams were +worked each by some sixty men, who were protected +by a pent-house of timber covered with hides. The +bore had already loosened blocks in the base of the +wall, but the defenders within continually crushed +the ram or bore with massive stones, or seized the +head with forked beams, which caught it in a vise, +while the rain of missiles from above, with boiling +pitch and every form of combustible, cut down the +assailants and destroyed their engines. The losses +within the city were equally severe. Protected by +pent-houses, like the rams and bores, but farther +behind their earthworks, the Romans plied their huge +catapults, which hurled masses of rock and iron +into the fortress, keeping up an incessant bombardment. +They also used the balista, an immense fixed +cross-bow, which shot bolts with extraordinary force +and precision upon the battlements, whereon nothing +living could stand exposed without certain destruction. +</p> + +<p> +From morn till night the commander-in-chief, with +his principal officers, inspected the works, ordered some +new device, or searched for some weak spot in the +defence. It was after a strenuous day in the seventh +month of the siege, as the sun was setting in crimson +glory behind the spurs of Mount Ida, that Nicephorus +and his trusted Digenes Acritas were watching the +success of a new engine of assault that had been +prepared with great pains. It was a tower of three stages, +constructed of massive beams protected by frames and +hides and crowned with a stout roof. It was now being +rolled forward on broad wheels to afford means of +scaling the walls. The assault at this moment was a +terrific sight. The catapults and balistas were pouring +out on the ramparts stones, bolts, and bombs filled +with the famous Greek fire. The earthworks of the +besiegers were garnished with poles, on which stood +impaled the ghastly heads of Saracens slain in the +sorties. From time to time the ferocious ribaldry of +the camp led the brutal soldiery to hurl into the city +these grinning trophies of their slaughter, to appall their +living comrades. The horrid jest of this day had been +to hurl from the largest of the catapults a living mule, +in derision of the famine within the citadel; and the +Roman army roared with delight as the wretched brute +dashed quivering down upon the loftiest tower. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus and his staff anxiously watched the slow +advance of the great wooden turret filled with troops +ready to swing bridges, planks, and ladders on to the +rampart. The whizzing of the missiles, the shouts of +the Romans, answered by barbaric yells from the walls, +the roar of the flames as, one after another, the engines +of the defenders or of the assailants caught fire, made +a truly infernal din. "See! general," called out the +warden of the marches, "the turret is within twenty +feet of the wall and on a level with the +rampart—fifteen!—ten feet! Down with the scaling-bridge!" +he roared. And crashing went the gangway from the +front of the pent-house. But as he spoke, the soft +earth in the newly filled fosse whereon the turret stood +gave way. The gangway fell short, the turret toppled +and split. The besiegers hurled on it bolts, rocks, +boiling pitch, and fire-balls; and presently it collapsed +with a sudden crash, and fell in a heap, mangling and +burying the men inside it and beneath it, and at once it +blazed up a huge mass of burning timber. "No," said +the field-marshal, "as I feared, no turret lofty enough +to overtop these walls can be brought up to work on +such a ground as this. If rams and turrets fail us, we +must fall back or resort to a mine." +</p> + +<p> +The destruction of the great, movable turret, on the +success of which such hopes and fears had been placed, +caused the ranks of assailants and defenders to pause +for a space, while both were watching the effect of the +blazing pile. A lull ensued in the storm of battle, +which was interrupted by a strange incident such as +the superstition of that age invested with supernatural +effect. On the battlement of the topmost tower there +now appeared the gaunt, dishevelled figure of the wild +woman who had long been known to both armies as +the "Witch of Nejd." The Saracens devoutly +believed, and the Christians with terror admitted, that +by intercourse with the infernal powers, and by +incantations that she inherited from Sabasan and pagan +ancestors, she could work spells on those whom she +devoted to her Satanic spirits. Her long, black hair +hung round her loosely, in wild folds. Her bony arms +held aloft a brazier, into which she dropped aromatic +drugs, and her loose robes floated in the wind as she +shrieked out her maledictions on the Christian soldiers +beneath: +</p> + +<p> +"Blaspheming followers of the Nazarene!" she +screamed, "see the foretaste of the blazing ruin that +awaits your souls, even as fire is now consuming your +ruined turret. Each flash from this pan is the answer +of my Lord, the mighty Sheitan of the world below, +that ye and yours—your women, your children, your +cattle, and your goods—shall be utterly consumed. +And you, proud, bloody, lecherous emir of the Nazarenes, +you shall be slaughtered like an ox on your own +bed by the foul woman to whom you have sold yourself. +In the name of the prince of hell, I devote you +all to death on this field, and to burning torment in +the world to come!" +</p> + +<p> +"Shoot down the crazy crone!" cried the Lord +Digenes. "Who need listen to her raving? Why do +the dogs cower at the screaming of a mad gypsy?" But +not a man stirred. The guards, the officers, even +the general himself felt a thrill of awe, which they +could neither explain nor suppress. +</p> + +<p> +Silence ensued, till it was broken by the yells of +the maniac, who had now worked herself up into a +delirious spasm, which in that age passed for the +inspiration of one possessed by demons. Leo the +deacon and Theodosius the deacon devoutly believed in +her diabolic mission. Both solemnly relate the tale. +</p> + +<p> +Again she screamed aloud: "Accursed are ye, sons +of the Crucified Impostor! Your bolts cannot harm +me, the chosen paramour of Sheitan himself; nor can +your lying priests, nor the wanton, the Mother of your +God, avail to save you. See me stand bare and +unprotected in the sight of your rotten shafts, bare even +as when my lord from hell visits me! you cannot +touch a hair of my head nor the skin of my body! +Shame, death, torment is your portion here and +hereafter! +<i>Seeph—echeimat—ischarop—rhasan—sennet—midene—chaët—iphesane!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +With these words, which no man in the Roman host +could comprehend, but which Theodosius solemnly +rehearses, words which sounded to them as the knell of +their soul's damnation, the maniac fell into a series +of convulsions; and thrice repeating her "<i>Seeph-echeimat</i>," +she leaped on to the upper battlement, and +then tore off her garments, which she flung down in +derision into the blazing heap below, and there stood +shrieking, in face of the two armies, covered only with +her long, black tresses. +</p> + +<p> +"Shoot the blaspheming witch!" cried a voice here +and there; and many an archer raised his bow, but +with the fear of the powers of darkness in his heart, +drew back without daring to take aim. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Seeph—echeimat!</i>" was yelled out a third time. +And at last an archer (it is said from the Mongol +mercenaries, who held Moslem or Christian mysteries +equally cheap) levelled his weapon steadily at the witch +as she stood with her bare body lighted up by the +blazing pile below. The shaft pierced her breast, and +with a shriek that rang through the Moslem fortress +and the Christian camp, the hag fell headlong from the +tower into the burning mass of the fallen turret, and +was there consumed to ashes—almost before the blood +had ceased to flow from the corpse. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap11"></a></p> + +<h2> +XI +<br><br> +The Storming of Chandax +</h2> + +<p> +The strange scene had so deeply stirred the vague +awe of the Romans, and so fully engaged their +attention, that in the gloom which followed the dying +down of the great fire they suffered themselves to be +surprised by a sudden sally of the Saracens. A light +band, stealing out from a concealed postern, dashed +upon the advanced works and nearly captured Nicephorus, +with his immediate staff. Basil Digenes, who +had taken personal command of the ruined turret, was +actually surrounded, and after desperate feats of valor +in hand-to-hand combats, was struck down, wounded, +and dragged back a prisoner into the Moslem fortress. +There he was thrown into a dungeon in the great tower +which served as headquarters of one of the chief +emirs, to wait question by the chief of the staff +himself. He strove to destroy any vestige of clothing or +accoutrement which could betray his rank or name; +for he well knew that if the Moslems discovered that +he was the son of the renegade emir of Edessa, he +would suffer a more horrid death than that which, in +any case, was his almost certain fate. Through the +long hours of darkness he lay on the stony floor, sore +and stiff with his untended wounds, and he faced the +worst with a brave heart, calling upon Mary in heaven, +but thinking of Agatha on earth. +</p> + +<p> +Beneath the narrow grating of the slit in the wall of +his cell he could hear the tramp of guards in the +courtyard, and as he had retained enough of his father's +native speech to follow the Arab tongue, he listened +to rude jests about the fate which awaited him when +questioned by the emir, and loud disputes as to +whether he was an ordinary guardsman of the capital +or an officer of rank. "He is not tall enough to be +one of those accursed Russ," said one fellow. "I saw +on his side the baldric of a spathaire, as they call +their emirs," said another. "I tell you, he had a ruby +ring," cried a third, "but some Syrian thief had stolen +it before I seized him," said the last. "We shall know +all about it, at any rate, when 'Black Malek' and his +singeing tools have begun to loose his tongue!" And +the coarse shout with which this sally was received +rang harshly in the young hero's ears. +</p> + +<p> +It was still as dark as pitch when a faint streak of +light seemed to glimmer around the barred door; and +the keen ear of the lord warden detected the slow +movement of the bolt, as if it were being cautiously +drawn back. Was he to be assassinated quietly in his +sleep? If so, well! Thanks be for this to the Virgin +Mother and the saints! He closed his eyes and feigned +to sleep, with a muttered prayer to be received in +mercy by Christ in heaven. Presently he was aware +of two figures stealthily approaching him. "He sleeps +soundly," said a voice, in whispers. "Allah be +praised!" whispered another voice, which sounded to +the listener strangely like that of a woman. "Lift up +the lantern, nurse; the wound I saw on him was a deep +gash in the left shoulder, made by a blow which had +shorn away his vest." By the light of a borne lantern +the prisoner could dimly perceive standing over him +the figure of a black Nubian woman, who had sponge, +bandages, and liniment with her, and was stooping +down to dress the wound. Digenes forced himself to +lie still and feign deep sleep in order to hear more of +this unexpected visit. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! Is the young Nazarene dead?" came with a +sigh from the other woman, who had stood behind +the door but now came forward sufficiently to let the +prisoner perceive a young and beautiful girl, in the +most elegant dress of a Saracen lady of high rank. +"Is he dead, nurse?" she sighed again. "Not dead, +no, nor like to die, my sweet mistress, not until his +Excellency, your father, gives the word, as I suppose +he will at daybreak." +</p> + +<p> +"Tend him now, at least," said the lady. And the +Nubian, with her strong arms and practised skill, +bathed, soothed, and bandaged the wound, while the +patient still maintained his semblance of slumber, +eager as he was to understand what miracle could have +won for him, as it seemed, the protection of the emir's +daughter, who was evidently now stooping to look at +his face in the dim half-light. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it can lead you, my darling lady, to bring +help to this cruel giaour, who is fighting against God +and His Prophet—one, too, whom your own father +will assuredly put to a just death when he has wrung +from him all that he knows about the unbelieving +host?" +</p> + +<p> +"Hush, nurse, do what I tell you. I saw our men +last night as they brought in this prisoner from the +fight. Behind our lattice I could see his look, and was +struck with amazement at what I saw. He is the +very image of my own beloved brother, Hassan, who +was taken prisoner in the great battle round Tarsus +and died in the castle of the Armenian chief who had +captured him. But his last days were made peaceful +by the care of the noble lord, who had blood relationship +with our family. I have longed to do as much +for some captive giaour—and here is one whom I +can save." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, my dearest foster-child, this is a strange +delusion," said the slave-woman. +</p> + +<p> +"I tell you, nurse, he is the image of my dear dead +brother. It is marvellous, it is incredible, it is some +special will of God. This young Christian officer—I +am sure he is an officer of high rank—has the same +dark eyes, the delicate features, the olive tint, the +raven hair of my lost brother. I tell you, nurse, as I +saw him dragged bleeding and haggard beneath my +lattice, I thought I was looking on my brother just +before he breathed his last in the house of a kind +Christian chief. It is not true, nurse, that they are +all wicked and savage. There are Christian heroes as +there are Moslem heroes, and I am fain to think this +noble youth is one of them himself. In any case, he +shall not die if I can save him for my brother's sake!" +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, gracious lady, for that word. We are not +all savage, as your brother found us, and as your +heart tells you," murmured the Akritas, in the +sweetest intonation which he could give to such Arabic +speech as he still retained. +</p> + +<p> +The maiden started up and rushed towards the door +in her amazement and confusion, when she heard such +words in her own tongue from one whom but a moment +before she believed to be in his last sleep. "Nay, fly +not, gentle maiden, fear nothing; I am your helpless +and grateful prisoner, but I, too, have known how +to soothe the dying hours of an enemy—a gallant +Saracen; and from my own father I have the blood +and the speech of an emir as my inheritance—ay, +and, I trust, something still of the honor of that noble +chief in my soul. Fear me not, lady, help me to die in +peace, even as, in my father's castle, I eased the dying +hours of the young Hassan, the son of my own father's +sister." +</p> + +<p> +"What is this? Speak! who are you, then, if no +giaour, and how come you to be in arms against our +people and our faith?" +</p> + +<p> +"Lady, the Hassan, whose eyes I closed, and whom +I buried with the honors due to a gallant chief, was +my own kinsman in blood, for I am the only child of +the emir of Edessa, Mousour, who forsook Islam when +he wedded the daughter of Prince Dukas." +</p> + +<p> +"What!" cried the girl, quite beside herself with +wonder and excitement, "you are then cousin-germain +to my own loved brother! You are the lord +who protected him! This, then, is how it came to +pass that when I saw you I thought that my brother +himself had returned to earth and was before me. +Praise be to Allah, for in spite of your faith and mine +we are of one blood, and your father and my mother +were brother and sister of one house; and Allah in his +mercy has brought us at last together, so that blood +of yours shall not lie at our door after all, if the word +of Fatima can suffice to prevent this crime!" +</p> + +<p> +Crimson with blushes and panting with excitement +as the terrible nature of her promise struck her mind, +the Saracen maiden fell on her knees before the +prisoner, and, taking his right hand in hers, she raised it +solemnly to her lips, as she uttered to her God a silent +vow. Then she gave the hand she still held a gentle +but meaning pressure, and rose up in haste. +</p> + +<p> +"Come, nurse, haste! bring these things away. +There is much to be done. Everything has to be +arranged within an hour. Prisoner, who stood friend to +Hassan in prison, remember that Hassan's sister will +be friend to you, or will die in the attempt!" +</p> + +<p> +The fair Fatima in fact persuaded her father that, +her Nubian nurse having been summoned to save the +prisoner's life that he might be questioned, it had been +ascertained that he had Saracen blood in his veins, +but had been brought up from youth among the +giaours. If he were carefully nursed back to life and +his wounds dressed he might be led to return to the faith +of his Moslem ancestors, and would then prove of great +service to the defence by what he could reveal. The +emir, absorbed in the cares of his desperate situation, +and having no reason to suppose that he had in his +power a prisoner of importance, consented to the man +remaining in his dungeon, under guard, and permitted +the Nubian nurse to visit him and care for his life, if +she had any means of so doing. +</p> + +<p> +When it was supposed that the prisoner was sufficiently +restored to bear examination, he was carried, +chained to two stout guards, into the audience-chamber +of the emir-in-chief, Abd-el-Aziz, whom the +Byzantine historians call the kouropas—a curious +corruption of curopalatas, which itself is a corruption +of curator palatii, or lord high chamberlain. The +kouropas was seated on a curiously carved throne, in +a hall hung with arms, Persian carpets, and embroidery, +and was surrounded by a fierce band of officers and +orderlies. He had already ordered the execution of +some prisoners taken in the late sortie, and Digenes +was about to be dragged into his presence, when an +officer rushed forward to announce that the envoys +he had despatched at the beginning of the siege to the +Caliph Abd-er-Rahman in Cordova were just returning +with ambassadors from the great Ommeyad, the powerful +sovereign of the West. As the city of Chandax +was so closely invested, the Spanish Moors had only +with great difficulty and hair-breadth escapes found +their way to the walls; and at last they had been drawn +up to the ramparts in baskets hung out over the fosse +by a crane. The kouropas ordered them at once to +be admitted with all possible ceremony, and rose to +do honor to the representatives of his powerful +fellow-believer, and, as he hoped, his ally. +</p> + +<p> +After the customary salaams and exchange of compliments, +the ambassadors were seated and opened their +business, to which Digenes listened, as he was thrust +aside behind a throng of guards and officials. The +two envoys of Abd-er-Rahman reported that their lord +and master had despatched them from Andalusia in +two of his swiftest cruisers to ascertain the condition +of their brethren in Crete. They had been shocked +to find to how terrible a strait they were reduced. +The giaour was master of the whole island. Far and +wide the Saracen cities had been sacked and occupied. +The land had been ravaged, and the bones and goods +of the true believers lay scattered over the fields. +Chandax itself was closely invested, and was on every +side being bombarded with powerful engines. They +saw with horror and pity as they passed through the +streets crowds of country people who had taken refuge +within its walls, old men, women, and children, in sore +destitution, pinched with cold and hunger and +cumbering the market-place with dead and dying. And, +even while they were trying to force their way through +the giaour lines outside, they had witnessed a ghastly +scene. A helpless crowd of infirm men, children +reduced to the state of skeletons, and women dragging +moaning infants beside them, were forced out of the +city as "useless mouths," driven, as sheep are hunted +by wolves, to the enemies' lines, from which again +they were forced back by the bloody Nazarenes with +curses, blows, and weapons, so that they lay down, +gasping, in the trenches now reeking with rotting +bodies of men and beasts. It was a hideous sight. +And however anxious was the caliph of the West to +succor his kinsmen and fellow-believers in the Prophet, +it seemed hopeless to enter on so desperate an +enterprise in a crisis so appalling. +</p> + +<p> +"Noble envoys of the great caliph in Andalusia," +said Abd-el-Aziz, "we are indeed sore bested, but our +case is not yet hopeless. We are reduced to a remnant +of fighting men, but we are sworn to defend this +city or die; and to keep a remnant alive and fit for +arms, we have to sacrifice those who cannot fight. +They, too, are martyrs to our faith, and God in His +mercy will not suffer them to perish forever. There is +still hope left; for we learned but a few days ago that the +imaum of west Africa has succeeded in landing a large +force of gallant Moors, who even now are advancing +with haste and will attack the unbelievers in the rear." +</p> + +<p> +"If ye can maintain your defence yet two months +longer," said the Spanish envoys, "our master will +endeavor to give you succor or offer you a refuge. His +fleets scour the western sea from the island of Sicily, +but he is not yet prepared to make war on the +sovereign of Roum." +</p> + +<p> +But at this moment a fresh despatch reached the +kouropas, to the effect that by a sudden night march +Nicephorus had fallen unawares on the African army +of relief, had surprised them in their tents and bivouac, +and had annihilated the entire command and taken all +their stores, arms, and munitions of war. +</p> + +<p> +A spasm of rage, grief, and disappointment ran +through the council when this news was made known; +and the hall was a scene of frenzied excitement and +almost of panic as they saw how the wisdom of the +politic Abd-er-Rahman was justified, how little could +be hoped from the side of the Spanish caliphate. +</p> + +<p> +The kouropas rose with an air of heroic resolution +and calmed the storm. "Illustrious envoys of the +mighty caliph of the West, emirs, officers, and +soldiers of the Prophet—we have sworn to defend this +city of the true believers to the last drop of our +blood. If the great ones of our faith in Spain, in +Asia, or in Africa come not to our help, we Moslems +of Crete will fight the Nazarene while we can hold our +swords. We will never be slaves to the foul brood +that eats swine, that worships stones and painted +boards, that prostrates itself to a wanton. Sons of +Islam, if we are to die, let us prepare for the Galilean +a bloody victory!" +</p> + +<p> +In the mean time the Roman commander-in-chief, +sore grieved at the loss of his young lieutenant-general, +the akritas, and made anxious by the determined +energy of the enemy and his own daily losses, was +indefatigable in his efforts to force the siege to a +triumphant end. He was now pressing on the device of a +mine, since he found that his movable turrets could +not overtop the wall, nor his rams or his bores +suffice to shake it. For a month his engineers had been +at work on a deep mine beneath the curtain that lay +between two principal towers, where at last he had +detected a soil soft enough to be pierced by mining. +The main circuit of the wall rested on impenetrable +rock; but now he had found a bit which, with incessant +labor, it was possible to traverse. A vast, +subterranean chamber was now prepared, supported only +on beams, which, on the appointed day, could be +destroyed by fire. +</p> + +<p> +It was now ready for the great assault; and during +the night the whole Roman forces had been marshalled +in their respective posts. The catapults and balistæ +were plied with new vehemence. The air rang with +missiles of every kind—rocks, bolts, darts, and bombs +of Greek fire. Nicephorus traversed the ranks, +calling on his men to smite these blaspheming sons of +the concubine—these Ishmaelites, who eat unclean +camel's flesh and pollute themselves with a multitude +of women, who revile Christ and His Mother, who +murder the innocent, and practise all the abominations +of the great Impostor. Christ and His Holy Mother +would welcome in Heaven all who fell in this sacred +war against the infidel, and their king in Rome would +honor and reward them on earth. +</p> + +<p> +His engineers now reported to the general that the +great mine was quite ready to be fired when the order +should be given. Thereupon Nicephorus ordered a +solemn service to be performed. He had caused an +army of artificers to be sent from Constantinople, who +had raised a church in an incredibly short time (Michael +of Attala, the historian, solemnly tells us that it was +miraculously built in three days). It was placed in +the rear of the camp, behind an eminence which +concealed it from the city. It was a miniature Santa +Sophia, with a spherical dome, marble columns, bronze +doors, and mosaic pictures similar to the old Byzantine +churches still standing in Greece. It was, of +course, dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin, and it +was filled with emblems and figures of the warrior +saints, but it long bore the popular name given to it +by the soldiers—the "Church of the Lord General." There +Nicephorus was wont to worship daily, but +on this eventful day he chose to attend the service +with more than ordinary state. In his most resplendent +uniform, with his gilt corselet, his plumed helmet, +and burnished greaves, he called round him his principal +officers and the entire body of the priests and +chaplains of the army. From the church he issued forth +in a brilliant procession, both military and sacerdotal. +On his white charger he rode forth, followed by his +staff, and surrounded by priests, choristers, and +acolytes, bearing the golden crucifixes, incense, +miraculous ikons, and the host in chased ciboria of gold and +jewels. General and priests visited each post and +detachment in turn. The priests pronounced absolution +and gave the holy wafer, and offered to the fervid +kisses of the soldiers on their knees the relics of +martyrs in their encolpia, the jewelled lockets they carried +hung by chains round their necks. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus again harangued them, galloping from +post to post. "Their royal master, Romanus, had +offered rewards of valor to all who should distinguish +themselves. These holy servants of Christ here, with +the bones of martyrs and the body and blood of their +Saviour in their hands, promised the palm of martyrs +and the glory of heaven to all who should fall in the +fight. Smite these black sons of the False Prophet, +these revilers of God's name, these miscreants who +commit their abominations to-day in the holy spot +where Mary our mother first laid on earth the Divine +Child, begotten of the Father; nay, they polluted the +hallowed sepulchre wherein the apostles laid their +crucified Lord and Master. Smite and spare them +not, sons of Rome and followers of Christ, even as the +children of Israel smote the sons of Amalek and the +brood of Goliath! Smite—for God in heaven with +His holy ones this very hour is looking down on each +of you from heaven above!" +</p> + +<p> +And then Nicephorus, carried beyond himself into +something like religious illusion, broke into a rhapsody +which raised the enthusiasm of his men to white heat: +"I see," he cried, "the heaven opening before my +eyes. There sits in glory the Immaculate Mother of +God: I see her smile on you the assurance of her +divine protection!" The chief dismounted, and taking +off his helmet, he prostrated himself thrice on the +bare rock, as if he stood before the altar of God. +Then rising, and raising his hands in an attitude of +adoration, he cried: "See the Blessed Mary of Victory +as she beckons us to march against the infidel! See +Christ, the Son, the Creator of heaven and earth, +raising His holy hands to bless you, and to promise +you His Help. See! around the Saviour stand there +St. Demetrius and St. George, both in golden cuirass, +St. Theodore, and the archangel Michael with his flaming +sword. Soldiers! Romans! Christians! can ye not +see the white wings of the mighty archangel beating +the air as he sweeps on in front of your lines? Can +ye not see the flaming sword that led the angels on to +victory against the rebel crew of Satan, as it points +to you the path to victory and to glory?" +</p> + +<p> +A deep and muffled roar ran along the Roman lines +as the general resumed his helmet and his charger; +for in that age of imaginative excitement and religious +passion the troops were as easily brought to believe +they saw in the white clouds, tinted with the morning +sun, the figures of the celestial host, as truly as their +commander in his zealous trance had believed himself +to have seen them. The strain on the mind of +Nicephorus, who alone knew the intense crisis of that +moment, was almost unbearable. He had just sent +the order to spring the mine by firing the props of +timber. As he rode forward to watch the issue an +appalling crash rent the sky. The two main towers +heaved, toppled, and fell in masses into the fosse below, +dragging with them nearly the whole of the curtain +of wall between them, with battlements, engines, and +defenders in one ghastly heap, and from the fragments +clouds of dust rose up, which covered both the city +within and the attacking forces without. +</p> + +<p> +And now, before they could see each other, swarms +of wild Saracens rushed forth over the debris and from +the gates of the city, suddenly thrown wide open. +Haggard dervishes in white vests flung themselves +madly on the Roman spears. Arab horsemen, on +foaming chargers, dashed into the advancing columns; +turbaned emirs in gleaming coats of mail frantically +cheered on their men to slay the dogs who ate swine's +flesh and reviled the Prophet, promising the gold of +the infidel camp to those who survived and the houris +of paradise to those who fell. Abd-el-Aziz, the +commander-in-chief, passed from one corner of the field +to the other, while the gigantic Emir Ben-Senoussi, the +captor of Digenes and the father of Fatima, charged +full at Nicephorus himself. The tremendous duel for +an instant arrested the attention of both sides. +Spurring his powerful charger to his utmost speed, and +couching his lance, Ben-Senoussi rode at the general, +who was now equipped in his full panoply. As the +Bedouin bore down on him, Nicephorus caught the +lance dexterously on his shield, and caused it to swerve +aside without piercing the weapon. Then, as the +huge Saracen came abreast of him, the general swung +his mighty falchion straight on to the turban of his +adversary, and clove him in twain down to the chine. +</p> + +<p> +With a roar of joy, and triumphant shouts of +"Rome!" "Mother of God!" "St. George!" "St. Theodore!" +the Roman army dashed on, slaying the dervishes +in heaps, and pouring over the fallen wall and +through the breach and the still open gates. The +kouropas had been swept back by the tide of victors and +defeated in the <i>mêlée</i>, and still with heroic determination +he directed the combat within the walls. It had +now become a pitiless struggle from house to house, +from one winding alley to another. All day long the +bloody work raged on. As each house was stormed +all within it were massacred, and it was then burned +or destroyed. Neither age nor sex was spared. +Portable valuables were seized; that which could not be +carried was destroyed. Lust, rapine, slaughter ruled +unbridled. Violation did not save the women who +were victims of the license, nor did innocence and +helplessness avail to save the children of the accursed +race. Hell was enacted in all its atrocities in the name +of Christ and for the honor of the Immaculate Mother +of God. Here and there was heard the voice of a +priest chanting a hymn from the psalm of David: +"Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt +dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." "The +Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire +shall devour them." "O daughter of Babylon, who +art to be destroyed!" "Happy shall he be that taketh +and dasheth Thy little ones against the stones." +</p> + +<p> +Long did the infernal orgy of destruction, rape, +torture, and murder run riot through the length and +breadth of the doomed city of the Saracens. But in +the afternoon, as the sun was setting, the generalissimo +of the Romans succeeded in quelling the outbreak. +He had been detained on the field in order +to protect his own rear, which was threatened by some +roving bands which had made a circuitous advance on +to his camp. Now he rode into the thick of the street +fight, ordering the promiscuous slaughter and +destruction to cease. He directed tried officers of his +own to collect and protect the booty seized, with orders +to execute all soldiers taken in the act of rape, plunder, +or massacre. Coming suddenly on a soldier in the very +act of mutilating a girl whom he had already raped, +the general ordered a sergeant to arrest him, have +him flogged, and his nose cut off. As he passed on, his +officers reported that the soldier, with a bag of gold +that he had just plundered, had bribed the sergeant +to remit the punishment and let him escape free. +Flagrant insubordination such as this always roused +the passion of Nicephorus. He instantly ordered the +same punishment to be inflicted on the sergeant which +that officer had failed to execute on the original +offender. +</p> + +<p> +As he rode up to the gateway of one of the central +habitations, the general found a group of fierce +irregulars from the Euxine steppes attacking a man who +was defending himself with nothing but a light buckler +and a Saracen scimitar. He stood at bay, with his +back to the wall in a corner of the court-yard, +apparently protecting a girl in Moorish dress, who lay +fainting on the ground at his feet. The gallant swordsman, +who looked more like an Arab than a Roman, was now +bleeding from three wounds, and was nearly overpowered +by the wild fellows who had surrounded them. +"Back, you ruffians!" he shouted in Greek: "I tell you +I am a Roman, and an officer on the staff of your +commander, and have been a prisoner here in the +enemies' dungeon!" But the Tartars, who knew no +Greek and judged him by his look and dress to be a +Saracen, redoubled their strokes, and were on the +point of completing their work by slaughtering him +and ravishing the girl. +</p> + +<p> +What was the amazement of Nicephorus when, in +spite of the blood on the swordsman's face and his +Saracen costume, he recognized his beloved Digenes +Akritas, whom he saved in the last moment, driving +back the Tartars with curses and threats. +</p> + +<p> +"Arrest these miscreants!" he shouted to the +provost-marshal, "who dishonor the victory of Our Lord +the King, and shame the favor of Our Virgin Mistress in +heaven. Take this girl, be she Moslem or Christian, +and treat her in all honor. My beloved brother-in-arms, +who art risen from the grave, they shall take +you to my tent and attend to your wounds. I must +hasten forward to hold these demons in hand. Carry +my orders to my captains as peremptory on pain of +death to stay this massacre and prevent further +plunder and riot, or Christ above and His Immaculate +Mother will visit us sorely, in that we have turned the +victory they have given us into abominations that the +infidels themselves could not surpass in sin." +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap12"></a></p> + +<h2> +XII +<br><br> +Digenes and Fatima: Roman or Saracen +</h2> + +<p> +The energy and stern determination of the lord +general, whose iron discipline was feared by the +wildest Mongol horsemen in his motley host, gradually +restored order and regular government through the +vast encampment of the victorious Romans. The +immense treasures which Chandax contained, the plunder +of a century and a half of rich and beautiful cities on +the Ægean coast and its islands, were placed under +adequate guards, and were carefully distributed into +proper departments for sale, reward, or display. A +portion was reserved to adorn the triumph of the +general on his return to Constantinople. Other +portions were set apart for the prize of the various +commanders, squadrons, and soldiers who had actually +taken part in the late battles; but far the largest +portion was sold by auction at authorized marts for +the benefit of the state, the officers, and the forces +engaged. +</p> + +<p> +The general himself from time to time would ride +round the lines of cantonment to inspect the conduct +of his officials and the behavior of his men, and to +satisfy himself that his orders were fulfilled to the +letter. His staff and orderlies followed him in a +brilliant cavalcade; and by his side was usually to be seen +his beloved Digenes, the warden of the marches, now +almost restored from the many wounds he had received +from Saracen and from Roman, but still bearing a scar +across his chiselled cheek, and with his left arm +suspended in a silken scarf. Nicephorus glowed with +pride as he passed from one orderly camp to another, +and noticed how completely the rage of battle and the +hurricane of license had given way to a scene of peaceful +business as regular as could be seen in the bazaars +of the capital itself. The military police patrolled +every corner of the encampment, and strong bodies of +civilian merchants, salesmen, experts, and traders, such +as usually followed a great Roman army, were busy +appraising the booty, or putting it up for sale and +exchange. The immense stores of coin, nearly all of +them golden bezants from the Roman mints, which +had been discovered in the vaults of the Arab +government, were now being registered and placed in safe +keeping for the use of the royal exchequer by skilled +fiscal officers of state. The gold and silver plate, the +jewelled ornaments, and many of the rarest embroideries, +carpets, and tapestries—for the most part +plundered in piratical descents on seaboard cities of +the empire—these were reserved to be borne in +procession when the triumph in the Hippodrome was to +be celebrated. And with these were set apart for the +same show specimens of arms and armor, jewelled +turbans with aigrettes and plumes set on steel helmets, +chain coats-of-mail, fringed pennons, kettle-drums +and brass trumpets, Bedouin chargers of rare beauty, +snowy-white, with sweeping tails and heads as delicate +as those of a gazelle. Camels, and white asses of +rare Arabian breed, and Nubian slaves, gigantic in +body and grotesque in countenance, their ebon limbs +circled with massive rings and loosely clad in white +tunics, formed many a fantastic and motley group. +</p> + +<p> +Abd-el-Aziz, the aged commander, or kouropas, as +the Romans called him, along with his son, the gallant +Anemas, were set apart and placed in tents beside +headquarters, under the immediate supervision of +Nicephorus. They, too, were to be borne in the triumphal +procession and offered to the autocrat to await his +good pleasure. And with the venerable chief and his +son were reserved for the same occasion the most +distinguished men and most beautiful youths and +maidens of his family and household, all of whom the +general had strictly ordered were to be treated with +the utmost respect and generosity, and provided with +everything proper to their rank. +</p> + +<p> +The ordinary survivors of the Saracen city, and the +immense booty of all kinds, which, in spite of the +destruction, the fires, and ruin of the three days of storm, +had been collected by the officers charged with the +duty, were now being sold by auction. Garments, +ornaments, utensils, fabrics of every kind and of every +factory, both of the East and the West, were strewn +about and held up for inspection in picturesque +confusion. A few of the wealthier officers gathered round +the platforms of the auctioneers to pick up any article +which took their fancy; some of the soldiers here and +there thought they could recognize an ornament +plundered from a home they had once known; but for the +most part the buyers were professional traders who, +like vultures after a bloody field, had swooped down +on the spot from far and near: Jews from Syria and +Egypt, Armenian brokers from the Golden Horn, +renegade Moslems from Damascus and Acre, exiled Latins +from Amalphi and Palermo, Hellenes from Corinth, +Italians from Venice and Bari, and Slavs from +Adrianople and Dyrrachium. +</p> + +<p> +It was not at all a mere auction of stuff, ornaments, +and household goods. The really useful beasts, +whether camels, horses, or asses, had been already +requisitioned for the army by the imperial officials. +The refuse of the cattle, which was not worth the +transport, was offered to the highest bidder, and now could +command but trifling prices. But the bulk of the +ordinary sales were those of living prisoners of war. +By the laws of war, as accepted in that age between +Christians and Moslems, the entire population of a city +taken by storm was destined to slavery. Certainly, +slavery had been the recognized lot of the Christian +population that was not put to death on capture of a +city by the Saracens. An immense proportion of the +males able to bear arms in Chandax had been slaughtered +in battle and in the murderous scenes of the three +days' storm. It was too true, also, that no small part +of the aged and infirm, the children and infants of +both sexes, had shared the same fate. There still +remained thousands upon thousands of women and girls +who were worth buying, and a certain number of +youths who could command a price. The Arab +historians, with exaggeration characteristic of the age, +calmly record that two hundred thousand males were +slaughtered, and as many women and youths sold as +slaves. But it cannot be denied that, law and +religion to the contrary, day by day, and week after +week, the sales of women, girls, and youths were +continued, and that of these all who had beauty, +strength, and aptitude of any kind for work, charm, +or art, were eagerly contended for by the professional +merchants in human flesh. +</p> + +<p> +One of the strange incidents of the sales, and the +source of constant disturbance, arose from the claim +of many of the prisoners, both girls and youths, that +they were Christians and Romans who had been abducted +in childhood and sold as slaves. Many of these +had, more or less, lost the use of their Greek tongue, +and in dress, manners, and ideas, were practically +naturalized Saracens. The plea was continually +resisted by the merchants, and was, no doubt, very +often used in fraud; but the vehemence of the protests, +and the eagerness of the captives to prove their +Christian faith and their Roman birth, gave rise to +perpetual disputes. One of them was in full cry as +the general and his staff, with Digenes by his side, +rode round the principal slave mart in the camp. +Seeing the general approach, a beautiful girl, already +set on the stage to be inspected by the buyers, with +loud shrieks invoked the protection of the chief. She +herself, her younger sister, and a brother, all three +included in the next lots, had been carried off from +the island of Melos when it was raided by a Saracen +fleet fourteen years ago, in the reign of Constantine. +The girl had so far lost her Greek speech that it was +difficult to follow her at all; and her brother and sister +had lost it altogether. Nicephorus turned to Digenes +to question the maiden in Arabic and to ascertain if +she were really of Roman birth and Christian faith—a +task which the lord warden, with his own mixed +blood and training, was peculiarly fitted to fulfil. +</p> + +<p> +"What is your name, my daughter, your home, and +your age?" asked the lord warden, in a tone of +paternal encouragement. +</p> + +<p> +"I am Zoe, as my mother called me as a child—but +they call me here Zainab. I was seven years old, I +think, when these cruel men carried me off in a big +ship, but I can remember my home by the sea-coast." +</p> + +<p> +"Was it in the country or in a city, my daughter, +that you dwelt?" +</p> + +<p> +"In a city called Melos, that looked out towards +the rising sun," she said. +</p> + +<p> +"And what could you see from your home?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I well remember how we would climb a hill +behind our town and see the sun rise over the pinnacles +of many islands that seemed to cover the sea like stars +in the sky at night." +</p> + +<p> +"Was the island flat, or full of hills and rocks?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I remember how we used to climb the rocks +where goats fed and where vines grew, and there was +a large fountain of hot water, in which we used to +bathe, and the marble steps in a circle, which they said +the old Greeks built for shows, and caves in the rocks +where we would play at hide-and-seek. Yes, on clear +days in the setting sun we could see the far-off +mountains. We were a day and a night in that dreadful +ship, lying in the hold without air or water, before +those savage men, who killed father and mother, +brought us here." +</p> + +<p> +"Enough!" said the lord warden, and he turned +to the general: "This girl clearly remembers Melos +as her home; it is the westernmost of the Cyclades, +whence all these islands can be seen, and the main-land +of Greece in the far west; it has volcanic rocks and +hot springs, for I have touched on the island myself. +No Saracen girl could know all this. She and her little +sister and brother must be all Christian captives, for +all her Saracen look and speech." +</p> + +<p> +And so, amid the cries of joy of the rescued captives, +the grumbling and disputes of the captors, merchants, +and auctioneers, and the noisy gossip of the curious +crowd, the general's cavalcade passed on. And at +every mart similar questions as to living or inert +property, angry altercations between soldiers and +civilians, were brought before the summary tribunal of +the staff. +</p> + +<p> +As they rode slowly back from the hubbub of the +camp, Nicephorus called Digenes to his side, out of +hearing of his followers. "I have now matured the +scheme," he said, "on which I intend to despatch you +on a mission, my dear warden, as the man most fit +to bring it to success. As I told you, his Imperial +Majesty has given me full powers to send an embassy +to the caliph of Spain to arrange a modus vivendi, as +our civil lawyers call it, in our respective conquests +as to our prisoners of war. Saracens have conquered +and hold effective possession of the noble island of +Sicily, as we have now conquered and hold possession +of Crete. In both islands large masses of the peasants +and working-people belong to the race and creed of the +former masters, and in both islands there are tens of +thousands of men and women in slavery who have +been struck down from freedom and comfort by the +fortune of war. The caliph of Cordova also holds tens +of thousands of our brethren. I have had a scheme +prepared by learned and adroit protocolists from +Constantinople to arrange terms of reciprocal treatment +on an equal footing. And we shall begin by an +exchange of important prisoners. I have chosen you, +my dear akritas, to head the embassy, for you are not +yet strong enough to undertake any warlike service." +</p> + +<p> +"My honored lord," cried Digenes in surprise, "if +I am not fit to hold a sword, I am the last man in the +army to be intrusted with protocols and imperial +rescripts in vermilion text. Put the charge on one +of the imperial eunuchs from the Purple Chamber." +</p> + +<p> +"My dear warden, I have cared for all that. The +treaty and its clauses and provisos will be the task of +the civilian diplomats who will be in your train. Your +name, your birth, your knowledge of the Saracen +tongue and manners make you indispensable for this +service. The flower of our Roman chivalry will be +persona grata in the brilliant court of Abd-er-Rahman, +the caliph at Cordova, and will make the task of the +diplomats more easy." +</p> + +<p> +"And has the lord general, 'the victorious,' at last +begun to see some good things as possible in the blood +of Hagar?" asked Digenes, with an arch smile. +</p> + +<p> +"I have never denied, my son, the courage or the +devotion of the true children of the False Prophet, +even when I saw this courage and devotion to be +inspired by the author of all evil himself. They and we +must fight it out to the bitter end. But in this secular +warfare there are truces, settlements, and agreements +inevitable and serving the good purposes of God and +the Mother of God, such as help to the saving of many +a soul. Our royal master himself has sent embassies +and made treaties with the great caliph, and I am +obeying his orders and following his example." +</p> + +<p> +"But what particular part am I to bear in the +mission?" said Digenes. +</p> + +<p> +"You are to show these proud emirs of the East +that they have nothing to teach us Romans in all the +courtesies of chivalry, or the romance of knightly life. +And there is another duty for which my courtly son +is specially fitted. Our mission will include, besides +the customary presents and offerings of horses, jewels, +and robes, a select band from the noblest of the Saracen +families, both men and women, who are to be restored +to their Saracen kinsfolk in token of our honor and +good faith. Who so fit for a charge so delicate as the +hero of the eastern marches? The chief of these will +be Fatima, the orphan daughter of the giant emir, +who fell by my hand in single combat. She is to +return to her people with a sister and a child brother, +with other kinsfolk of her own, and her women +attendants and slaves." +</p> + +<p> +"Choose some other as her guardian, my lord +general," said Digenes, rather shortly. +</p> + +<p> +"St. George! what is this?" said the general, with +a grim smile. "Are you not old friends? Little as I +know of young hearts myself, I know that she saved +your life and you saved hers. It is thought you were +lovers, you have been so much together, ever since +the storming of the city. But, in any case, there is +no man on my staff to whom I can so confidently +intrust these noble women on an honorable mission as +my gallant Digenes Akritas. I have summoned them +to my headquarters to hear my purpose. It is a thing +fixed," said Nicephorus, in a tone that no man in all +that host had ever ventured to dispute. +</p> + +<p> +"Lovers!" muttered the lord warden; "could I love +any but a true Christian, or any but—" and his lips +moved silently. +</p> + +<p> +When they returned to headquarters, the noble +ladies were at once introduced and presented to the +general—Fatima, her sister and her cousins, the +daughters of the Saracen emirs, with their slaves and +attendants. +</p> + +<p> +"Ladies," said Nicephorus through an interpreter, +"it is the will of our sovereign lord, Romanus, to +send an embassy to treat of terms with the illustrious +Caliph Abd-er-Rahman at Cordova in Spain. With +that embassy we send you, to be returned to your +own people in honor, as a pledge of our good faith, +and in proof that the servants of the Immaculate Virgin +Mother make no war upon her sex, and respect the +women of those whom they have conquered and slain." +</p> + +<p> +At these words Fatima stood forward and spoke. +She was dressed in robes of deep mourning, and lightly +veiled. Her whole bearing was one of profound +dejection and self-abandonment, and her voice thrilled +the circle of fierce soldiers by its tones of poignant +misery: +</p> + +<p> +"The will of God be done," she sighed; "be it as my +lord, the general, orders. We are his captives; we +listen and submit." +</p> + +<p> +"What would you wish other, my daughter?" said +Nicephorus, in some surprise that Fatima should show +so little joy at her return to a Saracen court. "Where +could you be so well bestowed?—not here in Crete, +nor in the empire of his Majesty?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am content—and thank my lord," she said—and sighed. +</p> + +<p> +"The mission," said the general, "will be under the +command of the lord warden of the marches, for +whose safety the Roman army owes you thanks, my +daughter; and that noble officer, who can speak your +own tongue and has kinsmen in your own race, has +personal charge of the safe conduct of yourself and +your ladies." +</p> + +<p> +At this announcement the whole bearing of Fatima +seemed to change. Her veil hardly concealed her +blushes or the joy that lit up her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"The lord warden," she said, in a voice broken +with emotion, "nursed my own brother on his deathbed +with tenderness and generosity, and the sister could +be in no better care than in his;" and she raised her +veil, and with a look of rapture that was more than +gratitude, Fatima beamed her thanks to the lord +general, to whom she bowed in reverence, with lowered +eyes and quickened breath. +</p> + +<p> +"Withdraw with these ladies, my lord warden, and +explain to them freely in their own language what is the +imperial purpose, and how completely their comfort +and their dignity will be considered in the mission of +which you have command." +</p> + +<p> +Digenes, who foresaw all the difficulties and risks of +the situation, knew the general too well to dream of +changing any set purpose he had formed. His chivalry +was deeply touched at being appointed guardian of +the woman to whom he owed his life, while his loyalty +to the imperial princess at home made him shrink +from the society of the beautiful Saracen with whom +his lot seemed so strangely thrown. He resolved to +execute the commission with which he was intrusted +with all possible brevity and reserve. +</p> + +<p> +"Surely," said he, in the tones of a judge rather than +of a lover—"surely, fair Lady Fatima, it can give to +you and your kinswomen and followers nothing but +happiness to be restored to your own people of the +Arab blood and the faith of the Prophet; and it is my +charge to see that everything shall be done to bring +you to them in safety and in honor." +</p> + +<p> +"The purpose of the lord general is most kind, and +I know that these ladies with me are full of gratitude +and pleasure. But for me—I have lost father, mother, +brother, and have none to care for, or to care for me. +Cordova is not Chandax; nor is this caliph of Spain the +real commander of the faithful or the true successor +of the Prophet. Where to find that true successor I +know not. Nor does any man know. Islam seems +passing away in rival sects and hostile parties. I have +heard the Christian women who have been in captivity +with us solace their afflictions and sufferings by calling +on Mary, whom you hold to sit beside your Allah in +heaven. We Moslem women have no Mary to invoke. +Our Allah is the God of men—of soldiers—he +is no God to us poor maidens who sorrow and despair!" +</p> + +<p> +"What!" said Digenes, in astonishment which he +could not control, "do you mean that you might learn +in time to call on the Blessed Mary yourself, and take +comfort in the example of all the holy women who +have devoted themselves to the Mother of God?" +</p> + +<p> +"Did the emir of Edessa forfeit his honor when he +bowed the knee to the crucified Redeemer?" +</p> + +<p> +"God forbid! lady, my father was a noble chief and +a true man; and if he forsook the Prophet for the +Immaculate One, it was a conversion inspired with love +of the best and purest maiden in the Roman Empire, +as all men called my sainted mother!" +</p> + +<p> +"So it is the privilege of men to forsake the faith of +their fathers for the love of a woman. Such a one is +not called a renegade, if his conversion is the result +of—of love!" +</p> + +<p> +"Lady Fatima," said the lord warden with pride +and almost with a trace of warmth, "the followers of +the Prophet did justice to my father's honor as fully +as did the followers of Christ, into whose ranks he +passed and among whom he lived and died. The +dwellers of the Cilician marches, where Christian and +Moslem meet in perpetual combat, have learned to +value each other, and to know that the true believers +in Koran or Gospel have each much to be proud of, +and each have much to envy in the other. Your +brother, whom I nursed on his death-bed, and I had +but one heart and one mind in many things. We +might have been sons of the same parents instead of being, +as we were, sons of a brother and a sister. Soldiers +who have lived their lives in doing battle for their +own faith are of one creed and one race in Asia as in +Europe, in Syria as in Thrace!" +</p> + +<p> +"And we poor women have no such privilege? It +is not permitted to women to change their faith out of +gratitude, or sympathy—or love?" she said, with a +melting tone, as her eyes grew dim and her voice died +away in sighs. +</p> + +<p> +"The women of Islam," he answered, with deference, +"do not go forth into the great world, we are assured, +but live a life of retirement in their homes and their +harems. They accept the faith and the worship of +their fathers, their brothers, or their husbands. They +do not busy themselves with mysteries of religion or +the sacred books of saints and martyrs. They may +change their creed when they change their home, +but they do not listen to controversies about sacred +things and holy persons." +</p> + +<p> +"And Christian women do this, you mean to tell +me, and busy themselves with the things of heaven +and the care of their souls?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is natural that it should be so, my dear lady, +when you come to think that next to God the Almighty, +and His Son, the Redeemer of mankind, the first and +holiest of beings is the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of +God, who ever sits enthroned in glory with holy +martyr-women and saints around her. In Christendom, in +our churches, in our worship, in our sacred books, there +is quite as great a part for women as for men—nay, +a part greater and more beautiful!" And the akritas +now spoke with something of the fervor of a priest +pressing conversion on a willing penitent. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! how could a poor, captive girl of the Saracens +come to hear something of this blessed company of +holy women? How could she learn something of a +truly religious life as open to an ignorant maiden who +had heard of little but the Prophet and his warriors? +How could she be brought to feel some touches of the +trust and passion with which Christian maidens I have +seen in sorrow fling themselves on the mercy of the +Blessed Mary in heaven? Mary—Mother of God—it +is a name of exquisite beauty and tenderness! Could +even I be taught ever to utter it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing more easy, more natural, more truly +blessed," said Digenes, eagerly, quite carried away with +the sudden hope that the princess seriously contemplated +her possible conversion, and at the time, in the +warmth of his hopes for such a result, quite unable +to read the girl's heart. "I could at once enable you +to make the attempt. Follow us with your sister and +ladies to the capital. There you can be placed in +charge of my own sister, the Lady Theodosia Comnena, +who is now living at her husband's castle in the +Propontis. Nothing easier than that I should introduce +you to her family, and place you in her charge. We +are cousins, are we not, even if of different creeds?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—we are cousins," she said, slowly, lingering on +that word with a sense of rapture and hope that she +struggled to master and conceal. "If we are cousins, +your sister, the Lady Theodosia, is my cousin, too!" +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly! how came I not to see all this at first? +And you would be willing to renounce the caliph at +Cordova, and forget the return to your Saracen +kindred and your Moslem life?" +</p> + +<p> +"Utterly, joyfully, forever! To be taken to your +sister, to my own cousin, to be taken into her +family! Oh yes! if heaven were offered me as an +alternative I would accept with joy! Let those who will +go to Cordova. I would see Rome, the Roman world, +and Roman life!" +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! if you could only see our city, our churches, +our altars, and the sublime mosaics of Christ, His +Mother, archangels and apostles, and our mothers and +sisters before the ikons and holy figures of Mary, you +would know what it is to be a Christian believer," said +Digenes, quite carried away by the thought of a new +and so illustrious a convert. +</p> + +<p> +"And are you sure that the Lady Theodosia and +her family would welcome me?" asked the Saracen +princess somewhat archly, as if in real doubt. +</p> + +<p> +"She would rejoice to have you in her care, and +would treat you as her own sister, just as she has now +in her safe charge the Princess Agatha, who has +escaped from a convent prison and is securely placed +with my sister." +</p> + +<p> +"And who, then, is the Princess Agatha?" asked +Fatima, abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +"Who?" said Digenes, impetuously, "who but the +sister of our sovereign lord, Romanus, whom cruel +counsellors caused him to drive from his palace, and +more cruel priests consigned to a living death in a +nunnery of women." +</p> + +<p> +"And what is she like?" +</p> + +<p> +"She is like the Blessed Mary herself in beauty, +in purity, in mercy, and every grace—the sweetest, +best, and noblest woman in the empire of Rome, +whom the jealousy of palace counsellors seeks to +snatch from wedlock and motherhood and to consign +to the solitary cell of a nun; whom these hypocrites +and bigots dare to call a bride of Christ. Never +shall these fanatics endow their convents with the +noblest bride that Rome has ever borne!" and the +lord warden's look of heroic passion flamed in his eyes +and brought the blood into his olive cheek. "Never, +never, if I live!" he cried, hardly thinking to whom he +spoke, in his indignation and excitement. +</p> + +<p> +"And whose bride is she destined to be, this peerless, +this incomparable star of Rome? Is she the promised +bride of any of your Roman heroes?" asked Fatima, +looking keenly into the eyes of Digenes, and eagerly +awaiting his answer, as of a message of life or death. +</p> + +<p> +The lord warden answered not a word. He tried +to speak. He began some broken words. His +embarrassment could not be concealed. He now saw all +the false attitude into which his own want of discernment, +his impetuosity, his love, had betrayed him. He +had nothing to answer. He was dumb with confusion +and humiliation. +</p> + +<p> +Fatima watched him closely and in silence, and +seemed to read his heart. Her attitude of eagerness +and of trust and hope passed away. She fell back into +her previous condition of abasement and silent despair. +The light passed from her eyes, and her voice resumed +its tone of piteous sorrow and hopeless humility. +</p> + +<p> +"Cousin," she said, at last, in broken and low tones, +"I am deeply grateful. The sister of your sovereign +lord is too great a person to look on the poor captive +whose people he has conquered, whose father his +commander has slain. She shall not look down on her in +pity. Rome and its court is no place for the daughter +of Ben-Senoussi; Fatima will abide with her own +people. Leave her in Crete, or conduct her to Spain. +She will ask no charity of Christian maidens. +Farewell, kind helper of my brother, the preserver of +Fatima's life and honor! Forget her forever! Let us +never meet again! Remember only that she will never +forget you!" +</p> + +<p> +And so, drawing close round her the mourning robes, +and the long veil over her face, with slow and weary +steps, without another word, Fatima passed over to +her own tent. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap13"></a></p> + +<h2> +XIII +<br><br> +The Caliph of the West +</h2> + +<p> +The great embassy to the Spanish caliph arrived +at Cordova under command of Digenes Akritas, +and was received with all the pomp and dignity that +the mighty sovereign of the peninsula could display +in his Andalusian capital. It was the policy both of +the Roman and of the Arab statesmen to seek to impress +their rivals with a full sense of their own high +civilization, vast resources, and generous spirit. The +deadly feuds that raged between the Ommeyad caliphs +of Spain and the Abbassid caliphs of Bagdad, and also +with the Fatimite dynasty of Mauritania, inclined the +politic Abd-er-Rahman, who, the first of his house, had +assumed the sacred and historic title of "Commander +of the Faithful," to cultivate a good understanding with +the Roman emperor at Byzantium. While Rome was +carrying on the internecine warfare with the Moslems +of Asia against the redoubtable Seif Eddauleh, the +hero of the Hamdanide dynasty, the Basileus was a +useful counterpoise in the divided world of Islam, on +the principle that "the enemy of my enemy is my +friend." The high intelligence of the great caliph and +the prosperity of his kingdom, based upon a vast +Mediterranean commerce, had made any fanatical +hostility to Christians an obsolete and discredited +infatuation which the sagacious sultan of Spain repudiated. +</p> + +<p> +The mission which Nicephorus had despatched under +orders from the Sacred Palace, but which he neither +advised nor approved, was organized on a great scale. +Many officers of rank and civil officials were included, +and among them Bardas Skleros, commander of the +Armenian guards, his young friend, the Varangian +Eric, the poetic deacon, always in search of epic +"motives," and some of the financiers and diplomatists, +who were attached to every great imperial expedition. +The Princess Fatima, dejected and indifferent for +herself, had been induced to join the party for the sake +of her young sister and brother and the ladies of her +race, whose obvious interest it was to return to a +Moslem court. +</p> + +<p> +At Malaga, the seaport at which the embassy +disembarked, it was met by a splendid array of emirs, +chamberlains, and officers deputed by the caliph to +conduct the Romans to the capital. Even to men +accustomed to the shipping of all kinds that filled the +Golden Horn and traversed the Hellespont, the fleet, +docks, and warehouses of the Arab realm were an +impressive sight. The vizier Ahmed conducted the lord +warden and his staff by leisurely stages to Cordova. +And he did not fail to draw attention to the dense +population along the rich valley of the Guadalquivir (or, +as they call it, al-Wad ul-Kebir), the profusion of its +products, and the active state of agriculture and of +manufactures. On the morning of the third day the +cavalcade were able, from an eminence, to descry the +towers of Cordova itself, as it lay washed by the noble +river and surrounded by the spurs of the Sierra Morena +mountains: The vizier watched in dignified silence +the astonishment of the envoys, which they did not +seek to conceal. +</p> + +<p> +The royal city of the Ommeyad caliph appeared, indeed, +vast and magnificent even to the inhabitants of +Byzantium itself. Far as the eye could reach in that +clear and sunny air, the towers, palaces, and mosques +of the capital continued in endless variety and +picturesque confusion. +</p> + +<p> +"What may be the extent of your city?" asked +Digenes of the vizier. +</p> + +<p> +"One of our historians has calculated that it reaches +twenty-four miles one way and six on the other, and +beyond the city walls are the suburbs in twenty-seven +quarters, each quarter having its mosques, markets, +and baths for the use of those who live in the district." +</p> + +<p> +And here the poetic deacon, ever keen to get accurate +information, begged to be told the number of the +inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +"I would rather not charge my own memory," said +the vizier, indifferently, "but my librarian here, Ibn +Khaldun, can doubtless give you the figures you seek." +</p> + +<p> +"The inhabitants of the capital," said Ibn Khaldun, +"are reckoned now to exceed a thousand thousand. +There are three thousand eight hundred mosques, +sixty thousand palaces and mansions, two hundred +thousand houses of the common people; and for their +convenience the city and its suburbs contain seven +hundred baths and eighty thousand shops, together +with markets, hostelries and caravansaries for +merchants and their trains." +</p> + +<p> +The poet, who was already resolved on a description +of their visit, in verse, transferred all this to his +notebook, when he had been assured by the librarian that +it was not the exaggeration of Oriental eulogy, but the +sober calculation of economic and historical writers. +</p> + +<p> +At last the entire embassy reached the city, where +they were received with interest and curiosity in the +crowded streets. The Lady Fatima, her kinswomen, +attendants, and slaves, had been consigned to the +personal charge of the young Varangian, with a fitting +retinue of male and female servitors. Eric, who had +received strict instructions to see that the Cretan +captives of all ranks were cared for with every possible +honor, gazed upon the Lady Fatima with mute adoration; +for he was unable to communicate with her in a +single word. If he had any instructions to give they +were interpreted to her by one of her attendants, who +spoke the tongue of Rome, of which Eric himself had +but a smattering. The contrast between these two +young creatures, the finest types of Northern and +Southern beauty, of Scandinavian strength and of Arab +fire, struck every eye that fell on them, as they met +and exchanged a dignified salute. The Cordovan +monarch, like the Byzantine, had long maintained a +bodyguard of Northern warriors, mainly Scandinavians, +Alemans, or Slavonians, sold as slaves in youth, like +the famous Janissaries of modern Turkey. The Spanish +Saracens were familiar with the bone and sinew of +these fair-haired Norsemen and mountaineers, but they +rarely met one of such perfect symmetry and brilliant +color as distinguished the young viking in his superb +mail of gold. Nor could all the houris of Andalusia +match the Lady Fatima in high-bred grace and the +pensive and searching power of her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +On the appointed day the ambassador and his +following were escorted in state to the caliph's hall of +audience. For Digenes himself, and for some of the +higher officers, such as Bardas Skleros, of the Armenian +guard, men who had seen the most renowned cities, +both of the Saracen and of the Roman empires, the +magnificence and beauty of the palace of Cordova +was not so surprising. But the secretaries, diplomatists, +and, above all, the poetic deacon, could not +restrain their sense of awe and admiration. The +patriotic heart of the poet almost misgave him as he asked +himself if the city on the Golden Horn, "guarded of +God," and the Sacred Palace of the Basileus itself, +really outshone the city and residence of Abd-er-Rahman +III. He even put the question in private to +Michael, the protocolist, by his side, one of the acutest +intellects in the Byzantine chancery. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, the courts of the caliph have almost as much +gold as that of our Cæsar, and their fantastic richness +of decoration may astonish the vulgar. But it is the +profusion and intricacy of embroidery and lace. There +is nothing here of the majesty of the massive colonnades +of Santa Sophia, nor of the Golden Gate on our +outer walls." +</p> + +<p> +"But what miracles of color and of filigree design +do we not see in those painted slabs and carved ceilings," +said the poet; "it is like a grove of roses and +myrtles in stone and enamel." +</p> + +<p> +"Too much like the silken robes of our parakeimomenos, +which cover a huge but emasculated frame," +said Michael. +</p> + +<p> +The poet laughed uneasily and looked round +instinctively, for even in Spain he felt the risk of a jest +at the expense of Bringas. +</p> + +<p> +"And then you will not find there those sublime +images of our saints and of Christ and His Mother, +such as give so solemn a power to our Christian +temples. These Saracen figures, where any living +thing is shown, are conventional grotesques. There is +neither statuary nor painting of any kind—least of all +of women and of the Mother of God. These Hagarenes +are worse than our rabid iconoclasts themselves." +</p> + +<p> +The embassy passed on through a series of courts, +surrounded by shady cloisters and rich with flowers +and blossoming shrubs, along corridors and halls +lined with troopers in coat-of-mail and with chamberlains +and ushers in embroidered robes, till at last they +reached the great hall, where the mighty caliph sat in +audience. The salutes and obeisances on both sides +were duly performed with all the stately ceremony of +Constantinople itself, and with even more grace and +reserve of manner. And those who have seen a state +durbar in India may attain to some idea of the +spectacle it afforded. +</p> + +<p> +The great caliph, the Charlemagne of Saracen Spain, +was now at the close of his long rule of half a century. +He was seventy-three years of age, and a life of +incessant toil and of continual warfare had caused him to +look at least ten years older than his actual years. +The reception of Digenes was almost the last act of his +public life; but, in spite of his infirmities, he insisted +on taking his place and doing honor to the lord +warden, of whose family history and personal prowess +he was perfectly aware. +</p> + +<p> +Abd-er-Rahman III. still looked what he was, the +greatest ruler of his age and the noblest type of the +Saracen race. In fifty years he had reduced the rebels +and traitors within his own dominion, had made +vassals of the Christian princelets of north Spain, and +had driven back the Mauritanian invaders from +Africa. He possessed a magnificent fleet, a powerful +army, and a treasury of twenty millions of gold pieces. +The police of his realm secured perfect order and peace; +the state of agriculture was in the highest degree +thriving; commerce and manufactures were equally +advanced. Supported by his son and successor, Hakim, +and his able minister, Ghalib, the aged monarch +received the lord warden right royally, and motioned him +to a throne beside himself on the dais. +</p> + +<p> +Then the credentials issued by Nicephorus were read +by the chief of the protocol service: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="letter"> +"Illustrious and renowned sovereign, commander of those +faithful to the Prophet, I am ordered by our Imperial Majesty, +Romanus, to send to your capital city a mission of the chief +officers and administrators from the army of Crete, to treat of +urgent affairs between our respective realms. I have placed +at the head of this embassy the chivalrous lord warden of the +eastern marches, Basil Digenes, the akritas, in whose veins are +mingled the blood of Saracen emirs and of Armenian princes. +He and the noble and learned envoys in this mission will +fully explain the objects in view, which are to secure amity +and reciprocal concessions between your Majesty and our +own Sovereign Lord. We send to the court of your Majesty +many eminent persons of both sexes, whom the issues of war, +which God above us decrees, have placed in our hands. And +we seek an exchange of an equal number of those followers of +Christ who are now detained in your realm. Finally, we +propose an agreement between our two councils for the better +disposal of those Moslems who remain under our rule in Crete, +and also of those Christians who abide under your rule in +Spain. The issues of the great struggle between the followers +of Christ and of the Prophet are in the hands of God, whom we +all alike worship and obey. We are His servants and His +creatures, and we can do nothing of ourselves save what He +permits. In this we can unite in one purpose. And it is our +fervent hope that He Who has given your Majesty power and +authority so great may guide your counsels to meet in a spirit +of amity the proposals we are ordered by our sovereign lord, +the Basileus, to submit to your wisdom. And may God the +Merciful, the Just, bring this mission to a right end!" +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +The aged and now infirm caliph bowed his head +solemnly, and his white beard flowed over his royal +robes; but his eyes showed some of their ancient fire +as with a trembling voice he said: +</p> + +<p> +"No envoy from the Basileus of Rome could be +more welcome to our court then yourself, lord warden +of the marches, whose very name reminds us all of the +blending of the races of Christ and of Islam, and whose +deeds of valor and chivalry of soul are sung by the +poets of Europe and of Asia. It was most fitting that +an agreement between our two powers should be +intrusted to one who embodies in his own person and in +his career of service the qualities which both people +so deeply respect. The illustrious lord general of +your Basileus is as well known to Islam as to Rome +itself. We cannot wonder and complain if his people +name him 'the Victorious,' for the most redoubted +soldiers of the Prophet have too often felt the weight +of his sword. Islam has never met any adversary +whom it has reason to hold in such respect. We well +know the fiery zeal which burns within his soul, and +we can see in the despatch that has been read how +little to his taste is the proposal of amity that he has +been ordered to submit. But this shall not prevent +our willingness to treat and to agree to equitable +terms. As Commander of the Faithful, we have our +own duties of peaceful government as well as the +defence of our realm in war. Our court has statesmen +as well as warriors. Peace hath its victories, as well +as war. The proposals of your Basileus, with whom +we have as yet many bonds of good understanding, +shall be referred to our counsellors and not to our +soldiers. Nicephorus, 'the Victorious,' has subdued +in Crete a tribe who were but rebels to our dynasty, +outcasts and fugitives from our rule in Spain. Now +that he speaks words of peace, however little they +seem natural to his soldier's mouth, they shall be +considered and answered by our men of peace. When +the time comes he may find in the sons of Arabia and +followers of the Prophet a zeal as fiery as that with +which he himself is consumed. When that day shall +dawn, tell your illustrious general that it is the daily +prayer of the Commander of the Faithful that God, +the Just, the Almighty, may give the crown of glory +to the right." +</p> + +<p> +The aged caliph was visibly affected by the effort +he had made to receive the mission; he sank back on +his divan exhausted, and was only prevented from +fainting by the care of his son, Hakim, and the staff +around him. The durbar was hastily closed, and +officers of the mission withdrew with appropriate +salaams and compliments. They were now placed in +the hands of the vizier's secretaries and the librarian, +Ibn Khaldun, who were directed to escort them to +view the chief sights of the capital. After exploring +all the courts and halls of the caliph's palace, they were +taken to the famous mosque, which still remains in +part in the singular cathedral of Cordova. The vast +and stately Court of Oranges had recently been +completed, and was adorned with a thousand orange-trees +in bloom, at which the Byzantines gazed in delight +and wonder. This splendid fruit was not yet +acclimatized in Europe, and had been introduced but +recently into Andalusia from Syria by the care of +Abd-er-Rahman himself. Mixed with roses from Damascus, the +groves of oranges in the quadrangular court, shaded +with a rich cloister, seemed to the Romans a vision +of paradise. Close by rose the exquisite Campanile, +which resembled the lower part of that which we +know as the Giralda at Seville, though it was in a style +of art more solid and severe. And the centre of the +Court of Oranges was occupied with the beautiful +fountain of African marbles, porcelain, and enamel, +which the caliph had only finished within a few years. +</p> + +<p> +But all the surprise of the Romans was doubled as +they entered the great mosque itself, which was still +being further enlarged and adorned. They found +themselves in a forest of marble columns bearing +arches in fantastic forms, with exquisite patterns +traced in relief and bright with enamel and gold. +Again the deacon had recourse to his note-book, and +was anxious to learn their number and origin. "There +are said to be twelve hundred columns, arranged in +eleven aisles; and they have been collected from +temples and palaces of the ancients in Spain and +Africa, or they have been carved by our artificers from +antique models," said the librarian, "but his Highness, +the Lord Hakim, is even now enlarging the aisles +and carrying them on to double their extent." +</p> + +<p> +Thence the visitors were led into the chapel, adorned +with mosaics obtained from Byzantium direct, through +the easy munificence of Romanus himself. In the +Ceca they were shown the pavement of pure silver, and +the exquisite marbles and alabaster with which the +shrine was adorned. By special grace of Prince Hakim +they were even permitted to look on the sacred copy +of the Alcoran which had been used by the Caliph +Osman, the successor of the Prophet, and stained +with his blood when he fell. From the roof hung two +hundred chandeliers, containing ten thousand lamps. +And as they passed out into the court-yard from this +forest of marble and gold, a vehement debate arose +between Michael, the protocolist, and the poetic deacon, +whether the solemn vaults of the Holy Wisdom of +Justinian could hold their own against the myriad +shafts and arabesques of the mosque of the Caliph +Abd-er-Rahman. +</p> + +<p> +The younger members of the mission were then +conducted through a country crowded with villas, +gardens, and orchards, for an hour's ride to the vast +palace of Az-zahra, or "The Beautiful," built by the +great caliph for his favorite wife. It was constructed +entirely of marble of various hues—white, onyx, +rose-colored, and green. The courts and fountains were +adorned with gold and enamels, and gardens and shady +cloisters stretched around. In the palace were four +thousand three hundred columns of marble. Into the +great hall of the caliphate were eight lofty doors, +overlaid with plates of gold and studded with precious +stones. And the walls were adorned with carved +traceries in alternate squares of ebony and ivory. The +separate apartments numbered more than a thousand, +and the service of the palace was conducted by +thirteen thousand male and six thousand female domestics, +while the guard and watch were kept by Slavonians +and Northern Janissaries, who were said to number +no less than three thousand seven hundred and fifty +in all. +</p> + +<p> +In the mean time the deacon, Michael, the protocolist, +and other secretaries were conducted by the librarian, +Ibn Khaldun, to the great library of the caliph, +which at that time was reckoned as the largest and +most important collection in the civilized world, and +was said to contain four hundred thousand +manuscripts. All the works which had been collected by +Haroun-al-Rashid and the caliphs of Bagdad, by +the Ommeyads of Damascus, as well as by the +dynasty of Spain, were here gathered together. +Lexicons, biographies, grammars, histories, geographies, +rhetoric, works on chemistry, geometry, medicine, +astronomy, and poetry—all were in turn exhibited and +discussed. +</p> + +<p> +But what impressed the diplomatists most strikingly +was the great library of Greek works, from Aristotle +and Plato downward, Theophrastus, Galen, Hippocrates, +and Appollonius, and complete collections of the +astronomical and mathematical works of Archimedes, +Hipparchus, Eudoxus, Diophantus, and Ptolemy. These +Greek philosophers and physicists were far more +highly valued and better understood by the savants of +Islam than by the Christians of the empire. The +deacon and his diplomatists were not so much astonished +to see in the book-cases of Cordova the entire +works of Aristotle, Theophrastus, Hipparchus, Galen, +and Heron, as a modern scholar would be, for these +writers were still to be found for the most part in the +libraries of the empire. But they saw with pride and +no small surprise that the entire extant writings of the +philosophers and physicists of Greece were the ordinary +equipment of a Saracen library. +</p> + +<p> +The members of the mission were occupied for days +in surveying the capital of the great caliph—its +resources, architectural, mechanical, commercial, artistic, +and literary. They were shown over the great aqueduct +which Abd-er-Rahman III. had recently erected to +convey to the city pure spring water from the mountains +of the Sierra Morena. His predecessors had already +supplied Cordova with abundant aqueducts, +fountains, and baths, so that it almost vied with +ancient Rome in the age of the Antonines, and was +quite as well supplied as Byzantium in the age of +Romanus. The new aqueduct had only been completed +twenty years before. It rose on three tiers of arches, +similar to those of the Aqua Claudia, which spans the +Campagna at Rome, and it discharged a constant river +of pure water into a vast central reservoir, which +supplied public fountains and private palaces. Every +mansion of any importance had its garden, fountain, +and flowing rivulet. The hydraulic system was, +indeed, more complete than what Rome had known in +the age of the Cæsars, for the Arabs of Spain were the +first engineers of that age. The poet and the young +guardsman were particularly delighted with the +gardens of Rusafa, which had been stocked with rare +plants and flowers from all parts of the world, especially +from the gardens of Syria, Persia, India, and Egypt. +The orange, the lemon, citron, the almond, and the +palm, laurel, and myrtle, were cultivated in sheltered +spots and were a never-failing delight to the northern +visitors. But that which most fascinated the +Byzantines were the wild animals confined in houses +connected with the gardens, especially the various kinds +of gazelles of the East, the golden-pheasants, the +ostrich, the white ibis, the cheetahs, and the lions. +The young Varangian was quite excited out of his +natural placidity by a hunt of deer by the cheetah, as +now used in India, while the poet was equally excited +by a kind of race between antelopes which were allowed +a free run in an enclosed course. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of the festivities and the hospitalities +a sudden event plunged the whole city in gloom. The +aged caliph, exhausted by the effort he had made to +receive with dignity the envoys of Nicephorus, had +been seized with a succession of fainting fits, in the +course of which he had died. His death had been +concealed even from the foreign mission until the +succession of his son, Hakim II., had been duly secured. +And this was carried out with great energy and +despatch by the Grand Vizier Ahmed and the +commander-in-chief, the Emir Ghalib. In due time the new +caliph, having been recognized by the heads of the +army, the mosques, and the administration, received +in audience Digenes and his officers and suite. After +official compliments and addresses, Hakim admitted +Digenes to a private audience. With all the zeal of +his father for good government, peace, prosperity, and +order, the new Commander of the Faithful had an even +greater devotion to art, science, and literature, and +was conscious that he had a harder task and inferior +powers. In reply to the felicitations of the lord +warden on the glory of the late caliph's rule, and on +the noble empire to which he had now succeeded, +Hakim replied, with a sigh: +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, my royal father ruled over his realm for fifty +years; and those who look at the power, wealth, renown, +and splendor of his caliphate may be disposed to call +him one of the happiest of men, with a double measure +of the goodness of Allah. But I, who have lived in +his home and for long years shared his duties, know +too well that he was the most sombre, if not one of the +most miserable of men. His favorite wife, for whom +the palace of Az-zahra was built and after whom it +was named, died before it was completed, and since +the death of my elder brother, our father was never +seen to smile." +</p> + +<p> +"But was not your brother killed in the hour of +victory?" said Digenes. +</p> + +<p> +"Not my eldest brother, Abdallah. He had been +so infatuated as to put himself at the head of a revolt, +and suffered himself to be proclaimed as caliph by +rebels. When defeated and captured, our father in +solemn council decided that he must die the death of +a traitor to Islam. Our sacred faith is being put in +peril by treason in the families of the descendants of +the Prophet. It was held to be fatal to our empire +of the West if treason were suffered to prosper in the +house of the Ommeyads of Andalusia. I myself, my +mother and my sisters, threw ourselves on our knees +in tears at my father's feet and implored his mercy +for my brother, who had been formally named as his +successor. It was not to be. He said, 'I am caliph +first, and father afterwards. As father I shall weep +tears of blood for my son all my life, but as caliph +I must purge this fair land of a traitor!' So our +brother was bowstrung in the court of the palace, and +my father never had a happy day after. Here, see," +said Hakim, with tears filling his eyes, "this is a paper +attached to my father's testament. It runs thus, and +is inscribed in his own scholarly hand: 'Fifty years +have I been on this throne. Riches, honors, pleasures +have been poured on me, and I have drained them +all to the dregs. The sovereigns who are my rivals +respect me or fear me—both envy me; for all that men +desire has been showered on me by Allah, the Bountiful, +the All-merciful. But in all these years of apparent +felicity, I can only count fourteen days wherein I +have been truly happy. My son, meditate on this, +and judge at their true value human grandeur, this +world, and man's life.'" +</p> + +<p> +"Our priests talk thus," said Digenes, "but I never +heard of an emperor who spoke such words." +</p> + +<p> +"Remember," said Hakim, "that a caliph who descends +from the Prophet and occupies his place, is +at once a Prophet of Allah and sovereign lord—priest, +king, and commander!" +</p> + +<p> +The whole mission were present at the funeral of the +great caliph, which was conducted with extraordinary +magnificence. Forty thousand troopers in full array +on black barbs guarded the procession from the palace +to the royal burial-place in the hills outside the walls. +The whole population of the city, the suburbs, and +the country round came to honor their deceased chief. +Banners and trophies of war were displayed in +profusion. The funeral procession itself was on foot. +First came long files of imaums, sheiks, and learned +elders, then a crowd of dervishes, who chanted dirges +of plaintive sound, slaves, attendants, and ministers, +and, at last, Hakim, the new caliph, on foot and alone +before the bier. The coffin of Abd-er-Rahman was +covered with a carpet that had once been a relic in the +mihrab of Mecca: it was borne on a platform raised +on the shoulders of twelve gigantic guards in the +uniform of the palace troops. The envoys of Rome gazed +on a sight which, accustomed as they were to the vast +extent of Constantinople, and to the vehemence of a +Byzantine populace, astonished them both by the +enormous numbers of the people and by their frenzied +expressions of grief. The deacon roundly insisted +that more than one million of men and women had +witnessed or taken part in the funeral ceremony. As +the bier of the great caliph approached the crowd, +and even long after it had passed, cries of grief and +despair, of Asiatic pungency, and wild notes of agony +re-echoed along the streets and across the squares of +the city. +</p> + +<p> +"We have seen the passing of a great man—of an +emperor truly beloved by his people," said Michael, +the protocolist, in a low voice, to the deacon. "What +would the funeral of our own beloved lord and master +be like, think ye, my friend? Ay, and what would be +the funeral of his successor, if successor he is to have? +Is it certain that Christ and His Blessed Mother have +ordained that the Cross shall prevail over the Crescent +forever?" +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap14"></a></p> + +<h2> +XIV +<br><br> +The Conquest of Aleppo +</h2> + +<p> +Some months have passed, and the scene changes +to Asia. Nicephorus Phocas was now in supreme +command of an immense host echelonned along the +Cilician frontier, having its headquarters at Cæsaria in +Cappadocia. He bluntly refused the offer of the politic +prefect to occupy the prefecture within the city, and +he had his quarters placed in the centre of the great +camp, which lay in the plain beyond. Cæsaria was at +that epoch a great and splendid city of the empire, +well situated on a branch of the noble river Halys, and +within sight of the snowy peak of Mount Argæus, the +highest point of the Taurus range. But Nicephorus +disdained both for himself and his army the comforts +of a luxurious city, to which he had forbidden all access +by the troops. As a wealthy and populous centre of +trade, as the point of junction for all the great +highways, north, west, and south, Cæsaria formed an +admirable base for a great expedition. The general +himself had for his own use a small and simple camp-tent, +rudely equipped, and in no respect superior to the rest +of the service baggage. Near it stood a larger tent, in +which he held councils and conferred with his staff +and officers of rank. +</p> + +<p> +His return to Byzantium after the conquest of Crete, +and his ovation in the Hippodrome, where he presented +to the Basileus the aged kouropas of Crete and his son, +Anernas, as prisoners of war, had called out such an +explosion of popular enthusiasm that the inner cabinet +of the Sacred Palace was alarmed, and Bringas, the +parakeimomenos, was filled with jealousy and rage. +Unable to stem the torrent of public favor towards +the victorious commander, Bringas persuaded the +emperor to order Nicephorus to the Asian frontier. The +wily eunuch took care to load with honors and titles +the enemy whom he was sending as far as possible +from the capital. Romanus heaped on his victorious +general magnificent presents, overwhelmed him with +gracious words, and gave him a rank equivalent to +"generalissimo of the army-corps of the east." The +interviews between the soldier and the sovereign had +been of a sort little known in the Sacred Palace. +</p> + +<p> +Debauchery, excitement, and exhausting fatigues +had wasted the splendid frame of Romanus. Pale, +with wild eyes in their sunken sockets, and limbs trembling +in all their joints, the young Basileus received his +great officer with all the grace and good-nature for +which he was conspicuous. He lavished on him every +honor and every promise that he could imagine as +likely to tempt the veteran; and, without sharing the +jealousy of the court eunuch and without understanding +his device, Romanus pressed on Nicephorus the +command of the eastern armies. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord Basileus," said the soldier, "I have done +my duty to my God, and to my sovereign, and by the +blessing of Christ and His Mother in heaven, I gave +the best years of my life to this empire of Rome. +I am now about to retire to take thought of my own +soul, to atone for the life of battle, of blood, and ruin +in which it has been passed. I am resolved to take +vows of monkhood, and to end the bitter dregs of life +that are left to me in a hermitage on Mount Athos. +My lord, when you next summon me, you will learn +that I am no longer your officer, but the solitary servant +of Christ and of her who bore Him." +</p> + +<p> +Neither entreaties nor promises nor commands could +move the stubborn soul of the soldier. He left the +presence with the barest observance of the prescribed +ceremonies, saying: "Do not forget, mighty king of +Rome, that there is in heaven above us a King over +all kings, and on earth, beside each of us, there is the +angel of death, who but waits the signal from on high +to strike." +</p> + +<p> +As Nicephorus stalked away down the corridor +amid lines of excubitors and cubiculars, who could +hardly decide whether to honor the great hero of the +day, or to slight the enemy of the all-powerful eunuch, +a chamberlain from the empress brought him a summons +to attend her in private audience. With a muttered +excuse Nicephorus passed on with hastened +strides. But at a turn of the corridor Theophano +herself, radiant with smiles and in all the charm of her +superb grace, confronted the veteran in his very path, +and beckoned him into her closet alone. +</p> + +<p> +"I overheard your terrible resolve," she said, in a +voice thrilling with entreaty as well as indignation, +"but I will not believe that one who is the only hope +and bulwark of our country can deliver it over to the +sons of Hagar and the followers of the False Prophet. +Will you rest in peace in your cell, and whine out your +Kyrie, eleison, when you see the accursed Chamdas defile +the altars of God and chant prayers to Allah under +the dome of the Holy Wisdom? Did the Mother of +God vouchsafe you power to gain such glorious +victories over the camel-driver and his race that you +thus abandon her people and her shrines to the +abomination of desolation?" And she looked down on him, +majestic and inspired, like the Cumæan Sibyl in +Raphael's fresco at Rome. +</p> + +<p> +"There are swords as good as mine," muttered the +veteran, visibly abashed and humbled, "and younger +men than I, who have not my sins to wash out." +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus, victor, hero," she cried with rapture, +seizing his brawny hand in both of hers, "the army +will follow none but you! You, you are the hero of +all Rome and of all its tributary races. The rest are +boys or martinets. Save us, protect us, comfort us, +or we poor women may yet be swept into the harems +of the infamous libertines of Islam!" +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus was speechless; a shudder shook his huge +breast, but he could find no words. +</p> + +<p> +"Have you no eyes?" she whispered, with that silver +tone of fascination that was her peculiar secret and +gift; "have you not seen that wine, lechery, and +furious sports have marked that fribble you have just left +to a premature doom? He will never see another +summer. And when I am no longer Augusta, who will +protect me and my babes? To whom could I look but +to the hero whom all Roman men delight to follow, +whom all Roman women trust and honor—trust and +love?" she whispered, looking into his eyes and drawing +herself slowly towards him till she gathered him in +her arms and sobbed upon his shoulder. "Go to the +Asian frontier, crush the Hagarene! You shall have +from the palace absolute power and authority, military +and civil. You shall be the true Basileus in the field, +before you return to be the Basileus in the palace!" Then +she rushed away in tears, and left the chieftain +quite dazed, drunk with perplexity, and mad with +passion. +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +So Nicephorus took up the command on the eastern +frontier, having received from the Basileus and his +ministers plenary authority to raise and equip an army, +with power over all the forces and all the reserves of +the empire, civil and military, in any theme of Asia. +For some months he worked incessantly at his task, +and mustered the most powerful army known to his age. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus was now seated in the larger tent, to +which he had summoned in council his chief officers. +First came Basil Digenes, the warden of the marches, +again chief of the general's staff. Beside him was +Bardas Skleros, commander of the Armenian guard, +Leon Balantes, Bourtzes, and other generals, and +last entered the illustrious John Tzimisces, the rival +and ultimate successor of Nicephorus. An Armenian +noble of the highest rank—his real nickname was +Tchemeschguig, or the Little, a sound which no Greek +throat could utter—John was the hero of a hundred +desperate combats. His courage was even more reckless +and romantic than that of Nicephorus, and, as a +mere cavalry leader, he was almost the equal of the +great chief. Short of stature, he had prodigious +strength, with the activity and suppleness of an +acrobat. Matchless in all military exercises, and +unrivalled in the lists, his frankness, generosity, and +affable temper made him the idol of men, while his +fiery beauty, grace, and high spirits made him the idol +of women. In the matter of temperance, chastity, +and piety, John was the very opposite of Nicephorus. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus opened the council thus: +</p> + +<p> +"My comrades and commanders of the eastern corps, +I have summoned you to hear the plan of campaign, +and to take counsel as to the task before each +contingent of our host. The latest field state shows that +we have a force of all arms of two hundred and thirteen +thousand men, of whom forty-two thousand are +cavalry, with one hundred and twelve thousand horses, +mules, asses, and camels; and these are in cantonments +along the range of Taurus over against Cilicia, +extending nearly one hundred Roman miles. The details of +the numbers and their exact position of encampment +will remain for the present known only to myself and +my secretaries. When the hour of advance has come, +due orders will be issued to the commands which are +to invade the enemy and to those which will remain in +reserve." +</p> + +<p> +"And may we know the day and the line of the advance, +my lord general?" broke in the impetuous John +Tzimisces. +</p> + +<p> +"The day and the place of invasion, my noble friend," +said Nicephorus, with a dry smile, "must remain known +to God above—and to me. In a campaign such as +this we must rely on overwhelming numbers and +lightning rapidity of execution to secure our end. The +divided state of the Hagarenes will prevent them from +meeting us in great pitched battles. But it is a vast +territory in which they are settled, and the most difficult +to invade in all God's earth. It bristles with forts +on inaccessible rocks, with mountain defiles and dense +woods, and is defended by a girdle of fortified towns. +We have to pour down over these passes on all sides +at once, like the snows in spring when they rush down +the gorges of Taurus; we must overwhelm these forts +and towns like a sudden flood, and all Cilicia will be +again within the fold of Rome—and of Christ!" +</p> + +<p> +"And when we have won back Cilicia we shall have +gained but a corner of the empire of Chamdas, whose +realm reaches to the Euphrates," broke in Bourtzes, +somewhat surlily. +</p> + +<p> +"Most true, my Lord Bourtzes," replied the general, +with a voice that vibrated with fervor and faith, "but +that corner is the key of the power of Islam in Asia. +When we hold Cilicia as a base, we will descend over +the ranges of Amanus, even as we are about to push +through those of Taurus. Then—Syria is ours again, +is Christ's again. The sacred land in which our +Saviour deigned to be born as man, the hill of Calvary +whereon He died, the tomb wherein His body lay till +the third day, shall no longer be polluted by these +dogs of Ishmael. After all these hundred years the +Holy Land shall again be hallowed with the Cross; +Antioch, Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem shall again be +consecrated to the Blessed Trinity and the Mother of +God. We will push on to Mesopotamia, beyond +Euphrates, till the empire of Rome has no frontier on +the east but the Tigris, and no frontier on the south +but the dry deserts of Arabia, into which the unholy +race of Hagar shall be driven and made to abide. +The empire of our founder, Constantine, of Justinian, +and of Heraclius, shall be restored in all its majesty +and power, and the dogs who follow the False Prophet +shall be kennelled again with the jackals of the +desert." +</p> + +<p> +Generals and secretaries listened in silent respect to +this outburst of their chief, who spoke like some priest +at the altar, rather than as the leader of a mighty host +arrayed for war. +</p> + +<p> +"We are all eager to be at them!" cried John Tzimisces, +passionately. "Give us the hour, and our marching +orders, and we will saddle this coming dawn!" +</p> + +<p> +"In good time, my valiant Lord Joannes. I well +know your noble ardor for the fight. There are a +thousand things that a commander-in-chief has to +prepare, and a few of these are still wanting. Our +siege-train is not yet complete and we have at least +fifty forts to capture; the remount chargers in reserve +are not quite filled up, the reserve of arms is nearly +full, the transport service is ready, and the hospital-train, +but the reports from the eastern defiles of the +Cilician Clisuras have not yet all come in. There are +still seven companies of vedettes who have yet to +complete the intelligence survey of the distant passes." +</p> + +<p> +"Will it be three days more, twice three days, as +many weeks yet?" asked Bourtzes, in his blunt way. +</p> + +<p> +"God in heaven knows, my dear general," said the +chief, with his grim smile. "In the mean time, I have +copies ready of the <i>Hand-book of Tactics</i>, which I have +been compiling during the last three months. Every +commander of a division shall have it; my orders are +that every chief officer shall thoroughly understand +the rules of this kind of warfare—to which there are +three main keys—rapidity of movement, exact knowledge +of all the facts, foresight of every detail." +</p> + +<p> +All next night the general sat in his tent, with none +but Basil Digenes and his chief secretary. He had +called for the final recension of his book on <i>Tactics</i>, +which he was explaining to the lord warden as he ran +over the heads of the twenty-five chapters. +</p> + +<p> +"'Everything lies in this first chapter on scouting +and the distances between the vedettes,'" said the general, +reading; "'in a very broken country they must not +be more than three or four Roman miles apart. The +scouts may have to be away from the main army fifteen +days, and must carry provisions for that time. They +must explore every hill, stream, and road in the +district they survey, never be stationary, but always +on the move, and always in touch with the force they +are serving. Then take care they master that third +chapter on "Occupying heights that flank a pass," and +"On flank attacks on an enemy discovered to be on the +march." Then that eleventh chapter will be of the +utmost importance in such a march as we shall make +through the defiles of the Taurus—"How to survey and +occupy in force the points that can command a defile +which is to be forced." Many and many a Roman +army, from the time of the Caudine Forks down to that +of Gongyles in Crete, and poor Pastilas this very last +year, has been lost by neglecting this caution.' +</p> + +<p> +"Listen to this, my son," the chief continued, reading +from his own book: "'This war is one of cavalry. +Victory does not depend on numbers, but on prudence, +on rapidity, on ingenuity, so that a stroke may be +delivered when and where it is least expected by the +enemy. War against these children of the desert, on +their own light horses, and with camels as transports, +has wholly changed since the epoch of pitched battles. +If you are swift enough, alert enough, keen enough, +if you are well served by your scouts, spies, and +signallers, you may defeat a battalion with a mere +detachment, and an army with only a battalion.' +</p> + +<p> +"'Then attend to your signal-service. Pick the sharpest +eyes, the keenest brains in your force, and take +care that the chain of signals is never broken. The +one thing essential is to conceal from your enemy your +own movements and your objective. Every advance +must be covered by feints. March as far as possible +by night, and choose moonless nights.' +</p> + +<p> +"'Then as to night attacks. These are exceedingly +dangerous, unless carried out with fitting conditions, +which are a thorough knowledge of the ground +attacked, assaults delivered simultaneously on many +sides at once, trustworthy guides, and intelligent +officers. The assaults must converge to an instant, +they must be invisible till they strike, and they must +be directed by a single mind.' In this war we must +constantly resort to night assaults," said Nicephorus, +as he handed the volume to the lord warden. +</p> + +<p> +"The first thought of a general, my son, is to have +his men well rationed, honestly paid, well clothed, and +well mounted. It is a scandal how these courtiers and +clerks at home stint the soldier of his food, his pay, +and his rewards. +</p> + +<p> +"You may wonder that I think it needful in our days +of glory to recite at such pains the way in which these +accursed infidels are to be defeated. Ah, who can say +what is before us in the future? Bardas Cæsar and +my mother's brother, Constantine Meleinos, won +victories by these tactics, and I myself have seen them +successful in six hundred fights, great or small. If you +follow these precepts, my dear young warden, you will +win an equal success—remembering always this, that +it is not thou who art victor, but that the victory is +given thee by Christ, our Saviour, very God and very +man." +</p> + +<p> +The general now sat alone in his tent studying the +reports and rough sketch-maps sent him from a score +of advanced posts. His secretary brought him a missive +just received by a relay of royal posts from the +Sacred Palace. +</p> + +<p> +From the parakeimomenos (lord high chamberlain) +to the grand domestic (or marshal) of the army-corps +of the east, Nicephorus, the Victorious, and so +forth—after compliments, eulogies, and promises in +profusion—the mighty Bringas proceeds to explain +that the council of his Majesty, the Basileus, are so +anxious that nothing should imperil the life and glory +of the general-in-chief, that they desire him to remain +in reserve with an army in Cæsaria, and to intrust the +advance into the enemy's territories to the illustrious +commander, John Tzimisces, whose failure to succeed +would not so fatally endanger the safety of empire—and +more excellent reasons for keeping Nicephorus in +the background and idle. +</p> + +<p> +"So ho!" said the general to himself, with a grim +smile; "he would pit John against me, and throw me +into the shade! Too late, my honest eunuch, too late! +The orders to march at dawn have gone forth this very +night. But is Tzimisces a party to the plot? Never! he +is too noble a spirit. I would trust John with my +life." +</p> + +<p> +Another missive now came in, brought by a private +messenger. It was from Leo, the brother of Nicephorus, +who was watching his interests in Constantinople. +</p> + +<p> +"The voice of all Rome is loud for the House of +Phocas, and the name of the victor of Crete is on every +tongue. But the arch-eunuch is plotting night and +day against you, turning now to the exiled prince, +now to Tzimisces. Our autocrator himself is nearer +than ever to his God. It is thought he will keep his +Christmas in heaven, and they do say that art is +assisting sin and disease to make an angel of him. +Strike—and strike quickly, and be careful that you +celebrate a triumph in the Hippodrome within three +months. Three months is the longest period that it +is safe for you to be absent!" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, in three months' time I shall be in the Golden +Horn—or in my grave," said Nicephorus, and he flung +himself on his couch with a few prayers as he kissed +the ikon of the Mother of God. As he raised his eyes +he saw a slip of parchment that, without his knowledge, +had been hung at the foot of the image. It was folded +and addressed: "To the Hero of Rome and Defender +of Christ." Within were these words, in the Armenian +tongue: "She who loves thee warns thee to win a glorious +victory over the Hagarene and then to hasten back +to Rome. The Augusta is racked with anxiety and +foreboding. In three months she will be a widow. +There is but one who could protect her and console her." +</p> + +<p> +The general crushed the parchment in his fierce grip, +and then thrust it into his breast. He tossed on his +couch for hours, with a storm of passions chasing each +other across his soul. +</p> + +<p> +Before dawn the great host had begun its advance. +The general, in the centre of his staff, was receiving +and despatching mounted couriers, who every minute +came and went to and fro. Through seven different +passes of the Taurus, mainly through that known as +the "Cilician Gates," the various corps debouched +down upon the Saracen province that had once been +the Cilicia of Augustus and Trajan. The different +armies had separate objectives, but were kept in close +touch with one another, and each was preceded by an +outer screen of light cavalry, which pressed on in front +and scoured the whole country. As the parallel forces +poured down like a deluge on the rich plains, the +miserable people fled before them or crowded into the +forts; the Saracen troops of all arms were seized with +panic, and made no effort to stem the current. Fort +after fort, walled towns, castles, and camps fell rapidly +into the hands of the invading Christians. The +overwhelming numbers that Nicephorus had collected +covered the country for a hundred miles. By light +siege-train, hurried forward, they captured fortresses by +escalade. Tarsus, Adana, Mopseutia, and Seleucia +were taken by storm. The gallant emir of Aleppo, +Seif Eddauleh, of the dynasty of Hamdan, the hero of +the Saracens of Asia in the tenth century, whom the +Greeks called the "Accursed Chamdas," yielded before +the avalanche. He ordered his men to retreat inland +towards Syria and to attempt nothing but separate +and small encounters to harrass the lines of +communication. The host poured on, the Arab historian +declares, "like hungry wolves," ravaging the land, +burning villages, and destroying all crops and stores +which they could not use. Karamountis, the emir of +Tarsus, attempted a pitched battle, but was utterly +defeated and left five thousand of his men dead upon +the field, the rest being prisoners of war. All the +calculations of the Roman general were fulfilled, every +order had been carried out to the letter, every corps +reached the point at which it was directed at the +appointed time. The whole of Cilicia was swept as by +a tornado, and within twenty-two days, the Arab +historian, Aboulfaradj, relates that fifty-five fortresses +and fortified towns had fallen into the hands of the +Christians. Enormous booty and tens of thousands +of prisoners were taken, and after three centuries the +rich and broad land, watered by the Cydnus and the +Pyramus, and lying between the range of Taurus and +the Mediterranean Sea, passed again into the realm of +Christ and of Rome. +</p> + +<p> +There was a halt to concentrate the forces, collect +the booty, and to reinforce or refresh the army after +its tremendous rush, and secret despatches had again +reached the commander. An unsigned missive in the +Armenian tongue warned him again that the Augustus +was in delirium, at the verge of death, that the Augusta +commanded his return to save the empire and herself +from ruin. A later missive from his brother Leo +assured him that the Basileus had revived and might +live yet some months. "Go on and conquer! Drive +the accursed blasphemer, Chamdas, from his last lair +in Syria. Then return and triumph!" +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus resumed his onward march in earnest. +He had now received reinforcements of twenty thousand +fresh cavalry, bringing up his effective force to +over two hundred thousand troops, including thirty +thousand engineers and sappers, with ample engines +of siege and storm. As the vast range of Taurus had +lain between the empire and the Saracen in Cilicia, so +now the range of the Amanus divided it from the provinces +of Syria, Damascus, and Aleppo. Anazarba, Sis, +and other strong forts were swept away, their defenders +ruthlessly slaughtered, and their homes sacked, +but nothing could arrest the invaders till they poured +over the passes of Amanus down into the valley of +the Orontes and reached the great plains which stretch +away from the "Gates of Syria" to the Euphrates. +Once across the defiles of the Amanus range, Nicephorus +concentrated his whole force for a plunge upon +Aleppo, the seat and capital of "the accursed Chamdas." +</p> + +<p> +Aleppo, which the Greeks called Chalepe and the +Saracens called Haleb, was then the most splendid and +the richest city of Asia, having some quarter of a +million of inhabitants, and was the centre of the trade +between East and West. Its magnificent palaces, in +the midst of gardens teeming with all the flowers and +shrubs of the Asiatic plains, its immense circuit of +walls, towers, domes, and minarets, were crowned by +the tremendous fortress on the almost precipitous +acropolis that rose above the plain in which the city +stood. At a glorious sunrise, early in December, +Nicephorus gathered his principal officers around him on +an eminence from whence in the distance the white +towers of Aleppo could be clearly seen. "There lies +the lair of the blaspheming Hagarene who has wrought +such havoc upon the people of Christ and the realm of +Rome! Within those proud walls are the savage +horsemen who have burned a thousand homes and have +slaughtered ten thousand of our brothers! Ay, and +within those gay and lordly palaces, with their smiling +groves and terraces, there are ten thousand of our +sisters, daughters, and boys who have been ravished +from Christian hearts and turned from Christ to defile +themselves with the False Prophet, his lies and his +fornications! By God and His mercy, we will keep +Christmas like Christians, within the very walls and +mosques where He has been blasphemed these long +three hundred years!" +</p> + +<p> +The city was now entirely invested. All the efforts +of the emirs to relieve it were cut off with immense +losses, and almost on the eve of Christmas Day the +order was given for a combined assault. The walls +were carried in a dozen places at once, the gallant +Chamdas was driven back step by step into the citadel +on the heights, and by nightfall the splendid city of +Aleppo was entirely in the hands of the Romans. The +booty was enormous, for the rush of Nicephorus upon +the capital had been so sudden that nothing had been +removed. Three hundred and ninety thousand gold +pieces were found in the Saracen treasury; thousands +of horses, mules, and camels in the barracks. Gold +plate, exquisite damascened work, jewelled arms, brocades, +embroideries, ivories, carpets, vases, robes, and +painted manuscripts were tossed about in wild confusion. +For days the scene of plunder, bloodshed, and +destruction raged. The superb palace of the emir, +filled with precious things, was sacked, and then +consumed with fire, and everything which the victorious +troops could neither use nor transport was burned or +destroyed. The ramparts of the great city were +levelled, the mosques were ruined, and the minarets +thrown down in the dust. +</p> + +<p> +The general, with fierce exultation, surveyed the +annihilation of the terrible enemy who had made the +Roman empire reel to its foundations, and he saw +that the frontiers of Rome were destined to extend +again to the Euphrates. Thereupon he ordered a +solemn Te Deum to be chanted in presence of a great +muster of chiefs and chosen detachments of his army. +Before the crucifix, which was raised beside the central +altar, the fierce soldier of the Cross thrice prostrated +himself in the dust, and offered up a silent prayer of +thanksgiving; and then the psalm of praise was chanted +forth by ten thousand voices in unison. +</p> + +<p> +As Nicephorus returned to his headquarters he found +a missive to him from Constantinople. It was +unsigned, and in the Armenian language and said that the +throne of Constantine and Basil would be vacant before +the message could reach its destination. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap15"></a></p> + +<h2> +XV +<br><br> +Empress and Chamberlain +</h2> + +<p> +It was a gloomy day in March, 963, when an unwonted +stir of officials, chamberlains, and equerries +was seen to throng the gates, corridors, and chambers +of the Sacred Palace. The empress, in her private +apartments, lay pale and feeble on her couch, after the +very recent birth of her fourth child, Anna, destined +one day to be the wife of Vladimir, prince of the +Russians. The roses on Theophano's cheek were now +faded to a marble hue, and, as her lovely head lay in +sleep, she looked like one of the dying daughters of +Niobe as carved by the hand of Praxiteles. But the +noise of urgent messengers at the door roused her from +her slumber, and in her soft voice, which retained its +imperious tone with all its exquisite modulation, she +bade them tell her what was being reported. Her deep +eyes seemed even more lustrous and penetrating than +ever, as they shone from out the unwonted pallor of +her face. "Tell me, Glaucopis, what they say," she +murmured. +</p> + +<p> +"Most august lady," said the nurse, "the physicians +have strictly forbidden us to disturb your Majesty with +any news." +</p> + +<p> +"Romanus is dead?" she gasped out with a fierce +gleam in her eyes as she raised herself on her arm from +the pillow; "when—how—where is his body?" +</p> + +<p> +"Madam, the emperor is being brought into the +sacred chamber—not dead, but fainting, unconscious, +and, they say, dying. He insisted, in spite of all the +warnings of his physicians, on going out to hunt the +boar last night in the forest, and he was seized with a +fainting-fit early this morning. We can hear the +bearers of his litter even now in the corridor." +</p> + +<p> +"And has my messenger returned from Cæsaria?" +asked the Augusta, eagerly, catching her breath with +excitement. +</p> + +<p> +A small, sealed slip of parchment was handed to the +empress. She tore open the scrip, and a fierce gleam +shot from her eyes as she read the Armenian words +"I come." +</p> + +<p> +She raised herself on her couch with a strange force +of will, and had herself supported between two black +eunuchs of the chamber and carried into the sacred +koitôn, where at that very moment they were bearing +to his death-bed the still unconscious form of the +Basileus. The gaunt limbs of the once stalwart Romanus +were a sight hardly so pitiful as his emaciated and +bloodless countenance, now plainly stamped with the +hue of death. As the physicians and chamberlains +carefully stripped off the rough accoutrements of the +chase, and laid him gently in his silken robe on the +bed, his wife gazed intently upon him, with a look of +penetration and anxiety rather than of sorrow or of +love. Was he dead? Was he dying? What space of +time could she count as her own? To whom could she +turn for help? +</p> + +<p> +"Madam," whispered the chief physician, "he still +lives. His marvellous strength of constitution, and +strict care, may even yet save him for a short space. +The one chance of life is perfect rest, absolute silence. +The slightest exertion, the smallest excitement, will +be instantly fatal. He asks for a draught of strong +Samian wine, but we dare not give it; it will be +certain death. Let us implore your Majesty to leave him +to us, to spare him the shock of an interview. It +would be his death." +</p> + +<p> +Theophano did not move nor answer; she gazed intently +into the face of the dying king. At last his +eyes opened and the flicker of a feeble smile played +round his drawn lips. She bent down and kissed them. +</p> + +<p> +"Anastasia," he murmured, "forgive me, pardon all +my wrong. I have always loved you—ever since I +went mad for your sake in the hermit's chapel of +St. Demetrius in the Asian forest, and for love of you risked +the golden throne which I am now leaving to you. +May you be happy in it, my early love, my only love, +and guard our children till they can fill it better than +I have done!" +</p> + +<p> +"Are you leaving it to me, indeed?" asked the empress, +eagerly; "have you sealed such a will? Is any +testament signed?" +</p> + +<p> +"It shall be, if you wish it," murmured the dying +man; "send for my secretaries and the keeper of the +archives." +</p> + +<p> +Here the physician drew the empress aside and earnestly +whispered in her ear: "It would be certain death +for him to make such an effort. His one chance of life +is absolute rest." +</p> + +<p> +"It is the will of his Majesty," said Theophano, +imperiously, "that all present should withdraw, all—save +this scribe," she added, turning to a secret agent of her +own. "Close and secure these doors in the name of +your sovereign lord!" she called aloud to the ushers +and guards of the sacred koitôn. +</p> + +<p> +"My will is that my beloved wife, the empress, be +regent of this empire during the minority of my sons, +the Basileis, Basil and Constantine," murmured, or, +rather, gasped the dying man, almost mechanically +repeating the words that Theophano dictated aloud to +him, or nodding a feeble assent, while the scribe copied +them down in official form. +</p> + +<p> +A loud altercation was now heard at the door of the +chamber, and a terrified chamberlain announced that +the great parakeimomenos himself, the eunuch Bringas, +insisted on his right to enter the chamber by virtue +of his office—that of the imperial "Bedfellow." +</p> + +<p> +"It is the will of his Majesty that he withdraw and +wait in the anteroom," hissed the empress. "Guards, +do your duty, in the name of your sovereign!" and +Bringas was forcibly thrust back from the chamber. +</p> + +<p> +"Bringas—will be—your counsellor—your minister," +gasped the dying king, as he heard the name of +his terrible master. +</p> + +<p> +"And shall not the glorious lord general of the +east be confirmed in his office?" whispered Theophano, +with the eagerness of frenzy. But the strain of this +interview had already overcome the flickering strength +of the dying man, who fell back in another fainting-fit +that almost seemed death. +</p> + +<p> +Then Theophano bade the scribe fetch from her own +chamber a flagon of strong cordial that stood beside +her bed. She moistened the lips of her dying lord, +and as he sipped a few spoonfuls of the drink a last +spurt of life came back to him. He opened his eyes, +and even raised his head, hoarsely calling for the cup. +A mouthful seemed to give him new strength. "Since +you desire it, my beloved," he gasped, "I confirm the +lord domestic of the east in his supreme command. +To Nicephorus I leave this throne, my children, my +wife. He alone is worthy to possess them. They are +his. May he keep them." He then grasped the flagon +nervously, and with hungry eyes besought his wife to +give it him—besought with his eyes, for he was now +speechless. +</p> + +<p> +Theophano knelt down beside the low couch, and, +folding her arms round her half-conscious lord, she +raised him on his pillows. Then she held the flagon +to his lips and gave it him to drink. He sucked in the +strong wine like a beast that has been dying of thirst, +until the action of swallowing had ceased to be possible. +The last dregs of the cup oozed out of the corners of +his mouth and poured over his bare throat. He lay +back—dead. +</p> + +<p> +Theophano gazed on him with a look of triumph. +Then she seized the parchment whereon the scribe had +written down the last will of the emperor. She took +up the pen and placed it in the still soft hand of the +dead man; holding his hand in her own, she made the +pen rudely inscribe his name— +</p> + +<p class="t3"> + <i>Romanos, Basileus Romaiôn.</i><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +For a brief space she stood there over the dead body +of her husband, herself pale and faint with the effort, +looking like a marble statue of the angel of death, +as she pondered what should be her next act, for she +well knew how tremendous a crisis was at hand. +</p> + +<p> +Her meditations were broken by loud and angry +altercations at the door, and soon there burst into +the chamber the gigantic form of the parakeimomenos. +The eunuch Bringas had now placed himself at the +head of the chief officials and members of the council +of state. He brought Michael, the chancellor of the +exchequer; Symeon, the chief secretary; Sisinnios, +the head of the senate; magistroi, patricians, +protospathaires, basilikoi, with a strong force of ushers and +palace guards. The physicians proved the death of the +emperor, and closed his eyes. Theophano, at the first +sound of the interruption, had on her part summoned +from her private apartments her own creatures, secretaries, +chamberlains, and guards. The two factions now +confronted each other, ranged on opposite sides of the +imperial couch, whereon lay the yet untended corpse +of the Basileus, Bringas at the head of the council of +state on the one side, Theophano on the other side, +holding in her hands the last testament of the dead +king. +</p> + +<p> +"As parakeimomenos, grand chamberlain of his late +Majesty, and president of the council of state, it is +my right to order the ceremony for the burial of our +late lord Romanus, and, furthermore, to provide for +the urgent needs of this empire of Rome until the +accession of our young Basileus," said Bringas, in a voice +of proud command. "You, madam, for whom our late +revered sovereign has made no written provision, as +I am authorized to declare, may withdraw to the apartments +reserved for the secluded widowhood of the relict +of an autocrat of the Romans." +</p> + +<p> +With a will as strong and a voice as clear, Theophano +replied: "Here I, as Regent of the empire by +the last will of my late beloved lord and emperor, +summon the council to receive my commands. There +is no great chamberlain of any dead man. The death +of an emperor dissolves his council of state. Here is +the testament of my lord Romanus, signed by his own +hand, as these secretaries and lawyers who were present +at the execution of it will testify on the sacred Gospels +and the ikon of the Mother of God." And with a look +of triumph and defiance Theophano held aloft the +scroll, and in a firm voice read it aloud to the amazed +and hesitating throng. +</p> + +<p> +"A forged document!" shouted Bringas. "I know +that no such testament exists. Its authenticity must +be proved by something more than Gospels and ikons. +Let us have this document, madam, and it shall be +duly examined by the judges of the law." +</p> + +<p> +The eunuch and his party advanced to wrest the +parchment from the empress by force, when a new +interruption arose, and another large party entered the +chamber. It was the patriarch Polyeuctus, bearing +the miracle-working crucifix from the high altar of the +Holy Wisdom, with his canons and acolytes carrying +the host. He had hastened to the palace on the news +of the agony of the emperor, and was profoundly +shocked to find that he had arrived too late to +administer the last rites. In words of passionate grief +the venerable prelate deplored the terrible calamity +which had fallen on the royal house by the sudden +death of the Basileus, unhouselled, unanealed, in his +sins. He bitterly reproached both factions, who stood +beside the untended corpse of their sovereign, contending +for mastery. He listened to the claim of Bringas, +he inspected the testament which Theophano still held +in her clutch, and he suffered two scribes to swear on +the ikon that they had heard the emperor dictate the +words and had seen him sign it with his own hand. +</p> + +<p> +"My children, my daughter, princes, senators, and +officers of Rome," said the venerable patriarch, "it +will bring down on us and on this empire the judgment +of God and His Son, that we should strive for +power among ourselves, while the unanointed body +of our late lord lies here in its abandonment. Our +first duty is to provide for the funeral rites. As to the +succession to this throne, the regency of the empire, it +is the appointed task of the senate and patricians to +ordain these in due course of law and custom. The +senate has been convoked and is now about to meet. +Thither let those who have the right to sit in it repair. +As I hurried past the Augusteon hither, I saw the +streets filled with excited crowds of citizens. I would +warn you both, who stand here in contention such as +this city will not witness with any patience, that we +heard no shouts of 'Long live the venerated Augusta!' +nor of 'Long live the lord great chamberlain!' The +only name that now echoes through our city, where +men congregate and speak, is the name of Nicephorus +Phocas, the ever-victorious general of the eastern +armies." +</p> + +<p> +The keen intellects of Theophano and of Bringas at +once perceived all the risks of a popular revolution in +the midst of a disputed succession; and both factions +admitted the force of the patriarch's appeal, as well +as the imminent peril to the state and to their own +lives, if the government remained unsettled for +another hour. At the meeting of the senate, which +immediately followed, the eloquence and authority of the +patriarch succeeded in securing a settlement which +was in the nature of a compromise. Theophano was +duly installed as regent during the minority of her +two sons, but she was forced to accept the mighty +eunuch and his confederates, the late ministers, and +to reappoint them to the offices they held. Bringas +saw himself thus invested with practical mastery of +the state, while the patriarch and the majority of the +senate supported the demand of the regent, that +Nicephorus should be retained in supreme command +as grand marshal of the east. +</p> + +<p> +The duel between Theophano and Bringas was only +withdrawn from public view; it was carried on as +fiercely as ever. The Regent despatched messenger +after messenger to the general to hasten his return to +the capital. The eunuch, on his side, was exerting +all his arts to keep the great soldier on the frontier +and secretly to put him away. At the next meeting +of the council, which the woman was unable to attend, +prostrated as she was by the desperate efforts she had +made in her delicate condition, the wily Bringas thus +spoke: +</p> + +<p> +"Lords of the council and ministers of state, our +first duty after providing for the funeral of our late +sovereign, the august autocrat now with God, will be +to secure the throne of his infant children, the Basileis, +to whom the succession falls of right and by his own +device. Their rights are menaced by many enemies, +both without and within the realm, perhaps not least +by the disordered ambition of one who ought to be +their most disinterested friend. But of all the +disordered ambitions by which this empire is beset, the +danger most urgent and imminent is to be found in +the far east. A fortunate soldier, intoxicated with the +favor of his emperor and—may we not say?—the +smiles of his empress, has seduced the giddy populace +of this city to welcome him as their idol and prepare +to raise him to the very purple itself. I hold the +evidence of this conspiracy to bring about a revolution +and proclaim him as Basileus. The government, the +dynasty itself, stands on the edge of an abyss. His +triumph would mean confusion in this city, exile, +confiscation—death, no doubt—for each of us. My lords, +I propose a peremptory order to Nicephorus Phocas +to prosecute the war towards the east, and not to come +west of the Anatolian theme on pain of attainder and +death." +</p> + +<p> +"If this evidence is made public," said Michael, "the +people will soon forsake their favorite and justify the +precautions we take." And the councillors seemed +ready to accept the proposal. +</p> + +<p> +The wily eunuch saw his opportunity, and sought +to push it home. "Indeed, my lords," he said, with +an insinuating tone, "it would be wiser perhaps if we +went further and secretly named some illustrious +soldier with authority to supersede and arrest so +dangerous a man. The late reigns of our autocrats +Constantine Born-in-the-Purple, and his son, Romanus, +have introduced a dangerous laxity towards treason. +Time was when a popular general, suspected of +rebellion, was seized and deprived of his eyesight. +Methinks we should all feel our heads safer on our +shoulders if the hero of the hour were treated as was +Belisarius when he was degraded by the great +Justinian, or as another Phocas who was justly put to +death by our ancestors." +</p> + +<p> +But here the eunuch overshot his mark. The arch-priest +of St. George of the Stoudion vehemently protested +against such language as applied to the victorious +chief who had laid Islam low; and the rest of the +council dreaded the fury of the people if the hero were +sacrificed by his rivals. The council parted; nor +could Bringas obtain from it anything more than +a peremptory order to Nicephorus to prosecute the +war to the borders as far as the Tigris and the Euphrates. +</p> + +<p> +The astute minister was not easily beaten from his +purpose, knowing, as he did, that his hold on power, +and perhaps his liberty and even his life, depended +on the issue. Profiting by the enforced absence of +the regent, whose exertions had brought on a dangerous +collapse, he inveighed at every council, in public +and in private, against the ambitious schemes of the +great commander of the east, and he opened secret +negotiations with officers on the general's own staff. +These intrigues were countermined and reported to +Nicephorus by agents of Theophano, who spied out all +the machinations of the eunuch. He and his partisans +still believed the general to be preparing for a +fresh advance into Syria; they were sitting in council +in the privy chamber of the cenourgion and +considering a new scheme to isolate Nicephorus from his +friends, when loud shouts were heard in the streets +and squares, and even from the palace itself could be +seen a crowd of small craft and boats under the very +walls of the Boucoleon Port. A chamberlain burst into +the council-hall with the tremendous news that +Nicephorus himself was in the act of landing from the +Asiatic shore and was actually making his way to the +palace by the new basilica built by the Emperor +Basil I. +</p> + +<p> +"Our agents have played us false, then," stammered +Bringas, "in keeping his journey secret. But he +cannot have brought his army, or even a division of it, +without our knowledge." +</p> + +<p> +"My lord," said the chamberlain, "we have certain +intelligence that he has hurried hither by forced +posts—alone, or with only a few of his personal +followers." +</p> + +<p> +"The Lord has delivered him into our hands!" +shouted Bringas in triumph; "we will have him seized +as a traitor and a rebel before he can rouse the city or +gather an armed force. Put out his eyes, and he will +give no more trouble!" And the swarthy countenance +of the eunuch glowed with a fierce gleam, as a beast +of prey that has seized his victim. The roar of the +populace outside grew louder and nearer, minute by +minute, and more than one councillor shrank from +signing the order which Bringas had already got prepared +for the executioners whose duty it was to blind +prisoners with red-hot needles. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the door of the hall was thrown open, and +Nicephorus Phocas, in the military uniform of his +service, burst in upon the council, attended only by his +faithful Digenes and three or four other officers. +</p> + +<p> +"In the name of our sovereigns, the Basileis, I order +the arrest of this traitor and rebel! He is conspiring +against their throne, and is defying the command of +the state to remain on the Asian frontier. Guards, +seize that man and bind him fast! I answer as lawful +authority for this order!" said Bringas, in a voice of +thunder. +</p> + +<p> +"I am no traitor nor rebel!" said Nicephorus, +proudly, with slow and measured utterance. "I come +here as magistros and grand domestic of the eastern +armies to swear allegiance to our young Basileis, and +to their mother, the lawful regent by the will of our +late emperor. I come to claim my right to a public +triumph for my victorious campaigns in Syria against +the infidel, and I come to claim my right, by the will +of our late lord, to be invested as general-in-chief of +the armies of the east." +</p> + +<p> +"The pretexts of a traitor!" cried Bringas, fiercely. +"Guards, do your duty and seize this rebel!" +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus stood almost alone in the midst of a +hostile council of his enemies, supported by ministers +of the state and by a strong armed force. Fearless as +he was, the general now felt that his precipitate act +had driven him into a veritable den of wild beasts +thirsting for his blood. +</p> + +<p> +Again the door opened, this time on the side of the +empress's apartments, and Theophano appeared, pale +as death, and hardly able to stand, with a proud gleam +in her royal eyes. She was borne along by +chamberlains, and attended by her own officials, and by +those members of the council of state on whom she +could count. She calmly moved towards the imperial +throne and took her seat as president—empress and +regent by undisputed right. +</p> + +<p> +"My lords," she said, with dignity, "the general of +the eastern armies is here by our imperial summons, +to take the oath of fealty to myself as regent and to +my sons, the Basileis, to be duly invested in the great +command which my late lord committed to him, and +to present to the people, as of old, the triumph in the +Hippodrome for the victories by which he has justified +his title to that high office." +</p> + +<p> +"Surely, madam," the eunuch broke in, "the triumph +should be adjourned until the campaign of the +east is concluded. The accursed Chamdas is still +unbroken. He yet holds his inner fortress of Aleppo, +and it is to be seen if he will not be soon as formidable +as ever." +</p> + +<p> +"My lord great chamberlain and lords of the council," +replied the regent, "the victories that the marshal +of the east has won are the most glorious of +which Rome can boast since the ages of our ancestors, +Heraclius or Justinian, of pious and immortal memory. +Crete has been restored to our empire after lying for +a hundred and fifty years under the iron heel of the +infidel. The spoil, the wealth, the stores that are +the prize of war exceed anything ever yet seen in +New Rome. The boundaries of the empire have been +moved again east to the rivers of Mesopotamia. No +captain since Belisarius has ever won such renown, +and, let me remind you, such popular favor and trust. +We must decree him the triumph that is his of right; +for let me warn you that to refuse it, while the city is +wild with excitement and our bravest troops are +making their cantonments resound with shouts for their +'ever-victorious commander,' would be to imperil the +security of our state, to shake the dynasty to its +foundations, and, indeed, to risk the very lives of those who +are known to be his public enemies." And she turned +with a dangerous flash in her eyes upon the eunuch. +"And for the loyalty of the lord general, my lords," +she added, "I myself, Augusta and regent, am ready +to answer." +</p> + +<p> +Here the roar of the vast crowds around the palace, +and shouts borne over sea and land, of our "Ever-victorious +Nicephorus Phocas!" joined to the powerful +and indeed unanswerable appeal of the empress, made +the council waver, and drove dismay into the soul of +Bringas. He dared no longer to resist openly, and +made politic excuses while he signed the orders for the +installation of the chief as generalissimo and for his +immediate celebration of the triumph. +</p> + +<p> +"The council has risen," said Theophano, in her +grandest tone, "and the ceremony of homage to ourselves +and to our sons and the installation of the grand +domestic shall take place forthwith in our privy +chamber," and she beckoned imperiously to Nicephorus +to attend her at once. +</p> + +<p> +Homage and installation were duly performed according +to the ceremonial of that most ceremonious of +courts. All were at last dismissed, but a secret +message from the empress recalled the general to a private +interview alone in her own cabinet. +</p> + +<p> +He fell on his knees, and, seizing her hand in his, he +kissed it with passion. Looking up to her with all the +fervor with which he had ever invoked the Mother of +God in his prayers, he murmured: "My queen, my +savior, my good angel, you have saved my life and my +honor!" +</p> + +<p> +"I have saved your life, indeed, and at the risk of +my own. I may die of this battle for your sake, but +I shall die with joy. My hero, my lord and master, +you and I are henceforth one. We will rule Rome +together, side by side, or die in each other's arms." +</p> + +<p> +Then Theophano bent down to the hero, as he knelt +at her feet; she threw her bare arms round his neck +and printed on his brow a long, melting, fervid kiss, +which thrilled through the veteran to the marrow of +his bones. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment the curtain over the door of the +cabinet was half pushed aside by a massive arm in an +embroidered robe. Bringas had ventured to make a +last appeal to the Regent, and had suddenly sought +her in her privy cabinet. +</p> + +<p> +Standing behind them, himself unseen, he watched +the embrace, and stealthily withdrew without a word. +It burst on the astute mind of the eunuch like a +thunderclap how it was that he had been outwitted +and rebuffed. He saw his own danger, and the forces +arrayed against him. He was no longer dealing merely +with the intrigues of a woman and the ambition of a +soldier. He saw that the man and the woman, who of +all Rome had the greatest influence, were now bound +together in love as well as in policy. He felt how +strong was the combination against him, but it made +him more fiercely resolved to win in the strife. +</p> + +<p> +The wild excitement of the great city would not +suffer the triumph to be delayed beyond the days +required to bring across from Asia picked detachments +of the victorious army, the principal prisoners of war, +and the trophies, spoils, and standards. The +ceremonies began with a solemn Pannychid—a succession +of magnificent Te Deums chanted in the great church +continuously all through the night, in presence of a +crowd of dignitaries, senators, officials, soldiers, and +prelates, adorned in state robes, amid a blaze of lamps +from a thousand chandeliers, while the ladies of the +court crowded into the galleries beneath the mosaic +domes of the Holy Wisdom. Then took place the +triumph itself, on a scale even more magnificent than +that which Nicephorus had celebrated on his return +from Crete. From the country round, and from the +towns on the Thracian and Asian shores and on both +sides of the Bosphorus, masses of people poured in, so +that the enormous city was one continuous throng +from Golden Horn to Golden Gate. From early dawn +the vast procession of troops on foot and on horse, of +prisoners in chains, camels, horses, trophies, and gold +and silver vessels, was extended along the "middle" +street, which had been decorated for the occasion with +wreaths, flowers, tapestries, flags, and Byzantine, or +what we now call "Venetian," masts. +</p> + +<p> +At length the Hippodrome was reached. On its tiers +of seats up to the marble colonnades were seated one +hundred thousand spectators in gala dress, according +to their rank. The cataphracti or mailed cuirassiers +came first, and were followed by detachments of +light-armed bow-men from the Anatolian mountains, and +Macedonian shield-men in close phalanx. After them +advanced Thracian and Albanian spearmen, wild Scythian +Cossacks, and at last a corps of Varangian battle-axe +foot-soldiers of the guard. Next were led detachments +of the finest Arab chargers, taken from the stable +of Chamdas's own palace, with their brilliant trappings, +arms, and accoutrements of gorgeous tones and Oriental +fantasy of ornament. Then came the camels taken +from the Saracens, bearing the embroideries, standards, +pennons, carpets, tents, kettle-drums, and trumpets, +with the general spoil of variegated colors and in +confused mass. A wild shout arose from the benches +on either side as the Hagarene captives in white tunics +were driven forward; and, as they were forced to +prostrate themselves in the dust before the imperial +balcony, the whole circus, at the signal of the precentors +of the factions, broke out into the ceremonial chant as +ordained in the book of rites: +</p> + +<p> +"Glory to God who has given us this triumph over +the children of Hagar! Glory to God who has laid in +the dust the cities of the Saracens! Glory to God who +has confounded those who mock at the Mother of God! +</p> + +<p> +"By the just judgment of God our enemies have been +thrust down! The horse and his rider hath He cast +into the sea! +</p> + +<p> +"Thy right hand, O Lord, hath become glorious in +power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces +the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +"Who is like unto Thee, O Lord; who is like Thee, +glorious in holiness, doing wonders? +</p> + +<p> +"Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which +Thou hast redeemed! +</p> + +<p> +"The Lord shall reign forever and ever!" +</p> + +<p> +So the Te Deum rang, led by the trained choirs of +the factions, each under their musical directors. The +entire audience of the circus joined in, and the familiar +chant was taken up by the vast crowds outside the +Hippodrome, until from some hundred thousand voices +in unison the song of triumph was borne across the +waters far away. +</p> + +<p> +It was a scene that combined the barbarous splendors +of a triumph by the Scipios and Cæsars of old +Rome, the fierce exultation of the tribes of Israel +recorded in the book of Exodus, and the majestic pomp +of a Te Deum celebrated as a religious rite with all the +fervor of the Orthodox Church. +</p> + +<p> +The long procession of the trophies and spoils of the +Saracens of Syria and Aleppo was closed by that +trophy which, to the people of Byzantium, outweighed +in value all the gold and silver, the gems, the +embroideries, the Damascene arms, and the enamels. This +was a silver-gilt and jewelled case containing battered +fragments of the camel's-hair tunic of St. John the +Baptist. This inestimable relic had fallen into the +hands of the infidel on the capture of the Holy City by +Omar. For more than three centuries it had remained +in the hands of the Hagarenes. The recovery of this +precious relic had seemed to the delighted populace a +glory to be placed beside the restoration of the true +cross to Jerusalem by the Emperor Heraclius.[<a id="chap15fn1text"></a><a href="#chap15fn1">1</a>] +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap15fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap15fn1text">1</a>] This holy tunic of the Baptist was kept reverentially in +Constantinople for 240 years, when it became the prize of the +Latin conquerors in 1204, and was carried off by Robert de +Clari to the abbey of Corbie. +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +As the last notes of the chant died away, the hero +of the hour was seen to enter the Hippodrome from +the Forum of Constantine, from whence the roar +of the people had already reached the expectant +crowds in the circus. Nicephorus, in his golden panoply, +covered with the crimson military cloak, stood in +the brazen chariot of state which was drawn by four +milk-white chargers led by grooms on foot. As he +advanced slowly round the vast circus, the shouts of +the assembly broke out with a frenzy of cheers; and +the choirs took up the chant again: "Long live the +ever-victorious commander! Son of God, give him +many happy years! Son of God, strengthen his arm +in battle! Son of God, give the victory to this Thy +people of Rome! Long years to our Basileis, whose +loyal servants we are! May this holy empire of Rome +be preserved forever and ever!" +</p> + +<p> +With these prayers to Heaven resounding in the +great amphitheatre, the victorious marshal advanced +to the eastern end, at which stood the cathisma, or +imperial tribune, where Theophano, in her robes of +state, blazing with gold brocade and jewels, sat between +her two infants, the joint Basileis, Basil II. and +Constantine VIII., as they were destined to become. +The milk-white chargers were reined in and the car +was halted at the foot of the stairs. Then Nicephorus, +escorted by chamberlains and officers, both military +and civil, stepped from his chariot and ascended the +staircase to the imperial throne. There he ungirt his +sword and laid it at the feet of the empress; and, +prostrating himself on the ground, he offered his homage +by kissing the fringe of her robe and by placing his hands +upon the knees of the two wondering royal children. +</p> + +<p> +Amid thunders of applause from the vast arena +and renewed chants of "Long life to the ever-victorious +commander! Long years to our august Basileis! +God preserve this holy empire of Rome!"—the soldier +rose to his feet. His queen beamed down on him from +her jewelled throne with looks of mingled love, triumph, +and admiration, that burned into his inmost soul. And +as he retreated slowly backward from the royal presence +he saw the cruel glare of envy and hatred which +Bringas and his partisans cast on him. The smiles of +the queen and the scowls of the ministers were alike +full of warning and charged with destiny. If the hatred +of the mighty statesman was a menace to his life, the +favor of the sovereign seemed to summon him to +mount to a dizzy and perilous height. +</p> + +<p> +Shaken to his soul by a storm of forebodings, amazement, +hope, and passion, Nicephorus drew himself free +from the throng of flatterers, friends, and rivals; and, +wrapping himself in a trooper's cloak, so as not to be +recognized, the triumphant general had himself rapidly +borne away to his own modest home in a distant +quarter of the city. There, tearing off his accoutrements +and all insignia of office and rank, he flung +himself on his simple couch in solitary seclusion; and, +falling on his knees before a small ikon of Mary, he +prayed to the Mother of God to guide his steps in the +dark wilderness in which he found himself entangled. +Transported out of himself far above the vociferous +pageants of that exhausting day, Nicephorus gave himself, +with all the mystical imagination of his Oriental +nature, to visions wherein he beheld the Queen of +Heaven offering him a place among the blessed saints +who had forsaken things of the earth for that peace +which the world cannot give. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap16"></a></p> + +<h2> +XVI +<br><br> +Cæsar at the Rubicon +</h2> + +<p> +All through the night of that eventful day of his +triumph the general tossed in a tumult of +conflicting emotions, while the noisy crowds surrounded +his abode with shouts of, "Our ever-victorious +commander!" and again, "Nicephorus to the Sacred +Palace!" and even "Nicephorus, our Basileus!" He +refused to show himself to the people, denied access +to all, sent for the monk Athanasius in order to +confess, and had himself clothed in the rough garb of a +postulant. He now fully understood the imminent +peril to his liberty and his life which the hatred of the +ruling faction involved. He felt, with a burning sense +of shame, that with all her fascinations the empress +sought him rather as a tool than as a husband. And +he saw before him the whirlpool of revolution, civil +war, calumny, and crime that he must face if he +suffered himself to be looked on as an aspirant to the +throne. He fell back, with groans and prayers, on his +old purpose of seeking rest in a cell as a simple monk +or hermit, as his own uncle had been before him. +</p> + +<p> +At last the faithful Digenes succeeded in forcing his +way to the chief. The whole city, he said, was now +in wild excitement, calling for the general to assume +the government and displace the hated eunuch. +Bringas, he said, was well aware of the danger to +himself, and was conspiring to arrest and destroy his rival. +There was but one course left. To save his own life, +to protect his friends, to restore the empire, the +general must grasp the power that all Rome and the army +thrust into his hands. +</p> + +<p> +"It cannot be," said Nicephorus, calmly; "I am +about to retire from this world of blood, struggle, and +evil passions. I have sent for the holy man of Mount +Athos, who is preparing for my admission to their +order. When my enemies find that I withdraw from +the contest and have no more part in things of earth, +they will leave me in peace and soon forget me. I +shall be forgotten—ay, by those," he added, bitterly, +"who now profess to care for me. It shall never be +said that a Phocas turned rebel to the dynasty of +Basil and plotted to drive an infant Basil from the +throne of his fathers, or made himself the tool of a +woman's ambition. Go, my son; go and tell them in +the city and in the palace that Nicephorus has now +become the hermit, Father Zachariah." +</p> + +<p> +"It is too late," said Digenes, with a groan—"too +late to save you from arrest, mutilation—it may be +death!" +</p> + +<p> +Here the colloquy was interrupted by a messenger, +who brought the general a formal missive from the +Sacred Palace that the council of state craved the +immediate presence of the grand domestic of the east +to confer on urgent affairs of the empire. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell them," said Nicephorus, with proud contempt, +"that I have done with council, palace, empire, politics, +and arms. I go to my cell. I leave it to them to +save Rome. I will not come." +</p> + +<p> +Digenes withdrew in despair; and now the hermit +Athanasius was again announced as craving an interview. +</p> + +<p> +"Let him come," said the great soldier, as he flung +himself down in abasement beneath the ikon; "all will +withdraw, and see that no man enter here." +</p> + +<p> +"Holy father, strengthen me in my purpose," +groaned the chief, as the hermit stood behind him, still +completely enveloped from head to foot and concealed +in an immense black cloak. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly the hood of the mantle was thrown back +and disclosed the pale countenance of Theophano +herself. Her eyes flashed with excitement; her features +shone with looks of eagerness, entreaty, and love; +her voice shook with anxiety, passion, and fear. +</p> + +<p> +"My hero," she broke out, spasmodically, "your life +is at stake, and I cannot save you from these fiends. +They have already set the vermilion seal to an order +to have you arrested and deprived of sight. They will +seize you if you set foot in the palace, and our friends +there are not strong enough to save you. They will +seize you even if you stay here. Rush for sanctuary +to the great church and claim the protection of the +patriarch. I came here myself at every risk, for I +dared not trust a messenger, and I know well, my +hero, my master, my saint," she added, in her sweetest +voice and with a look of love, "that Nicephorus is a +man of iron, who will not be turned from his purpose +even by his best friend." And Theophano put her +hand upon his shoulder as he still remained on his +knees before the ikon, and, passing her soft fingers +over his burning brow, she looked down into his +eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Madam," he said, slowly, "I am dead to this world. +I am dedicated now to God and to heaven." +</p> + +<p> +"It shall not be!" she replied, passionately. "If you +choose to sacrifice yourself, will you leave the Rome +you have saved to the mercy of these wretches, to the +savagery of the infidel? Will you doom to a prison +and mutilation my poor children, your true and lawful +sovereigns? Will you abandon me to degradation, to +a life of torment, to the worst shame that the eunuch +or the Hagarenes can devise—me who offer you everything +that the love of woman and the authority of an +empress of Rome can offer a soldier of the Cross? +Nicephorus, son of the hero Bardas, of the noble race +of Phocas, can you abandon to shame and ruin the +widow of your sovereign and the children of the house +of Basil?" +</p> + +<p> +He sank on the ground before her, and taking the +skirt of her robe in his hands he pressed it to his lips +with veneration, as if it were the girdle of the Mother +of God. +</p> + +<p> +"I go," she murmured; "I dare not stay; they will +send their guards here in a few moments. Rush to the +church. Claim sanctuary. I bid you in the name of +Christ—do this for me—and for mine." +</p> + +<p> +Theophano disappeared as silently and mysteriously +as she had come. And now Digenes broke in again +with news that the palace guard were already on their +way to seize the general. He concealed Nicephorus +in a military cloak and forced him into the church of +the Holy Wisdom. Then he rushed to the patriarch +to implore his protection for the fugitive who had taken +sanctuary in the most venerated temple of the city. +Polyeuctus summoned his whole chapter, and, bearing +aloft the miraculous crucifix, took Nicephorus under +his guardianship. In the mean time Digenes called +together the partisans of Nicephorus, and appealed to +the people to protect their hero from the vengeance of +his rivals. Furious mobs gathered round the cathedral, +shouting, "Long live the victorious chief!" "Death +to the eunuch!" "Nicephorus, our king!" and they +offered, by their mass and violence, effective resistance +to the guards who attempted to enter the church and +arrest the chief. +</p> + +<p> +Polyeuctus, with his austere virtue and genuine +patriotism, had long desired to put an end to the corrupt +and savage reign of the powerful eunuch, and he flung +himself into the defence of Nicephorus with all the +energy of his fiery and generous nature. He +vehemently denounced his purpose of retiring to a cell, +refused him absolution, and menaced him with +excommunication and every spiritual penalty unless he +continued to do his duty to the state. Dragging the +general with him, girdled by a crowd of priests bearing +sacred images and relics, in the midst of an immense +mob of citizens cheering the hero of the day, the +patriarch forced Nicephorus into the senate, which had +been already convoked by the regent's will. +</p> + +<p> +There Polyeuctus, with the general standing beside +him, poured out an impassioned appeal, of which this +is the substance: He gave a moving picture of the +decay of the empire and the ravages of the infidel by +sea and land until the invincible arm of Nicephorus +had driven them back to the far east. He spoke of +the orgies of the late reign and of the corruptions that +had eaten into the heart of the government. The +prime-minister, who had suffered—nay, encouraged—all +this corruption, he said, now claimed to be undisputed +master of the empire, and was affecting to be +the real Augustus in the name of an inexperienced +woman and her two babes. "Let us close this era of +corruption and fraud," he continued, "by giving +absolute power to the hero who has twice saved our name +and faith from its deadly foes—this stern and pious +soldier who is feared as much for his honesty by the +evil crew of the palace minions as he is feared for his +invincible prowess by the Hagarenes of Abd-el-Aziz or +of the accursed Chamdas, the enemy of Christ. Senators, +magnates, and officials of Rome, there is but +one man who can restore this empire and confront +its secret enemies at home as well as its open foes +abroad. Let us confer, as our forefathers of Rome +would do of old, dictatorial power on the one man who +is worthy to wield it." +</p> + +<p> +This fervid and bold appeal was received with cheers +by a majority of the Senate, but the party of Bringas +met it with furious opposition. Amid the storm of +conflicting voices, Nicephorus himself came forward +to protest that he would accept no office or task which +in any way trenched on the rights and prerogatives of +the regent or menaced the succession to the throne +of their lawful sovereigns, the infant Basileis. With +his hand on the holy relics, which the deacons had +carried before the patriarch into the senate house, +Nicephorus swore in presence of the entire senate, the +priests, and ministers assembled, that he prayed God +to strike him down with the foulest form of death, and +to consign his soul to eternal damnation, if he ever +should break his faith as a loyal subject of the regent +and the two Augusti. On their side, the senate, by +its chief officials, swore to maintain in his office the +grand domestic of the east, to suffer no act of state, +no appointment to office, and no dismissal from office +to be made without his sanction and advice. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus was saved. So far as words and oaths +could go—and they did not go far in the city "that +God protects"—he was practically invested with +despotic powers. But in face of the savage enmity of +Bringas and his party, and without any adequate +body of troops devoted to him, the general knew how +precarious was his life in the capital. He hurriedly +withdrew and hastened to his headquarters in +Cappadocia, where his friends gave out that he was busy +organizing his army for a fresh expedition into the +east. The struggle between Theophano and the +eunuch was carried on by both sides with desperate +energy and unscrupulous arts. The regent now took +into her favor Digenes, the akritas, as a trusty +partisan to Nicephorus, and had even sanctioned his +marriage with the Princess Agatha. Theophano now saw +the advantage of gathering to her faction the relations +of her late husband, whose legal successor she claimed +to be. She restored to their rank and liberty the +sisters of Romanus, now aunts of the Basileis de jure, +and ranged round her all the friends of the chivalrous +akritas and all the partisans of the princesses of the +Basilian dynasty. On his side, the astute lord +chamberlain was straining every nerve to find rivals to +Nicephorus, who might act as a counterpoise. He was +even suspected by the regent of looking to the +deposed family of Lecapenus, the late emperor, for a +possible pretender to the throne. +</p> + +<p> +After the revolution, which had driven out the sons +of Romanus Lecapenus and restored to his legal rights +Constantine Born-in-the-Purple, Stephanus Lecapenus +had been a state prisoner for nearly twenty years in +strict seclusion. He was now kept under rigid +surveillance in the island of Lesbos. In the church of +Methymna he was suffered to attend the solemn mass +on the eve of Easter Sunday. He was led to the altar, +and there was offered the consecrated elements by the +archpriest officiating. As he drank the cup he was +seen to stagger and fall, and before the rite was +concluded he lay a corpse in the church. The report of +his death was a three days' wonder at Byzantium, and +a fruitful occasion for suspicion, recrimination, and +gossip. But the sudden death of royal prisoners, +deposed sovereigns, and possible pretenders was too +common an incident in such times to cause any serious +commotion. The faction of the regent accused the +eunuch of the murder. The faction of Bringas laid +it at the door of the regent. Its only effect was to +make each more suspicious of the other side, as well as +more desperate in their own schemes. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus was now working night and day at the +reorganization and equipment of his veteran army. +His ulterior plans were undecided. But he saw that, +both for his own life and freedom, as well as for the +defence of the empire, his command of an army perfect +in discipline and ready for instant action was an +indispensable condition. Whether he was to crush the +Saracen forever, whether he was to save his own life, +he must be at the head of troops devoted to himself +and perfectly ready to fight. Michael, a secret emissary +of the regent, had just left his tent with an urgent +appeal from Theophano to hasten back to the capital +with a powerful army, in order to save her and her +children from the machinations of Bringas. Thrusting +aside his maps, plans, and the reports of his officers, +Nicephorus brooded over the tremendous issues at +stake—equally full of peril whether he advanced or +drew back. +</p> + +<p> +Hour after hour the general meditated, torn in +opposite ways by love and doubt, by eagerness to obey +his enchantress and by horror at the sin of plunging +the empire in civil war. In despair he flung himself +down with groans on his couch. Suddenly there burst +into his tent John Tzimisces, in a state of wild +excitement which made him defy all the courtesies of life. +"What! are you sleeping, general?" the impetuous +soldier broke forth—"asleep, when that wretched +eunuch is plotting your death! Up, or it will be too +late; there is not an hour to lose! March, or enter the +prison in which Bringas has ordered us to fling you!" +</p> + +<p> +"Prison! what prison?" said Nicephorus, stupefied +by the violence of the furious Joannes. +</p> + +<p> +"Read this," said John; "and a similar offer is made +to General Courcouas!" +</p> + +<p> +The letter was a long and formal document, signed +by Joseph Bringas in the name of the council of state, +over which he presided, detailing the facts of the vast +conspiracy that they had discovered in Byzantium to +do away with the infant Basileis and to place the +popular general on the throne of Basil. This plot, it +was added, was directed by Nicephorus in person, +while pretending to march against the Saracen, and +his agents and partisans had already been arrested +and put to torture. His father Bardas was in prison, +and his brother Leo was about to be arrested. The +arrest and punishment of so notorious a rebel was the +duty of every loyal officer of the empire. And the +council charged the Lord General Joannes, strategus +of the Anatolian theme, and the Lord General +Courcouas, strategus of the Cappadocian theme, to put +away this public enemy by all and every means in their +power. When they had fulfilled this service, John +should be duly appointed marshal of the armies of the +east, in place of the traitor, and Courcouas should +have supreme command of the armies of the west. +"Seize him, and force on him the tonsure he pretends +he desires, and immure him in a frontier monastery +for life; or send him in chains to us at Byzantium; +we shall know how to deal with him." And the letter +to Tzimisces was inscribed within, "To the lord marshal +of the east, hereafter to be named Basileus of +the Romans." +</p> + +<p> +And here General Courcouas burst in with the +second letter to the same effect. He was as much +excited as Tzimisces himself, and equally enraged at the +treachery of Bringas. +</p> + +<p> +"What can we do?" said Nicephorus, gloomily; "they +hold the official authority of the palace; to wrest it +from them means rebellion, anarchy, and civil war." +</p> + +<p> +"What can we do?" roared Tzimisces, aflame with +passion. "What! shall chiefs such as we are, at the head +of the finest army in the world, suffer ourselves to be +the slaves of a vile eunuch, a miserable Paphlagonian? +Are we going to be crushed by the infamous tricks of +the palace harem? There is not an hour to lose, I +say. Advance, or perish! Put the imperial diadem +on your brow and march for Constantinople this very +day!" +</p> + +<p> +So, too, said Courcouas, with furious gestures. And, +beside themselves with rage, the two generals drew +their swords and pointed them at the bare breast of +Nicephorus. +</p> + +<p> +"March!" they shouted, "or take this sword and die +as a Roman general should die rather than be made a +captive and a slave!" +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of this madness the officers of the staff +burst in, with a wild, insubordinate crowd of troopers, +for John had already communicated to his own following +the infamous proposals sent by the eunuch. The +news flew round the camp and excited an uproar. +John, Courcouas, and their comrades seized Nicephorus +as he was, and dragged him to the exercising +plain, where already the troops had been hastily called +to arms. They mounted their commander on a shield +and carried him round the squadrons and battalions +with a roar of cries: "Ever-victorious Nicephorus!" +"Autocrat of the Romans!" "All-powerful Basileus!" +"Long life to Augustus, our sovereign lord!" "Long +may he reign!" "God protect our invincible +emperor!" And this was followed by a roar as loud and as +spontaneous from ten thousand throats at once, as spears +and swords glistened in the sunlight and the eagles +were shaken in the air: "To Rome! to Rome! to the +city of the Cæsars!" +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus, indeed had crossed his Rubicon. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap17"></a></p> + +<h2> +XVII +<br><br> +The New Basileus +</h2> + +<p> +It was a glorious morning of summer, and the sun +had just risen over the crests of the range of +Anti-Taurus, when the most brilliant army of that warlike +age was drawn up on the plain of Cæsarea for the +installation of the new emperor. Nicephorus advanced +to the tribune, surrounded by the counts, strategi, and +captains of his eastern force. He had suffered them +to place on his feet the vermilion buskins clasped with +their golden eagles—the sign of majesty—but he +resolutely refused to accept the diadem and the purple +mantle they sought to force on him. Then he commanded +silence, and, with that voice like a trumpet +that had so often rung along their ranks, he spoke +thus: +</p> + +<p> +"Comrades, it is with no desire to be a tyrant that +I have taken up these imperial trappings; it has been +forced upon me by your summons and the will of the +army. You are my witnesses how unwillingly I assume +the task of preserving this our realm of Rome, and, +indeed, my own life. Almighty God above us knows +that I am ready to give my life for you, and no +suffering or danger can turn me from my purpose. You +have resolved that I shall not be crushed by the +insolent devices of that upstart eunuch, who presumes to +play the despot over all. He holds my venerable +father Bardas in his prisons; he is hunting to death +my brother Leo and my friends; he has sent orders +to our gallant generals here to send me in chains to +the capital, there to be blinded or murdered. I am +going, not in chains, but at the head of my brave +soldiers, to wrest the power of the empire from the cruel +hands of this usurper, to rescue my father and my +brother from his clutches, to restore the government +to its lawful princes. You know how I love you, my +children, and will stand by you till death. Rise, and +put your hearts into the fight. There is stern work +for us to do. I cannot tell you that it can be done +without shedding of your blood. I am leading you +this day, not against Cretans or Scythians or Arabs, +whom you have so often beaten, but against Romans. +We have to capture, not a hill-fort, but that great city +of the Cæsars on the Golden Horn, which has walls and +towers, garrisons, riches, stores, and splendor such as +no other city on earth can show. God is with me, for +my cause is just. I go not to dethrone our young +sovereigns, but to be their guardian and to secure their +throne. It is not I that break my oath. It is the +perjured villain who breaks faith with me, and is +plotting to kill me and mine. I have led you to glory in +many a fight of old. Follow me now to Rome, where +a nobler triumph awaits us, the cause of justice and +of God above!" +</p> + +<p> +These words roused a frenzy of excitement in the +troops, who replied with shouts of applause, with the +brandishing of their lances and the crash of arms. +Their beloved general, like the great Ironside he was, +would mingle appeals to battle and to God in the same +speech, for he well knew his Armenian and Anatolian +veterans to be as keen for fight as they were God-fearing +in heart. "These words of his," says Leo the +deacon, in his chronicle, "stirred the army to an +indescribable state of excitement, making them eager +for the most desperate adventure. The soldiers adored +him frantically and gloried to serve under him. Bred +to war from his youth upward, he not only was the +bravest of the brave in battle and endowed with +marvellous personal dexterity in arms, but he had that +genius for inspiring men with his own zeal that no +one of that age could be compared with him as +commander-in-chief." +</p> + +<p> +That very day the great march to the Bosphorus +began. Exercising at once the rights of emperor, +Nicephorus, with politic generosity, conferred on +Tzimisces and on Courcouas the very dignities with +which the eunuch had proposed to purchase their +treason. John was promoted to be magistros and +grand domestic of the eastern armies, and he was +placed in command of the Asiatic frontier to hold in +check the Saracens of Syria. From headquarters there +issued a stream of imperial despatches, nominations +to command, orders to march, and official requisitions. +Every high-road and every dominant post was occupied +with adequate detachments. The passes, the +fortresses, and the ports were all taken over by trusty +officers of the new sovereign. The army was mobilized +and concentrated, and was hurled in columns by +forced marches upon the shores of the Propontis. +</p> + +<p> +The whole of the Asiatic themes being thus in secure +possession of the new sovereign, and the seaboard +closed against any carrying of intelligence, Bishop +Philotheus was sent in advance with imperial missives +addressed to the patriarch at Constantinople, to the +senate, and to the great chamberlain at the palace. +The despatch to the latter was thus worded: +</p> + +<p> +"You will prepare to receive me, Nicephorus Phocas, +your sovereign, now duly invested with imperial +authority. My care will be to watch over the infant +sons of our late sovereign, Romanus, and to protect +them as their guardian until they come of age. I shall +devote myself to the service of the state, and I +undertake to increase the power of the Roman empire by +deeds of arms. They who resist my will must take +the consequences of their folly, for this issue must be +fought out to the death. Their blood will be upon +their own heads if they choose the wrong in place of +the right." +</p> + +<p> +So skilful had been the dispositions of the new autocrat, +and so perfect was the discipline of the Asian +government, that, according to the chronicle, no rumor of +the resolution that had taken place at Cæsarea reached +the capital until the bishop presented his despatch to +Bringas in council. The eunuch, beside himself with +rage, stormed at the venerable prelate, as if he had +been a rude messenger from some barbarous frontier +chief. He flung the poor bishop into prison, +proclaimed Nicephorus a rebel and an outlaw, and +prepared for a desperate defence. +</p> + +<p> +Bringas was not the man to yield without a stout +fight. As his overtures to John and to Courcouas had +failed, he turned to leading nobles and captains in the +west, whom he inspired with jealousy of Nicephorus. +He sent for Marianos Apambas, once commander of +the imperial forces in Italy, to whom he committed +the defence of the city. He secured also Paschal, a +former strategus, and Nicholas and Leo of the noble +house of the Tornicii. The vast ramparts of the city, +with their three hundred towers, were made ready for +assault, the city gates were barred, and a boom was +cast across the Golden Horn. The imperial guard +was called under arms, and contingents brought in +from Macedonia and Thrace, who were known to be +always jealous of the eastern divisions. Bringas got +a sentence of excommunication against Nicephorus; +he obtained an imperial order in the names of the +infant Basileis declaring the family of Phocas and his +partisans as outlaws. +</p> + +<p> +The empress, meantime, shut herself close in her +own wing of the palace, guarded by the most powerful +force she could muster to her defence. There the +Princess Agatha rushed into her room in a state of acute +agony with the news that the party of Bringas had +drawn up an order for the arrest of Basil Digenes, the +akritas, whom it was intended to mutilate or murder. +"Find some way to save him," she cried in despair, +"for we owe him this service. With his heroic spirit, +he neglected all the warnings of his friends to escape +in time. He thought he could still aid the cause of +his chief by watching his interests here—and I fear +that he lingered still for my sake—though I pressed +him to think of the danger he incurred. Save him, +Augusta, save the truest friend of the general and the +noblest soldier of Rome! He may be killed or blinded +before an hour is passed." +</p> + +<p> +"Where is he now?" asked Theophano. "I was assured +he had made his escape into Asia to the army." +</p> + +<p> +"But he came back secretly and managed to reach +the apartments of my sister and myself—in order," +she added, with a blush, "to induce me to fix a day for +our marriage, if he lived through the turmoil of these +times. We have concealed him for the moment, but +we cannot protect him long." +</p> + +<p> +"He shall be put in charge of our own cubiculars +of the royal chamber, and he shall be enrolled under +another name in the corps of palace guards whom I +have mustered for defence of myself and my children. +We will not be beaten without a sharp fight." +</p> + +<p> +The news now ran through the great city that Nicephorus, +with the vanguard of his army, had reached the +shores opposite. He was actually in possession of +Chrysopolis, the modern Scutari, and his ensigns could be +seen in the summer palace of Hieria, on the shore that +now faces Seraglio Point. The excitement in the city +grew intense. Vast crowds filled the streets day and +night, restrained only by the Macedonian troops, whom +Bringas had posted throughout the city, which was +declared to be in a state of siege. The passions of the +multitude rose to fever pitch when it was discovered +that the astute eunuch had taken care to have all +ships, barges, and every kind of craft removed from +the Asiatic coast, and that no means as yet existed +by which Nicephorus and his forces could cross the +straits. At dawn it was found that the venerable +Bardas, the father of Nicephorus, had escaped from +his prison and had sought sanctuary in the cathedral, +where the patriarch had taken him under his protection. +The guards of Bringas were sent to drag the veteran +out of the church; but angry crowds, with arms, stones, +and staves, drove back the troops, who sought to force +their way into the temple and to seize their prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +It was now the morning of Sunday, August 9th, +and vast crowds filled the church of the Holy Wisdom, +where the service of the day had begun. Bringas, +puffed up with overweening pride in his own authority +and confident in his military strength, rode down in +person from the palace, and with a body of his guards +tried to force his way to the very choir. He harangued +the people with daring insolence and threatened them +with his vengeance and an embargo on corn. This +roused the citizens to fury, and Bringas and his men +were driven out with insults and missiles. He made +his way back to the palace, with magnificent audacity, +still defying the mob, and even ordering the corn +market to be closed and no bread to be sold or issued. +But finding that Theophano and the royal princesses +were strongly guarded and barricaded in a large part +of the vast edifice, where Basil Digenes had assumed +the chief command, he felt himself no longer safe there, +and shut himself up with his guards in his own palace. +</p> + +<p> +The city thereon broke out into revolution, and for +three days and nights desperate street fights ensued +between the bands of citizens who sided with Nicephorus +and the Macedonian guards who remained loyal to +Bringas. By degrees armed detachments of Nicephorus's +partisans made their way into the city, and some +bands managed to cross the Bosphorus. Polyeuctus, +with his clergy and masses of citizens, bore the aged +Bardas in triumph to the imperial palace, and there +installed him in a strong position of defence. In one of +the desperate street fights which raged throughout the +city, a woman threw a heavy vase from a top window, +which clove the skull of Apambas, the commander of +the Macedonians. His death demoralized the last +defenders of the eunuch. The mob now stormed his +palace, sacked and burned it; and the defeated tyrant, +in turn, fled for sanctuary to the great church which +his intended victim had so recently left. His +partisans were hunted by the populace and thrown into +prison. The streets of the capital ran with blood. +For three days and nights massacre, pillage, arson +raged unchecked through the mighty city "protected +of God." Nicephorus, with his officers and troops, on +the Asian coast, without vessels to cross the straits, +watched from afar the tumult which they were powerless +to quell. +</p> + +<p> +The party of the new Basileus at last found a leader. +Basil, natural son of the former emperor or usurper, +Romanus Lecapenus, by a Russian slave of the harem, +had long been in high office under Constantine. He +was created a patrician in that reign, captain of the +guard, president of the senate, grand chamberlain, +and general in the war against the Saracens. He had +been prepared in childhood for high office short of +empire by the barbarous rite of emasculation, which +was regarded as a grotesque form of lay tonsure.[<a id="chap17fn1text"></a><a href="#chap17fn1">1</a>] But +he had wonderful energy, courage, and sagacity—a +born statesman. Before the accession of Romanus +he had been displaced by his rival, Bringas, disgraced, +deprived of office and rank, and consigned to obscurity +and strict surveillance. He naturally hated the eunuch +who had overthrown him. And his hour of retaliation +had come. Arming his own household, his slaves and +followers, to the number of three thousand, he +patrolled the city in force, beating down the remnants +of the Bringas faction, proclaiming the new emperor, +and restoring a regular police in the devastated city. +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap17fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap17fn1text">1</a>] Such persons, even if they were of royal blood, could be +intrusted with the highest office and power, without risk of their +aspiring to the throne, from which by law and custom they +were cut off as disqualified. Throughout the whole history of +the Byzantine empire, as of the sultanate, they often rose to +almost despotic power. +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +Thence he led his men to the Golden Horn, seized +the ships in port, and despatched them across the +straits to transport the army of the new sovereign. +The imperial fleet, barges, vessels of all kinds, and +open boats, carried over crowds of citizens, who flocked +to hail the rising sun of empire with shouts of "Long +live our glorious and ever-victorious Nicephorus!" On +Sunday, August 16th, exactly a week from the outbreak +of the revolution, the new emperor was escorted +by the new grand chamberlain and a swarm of +functionaries to the capital to be crowned. The imperial +galley, gilt from stem to stern, dressed with silken +banners and awnings, had a deck bridge adorned with +figures and emblems and an image of St. George at +the prow. There sat on his throne the new chief, as +his oarsmen, with gilded sweeps, slowly rowed the +state vessel beneath the city walls round to the suburb +of Hebdomon, south of the mighty ramparts. Thence +through the Golden Gate, the autocrat, in golden armor, +rode in procession to the church of the Holy Wisdom. +He sat on a white charger, caparisoned with housings +of purple, gold, and jewels. The long route of many +miles in extent, thronged with vast crowds cheering +the new sovereign, was adorned with wreaths, banners, +and triumphal arches. At various points on the course +the emperor dismounted to prostrate himself in many +a venerated church before some miraculous image, and +placed lighted tapers in sign of adoration. At other +spots he had to be disarmed from his military +accoutrements and invested with the imperial +scaramangion, or mantle of ermine and rare furs. His sword +was then laid aside and the sceptre surmounted with +the cross was placed in his right hand. At the Golden +Gate the Saracen prisoners fell into the cortège, and +the factions met him with their eternal chants of "Hail, +victorious chief!" "Nicephorus, king of the Romans!" +</p> + +<p> +It would be tedious to narrate in detail the interminable +ceremonies of that long day of triumph and +consecration. It was all carried out minutely, according +to the book of ceremonies, in the solemn and sacramental +forms that had been used at the installation of +Romanus four years before, forms that had been used +in the city of the Constantines for some five centuries +already, that were destined to be used there for some +five centuries more. These secular rites have been +servilely imitated and adapted by all the monarchies +of the west and of the north for a thousand years +since. It was the same elaborate consecration of a +king by the high-priests of the state church, of which +we lately witnessed the revival in an age which claims +to have outgrown Byzantine servility, superstition, +and gaudy display. +</p> + +<p> +In those days kings and their people attached a +mystical importance to the sacramental character of +those acts of consecration. And the new Basileus was +himself a mystic among mystics. Accordingly, Nicephorus +duly prostrated himself before the miracle-working +image of the Mother of God; the tapers were duly +lighted; the incense ascended from the altars; the +royal vestments were duly exchanged for the imperial +tunic. The diadem was bound round the grizzled +head of the new sovereign; the military greaves were +then solemnly changed for the vermilion buskins. And +thus on foot the emperor entered the porch of the +Holy Wisdom, where he was met by the patriarch +and all his chapter. The true cross, which St. Helena +had recovered, and which, ultimately, at the +fourth crusade, passed to St. Louis, in Paris, was +solemnly borne before the monarch amid the adoration +of the worshippers around. Again and again the royal +vestments were changed, after being first solemnly +blessed by the patriarch. Then the emperor was +conducted by the priests to the ambon, where the +prayers and offices of consecration were said, and the +holy oil of anointing was poured on the royal person; +and at last the imperial crown was solemnly placed +on the veteran's brow amid chants of "Holy, holy, +holy, glory to God in the heaven, peace to men on +earth!" +</p> + +<p> +But the very enumeration of the endless stages in +the rite becomes intolerable. Nor can modern patience +endure the recital of the perpetual acts of reverence, +homage, symbolic gestures, of the processions, feastings, +and gala courtesies of that prodigious ceremonial. +Hour after hour the chants went on with a rhythm +that combined Oriental prostration to a despot with +Christian litanies of adoration: "Hail, Nicephorus, +autocrat of the Romans!" "Hail, mighty sovereign of +the Romans!" "Hail, thou who hast put to flight our +enemies!" "Hail, thou who hast destroyed the cities of +the foe!" "Thou hast thrust Ishmael into the dust!" +"God hast shown pity on His people, in that He has +placed thee on the imperial throne!" "Rejoice, thou +city of the Romans!" "Receive him whom God has +crowned!" "The people desire Nicephorus to be their +king!" "The law requires him to reign!" "The palace +asks for him to rule!" "The senate calls for him!" +"The army cries out for him!" "The whole world craves +for Nicephorus to be its sovereign lord!" "Hear us, +O God, when we call to Thee!" "Hear us, O God, and +grant long life to our king!" "Give him long life, O +Christ!" "God preserve him!" "Long may he reign!" +"May God keep this Christian realm in His holy keeping!" +</p> + +<p> +Such were the chants and litanies which hour after +hour rang through the domes of the Holy Wisdom, +rang through the streets and porticos of the vast city. +They were chants which, in a few short years, were +turned into execrations and comminations. But they +are the very words which for a thousand years the +peoples of Europe have shouted to high Heaven on the +day when they have to welcome a new master and ask +the blessing of God upon his reign. +</p> + +<p> +When the portentous ceremonial in the church of the +Holy Wisdom was completed, the imperial procession +was formed again, led by a body-guard consisting of +one hundred Varangian halberdiers and one hundred +young nobles. The sovereign was escorted to the hall +of the throne, where the homage or "adoration," as +it was called, was duly performed. The chief dignitaries +of the empire prostrated themselves at the feet +of the new lord. An endless stream of courtiers +followed, in their ranks, as marshalled by the masters of +the ceremonies. At last Nicephorus was carried back +to the Sacred Palace—now "autocrat of the Romans, +the equal of the apostles, successor of the pious +Constantine, of him who had founded the city and +endowed the church, the vicegerent of Providence on +earth." There he was joined by the empress, radiant +and triumphant, who received him with a smile that, +to him, was of more value than the blessings of a +thousand priests and the cheers of a hundred thousand +citizens, a smile which promised him a crown more +precious than all the glories and the powers which the +empire of the world had to give. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap18"></a></p> + +<h2> +XVIII +<br><br> +Emperor and Patriarch +</h2> + +<p> +The first act of the new emperor was to hold a +council, at which he made a series of appointments +to fill the offices of the empire. He dispensed with +the elaborate code of etiquette which for centuries had +surrounded every act of the Augustus. He took his +seat at the council-board as if he were still general +holding a council of war among his officers rather than +as a ceremonial successor of Justinian and Theophilus. +He did not fill up the appointment of parakeimomenos, +or grand chamberlain, the office which had made +Bringas the real master of the empire; but he created +Basil, son of Lecapenus, president of the senate, and +practically invested him with chief power. Bardas, +his venerable father, whose life had been saved in the +revolution, was now created Cæsar, a title revived +from an earlier age of the Roman empire. John +Tzimisces was confirmed in his office of domestic, or +grand marshal of the east. Leo, the brother, was +created a magistros and curopalates, or grand marshal +of the palace—<i>i.e.</i>, practically, commander of the +imperial body-guard. Bringas was deported to a distant +monastery in Asia, where he lived in obscurity for +years; but he was not otherwise punished, and was not +confined in an actual prison. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus then ordered his own household. He +refused to use the sacred koitôn, or bedchamber of +the emperors. He had his camp-bed placed in a small +and simple cabinet adjoining his private office. He +bore in public the imperial robes, but beneath them +he had the hair-shirt of a penitent. Ever since the +tragic death of one as dear to him as life, he had sworn +off the use of meat and of wine. His private table was +still served as before with the food and drink of a +hermit; for he felt himself in his own eyes a monk +upon the throne, a humble follower of St. Theodore, +one of the soldier-martyrs of the faith. On the first +day of his reign he had admitted to audience the +prelate Antony, syncellus (or abbot) of the great +monastery of St. George of the Stoudion, who came in the +name of the patriarch and of the chapter of the Holy +Wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +"Most august Basileus," he said, after the formal +compliments and statement of his mission, "the venerable +patriarch, the abbot Anastasius of Mount Athos, +and myself of the Stoudion, have earnestly, but +faithfully in our duty to God, resisted your desire to enter +our ranks as a monk, for we hold that the safety of +this realm requires you to act as its commander in war +and as its ruler in peace. The duties of a monk are one; +the duties of a sovereign are other. It is impossible +to be both monk and king. This palace has been for +ages the scene of royal festivities and pomps. The +citizens will not endure to be deprived of such holidays +and shows; and government of the realm could not be +carried on if these things were suddenly suppressed. +We churchmen are the first to honor the pious purpose +of your Majesty, to show an example of temperance, +chastity, and godliness in halls which have long been +the scene of frivolity and vice. But the austerities of +a hermit do not become a king and are prone to be a +subject of mockery and malice. It is ill wearing a +hair-shirt beneath the mantle of a Basileus in the +golden throne-room. And it is in vain to eat dry +bread and drink plain water at a state banquet in the +hall of the nineteen couches. Eat, live, sleep with +temperance, not with austerity—as a soldier, not as a +monk. This magnificent palace has for centuries been +the court of an Augusta as well as of an Augustus. +It is to be feared that scandals may arise if it be given +up entirely to men, to courtiers, to soldiers, and their +followers and lackeys." +</p> + +<p> +"Dost thou, indeed, counsel me, holy father, to take +to myself the late regent?" asked Nicephorus, with an +eagerness that was almost fierce. +</p> + +<p> +"God forbid!" replied the monk, sternly. "She it +is whom we fear. It is but five months since she +became a widow. And did not her widowhood now +forbid such an alliance, her youth and her career make +it impious to harbor such a thought. Most august +sovereign, we have not offered to your Majesty a +suggestion so unworthy of your inviolable name." +</p> + +<p> +"What, then, is your meaning, my father?" asked +the Basileus, sternly. +</p> + +<p> +"That the ex-empress, the widow of the late Basileus, +must cease to reside in the palace of the unwedded +emperor, to whom she is not wife nor sister nor +kinswoman." +</p> + +<p> +"And if I choose that she shall remain—being mother +to the infant Basileis," asked Nicephorus, proudly, +"who will say me nay?" +</p> + +<p> +"The people, who will say that their hero has taken +to himself not a queen—but a mistress; the nobles, +who will hold that Nicephorus rebelled against his +lawful sovereign in order to lie with his wife; and the +Church, which will forbid you the holy things as one +who sets an example of evil living on the throne of +Rome." +</p> + +<p> +And with that the monk left the presence of the +sovereign, who stifled his rage, perplexity, and bitterness. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus controlled himself sufficiently to +commission the monk to repeat the decision of the Church +to Theophano in person. He did not dare to brave the +chance of such a scandal. Nor did it suit Theophano +to risk such an issue. She formally withdrew from the +Sacred Palace with all her retinue and officials, and +was duly installed in the monastery of Petrion, at the +upper end of the Golden Horn, in the quarter now +known as that of the Phanar, which was almost a +suburb of the capital. +</p> + +<p> +Her widowhood and seclusion did not last long. +There had been a passionate scene when the monk had +insisted on her leaving the palace, and Theophano +rushed to Nicephorus and plied him with tears, +blandishments, and entreaties. She fell on his neck and +adjured him not to consign her to a life of the cloister. +She had saved his life, she had placed him on the throne, +she had loved him for years. Her dying husband, she +swore, had named his beloved general to be his successor +on his throne and in his bed, and to be the guardian +of his infant children. As a stranger to the family +of Basil, Nicephorus would be tempted and even +counselled to put the children away. As their step-father, +and husband of their mother, he would be their natural +guardian. Finally, in a torrent of tears and passionate +appeals, she refused to quit the palace unless Nicephorus +swore that he would make her his wife at the +earliest time that was possible. +</p> + +<p> +The earliest time came very soon; and the patriarch, +however loath, was obliged to perform the ceremony +in person. The customary rites were gone through, +but somewhat abridged, first, by the dislike of +Nicephorus for all forms of display, and then by the fact +that Theophano had already been crowned as Augusta, +and was only to be formally restored to the high place +she had occupied so brilliantly for years. But the +litanies and the chants, the blessings of the vestments, +the homage of the lords and ladies of the court were +by no means curtailed. When the ceremony was +complete, Nicephorus advanced as of right and custom to +the bema, and was about to pass through the iconostasis, +or screen, to prostrate himself before the high +altar within the chancel. Such was the right of the +emperor alone of laymen—a right which no man could +value more profoundly than the imperial hermit himself. +</p> + +<p> +As the emperor attempted to enter within the Holy +of Holies there confronted him the patriarch Polyeuctus, +with all his clergy, clad in vestments of high +office and bearing the sacred emblems of their worship. +The venerable patriarch boldly thrust back his sovereign +and barred his progress within. Stretching out his right +arm, in a voice that rang through the domes of the +gorgeous church crowded with courtiers and officials, +Polyeuctus cried: "Basileus, whom God has crowned, +thou shalt not come within this holy place. If thou +dost force a way to the altar, thou wilt incur the +greater excommunication from all sacred things. Thou +knowest well the canon which imposes a year of +penance upon those who enter into a second marriage. +To that state of penance thou hast condemned thyself +by the act of to-day in marrying the widow of our +late king. Not till a year and a day have passed can +I suffer thee to enter here or to touch with thy lips the +altar of Christ!" +</p> + +<p> +A profound silence fell on the crowded church as +the courtiers heard the prelate defy the sovereign in +the hour of his pride and glory. Amazement, awe, +wrath stirred the assembly. For a full minute the +Basileus glared at the priest who had dared to inflict +on him a rebuff such as the proud soldier had never in +his whole life had to endure. For a short space +Nicephorus was speechless. But with a great effort he +smothered his wrath and concealed his astonishment. +"Priest," he said, firmly, as he stood his ground, "the +king, chosen by the Romans, and crowned by God, +has the right by virtue of his office to approach the +altar. Stand back, I charge thee, ere I order thy +arrest as a traitor!" +</p> + +<p> +"Basileus," replied the patriarch, with a shrill but +clear-cut voice, as his meagre form seemed to be +lighted up with a divine fire within, "there is no king +within this holy place but God, whose servant and +messenger I am. Advance one step nearer to God's +holy altar, and I pronounce against thee full sentence +of excommunication from all rites of the Church." +</p> + +<p> +The congregation stood aghast, struck dumb, as +courtier faced priest, soldier confronted monk—as +loyalty to the hero-king struggled against profound +veneration of the sacred rites. But in that age, and +with a ruler so deeply imbued with that reverence in +its severest form, the issue could not be doubtful. The +emperor mastered his passion and submitted with +majestic self-control. He slowly took his way back +to the palace with a bitterness in his soul that had +made him a new man. +</p> + +<p> +While this was going on in the church, Theophano +was holding a high court to receive the homage of the +ladies of rank. Seated on a golden throne, attended +by her eunuchs and dames of honor, the empress was +robed in imperial garments of silk damask in diaper +pattern adorned with pearls and rubies. On her head +was the diadem with the triple rows of pearl pendants; +in her hand a jewelled sceptre. Nicephorus sought to +assuage the fire that consumed him with the sight of +the radiant happiness of his queen; nor would he suffer +her day of glory to be clouded by any report of the +affront that had been inflicted on himself. With a +bitter heart and a gnawing sense of all the humiliations +and sacrifices to which his love was too certain to +expose him, he suffered himself to be taken through all +the ceremonies of the occasion, and the day was ended +by a gorgeous banquet of two hundred and forty +guests in the famous triclinion, or hall of the +nineteen couches. There Augustus and Augusta sat in +state beneath the mosaic dome that covered the +accubiton, or raised dais of state. Even there, +Nicephorus had ordered them to serve him his accustomed +supper of oatmeal-cake, rice, and herbs. "Taste this, +if you love me," whispered Theophano, bending to her +husband with a look that pierced his senses to the +very bone, and she pressed on him a rich dish of savory +meat. "Pledge me in a cup of Chian wine on this day +of our wedlock," she whispered again, as the golden +goblet was handed by the imperial cup-bearer. "In +token of our love," she murmured. That night Nicephorus +ate flesh and drank wine, neither of which he had +tasted for many a long year. It was the first step of +a new life, the prelude to many another thing. That +night he violated all his oaths, and he knew it: for in +spite of himself he heard the words ringing in his +ears—"The woman gave me to eat, and I did eat." +</p> + +<p> +The woman gave him many more things of which +he had small desire and no experience. Theophano +insisted on having the new reign inaugurated with an +endless succession of festivals, games, shows, gifts, and +court ceremonials. Basil, the prime-minister, and Leo, +the curopalates, pressed on the emperor in council the +need of gratifying the people and nobles by brilliant +displays, in order to allay the irritation already +arising from the rigid economy in the finances of the +empire. On this Nicephorus had insisted with a view +to maintaining the vast drain of his eastern army. +He toiled day and night with his military staff and his +expert officials in organizing the armies of east and +west, and in restoring the fleets and arsenals of the +Mediterranean, while he suffered the empress and the +state functionaries to arrange a series of public festivities. +</p> + +<p> +Day after day the Hippodrome was the scene of +shows, each surpassing the last in novelty and splendor. +The familiar and furious chariot-races were followed +by marvellous displays of acrobats, wrestlers, +jugglers, and dancers from India, Nubia, Arabia, or +Syria, clad in many-colored robes of Oriental fantasy, +with lithe contortionists, rope-dancers, pole-climbers, +and various exotic performances which held the +people spellbound. Then would be produced displays of +horsemanship, first by Cossacks and then by Bedouins, +feats of polo, archery, and the Arab game of jerid. +Next advanced troops of Russian mimes in shaggy +furs, drawn in on native sleighs with characteristic +sham fights and uncouth weapons. On another day +wild beasts from Asia or Africa were shown to the +wondering populace, Bactrian camels, leopards held +by chains, giraffes, gazelles, zebras, and even an +elephant, a rhinoceros, and a crocodile. At all these +shows the new Basileus was forced to preside in state, +in costume of ceremony, and seated aloft in the +cathisma, whence he solemnly waved his blessing to +the people, gave the signal for the race to begin, or +awarded the prizes to the charioteers amid the +everlasting shouts of the factions: "God bless and give +long life to our august Basileus." +</p> + +<p> +The religious ceremonies were assuredly not forgotten; +and these Nicephorus performed with far greater +willingness and interest. In solemn procession, +attended by his palace officers and escorted by bands of +priests, choristers, and acolytes, the Basileus visited the +great temples of the city, mounted on his milk-white +charger in gorgeous caparison of state, riding side by +side with the patriarch, mounted on his less martial +mule—symbol of the union of State and Church. He +made pilgrimage in turn to the cathedral of the Holy +Wisdom, to the church of the Apostles, the old burial-place +of the emperors, to such famous convents as the +Stoudion, or the Pegee, or to the venerated shrines +having pictures "not made with hands," and images +that were counted to effect miraculous cures. Or, +again, he performed, with a faith that his predecessors +had too often lacked, some antique function of +the imperial ritual, at the season of the birth of Christ, +or that of the crucifixion, or such as the ceremonial +bath in the holy water of Blachernæ, at the +north-western extremity of the capital. But no ceremony, +no care of state, no toil of his office, could turn +Nicephorus from the Theophano whom he had won for his +own by such sacrifices and so many desperate struggles. +He lavished on her all she asked—jewels, tapestries, +palaces, villas, and domains—imperial splendor and +boundless wealth. +</p> + +<p> +The influence of the empress over her husband, and +the change of life that was visible in Nicephorus, who +from an armed anchorite seemed to be fast adopting +the habits of a Byzantine autocrat, caused much searching +of heart in the venerable patriarch. On her side, +Theophano could never forget, nor suffer her husband +to forgive, the deadly stigma which the Church had +inflicted on her second marriage. +</p> + +<p> +Polyeuctus and the Basilissa were now open enemies. +But a more terrible struggle was at hand. The marriage +festivities were still in progress when the court +chaplain, Stylianos, hurried to Polyeuctus to inform +him that Nicephorus had acted as godfather at the +private baptism of the infant son of Romanus and +Theophano, at which the chaplain had officiated. The +patriarch bounded with exultation. "It is within the +prohibited degrees," said the fanatic monk, "for the +godfather to marry the mother of his child-in-God." "It +is incestuous by the canon of our sixth council, +held in the time of Constantine V.," said the patriarch. +Polyeuctus hastened to the palace and insisted on an +immediate audience with the Basileus. Once +admitted, he bearded the king with all the passion of +his fanatical faith. +</p> + +<p> +"It is my solemn duty to inform your Majesty that +Holy Church declares to be incestuous the marriage +you have attempted to contract with the mother of +your child-in-God, the infant Basileus. Constantine," +said the patriarch, firmly, "thou must put her away +forthwith and forever, and do penance for the incestuous +union that has been begun in the ignorance of the +true facts that the Church had not time to repair." +</p> + +<p> +"Put away her to whom I have been joined by thy +own act, by the solemn words—till death do us part? +Put away my wife, dost say, venerable patriarch?" +</p> + +<p> +"The canon of the sixth council is precise and +conclusive," said Polyeuctus. +</p> + +<p> +"And if I refuse to accept this fantastic rule of +spiritual affinity?" asked the Basileus. +</p> + +<p> +"It will be my painful duty towards God to pronounce +on your Majesty the most terrible sentence of +excommunication known to Holy Church, to forbid +you all access to the house of God, to the altar of Christ, +to the shrine of His Mother—to deprive you of every +rite or privilege of Christian man. Basileus of the +Romans, I warn thee, thou wilt be in worse case than +the Hagarene and the pagan, who at least have something +they believe to be divine that they can adore." +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus was himself so deeply saturated with +reverence for the mysteries, and had so long been +accustomed to bow down before the piety of the patriarch, +that he mastered his emotion on hearing this tremendous +sentence, and desired time to reflect. +</p> + +<p> +"Venerable patriarch of the Mother Church of our +empire, withdraw from our presence. We will take +counsel on this matter," said the Basileus, with stern +dignity and wonderful self-control. +</p> + +<p> +He took no counsel but of his own heart in the storm +of passion which shook his soul hour after hour, upon +this cruel shock to his pride, his love, and his fear of +God. Long he paced the chamber, foaming with rage, +like a caged lion. As night fell, he summoned a trusty +cubicular and bade him tell the patriarch that the +emperor would not part from the empress while breath +was in his body. Then he hurried to the harem of +the great palace and flung himself into the arms of +his beloved wife—that paradise for which he was +willing to brave eternal damnation. +</p> + +<p> +The cubicular returned with the formal message from +the patriarch that excommunication would be +pronounced in full conclave on the following day. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus was not the man to give his enemy time +to attack. By daybreak he had summoned a council +of all the prelates of the distant provinces who had +come up to the capital to do homage to the new +sovereign, and to them he added leading members +of the senate and nobles. The Basileus himself +presided; and he demanded a formal response to his +question if his marriage, solemnized in church by the +patriarch and his chapter, were not an indissoluble +union by the laws of God and man, overriding any +figment of spiritual affinity contracted by a mere ritual +form. +</p> + +<p> +The council, overshadowed as it was by the authority +of the autocrat, discussed the question at great length +and with prodigious learning. The senators and officials +urged the assembly to pronounce in favor of the +Basileus; but not a few of the bishops clung to the +sacred authority of a formal canon of a general council. +This seemed to them imperative, and incapable of any +dispensation or avoidance. Nicephorus with difficulty +suppressed his impatience, fearing that by the delay +the patriarch might anticipate him by a formal sentence. +But here a highly ingenious prelate, the bishop +of Cæsarea, a compatriot and devoted supporter of the +family of Phocas, arose and said: +</p> + +<p> +"August Basileus and venerable prelates of our +holy Church, lords, senators, and ministers of state, +methinks we are forgetting the date and origin of this +canon which is appealed to in order to annul the +solemn consecration of marriage between our gracious +autocrat and the Augusta. The canon in question was +formally promulgated in the reign and by the authority +of the ill-omened usurper and enemy of the Church, +Constantine, of evil name and infamous memory, as +part and parcel of his abominable tyranny and +persecution. The canon was decreed as binding on the +Church by those heretics and miscreants who +attempted to suppress the use of holy images in our +worship. Now, it is known to all men that the acts +of the iconoclasts, whether sovereigns or patriarchs, +have been formally pronounced by Church and by +State to be null and void and of no authority or effect. +This canon, even if well and lawfully approved by the +Church, has never been promulgated by any but a +sacrilegious and heretical usurper of the throne of the +Romans. And I call on you, reverend fathers in God, +and honored lords, to declare that the canon is no bar +to the lawful and most religious marriage contracted +by their Majesties at the altar of God and in presence +of the reverend patriarch himself." +</p> + +<p> +This speech was received with such a tumult of +approval and relief by the imperial party in the council, +that Nicephorus abruptly declared the proposal of the +bishop of Cæsarea to be adopted, and he took care to +have it instantly conveyed as a judgment to the +patriarch. Polyeuctus was not the man tamely to +submit to such an evasion, and he fiercely inveighed +against an attempt to set aside a canon which, for +two hundred years, had never been directly impugned +or set aside. In this contention he was supported by +his own chapter of the Holy Wisdom, and a state of +indescribable excitement arose in the Church and in the +city, as a conflict seemed imminent between the +metropolitan, supported by his clergy, and the emperor, +supported by the senate and provincial prelates. For +a whole day the storm raged round Church and palace, +and men feared that the horrible scandals were about +to be renewed as in the old days of the image-breakers, +when the Church and all those, both clerical and lay, +who clung to the patriarch, defied the iconoclast +emperors and their court, and endured cruel persecution +in defence of their holy and ever-to-be-venerated ikons. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of this confusion the court chaplain, +Stylianos, unwilling to suffer disgrace and exile, and +hopeful, perhaps, of future promotion, bethought him +that in the ceremony of baptism, which had been +hurriedly and privately performed owing to the precarious +health of the new-born infant, Nicephorus had simply +been present as representing his aged father, Bardas, +who was the true sponsor of the infant prince. +Nicephorus remembered that such had been the intention, +but what passed in the haste of the impromptu +ceremony had escaped his memory. And Bardas, when +appealed to, called to mind that Romanus, the +autocrat, had sent him a summons to attend the +ceremony, which his age and infirmities had prevented him +from doing at the time. Polyeuctus was persuaded +by the prime-minister Basil, by Stylianos the chaplain, +and even by the monk Athanasius, to accept this +solution of the imbroglio, on condition that Nicephorus +himself should swear on the relics of St. Theodore that +he had attended the ceremony of baptism as his +father's proctor, and that Bardas also should swear on +the relics that he had been summoned as real sponsor +of the prince. This was done in presence of the +patriarch, who, thereupon admitting on sworn testimony +that no spiritual affinity, in fact, existed between +Nicephorus and Theophano, consented to withhold his +terrible ban. With a mind full of foreboding, he +recognized the imperial marriage as valid, though +nothing could induce his stern and devout nature to +relieve the emperor from the penance of being forbidden +to enter the holy place of the temple till a year +had passed after contracting a second marriage with +one who had so lately been the wife of another. +</p> + +<p> +The storm passed, and the open breach between +empire and Church was avoided, or, at best, postponed. +But Nicephorus to his dying day remembered the +public stigma which had been passed on the marriage +for which he had sacrificed so much; and the patriarch, +with gloomy misgivings, looked forward in pain to +the issues of a reign which he had done so much to +promote, but which had opened with such sinister omens +in the house of God and in the eyes of Holy Church. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap19"></a></p> + +<h2> +XIX +<br><br> +The Saracen Peril +</h2> + +<p> +The emperor now applied his whole mind to affairs +of state with all the burning energy of his nature; +and he sat day by day with his chosen officers in secret +council, dictating orders to his proto-secretis. Though +he submitted with the best grace he could command +to the public ceremonials and pilgrimages which policy +and the traditions of his office required him to perform +in person, his absorbing task was the organization of +his army, the navy, the finances, and the imperial +administration. And, though the wound so ostentatiously +inflicted at once on his pride and his love by the +fanaticism of the patriarch lay deep in his mind as an +open sore, he remained unshaken in his devotion to +Holy Church, and in profound regard for the hermit of +Mount Athos. +</p> + +<p> +The very day after this fierce struggle, Nicephorus +was closeted with Digenes, and was imparting to him +his great schemes for the restoration of the Roman +name. +</p> + +<p> +"From the time of our mighty predecessor, Heraclius," +said he, "for more than three hundred years, the +children of the False Prophet have been gaining, step +by step, upon the children of Christ. A few generations +more and they will have blotted out the Church +of God and His Mother. The prophet of the Lord may +well say to the Hagarene, 'Hast thou killed and also +hast thou taken possession?'" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay," interrupted the ardent young warden, "such +victories as those of thy father Bardas, of thy +grandfathers and kinsmen of Armenia, and, above all, thy +own most glorious achievements in Crete and in Syria, +in Cilicia and Aleppo, bear witness that Christ will not +forsake His people forever, and that the days of glory +of the Prophet are no more." +</p> + +<p> +"We beat them back time and again, and the tide +has turned on our side within the last indiction. But +as I look back over these centuries stained with all the +savage tyranny of the image-breakers, and the follies +of our Isaurians, Amorians, Arabians, and Khazars on +the throne, Michael 'the Monk,' Michael 'the Stammerer,' +and Michael 'the Drunkard,' I see that the +Crescent is steadily driving back the Cross. One or +other will assuredly perish in the long combat at last." +</p> + +<p> +"At what point will you strike them first?" asked +Digenes, abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +"The power of the great Asian caliphate has been +weakened by rivalries, rebellions, and divisions, but +it is by no means broken. The accursed Chamdas +snake is scotched, but not killed. The Hamdanite +family is still as active and fierce as ever. Aleppo, +Antioch, Edessa, obey their victorious emirs, and persecute +our believers. While Syria, with all its cities and +resources, is a stronghold of the Hagarene dynasty, our +eastern themes are ever open to their cruel raids and +devastating incursions. I tell thee, my son, my first +and greatest task is to crush the Chamdas, who seems +to rise ever stronger after every defeat." +</p> + +<p> +"Seif Eddauleh! a hero worthy even of your sword," +said the warden. +</p> + +<p> +"Hero it may be, but a deadly enemy of Christ and +His people," said Nicephorus. "He or I must fall in +this death-grapple. My officers are now mustering +upon the Anatolian frontier the most numerous army, +and the best equipped, that Rome has sent forth since +the time of Heraclius. The moment it is ready, I shall +put myself at its head and march upon Syria, into which +we shall pour as we did when we swept back the Chamdas +into his rock-bound citadel as a hunted lion is +driven to his pathless lair." +</p> + +<p> +"Will it be Aleppo, Antioch, or Edessa, that you +strike first?" asked Digenes, eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"God in heaven knows, my son," replied the general, +solemnly, with a touch of irony in his voice, "and we +shall all know in His good time." +</p> + +<p> +"But you will not leave to the Prophet the Holy +Land of Abraham, of David, and Christ Himself? +Have you no care for Damascus, Beyruth, and +Jerusalem?—the tombs of the holy ones and the scene of +the birth and death of the Lord Himself?" +</p> + +<p> +"Be not too eager, my son. How are we to reach +these holy places, lost to Christ all these hundreds of +years, until we have driven the Hagarene swarms from +the passes of the Amanus and the Libanon? Assuredly +Jerusalem and Bethlehem are our ultimate goal which +the Cross shall one day enter, though it is a sight that +I shall never live to see; no, nor your son's son. But +there is that which to a soldier, if not to a priest, is +more sacred than the manger of Bethlehem or the hill +of Calvary, and that is the rescuing from the dungeons, +and harems, and slave-markets of the infidel the men +and women, girls and children, of our Christian people. +There is a care more urgent on an emperor of Rome +than the recovery of any relic or any place of +pilgrimage, and that is the safety and enlargement of the +Roman realm." +</p> + +<p> +"There are victorious realms of Islam to the south: +in Africa, in Egypt, and in Tunis," said the warden, +sadly; "and these last are pressing even to death and +slavery the last remnant of the Christian defenders of +Sicily, to say nothing of Spain, where you sent me of +late to the splendid kingdom of the caliph of the +west." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, our brethren in Sicily are in great danger of +destruction, and I am preparing another great army +and another fleet to relieve and succor them. This +indeed will be despatched before another moon, and +will take precedence even of my own campaign." +</p> + +<p> +"And will the Catholic sovereigns of Alemaine, who +have annexed so much of the Italian dominions, do +nothing to save their fellow-Christians in Sicily in the +hour of their distress?" asked Digenes. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing," said the emperor, fiercely, "nay, worse +than nothing. These Saxon barbarians beyond the +Danube aim at the destruction of our holy Roman empire, +of which they usurp the titles, and copy the practices +and institutions. It will be a black day for the +city and throne of Constantine when Frank and Latin +marauders shall dare to assail them in force. They +talk still of alliances, exchange of courtesies, and even +of intermarriage; but they mean in their hearts rivalry, +treachery, and war. They are biding their time till +they can blot out the Byzantine name and Church." +</p> + +<p> +"And the bishop of old Rome on the Tiber, who calls +himself Pope, and supreme head of Christ's Church, +will not he intercede for the suffering remnant of the +Christians of Sicily?" asked Digenes. +</p> + +<p> +"What, he!" broke forth Nicephorus, passionately. +"The son of the old harlot, the bandit, the assassin, +the catamite, who pollutes that Vatican cloister which +is now a brothel and a gamester's hell! The Catholic +Church is the deadly rival and foe of our Orthodox +Church. It is ever plotting our ruin and inciting its +royal patrons to destroy us. It is more deadly than +either Saracen or Saxon. They indeed may end in +working our ruin. But the Catholic Church, while +ever working to our ruin, is ever bearing false witness +to vilify, calumniate, and ridicule all we have and all +we do in Church or in State, in war or in peace. We +stand on the Bosphorus between two sleepless enemies—fierce +unbelievers on the east, and traitors to Christ +in the west. And we who have defended the Roman +name and the Christian faith for three hundred years +against the onslaught of Islam, we, the bulwark of +Christ and the Mother of God, we are ever being assailed +by the masters of the Latin provinces; and forever we +are being maligned by the degraded prelacy which has +usurped the tomb and see of St. Peter. No, my son, +the Romans of the east had better invoke the aid of +Satan, Moloch, or Beelzebub, the father of lies, before +they trust the words of a Latin priest." +</p> + +<p> +"But on the north we have dangerous enemies as +well, and even more near to us—Bulgarians, Slavs, +Huns, Patzinaks, and Russ. They have ere now swept +down on Byzantium like a winter snow-storm from the +Euxine, and they may sweep down again. Have you +given thought to them, sir?" asked Digenes. +</p> + +<p> +"Much thought, my son," replied the emperor, +"but though they are nearer than Saracen or Latin, +they are quite disunited, and full of fierce rivalries, +jealousies, and ambitions. If one is our enemy, it +makes the rest our friends. When the Bulgarian +becomes dangerous, we will hire the Turk or the Russ to +fall upon his back. The whole Balkan peninsula is a +den of savage beasts, who are ever snarling at each +other, and waiting to spring on each other unawares. +If they could only agree for an hour, they would join +in a combined attack upon us; and their vast hordes +and limitless cavalry might make them a formidable +foe to beat. But we will take them one by one and +swallow them at leisure, as one eats the leaves of an +artichoke. Before the Bulgarian can move, we will +take care to have the Russ upon his back. I can hear +in my day-dreams the roar of our people in the +Hippodrome on the day when a Basileus of New Rome shall +be hailed on his victories over the northern realm of +Crumn and of Symeon as 'the victorious lord,' 'the +slaughterer of the Bulgarians,'" said the emperor, with +prophetic fervor deepening his voice. +</p> + +<p> +"And the Russ of Kiev and the coasts of the Euxine +and the Chersonesus?" asked Digenes, "are they not +within your plans?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Russ and Patzinaks who swarm along the +northern rivers which flow into the Euxine are too far +off us, too restless and nomad, and altogether too +loosely organized as settled nations to endanger the +Roman empire," said Nicephorus, proudly. "The +Russ make fine guardsmen for us, and are willing to do +our service for proper reward at any time. We will +civilize and Christianize them and teach them to keep +Bulgarians and Turks in order. Ah," he went on, +musing with something of prophetic strain, "Byzantium +may fall before the infidels of the east—nay, even +before the schismatic Latins of the west—but before +the northern barbarians never! If they strove for a +thousand years these Varangians shall never seat their +czars upon the Golden Horn." +</p> + +<p> +"Then wherein lie the great dangers of the empire?" +asked the lord warden. +</p> + +<p> +"In the corruption of officials, in malversation of the +finances, and in the womanish spirit of the people of +the great cities of the Greek peninsula. The mongrel +mobs which fill our Forum and Hippodrome here in +Byzantium, the Hellenes of the Peloponnese and the +Ægean islands and seaboard, are good only to tax—or +to row ships—not to bear arms and defend their country. +Happily we can fill our armies with good men +and true from the highlands of Thrace, Epirus, and +Macedonia, from the plains and hills of Asia Minor, and +from all the wild tribesmen who swarm in the frontier +themes of the empire." +</p> + +<p> +"Where then is the difficulty, if there are men enough +and men good enough? For I ask for none better than +the troopers I have led in Cilicia, Crete, and Syria," +said Digenes. +</p> + +<p> +"The enormous efforts we have to make against a +circle of foes, the vast armies and fleets we need to +raise—to say nothing of the subsidies we have to offer +to barbarian tributaries—absorb immense sums which +drain the wealth even of this, the richest empire of the +world. Our immediate need is strict administration of +the finances. Thrift! thrift! my son, is the first of +duties to a king, even while gold is poured forth like water +from the imperial exchequer, but so that all serves to +purchase money's worth and solid results. Victories +are won and conquests are made—not alone by stout +hearts and strong arms—but by honest handling of +unlimited wealth." +</p> + +<p> +"And is not the Roman empire wealthy?" asked the +lord warden. +</p> + +<p> +"But not wealthy enough for all its needs," the emperor +rejoined, with passion, "while half its lands are +held by lazy priests and monks, who neither serve in +arms nor pay their taxes, while half the people of the +luxurious cities of old Hellas wear the cowl or the stole. +Half monk as I am myself, and monk and hermit as I +have striven in vain to be, my very first care will be to +curb this dry-rot in our people, this flinging away in +idle monasteries of the precious wealth of the empire, +this consecration to hypocritical sloth of so large a part +of our people. It is not God they worship, but some +heathen idol—some sacred hog—as the apostle himself +says, 'evil beasts, slow bellies.'" +</p> + +<p> +But here the colloquy was interrupted by a messenger +from Basil, the prime-minister, craving immediate +audience on urgent matters of state. Nicephorus +received him alone in private. +</p> + +<p> +The great eunuch had hurried to the palace to +inform the emperor of the receipt of grave news from +Sicily, and the arrival of envoys from the distressed +Christians of Messina, who came to implore immediate +help. +</p> + +<p> +One of the first acts of Nicephorus, after his victorious +campaigns over the Saracens of the eastern caliphate, +had been to denounce the treaty of peace made in +a time of weakness with the Saracens of Africa, who +were now masters of Sicily. He had insisted on refusing +further payment of the eleven thousand pieces of +gold with which the governor of Calabria had sought +to buy off Saracen invasions. Thereupon the Fatimite +Caliph Mouizz of Tunis ordered an immediate investment +of Rametta near Messina, which was the sole +remaining hold of the Christian power in the island. +In Rametta, a rocky fortress in the mountains west +of Messina, the last defenders of the Cross had taken +refuge, and with them were all that had escaped the +destruction of the cities of Sicily. +</p> + +<p> +"The news is indeed grave," said the prime-minister; +"no spot in all Sicily remained to us after the terrible +storming of Taormina and the loss of Messina, except +this fortress of Rametta, which is now closely invested. +In Italy the empire holds effective possession of little +but the themes of Calabria and Apulia on the southern +and eastern seaboards. If we lose all territory west of +the Dyrrhachian coast and the Hellenic islands, the +name of Rome will be brought low indeed, and all +western Europe will be divided between the Saracen +and the Teuton." +</p> + +<p> +"True," said the emperor, "it is our first duty to +save the brave outpost at Rametta, and the expedition +already being fitted out must be pushed on night and +day with special haste. See to it, my lord, the +vanguard with a hundred ships and ten thousand men will +sail from the Golden Horn on the third day from +to-night." +</p> + +<p> +"It is impossible, sire," replied Basil, after making +some brief calculations in his note-book. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing is impossible," said Nicephorus, "it will +be done. And send to-night our swiftest despatch-boats +with orders to the governors of the Peloponnesian +theme, of Bari, and of the Calabrian theme, +to meet the new force with every man and every ship +they can spare with safety." +</p> + +<p> +"They shall sail within an hour," said Basil, "and +whom do you destine to command the expedition?" +</p> + +<p> +"I have already commissioned Basil Digenes to the +task, to take up command when the entire armament +is ready to start. But things are so urgent in Sicily +that it might be best to send him with the advance +force which is to go at once. His heroic and dashing +temper will fire the whole army he is to lead." +</p> + +<p> +"He is sorely needed still in the city to organize the +expedition in all its details. We are sending out the +biggest men-of-war that have ever left our docks, with +every munition and engine of war that our engineers +can devise. We have equipped more than forty thousand +of our best men, of whom nearly half are cavalry." +</p> + +<p> +"Remember, that in this crisis speed is of more +importance than numbers, and dash is more needed than +strategy," said the emperor. +</p> + +<p> +"With such a foe, rashness would be fatal," replied +the minister, gloomily, "but I go to carry out your +Majesty's orders," said Basil, hesitating. +</p> + +<p> +"They are my last words," replied Nicephorus, +peremptorily, as he closed the interview. "I have +ardently desired to command this expedition to Sicily in +person. But it cannot be. The vast and growing +power of the Saracens of the east, on our Syrian and +Cilician borders, is even more menacing and more urgent +than the rescue of the brave Sicilian garrison in the +west. It is a matter of myriads in the east rather than +hundreds in the west—the loss of a rich province, not +of a fortress. I must reserve myself at home to +organize the armament for Asia until I go to lead it +myself." +</p> + +<p> +As the minister withdrew, Theophano herself entered +the emperor's cabinet. The stern and anxious +look which his face had worn during the conversations +with Digenes and Basil on the crisis of the state passed +off like a summer storm-cloud as the form of his adored +wife appeared. He started from his seat, rose, and +went to meet her with arms outstretched. He took +both her white hands in his huge grasp, drew her +towards him, and looked with love and inquiry into her +eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"And what would my queen have?" he asked. "All +that I have is hers—all that I can win shall be hers." +</p> + +<p> +She fondled him and patted his cheek, piercing him +with her radiant eyes, and said: "Does my hero think +I come to ask for jewels, palaces, or provinces, or any +woman's toy? I am the helpmate of my lord, the +Basileus. Together we mounted to the throne of +Rome, and together we will raise its eternal name to a +higher glory. I come not to ask for gewgaws, but to +take counsel on affairs of state." +</p> + +<p> +"You have heard the black news from the far west?" +asked Nicephorus. +</p> + +<p> +"I have. And I come to say that the emperor +must not be tempted to go to the succor of this +distant fort; he has his great expedition, into Syria to +prepare. He must not desert his capital, his army of +the east, his council of ministers—his wife—her from +whom these priests seek to part him." +</p> + +<p> +"Your wishes and your counsels exactly jump with +my own, my empress," said Nicephorus, smiling and +joyful. "I have work here more urgent even than the +relief of Rametta. My place will be well filled by the +akritas Basil Digenes, whom I have decided to +despatch at once with the advanced force." +</p> + +<p> +"Surely not," replied the Augusta; "Basil Digenes +is an honorable man and a noble soldier, but his +marriage to the Princess Agatha will make him a prince of +the Basilian dynasty, uncle of my sons, an inevitable +rival to them, a possible rebel to yourself." +</p> + +<p> +"Digenes is the soul of honor," said Nicephorus, +warmly; "I would trust him with my life. I would +trust him as I trust my God—as I trust you, the saint +of my prayers." +</p> + +<p> +"He seems to be even better trusted—better loved," +she said, with a bewitching air of jealousy. +Theophano continued to pout. Silence ensued. +</p> + +<p> +"My hero of the eastern wars little knows the +quicksands and whirlpools of our Bosphorus, and all the +intrigues of this palace and court and people. A +successful soldier, after a great triumph over the Saracen, +will find himself forced into the vermilion buskins by +the shouts of the people and the swords of his men, and +driven to head a palace revolution, however much he +struggle against it himself. Is it not so, my Lord +Basileus, who dethroned me and my sons, however +much he sought to bury his glory in a cell on Mount +Athos?" And the woman shot forth alternate beams +of reproach and admiration, irony and love. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus felt himself in a world of intrigue that he +could not understand, which he despised but could not +master. He remained silent and in deep meditation. +</p> + +<p> +"You must name for this office," she said, "members +of your own family and close allies of yourself." +</p> + +<p> +"Whom have I?" said he, sadly. "I have no kinsman +competent whom I can spare. I have no creatures +of my own. I never had, I never will have." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay," said she at once, "you have a cousin, one of +the bravest and most dashing soldiers of Rome, the +patrician Manuel, son, at any rate in blood, of your +uncle Leo Phocas, of him whom the usurper Lecapenus +treacherously seized and blinded forty years ago. +Manuel is bound to the house of Phocas forever; his +bar-sinister makes any rivalry impossible. He is a +man of the most fiery nature, one whom the soldiers +love to follow." +</p> + +<p> +"Too fiery, perhaps," said Nicephorus, musing; "but +the crisis demands the most reckless valor." +</p> + +<p> +"Then put him in charge of the vanguard, and let +the general command be reserved for Nicetas, one of our +protovestiaries, and brother of Michael, who served us +so often as messenger." +</p> + +<p> +"What! The eunuch Nicetas?" said Nicephorus—"a +man of hearty piety and profound learning, but +hardly fit to lead a forlorn hope." +</p> + +<p> +"No; Manuel will lead the charge," said Theophano. +"No captain in your whole army a more desperate +fire-eater, and Nicetas with his wisdom and coolness will +keep the hot blood of Manuel in restraint." +</p> + +<p> +"I will think of it," said the emperor, who himself +had often been inspired by the wild courage of his +young kinsman—"I will consider what you urge." +</p> + +<p> +"No," said the temptress. "Promise me this, if you +love me." +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus did not promise; but in the end he +committed the great expedition to his cousin Manuel as +cavalry leader, with Nicetas as admiral of the fleet; +and to them he added a prelate, Nicephorus, one of the +ablest administrators in the empire. +</p> + +<p> +The issue was a terrible disaster. The expedition +was hurried to the Sicilian waters, where the unenterprising +Nicetas wasted it in petty divisions round the +coast. Manuel forced his cavalry across the straits +of Messina, and captured that city. He dashed down +along the coast, recovering Taormina, Leontini, +Termini, and Syracuse. Then, mad with triumph, and not +waiting for the whole of the force to join him, he rushed +to the rescue of Rametta. As the morning sun rose, he +could see the rocky citadel still uncaptured, as it stood +proudly in the midst of a vast amphitheatre of precipitous +crags. The three defiles which led into the plain +were forced one by one by the impetuous charges of the +Byzantines; and thence Manuel, intoxicated with +victory, plunged on to the walls of the beleaguered city. +Here he was met by the Saracen general in person, who +had gathered round him his reserve—a band of swarthy +sons of the desert in snow-white tunics, wielding lances +and swords of perfect temper. A desperate hand-to-hand +combat ensued wherein Manuel fell in the midst +of a mingled heap of Africans and Byzantines. The +loss of their hot-headed chief threw the whole cavalry +into confusion, for their leader, instead of keeping them +in hand and directing their movements, had scattered +them far and wide over the plain. Confusion turned +to panic—panic became a massacre. As night fell, +ten thousand Byzantines lay on the bloody field, for the +Saracens made no prisoners. The relieving expedition +was repulsed, the captured cities were retaken, Rametta +fell, and a dark cloud rested on the reign of the +new emperor: his grievous error sank into his soul. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap20"></a></p> + +<h2> +XX +<br><br> +An Emperor's Day +</h2> + +<p> +Day after day the emperor rose at dawn, and with +his staff rode forth to the strategion, the great +review ground of the city—the Campus Martius of New +Rome—to exercise troops newly arrived as contingents +for the army of the east. The day after the sailing of +the Sicilian expedition (destined to end as ill as another +famous Sicilian expedition), there was a lively stir in +the palace to witness the manœuvres of a division of +five thousand horsemen recently arrived from the +upper Danube—Magyars as we call them, Turks as +they were then named—a tribe which had been +admitted to settle within the limits of the empire. +</p> + +<p> +Basil Digenes, Bardas Skleros, with our young friend +Eric still at his side, and a crowd of officers rode into +the ground on the staff of the emperor. The strategion, +or review-ground, stood on the low land to the west of +the modern "Seraglio," close to the Golden Horn, +between the Stamboul end of the floating bridge and the +present railway terminus. Bardas called Eric's +attention to the typical monuments with which it was +adorned—the equestrian statue of Constantine the +Great, and the pillar bearing the imperial edict, +whereby New Rome had been endowed with the name and +privileges of the city of the Tiber. +</p> + +<p> +"Six hundred and thirty years have passed," said +the general to his young follower, "since our immortal +founder placed us here on this Golden Horn beneath +the new Seven Hills, and more than a thousand years +had passed before he moved Rome from the Tiber to +the Bosphorus. These various subject tribes, allies, +and tributaries, whose arms and ensigns cover this great +plain to-day, change and pass, form new nations, and +go from one seat to another; but Rome exists forever. +In one thousand seven hundred years she has never +met her conqueror, nor even her match." +</p> + +<p> +Eric's history was far too slight and vague to enable +him to follow this bold boast, much less to dispute it; +but, where all was wonderful and gigantic, he accepted +the antiquity of the city with awe. His mind was +wholly occupied with the martial sight spread out +before him. In front of headquarters, where stood what +we now call "the saluting-point," was stationed a +detachment of the Varangian guard, who to-day were +told off as an escort to the general, to keep the ground +and mark the lines. Opposite to them, at the farther +limit of the ground, was the position of the Macedonian +heavy-armed shieldsmen. Hirsute Abasgians and +Iberians from the southern valleys of the Caucasus, on +mountain ponies and in shaggy sheepskins and furs, +held another side of the ground. But the main interest +of the day was a series of cavalry charges and +evolutions by the mass of Magyar mounted archers, which +was the latest body of troopers enlisted in the imperial +army. The emperor glowed with pride and hope as he +shouted the word of command, which was repeated +in Hungarian dialects by the interpreter, or captain +of each squadron; and as he watched the rapid +movements and consummate horsemanship of men, who +then, as now, were accounted to rank with the finest +cavalry of their age. Nicephorus, a cavalry-man +from youth, called his staff round him, and enlarged +with enthusiasm and in detail on the paramount +importance on the mounted arm in war, and he forced on +them those lessons as to scouting, rapidity in advance, +and the system of successive charges which are laid +down so authoritatively in his own book on <i>Tactics</i>. +</p> + +<p> +As they rode with the staff in the exercises, Eric plied +his general with inquiries and amused him with his +naïve remarks. The young hero, who had seen active +service with several different nations, had already +that soldier's eye which distinguished him so much in +after years in the campaigns of Basil II. against the +Bulgarians; when, under the adopted name of Nicephorus +Ouranos, he gained so splendid a victory over King +Samuel. What amazed the young Norwegian was the +complicated evolution whereby a whole cavalry division +of five thousand troopers was regularly divided +into four lines, the first the fighting line, the second the +supporting line, the third behind them as another +reserve, and, fourthly, detachments on both wings. And +small squadrons were detached to lie in wait and were +called the "outlying guard." +</p> + +<p> +"The force now engaged in manœuvres," said Bardas +to his young aide, whose military genius he had already +perceived and resolved to train, "the force on the field, +is what we call a division (or turma). Each division, +you observe, is composed of two brigades (or drungi). +Each brigade of five regiments (bandas). The senior +general of division, whom we call a turmarch, leads the +front line, stationed in the centre of it with his +standard-bearer, orderlies, and trumpeters. Then you will +see the intervals between the regiments, to enable the +reserve to pass through or the front line to retire in +order." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, but this is a complicated order of battle +indeed," said Eric. "Is all this quadruple and quintuple +disposition observed on the field in actual war, +or is it a mere peace manœuvre to practise discipline?" +</p> + +<p> +"This is but the abc of tactics, my son," said +Bardas, smiling. "Of course, a Roman army on the +field of battle is drawn up as you see it here, with all +of these rules—all of them and a great many more. +All this is what you have to learn, my young friend." +</p> + +<p> +"But it is difficult to follow it with the eye in the +clouds of dust and the rapid manœuvres of the squadrons," +said the youth, perplexed by the amazing +variety of the interlacing movements he saw. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, you must study your books of military +science. You don't suppose a Roman general is to be +made without hard study of rules and formations in +our manuals of the art of war. There is the excellent +<i>Strategicon</i> of the illustrious Emperor Maurice, which, +old as it is, is still to be read. Then there are the +<i>Tactics</i> of the Emperor Leo, the Learned, ancestor of +the young Basileis minors; and, above all others, there +is the <i>Tactics</i> of our present Augustus, which I have +myself drafted at his dictation, and which is being +now circulated to the army chiefs in the rough. Pore +over that by night, my boy, and practise its rules by +day, and you may one day lead a Roman army yourself." +</p> + +<p> +"But I never saw or heard anything of all this <i>science</i> +as you call it," said Eric, puzzled. "I have seen hard +fighting with Danes, Russ, and Bulgars. I have seen +the Frank knights on the Seine. Indeed, I was a squire +of Rudolph when he marched to join the great king of +the Germans in the expedition wherein he routed the +Magyars. And I saw the flower of the Saracens of +Spain when the Caliph Abd-er-Rahman was buried at +Cordova. But we never heard anything of divisions, +brigades, and regiments, much less of first, second, +and third lines of attack, reserves, and flank charges. +With Russ, Franks, Saxons, and Saracens each chief +leads his own men-at-arms, and they follow his pennon +as close as they can." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, of course, you never heard of all this among +those wild men," cried Bardas, aloud, with a hearty +laugh. "The Roman army is the only army on earth +that is scientifically equipped and led by officers who +are masters of their art. These outlandish barbarians +are brave enough and strong enough and proud enough, +God knows, but they know less of the glorious arts of +war, of tactics, manœuvres, and stratagem than any +one of those transport details you see waiting there +with the carts and spades and shovels, or, indeed, less +than any common bearer from the ambulance train. +A Frank or Saxon knight, even a Saracen emir, would +think he knew the whole of his business when he could +sit his charger, wield his lance and his sword with +dexterity, and lead a mob of his own followers pell-mell in +a furious charge." +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, I have seen Saxons, Franks, and Lombards +charge like a herd of wild bulls in the Thuringian +forests," said Eric. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, heroic enough, no doubt," said Bardas, with a +sardonic smile. "These knight-errants would prefer +to lose a battle amid prodigies of valor rather than to +win it by craft and science. To us Byzantines craft +and science are two-thirds of war." +</p> + +<p> +"And is the whole Roman army thus organized in +divisions, brigades, regiments, and attendant corps, +and has each squadron and regiment a distinctive arm +and uniform of its own?" asked Eric again. +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly," said Bardas; "a Roman army consists +of regulars, regularly drilled, equipped, and armed. +They are not a levy of countrymen or a casual muster +of followers, tenants, vassals, and tribesmen." +</p> + +<p> +As the heat of the day began to strike, the corps +were paraded, distributed, and marched off to +barracks. The young Varangian was amazed at the ease +and precision with which so large a force was drawn +off the review-ground to barracks in various quarters, +and the exact order which each arm and detachment +observed. Light and heavy cavalry, bowmen, shield-men, +and foot-guards drew off in turn, with the regularity +of a modern review, each corps attended by its +own followers, engineers, transport, and bearers, with +carts, pack-horses, and camp utensils, spades, picks, +saws, arrows, and bolts—the whole equipped to take +the field. +</p> + +<p> +The following day was appointed for the reception +of embassies from foreign rulers, tributaries, and tribes, +who had been deputed to congratulate the new +sovereign. Bardas Skleros was on duty in the court of +the emperor, and he desired to impress the imagination +of his young follower, whose great promise as a +soldier of keen intelligence and strong character he +had begun to recognize. Accordingly, he placed Eric +under the charge of his honor, Symmachos, a silentiary, +or gentleman-in-waiting of the chambers, who undertook +to coach the young Norseman in the ceremonies +of the day. No part of the imperial system was more +important than the practice of the military officials to +attract new blood into their service and to impress on +outlying tribesmen of all nations a sense of the power +and culture of the empire. +</p> + +<p> +Eric entered the Sacred Palace from the Augusteum +through the brazen porch of Chalce, where he was now +known to the guards and porters, and, making his way +through the triclinium of the scholares—<i>i.e.</i>, the +guardroom of the body-guard—into the great, open, outer +court, he passed through the bronze gates there, where +he was met by Symmachos in the spacious cloister in +which there stood, apart from the main palace, the +sumptuous court known as the Magnaura. He was +allowed to witness the passage of their Majesties +through the Gallery of the Forty Saints, adorned with +colossal mosaic representations of the chief martyrs +and glories of the Orthodox Church; and so on through +the sigma, or great oval, to the long corridor of the +Daphne. The emperor and empress were escorted +by their cubiculars, spathaires, vestiaries, lords and +ladies in waiting, gold-stick, and sword-bearers, all +marshalled by the grand master of the household. +All were in state robes and gold-embroidered mantles, +with collars and badges, according to their rank and +office. From the long corridor of the Daphne, their +Majesties passed into the Church of our Lord, which in +former dynasties had been the private chapel of the +palace. There they received the lighted wax candles +which they placed before the sacred emblem, and +prostrated themselves in worship at the altar over which +stood the grand and pathetic figure of the Redeemer of +Mankind. +</p> + +<p> +While their Majesties were engaged in their devotions, +the silentiary took the young guardsman into +the great Hall of Magnaura, which he had not previously +seen. It stood, as we have said, apart from the +Sacred Palace itself, in the gardens to the north, and it +abutted on the senate-house and Church of Mary of the +copper mart, which lay between it and the Cathedral +of the Holy Wisdom. This magnificent basilica was in +the oblong form, with a semicircular apse and a raised +platform, of which examples remain to us in Rome, +Pompeii, and in Greece and Asia Minor. On each side +six porphyry columns supported the gilded cornice and +formed the openings to seven lateral exedras, or +recesses. Beside the terminal apse there rose from the +platform on which stood the throne four vast monoliths +of the lovely green marble of Sparta—in groups of +two each on either side. The walls of the hall were +entirely covered with panels of Proconnesian and Phrygian +streaked marbles, as we see it to-day in Aya Sophia. +The capitals were mainly of bronze gilt, in form such as +we see at St. Mark's at Venice. The central doors were +also of bronze gilt. The roof was covered with mosaic +designs made of glass and gilt tesseræ, having figures +of the Saviour, Virgin, and saints, mixed with arabesque +patterns of vine leaves, acanthus, Greek crosses, +monograms, and exquisite geometric traceries. +</p> + +<p> +As Eric entered and surveyed in mute awe this grand +edifice, glowing with soft radiance like a sunset, for its +supreme splendor of color was harmonized into a tone +of solemnity and peace, the royal architects were just +giving the last touches to the special adornments of +the day. Gilded chains were suspended from column +to column, and from each chain was hung a huge +candelabrum of silver, each bearing twenty-five lamps. +Tapestries and curtains were hung over the doorways +and lateral recesses and partly concealed the golden +organ and choir of the emperor on one side and the +silver organ and choir of the factions on the other side. +Rich rugs, of the design we now call Persian, were +strewn over the marble flooring of the hall and across +the steps and the dais whereon the imperial cortège +was to stand. +</p> + +<p> +That which, to the untutored but imaginative mind +of the young viking, was the most beautiful and mystic +work before him was the throne of Solomon, which +served as the emperor's seat. It had been exactly +reproduced from the account of the first book of Kings, +chapter x.: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="letter"> +"The king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with +the best gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the +throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side +on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. +And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other +upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom." +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +The emperors of the Romans, who claimed to be, in +a sense, the successors of the chosen people, and who +are often represented in illuminated manuscripts in +royal robes as kings of Israel, had carefully restored +the throne of Solomon as their seat of high state. The +chair itself was of ivory and gold, and the lions which +supported the arms of the chair were of silver gilt, as +were the smaller lions which acted as supporters on the +six steps below it. Such a throne was taken as a +pattern throughout the west; and the famous seat of +Dagobert in the Louvre is supported by lions in the +same way. The throne of Solomon, however, was not +a curule chair, but a much more solid and magnificent +erection, having a high back adorned with gems and +enamel enrichments. Eric gazed in amazement and +awe at the splendid hall; but he was presently dragged +by his guide to witness the procession that was forming +in the court-yard outside the Magnaura itself. +</p> + +<p> +The magistri, the patricians, and the senate in a +body, with a crowd of officials of various ranks, awaited +the summons to attend the court. A silentiary having +given the signal, Eric and Symmachos were able to +enter the hall and view the approach of their Majesties. +Before they took their seats on the thrones, the +imperial crowns, with their long pendants of pearls and +gems, were placed on their heads, and the royal +mantles were thrown over their state robes. Nicephorus +himself sat on the throne of Solomon, Theophano at +his left hand, and the two child-Basileis on low stools +behind them. Around them were placed the secretaries +and notaries to take a report of the words spoken, +with the logothete, or finance minister, and the +chancellor. In the rear behind the throne stood a crowd +of cubiculars, silentiaries, and the lords-in-waiting and +gentlemen of the golden banqueting chamber. +</p> + +<p> +When the royal party were all seated and placed, +the master of the household gave the signal for the +sacramental cheer; and from the choirs behind the +curtains and from the crowd at the end of the hall broke +forth the ritual chant, "Long, long live our Basileus! +Long live our Basilissa! Many—many—happy years +give them, O Lord God!" At another signal from the +master of the household, the gold-stick-in-waiting +introduced the first "curtain"—<i>i.e.</i>, the magistri, or +marshals, who had been stationed in the nearest recess. +The magistri advanced to the throne and prostrated +themselves before the steps. A second usher introduced +the second "curtain"—<i>i.e.</i>, the patricians, who +stood next in rank—and so on, the senators and each +successive order in due turn drawing aside the curtain +which served to mark their place in the ceremonial. +</p> + +<p> +It was now the turn of the foreign envoys, the first of +whom were from the powerful caliph of Cordova, now +Hakim II., with whom relations of amity were still +maintained. The master of the household again +signalled to the gold-stick, who, with great ceremony, +introduced the mission, at the head of which was the +Emir Ghalib, supported by the learned Ibn Khaldun, +the same who had escorted Digenes and his companions +in the capital of the Spanish empire. The emir was +accompanied on his right hand by the catepano, or +master of the ceremonies, on the left by the master of +the horse, and was attended by an interpreter and his +secretaries. The envoy of the mighty caliph was +permitted to make his obeisance in his own way—while +the envoys of the rude tribes of the north or the east +were required to prostrate themselves at full length +before the mystic throne. +</p> + +<p> +As each ambassador advanced and made his salaam, +the organs pealed forth a triumphal march, and as he +rose from the ground the kettle-drums crashed a +sonorous welcome. The chancellor then addressed the +ambassador, and inquired of the health of the sovereign +or chief whom he represented, and the ceremonial +compliments of friendship and congratulation were duly +recited. Then the golden lions around the throne were +made to utter sounds in imitation of a roar of the beast +by an ingenious mechanism, which was nothing but the +stop of an organ concealed beneath the floor. To Eric +and to the untutored envoys of the north the sounds +issuing from the throats of the lions seemed little less +than miraculous. To the citizens of Constantinople, +with whom the wind-organ and other instruments of +the kind were familiar, the mechanical roar of the +lions on the throne and the twittering of the golden +birds in the canopy above, which was also a favorite +device, had ceased to be anything but a useful toy, that +amused the groundlings and amazed the barbarians. +</p> + +<p> +The envoy of the caliph was succeeded by a prelate +despatched from old Rome by the Pope (or anti-Pope) +Leo VIII., who was struggling amid horrors of every +sort to dispossess the infamous Octavian claiming to +be Pope John XII. Nicephorus, whose detestation of +the degraded and servile papacy was boundless, had +been persuaded with difficulty to receive the opponent +and rival of the ferocious murderer who now +desecrated the Latin see. Basil and the astute council of +the empire had warned their proud chief not to rebuff +the candidate for the chair of St. Peter, who was chosen +by the all-powerful Otto I. of Germany and Italy. +Nicephorus listened to the hollow congratulations of the +Italian prelate in silence, and directed his chancellor to +reply to them with the best grace he could assume. The +Roman prelate was followed by envoys from Venice, +Amalphi, and the dukes of Beneventum and Capua, +who still admitted a shadowy bond of vassalage to the +successor of Justinian at Byzantium. +</p> + +<p> +The Italian envoys were succeeded by a crowd of deputies +from various nations, tribes, and princelets north +of the Ister and the Euxine Sea, or such as lay beyond +the eastern frontier of the empire. They were first +Patzinaks, then Russ; then Chazars, Alans, and +"Turks," or Hungarians, as we call them to-day. +All were in uncouth and picturesque native costumes, +shaggy skins, tall and pointed head-gear, and strange +ornaments. They each brought presents of various +sorts—embroidered garments, embossed arms, enamelled +vases, horses, performing bears, and white boar-hounds, +which were paraded in the court outside, then +announced with much solemnity, and received with +equal curiosity and interest. +</p> + +<p> +The long reception was continued for hours as the +envoys were presented from the kings of Armenia +proper, the dwellers around Mount Ararat and the +plains of Lake Van; from the Abasgians and Georgians +of the Caucasus, the Lazi, and the chief of the +Iberians, who had been honored with the right to assume +the Byzantine title of curopalates. Long before the +stream of introductions had ended, with its ever-varying +changes of language, costume, and manner, the +young Scandinavian had been quite lost in the babel of +tongues and the moving panorama before his eyes. +The impression had been fully driven into his open +mind, which the subtle politicians of Constantinople +ever sought to extend—the impression of the world-wide +relations of the Roman empire, and its claim to +be the centre of power, culture, and Christian +civilization. It was the policy embodied by Constantine +Born-in-the-Purple in the fifty-three chapters of his +work, <i>The Administration of the Empire</i>, which he so +laboriously—and so uselessly—prepared for the +instruction of his feckless son. +</p> + +<p> +There is a pathos to-day as we read the dedication +and preface to this work, recalling, as it does, so much +profound state policy and such wasted hopes. +"<i>Constantine by grace of Christ the King Everlasting, +Emperor of the Romans, these to his only son, Romanus, +crowned of God and Born-in-the-Purple, Emperor.</i>" He +begins: "A wise son rejoices the heart of his father, +and an affectionate father has delight in a thoughtful +son. Now, therefore, my son, listen to my words; and +if you take to heart these lessons you will be counted as +wise among the thoughtful and as thoughtful among +the wise. The people will bless thee, and many nations +shall call thee fortunate. Take to heart that which it +behooves thee to understand, so shalt thou wield the +helm of this empire like a wise ruler. And do Thou, +O Lord my God, whose heavenly kingdom is indestructible +and everlasting, vouchsafe to guide in the right +way this son whom I have begotten by Thy grace." Alas! the +bright youth, so beloved and so promising, +was guided rather in the wrong way by Theophano, by +Bringas, by Chærina, and many devils like unto them, +into the bottomless pit where he lay the scorn of after +ages. +</p> + +<p> +At the very end of the audience a scene of extraordinary +violence roused the whole hall to a state of wild +excitement. The envoys of the sovereign of Bulgaria, +the Czar Peter, had the right, as the Czar was allowed +the title of Basileus, to be presented before all other +foreign ambassadors. To-day they had been purposely +kept to the last, in spite of their remonstrances and +indignation. Peter, when nearly forty years before he +had succeeded to the throne of his father, the +powerful Symeon, had made a treaty of amity with the +Byzantine kingdom, and had married a granddaughter +of the Emperor Lecapenus, a cousin of Romanus II. +By this treaty the Bulgarian sovereign was entitled +to receive a yearly subsidy in consideration of his +protecting the empire from the incursions of the Magyars +on the other side of the Danube. The Bulgarian +kingdom now extended from Belgrade to Adrianople, +which under Symeon had been a terrible incubus to +Constantinople, had become weak and peaceful under +Peter, and a docile imitator of the arts and manners +of Byzantium. The subsidy was regularly paid; but +the Bulgarian monarchy had been little able to restrain +the incursions of the Danubian raiders. To all the +remonstrances of the empire, they alleged their own +weakness. Nicephorus in council had resolved to +refuse any further payment; and, indeed, he had secretly +decided on a policy which should bring the Bulgarian +kingdom to its knees by force of arms. +</p> + +<p> +When at last admitted to the hall of audience, the +Bulgarian envoys committed the imprudence of adding +to the formal compliments to the new Basileus the +exasperating demand for payment of the annual +subsidy, which they spoke of as "the tribute they had +been sent to claim." Nicephorus, who wanted but a +pretext of the kind to justify a rupture with the +kingdom, rose from his throne, and in a tone of indignation, +which he had no need to feign, for the very word +"tribute" had roused him to ungovernable passion, he +broke out thus: "Foul shame would it be to us Romans, +to us who in arms have driven before us every enemy +who has dared to meet us, if we consent to pay +'tribute' as if we were slaves buying their freedom by +coin—ay, pay tribute to a horde of Scythians, this miserable +and unclean tribe of barbarians." +</p> + +<p> +This extraordinary outburst, so unusual in a man as +taciturn and as self-controlled as Nicephorus, electrified +the audience; for only the privy-councillors, and +but few of them, knew of the emperor's settled purpose +to bring on a war with the Czar Peter. +</p> + +<p> +Then the emperor, kindling with his own passion, +in a voice of thunder that he never used in public +councils, turned to his aged father, Bardas, as if to recall +some by-gone incident of the Lecapenian usurpers, and +said: "What on earth do these Mœsians mean, my +father, by talking about tribute as due to them from +Rome?—'tribute,' do they say? What, sir, am I not +your own true-born son? Am I, the august emperor +of the Romans, to be a tributary—the tributary, +forsooth—of a pitiful and ungodly tribe?" +</p> + +<p> +The audience held their breath in awe. The Bulgarian +envoys cowered. +</p> + +<p> +"Here!" roared Nicephorus. "Ushers, bring your +rods and drive these fellows from our presence!" +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus was now choking with rage, and attempted +no longer to restrain himself. +</p> + +<p> +"Be off with you!" he cried, hoarsely. "Go tell +your master, whose food is the leather and whose garments +are the hides of his own cattle, they say—go back +and tell him that the mighty and irresistible Basileus +of the Romans is now about to march from his own +country into his, and he will himself bring the tribute +that is demanded of him—tribute that your people will +little care to have. Now learn, slaves as you are, with +slaves for your fathers and your grandsires—learn to +address the sovereign of the Romans as your lord and +master, and never dare in this palace to talk to him +about tribute, as if he were a caitiff and a serf." +</p> + +<p> +The emperor closed the audience, and the hall was +forthwith emptied. Excited groups gathered outside +to discuss the meaning of it all. No one was more +amazed than Eric, and meeting the general Bardas +Skleros in the throng, he ventured to ask him what it +portended. +</p> + +<p> +"It portends," said Bardas, quietly, "that war will +be declared against the Bulgarian kingdom this very +day. Rome, in her hour of victory, will not suffer those +savages to threaten our very existence from the passes +of the Hasmus. We will crush this Bulgarian kingdom. +The emperor crosses their frontier to-morrow at the +head of the advanced army. In ten days we shall reach +their so-called capital on the northern side of the +mountains. I am to command a brigade, and you shall be +on my staff." +</p> + +<p> +So Eric began his service in the long, secular duel +between the Bulgarian and Byzantine kingdoms—a duel +wherein he himself was destined to play so heroic a +part, a duel wherein the child-Basil who had witnessed +the rebuff of the envoys of King Peter was destined to +earn his title of "Slayer of the Bulgarians." +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap21"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXI +<br><br> +Islam and Cross +</h2> + +<p> +The sun was high over the Asian Olympus, bathing +in its glow the calm waters of the Propontis, +and the rocky islets that we now call the Islands of +the Princes. The islet nearest to Byzantium, and +within a few miles of it, still bears the name of Prote, +or "the first," from the capital. It commands a +glorious panorama of that superb scene, crowded with hills, +rocks, bays, cities, and towers, as it fronts the lower +opening of the Bosphorus, and the southern side of the +city with its battlements, palaces, and domes. +</p> + +<p> +High on a headland of the islet stood a large edifice +of stone, which had once been a monastery—but for +many years had served as an imperial summer lodge, +and of late was used as a ceremonial retreat for state +prisoners and fallen princes. There the deposed +emperor, Romanus Lecapenus, had passed in peace the +last years of his checkered career; and, since the +capture of Chandax, it had served as the palace and the +prison of the defeated kouropas, or governor of Crete, +the aged Abd-el-Aziz, and his family. As he had duly +gone through the abject forms of prostration before +the emperor in the triumph at the Hippodrome, and +had fully submitted himself to the conquerors, +Romanus and his politic advisers had given the old hero +an adequate estate, offered him senatorial rank, and +the honors of a princely retreat. His submission was +real and final; he had suffered his son Anemas to +accept rank in the imperial guard, and his daughter +Sophia to enter as a pupil into a nunnery, where she +had acquired a perfect Greek education. Both had +been baptized, and followed Christian rituals. But +the old man himself, a Syed of the blood of the Prophet, +stoutly refused to abandon the faith of his race, and +patiently accepted the position of a state prisoner, +under an honorary seclusion and military guard. +</p> + +<p> +To-day he sat alone on the covered terrace of his +mansion, looking down upon the garden below, across +the rippling waters, where he could see the proud +towers of his conqueror, now Basileus of Rome. All was +a scene of perfect peace and beauty. Trellised roses +clustered in profusion round the arcades of his terrace, +filling the air with perfume; violets, lilies, hyacinths, +narcissi, and oleanders nestled in recesses beneath it. +As the slopes, ornamented with balustrades, vases, and +statues, fell downward to the sea, they were shaded +with fruit-trees, pomegranates, acacias, cedars, and +ilex. And at the bottom, where lounged on formal +sentry a huge Varangian guardsman, an avenue of +cypresses half concealed the garden wall. +</p> + +<p> +The old kouropas mused in silence, his white beard +flowing down over his embroidered khaftan, for he +retained his Saracen dress and habits. His work was +done, and he waited in peace for the summons of Allah; +pondering on the inscrutable decrees which seemed +to be confounding on all sides the hopes of Islam since +the fortunes of Rome had passed to the hand of the +invincible Nicephorus Phocas. As he mused, his +daughter stole gently in upon her father to see if he +were sleeping in a siesta, or had any need of her help. +She was a sweet girl of seventeen, tall, elegant, of olive +tint, with the full, dark eyes of her race. Sophia, for +she adopted the Greek spelling of her name with her +change of habits, after five or six years of training in +the capital, was now in every sense a Byzantine, and +wore the embroidered silk robes of a lady of the court. +</p> + +<p> +"What can I do for you, my dearest father?" she +asked, in the musical tones natural to an Arab maiden. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, come and sit below my divan here, my child," +he said, "and tell me of all you have seen and heard in +the great city and their Sacred Palace." +</p> + +<p> +The girl softly nestled down beside her father, and, +looking up into his eyes, she poured out the tale of all +she had seen in her recent visit to the court. She +had just returned from admission to the suite of the +Princess Agatha, who had taken her to the imperial +dais, at a reception of the foreign ambassadors. Since +she left her home in Crete, at the age of twelve, she had +seen little beyond the cloister of the nuns of St. Basil, +who had brought her up; and her girlish imagination +had been profoundly impressed by all she had seen and +heard. "Never could I have believed any city was +so vast," she said: "such endless crowds in the street, +such magnificent halls, corridors, terraces, and gardens, +to which those of Prote were a mere toy. And the +long lines of soldiers in splendid uniforms, father, and +the Danubian cavalry on their chargers, lining the +streets—tens of thousands of mailed giants, all as big +and fierce as that fair-haired Varangian there below in +the garden—and the organs and choirs in the hall—and +the magnificent robes of the emperor and his court, +and his imperial guard—the Immortals—in gilt +mail—and Anemas was there, on duty, and looked the most +like a soldier of them all." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah!" said the old emir, with a soft, sad smile, "it +is natural that you young ones should be dazzled with +the power and splendor of Roum. Allah has sorely +chastened the rebellious people of Islam, whose quarrels +and treasons reach upward to the throne of grace. +In his mercy and his wisdom he has decreed to give +victory to the Nazarene—victory for a time—his will +be done. I submit to it for me and mine. His +inscrutable purposes may bring together all his children +in the end." +</p> + +<p> +"Father!" said the girl, with a solemnity beyond +her years, "if you could only enter into the great +church of the Holy Wisdom, and, while the choir +chant their 'Holy, Holy, Holy!' look up to the figures +of Christ the Saviour, and the Mother of God, you +would feel that it is not false when they say that the +faith of the Cross is a spirit of love, mercy, and +reconciliation, and that it offers a new heaven to us +poor women, and makes us in religion the true peers +and helpmates of men!" +</p> + +<p> +Struck by a tone so strange in a Saracen girl, by the +earnestness of his daughter's appeal, the old chief +turned to his child with a searching look, and said, +"But you have no thought, my best beloved one, of +remaining for life in that convent, of becoming what +they call a bride of Christ?" +</p> + +<p> +"Never will I take the veil. I am not worthy. I +should never be at peace there," she replied, with deep +emphasis, but in broken sentences, "Never!" And as +the old man searched her look, a soft blush seemed to +show itself in her olive cheek. Silence followed, and +both of them thought. +</p> + +<p> +"But, oh, how sweet and good and wise is the Lady +Agatha!" the girl suddenly resumed; "she has taught +me so much, helped me in all things, and made me feel +as if I were a sister, one of her own faith and race. She +knows by heart the Greek poems of Homer, both those +about Troy and about Ithaca, of Achilles and Priam, +and of Odysseus and Penelope, and Hector and Andromache; +and yesterday she recited part of the tragedy +of 'Œdipus at Colonus.' She is so sweet and thoughtful +and brave, after all she had to bear. And, father, +I am to be one of her bridesmaids when she is married +next month, if the empress will consent." +</p> + +<p> +"And whom is she about to marry?" asked the +chief, carelessly. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, don't you know, father, it is the Lord Basil +Digenes, the warden of the marches, the favorite +lieutenant and friend of the emperor!" +</p> + +<p> +"What! the son of the emir of Edessa, he who struck +us so hard at Chandax," said the old chief, with a groan. +"Yes, yes; he who was saved by the daughter of Ben +Senoussi in prison, and who saved her in the great +defeat. So, the blood of the Prophet of Mecca, after all, +is to be mingled with the blood of the Constantines of +Roum. It is the will of Allah! Let us bow to it with +reverence and submission." +</p> + +<p> +The old emir rose, and, going to his prayer-carpet, +turned towards the tomb of the Prophet, devoutly +prostrated himself, and performed his mid-day devotions. +</p> + +<p> +The girl meanwhile drew aside in silence, crossing +herself, and fingering her own chain and cross, she +uttered fervent prayers to the Mother of God. +</p> + +<p> +When Abd-el-Aziz returned to his divan she took +his hand, kissed it, and said, "Father, does it give you +a pang to think that one of our people, if truly +converted to the faith of the Cross, should mate with a +follower of Christ? What would you say if my brother +Anemas took him a wife from the Byzantine court?" +</p> + +<p> +"What Allah decrees it is not for us to gainsay," +said the emir, somewhat oracularly. "The warden +of the marches is a noble soldier and a true knight, be +his faith what it may. But I thought he might have +wedded the Lady Fatima, whom he saved, and who +saved him from death." +</p> + +<p> +"He was born and bred a Roman and a Christian," +she said, "and he loved the Lady Agatha before she +was my age. I saw him at the court reception, looking +every inch a hero and a prince, along with his two +lieutenants, who seemed worthy of such a place." +</p> + +<p> +"And who are they?" asked the chief, quickly. +"Anemas, I know, is one, but who is the other?" +</p> + +<p> +"Do you not know?" she answered at last, distinctly +blushing as her father watched her. "The other is the +young Norwegian prince, just promoted to be colonel +in the imperial guard." +</p> + +<p> +"And is he, too, Roman and Christian?" asked her +father, promptly. +</p> + +<p> +"He is high in honor with the emperor, and was +baptized as a youth. He has seen battle in five +countries; for all that he is but four-and-twenty. He is +the tallest of all these battle-axe guardsmen, and as +fair-skinned as the fairest lady of the court. But he +can hardly speak Greek yet, and does not look in the +least like a Roman or a Greek. He has blue eyes and +long hair, of the color of silk from the cocoon. And +his battle-axe is so enormously heavy that when he +let me take it in my hand to feel its weight, it fell to +the ground with a crash," the girl rattled on. +</p> + +<p> +"Have you spoken with him, my daughter?" the +old man peremptorily asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Once," she said, "in the open court, as we came +from the Magnaura; I was with the Lady Agatha, +when the warden and his officers came up, and Anemas +presented to me his young comrade in arms. He +bowed, and smiled, and said nice things in his broken +Greek, but he looked so tremendous in his golden coat +of mail, and his casque and plume, that I could hardly +answer him, father," she murmured; and, as the sire +still looked at her, she blushed again. +</p> + +<p> +"And did you see the famous empress?" asked the +father, wishing to make the girl talk of other things. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh yes! the crash of the battle-axe, when I let it +drop on the marble pavement, amused the royal circle. +The little boy princes laughed aloud, and Basil cried +out that girls should not handle weapons, and the +empress stepped forward and flashed upon me with her +great eyes, and asked who I was. She is the most +beautiful woman in the world. Those beside her look +like slaves. But when she stared at me with her +imperious look, I felt that I should faint, if Anemas had +not taken my arm and led me away. Father, there is +nothing in all Rome so lovely, so bewitching, so terrible!" +</p> + +<p> +"And she is absolute mistress of our conqueror. +Allah! the just, the merciful, thy stricken people will +be avenged at last!" +</p> + +<p> +Here the conversation of father and daughter was +interrupted by the entrance of Anemas himself. The +old emir's son was now about five-and-twenty, of the +finest Arab type, spare, sinewy, and finely proportioned. +His limbs, hands, and feet were delicate and +supple. His features were sharply cut, handsome, and +intelligent; the tint, a pure brown, with keen, black +eyes, and a short, curled beard of jetty hue. He +resembled the lord warden, but was slighter and darker, +for he was of pure Fatimite descent, and had no +European blood in his veins. He wore his uniform as an +officer of the body-guard, and bore himself as what he +was, a brilliant soldier of that splendid and renowned +corps. +</p> + +<p> +He greeted his father with profound respect and +affection, for, Roman and Christian as he had become, +he held fast to the ceremonial traditions of his ancient +race. He kissed his sister, and, by a look, encouraged +her to leave them for a conference alone. +</p> + +<p> +"Father," said the gallant youth, standing before +his sire's divan in an attitude of deep respect and +affection, "I am come to ask your blessing and to claim +your advice. I was preparing to be ordered with my own +corps on service in the new Bulgarian war, and I burned +to show these proud Byzantines that a son of Abd-el-Aziz +can hold his own with the bravest swords of Rome. +For three years I have worn the imperial uniform, but +have never yet seen action in their ranks. They shall +see the son of the great emir challenge to single +combat the foremost champion in the enemies' host. And +the name of Anemas shall live in the annals of +Byzantine glory." +</p> + +<p> +"Go, my son," the old man broke in, "go and prove +yourself a true soldier of the race of Ali. Even in the +uniform of our conquerors you will do honor to our blood." +</p> + +<p> +"But, alas! my father, there is an obstacle to my +joining my corps. The emperor has need of some +diplomatic relations with the Fatimite caliph of +Kairouan. You know that, after the disasters of the +imperial armies and fleet in Sicily, and the death of the +emperor's cousin at Rametta, the general-in-chief, +Nicetas, was taken prisoner, and has been detained by +Al Muizz, the caliph, in El Mehdia, on the African +coast. Nicephorus ardently desires peace with both +caliphs of Kairouan and of Cordova, as all three +kingdoms are closely pressed by the growing power of +Otto, the Teuton emperor of the west. And he is +anxious to obtain the ransom of his beloved officer and +friend, Nicetas. The embassy to Muizz is to be +headed by the patrician Nicholas. But they designate +me, as a descendant of the Prophet, to be his secretary +and second, and persona grata, to a Fatimite sovereign. +As an officer of the guard, I cannot refuse such a +command. But if I go to Africa, I shall lose all chance of +joining the Bulgarian campaign. I come to beg you, +father, to petition the emperor that he may employ +my sword in war, and not my tongue in diplomatic +wrangles." +</p> + +<p> +"You are young, my son," said the old chief, in a +meditative tone, as if weighing the future in his mind; +"you will have ample opportunities of meeting in +battle these barbarians of the north—your day of glory +may come—ah! only too soon it may be, for your +father's peace—but the opportunity of seeing our own +people again on the African coast is not to be lost. It +will be noble revenge for me that our conqueror has +need of my son to restore his honor, and to rescue his +commander from a Saracen prison. You will never +have such a mission again. You have twenty years +yet to fight the Bulgars. No; go to Kairouan, and +take to the caliph there a message from a Roman +prison, that the defeated emir of Crete does not +despair of Islam." +</p> + +<p> +The son submitted, and took a dutiful and loving +farewell of his sire; and, seeing his sister in the terrace +below, he hurried forth to give her his news. The +young Sophia, who now had but dim memories of her +life as a Saracen child of the harem, was far more truly +converted to Rome and to the Cross than her brother, +and had absorbed the religion of the Virgin Mother +with all the ecstatic fervor of a Christian girl. Her +keen intelligence, and her experience of the Sacred +Palace, showed her the importance such a mission +would prove to her brother, her father, and all the +survivors of Crete. She warmly pressed her brother to +make the most of his good fortune, and by no means +to attempt any escape from the task. +</p> + +<p> +Long and tenderly the brother and sister poured out +their hearts to each other, till at last Sophia found +courage to say, "Brother, I, too, have a mission for +you in the far west. There is another caliphate in +Andalusia—how many more caliphs there may be in +Asia and in Africa I know not—but Hakim, the new +caliph of Cordova, whose ambassadors are now in the +city, is on terms of amity with Rome. At his court +still lives, in strict seclusion, as a Saracen girl must do, +Fatima, the daughter of Ben Senoussi, my own dearest +cousin, from whom I have had, as I have told you, +sad but loving greetings. Go from Africa to Spain +with the embassy about to start, under Theodosius +the deacon and Michael the secretary; obtain a place +in their mission, but contrive a meeting with Fatima. +I will trust you with presents from me. Urge her +from me to come to visit us here in my father's mansion. +I long to see her. I yearn to try if she can be +led to see how much a woman gains when she accepts +the Cross and learns to pray at the altar of the Mother +of God." +</p> + +<p> +"It is impossible. She would not see me—she +would not listen to a word from me, if she did see me. +It is impossible. Sister, say no more," said the young +guardsman, with an air of dejection. +</p> + +<p> +"Anemas, you have not ceased to love her? You +loved her, you have told me, when you were both of +the same age, and I remember how fit to be loved she +was." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; she was kind, good, merciful, but she never +really loved me, much as we had been together. But +from the hour she saw the Roman prisoner, her cousin, +the Lord Basil Digenes, she could think of no one but +him, and for his sake she has lived in solitude ever +since." +</p> + +<p> +"He will have been married to Princess Agatha long +before you can reach Spain. Seek her again, Anemas, +urge your own love, and when she hears of this +marriage she will listen. Bring her to me. Anemas, she +shall be your bride, or else the bride of Christ!" +</p> + +<p> +Anemas was despatched on his mission to the caliph +of Kairouan, Al Muizz, then at the height of his glory. +The Roman embassy, after touching at Messina and +Syracuse, crossed to the port of El Mehdia, then in its +era of prosperity and power. The Roman envoys +were amazed to find on the African coast another Saracen +kingdom, almost as splendid and as flourishing as +the caliphate of Andalusia itself. The docks of the +African seaport were crowded with ships from Syria, +Alexandria, Sicily, and Spain, with galleys from Venice, +Pisa, and Amalphi. The palaces of Muizz and of his +chief emirs were almost as rich and luxurious as those +of Abd-er-Rahman himself at Cordova. The culture of +the Fatimite court of Kairouan was not equal to that +of the Ommeyads of Spain, and the civilization of the +African people was not so advanced as that of the +long-settled Cordovan dynasty of the west. But the +military energy and movement of troopers was even more +conspicuous. For at this very season the caliph was +preparing the vast expedition which a few years +afterwards was destined to march into Egypt, and, under +the famous commander Jouhar, to transfer the +dynasty to the banks of the Nile, and to found at Kahira +the modern city of Cairo. It was the preparation for +this great revolution in the world of Islam which the +young Anemas was able to witness. +</p> + +<p> +The mission was successful; peace was made between +Muizz and Nicephorus, for both had other enemies +to meet and other conquests to win. And Anemas, +in returning, adopted his sister's advice, and had +no difficulty in finding an honorable welcome in the +Andalusian capital of Hakim II. As the son of +Abd-el-Aziz, the old kouropas, and as the brother of Sophia, +he had at last obtained an interview with Fatima, +who lived with her sister and aunts in a retired villa +that had been assigned to them in the mountains of +the Sierra Morena, north of Cordova. +</p> + +<p> +Fatima received Anemas in the terrace of their +garden looking out towards the east upon the mountains +of Granada. She was accompanied by her young sister, +as if she had resolved not to listen to a word of +love. Fatima was now in the full maturity of her +beauty, to which a life of meditation and solitude had +given a peculiar aspect of spiritual refinement. She +had always refused that close veiling and seclusion of +women which had begun to spread over the Moslem +world. She asked rapid questions as to her dear +Sophia, whom she remembered almost as a child; as to +the aged emir, who had so stoutly defended Crete, the +nature of his imprisonment, and the treatment that +the Cretan captives had received at Byzantium: Was +dear little Sophia really a Christian, and about to be a +nun? Was she happy? Had she quite forgotten her +father's faith and people? Was the kouropas held in +honor, and was he at peace, and was he satisfied with +his lot? +</p> + +<p> +These and such questions she eagerly poured out to +her young compatriot from the Byzantine court. +</p> + +<p> +Anemas answered her questions truthfully, and at +length. And, in turn, he put to her some similar +questions of his own: +</p> + +<p> +Was she satisfied with her life in a Spanish retreat? +Would she live and die in a mountain hermitage? Was +this the destiny of Islam? Were not the followers of +the Prophet as much divided among themselves as the +followers of Christ? Could true believers in the Koran +still feel that Allah was purposed to lead them ever on +to victory? Could she wonder if a soldier felt that +true religion taught him to serve his commander and +be faithful to the standard under which he was sworn, +and to the land in which God had destined him to +live? Did she not think that an officer was doing his +duty if he gave his life to his service, and left the +mysteries of Heaven to the imaums of Islam, or to the +patriarchs of Christ? +</p> + +<p> +"There is but one God," she said, with profound +earnestness; "I know but one God, and I care not if +he be named the Trinity or Allah. I have lived so +long in this Andalusian caliphate, I have seen enough +of the Romans of the empire." She sighed as she +uttered that name. "I have seen and heard enough +to know that Christendom and Islam have each much +that is godlike and good, and much that is of Sheitan +and evil. This splendid capital of Cordova is in many +things, in most things, the counterpart of Byzantium, +as rich, as luxurious, as corrupt, as elegant, as turbulent. +These Ommeyads here execrate the Fatimites—Abbasides +from the first contend with Kharijis. There +are as many sects among Mussulmans as there are +among Christians, as many dynasties, as many wars. +Bagdad, Damascus, Haleb, Antioch, Edessa, Fostat, +Kairouan, Andalusia, war on each other as often as +Byzantine, Bulgarian, Lombard, Calabrian, Frank, or +Saxon. Whether it be Allah and his Prophet or +Christ and His Mother who inspire these rivalries and +combats, I know not. All that I know is that it is not +the one God." +</p> + +<p> +"Does not Christendom, with its culture and its +freedom, its poetry, its art, its ritual, offer, at least to +women, a richer, nobler life? So my sister Sophia +asserts, and longs to show you. Oh! that you could +be persuaded to visit her in my father's house at +Prote, and see our Byzantine world, our Christian +Church!" +</p> + +<p> +"The Byzantine world," she said, sadly, "differs not +so very much from our Cordovan world. It may have +more art, more ceremony, more priests and nuns I +dare believe, but it has less poetry, less science, less +philosophy, less learning. Its women have a freer +life—it may be a happier and a wiser. Its men are less +chivalrous, and faithful, and resolute. There may be +more saints in Christendom. There are more heroes +in Islam." +</p> + +<p> +"Has not Christendom its heroes, too?" he asked, +suddenly, looking at her with passionate devotion. +</p> + +<p> +"God forbid that I should doubt it," she said, with +a deep sigh. Silence ensued, and each could feel the +tremor in the soul of the other. Rapturous memories +and cruel sorrows crowded through the mind of the +woman. Eager hopes rose in the mind of the man. +They gazed upon each other in silence. At length, +as she looked at the young chief, Fatima saw again +in the young Anemas the strange blending of the +Saracen and the Roman, that figure which, for long years, +had been the warrior-saint of her inmost dreams and +devotions. Anemas, too, was now spiritually a Digenes +himself, with the heroic temper of Saracen and of +Crusader compounded in one. +</p> + +<p> +"Can I never hope to utter those words which have +been on my lips in my long journey to this land?" he +said, and, seizing her hand, he held her close to +him—gazing into her eyes with passion and devotion. "Can +I hope?" +</p> + +<p> +She suffered her hand to remain for an instant in +his grasp. "It is too late in my life for me to change +my creed—my home—my people. It is too late in +life for me to think of happiness. I will live and die +here a lonely woman, who has known too much sorrow +to dream of being happy, or of making any one happy." She +paused, and, looking at the young soldier again +with tender compassion, she added, "I must think +over my message which I mean to send your sister and +your father. Yes; I will see you again before we +part." +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap22"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXII +<br><br> +The Stars in Their Courses +</h2> + +<p> +It was midnight of a dark and still evening on the +Bosphorus, and peace had, for the most part, +descended upon the great city; the lamps in the houses +were extinguished, and the tramp of the sentries and +the challenges of the watch alone were heard. The +harbor lights in the Golden Horn, at the point of +Keras, burned steadily, and across the straits shone +the imperial light-house of Chrysopolis. Within the +walls of the Sacred Palace the central pharos stood +forth in its lofty tower and cast its glare far out into +the Propontis. Out of the gloom there passed, within +the circle of its rays, a light skiff rowed by stout +boatmen, wherein were seated two men, closely wrapped +in long, dark cloaks, which served as a disguise. One +was blindfolded, and was patiently listening to the +instructions of his companion and guide. +</p> + +<p> +Psellus, a cubicular attendant attached to the person +of the Basilissa, was explaining in a low voice the +business on which his charge, Aaron Ben Ammon, had +been summoned to exercise his art. Aaron was a Jew, +originally of Alexandria, in Egypt, who had studied +astrology, necromancy, alchemy, and many of the +black arts, first from heretical anchorites of the +Thebais, and afterwards in Bagdad and Damascus, as well +as in Armenian and Byzantine cloisters. His profound +learning in the casting of horoscopes, in extracting +prophecies by occult sorceries, in the procuring love +philters, and occasionally, it was whispered, even more +insidious drugs, had gained him a sinister fame, which +made him in great demand in the Byzantine world of +fashion, while it made his profession one of personal +risk. The growing taste for these unholy experiences +among the great ladies of the empire had caused the +government of late to be strict in putting the law in +motion, while the patriarch was even more keen to +punish the adepts of these arts by the resources within +the power of the Church. Aaron, therefore, had +willingly submitted to be carried disguised and +blindfolded to an interview with a person unknown, in a +spot that he would not be able to reveal. +</p> + +<p> +"Most learned doctor," said Psellus, as he slipped +into the hand of Aaron a heavy purse of bezants, "a +lady of wealth, whose name, abode, and position you +will forbear to seek if you value your life, and who +will double and treble this largess if you act with +absolute discretion, will herself explain to you in person +her purpose, and she desires to receive from your own +hand the horoscopes of those persons of whose nativities +I have already given you the exact day and hour. +Of these you are now to bring the result of your astral +investigations." +</p> + +<p> +"Lead me to her ladyship; her will is my law. Silence, +discretion, disguise are as needful to me as to +my client—ay, much more so, were it not that Ashmodai +watches over the lives of those whose eyes he +has opened." +</p> + +<p> +Psellus listened intently to these last words of the +astrologer, for part of his instructions had been that +on the return journey, if the sign had been given, he +was to have the Jew drowned in the Bosphorus, to +secure his absolute discretion. They now passed into +the imperial harbor of Boucoleon, and, mooring the +boat to the quay, after giving the countersign to the +guard, proceeded to ascend the path up from the sea +towards the pharos, which now shone over the +chrysotriclinium of the imperial palace. Guiding the Jew +with his left hand, Psellus drew him past the chapel +of Elias and the oratory of St. Clement, to the +corner of the terrace of the new basilica. There a small +robing-room stood in the great garden surrounding +the new church, and communicated by a winding +staircase with the upper rooms of the Sacred Palace. +Psellus now removed the bandage from Aaron's eyes, +placed him on a couch, and desired him to wait the +approach of his client. Nor was there anything visible +in this garden dressing-room to distinguish it from an +ordinary apartment in any of the mansions of the city +or suburbs. +</p> + +<p> +Presently a majestic and graceful woman glided into +the room—she was wrapped in a great black cloak, +and closely veiled. She motioned to the attendants +to withdraw, and to the astrologer to approach. +</p> + +<p> +"Most learned doctor of astral science," she said, in +her clear, soft voice of command, "you have brought +me the calculations your learning has enabled you to +make as to the future of the persons whose nativities +were supplied to you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Your Eminence shall be satisfied. The horoscopes +of both are the most wonderful that our science has +ever revealed to me. They indicate most amazing +changes of life, incredible splendor of ascent, and signs +of imminent peril." +</p> + +<p> +"Call me simply lady—I am no more," said Theophano, +"and give me the details of each horoscope." +</p> + +<p> +The astrologer was a swarthy, spare old Hebrew, +with hooked nose and fine features, distinguished by +eyes of intense keenness, though they had a sinister +aspect, like those of a trapped beast. Theophano +watched him behind her yashmak as closely as he did +her, for ever and anon he stole furtive glances at her, +hoping to penetrate her secret. +</p> + +<p> +"The first whose nativity I have calculated is that +of one born fifty-six years, one hundred and thirteen +days, and seven hours, from this moment. It was a +birth under the sign of the Lion, at an hour charged +with vast possibilities in the future. At that instant +the zodiac was moved by portentous lights, and the +earth shook with tremors, as I have ascertained in the +records of our art that are stored in the great observatory +at Antakia in Syria. There lived and studied the +mighty seer, Mohammed Ben Djafar, of Batan, my ever +revered lord and master." +</p> + +<p> +"But what has been the horoscope of this child of +miracle and wonder?" she said, hurriedly, caring little +for the pompous claims of the Jew. +</p> + +<p> +"'The right ascension into the mansion of life and +glory' tells of a career of battle, victory, and fame, +which, at the hour wherein we are, forms one unbroken +career of success and triumph." +</p> + +<p> +"Most learned doctor," said the empress, peremptorily, +"what are the signs of the future? What is +passed and gone we all know without the science of +Mohammed of Batan, whom here we call Albatenius, +and without the aid of your most profound self, +Doctor Ben Ammon. What of the future of this person, +I ask?" +</p> + +<p> +"Madam, I hesitate to impart to you what I have +found," said the Jew, with a cunning look as he sought +her eyes; "it is terrible. The declination to the 'house +of death' stands close to the right ascension to the +'house of life.'" +</p> + +<p> +Theophano gave a sudden start in spite of her +self-control. Her piercing eyes, which she unveiled to +watch the Jew, gleamed with a light of joy. She +stretched out her hand from her wrappings to take the +scroll, whereon the astrologer had marked the rise and +fall of the star record. As she put out her arm, the +keen astrologer noticed the flash of a superb armlet of +rubies, such as he well knew could only be found in the +imperial treasury. And now, having his first suspicions +confirmed, he felt sure that he recognized the +wonderful eyes of Anastasia, the daughter of Craterus +the Laconian. Years ago, Ben Ammon had frequent +dealings with Craterus, whom he had supplied with +amulets, charms, trinkets, and gems from Egypt, Syria, +and Mesopotamia, and had often noticed the beauty +of the girl, and, indeed, had cast her horoscope with +a brilliant future. Aaron now felt sure that he was +confronted by the empress herself. Astrologers, in +ancient as in modern ages, have been far more physiognomists +than astronomers; and, in his further conversation, +Aaron thought only to indulge the humors or +the passions of his sovereign, and repeated the jargon +of his "science" only to mislead and excite her. +</p> + +<p> +"Lady," he said, with profound solemnity, watching +her expression intently, "it is my duty to tell you that +a second year cannot pass from this hour before this +person shall find death—death, sudden, alas! and +shameful." She gleamed again, and her frame thrilled. +Aaron continued in the same voice of a prophet. "He +(or is it she?) will die hated, unlamented, and +despised. The stars so reveal to us the book of +fate." Silence ensued. +</p> + +<p> +"And now, what of the second nativity you have +calculated?" she asked, at length. +</p> + +<p> +"It is even more wonderful than that of the first. +For twenty-nine years, less three months and thirteen +days, the stars have shown in the ascendant. Born +under the culmination of Venus, coincident with her +superior conjunctions at every stage of life, this +horoscope is plainly that of a woman, of the most beautiful +woman on God's earth, a woman whose beauty has +been one long triumph, with but one darker sign in all +its course." +</p> + +<p> +"And that is what?" she asked, with an audible gasp. +</p> + +<p> +"Lady, I hesitate to tell it; there is at this very +time an ominous sign. The gorgeous planet Venus, +who rules the sky by her brilliance, is passing now from +east elongation towards inferior conjunction. She is +now being obscured by too close attendance on a lower +and less honorable star." +</p> + +<p> +Theophano held her breath. "What comes after?" +she whispered. +</p> + +<p> +"Lady, the synodic period of Venus is almost complete, +and it portends a new epoch of effulgence. This +woman, for these conjunctions can belong only to a +woman, is about to free herself from an unworthy +planetary connection, and will soon ascend again +into a house of glory and joy still greater than before." +</p> + +<p> +"When shall that be?" she gasped. +</p> + +<p> +"Lady, it may be retarded by events or it may be +hastened by art." +</p> + +<p> +"And what is destined to be this superior conjunction +of which you spoke?" +</p> + +<p> +"Lady, the lore of astral combinations does not +reveal such things. But palmistry may give signs +which the constellations disdain to show. Deign to +let me trace the lines in the palm of your hand." +</p> + +<p> +Flinging aside all disguises, Theophano, in her +eagerness, put her palm in his. He bent over it with an +air of profound mystery, muttering, "the line of life, +the line of love, the line of strength. Lady, these +lines make it manifest that you are mated to one +unworthy of you, and that your happiness will not be +assured till you are the bride of one who is more +youthful, more glorious, more loving." +</p> + +<p> +"But when—with whom—how will it be brought +about?" she gasped. +</p> + +<p> +"It is not revealed to man or to woman, when, with +whom, or how happiness can be won. But art may +assist; it may hasten; it may cut the knot which binds +us to misery. Here, lady, are two rare drugs, each +worth a king's ransom, which I had from the great +Abu Djafar Achmed ben Ibrahim. One is in silver, +one is wrapped in lead. The silver charm is a love +philter, the leaden packet will relieve one of an enemy. +No man on this side of the Orontes has these medicines, +or ever has had. Nothing less than the jewel on your +arm to-night would buy them," said Aaron, with a +gleam of avarice in his eye. +</p> + +<p> +"Give them to me," she said, in a cold, firm voice, +and slipped the ruby armlet from her wrist into his +trembling fingers. +</p> + +<p> +"Farewell, learned doctor," she added, with cruel +abruptness, "guard yourself with care, for the city is +full of cutthroats." And she summoned Psellus and +her guards. "Conduct the learned doctor to his rest, +and be careful that <i>he sleeps soundly to-night</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"Ashmodai, my lord and master, guards his servant, +lady," said Aaron, fawning, and yet with a certain +subdued vein of menace. +</p> + +<p> +Psellus looked steadily at his mistress, with inquiry +for the concerted sign. She did not blench, but +repeated again, "<i>See that he sleeps soundly to-night</i>. I +am sure that Ashmodai longs to see his own." She +passed swiftly behind a curtain up the winding stair, +and Aaron allowed himself to be blindfolded with a +heavy shawl, over which Psellus and his assistants +slipped a stout, silken noose. This rapid manœuvre +Aaron, busy with the fingering of his priceless rubies, +neither saw nor felt. Then they two passed into the +night, and the skiff shot away noiselessly into the +blackness of the waters of Propontis. +</p> + +<p> +As the morning dawned, some fishermen, dragging +their net for tunny off the rock we call the "Tower of +Leander," pulled up the body of an old man clad in a +loose Oriental gabardine. The city police found in his +wallet a purse of one hundred bezants, and also a bracelet +of rubies of the rarest water. At noon, the bazaars +rang with the gossip of the hour, that a thief, who had +broken into one of the imperial chambers, and stolen +some jewels, had been caught, and flung over the +southern battlements, but some insisted that he had +been drowned in trying to escape with his plunder. +The next day a new crime and a fresh scandal occupied +the forum and the wine-shops, while Aaron Ben Ammon +"slept soundly" forevermore, in the bosom of +father Ashmodai. +</p> + +<p> +Theophano, who cared little for the mystical jargon +of astrologers, necromancers, or palmists, could not +free her mind from dwelling on prophecies which so +curiously agreed with her inmost desires. The ascetic +nature of Nicephorus, his devoutness, his zeal in the +great work of the crusade to defend Christendom from +Islam—all were profoundly odious to his wife, and had +turned her, by rapid stages, from indifference to +coldness, from coldness to contempt, and from contempt +to loathing. She longed for a life of youth, adventure, +gayety, and pomp. Romanus, with all his graces, had +nothing heroic about him but his passion for the chase. +Nicephorus had nothing of the lover, for night and +day his thoughts turned to councils of state and +preparations for war. The dreams of Theophano were +visions of an Ares, who flung aside his weapons when +he flew to the bower of his own Aphrodite. +</p> + +<p> +While the emperor was absent on his short Bulgarian +expedition, he had intrusted to his empress, +the regent, full powers of authority. And these she +had used under various pretences to throw obstacles +in the way of the marriage of Princess Agatha and +Basil Digenes, the lord warden; as, being a princess +of the royal house, and, indeed, after her infant +nephews, an heiress presumptive to the throne, Agatha +could not marry without the imperial consent, nor, +in truth, could the lord warden, as a great official, +thwart their majesties by acting in defiance of them. +Consent had been withheld on various pretexts from +time to time, and no sooner was Nicephorus across the +Balkan frontier than the empress discovered a reason +of state which caused her to issue a peremptory +rejection of the warden's demand. Theophano insisted on +marrying Agatha to the Magistros Sisinnios, one of the +imperial marshals, a man of birth and wealth, and now +entirely a creature of her own. +</p> + +<p> +A stormy scene had just taken place between the +princess and the empress. Agatha refused pointblank +to marry any one except the lord warden. She +insisted on knowing the ground on which their majesties +had withdrawn the consent, which had been virtually +given long ago, and on what charges the lord +warden's suit had been rejected. +</p> + +<p> +"His Imperial Majesty," said Theophano, "had now +discovered the dangerous ambition which his own +indulgent favor had aroused in the mind of his former +favorite lieutenant. It was now seen that, in aspiring +to the hand of a Basilian princess, he was preparing +a claim to the throne itself." +</p> + +<p> +"It is false," retorted Agatha, with passion; "let +those who make so infamous an accusation against the +most loyal spirit in this empire produce their evidence +of any such thought or attempt." +</p> + +<p> +"The emperor has had his eyes opened, and his +ministers will in good time produce the proofs which +their vigilance has collected. He cannot suffer an +officer convicted of such dangerous ambition to acquire +the manifest advantage of alliance with the house of +Basil." +</p> + +<p> +"The lord warden can prove his innocence the instant +he has audience of his emperor. It will be easy +to show him that his mind has been abused with +monstrous calumnies." +</p> + +<p> +"Agatha, child, fool, listen to me," said Theophano, +with a cruel smile. "I am empress here. No man +knows when Nicephorus will return from the war. I +and my council have resolved that Basil Digenes shall +never wed a daughter of our dynasty. The throne, +the lives of my young sons, would not be safe for an +hour—" +</p> + +<p> +"It is monstrous—it is inhuman—it is Satanic," +broke out Agatha, with passion; "the sons of my own +brother, am I to be their murderess?" and she sobbed +with indignation and rage. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, your husband might easily be their murderer. +Uncles, and even aunts, have been known to plot against +the thrones of their nephews. But listen, Agatha, +there is another thing which has decided my council. +They hold that at the opening of a new crusade against +the Moslem it would be a scandal and a danger to +show the court of Byzantium mingling the race of the +Constantines and the Basils with that of a Saracen +emir." +</p> + +<p> +"Mother of God," cried Agatha, in her agony, "do +you hear the blasphemy and the calumnies they utter?" +</p> + +<p> +"Agatha, listen to me, and cease these idle wailings +and revilings," said Theophano, with cold and deliberate +words. "On the third day from this you marry +the Marshal Sisinnios." +</p> + +<p> +"Never!" burst in Agatha. +</p> + +<p> +"Then our will is that you be made a nun and confined +in a convent on the coast of the Black Sea. Again +I say—marry Sisinnios—or be for life a solitary bride +of Christ." +</p> + +<p> +"Never!" she gasped. "I will choose death rather +than such a marriage. I will marry none but Basil +Digenes." +</p> + +<p> +"Basil Digenes," said Theophano, with her cold, +cruel voice, as if she enjoyed the torture she was +causing—"Basil Digenes, let me inform you, is now under +arrest as a traitor to his sovereigns, and will be dealt +with as I and my council direct. You know what happens +to prisoners who are suspected of aspiring to the +throne. You will never see the Digenes again in this +world—and be very certain that he can never see you," +and she laughed a cruel, mocking laugh, such as comes +from the devils when they seize their victim. +</p> + +<p> +"Mother of God," shrieked Agatha, "dost thou hear this?" +</p> + +<p> +"Marry Sisinnios," said Theophano, hoarsely. +</p> + +<p> +"None but my Basil!" screamed Agatha, wild with +horror and wrath. +</p> + +<p> +The empress struck the door twice with her jewelled +baton, and three black cubiculars rushed in, seized +Agatha, now speechless, and almost fainting. +</p> + +<p> +"Take her away, and carry out my orders," said +Theophano. +</p> + +<p> +"Fiend, I defy you!" shrieked Agatha, as the huge +eunuchs carried her off, and closed her mouth with +their unholy hands. +</p> + +<p> +After this stormy interview, which took place in the +privy boudoir of the empress, Theophano sent for her +tiring women, and, having had herself divested of the +stately robes she had worn, she was bathed with +rose-water, and had her long tresses combed and plaited. +Then she was dressed in the diaphanous folds of silk +gauze, which displayed to the best her magnificent +form, and left free the dazzling whiteness of her neck +and arms. It was little, indeed, that art could do to +enhance the radiance of that countenance which the +symmetry of a Greek bust and the glow of health +and life had made a model of perfect beauty. But +all that the cosmetic art of Byzantine luxury could +achieve was now brought into play. And, as she +watched the effect in her steel mirror, with its +enamelled frame, Theophano felt conscious that she had +never in her life looked so like a goddess of the old +Olympus. +</p> + +<p> +"Bring in the prisoner," she said to her cubiculars, +"if he has tasted the cup I sent him to drink." +</p> + +<p> +Two great palace guards accordingly led in a man +heavily manacled with a chain attached to the arm of +each of his guards. +</p> + +<p> +"Loose all these bonds," said the empress, imperiously. +</p> + +<p> +"All, madam?" the attendants asked, as if in doubt +of her meaning. +</p> + +<p> +"All," she said, again. "Leave him quite free." It +was done. The attendants and guards stood alert +and on the watch, for a state prisoner quite unbound +was an experience unknown in the Sacred Palace. +</p> + +<p> +"All will leave us," she said, peremptorily. They +looked at her with inquiry and in surprise. "Leave +us quite alone. Withdraw, and close all doors," she +added. +</p> + +<p> +To leave the empress alone with a young and very +powerful prisoner was something strange and perilous, +they thought. But she looked at them steadily till +every step was gone and all doors shut. +</p> + +<p> +Theophano stood alone with Basil Digenes, +"Gallant lord warden," she began, in silvery tones, +"our council here, in the absence of my lord, the +Basileus, have insisted on having you arrested on a +charge of aiming at the throne by pressing your claim +to a marriage with the Princess Agatha." +</p> + +<p> +"Madam," said the warden, with a proud smile, +"my beloved lord and chief knows me too well to +listen to suspicions so empty and absurd." +</p> + +<p> +"You will never think, Basil," she said, in her most +insinuating tones, "that I who know you, I trust, quite +as well as does my lord, can personally believe such +treason to be possible to the noblest hero in the armies +of Rome. I know you to be the most loyal servant +of your Basileus—ay, and of your Basilissa—" And +she stepped forward and offered him her hand to kiss. +</p> + +<p> +The guileless warden bent on his knee, took those +radiant and yet deadly fingers in his own, put them to +his lips, with the words, "From all my heart, I thank +thee, gracious queen." +</p> + +<p> +"You may trust to my intercession with the stern +Basileus to save you from the charge of treason. Rely +on my friendship, my Lord Basil, for you little know +how suspicious, how capricious, how resentful, is +Nicephorus Phocas. But I will save you, will protect +you from his vengeance, if any mortal can." +</p> + +<p> +"My chief, my friend, my sovereign, will need little +persuasion the very moment he sees me before him," +said the warden, with a sudden air of disdain. +</p> + +<p> +"You little know him," she said, bitterly. "But +the danger is too immediate to yourself. The council +have already sealed an order that endangers your +life—at least, your eyes," she said, watching him as a +tigress might watch a kid. +</p> + +<p> +"What!" cried the warden, with a start—"my life, +my limbs, and senses! Are they mad? Do they know +who I am, and who is my liege master, my comrade in +a hundred fights?" +</p> + +<p> +"Basil, I am your friend, and only I of those who +rule here to-day. Your liberty and life are in the +hands of those who rule in the absence of the Basileus +himself. I can save you from their envy and their +malice, but on one condition alone. There is one +thing that they cannot yield, one thing wherein I could +not save you." +</p> + +<p> +"What is that?" he said, with a fierce air of resolution. +</p> + +<p> +"You must renounce all thought of the princess. +The council will never suffer you, with your name and +fame and birth—your glory, your invincible charm, +Basil, to be allied with the sister of the late Basileus." +</p> + +<p> +"Never will I renounce her—never! I will face death, +imprisonment, mutilation, torture, but never will I give +up my Agatha in life." +</p> + +<p> +"Basil, it is too late. She has renounced you; she +consents to marry the Marshal Sisinnios, and the +ceremony takes place to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +"Impossible. I will not believe it. She is as true as +steel, as good as a saint, as brave as a virgin martyr. +I must see her, must hear this from her own lips. It +is false." +</p> + +<p> +"Would that I could think so, Basil, for her sake +and for yours. Listen to reason; hear the truth from +one who admires your glory and yearns to serve and +to save you. You cannot save her, and you may +destroy the noblest Roman of this empire, which we all +know you to be. Agatha, poor child, is powerless here, +and can do nothing to save you, to help you, or to +raise you. I have placed one soldier on the Golden +Throne. He has proved unworthy of it—" +</p> + +<p> +Here Basil burst out into furious words, for the +Jew's drug had begun to excite and confuse his brain. +Theophano drew back and fingered the poisoned stiletto +she had concealed in her bosom. +</p> + +<p> +"Basil," she said, in a voice of deep feeling, "he +may die—he may become the hermit he desires to +be—within a month. Where should Rome find a Basileus +then, save in the most noble, the most splendid +soldier of this realm? Where could I and my babes +find a protector, a friend, a counsellor—if it be not +in the hero whom a thousand bards have praised as +the 'bravest of the brave,' whom all Byzantium and +the Golden Palace admire—and love—as the most +brilliant cavalier in this royal court? Basil, hear me, +Rome and Rome's mistress, all that is greatest and +most beautiful on earth is yours! Say but one word, +and seal it with one kiss!" +</p> + +<p> +He listened like a man in an evil dream, who cannot +move or speak. The drug had begun to make him +delirious. +</p> + +<p> +She advanced towards him, opening her white arms, +that glistened with jewels, and sought to wrap him +round and draw him towards her. +</p> + +<p> +He gasped with shame, awe, and rage, speechless +with indignation and amazement and stupefied with +the potion. He staggered backward, shrinking from +her with loathing, as from something poisonous and +unclean. He stumbled back towards the door, which +was violently opened behind him. And as Digenes +staggered back he fell against the Basileus himself, +who rushed into the arms of his wife, shouting, "My +queen, my wife, my love, I have hurried back without +notice in advance of my guard and men." +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +The unfortunate Digenes sank down exhausted and +senseless. He was now in high fever, delirious from +the effects of the potion and the spasms of fury and +amazement through which he had passed. The +silentiaries called the guard, who bore away the +unconscious chief to a bed, whereon he long lay overcome +with a dangerous illness, and unable to remember +what had happened. Nicephorus gave strict orders +to his own physicians and attendants to nurse him. +He listened in silence full of doubt and bewilderment +to the artful story poured into his ears from the ready +brain of Theophano. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap23"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXIII +<br><br> +The March on Antioch +</h2> + +<p> +The dawn had not appeared when the peace of +Byzantium was roused by a sudden commotion. +The reveille was sounding from all the barracks of the +guards. Citizens rushed from their houses to the +wider streets and forum to hear the news. The beacon +fire across the Bosphorus, on the heights above +Chrysopolis, was blazing in the sky. And the palace +and its precincts were bright with lamps and torches, +as messengers, troops, and attendants hastened through +the corridors and courts. +</p> + +<p> +The young guardsman, Eric, hurrying to headquarters, +chanced in the crowd to meet his friend, Symmachos +the silentiary, attended by Leo the historian +that was to be, then a young student at college. "What +does it mean?" he asked. "What does it mean?"—"Can +you ask?" said Symmachos. "Do you not see +the blaze of the beacon across the Bosphorus there? +Do you not know that this is the signal from Cæsarea +in Cappadocia that the great army of the east is ready +to march, and awaits the coming of the Basileus?" +</p> + +<p> +"I knew the signal was expected, but I did not +understand it had arrived." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes!" said Symmachos, "it has come—just an +hour ago, having started from the banks of the Halys +about this very midnight. I have just been sent to +summon General Bardas to the palace." +</p> + +<p> +"You have never seen our telegraphs at work before?" +said Leo, the scholar, who was already well +versed in all the machinery of the empire. "Mount +Argæus, whence this signal started, is full thirty days' +march from the city. In a few hours the beacon-fire +has leaped across that space." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said Symmachos, "the palace pharos communicates +with that of Chrysopolis; thence it flashes to +Nicomedia, Nicæa, Dorylæum, Laodicea, till it reaches +Mount Taurus, and from Taurus the concerted signals +are returned." +</p> + +<p> +"Does it not remind you of the famous scene of the +beacon-fire from Troy, in the 'Agamemnon' of our +Æschylus?" said Leo, with all the conceit of a young +student. "You know those glorious lines, my lord?" +he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"Not I, my boy," said Colonel Eric, with a laugh, +"Greek prose is too much for me as yet, and as for +your Æschylus, I would rather wrestle with a Russian +bear than struggle through his break-jaw lines." +</p> + +<p> +"May Apollo and the Nine Muses forgive you, most +terrible son of Thor and Odin. Oh, listen to these +majestic verses that the poet puts in the mouth of +Clytemnestra: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + 'From Ida's top, Hephæstus, Lord of Fire,<br> + Sent forth his sign; and on, and ever on,<br> + Beacon to beacon sped the courier-flame.<br> + From Ida to the crag, that Hermes loves,<br> + On Lemnos; thence, unto the steep sublime<br> + Of Athos, throne of Zeus, the broad blaze flared<br> + Thence, raised aloft to shoot across the sea,<br> + The moving light, rejoicing in its strength,<br> + Sped from the pyre of pine, and urged its way,<br> + In golden glory, like some strange new sun,<br> + Onward, and reached Macistus's watching heights.'"<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +As the young student, all aflame with his tragic +enthusiasm, rolled out these lines to the bewilderment of +Eric, the courtier Symmachos watched him sharply. +</p> + +<p> +"Beware how you talk of Clytemnestra within sight +of our palace, my young friend, or you may be a +Cassandra yourself," said he. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah," said Leo, "how every line of the tragedy +haunts one; of a truth, there never was, there never +will be again on this earth, such a tragedy as that! +But our Agamemnon, king of men, is going forth to +Asia to a triumph; he is not returning home after long +absence. And yet how the weird cries of the chorus +ring in my ears: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "'Wherefore, forever, on the wings of Fear<br> + Hovers a vision drear<br> + Before my boding heart? a strain,<br> + Unbidden and unwelcome, thrills mine ear<br> + Oracular of pain.'"<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +"Keep your visions in your heart, as we do," said +the silentiary, sharply, "and do not let them pass +your lips, or they will prove oracular of pain, indeed, +and you will have no eyes to see visions at all. But +come, enough of this; our friend the colonel here is +not listening to you. He is staring at the crowd +before the Gate of Bronze." +</p> + +<p> +They pushed their way through the by-standers, who +stood watching an unwonted and stirring sight. On +either side of the bronze door of the palace stood two +huge Varangian battle-axemen on guard, motionless +as statues. Above them, high on the face of the closed +doors, hung the gilded corselet of the emperor's armor +of state, with the sword and the shield. The crowd +below came and went, gazing on it with murmurs. +</p> + +<p> +"And what means that?" Eric asked his guides. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the ceremonial notice to his people," said +Symmachos, "that the emperor is about to march +and take command of his army in person." +</p> + +<p> +"An ancient custom?" asked Eric. +</p> + +<p> +"From time immemorial—at least, since Theophilus +the Magnificent marched forth against the children +of Hagar. The rite is all exactly prescribed in the +appendix to the first <i>Book of Ceremonies</i> of our +ever-revered Constantine Porphyrogennetus," said +Symmachos, with an air of authority, as if that had +settled the matter. +</p> + +<p> +The day had now begun to break, and the streets +were crowded with long lines of guards hastening to +the points of embarkation. The forums were filled +with eager sightseers, with caravans of beasts of burden, +orderlies flying in every direction with orders, and +endless processions of priests and acolytes to the shrines +and miraculous oratories and temples. The main +army was already gathered round Cæsarea. The +intermediate camps were crowded with troops, stores, +ammunition, beasts, corn, and sheep, for food. +Nothing remained to be moved from Byzantium across the +water except the strong body-guard of the emperor, +and the vast train and baggage apparatus, tents, and +servitors ordained in the <i>Book of Ceremonies</i>, when a +Basileus takes the field in person. +</p> + +<p> +To carry all these across the straits to the Asian +coast, there were gathered a fleet of transports, barges, +and galleys, which crowded round the ports adjoining +the palace, and again covered the Golden Horn with +their many-colored sails and long banks of oars. +</p> + +<p> +In the mean time stormy scenes had been taking +place within the Sacred Palace, and, indeed, in the +privy chambers of the emperor and the empress themselves. +</p> + +<p> +To explain the situation, it is necessary to go back +somewhat in time to the moment described at the close +of the twentieth chapter, when Nicephorus so +unexpectedly burst out against the envoys from the king +of Bulgaria, and his sudden attack upon that kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +The emperor judged it unsafe to start on his far +eastern campaign while leaving the Bulgarian kingdom, +with all its resources and possible allies, planted +within a few days' march of his capital. He silently +resolved to strike down the power of so dangerous a +neighbor by a sudden onslaught, of which none but +two or three of his intimate council had any warning. +His unexpected rush had utterly paralyzed the unwar-like +Czar Peter, who had lived all these years in a +fool's contentment. Forts, towns, and stores fell into +the hands of the Romans, who seemed to be making +a military promenade on the Bulgarian capital. But +it was no part of the policy of Nicephorus to occupy +himself in the Balkans a single day after the completion +of his eastern preparations. Accordingly, he +sent a mission to the young Czar of the Russ, son of +the great Czarina Olga, and induced him, by promises +and enormous bribes, to fall upon Bulgaria from the +north across the Danube. Sviatoslav forced his way +on. Crushed thus between Romans on the south, and +Russians on the north, Bulgaria lay helpless and +prostrate. Thereupon, Nicephorus had dashed back to +Constantinople in advance of his men, as suddenly and +as unexpectedly as he had begun the attack. He was +now free to give himself entirely to the great campaign +beyond the Taurus the moment the fire-signal should +warn him that all was ready to march. +</p> + +<p> +Theophano succeeded in throwing on the privy council +the responsibility for the arrest of Digenes, and for +the opposition to his marriage with Agatha. The +unfortunate warden, tossing on a bed of sickness, and +quite delirious with fever, was unable to give any +explanations whatever. Agatha, who was occupied +intently with superintending the nursing him to life, +was still ignorant of the monstrous advances that the +empress had made to Digenes. And the persecuted +princess, in her agonies of anxiety and excitement, +was no match for the daring brain of Theophano. +Nicephorus peremptorily cancelled the imperial order +to marry Agatha to Sisinnios, who narrowly escaped +condign punishment for allowing himself to be made +a party to the scheme. The formal authority was +given to the suffering warden of the marches to marry +the princess as soon as he could be restored to health. +On her part, the noble-minded Agatha, overjoyed at +her deliverance from the palace plot, and absorbed in +saving her beloved Digenes from death, forbore to +torture the mind of the emperor, at the moment of +setting forth on his great campaign, with all that she +knew and more that she suspected of the designs and +intrigues of Theophano. And in this magnanimous +resolve she was confirmed by the sudden decision of +Nicephorus as to the regency, which struck the whole +palace and its inmates with surprise, fear, or hope, +according to the party each supported. +</p> + +<p> +"My beloved lord and ever-victorious hero," broke +out the Basilissa, when at last they two were alone +and the immediate orders had been given, "well +wert thou named Nicephorus, thou who bringest +victory ever in thy hand! Thou returnest from a new +triumph over another enemy, who treacherously +professed to be our friend. But to me, thy wife, thy +servant, thy lover, thou bringest back that which is to +her more dear than victory. Thou hast brought life +and light and joy—thou bringest back thyself!" +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus listened in silence with a clouded brow. +At last he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +"I do not know if my coming brings joy to this +palace. I purpose that it shall bring peace. I will do +my best that it bring life at least to one who is more +dear to me than any soldier in my empire. But, you +will remember, that I do not come to stay. I hurried +back from the Balkan on news that all was on the eve +of readiness on the Taurus. Hour by hour I expect +the beacon-fire to flame. And twelve hours after that +light I shall be in Asia." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, my Lord, my life, say not so soon! Am I to +be widowed again in so short an interval? Have you +thought of all the anxieties I have suffered while filling +your seat at the council? Do you care nothing for +all the toils that a regent has to bear—and that +regent a weak, inexperienced woman? Cannot you +imagine, dear my lord and master, all the loneliness that +a widowed wife has to suffer in her silent chamber, in +her deserted couch?" +</p> + +<p> +"You will have no longer all these toils." +</p> + +<p> +"What say you?" she almost shrieked. "Who can +sustain the regency in your absence, who but your +wife who lifted you to this throne and who alone +knows all its cares, its resources, and its perils?" +</p> + +<p> +"One who knew all this before you yourself were born—one +who, for two generations, has been a chief bulwark +of Rome—one who is honored and beloved by +every honest Roman," said Nicephorus, quietly, and +with a tone of decision. +</p> + +<p> +"Your father, Bardas?" she gasped; "but he is +decrepit with age and infirmity." +</p> + +<p> +"He is wise, brave, firm, and the idol of the people. +But I have named as his colleague in the office of +regency, my brother Leo, the curopalates. He has +the youth, life, and force that years may have taken +from my sire. They two, as joint regents, will form +a government that all men can trust—such as I can +trust when I leave for the far east." +</p> + +<p> +"And cannot you trust your own wife?" she broke out. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus uttered not a word, nor did he make a +sign. +</p> + +<p> +"It cannot be. Has it come to this? Have I not +saved your life from Bringas? Have I not set you on +this throne? Have I not imperilled my all, my own +life and liberty, my very soul, for an Armenian soldier +of fortune—I, the daughter of ancient kings and +heroes, the wife, the mother of emperors of Rome?" She +spoke with passion, seeking, if she might, to +overwhelm him with her majestic presence. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus spoke not a word; slowly he drew from +his robe the diploma with its vermilion seal that created +Bardas the Cæsar, and Leo the curopalates, joint +regents of the empire, during his own absence from +Europe. +</p> + +<p> +She strove to snatch it from his hand, with fresh +reproaches and remonstrances. "Let me tear it; listen +to reason; will you show such cruelty to your wife? +Nicephorus, remember all that you owe me!" +</p> + +<p> +At length, having exhausted appeals, invectives, +and threats, she returned to blandishments again, with +a mind recurring to the large opportunities for ambition +and intrigue which the palace would offer her in +the absence of its imperial master. +</p> + +<p> +"Cruel man, hard-hearted husband, faithless lover," +she broke out with sobs, "you little know or care for +all the wretchedness of a wife, deserted for years, it +may be, abandoned to the evil arts of her rivals, her +enemies—ay, maybe of her suitors and false friends." And +she wept, with all the art and pathos of a +consummate actress. +</p> + +<p> +"Fear not," said Nicephorus, quietly; "you go with +headquarters into Asia yourself. All fitting preparations +for your journey are already being made." +</p> + +<p> +"What?" she screamed. "Am I to be dragged +across Asia in the rear of an army, in this terrible +campaign into Syria? Am I to be a follower of the camp, +a hostage, a prisoner, an exile?" +</p> + +<p> +"You go with all the honors, the state, and fit +appliances of an empress of Rome. Does a Basilissa +dread to face a campaign against the enemies of Christ, +when the Basileus in person leads his armies to war?" +</p> + +<p> +"Do you take me with you, do you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Basilissa will be at headquarters, I say, though +the commander-in-chief may not know from hour to +hour whither he may be called in the field." +</p> + +<p> +"And are my poor children, the infant Basileis, to +be torn from their mother, to be left here exposed to +all the machinations of their rivals—to the humiliations +and the plots that your brother may contrive, +to all the contaminations of this place—when the love +and care of their mother is far away?" And she +sobbed and wept tears of mingled wrath and fear, tears +not wholly feigned. "They will imprison them, they +will mutilate them, they will murder them—my babes, +my hope, my pride, my sons of Constantines, Basils, +of Leonidas, and of Lycurgus! The Armenian +conspirators will slay them and seize their inheritance." +</p> + +<p> +"Fear nothing, madam," at last said Nicephorus, +coldly. "The Basileis go with you, with ample +imperial state and retinues. Your terrors are as +needless as they are unjust. Your sons shall have all a +mother's care, all a mother's love you can give them. +Nor will you suffer any loss of dignity if you cease to +be regent. You are empress in title and in act, and +will be honored as reigning empress, whether in Europe +or in Asia; you and your sons will be in the eyes +of all men the true sovereigns of this empire. It is +time that these boys, who are to inherit this throne, +should see with their eyes the kingdom they will have +to rule, and to hear the shouts of a Roman army as it +marches to battle against the infidel. For me, while +this war endures, so long as the caliph holds the Holy +Land where Christ the Saviour lived, taught, and +died for men, it is enough for me to be commander of +the armies of Rome, of the soldiers of our crucified +Redeemer." +</p> + +<p> +Long did the wily sorceress try all her arts in +turn—entreaties, invectives, tears, threats, blandishments, +and pathetic reproaches. Nicephorus remained +immovable. Bewildered as he was by the incoherent and +contradictory tales he heard as to what had passed in +his absence, grieved at the long illness of his friend, +overwhelmed with cares of state and the duties of the +campaign, he resolved to postpone further inquiry into +the conduct and schemes of his wife. He insisted on +carrying her with him, to be near him, and under his +watch and guard, but no longer to be at his side or to +be treated with any show of affection. Henceforth she +ceased to be his wife, though to the world she remained +his empress. To passionate love and devotion there +had succeeded deep distrust and even dread. But even +distrust and dread were not strong enough to stifle +love. He was no longer her slave. He could not +cease to be her lover. He could not cease to be her +lover in the silent recesses of his heart, hard as he +might strive to tear up by the roots the memory of +his fatal passion. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after noon that very day vast crowds collected +in the Middle Street, in the forum of Constantine, and +in the Augustaion, and all round the walls of the +Sacred Palace. The whole city was wild with excitement, +and the streets were decorated with banners and +emblems. Hour after hour since dawn the guards had +been paraded and mustered on barges. Long caravans +of sumpter-mules, laden with the tents, furniture, +baggage, and robes of the empress, of her two sons, +and of Nicephorus, passed through the imperial gate +down to the port, where they embarked for the Asiatic +shore. But the densest crowd of all was gathered +round the harbor of Boucoleon, where the imperial +cortège was to take ship. At length, amid the clang of +trumpets and cymbals, the procession was formed. +Magistroi, patricians, and prefects, selected by the +emperor to form his court, among whom were our friends +Bardas Skleros, attended by young Eric, Bourtzes, and +Balantes, and other generals, chamberlains, and ushers, +accompanied Nicephorus to the imperial galley. It +was gently rowed out from the port to a short distance, +where all could be easily seen, and spoken word +could be heard on shore. The walls, banks, towers, +terraces, and every available spot were crowded, while +the patriarch, his priests and acolytes, with their +crosses and pictures, waited at the point of the quay. +The emperor ascended the steps to the raised platform +on the quarter-deck of the state dromon. He +was in full panoply, over which fell, in long folds, the +imperial scaramangion of his office. He turned +towards the east, and, reverently raising his right hand +aloft, he thrice waved over the city the sign of the +Cross. Profound hush fell on the vast multitude. +Then he clasped his hands in the attitude of adoration, +and, in a ringing voice across the waters, poured forth +the prayer prescribed in the book of rites: +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="letter"> +"O Lord Jesus Christ, my God, into thy hands I commend +this city of Thine. Guard her against all enemies, all disasters, +that may seek to come against her; guard her against civil war, +and against invaders from the Gentiles. Keep her safe from +capture and safe from pillage: for in Thee we place all our hopes, +inasmuch as Thou art the Lord of all mercy, the Father of all +pity, the God from whom alone cometh all consolation. Thine +is all mercy, all salvation, deliverance out of all temptations +and all perils, now and forever and evermore. Amen." +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p> +At these words the choir responded from the shore +with long chants of "Amen! Amen! Holy, Holy, Holy, +One Triune God!" And the vast crowds on the walls +and terraces sent up to the sky resounding shouts of +"Amen! Amen! Long live our ever-victorious Basileus!" +</p> + +<p> +The imperial fleet set forth at once with sails and +oars across the Propontis, and, amid crowds of boats, +caiques, and light galleys, passed over that lovely +inland lake between the Princes Islands and the Asian +coast, marked with endless headlands, bays, woods, +and towers. It sailed on eastward into the landlocked +bay of Nicomedia, and disembarked at Pylæ (the +Gates of Asia), a little north of the famous city of +Nicæa in Bithynia. This was now practically the +head of the great military road which led from the +Propontis into Syria, the road which so many armies, +proconsuls, and officials of the Roman empire had +traversed for ages—along which the advancing flood +of Islam came, step by step, for seven hundred years—the +road traversed by the vast and motley host of +the First Frank Crusade, one hundred and thirty years +later, on their way to Antioch and Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +Here the imperial host was attended and watched +by two young and observant spirits, both of whom +were deeply stirred by the character and exploits of +Nicephorus Phocas, both of whom have left us records +of his achievements. One of these was the young +student, Leo, long afterwards destined to become a +deacon of the Church, and to transmit to us, after a +thousand years, the only contemporary history in prose +of these events. Though still but an undergraduate +at college, his historical zeal had caused him to obtain +permission to follow the imperial train, at least as +far as Cæsarea; and he was already taking ample notes +of everything he saw, and was diligently inquiring into +every detail of the armament and its equipment. His +companion was one Joannes, called Kyriotes, and +usually known as "the Geometer," from his mathematical +learning. He, too, ultimately took priests' orders, +and became, late in life, Bishop of Melitene, in +Cappadocia. We still have verses of his in the form +of epitaphs on Nicephorus, his uncle Malemos the +Hermit, and the Patriarch Polyeuctus. At the date of +this journey he was a young courtier—a protospathaire, +in fact, unattached—and his father, Theodore, +a great official, had procured for his son, John, and his +young friend, Leo, permission to join the imperial suite +and to follow all the movements of the host. It is by +the keen eyes and active brains of these two literary +enthusiasts that we propose now to follow the crusade +of the tenth century. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the immense convoy of baggage and camp +furniture was fully landed on the main-land, the +emperor in person held a review of the train of sumpter +beasts, their drivers, and their packs, under the +superintendence of the prefect of the stables. Leo +and Joannes followed in the emperor's staff, John +as the elder, and already an experienced official, +pointing out and explaining each section of the equipment. +</p> + +<p> +"The first inspection is to register the proper +number of the sumpter beasts sent in to the rendezvous," +said John. "The prefect of the stables and his +lieutenants and subalterns are responsible. Every +official, from the captain of a theme to the lowest grade +of the vestiaries, is charged to produce so many horses, +so many mules. The counts of the guard, scholares, +excubitors, immortals, and the obsequians, are all +assessed, and so on throughout." +</p> + +<p> +"Is the number of each requisition fixed by law, and +always the same?" +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly, it is all noted in the appendix to our +first <i>Book of Ceremonies</i>." +</p> + +<p> +"There are no imperial sumpter animals then?" +asked Leo. +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly there are. The emperor is now inspecting +the contingent. Two hundred horses and two +hundred mules from the imperial stables of Asia and +Phrygia. The great stables and paddocks are over +there at Malagina, under Mount Olympus. The bishops +and archbishops have to send another hundred, +and the great monasteries another hundred. +Altogether we have here nearly one thousand beasts." +</p> + +<p> +"That is not enough for the army?" asked Leo. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh no! the army is already well on its march, or +in the intermediate camps along the line, ready to fall +in. Their baggage animals are by this time well ahead +towards Cæsarea. These we see are for the imperial +retinue, staff, and service. The whole have been +mustered at the state paddocks, where they have been +gelded, branded with the state cipher, and passed by +the surgeons. They must be above five and under +seven years, shod, bitted, and furnished with saddles +or packs, halters, and tethers. Those that are sick or +sorry have been rejected, and are left in the paddocks +in the veterinary hospital." +</p> + +<p> +"What is the emperor stopping for now in that +group?" asked Leo. +</p> + +<p> +"He notices, perhaps, that the beast is short of +proper clothing, or has a sore back, and that his +harness has not been properly stamped. No! I see now, +he has noticed a mule with a load too heavy. See, +he has it taken off and weighed!" +</p> + +<p> +"Why so?" asked the curious Leo. +</p> + +<p> +"No horse or mule can have laid on his back a weight +exceeding eighty measures of corn. Yes! They find +it is exceeded. The Basileus has called for the driver's +check, which is forfeited, and he is ordering the fellow +two dozen lashes." +</p> + +<p> +"He is rather more tender to his mules than to his +men," said Leo. +</p> + +<p> +"Not he," said John. "Nicephorus is a man of +iron to himself first and to others next. To himself, +his soldiers, his beasts, he is the same. In discipline +he is as sharp and as severe in punishing as any emir +of the Hagarenes or czar of the Bulgars." +</p> + +<p> +"Inexorable as Rhadamanthus or Achilles," said +Leo, whose mind ran on his Hellenic classics. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, do you not see," said John, "it is not a +matter of tenderness at all. Tender is a word not known +in the vocabulary of the Sacred Palace nor of the +Roman army. But a mule with a sore back, a cracked +heel, or with an excessive load, will soon drop. With +it goes its pack, and when this failure spreads, the +expedition is delayed or weakened. Hence our +administration for centuries had prescribed the exact harness, +clothes, condition, age, of every baggage-beast, and +the weight he has to carry, and provides good stables, +clothes, drugs, and veterinary surgeons. And Nicephorus +Phocas, let me tell you, is the man in all this +service the most keen to mark any case of default, and +the most inexorable to have it exposed and punished. +I have heard him say that the feet of a soldier are just +as essential as his hands, and the legs of his mount may +decide a battle quite as much as his lance or bow." +</p> + +<p> +The huge caravan passed on with sure and rapid +steps from one camp to another, the troops in each +camp joining up on the march, through the plain round +Nicasa, to the station at Dorylæum, a district the scene +of so many desperate combats—and after a hundred +and thirty years the scene of the triumphs of a +Godfrey and a Tancred. The empress and her sons were +conveyed with speed and without fatigue in horse +litters, and they had their tents, guards, and retinue +distinct from that of the emperor. +</p> + +<p> +It was at Dorylæum, after a severe day's march, +that Leo and Joannes were permitted to visit the tents +of the emperor himself. Two were pitched and ready +furnished at each station, awaiting his arrival—one for +his meals, the other for the night. They were of purple, +lined with silk, and supported on stout tent-poles with +gilded knobs. Within they were already filled with +couches, folding-tables, cushions, rugs, and furs, with all +the utensils needed for the table and service—stamped +with the imperial cipher—baths, books, maps, almanacs, +prayer-books, reliquaries, even cases of medicines, +and surgical instruments. Nor was there wanting +immense chests of robes, of state armor, silk and +linen garments, even unguents and pastils, lamps, +parchment, writing-materials, seals, and stamps. All +this vast apparatus was strictly required by the laws +and custom of the Sacred Palace. Nicephorus, who +despised it, and rejected its use, suffered it to be taken +as far as Cæsarea. When the campaign began in earnest, +he left it behind him, and fared as simply as any +regimental officer in his army. +</p> + +<p> +Just as they had been admitted to view the imperial +tents and fittings, the guard for the night was being +posted. The commander of the vigils, or watch, +ordered out a detachment of one hundred guards, who +patrolled the external circuit of the imperial tents. +The inner circuit, from the cords of the tent-poles, was +guarded by a hundred men from the corps of the +hetæri, or body-guard. From the moment when the +emperor had withdrawn within, no man could pass +the barrier, which was indicated by the shields hung +outside the tents. +</p> + +<p> +"From the day that the Basileus enters the enemies' +ground," said Joannes, "these guards are doubled, and +a more rigid surveillance is enforced. An emperor +of Rome is not to be caught napping in his tent like +a madcap king of the Franks, or a rough-and-ready +czar of the Russ." +</p> + +<p> +And now the Basileus approached, passing through +the lines of men already halted round their quarters. +The brigadiers, colonels, and officers dismounted and +joined his staff. The infantry fell on their knees and +prostrated themselves before their august autocrator; +the cavalry sat motionless on their chargers at the +salute. Nicephorus would halt and address each +detachment. "Soldiers, I trust all goes well with you! +How fare ye, my sons? How fares it with your wives, +my daughters-in-law, how fares it with your children?" +</p> + +<p> +And the men answered in the appointed words, "In +the light of thy majesty, if all goes well with thee, all +goes well with us, thy servants." And the Basileus +replied, "Thanks be to God Almighty, who preserves +you in health!" +</p> + +<p> +With these words he passed into his tent. The +captain of the watch asked him for the password. That +night it was "St. Michael the Archangel." +</p> + +<p> +At night he summoned his principal officers and +staff to sup with him. The young Joannes and Leo +were even admitted to attend at the repast. Nicephorus +was now hastening to take command of a great +army, which he knew was worthy of its task—to make +head against the swarms of Islam which now reached +from the Indus and the Caspian to the Taurus, and +from Morocco to the Holy Land. He had thrown off +all the cares and vexations of the capital, all the +miserable ceremony of the Sacred Palace. He was again +a soldier, about to complete the mission of his life; +and the young students rejoiced to observe in all his +words and his looks a spirit of hope and confidence +that for two years had never lighted up the countenance +of the hermit sovereign. +</p> + +<p> +As the two students left the tents of the Basileus, +they passed over to those of the Basilissa, who had just +arrived in her litter from the day's march with a long +train of guards, pack-horses, attendants, and baggage +servants, and her two sons, with a like retinue. As +she was in the act of descending from her litter to +pass into her tent, a strange, wild figure pressed forward +against the guards with loud outcries and appeals to +the empress to suffer him to approach and address +her. It was an old man, gaunt and haggard, with +long white hair, the upper part of his body was almost +bare, and showed emaciated and torn limbs, while he +was girt with a coarse and ragged garment from the +waist downward; but his legs and feet, like his arms, +were naked, and presented the look of a skeleton +exposed to the winds of heaven. His cries and wild +appearance, much like that of an India fakir, caused +Theophano to halt and ask who he was and what did +he seek. He was said to be the famous eremite, Daniel, +of Mount Olympus, who had lived in solitary caves or +huts for forty-three years, had once had a great +reputation for sanctity, but was now believed to have been +driven crazy by his austerities. He had lived in a +desecrated tomb by the side of the road, and was +afflicted with dreadful fits of epilepsy. He claimed to +possess the gift of prophecy, which was vouchsafed to +him by the Jewish prophet whose name he bore. +</p> + +<p> +The promise of hearing prophecy caused Theophano +to order that the venerable hermit should be permitted +to approach her. He advanced towards the royal seat, +and, standing on a rock and throwing up to heaven his +shrunken arms, he began with loud cries, "Hear the +word of the Lord God, which He spake by the mouth +of Daniel, prophet of the Most High. I have seen in +a vision the things that shall come upon this land, for +its abominations and all its sorceries. Thus saith the +Lord: 'There shall come up against this land a king of +kings from the rising sun, with horses and with horsemen, +and he shall set engines of war against thy walls, +and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. +The walls shall shake at the noise of his horsemen +when he shall enter into thy gates. With the hoofs +of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets. He +shall slay thy people with the sword. They shall +make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy +merchandise. They shall break down thy walls and +destroy thy pleasant houses. I will make thee a +terror, and thou shalt be no more.'" +</p> + +<p> +The prophet foamed at the mouth, and paused from +sheer exhaustion. The attendants attempted to seize +him. But the empress motioned them to suffer him +to speak. Again he screamed out: +</p> + +<p> +"Thus saith the Lord. I have seen in a vision a +great host of men and horses coming from the setting +sun, and I hear the crash of battle and of fierce +slaughter; and all the ground whereon thou now standest +shall be a lake of blood. And the bones of the slain +shall cumber this valley, and its end shall be a land of +desolation." +</p> + +<p> +Again he shouted, as his long arm pointed at Theophano: +</p> + +<p> +"Thus saith the Lord. Thou art covered with silk +and bedecked with ornaments. Bracelets are on thy +hands and chains on thy neck, jewels are on thy +forehead and ear-rings in thy ears and a beautiful crown +upon thy head. Thou wast exceedingly beautiful, and +thou didst prosper into thy kingdom. But thou didst +trust in thy own beauty, and playedst the harlot +because of thy renown, and pourest out thy fornications +on every one that passed by." +</p> + +<p> +The courtiers groaned out their indignation, but +Theophano sat motionless like a statue of Clytemnestra. +</p> + +<p> +"Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord. +Because thy filthiness was poured out, and with all +the idols of thy abominations—I will judge thee as +women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; +and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. And +they shall strip thee of thy clothes, and shall take thy +fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. And they +shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through +with their swords. +</p> + +<p> +"Thus saith the Lord. Hast thou killed and also +taken possession? In the place where dogs shall lick +the blood of him thou shalt slay, shall dogs lick thy +blood, even thine." +</p> + +<p> +These dreadful fragments of biblical imprecation +were shrieked forth by the fanatic in piercing tones, +while his weird, inhuman look and voice thrilled those +who heard them, so that they were afraid to move. +Theophano listened in seeming patience, with a look +of disdainful mockery in her face—somewhat distracted +within by her own contempt for the wretched maniac, +and lingering desire to hear what she might of inspired +or diabolic presage. But as the violence of passion +had disordered the brain and nerves of the ascetic, he +foamed at the mouth in a fit, and, with violent shrieks +and struggles, he was borne away by the terrified +attendants. To the eye of those around, and even to +the searching glances of Leo and Joannes, Theophano +herself was the one person present at this scene who +had borne it throughout with indifference and contempt. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap24"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXIV +<br><br> +Love and Falsehood +</h2> + +<p> +By rapid, preconcerted stages, the imperial +headquarters was moved on from Dorylæum and the +valley of the Sangarius into that of the upper Halys, +and soon round the salt lake of Tatta to Cæsarea, +where a halt was made. It was practically the military +route long before traversed by Alexander, and +so many chiefs of old and new Rome, and in part by +the Crusaders under Walter the Penniless, and Godfrey, +more than a century afterwards, when their bones +whitened the plain. Cæsarea had been refortified and +crowded with immense contingents and vast stores as +the grand base of the expedition into Syria. There +Nicephorus held a series of inspections, musters, and +reviews. At many of these Leo the student was +present, under the guidance of his friend, Joannes, and +he occupied himself with careful notes as to all the +nations and tribes which he there saw in arms. The +musters of the Charsian, the Armenian, the Cappadocian, +and Anatolian themes were there gathered—and +with them contingents from the independent +Armenians, Georgians, Abasgians, and Iberians. +Beside them marched men from Europe, Dalmatian +Highlanders, Calabrians, and Beneventan levies, and a +strong force sent from the vassal republics of Venice +and Amalphi, from the lords of Gaeta, and Naples. +Here, too, the emperor rejoined John Tzimisces and +his somewhat exhausted force, which had been for a +year engaged with the Saracens on the Syrian +frontier, meeting alternate success and reverse. That +army was, indeed, so much shaken and reduced by +its hard service, that Nicephorus was compelled to +leave John at Cæsarea to recruit his men and to +organize the reserves that were to follow as required. +Against this the ardent John protested in his own +furious way, but the Basileus forced him to submit. +</p> + +<p> +From Cæsarea the army prepared to enter an enemy's +country, and the imperial paraphernalia, state tents, +baggage and equipment, had been left behind. +Nicephorus was now in active campaigning order. All +the heights and forts commanding the passes of Mount +Taurus had been occupied in strength, and the main +army descended into the plains through the tremendous +defiles of the Cilician Gates. This narrow gorge, +cut through the limestone precipices of the range by +the headwaters of the Cydnus, was just such a defile +as are those which we all know to-day in the Alps, +having a furious torrent roaring over huge rocks, +crowned by jagged pinnacles, and clothed with pines, +junipers, and cedars. Through these sombre gorges, +amid the thunder of incessant cataracts and rapids +from the melted snows, the whole army poured with +ease and safety, for it was summer, and every point +commanding the pass was already defended by a fort +amply manned and provisioned. The passes once +surmounted, the whole army was at last securely +concentrated and posted in the broad and teeming valleys +of the Cydnus, the Sarus, and the Pyramus. The +whole of this rich country fell into the hands of the +Romans. Anazarba, Adana, Mopseutia, and twenty +strong places, as Leo recounts, were taken by storm. +Placing a strong force to invest Tarsus, Nicephorus +pressed on to Issus. This captured, the road was +open at last to Antioch. +</p> + +<p> +The triumphant march of this army corresponded +with its numbers, which Leo seriously placed at the +enormous total of four hundred thousand. They +ravaged the country far and wide, driving the wretched +inhabitants before them into the fortified places, or +reducing them by myriads into slavery. Leo the +historian gives us a terrible picture of the campaign and +all its horrors. The followers of the Prophet fought +on with courage and obstinacy behind each fortress; +they had neither numbers nor equipment able to meet +the Romans in the field. Famine, pestilence, and the +tremendous engines of the invaders slew the Saracens +by thousands. When cities were taken by storm, all +soldiers in arms and still resisting were butchered; +and the civic population, women and children, were +expelled by force, sometimes into captivity, sometimes +into exile. Nicephorus sternly refused conditional +terms of capitulation to a besieged city proposing +surrender. "A venomous serpent," said he, "in the +winter season lies torpid—one would think it dead; +the warmth of summer returns, and it is alive and as +dangerous as ever. These inveterate enemies of Christ +and of His people must be crushed once and forever!" So +the work of slaughter and extermination went on +till the conquering host had reached the confines of +Syria and the Amanus. +</p> + +<p> +This career of sanguinary triumph was now suddenly +arrested by a cause the truth of which was never +allowed to be known, and for which both in that day +and since many different explanations have been +given. It was rumored through the host that the +emperor had countermanded the advance, and gradually +the news spread that he himself was retracing +his steps. One night, as Nicephorus had presided at +the storming of a fortress on the coast, and had with +difficulty made an end to the orgy of pillage and +slaughter, an urgent petition was brought to him from +an officer of rank, who pressed for a private interview +on a matter of life and death to the welfare of the +empire. Nicephorus bade them admit him to his tent. +It was Joannes, "the Geometer," who had been left +with the reserves at Cæsarea, and had now hastened +up to headquarters. +</p> + +<p> +"My gracious sovereign," said John, "let me speak +freely of matters of high treason and your own life. +I answer for my truth and loyalty with my head, +which I place in your hands." +</p> + +<p> +"Speak," said Nicephorus. +</p> + +<p> +"John Tzimisces, sire, whom you ordered to remain +at the base to recruit his own army and to +reorganize the reserves, has conceived the most +passionate wrath against your order and even against +yourself," said Joannes. +</p> + +<p> +"He broke out upon me with tears, and almost with +curses, when I gave him the order," said Nicephorus; +"it is the way of our fiery John. He will cool down +in time." +</p> + +<p> +"Sire, he has not cooled down; he has flamed up +more fiercely than ever; he has been tampering with +the loyalty of the troops." +</p> + +<p> +"Your proofs," said the emperor, sternly. +</p> + +<p> +"Sire, I have brought you copies of two missives +that have been secretly passed round the two new +battalions of Armenian levies. I was present myself +when Tzimisces reviewed them, and I saw him smile +with joy and without a word when the ranks saluted +the commander to the cry of 'John, our Basileus!' I +have been through their camps and round their +watchfires, and I have heard them say, 'Our John has been +betrayed—Nicephorus is jealous of him. Down with +Nicephorus—Long live John!'" +</p> + +<p> +The Basileus listened in silence, read and re-read +the circular appeals. "Ay," he said, to himself, "it +is ever so. The new levies go after a new man—and +they ever follow a man of their own tribe. What is +the evidence, my young friend, that John Tzimisces +has lent himself to treachery, or has ceased to be my +loyal colleague and officer?" +</p> + +<p> +"Only this," said Joannes, at last. "Some devoted +servants of yours, sire, watched the quarters of +Tzimisces, and one night there was found a man near it +whom we knew to be an emissary from your imperial +retinue. We seized, searched, and, as he resisted with +weapons, we slew him. In a fold of his belt we found +this writing. We do not understand it, nor do we +know whence it comes." He handed a slip of +parchment to the emperor. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus understood it. He knew whence it came. +He knew what it meant. It was in the Armenian +tongue. It was in a handwriting that he knew well. +It ran thus: "<i>From the prison of Drizibion, one who +has need of thee, and one who can serve thee, calls thee +to come at once, for counsel and for protection.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus was struck dumb with horror and +indignation, and hardly maintained his footing or his +senses. But he concealed his spasm of shame and +wrath from his visitor. "We will reflect on this. Keep +absolute silence as to all you know and all that has +passed," said he, slowly. With assumed calm he +dismissed Joannes for the night. +</p> + +<p> +When Nicephorus was alone he passed some terrible +hours of agony and despair, turning over in his +mind every catastrophe that threatened the army by +a revolt in his rear—and the wickedness of the false +wife for whom he had suffered so much—whom even +now it racked him to believe so cruel and faithless. +After hours of a storm of passion and perplexity he +summoned his confidential secretary—and gave +orders for preparation to be made for his own return by +forced posts to Cæsarea at daybreak the next day. +</p> + +<p> +What had happened was this. During the halt at +Cæsarea, the emperor, being his own commander-in-chief +and superintending every stage of the expedition, +had been incessantly occupied by his duties and +had little communication of any kind with Theophano. +More than once he had noticed her presence at the +inspections and parades held by Tzimisces, and he had +been glad to see her take new interest in the army, +and even admit to her court so gallant a soldier and so +true a friend as the "domestic of the eastern armies." As +these visits became more frequent, Nicephorus +resolved to carry on the empress and her sons, and not +to leave them as intended at Cæsarea. Against this +resolution Theophano had vehemently protested, but +in vain. But her indignation was unbounded when, +after penetrating a day's march into the northern +defiles of the Taurus, she found that she was to be left +in the rocky fortress of Drizibion. This was a castle +of impregnable strength, perched on a precipitous cliff +in the centre of the pass that led to the Cilician Gates. +A stormy interview had passed between Basileus and +Basilissa: +</p> + +<p> +"What!" she said. "Am I, the Augusta, to be a +prisoner in this wild mountain den? Am I to be hidden +out of sight, as if it were a convent of nuns? Are +my poor children to be shut up in this dreary fort, to +pine away in exile, perhaps to be murdered?" +</p> + +<p> +"Madam," said the Basileus, gently, and yet with +decision, "in such a campaign as that which is before +us, with all its perils, fatigues, and hardships, it would +be cruel to expose a lady and two children to such a +life. When we have conquered a safe and fitting +place for you and the little ones, you will follow. I +and my army will not be so very far. But your safety +and that of the young Basileis is my first care. Here +you will be in absolute security, and, indeed, in +luxury—in a place which, in this season, has everything +pleasant. You will have all the retinue you brought +hither, and the whole of your attendants and staff." +</p> + +<p> +"Why was I dragged from Cæsarea?" she asked, +with bitterness. +</p> + +<p> +"Cæsarea to-day is a mere camp of exercise. It is +no place for the court of an empress." +</p> + +<p> +"Am I a prisoner?" she asked again. +</p> + +<p> +"You are the wife of the Roman emperor," said +Nicephorus, with firm voice, "and while I live his word +shall be law." With this he closed the interview, and +went forth with a weight as a stone upon his heart. +</p> + +<p> +Theophano watched him as he left her with eyes +flaming with rage. From that hour she nursed in +her heart plans of implacable revenge. +</p> + +<p> +On the morning of the third day after the dreadful +revelations given him by Joannes, Nicephorus +approached the castle of Drizibion. He had hurried on +in front of his escort, almost unattended, travelling +night and day, and torn with contending emotions. +Passionate love, indignation, jealousy, pity, shame, +and horror, filled his soul by turns. Even now he +could hardly resolve upon a course of action. Should +he confront Theophano with the evidence of her guilt? +Should he discard her and immure her in a remote +convent? Should he seize and execute Tzimisces? +Would the faction of the Basilissa in the capital raise +an insurrection in his absence? Would the army, or +half of it, side with the brilliant and popular Tzimisces? +Should the chiefs of Rome in this death-grapple be +fighting each other? What then would be the issue to +the crusade against the Saracens? What would be +the future of the motherless children—of the heirs +of Constantine and Romanus—of the Roman empire +itself? +</p> + +<p> +He was still revolving in his mind all these questions +when, about noon, he reached the foot of the outer +bulwarks of Drizibion. He amazed the guard to whom +he disclosed himself, and ordered them to remain +silent, as he intended a surprise visit to the empress. +He was told she was now in the garden of the castle +with her children. With a sign to the door-keepers +Nicephorus passed in. It was a lovely spot. Perched +five hundred feet above the bottom of a mountain +valley, along which the military road was cut beside the +tumbling waters of the torrent, the garden was shaded +with chestnut and limes and beech trees, adorned +with flowers and blossoming shrubs. It commanded +a varied spectacle of jagged pinnacles of limestone, +forests of pines and larches, and in the far distance +peaks of snow. 'Twas a glowing day of summer. +Nicephorus paused. And now he saw his Theophano +in all the blaze of her beauty, in her airy robes of silk +gauze, sitting in the shade of a chestnut-tree and +caressing her younger child. Basil, the elder boy, was +in his little uniform of a cataphractic trooper, playing +with his toy sword and slaying the heads of the +poppies. The mother gazed on the children with delight, +fondling the weaker one by her side, and watching the +martial spirit of her Basil. +</p> + +<p> +"One day, my darling," she was saying to the elder +boy, "they will let us go away from this dull place, +and we will all be back again at the palace at home, +where you shall be treated again as the Roman Augustus, +and your mother will again receive the homage +of a civilized people, and not of these uncouth +barbarians, such as you can see on guard below." +</p> + +<p> +"No, mother," cried the little Basil, "I do not care +for civilized people! I want to lead these splendid +fellows in battle. I want to use a real sword. I want +to be with father in the front!" +</p> + +<p> +The mother smiled, much as if she had the soul of an +Irene within. It was a scene of pure beauty, peace, +and love. It struck Nicephorus to the heart with a +new flood of pity, of affection, and pride. +</p> + +<p> +Who was he to consign such loveliness and motherly +instinct to a cold convent? Could such grace, such +tenderness, be treacherous and false? Could he blast +the young lives of these children by destroying their +home and driving their mother into exile? Still +uncertain what he would do, Nicephorus stepped forward, +and stood before her with a look of profound sadness +and reproach. +</p> + +<p> +"My lord, my sovereign, my deliverer," cried +Theophano, rushing forward to her husband when she saw +his look of sad and stern reproof, "you have come to +take me away from this prison, this exile, this wilderness, +where I and my babes have lived in sorrow, while +you have been adding fresh glory to your name, and +new life to Rome?" +</p> + +<p> +The little Constantine climbed his knee, and the boy +Basil pulled his arm to show his father how many +stalks of the enemy he could slash off with a single blow. +</p> + +<p> +He stood irresolute and confounded. Theophano +fell on his neck, and, weaving her arms round him, she +sobbed on his breast, murmuring, "Take us from this +prison." +</p> + +<p> +"Whom did you count on to take you from this +prison, to whom did you write to deliver you?" said +Nicephorus. +</p> + +<p> +"To whom but to you—to my sovereign—to my +husband," she said, quickly—"to whom else could I +look? You had all the urgent letters, petitions, +messages I despatched to you in the field?" Nicephorus +looked silently and sternly, and said not a word. +</p> + +<p> +"No?" she said, with a gasp; "you did not receive +them?" And then she added, "You did not receive +even my last short summons in Armenian, in the form +in which I used to write when I made you Basileus of +Rome?" she said, proudly. "You did not even receive +that love-letter of mine? I thought it might touch +you at last." +</p> + +<p> +"Do you mean this?" said he, and took from his +bosom the Armenian script—"'<i>From the prison of +Drizibion, one who has need of thee, and one mho can +serve thee, calls thee to come at once, for counsel and +for protection.</i>'" +</p> + +<p> +"Ah!" she cried in triumph; "then you did have the +last, and it brought you! My lord, my husband, and +my consoler!" +</p> + +<p> +And she moved to embrace him again. +</p> + +<p> +"Madam," he said, quietly, "this was sent not to +Tarsus, where I was in the field at the siege, but to +Cæsarea, to the camp of reserve." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes! the messenger whom I sent was an attendant +of my own; he had orders, if he could not learn where +the emperor was in the field, to go on to Cæsarea to +ascertain from the officers in command where the emperor +could be found. By the Holy Spirit, I swear that +he had strict orders to hand this writing to no one but +the Basileus himself. You see he has done so, and you +have come." +</p> + +<p> +"Madam," said Nicephorus, at last, slowly and +calmly, "I have come, and I have come as the result +of this very message. But your messenger did not +hand it to me. He died in the execution of his orders. +The parchment was handed to me by the man who +killed him, and who found it in his belt." +</p> + +<p> +A long and terrible silence ensued. At last +Nicephorus spoke. "I have come to take you back to +Cæsarea, and to place you there in safety, till this war +is settled, and we can return to the capital. We will +say no more. There is the miserable thing," and, +tearing it to fragments, he flung them over the +precipice into the cataract below. +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus," said she, in a voice of intense anxiety +and fear, "you will not slay me—nor mutilate my +children—nor put us away in exile?" +</p> + +<p> +He turned from her in stern silence, and now almost +with loathing and scorn. At last the fire of love +that consumed him was almost burned out to its +embers. +</p> + +<p> +Having given orders for the guards, retinue, and +attendants of the empress and of her sons to +be at once moved down to Cæsarea, Nicephorus +hastened thither in person by forced marches, and +straightway summoned John Tzimisces to his quarters. +</p> + +<p> +Tzimisces came dashing in with that jovial air of +hearty good-fellowship which made him the idol of the +army. He was still chafing under the injury the +emperor had done him by ordering him to remain behind +in camp, but he recovered his temper on learning that +Nicephorus now ordered him to start for Tarsus at +the front, while the emperor in person remained at +Cæsarea to organize the levies. He admitted that his +Armenians had raised disloyal cries at parade, but he +satisfied the emperor that he, John, had been no party +to the movement. "Examine my staff officers," said +Tzimisces, "and see if you can find a trace of treason +on my part against my sovereign, my chief, my friend. +It is true that he cruelly wronged me in keeping me +here like a raw recruit, while he revelled in glory +himself. It was a burning shame, and I have told my +own comrades all the bitterness I feel. But as to +plotting treason to overthrow the Basileus—no! I +am not yet come to that! John has a hot temper and +a sharp tongue, and will strike when he is struck, but +he is not a back-stairs conspirator like those eunuchs +and cubiculars of the palace." +</p> + +<p> +"You have had no cubicular at your own quarters?" +asked the Basileus. +</p> + +<p> +"What, I?" replied the fiery John. "He would be +kicked forth like a dog if he came to my tent," said +John, hotly and frankly. +</p> + +<p> +"You had no missives from Drizibion?" asked Nicephorus. +</p> + +<p> +"From Drizibion?" said John. "What is that? The +castle that commands the pass north of the Cilician +Gates? I know not who commands there, nor what +can he want from me. From Drizibion? Who was +stationed there?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Basilissa and her sons," said the emperor, +"and all their guards and retinue." +</p> + +<p> +"What!" said Tzimisces—"the empress at Drizibion? +I thought you carried her and all her retinue across +into Cilicia, and kept her beside you at headquarters." And +John looked straight into the eyes of Nicephorus, +with such a genuine face of frankness and truth that +the Basileus now saw that Tzimisces, at any rate, was +no party to the plot—if plot there were—was not guilty +of dishonoring his sovereign and his friend. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was John false, nor as yet at all seduced by the +arts of Theophano. Nicephorus reflected that, +according to the story he had heard, Tzimisces had never +received the intercepted missive. There was no +undoubted proof that it was addressed to Tzimisces at +all. No name was written, and Theophano had sworn +that it was addressed to her own husband. Be this +as it may, there was no proof that Tzimisces had +anything to do with it, nor that he had, either before or +since, received anything of the kind. No proof; but +doubt, gloom, and despair, lay ever deep down in the +inmost soul of Nicephorus Phocas. At all times he +was rarely seen to smile. He never smiled again in +life. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap25"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXV +<br><br> +Love and Troth +</h2> + +<p> +Far different were the scenes which, during this +time, were being enacted in Constantinople itself. +Leo, the curopalates, and his father, the venerable +Bardas Cæsar, maintained strict order and good +government in the capital, and carried out all the urgent +orders of Nicephorus for the safety of Digenes the +lord warden, and of Agatha the princess. The +unfortunate warden, still in the height of his fever, was +carefully removed in a litter to the palace of his sister's +husband, the Lord Comnenus, of the family which +ultimately was raised to the throne. There his sister, +the Lady Theodosia Comnena, and the Princess Agatha, +with their attendants, nursed him in his illness, and +there he was treated by the famous physicians Theophanes +Nonnos and Synesios. The one was the author +of an important <i>Encyclopœdia of Medicine</i>, the other +had studied under Arabian physicians, and translated +their works into Greek. All that the science of the age, +combined with all the love of two noble women, could +do to save the life of the patient, was lavished for +many an anxious week, while the warden lay in great +danger and in continual delirium. +</p> + +<p> +At times he would fancy himself at the siege of +Chandax, shouting to his men to plunge the scaling-bridge +from the great tower—"Down with her—clear +the gangway—another ladder there—water on that +burning roof—On, my men, for Rome—Christ!—Mother +of God!"—and then he would sink back on his +pillow exhausted, groaning—"All is lost—has our God +delivered us into the hands of the Prophet?—Thy will +be done—hallowed be Thy name." +</p> + +<p> +At other times he would fancy himself in a dungeon, +while he could hear the battle raging in the walls round +him, and he would cry out—"Loose me from these +chains, O my God!—I hear the Romans at the charge—am +I chained forever like a dog?—give me my sword—leave +me but one hand free—let me strike one blow +for Christ—oh! this is worse than death—give me one +hour of life and air again—then let me die and be +heard no more." +</p> + +<p> +The women sat beside him, silent, in tears, watching +his ravings with pain and fear, and besought the +learned physicians to try some calming drug. With this, +on other days, he would be in a gentler mood, though +still in delirium. He would stare at Agatha with eyes +open, but not recognizing who she was, and would +murmur, incoherently—"Sweet lady, you have saved +me—let me save you, too—come with us to Rome—learn +to pray to Mary—all good women love Mary—it +is so beautiful to see them in the gallery there in +Hagia Sophia—Theodosia will be so glad—if you only +knew Theodosia—and I think Agatha will be glad, too! +Agatha is so kind to girls she loves—My father was of +Arab race, you know." +</p> + +<p> +Agatha listened to all this with pity, wonder, and +at last with a sense of pain. "Of whom is he talking?" +she whispered. "I have heard of a Saracen girl who +saved him in the prison in Crete. Oh! she is in his +mind. He thinks I am she. He loved her then, and +not me," and she burst into a flood of tears. +</p> + +<p> +"No, no," Theodosia broke in, "he has always loved +you, dear, but he has often told me how the emir's +daughter, Fatima, saved his life, how he saved her +honor, and how he hoped she would consent to become +a Christian, and would come to visit me here in +our castle in the Princes' Islands. My brother has +always loved you, Agatha. Even in the emir's dungeon +he prayed to Saint Agatha, and saw her in a vision +smiling upon him." +</p> + +<p> +"Was Fatima so very beautiful?" asked Agatha, +suddenly. +</p> + +<p> +"Very beautiful," said Theodosia; "she was thought +to be like her brother, Hassan, who died in our father's +castle in Cappadocia; and Digenes, you know, was his +cousin, and singularly like him in countenance." +</p> + +<p> +"He loved Fatima," cried Agatha, in agony; "he +thinks now that I am Fatima, he is dreaming of her +now; see his lips move with words of tenderness—he +will die loving Fatima. I will go into a nunnery and +end it all." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! speak not thus," cried Theodosia; "my brother +never loved woman save only you. He is very kind +and generous, and the soul of honor and chivalry. He +did all he could to serve the woman to whom he owed +his life. If she loved him, I know not; I am told she +was overjoyed when the general charged Digenes to +take her and her sister and followers to Spain. But +this I know, that Digenes never loved woman but his +own Agatha." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, yes! the lord warden was chief of the embassy +to the caliph at Cordova, and Fatima was in that +mission," and Agatha covered her face with her hands and +softly wept silent and bitter tears as she watched the +utter exhaustion of their patient. +</p> + +<p> +The fever had many intervals of abatement and then +of relapse. One night, when he had seemed all day to +be stronger, and had taken more food than usual, his +delirium broke out in a terrible form. +</p> + +<p> +"Take her away!" he shrieked again and again. +"It is a fury!—it is a fiend!—She seizes my hand!—it +burns me to the bone—never, never, will I be +false!—away! away! her eyes are like red-hot iron—her hair +is full of hissing snakes—she is the daughter of +Satan—away from her!—away from her!—she shall not touch +you, Agatha, even if she roast me to a cinder! Mother +of God, save me from her! Saint Agatha, save me!" +</p> + +<p> +The two women looked at each other with wonder +and horror in their faces. Neither spoke. They knew +nothing of what had passed. They imagined things +dreadful and unholy. +</p> + +<p> +"He thinks only of you, Agatha, as his protector +and saint," said Theodosia, at last. +</p> + +<p> +Again and again their patient, who had a violent +relapse, broke out with gasps and convulsive +agony—"There is blood dripping from her hands!—she holds +a cup of poison!—she calls in the assassins!—she is +smiling with joy!—there, they are stabbing him in the +back—Help! help! treachery! butchery!—it is the +blood of the Basileus himself that chokes me!"—and +he sank back groaning out the words in gulps of +rage—"she-devil! murderess! harlot!" +</p> + +<p> +The women cowered in terror and shame, and implored +the physicians to try some means of reducing +the delirium. Theophanes Nonnos watched these recurrent +fits with minute observation, and at last he +noticed how the patient, in these wilder moments of +violence, kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling of the +apartment. He frequently pointed with his hands, as if +he saw actual figures aloft, and he continually waved +his arms as at some terrible sights above his head. +Now, Theophanes Nonnos was a diligent student of +Hippocrates and Galen, and prone to watch the +reaction of external surroundings on the nervous +system of his patients. He then saw that, on the frieze +of the noble apartment to which Digenes had been +carried, and facing his bed, was a mosaic decoration +which had been copied from the same original as the +mosaic wall at Ravenna, which represents a ceremonial +procession of Justinian the Great and the Empress +Theodora. This picture Nonnos ordered to be covered +with a curtain of neutral tone. This done, the spasms +of the patient rapidly subsided. +</p> + +<p> +In a few days the physicians were able to assure the +watchers that the worst of their anxieties was past, +and that a period of quiet convalescence had set in. +Hour after hour, so far as his returning strength +permitted, Digenes poured out to Agatha his protestations +of unbroken devotion; he told her how in Asia, +in Crete, in Spain, and in Thrace, in camp, in battle, +in prison, in the palace, and in church, the image of +the saintly Agatha had been his consolation and hope; +he told her how the Basileus had given his formal +consent to their marriage, and had given orders for its +celebration with the highest honors, so soon as the +warden was restored to health. His health now, he +murmured, wanted but one thing to be as good as +ever. Would she say what day, next month, he might +call her his own? Would she bend down to his pillow, +whisper it in his ear, and seal it with a kiss—one +kiss—the first she had ever vouchsafed to him? +</p> + +<p> +Agatha listened with rapture! She did bend down +and whisper in his ear, and suffer her lips to rest +on his. She did not tell him how often, during his +long delirium, her lips had touched his burning +forehead and his fevered hands, as she stooped down to +bathe them with attar of roses and orange-water. +But she was very slow, indeed, to believe that her +Digenes had never loved the fascinating houri of the +old emir's castle—not for a time—not for a day—not +just a little bit in all chivalry and faith? Nor +could anything persuade her that the Lady Fatima +had not loved her Digenes, loved him passionately, +truly, in all honor and in all sincerity. It was quite +impossible that a woman of feeling and goodness could +owe so much to her Digenes, could be on such terms of +sentiment and confidence, and be half converted to +his religion, and not love him. Any woman so near +must love him, would love him, ought to love him. +</p> + +<p> +At last, one day, Agatha was finally convinced that +she had the whole heart of Digenes, and had never +ceased to have it, from the hour when she first met +him as a girl in her father's court, and had seen the +young hero, whose feats and chivalry the poets +commemorated in song. The lord warden was now very +much restored to health, and wholly to his reason and +consciousness. Agatha had read to him some of his +favorite pieces, the parting of Hector and Andromache +in the sixth <i>Iliad</i>, and the parting scene from the +"Alcestis" of Euripides. He had even asked her to recite +the famous lines of Sappho—from the poems which +were then all extant— +</p> + +<p class="t3"> + Φαίνεταί μοι κηνος ίσος Θεοισιν—<br> + ("<i>that man seems to me the peer of gods</i>")<br> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +—but she archly refused, as he was not strong enough +to listen to such fiery poetry, and she was not going to +recite such pagan stuff. +</p> + +<p> +To them entered the lady Theodosia Comnena, who +gayly saluted her brother with the words, "News, +news, something that will interest you both, something +I trust that will give you, brother, as much +pleasure as it will give Agatha." +</p> + +<p> +"A conundrum," said they both; "we give it up." +</p> + +<p> +"A rival of yours, Agatha, a flame of yours, brother," +said Theodosia, with a peal of laughter. +</p> + +<p> +"That dear girl, Sophia, the daughter of the old +Emir Abd-el-Aziz, has just come to see me. Her +brother, the captain, young Anemas, who was sent on +the embassy to Fez, and afterwards to Cordova, has +persuaded the Lady Fatima, your ladylove in Crete, +brother, to accept the pressing invitation of Sophia and +her father, to visit them in Prote. She is to come +with her brother and sister, and within six months +Fatima shall go with us to hear the Patriarch perform +divine service. And before a month more is passed +she shall marry Anemas, before he joins the Basileus +in Syria. So think no more, brother, of your tawny +angel. She is to stay with the whole blood of the +Prophet, Christian though she will be, and Christian as +Anemas already is." +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks be to Mary of the Daphne," said Digenes, +with hearty rejoicing. "Has she promised Anemas?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet, to marry," said Theodosia, "but that is an +incident. She has promised to come, brother, and she +believes that you are married by this time yourself." +</p> + +<p> +"Who told her that?" said Agatha, quickly. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I strongly suspect that Anemas told her, as +an indispensable condition of proposing marriage with +himself." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! then I was right, after all," said Agatha, with +a deep sigh, and looked earnestly and almost +reproachfully at Digenes. +</p> + +<p> +"My beloved," said the young hero, with deep +feeling, "your suspicions were true, perhaps, in part. +But as to me, I have been ever true throughout." +</p> + +<p> +"Another piece of news," said Theodosia, "if you +two can keep a secret which is not to be blurted out +to these palace gossips: Eric, the young Varangian, +will one day marry Sophia when he comes back from +the wars, where he is winning glory on the staff of the +Basileus in Asia. There may be two weddings on the +same day. Nay, brother, perhaps there might be +three on the same day, and the Basileus preside in +person at the ceremony!" +</p> + +<p> +"Tut!" cried Digenes, with animation, "not for us. +I do not wait till Eric and the Basileus return, nor +till Anemas can wring a 'yes' from his bride." +</p> + +<p> +"No, nor till Fatima can be persuaded to visit her +cousin in Prote," said Agatha, archly. She was now +at last convinced that Digenes had never failed her +in thought or in word—no, not for an hour; but she +still meant to be married before Fatima could reach +Constantinople. +</p> + +<p> +By slow degrees, and in very guarded and modified +ways, Digenes allowed Agatha to know as much of +what had passed in the palace as he could remember, +and as much as he thought it kind or prudent as yet +to tell to the pure and gentle spirit with whom he was +to be united. The astrologer's potion had confused +his brain to such a degree that he had but a broken +memory of the interview with Theophano. His long +illness, with its continued delirium, had left him with +a mind troubled as with a series of terrible and +incomprehensible dreams. He could not shock the girl +in her happiness with all his horrible suspicions and +recollections. Nor would Agatha, on her side, as yet +trouble his mind with all that she suspected and feared. +</p> + +<p> +At last, having exchanged confidences as far as +they each thought it kind and wise to speak, it was +agreed between them that in the tremendous crisis of +the great war, in the weight of cares that beset the +Basileus day and night, they would not harass him +with the torture of fresh revelations, of which the +formal proofs would not be easy to find. +</p> + +<p> +"Agatha," said Digenes, solemnly, one day, on receipt +of the inexplicable news of the sudden retreat +of the Basileus to Cæsarea, in the very midst of the +campaign, "the Basileus has called me to the front +by special messenger. I start for the camp in an +hour." +</p> + +<p> +"Go," she said, with a deep sigh, "if it must be. +I will wait till you come again with fresh renown. +The cause of this Empire of Rome, of God, of the +Mother of God, shall not be hindered one hour by +the love of one feeble girl." +</p> + +<p> +"Think me not unkind, my love, my hope, my saint," +cried the young hero, with the light of battle for Christ +and His people in his eyes—"think me not unkind if +I have to hasten away from the holy shrine in which +your love has suffered me to kneel, to worship, and to +adore; think me not cold if I hurry off to my sovereign +and my command. I could not love thee so well, if +it were not that I loved my duty even more." +</p> + +<p> +With one long kiss they parted—nor did they meet +again on earth. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap26"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXVI +<br><br> +Old Rome +</h2> + +<p> +The scene now passes from the Imperial Palace of +New Rome on the Bosphorus to the Catholic Basilica +of Old Rome on the Tiber, where the greatest of +the Saxon line of emperors was about to claim the +inheritance of the Cæsars and to instal his house as +supreme in all Italian lands. It was Christmas eve, +967, on a bright morning of winter, when snow lay on +Mount Soracte and on the higher ranges of the Sabine +and Alban mountains. The Flaminian way, from the +city gate under the Pincian hill, for the two miles to +the Milvian bridge over the Tiber, was thronged with a +motley crowd of the populace of Rome, bearing visible +signs of its heterogeneous origin and lawless habits, +along with officials, civil and ecclesiastical, in their +state robes and with emblems of office, and strong +detachments of Northern soldiers, both horse and foot, +whom the Roman mob regarded with terror as monsters +of ferocity and force. The prefect and the senate +of Rome—a strange contrast from the senators who +had gone to welcome Julius and Octavius some thousand +years before—were hurrying along to meet their +German emperor, intermixed with the standard-bearers +of the Roman militia, the long processions of priests +and choristers, and the counts and barons of the Italian +fiefs in military array and fantastic armor. It was a +strange jumble of races, types, and various characters. +The mongrel and craven descendants of African, Syrian, +or Slavonian slaves jostled the degenerate heirs of the +ancient patricians, and both looked on with awe and +wonder at the huge, fair-haired barbarians who took +their orders from no man but their mighty chief, the +Saxon Otto. +</p> + +<p> +At the northern end of the Milvian bridge there had +been erected a rude and hasty kind of triumphal arch, +decorated with the emblems and colors of the emperor-king. +Near it was posted, waiting to see the imperial +procession pass, a small band of spectators, whose +speech and garb proclaimed them to be foreigners at +Rome. One was our friend Michael, the protocolist, +who, with Joannes Kyriotes, the geometer, had been +despatched by the ever-watchful Chancery of Constantinople +on a roving and secret commission to observe +the current of Italian politics, and especially to study +the real feeling of the papal court, and also of the +democracy of Rome. With them was Symeon, a learned +divine, who was travelling to obtain traditions and +legends for his great collection of the lives of saints and +martyrs. A fourth foreigner was Alexios, an artist +in mosaic decoration, who had been called from +Byzantium to Rome to superintend the restoration of +the dilapidated mosaics in the Church of St. Cosmas and +St. Damianos. They were being personally conducted +by Guido, a Sicilian long settled in Bari, in the +Lombard Theme, a loyal subject of the Byzantine emperor. +The whole party had their own armed attendants, as +well as a small body-guard from the municipal police, +for the state of Rome was far too unsettled to permit +of distinguished Greeks being safe in the midst of a +turbulent crowd. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it possible," said Michael to Joannes, "that these +battered walls of old Rome can have kept at bay for +a single day the mighty King of Germany?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, they helped Belisarius to beat off the Goths," +said Joannes; "but then they had our soldiers under +a great chief inside them." +</p> + +<p> +"I dare say they may serve to baffle Goths and Germans," +said Michael, "but, though I am no soldier, I +can see that these obsolete and now ruinous walls never +could be compared for an instant with the mighty +fortifications we could show them at home on the Bosphorus." +</p> + +<p> +"The walls of old Rome are poor enough," Guido +now broke in, "but the castle of the Archangel, with +the chapel on the top of the old Mausoleum of the +Antonines, that is a pretty stronghold, I assure you." +</p> + +<p> +"I admit that that is a tremendous fort," said +Michael, "and the sight of its tiers of colonnades and +battlements makes one understand how Theodora and +Marozia, Alberic and Octavian, managed to command +the city and even defy both Lombard, Tuscan, and +German." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah," said Guido, "you honorable and reverend +sirs in New Rome cannot conceive the pandemonium +that has raged in old Rome ever since I can remember +and all through my father's time. One Messalina +after another, the daughter, the concubine, and the +mother of a pope has made her lovers or her children +despots of the city, bishops, or popes, as the fancy +seized her. Every other year this Roman populace, +which is no good at fighting, but has a diabolical +genius for riot, breaks out and overturns consul, +prefect, pope, and emperor, as the German king calls +himself. Thereupon down comes an army of these +hairy barbarians from Lombardy, over the Apennines +or the Alps, bursts into these tottering gates, crowns +a new pope, instals a new count as governor, +massacres, hangs, tortures, and burns every man they +find in their path." +</p> + +<p> +"How many popes have you seen, Master Guido?" +asked Symeon. +</p> + +<p> +"John X., strangled in prison. Then Leo VI. and +Stephen VII., both creatures of the foul woman who +killed John. Then she made her own son pope by the +name of John XI. A few years after this Marozia's +son, Alberic, made Leo VII. pope, and, after him, +Stephen VIII. and Marinus II. and Agapetus II., in +succession. Then John XII., the grandson of Marozia, +was the worst of them all—denounced by a synod as +guilty of murder, perjury, incest, sacrilege, and magic. +When John XII. was deposed, came Leo VIII., then +Benedict V., who was also deposed, and now the +successor of St. Peter is our Holy Father, the venerable +John XIII., whom God, in His infinite goodness, give +to live the years of St. Peter." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, that makes as many as twelve Holy Fathers +of Rome within forty years," said Michael, with a sneer. +</p> + +<p> +"Such is Rome," said Guido; "and half of them were +the lovers, sons, or nephews of a bloodthirsty harlot, +at whose orders they sell bishoprics, blind, mutilate, +torture, and crucify their opponents and rivals." +</p> + +<p> +"And they call this the universal Church Catholic, +and ask ours, the earliest Church of Christ, to submit +to their sacred prerogative," said Michael, bitterly. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah!" sighed Symeon, "it is a fearful backsliding. +But God in His mercy will bring about their repentance +in His good time. We, who compile the hagiographies +of saints and martyrs, cannot forget that under these +Roman basilicas there rest the bones of the blessed +St. Peter and St. Paul, that this city has been ruled by +Gregorys and Leos, and is sanctified by the blood of +so many virgins and martyrs of the faith. The Church +of Christ will be restored one day, and Rome again will +be the centre of Christendom in Europe." +</p> + +<p> +"I will not attempt to prophesy against your +reverence," said Guido; "I can only speak of what is and +what has been in all living memory. This famous city +is now a den of bandits, the haunt of infamous women, +and a scene of bloodshed and torment. These barons +live in their castles amid gangs of hired ruffians, till +they ride forth to fight one another or to plunder their +neighbors. I have seen these gray walls hung with +the carcasses of their victims, and these streets, churches, +and streams run with blood, whenever the horsemen +of some pretender to the throne or of the German +princes come down to sack the city or to quell an +insurrection of the citizens. I have seen popes made +and unmade at the order of a profligate woman or of a +murderous despot. I have seen one crowned pope +trample on another crowned pope, break his crozier +and tear off his robes in presence of an emperor and +of all his court. I have seen the prefect of Rome hung +by his hair from the statue of Constantine and dragged +through the streets naked on an ass. I saw twelve +'captains of the regions' hung on gallows, while +other leaders were blinded, some decapitated. Some +were torn from their graves and their bodies cast to +the dogs. This is the modern rendering of the Pax +Romana, and all is done under orders of him whom +we are waiting here to see, him whom they call their +'pacific emperor, Semper Augustus,' and with the +blessing of the creatures whom he pleases to nominate +as the successors of St. Peter." +</p> + +<p> +This conversation of the Byzantines was fortunately +not understood by the bystanders, and it was now +broken off by the arrival of the German emperor and +his staff. Otto of Saxony, who had been emperor +for six years, and had been occupied ever since with +the conspiracies, intrigues, and revolutions of Italian +princes, prelates, and people, was now again entering +Rome in martial array. He was guarded by powerful +bodies of his Northern veterans, the terrible warriors +with whom he had established his rule from the Tiber +to the Elbe, with whom he had triumphed over Danes, +Slavonians, and Burgundians, men who had fought +with him on the tremendous field of the Lech, when +he saved Europe from the Hungarian flood. These +gigantic horsemen proudly bore aloft the ensigns of +their great chief, and thrust their way with brutal +contempt among the "dregs of Romulus" in the road. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of his chivalrous body-guard rode the +great Otto in full panoply, acknowledging the salutations +of the people with magnificent ease, making little +difference in his bearing to prelate, baron, or +captain of the urban militia. By his side rode his son +Otto, then fourteen, destined to lay his bones in early +life in the Church of St. Peter. And then came the +Empress Adelheida, whose beauty and inheritance had +first called the king into Italy. The imperial cortège +was surrounded by German and Italian barons, and +was welcomed by Roman prelates and nobles, with +banners and the chanting of hymns and the boisterous +acclamations of a fickle populace, which was ever ready +to cheer or to revile, as the popular fancy swayed to +and fro. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you see that fierce, bull-headed lord on the +black charger, and as proud as a peacock?" said Guido +to his friends. "That is Count Pandulph, of Capua, +now Lord of Spoleto and Beneventum. He is traitor +to our Basileus—nay, the head of the traitors—and +seeking to win favor from the German Basileus. That +gay Roman prince is Crescentius of the Marble Horse, +and by his side is the Count Benedict of Palestrina +and the rich and beautiful Stephania, the senatrix. +Now, watch that bishop on the mule in the train of +the king; notice his keen face, his subtle glances all +round, his easy smiles of welcome, how he fawns on +the imperial officers, what airs of importance he +assumes as he waves his blessing to those who salute +him and thrusts aside those who impede his path. +</p> + +<p> +"That is the Right Reverend Luitprand, the famous +Bishop of Cremona—Patriarch of Christendom, as he +thinks himself, and Lord High Parakeimomenos of his +Frankish Majesty. Note him and listen to him. He +talks Greek, Latin, Frank, or Hebrew, I am told—even +Arabic at a pinch. He has the Cæsar's ear. We +shall hear more of him." +</p> + +<p> +As the Byzantine visitors made their way back to +the city, their guide from Bari was occupied in answering +their questions and satisfying their curiosity. "It +looks as if the whole city had been destroyed by +Saracens," said Michael; "I see nothing but ruins standing +amid dunghills and rubbish heaps. And those huge +towers of brick, with battlements of stone, rising out +of mud hovels and fetid alleys. Are those the places +of the Roman princes?" +</p> + +<p> +"They look to me like the dens of robbers, piled up +out of marble ruins. See those Corinthian columns +and those porphyry slabs, awkwardly stuck into a +huge barrack of bricks. These Romans use the +ancient temples of the old gods as lime-kilns, and the +circus and theatres of the Cæsars as so many quarries +to make some gloomy fortress," said Joannes. +</p> + +<p> +"Woe, woe is Rome!" groaned Symeon; "thy +glory is departed. Desolation has made in thee its +home!" +</p> + +<p> +"Not only is the glory of Rome departed, but art, +culture, letters, and manners have gone, too," said +Alexios, the artist. "They curse the Vandals, Goths, +Huns, and Lombards; but these Romans to-day are +just as savage themselves, even worse barbarians, for +they mangle and disfigure even their own ruins. All +sense of beauty and all traditions of art seem to have +quitted Italy and taken refuge on the Bosphorus or +the shores of the Ægean. They could not decorate +the smallest chapel without our help." +</p> + +<p> +Early on the morning of Christmas day the Byzantine +visitors were conducted into the Vatican Basilica +to witness the crowning of the young Otto with the +imperial diadem, the ceremony by which the politic +emperor sought to fix the empire as hereditary in his +house, and instal it in effective control of the whole +of Italy. They found the German troopers strongly +posted within and around the Castle of the Archangel, +the frowning bastile which overawed Rome, and rudely +thrusting back the unprivileged mob of sight-seers. +From the Ælian bridge over the Tiber they traversed +the long colonnade which led to the atrium of +St. Peter's, with its fountain and the tombs of popes. +There they witnessed the pope, John XIII., and his +cardinals receive the imperial party on the thirty-five +steps of the entrance. With martial surroundings and +sacerdotal pomp the mighty Otto, his wife and son, +were conducted into the basilica of Constantine, which +had then been the venerated temple of Rome for six +centuries and a half. +</p> + +<p> +The Vatican basilica of the tenth century was, of +course, wholly unlike the St. Peter's we see to-day. It +was quite similar to the restored church of St. Paul's +<i>fuori la Mura</i>, as we now see it, but it was some twenty +feet longer and a little wider, and had five naves +divided off by four rows of vast monolith columns. +There were ninety-six in all, of various marbles, +different in style and even in size, for they had been the +first hasty spoils of antique palaces and temples. The +walls, above the order of columns, were decorated with +mosaics, such as no Roman hand could then produce +or even restore. A grand arch, such as we see at the +older basilicas to-day, enriched with silver plates and +adorned with mosaic, separated the nave from the +chancel, below which was the tribune, an inheritance +from the prætor's court of old. It now contained the +high altar and the sedile of the Vicar of Christ. +Before the high altar stood the Confession, the vault +wherein lay the bones of St. Peter, with a screen of +silver such as the Greeks called <i>iconostasis</i>, crowded +with silver images of saints and virgins. And the +whole was illuminated by a gigantic candelabrum +holding more than a thousand lighted tapers. +</p> + +<p> +The Byzantine visitors were amazed to find the +cathedral of old Rome so utterly different from their +own St. Sophia at home. It was nearly one hundred +feet longer and not much less in width. Its +mosaics, its monoliths, and its tribune resembled those +of the great temple of Justinian, but its flat roof, long +aisles, rude workmanship, and want of symmetry +roused contempt and pity from the cultivated taste +of the Greek artist. The basilica of St. Peter's was +indeed but a crude adaptation of the law-courts of +the Cæsars, while the Church of the Holy Wisdom was +one of the most original creations in the whole record +of human art. +</p> + +<p> +Otto, Adelheida, and their son were conducted by +a splendid procession of nobles and prelates to their +appointed places at the foot of the Confession, where +they prostrated themselves in worship, and then passed +on to their thrones. The emperor—for in Rome, at +any rate, Otto was indeed the sole "Augustus, crowned +by God"—was now not only master of Rome, of Northern +and Central Italy, but practically lord of the pope +and sovereign in all causes civil or ecclesiastical. Otto +bore himself as in very deed the sovereign lord of the +holy Roman empire. He condescended to beam +approval on the act of his nominee, the holy father, +when the pope raised the crown of gold and placed it +on the beautiful head of the imperial boy, whom he +pronounced to be Imperator Augustus, by the will of +God. As these sacramental words rang through the +church, all hushed in profound silence, the whole +congregation burst forth into acclamations of "Long life +and victory!" Thrice the shout was repeated; and +then the choir broke forth with their "lauds"—reiterated +and monotonous chants to Christ, angels, apostles, +martyrs, and virgins, to grant the new Augustus +the aid of Heaven to support him against all his foes. +</p> + +<p> +"An impudent travesty of the secular ceremonies +at the crowning of our Basileus, I say," Michael, the +diplomatist, broke out, as the great crowd followed the +imperial cortège into the atrium. "They copy our very +phrases and words, as if that could make a barbarian +king a Roman Augustus." +</p> + +<p> +"The Saxon savage seems to fancy himself another +Carolus, who, indeed, was a hero and a Cæsar. He, at +any rate, felt some awe of the empire, and sought to +be a good friend to our Basileus and his empire," said +Joannes, the geometer, who knew history as well as +science. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay," said Michael, "Charles once talked of marrying +his eldest daughter, Erythro, to our Basileus +Constantine, and Irene, the Basilissa, sent over the court +eunuch, Elisha, to instruct the baby Augusta in our +language, literature, and deportment." +</p> + +<p> +"Did not the pretender Charles, even after his +mock coronation in the Vatican, actually propose to +marry the Basilissa Irene himself?" said Joannes. +</p> + +<p> +"Would that they would ask for a tutor, a professor, +or a silentiary, eunuch or not, to come over and teach +them a little of art, letters, and courtesy," said Alexios. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah!" said Symeon, "if only that blessed alliance +between the Basileus of our house and a Basilissa of +theirs, between a Saxon king and an imperial princess, +could be brought about, what tidings of great joy would +it not bring!—peace on earth and good-will among +men. The revered churches of Christ would come +together again as one. The Catholic and the Orthodox +faith could then unite to make Christ and His Cross +prevail over the Hagarene, and convert the pagans of +the North and the East!" +</p> + +<p> +The idea of some conciliation—at least some <i>modus +vivendi</i>—between the rival claimants to the Roman +empire had long floated in the mind of the politic +spirits of the age, and it occupied especially the designs +of that far-seeing statesman Otto himself. The coronation +of his son and heir brought the problem to an +acute stage. The following day the emperor held a +long and secret council in the Vatican palace in which +he was installed. The monarch was now in his fifty-sixth +year, his powerful form giving signs of his long +career of toil and of battle; his fair hair was grizzled +with years, and his majestic countenance deeply +furrowed with thought and care. He sat on a dais with +his loved queen by his side, and the young Otto, now +imperial crown-prince, between them. The lad was +auburn-haired, very fair, bright, delicate, and small +even for his years. He looked but a puny successor +for the mighty ruler of the West. +</p> + +<p> +Otto had called to his council his very politic father, +the pope, and his trusty delegate, the wily Bishop of +Verona. Pandulph, Count of Capua, was there, and +beside him the stout old chief, Duke Burckhard of +Swabia. One or two Italian counts and prelates held a +lower place at the board, and among them had been +admitted a young Cluniac monk whose learning, +experience, and acuteness had already recommended +him to the pope and to the emperor. He was Gerbert +of Aurillac, who was yet but twenty-seven, but +his studies in the schools of Cordova, his lofty +character and profound sagacity, had made him already +a man of mark. And we know that he was destined, +under the name of Silvester II., to prove himself to be +one of the greatest of the popes and the most politic +brain in Europe. +</p> + +<p> +The emperor opened the council thus: "Holy father, +right reverend prelates, noble counts, we have called +you to this council to make known our will and to +consult you on the means of compassing it. In the +thirty years since we have worn the crown of our +father, King Henry, we have welded into a single realm +the German and Italian lands, and in these later years +we have restored the empire of our glorious predecessor, +Charles, and revived the dignity of the Roman +name. The holy father has now conferred the +imperial title on our son, who in due time will have to +maintain our office in this holy Roman empire. It is +true that your Otto is King of all German lands, of +Burgundy, Bohemia, Poland, Suzerain of Denmark and +of Hungary. We are King of Italy, and Roman Imperator +Augustus; but our rule does not extend, in fact, +to the south of Italy, over Apulia and Calabria. Those +fair lands and ancient cities are still held by him who +claims the imperial name, who rejects our right to use +it, by that sovereign of the Greeks who are schismatics +from the Holy Catholic Church, who deny to our holy +father the title of Vicar of Christ on earth, as they +deny us the right to call ourselves the representative +of God here on earth. And beyond the southern +limits of Italy lies that fair and rich island of Sicily, +once a bright province of the Roman empire, but now +enslaved by the Saracens and Moors of Africa, who +cruelly ill-use the servants of Christ. It little boots +if we rule from the Baltic to the Bay of Naples, from +the Rhine and the Rhone to the Danube, if South Italy +be not ours, if Sicily follow the False Prophet, and if the +Greek who still calls himself Roman emperor reign +within two days' march of Rome. Be it by arms or +be it by policy, we are bent on transmitting to our +heir all Italy as his kingdom, and the acknowledged +title of sole Imperator Augustus. Right reverend and +most noble councillors, shall this be done by policy or +by arms?" +</p> + +<p> +A long silence ensued, for none knew to which course +the emperor inclined, and they hesitated to thwart his +purpose. Otto looked round and scanned the faces +of the councillors. +</p> + +<p> +"My Lord of Capua and Beneventum," he said, "you +look like a man who knows his own mind, and your +fiefs lie next to those of the Greek. What says the +Count Pandulph?" +</p> + +<p> +"My liege," blurted forth the impetuous "Iron +Head," "my voice is for war—open, sudden, and to the +knife. These Greeks are crafty as foxes and cowardly +as sheep. Hold no parley with them. Give me +the order to march and twenty thousand lances, and +we will sweep them away to the Bay of Tarentum and +the Strait of Messina." +</p> + +<p> +"How say you, my lord bishop, you who speak their +tongue and have seen so much of their capital and +court?" said Otto to Luitprand. +</p> + +<p> +"My liege, as a civilian and a churchman, I am disposed +to prefer the ways of peace and of policy. The +brave Count of Capua would prove his valor against +every enemy of your Imperial Majesty; but the +Lombard and the Calabrian themes of the Basileus are +countries most difficult to invade or to conquer. They +abound in mountains, defiles, and torrents; they are +defended by strong forts securely placed on rocks or +on bays of the sea; what is worse is their fever-breeding +plains, which are certain death to the gallant soldiers +of the North. That which is even more important +is this: the Byzantine fleet dominates the sea; +the immense coast line is at its mercy; they can pour +in endless supplies, provisions, arms, and succor. My +liege, I advise an embassy to Byzantium. Seek for +your son a daughter of their ruling house, and let +the dowry of the Greek princess be stipulated to be +the lands they unjustly withhold from the King of +Italy, the Roman emperor." +</p> + +<p> +"Can you induce their Basileus to yield so much?" +asked Otto, with a smile. "We fear they hold +themselves to be at least our equals in place." +</p> + +<p> +"The fierce Armenian soldier who has married the +widow of his Basileus is proud enough, self-willed +enough, and filled with the ambition of a rebel angel. +But they tell me he is losing favor both with Church +and with people. He is beset on the north and on +the east. Nicephorus is at death grapple with the +caliph in Asia; he is menaced by Bulgarians and by +Russians; he has enemies and traitors in his capital +and his very palace. His people long for peace. They +are very rich, very politic, and careless of the honor +of their name. If well plied with persuasive words, +they will yield. Demand the hand of Theophano, the +daughter of Romanus, with the Italian themes as her +dowry. The empire will regain two noble provinces, +our imperial prince will gain a lovely bride, +and the grandson of your Majesties, a third Otto +that is to be, will wear the crown of a sole and +undivided empire, without a rival and without an +enemy." +</p> + +<p> +"You look gloomy, most noble duke," said the +emperor, as he turned with a keen eye to Burckhard at +his side. "Does this splendid prospect of our sagacious +bishop not approve itself to your valor?" +</p> + +<p> +"My liege," said the duke, stoutly, his huge limbs +writhing with suppressed excitement, "your grace is +a German king; I am a German duke. Your realm, +north of the Alps, is of vast extent, and in perpetual +peril of enemies, traitors, and conspiracies. Half of +it has only been won or pacified by your own invincible +arm and your unsleeping wisdom. Danes, Poles, +Slavs, Hungarians, and Franks are not finally +crushed. They may pour in again. Not while you live, +my honored chief. But will this fair boy by your side +wield the mighty sword of his father? Will an unborn +Otto be able to control the brave, free, aspiring +races of our fatherland? Will younger Ottos curb +the restless mob of Rome and the craft of these Italian +barons? My king, return to your German kingdom, +and make that secure for your house and your people. +Let not the house of Henry the Saxon be drowned in +these Italian lagoons, and the blood of Saxon warriors +drench the pestilential plains of Italy. They are brave +as men can be, but they are not proof against the fevers +and the wiles—and the harlots—of this land of sin, of +poison, and of ruin." +</p> + +<p> +"The holy father will not admit this apocalyptic +picture of the Eternal City," said Otto, with a lofty +smile; "and you forget, most noble duke, that we are +the Roman emperor, crowned of God by his holiness +here. We together are charged by Christ, the Son, +with the care of the Church Catholic and this holy +empire, of which Italy is the oldest and fairest part. +What says his holiness?" the emperor asked, calmly +restraining the storm rising between his Teuton and +his Latin councillors. +</p> + +<p> +"Our advice will be given in the private ear of your +Imperial Majesty, as is most meet for the servant of +the servants of Christ. But I will ask you now to +listen to my young friend here, this learned brother, who +has seen so much of the courts of Spain, Gaul, and +Italy, whose observations may be useful to your +grace." +</p> + +<p> +Otto assented with a gracious smile, and the young +monk Gerbert stepped forward at the summons, his +keen face lighted up with genius and the play of Gallic +eloquence dancing in his mobile lips. +</p> + +<p> +"If I presume to speak in this august presence and +in so eminent a council, it is only that I have lived in +the lands of the Franks and in that of the caliph of +Spain and have some knowledge of the powers that +lie to the west of the empire and of this Italian +kingdom. The wealth, the power, the science, and the arts +possessed by the people who obey the Ommayad caliph +at Cordova are incredible—not easily to be conceived +by those who have not witnessed them. The so-called +Fatimite caliph of Africa has power and resources +equally great. It is he who holds in his grasp the +rich island of Sicily. In Asia the children of the False +Prophet have been gaining for generations on the +people of Christ. To the north and to the east of the +German realm there lie Poles, Hungarians, Russians, +and Slavonians, who are hardly within the fold of the +Church, who care little for our sovereign lord, the +emperor, and even less for our holy father, the pope +of Rome. It will be a tremendous task to make them +Catholic and Romans. If all this be so, the union of +all Christian princes and of all Christian churches is +the one thing urgent and necessary. Let us pray for +the day when all Christian rulers and all Christian men +may go forth in a holy war against the unbelievers, to +rescue the tomb of Christ and of His blessed Mother, +of the apostles and saints, and to preserve the people +of our Lord from the blasphemies of Mohammed. It +will soon need all the combined strength of Christendom +to protect the Church of Christ. That will be a +most terrible day when Christian princes and Christian +churches are in death-grip with each other. Would +that our sovereign lord, the emperor, could make +some alliance with those who rule in Byzantium! Oh, +that old Rome could be led to stretch forth the hand +of brotherly communion to new Rome! Oh, that one +day all those who claim the inheritance of Constantine +might do homage to an imperial descendant of our +lord the emperor." +</p> + +<p> +"May I speak, since this matter of state seems to +touch so closely myself?" said the imperial youth, +with his sweet smile and bright look to his father. "I +long for such a bride as the bishop describes the +princess—lovely, graceful, brilliant, with all the charm of +that polished court and all the genius of old Greece. +Her mother came, they say, from Lacedæmon, and +drew her race from the hero kings of Sparta, of whom +I have read with my tutor in old Plutarch." +</p> + +<p> +"His imperial highness speaks the truth with his +usual discernment," fawned the courtly bishop; "they +who have not seen Byzantium cannot imagine its +splendor and the majesty of its state. An alliance with the +daughter of Romanus, the Basileus, granddaughter +of the eighth Constantine Born-in-the-Purple, as they +boast so often, would give fresh glory even to the son +of Otto, to the grandson of Henry. The empire of +the mighty Charles has been sundered for a hundred +years. If it were merged by marriage in the race of +Constantine, it would shine forth again like the sun risen +after a gloomy night." +</p> + +<p> +"What says our empress?" asked Otto. "For this +touches her deeply, too, and must move a mother's +heart." +</p> + +<p> +"My lord," said Adelheida, still beautiful, thoughtful, +and loving, devoted to the hero of her young +dreams, "a Greek princess, graceful, accomplished, +and intelligent, would add fresh lustre and culture +even to your throne, mighty as it is." +</p> + +<p> +"But will our advances be well received by him who +occupies the golden palace of Justinian?" said Otto. +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus Phocas," said the bishop, positively, +"is between the devil and the deep sea, as our Lombard +proverb runs; he has no choice. He will grasp +your offer. He has restless Bulgarians on his northern +border and fierce Saracens on his eastern frontier. +Byzantine churchmen and officials now in Rome here +tell me that the people and the Church are weary of +him. The army has a new favorite. The widow whom +he married cares for him no more. Nicephorus will +yield, if he be pressed by an envoy of superior culture, +who knows how to handle an uncouth soldier." +</p> + +<p> +"We will consider of this embassy and project of +alliance," said Otto as he broke up the council. +"Mother and son, churchmen and civilians, are for peace, +love, and friendship. My lord of the Iron Head and +of the Iron Hand, with his gallant men-at-arms, is all +for war. It may not be impossible to try them both, +and see which of the two our friend the Basileus prefers. +My lords and reverend sirs, we thank you." +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap27"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXVII +<br><br> +Old Rome and New Rome—Rivals in Empire +</h2> + +<p> +The mighty Otto, after long consideration of the +two plans proposed in council, committed the fatal +error of alternately resorting to both, and, for the first +time in his long and splendid career, met with +mortifying rebuffs in negotiation as in war. Adopting at +first the advice of the politic bishop, the emperor +advanced to Naples and there received the envoys of +Nicephorus in state. The Basileus, who sought only +to gain time while he poured reinforcements and stores +into his stronghold of Bari, lured on the Germans +with hopes of obtaining the hand of the princess and +the Italian themes as her dower. In the mean time +he doubled the defences of Bari and despatched his +trusty lord warden to take command of the provinces +in Italy and to defend them to the last drop of his +blood. +</p> + +<p> +Otto, at last, finding himself baffled with hollow +promises, listened to the advice of Count Pandulph +of the Iron Head and of Count Gisulph of Salerno, and, +securing his rear at Beneventum, he suddenly, +without warning, dashed down upon Bari with a picked +body of his Lombardic and German veterans. In his +thirty years of reign Otto had swept his enemies +before him from the Baltic to the Tiber, and he looked +for an easy victory in the Lombard theme. He had +made the expedition an imperial progress, with the +empress and their son in his camp, and the flower of +his Saxon, Swabian, and Italian troops. But he was +too late. The gallant warden had provided at every +point for a desperate defence. The fortifications of +Bari stretched from sea to sea. A powerful fleet +secured the coast and poured in provisions and arms; +and the population, bound by long tradition and +commercial interest in loyalty to the Byzantine empire, +served with zeal in the defence of their city. To the +summons of the Saxon to surrender the fort, Basil +Digenes returned as proud a defiance. Otto had +dashed upon it without the means of a regular siege, at +the instance of Count Pandulph the Iron Head and his +brother Landulph, who intended to make it their own. +After weeks of bootless attacks, which the lord +warden repelled at every point, the emperor retired in +disgust and flung himself into the arms of the wily +bishop, whom he sent on a new embassy to Byzantium. +</p> + +<p> +It was a lowering day of June, 968, when the learned +and eminent Bishop of Cremona found himself at the +Golden Gate of the fortifications of Constantinople, +as the ambassador plenipotentiary of the Augustus, +crowned of God, the Emperor Otto. The suite of his +eminence consisted of secretaries, chamberlains, and +attendants, and a select band of men-at-arms, gigantic +swashbucklers from Pomerania, "bravos" in reality, +who were familiarly known as the "lions." The party +were mounted on their own horses, and ceremoniously +challenged the guard to open the Golden Gate to the +representative of his Imperial Majesty. But no gate +was opened. The sky was now overcast and the rain +descended in torrents, but it did not cool the wrath of +the pompous bishop and his people. Hour after hour +they waited in the storm, in spite of all their appeals +and demands, the bishop pouring out Ciceronian philippics +at the barbarism of his hosts, and his officials +importuning the stolid guard of the gate with +remonstrances that were neither understood nor answered. +</p> + +<p> +Late in the afternoon the silentiary Symmachos +arrived, with a military escort; the gates were opened, +but, with positive asseverations that no foreign person +could be suffered to ride through the streets of the +"city guarded by God," the bishop and his party +were forced to dismount, and were taken on foot +through gaping crowds and muddy and unsavory lanes +to their lodging in a remote corner of the city near +Blachernæ. The residence assigned to the mission was +an empty palace of marble, which the irate bishop +discovered to be cheerless, dilapidated, and comfortless, +letting in rain and open to the wind. The wrath +of the courtly prelate, his disappointment and vexation, +could not be publicly expressed; but he vented +his spleen in the turgid Ciceronian epithets scattered +throughout the flowery despatch which he now +addressed to his "August and invincible emperors of +the Romans, the Ottos, and the most glorious and +august Empress Adelheida—" a record which, with +all its exaggeration, pomposity, and caricature, is one +of the most precious documents of the Middle Ages. +</p> + +<p> +Two days of delay passed in which the bishop fumed +and inveighed against "the Greeks" and all their tribe, +pouring anathemas on the building, the food, the wine, +and the accommodation; on Michael, the Sicilian, +who was appointed their caterer and "steward of the +palace." His eminence now found that he was practically +a prisoner, and guarded by uncouth Russian sentinels +who neither understood his language nor suffered +his attendants to pass or communicate outside. At +last he received an official summons from Leo, the +brother of Nicephorus, and curopalates, who desired +to regulate the ceremonial of the reception by the +Basileus. Again the portly prelate had to wade through +mud and rain on foot; he arrived breathless and in a +bad temper, and bustled into the chamber of the royal +palace, proud of his mastery of the Greek language, +and bearing the missive that contained his credentials +from his sovereign. Luitprand began a speech that +he had prepared in Demosthenic style, wherein he +called himself the envoy of "the august Basileus of +the Romans." But here Leo peremptorily interrupted +him, and said, "There is but one august Basileus of +the Romans on God's earth, and he resides in this +sacred palace. Your master, we understand, is king +of several tribes of the west, and we could not +recognize his envoy under any other style." +</p> + +<p> +"But my lord, who of old was crowned king both +in Germany and in Italy, was lately anointed Imperator +Augustus, which in your tongue is Basileus, by the +holy father himself, in the Church of the Apostle +Peter in Rome, and that with the assent of the +prelates, barons, and people of Rome. Augustus, Trajan, +and Constantine had no more solemn investiture of +that holy and sublime office." +</p> + +<p> +"What! do you venture to call that a legitimate +consecration which was attempted by the infamous +traitor, John XII.?" asked Leo, bluntly. "We heard that +your king deposed the apostate priest who officiated +at his coronation and crucified the populace which +shouted at his installation." +</p> + +<p> +"My lord the emperor has indeed had occasion to +purge the prelacy and the mob of the Eternal City, +and there can be no better proof of his imperial +authority and his unquestioned title to rule," said the +bishop, stoutly. +</p> + +<p> +"The pretension to assume the title of emperor of +the Romans was an attack on the prerogative of the +imperial successor of Constantine the Great," said +Leo, positively. "And you, my lord, cannot be +admitted to an audience if you persist in claiming for +your master the title of Basileus." +</p> + +<p> +"But <i>Basileus</i> is Greek for king—is it not?" the +bishop rejoined. +</p> + +<p> +"No," said Leo; "the Greek word for <i>king</i> is ρηχ." +</p> + +<p> +"That is Latin—rex—not Greek," cried out the +learned and pertinacious bishop. +</p> + +<p> +"It seems that you have come here, my lord bishop, +to quarrel and to insult us, and not to make peace," +said Leo, determined to close the interview. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing no chance of pressing his point, the prelate +advanced to hand his diploma to the curopalates, in +order to be laid before the emperor himself; but +Leo, with an air of sovereign disdain, declined to +handle the missive, which he waved to the grand +interpreter to take into his charge. He abruptly closed +the interview, and the silentiary conducted the +disconcerted envoy to his own abode, muttering his +indignation, with tags from Cicero, Virgil, and the +Bible. +</p> + +<p> +"The tall man thinks himself a master of the ceremonies," +said the bishop to his secretaries, "but he is +a broken reed, like Pharaoh of Egypt, as the prophet +says, whereon, if a man lean, it will pierce his hand." +</p> + +<p> +The very next day was Whitsunday; the bishop +received the summons to attend the audience of the +emperor at seven o'clock in the morning. At six he +began his weary tramp on foot from the northern +end of the city, and after some delay was ushered into +the magnificent Hall of the Nineteen Couches. There +Nicephorus, in state robes (which the irritable bishop +declares were old and ill-fitting), sat on the throne of +Solomon, with the golden lions on the steps, the young +Basilei sitting on stools behind his left hand. The +ambassador of Otto, remembering the courtly +magnificence of Constantine, had expected a royal +welcome. His wrath was great when Nicephorus, with a +stern look, and not rising from his throne, motioned +to the envoy to approach the foot of the dais and +prostrate himself. The Basileus, deeply resenting as an +insult the claim of the German king to usurp his title, +and boiling with indignation at the outrage of Otto's +treacherous attack on the Italian provinces, began in +this fierce tone: +</p> + +<p> +"It would have been our right—indeed, our +pleasure—could we have been able to receive your embassy +with the amity and the magnificence this court shows +to all friendly powers. The disloyal conduct of your +master has made that impossible. He has taken up a +hostile attitude and has invaded our city of Rome, +which he claims as his own. He has put to death +our friend, King Berengar, and his son Adelbert, in +defiance of law and of right. He has slain many of +our Roman subjects by the sword or by the halter; +he has put out the eyes of others, and driven some into +exile. He has attacked cities of our empire with fire +and sword, and seeks by force to annex them to his +kingdom. And now, when he finds himself baffled +in his treacherous attempts, he affects to be a peaceful +friend, and he sends you—you, the counsellor and the +contriver of these misdeeds—to come to our court to +act as spy rather than ambassador." +</p> + +<p> +The stout bishop, full of pride in his sovereign, the +great Otto, and in the Holy Catholic Church, of both +of which he was now the mouth-piece, was not the man +to be cowed by such a fierce diatribe from the +"Basileus of the Greeks"; and he boldly retorted in kind, +though much of the Ciceronian rhetoric he poured into +his famous despatch was spoken in Italian, aside to +his secretary, or was polished at leisure in his closet at +home. +</p> + +<p> +"When my master invaded the city of Rome it was +not as a usurper nor as a tyrant, but to deliver the +city from a tyrant, or rather from a gang of tyrants. +Rome was in the hands of debauchees—nay, of harlots. +Surely your mightiness slumbered—or rather your +predecessors in title. If they were in fact, and not +only in name, Roman emperors, would they have +left Rome a prey to abandoned women? This court +has never hesitated to depose, to oppress the holy +fathers in times gone by, till they have been without +means to carry on their office. As to Prince Adelbert, +he insulted your predecessors on the throne; he +despoiled the Church of the Holy Apostles. My lord +came down across the Alps and drove out the traitors +and the criminals, doing justice on rebels, as the +Roman emperors of old ordained. As to Berengar +and his son Adelbert, they first made themselves +liege-men of my own lord, and received from him the golden +sceptre of the kingdom of Italy. Then they turned +traitors and rebelled against him. They were driven +out—but they are not dead. Your majesty is wont +to treat rebellion in very much such fashion, I trow." +</p> + +<p> +"The champion of Adelbert tells us a very different +tale," interposed Nicephorus. +</p> + +<p> +"Let that be decided by single combat in arms," +broke out the bishop, warmly. "Any one of my +men-at-arms shall to-morrow, if you give us the lists, +prove him on his body to be a false traitor." +</p> + +<p> +"Enough," said Nicephorus, sternly. "Assume that +Adelbert turned traitor. Now answer me this: Why +did your master break into our land with fire and +sword? We were on friendly terms, and were +contemplating a perpetual alliance and union by marriage." +</p> + +<p> +"We hold, sire," said Luitprand, proudly, "that +the lands claimed as Byzantine themes are part of the +Italian kingdom—Italian by race, custom, and tongue. +They were held of old by Lombard chiefs, and Louis, +the Frank sovereign, recovered them from the +Saracens. It was only by arrangement they passed to +the rulers of this realm. But now my lord and master +has sent me to effect a settlement of all these disputed +questions by an alliance of the Princess Theophano +with his own son Otto, on the terms as to her dowry +which I am commissioned to propose." +</p> + +<p> +"We have heard enough of this, and must adjourn +the audience," said the emperor, abruptly. "It is +past eight o'clock, and the procession of this holy +festival of Pentecost is about to be formed." And +Nicephorus rose and had himself arrayed in solemn +state. +</p> + +<p> +The bishop was duly escorted into the tribune of +the choir singers, and relieved his spleen by writing +for his imperial sovereigns a grotesque account of the +ceremony. On his return he found things rather less +acrimonious at court. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus had now been advised by Leo, Basil +the chancellor, and other councillors, that it would +be unwise to reject altogether the overtures of the +mighty emperor in the west; and Basil and the party +of the empress ardently desired the proposed alliance. +This Nicephorus and his brother could not brook to +accept, but they were persuaded to play with the +ambassador of the Ottos, at least while the great +campaign in the east was hardly at an end. Accordingly, +Leo was instructed to invite the bishop to the imperial +banquet, and there Nicephorus treated him, not so +much with haughty contempt as with the rough humor +of the camp. The bishop, to his disgust, found +himself placed low at the royal table, and surfeited +with the unknown dishes—the oil, the caviare, and +sauces of the banquet. His spleen broke forth in +Ciceronian epithets about the food and the resinous wine, +nor was he conciliated by the rough banter of the +emperor himself. The bishop was heckled as to the +extent of the German armies and territories, and he at +once opened a high-flown harangue on the dominions +of his master and the prowess of his soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +"Nonsense!" cried Nicephorus, with a loud laugh, +for he was resolved to flout and mock the Latin +phrase-monger; "they tell me the cavalry are but poor +horsemen, and the footmen are so overweighted with +corselets, helmets, long swords, and big shields that they +have no mobility in action. And they eat and drink +too much, making a god of their bellies, though +perhaps their drink gives them pot courage, and they can +do nothing when rations are short." And Nicephorus, +proud of his Cossack troopers and his lithe, mounted +bowmen, laughed aloud as he had done round many a +camp-fire. +</p> + +<p> +"Then mark this, my lord bishop," Nicephorus +went on, returning to his angry tone: "Your master +has no fleet. Sea power is ours. We make war by +sea as well as by land. We have two arms with which +to strike. You have but one. If we go to war with +your master we shall destroy his seaboard cities, and +reduce to ashes all that we can reach by any waterway. +Did we not drive him back from Bari? He +came there in force—with his wife and his son, with +his Saxons, Swabians, Bavarians, and Italians. All of +them together failed to capture one petty town. Do +you think they could withstand us, whose armies are +as numberless as the stars in heaven or the waves of +the sea?" +</p> + +<p> +The indignant bishop tried to speak, but Nicephorus +waved him to his seat. "You are not Romans at all; +you are Lombards," he shouted. +</p> + +<p> +But this was more than the Italian could endure. +Nicephorus raised his hand to bid him be silent, but +he broke forth: "Romulus, who killed his brother, +and who was born in adultery, gave his name to the +Romans. Then he opened an asylum to which homicides, +debtors, slaves, and felons resorted, and so he +named the mongrel crew his Romans. That was the +origin of those whom you call the 'masters of the +world!' We, Lombards, Saxons, Swabians, Franks, +Lorrainers, Bavarians, and Burgundians call a man +a 'Roman' when we want to give him an opprobrious +name. We mean by Roman whatever is most mean, +cowardly, greedy, effeminate, mendacious, and vicious. +As to whether we know how to fight on foot or on +horse, the next war will prove." +</p> + +<p> +This insolent philippic of the wrathful bishop was +blurted out in incoherent passion amid the derisive +murmurs of the courtiers. Nicephorus did not listen +to his sallies, and abruptly rose from the table, +ordering the officials to carry the ambassador back to his +lodging. For days the miserable prelate lay there +practically in prison, neglected, and ill, he declares, +from the poisonous wine and the pickled sturgeon he +had received. His piteous appeal to the curopalates +only gained him an interview with the prime-minister, +Basil, the secretary of state, and the prefect, who +told him that the only terms on which the Sacred +Palace could consent to giving a Basilian princess +born-in-the-purple to a Teuton prince would be the +cession of Ravenna, Rome, and the Italian duchies to +their lawful sovereign. King Otto might have peace +if he resigned Rome and all imperial pretensions. +</p> + +<p> +The diplomacy of Byzantium—the great original of +which that of the Sublime Porte and of Holy Russia +have been but feeble imitations—was employed to +play with the wordy prelate, while detaining him +practically as a hostage or a prisoner. He received a +series of affronts and rebuffs. He was left whole days +without supplies; he was made to give precedence to +"barbarian envoys from Bulgaria, unkempt creatures +in uncouth dress," he said. Once he was so rude that +he was sent to dine at the inn, where Nicephorus in +mockery sent him from his own table "a dish of kid +stewed in pickled fish sauce, garlic, and spices." After +months of endless negotiations, Luitprand had a final +audience with Nicephorus, to whom he was forced to +prostrate himself beneath the imperial feet. "Take +back our last word to your king," said the Basileus; +"let him cease to usurp our style and infest our +provinces, and then come back to us and bring us a +favorable answer." +</p> + +<p> +When the great Saxon emperor learned how his +embassy had been treated, and received the vermilion +and golden-sealed epistle of Nicephorus, composed in +the same disdainful tone, he again invaded Apulia +and assaulted its towns and castles. The Byzantines +had been preparing for the encounter all through the +time of the bishop's visit. Basil Digenes was in +command of the forces, and he flew from one stronghold +to another, providing its defences and animating +the troops. Otto made no real way beyond laying +waste the Greek themes and plundering the unwalled +towns. At last the fevers of plains and the vigorous +defence of the castles wore out the strength of his +German veterans. The emperor withdrew to the +north, leaving the Count Pandulph of the Iron Head +to carry on the campaign at the head of his Lombard +and Italian force. The count gained some successes +and laid siege to Bovinum in the Samnite Mountains. +Basil Digenes threw himself into the fort and +commanded a sortie upon the count's own camp. There +the Iron Head met the lord warden in single combat, +and a tremendous duel ensued. The count was +dismounted and the scimitar of Basil clove his helmet at +the very instant that the huge mace of Pandulph +crashed into the brain of the warden. The gigantic +Lord of Capua was taken prisoner, desperately wounded, +then bound in chains and shipped off to Byzantium, +in the same vessel that carried back the lifeless +body of his antagonist. Nicephorus mourned his friend, +comrade, and right arm, for whom he was wont to say +ten victories over the Teuton usurper and his allies +would be but a poor compensation. In the legends, +romances, and ballads of Byzantine glory, the memory +of Basil Digenes long remained as the type of chivalry +and knighthood. And the Princess Agatha hid her +sorrow for her betrothed in a convent. And so, after +all her adventures, her hopes, and her struggles, she +did at last become the Bride of Christ. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap28"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXVIII +<br><br> +Basileus in Council +</h2> + +<p> +Nicephorus was seated in his privy cabinet of +the palace at Constantinople with his judges and +officers of the law, for he felt the internal state of the +empire to be as vital as was the defeat of its enemies +on the frontier. He was in council with Simon, +patrician and chief secretary of state, Eustathius +Romanus, another patrician, chief-justice, and two +professors from the Faculty of Law. +</p> + +<p> +"My learned lords," said the Basileus, "I hope that +we may now finally pass the new law that we have +in draft on 'Gifts to monasteries, hospitals, and +infirmaries in the Roman empire.' We have called you +to advise if the 'Novel,' as we propose to issue it, will +fully carry out our imperial design. We find the +whole realm to be undermined by the inordinate +extent to which monastic institutions have swollen. +Multitudes who ought to serve God and this kingdom +in arms and in useful service drone away their lives +in monkish indolence. The very existence of this +Christian land is in peril, surrounded as it is by +enemies of Christ, Hagarenes, heathens, heretics, and +barbarians, while day by day our people crowd into the +sloth of convents, hermitages, and hospitals for old and +infirm. And the wealth that should go into the +exchequer of our state is locked up in these unprofitable +houses of refuge for the cowards and the idlers of our +people. My lords, I am resolved to mend it—or to +end it." +</p> + +<p> +"Sire," said Lord Simon, the secretary of state, +"the 'Novel' that we now submit to your imperial +wisdom, to be added to the code of your predecessors +on the throne, has been carefully drafted so as to +prohibit the foundation of any new monastic or charitable +corporation, while fully guaranteeing the maintenance +of all foundations already existing. We conceive it +to be no part of the purpose of your Majesty to +suppress the pious foundations of the past or to +confiscate the estates which have been dedicated in law to +any religious uses." +</p> + +<p> +"God forbid that I should lay sacrilegious hands +on that which is dedicated to God and to the saints. +Would that I could recall some of the follies and the +errors of past years; but we will curb this disease in +the future. Monkery is becoming the dry-rot of our +Rome. Stout fellows who should bear arms in the +ranks flock into these refuges for the ne'er-do-weels, +and half the land of our empire is withdrawn from its +due cultivation and its due quota of taxation." +</p> + +<p> +"It will be no part of your imperial will to restrict +the alienation in mortmain of estates for the support +of old-established religious houses?" said Simon, the +protosecretis. +</p> + +<p> +"This must be strictly limited to the restoration of +houses which have fallen into decay," replied the +Basileus. +</p> + +<p> +"And will this apply to pious gifts to the use of +bishoprics and metropolitan sees?" asked the chief-justice. +</p> + +<p> +"Assuredly," replied Nicephorus, with decision; +"there are already too many. They are too rich, too +luxurious, and too useless. Our realm gets no good +from them. There shall be no more founded while I +bear rule in Rome." +</p> + +<p> +"And as to the cells and hermitages of solitary +recluses, your Majesty will not interfere with them?" +asked Simon, with some anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +"Not with true and genuine cells," said Nicephorus, +somewhat doubting, "not if the man honestly seeks to +live a godly life in prayer—alone, and forever. The +prayers of such avail us much. The blessed Elijah +went into the wilderness, and when he lay down to +die under a juniper-tree he was visited by an angel +and was fed by ravens. And so John, the forerunner +of Christ, went into the wilderness, and his meat was +locusts and wild honey. And Christ Himself withdrew +into the desert, fasting forty days and forty +nights. Such a life is holy, and may purge the dross +out of our people. Would that I, too, myself had +been suffered to end my days in such wise. No, my +lords, we approve of a true and sincere hermitage, of +these cells and lauras, as they name them, so that they +be solitary and in desert places, in rocks and +mountains, far from men. So that no cell be set up anew +on habitable and cultivated ground—this we sanction +and approve with our imperial blessing." +</p> + +<p> +And now Basil, the prime-minister, craved an audience, +and was admitted to the council. +</p> + +<p> +"Sire," he began, "we shall have very serious +opposition to meet from the churchmen, especially from +the regular orders, in all forms. There is already +within the palace a body of monks and prelates, led by the +great abbot of the Stoudion, who have got tidings of +the new imperial 'Novel,' and loudly demand to be +heard. We shall have trouble, indeed, if we have this +tribe against us." +</p> + +<p> +"Bring them in," said Nicephorus, proudly; "we +will meet them face to face. The Basileus will not be +driven from his purpose by a whole army of these men +of God." +</p> + +<p> +Presently the deputation of the monasteries was +ushered in, and Anthony, the syncellus of St. George +of the Stoudion, spoke in their name in no measured +terms. +</p> + +<p> +He said that the whole world of those holy men who +wear the mitre and the cowl were alarmed at rumors +of the new legislation proposed. They could not +believe that their most pious and devout Basileus +designed to discourage the religious life of the capital +and the realm. Nor could he be purposed to annul +the gifts of good men and good women, who sought to +save their souls by devoting their substance to God. +</p> + +<p> +"Most venerable abbot, and you, right reverend prelates +and fathers in the Lord," said Nicephorus, with +a quiet smile, "it will not be believed by any man of +sense that we, the Basileus Augustus, by the grace of +God, intend aught of wrong against Holy Church and +its consecrated ministers. It is known to all men how, +after the recovery of Crete from the children of Hagar, +we ourselves dedicated a large share of the gold spoil +to pious uses. Have we not vastly added to the +venerable monastery of Mount Athos, and made it the +central sanctuary of our realm? Have we not adorned +its church with trophies of bronze and of marble? +Have we not presented it with those priceless and +adorable relics—a fragment of the Cross of Calvary +and the head of St. Basil, of miraculous power?" +</p> + +<p> +"It is known to all men, sire," said the abbot, +pertinaciously, "and it will be counted to your Majesty +at the judgment-seat of God. But the report runs +that, forsaking such excellent examples in the past, +your council have prepared an edict whereby those +pious men and women who have been blessed by the +Almighty with the wealth of this world are to be +restrained from dedicating it to His service for the +salvation of their souls, even in the hour of their death." +</p> + +<p> +"Let them dedicate themselves to His service in +life," said Nicephorus, passionately, "and not withdraw +their estates from the service of the state when +they can enjoy them no more. We intend not to +hurt or to restrain any existing house of religion or of +charity. On the contrary, we provide for the restoration +and repair of those which are decayed. But we +will suffer none to be founded anew. There are +enough of them as it stands—monasteries, hospitals, +chapelries, and bishoprics. They are rich enough and +free enough in all conscience." +</p> + +<p> +"Sire, there can never be enough of man's substance +reserved to God and His blessed ones above," broke +in the abbot, solemnly and even rudely; "there can +never be enough of holy men and holy women whose +lives are passed in prayer and praise." +</p> + +<p> +"Prayer and praise, I warrant," the Basileus broke +out, as if he were in his camp—"prayer for alms and +praise of good eating, perhaps! The streets of our +capital swarm with these befrocked and shaven idlers. +Every village is beset with them. Every hill-side is +honeycombed with their chantries and their retreats. +We want men, not drones. We want men who can +fight as well as pray, or one day these temples of our +God may be turned into the mosques of the False +Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +"We come to implore your grace to put no bonds +upon those who offer their gifts to God," said the abbot, +stoutly. +</p> + +<p> +"These monasteries and infirmaries, these hermitages +and convents, are surfeited with wealth," the +Basileus retorted, with passion. "Has not the Word +of God warned us that a rich man shall hardly enter +into the Kingdom of Heaven? Know ye not that +Scripture—'Take no thought for your life, what ye +shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your +body what ye shall put on! Behold the fowls of the +air. Consider the lilies of the field.' And, when Christ +sent forth His blessed apostles, did He not charge +them 'to take no thought for the morrow and to provide +neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in their purses, +neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staves.' And now, +the successors of the apostles fare sumptuously every +day, and are clothed in purple and fine linen." +</p> + +<p> +And now Nicephorus, giving rein to his indignation +and wrath, poured out a vehement homily, as if he +were himself an ascetic preacher in church. "It is +sheer lunacy—this lust of good things; this insatiable +craving is madness; as the Psalmist saith, 'They are +altogether lighter than vanity'! They add field to field, +grand mansions, stables full of horses, cattle, camels, +mules, and beasts without number. These monks, +these hermits, and servants of the Most High give all +their care to these worldly things in defiance of the +plain Word of God. The blessed apostle labored with +his hands, and those with him, and doth he not say, +'We wrought with labor and travail night and day, +that we might not be chargeable to any of you.' Was +not this also the way of life of the blessed fathers of +the Church, and of those who first taught the Gospel +in Palestine and in Egypt, and in many places of the +earth? They were shining and burning lights to witness +to the faith, living lives so free from earth's dross +that they seemed to be of the substance of angels more +than of men. Hath not our blessed Lord said, 'Strait +is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto +life, and few there be that find it'? And on all sides +to-day we see crowds of these men of God who enter +in at the broad gate that leadeth to destruction. But +ye of the monasteries which cover our realm, 'ye lay +up for yourselves treasures upon earth. Where your +treasure is, there is your heart also'!" +</p> + +<p> +The crowd of portly prelates, obsequious monks, +and mendicant hermits retired abashed and cringing +before this tempest of imperial disdain. But the stern +abbot of the Stoudion made a haughty obeisance and +retired with a bitter scowl. He knew himself to have +authority with the people, now at least equal to that +of the Basileus; and he was in close alliance with the +faction of the Basilissa and in secret conspiracy with +Theophano herself. +</p> + +<p> +The politic prime-minister had listened to the +outburst of Nicephorus with no small anxiety and +surprise. He took occasion to warn his master of the +power of the monastic orders and their ill-will towards +any repressive legislation. And he had fully tracked +their machinations with the superstitious populace and +their concert with the empress and her friends at the +court and in the capital. He implored the sovereign +to moderate the new edict. He pressed him to +remember how the people and the Church had defied and +overborne the greatest of the Iconoclast emperors in +times gone by. +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, well I know that they will bear me ill-will, +and bitterly resent my act. Do I seek to please men +or to please God? as the blessed St. Paul saith. I +am the servant of Christ. And of this I am sure, that, +whatever may be said by these pampered men of the +cloister, the wise and righteous will acknowledge that +our purpose is most salutary to all true servants of the +Lord as well as to the well-being of this our realm. +No more of this. My Lord Simon, you are charged to +publish this edict forthwith, to bear title as the 'First +Novel of our Reign." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon Nicephorus turned to consider draughts +of the other new edicts, referring to the tenure of fiefs +by soldiers and by feudal chiefs. His whole mind was +bent on founding a great and standing military order, +which should hold lands in perpetuity under condition +of service in arms. Basil, as Chancellor of Requests +and Petitions, was charged with this "Novel," whereby +it was forbidden to a rich proprietor to purchase a +military fief, and by a third it was decreed that a +military fief, abandoned for three years by its tenant, +should revert to the general body of military tenures, +and not fall into private hands. By a fourth "Novel" it +was ordered that the estates of great proprietors should +not be broken up, but remain in perpetuity estates of +magnates. And, similarly, small farms could be +acquired only by yeomen. The whole legislative scheme +was a rude and ineffectual effort to erect a system of +graduated feudal tenures, and to found a permanent +order of settled warriors holding lands of the empire +on the tenure of defending it in arms. +</p> + +<p> +And now Nicephorus turned to a scheme which he +had even more at heart, but where no imperial edict +without the sanction of the Church could avail. The +dearest wish of his heart had long been to obtain from +the patriarch the right to promise the honor of martyrdom +for Christian soldiers who might fall in the holy +war with the infidel. Polyeuctus was now the enemy +rather than the friend or the counsellor of Nicephorus, +and the emperor had solicited the help of Athanasius +of Mount Athos to achieve his end. The council and +the legists were dismissed and the monk was admitted +in private audience. +</p> + +<p> +"Venerable father in God," said the Basileus, humbly +saluting his spiritual director as if he were nothing +but a penitent in confession, "you who have known +Nicephorus all these years as a simple soldier of Christ, +you who have so often seen his whole heart and soul +laid bare to your sight as to that of God himself—you +know how real is my reverence for Holy Church and +its true sons, how deep is my resolve to defend the +faith to the end. It is menaced with ruin, and, in +spite of all our efforts to save it, the cross will one +day fall before the False Prophet if we cannot find +some new spirit to fire the hearts of our Roman +soldiers in the fight. They are brave enough, stouter +men than these Hagarenes, and their hearts are in the +cause; but there is one thing they lack—one thing +that these sons of Ishmael have—one thing which +makes them men impossible to beat. These infidels +glory in their death. To them to die in battle is to +triumph and to be blessed for evermore. The false +promises of the False Prophet so delude them that they +rejoice with their last gasp that they are passing into +paradise, and with their dying eyes they see the houris +of their foul dreams waiting to escort them to the +presence of God. I tell you, my father, I have seen +these unbelievers on a hundred battle-fields die smiling +with joy, as men smile who have won the prize in the +chariot-race, or as martyrs smile when they see Christ +in the sky above the scaffold, saying to them, 'Come, +ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared +for you from the foundation of the world.' Our +men will face death, but they do not glory in death, +seek for death, long for death as a priceless glory and +certain heaven. If Holy Church awarded them the +palm of martyrdom, they would be consumed with +such fire that they would sweep the Hagarenes back +into their desert. Verily, they are martyrs—they +witness to the eternal Word of Christ." +</p> + +<p> +"Sire," replied the monk, his worn and cadaverous +form in strange contrast with the massive frame of +the Basileus, "I have held long interviews with the +venerable Patriarch, and I find him inexorable and in +bitter opposition to your schemes of reform, and +especially to this." +</p> + +<p> +"Go back to his holiness and press him to consider +the imminent peril of our empire and our faith." +</p> + +<p> +"He will never yield. He has made it a matter of +faith, of respect for the sacred ordinances of our Church. +The canons of St. Basil exclude from the sacraments +during three years those who have shed blood." +</p> + +<p> +"What! those who die fighting for Christ in defence +of His people and of His consecrated altars and fanes!" +</p> + +<p> +"It is the law of the Church, which neither sovereign +nor prelate can rescind; and the law of God's Church +in council pronounced is the law of God," said the +monk, sadly, but with invincible tenacity. +</p> + +<p> +"But this is to sacrifice the people of God to the +decrees of men. Truly, as the apostle saith, 'the letter +killeth, but the spirit maketh alive.' The patriarch +has entered into the conspiracy against me; and I +know that it is fomented even within this very palace. +My enemies and traitors are here. But I will not +suffer them to make it the secret haunt of their designs. +The prime mover of these deeds is about to be removed." +</p> + +<p> +"My son, what dost thou mean? Hast thou committed +thyself to any attempt against the life or the +liberty of the Basilissa? Beware, O King; it is a +terrible path thou art about to tread!" +</p> + +<p> +"My father, at midnight this day Theophano will be +taken in her chamber and silently removed to the +royal villa at Prote. No harm or indignity will befall +her. She will be attended as a Basilissa in retreat, +with ample retinue—but a sure guard. She will no +longer countermine my government nor plot against +my honor and my life. She or I must succumb in +this long strife. I am necessary yet awhile to Rome +and this cause, or I would rejoice to be her victim. +Her victim I may yet be. I will not be her plaything +or her tool. No! nor shall she be my dishonor!" +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus, my son in God," said the monk, sternly, +"thou art treading the path that leadeth to +destruction. It was foul sin when thou didst defy the +ordinances of Holy Church to wed the relict of our +late Basileus. Thy abominable sin hath found thee +out, and now thou art rushing into fresh sin in seeking +to put her away. What cause hath she given thee, +what that thou didst not know—or shouldst have +known—when thou hadst her to wife?" +</p> + +<p> +"Father, I say to thee, even as David said to Nathan, +'I have sinned against the Lord.' But the woman has +been seeking to seduce my best comrades and officers, +and tempting them to betray me and to dishonor me." +</p> + +<p> +"Has all this been proved before competent judges? +Would his holiness the patriarch hold any communion +with her if he was certain of her guilt? What +proof have you of her offences and, especially, of the +sin of infidelity to her husband?" +</p> + +<p> +"I can obtain no such proof as would convince the +patriarch, who still holds her undefiled, and even seeks +her aid in resisting my ordinances as to the Church +and my soldiers." +</p> + +<p> +"Whom has she seduced?" said the monk, imperatively. +</p> + +<p> +"She seized and then tempted my best-beloved +friend and comrade whom I now mourn as my brother, +and then she sought to cast her spell on my chief +general, with whom I suspect she is plotting against my +throne—ay, and I suspect against my life." +</p> + +<p> +"Is this more than suspicion and the fear which ever +haunts this palace? Is not this more truly, my son +of sorrow, a sinful love turning into suspicious hate? +What proof hast thou of open crime?" +</p> + +<p> +"Speak not of hate, my father, for all her offences +and treacheries have not yet utterly burned out my +love. For the sake of Rome and of this cause, and +the people of Christ, I must live and rule, and to live +and to rule I must put her away. But it is agony even +now, my father, to part from her. I would die rather +than do harm to a single hair of her head. But she +must depart from out this house, from out this city, +lest she ruin more men whom this empire needs in the +present sore straits." +</p> + +<p> +"She must not depart from this place, nor be cast +out from your throne. Part from the bed that it was +sin and folly to have entered; but touch not her +imperial rights. Rome has ever suffered when the house +of its rulers has been rent in twain. Remember the +dark history of this palace and its dynasties, and all +the deeds of shame and horror which were done of old +when husband drove out wife, and wife conspired +against husband, when mother deposed her son, and +son rose against father, and brother murdered brother. +Remember what was done by an Irene, a Eudocia, +a Theodora, a Michael, a Justin, and a Theophilus. +Begin not a new tragedy in this house, of which the +very walls bear witness to deeds of cruelty, passion, +and sin. To throw into prison the widow of Romanus +would divide this realm into factions, and would +renew the household feuds and horrors which have +ceased now for fifty years. And these children, the +young Basilei, who must in a few years reign here, +how shall they be reared while their mother is a +prisoner?—how will they bear with him who cast her into +prison?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am the victim of a cruel alternative, my father, +but I am ready to die for this cause. If she has her +way, she will ruin it, and, most assuredly, she will work +that ruin by my death." +</p> + +<p> +"Then die, if it be the will of God, but sin not—or +sin no more. Add not cruelty, revenge, and oppression +to lust and folly. Leave to this woman her undoubted +rights as empress, as mother of our emperors, as your +own wife. Live your own life apart from her as you +choose; but, if you make her your prisoner, the +object of your enmity and anger, the whole force of +Mother Church shall be directed to restrain your +violence and to defend your victim." +</p> + +<p> +"And the Church condemns me to death and makes +me the victim," said Nicephorus, sadly and with resignation. +</p> + +<p> +"If you do not yield to its summons," replied the +monk, with imperious tone, "the Church will expel +you from its offices, refuse you its absolution, and +abandon you to the spirits of evil to die unforgiven +in your sins. Choose, Nicephorus, between your +passion and the safety of your soul." +</p> + +<p> +With this terrible word, which was cruel enough to +break every spirit of that age, the inexorable confessor +left the presence. +</p> + +<p> +And hour after hour the Basileus, with groans and +prayers, looked down into the black gulf on the edge +of which he felt that he stood. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap29"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXIX +<br><br> +The Rising Storm +</h2> + +<p> +Nicephorus, in proud trust in his own mission +from on high, and conscious of his own rectitude +and devotion to the cause of God's realm on earth, +would brook no interference with his will from his +ministers, his people, or the priests. He yielded only to +the venerated abbot of Mount Athos, his own beloved +friend and confessor, Athanasius, in the matter of the +empress, Theophano. He abstained from carrying +out his purpose to remove her from the city and place +her in honorary restraint. And his submission to the +saintly hermit was not a little aided by some lingering, +if unconscious, touches of tenderness for the woman +whom he once had loved so passionately, and so +humbly, so blindly, so devoutly had adored. He was +again striving every nerve to reorganize a vast +expedition for a third Asian campaign, wherein he was +finally to crush the dynasty of Chamdas and secure +the Syrian gates of Lebanon so as to open the way +of triumph to the Holy Land itself. +</p> + +<p> +The enormous cost of these levies of men, drawn +from all parts of the empire—from the coast of Italy, +across Greece and Asia, as far as the sources of the +Euphrates—of the countless stores, arms, and equipments +they required, strained to the utmost the finances +of the state. Nicephorus knew nothing of fiscal +resources and of ways and means. He despised all +uses of money unless it were treated as the sinews of +war. He left to his ministers the duty of devising the +methods of taxation. All that he insisted on was the +perpetual replenishment of his war-chests—<i>rem +quocunque modo, rem</i>. He ordered the exchequer to +exact the taxes to the most rigid point. He allowed +bishoprics, abbeys, and eleemosynary foundations to +remain vacant, while the revenues were collected by the +state. He withheld the customary doles to the +senators and high officers of the empire, in the name of +public economy and the needs of the war against the +infidel. Leo, his brother, and Sisinnios, the prefect, +were loudly accused of regrating corn during time of +scarcity. And, worse than all, they obtained from the +ignorance of the emperor a decree to coin a new +<i>nomisma</i>, or gold bezant, which was said to be alloyed as +to one-fourth with baser metal, and was henceforth +known as a <i>tetrateron</i>, a "quarter-piece." +</p> + +<p> +The popular discontent grew day by day, fanned +by disappointed nobles, voluble demagogues, and +fanatical monks. All day long angry crowds gathered +in the streets, markets, and courts of the churches. +They were roughly handled by the city police or +savagely dispersed by the foreign guardsmen. The +great Armenian soldier himself, his whole soul aflame +with the thought of the holy war, despised equally +the effeminate nobility, the noisy mob, and the lazy +monks. But his martial eye perceived the defenceless +condition of the Sacred Palace, and he saw the +necessity of securing the seat of government. Accordingly, +he undertook a vast defensive work—a wall with +towers, battlements, and gates which cut off the city +from the palace. It was something like the later +rampart we see to-day that stretches from the Golden +Horn to the Sea of Marmora, and separates the old +Seraglio and its dependencies from the rest of +Stamboul. And, not content with this vast domestic +defence, Nicephorus proceeded to enlarge and fortify the +palace of Boucoleon on the edge of the port, which +henceforth became the imperial abode and "keep," +as the Normans would have named it. It was the +real "Bastile." +</p> + +<p> +Crowds would gather round the works, as thousands +of laborers, imported mainly from the Thessalonican +Theme and the Greek islands, toiled over the long lines +of masonry. Here a voluble street orator, one Simeon, +a cobbler by trade, got a number of loafers to listen to +his eloquence. "What is to become of us, my friends, +if everything in Rome is to be sacrificed to paying +soldiers and building fortresses? We used to believe +this city, with its walls, was safe enough against all +enemies east or west, barbarians or infidels, whether +they came in ships or over the mountains of Thrace. +Are we the barbarians or the infidels against whom +the Basilei must be protected by walls and towers? I +can remember, my lads, the days of Constantine, the +good, dear old man, who hated war and gave us +lovely shows, and then young Romanus, with his free hand +and kind smile, whom somebody made an end of, they +do tell me. Will fighting in Syria bring us bread or +make trade brisk? In old days, the court took care to +sell us poor folks corn at a cheap rate in bad times; +but now it doubles the price, while the poll-tax keeps +it company at the same rate. And nobody gets work +but these blacklegs of Hellenes or the leather-sellers +on the Strymon, where they make the troopers' +boots." But here a detachment of Macedonian spearmen, +marching to relieve the guard, broke in upon the crowd, +roughly forcing their way with the flat of their swords +and many a broken head, as they dashed the citizens +aside with their round bucklers. Amid shrieks, yells, +and curses, the terrified mob took to their heels. +</p> + +<p> +The next day it was Easter Eve, and the city was +filled with crowds which poured in from all the +country round to attend the celebrations of Holy Week, +and the myriad churches, chapels, and chantries rang +night and day with "Kyrie eleison," litanies, and +wild sermons, interspersed with hardly veiled attacks +on the imperial government and even person. In the +great court-yard of the Stoudion monastery, an eloquent +brother, Elias, was holding forth to an excited +crowd: +</p> + +<p> +"You have heard, my brethren, how they are about +to confiscate the lands and properties dedicated of +old by the pious to the Prince of Peace and to the +uses of his poorest servants in order to devote them +to war. They pretend that it is a holy war, a crusade +against the Hagarene, to rescue our brethren from +the False Prophet. Was the war against our Christian +neighbors, the Bulgars, a holy war? Was the +war with the Catholic princes of Italy and the German +Cæsar a crusade for the faith? Are there not false +prophets—ay, and cruel tyrants—among the rulers +of a Christian state? It is a strange way to drive out +the unbelievers to make a dead set at our Mother +Church and seize its poor alms whereby it supports +the servants of Christ and keeps alive the starving +and needy children of God. We have to feed them, +we have to live ourselves, we humble brothers of the +destitute and the sick. Do my brethren here in these +cold cells—do I?—look like one who is pampered with +good things and clothed in rich garments? No, my +brothers, we are the Lazarus of whom our Blessed Lord +spake; and the rich man of His proverb lords it behind +those golden gates. Verily, I tell them that we, +the poor and the humble, will be in the bosom of +Father Abraham above, and thence we shall see those +who have robbed us cast into hell, being in torment +amid the flames, crying to the Lord to allay their +pains." +</p> + +<p> +The crowd broke up with great excitement and +gathered in knots at the street corners and markets. +At one group, a farmer, who had come in from a +neighboring village, was pouring out his griefs to +sympathizing citizens. "A company of savage fellows from +Mount Rhodope, professing to be new levies for the +Macedonian shieldmen, had plundered his homestead, +killed his goats, carried off his best horse, robbed his +chest, and outraged his daughters." "Had he brought +his plaint to the city magistrates?" "He had, and +the sergeant of the company got five big ruffians to +swear it was false." "The civil courts can do nothing +in the way of justice on a soldier!" another cried. +"In my case," said another in the crowd, "I had my +plaint laid before a member of the emperor's own staff. +All that I got for reply was that the holy war had in +fact begun, and the autocrator could listen to nothing +but to military crimes." "Oh, as to that," whined a +shrunken and tattered fellow in the crowd, "I know +that he can be pitiless enough. I was charged with +being asleep on sentry-go, and got my nose slit, as you +see, my masters, and four dozen rods broken on my +bare back. I was a ruined man from that day, and +have had to beg in the streets ever since. Even the +monks will not take me with these scars, for I served +in the Bulgar war, and am cut off from the sacraments +of the Church. Masters, I tell you, the Basileus +is drunk with war, mad with war. To smash the +Prophet, he is ready to sacrifice the people of Christ +wholesale." +</p> + +<p> +All this time frequent conferences were being held +within the palace itself, in the apartments of the +Basilissa, with her connivance, and even in her +presence from time to time, which constituted a sort of +palace opposition to the imperial policy and decrees. +The patriarch would often attend. Two magistroi, +and three other patricians, and the abbot of the +Stoudion, joined the conclave. Day after day the +patriarch would denounce the informal, schismatic, and +uncanonical synod wherein the Basileus had obtained +the right to choose for bishoprics and abbeys those +who were presented to his choice by the Church. It +was the eternal quarrel of the "investitures," between +Church and sovereign, which so often and so long +shook the west. "This man of war, this unlearned +and unregenerate soldier," Polyeuctus would argue, +"can thus put into the sees throughout the empire +creatures of his own; and if we refuse to present +churchmen whom he favors, he can keep the holy office vacant +while his fisc absorbs the revenues to lavish them on +the troops." +</p> + +<p> +The fanatical abbot of the Stoudion now broke in. +"He has even dared to tamper with the dues that are +levied by our holy abbey according to ancient +constitutions of the pious sovereigns who succeeded the +sacrilegious race of Iconoclasts. His officers even +ventured to impound the tribute of oil that belongs +of right to the monks of Mount Athos." +</p> + +<p> +"Father Athanasius," interposed Theophano, "will +bring him to reason there. He is the one man in +Church or in State to whom my lord and master will +listen." +</p> + +<p> +"There is still one woman to whom he gives way," +fawned the patrician Theodore. +</p> + +<p> +"No longer," she replied, hotly, and added, with an +air of resignation, "He has designs upon my +liberty—perhaps upon my life." +</p> + +<p> +"Defend yourself, madam," said Theodore; "your +life, your full freedom of action, is now the most +precious thing left in Rome. Appeal to the army, to its +gallant leaders, to the senate, and the nobles of our +land." +</p> + +<p> +"Our prerogatives are being torn from us day by +day," groaned the magistros Marianos; "the donations +which our bounteous sovereigns from old time distributed +to the nobles at the holy festivals have been +withheld by absurd pretexts of economy. Not that +we need or value such trifles of the royal favor. But +the public withholding of them has been a slur on +our honor, and has fatally diminished our influence +with the government and our authority with the +people." +</p> + +<p> +"A chief must be found who is able to resist this +oppression," said the patriarch. +</p> + +<p> +"Say, rather," said the abbot, "one who is able to +replace the oppressor." +</p> + +<p> +Marianos and the patricians smiled with a +complacent and important air. +</p> + +<p> +"Remember," said Theophano, with decision, "nothing +can be done but by a soldier. No man can stem +the oppression that desolates this empire if he has +not the voice of the army. None could wean them +from devotion to Nicephorus but a hero, a beloved +chief, one who has led them to victory in a hundred +fights." +</p> + +<p> +"Her Majesty speaks truly and wisely," said the +crafty abbot, as the conference closed. Nor did +magistroi or patricians venture to say her nay. +</p> + +<p> +On Ascension Day, from early dawn, the streets were +crowded with citizens and country-folk hurrying to +witness the processions to the fanes and take part in +the ceremonies of the festival. At the Neorion port +on the Golden Horn near the Strategion, where a body +of new recruits had been exercising, a riot broke out +between them and the sailors of the merchant ships. +These wild fellows from the Armenian highlands looked +upon the capital as a conquered city, and had begun +to plunder the wine, fruit, and meats that were in +course of unloading on the quay. The dealers, their +men, and the seamen defended their property. Arms +were drawn, and a furious mob assailed the troopers +with every missile within reach. For an hour the +whole quarter rang with cries of battle and the din +of the riot. The soldiers at last, outnumbered and +surrounded, fought their way back to their quarters, +leaving many dead and dying on the ground. Nor was +order restored until the prefect arrived with a strong +guard and vainly tried to pacify the crowds of citizens +who called for punishment of the aggressors, carrying +in procession the corpses of their comrades and +intending to bear them to the very gate of the +palace. +</p> + +<p> +Week by week the irritation of the city had been +increasing, which Nicephorus, if he noticed it at all, +treated with quiet disdain. On that very Day of +Ascension he made the official visit of ceremony to the +venerated church of Mary, outside the northern +rampart, known then and now as Pege, or the Holy +Well. Leo, our young student, and his friend, Joannes, +"the geometer," had been called out to the riot and +now attended the train of the Basileus. It was +towards sunset when the imperial cortège returned over +the crowded route of many miles, and at last passed +into the narrow streets, at that moment thronged with +citizens making holiday. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you see how those market fellows under the +portico of Theodosius there scowl at the Basileus?" +said Leo, to his friend. "He would not be safe among +them without the guard." +</p> + +<p> +"Hear that yell of rage from the roof of the baker's +house on the left," said Joannes. +</p> + +<p> +"Nicephorus seems the only man in the street who +does not notice it. He rides on with his eyes bent +down like a man in a reverie," said Leo. +</p> + +<p> +"After the bloody street-fight we saw this morning, +it would be strange if the mob were not in a savage +mood," said Joannes. "Ah! there is a dense crowd +in the forum of Constantine beyond. There seems +to be some one on the steps of the column haranguing +the people." +</p> + +<p> +"I see," said Leo; "it is that mad monk from the +Stoudion, Brother Elias. He has been preaching +against the Basileus again. We shall have a pretty +row in five minutes, as sure as my name is Leo." +</p> + +<p> +The words were hardly out of his mouth when yells, +mingled with curses and missiles, filled the air. The +guard in front of the procession roughly forced a path +through the crowd, thrusting back the people with +blows and the hoofs of their horses. The immense +mob, furious with indignation, pressed on the riders +with outcries and menaces. "Assassin, tyrant, usurper," +were the names shouted forth. Stones, garbage, +and mud were flung at the imperial party as the guard +closed in a ring round the Basileus. +</p> + +<p> +"By St. Andrew, this is too much!" cried Leo; "the +pitcher only just missed his head," as from the third +story of a tenement-house a virago, with horrid curses, +hurled a heavy stone-ware jug at the sovereign below. +And from the same window, at that moment, a girl, +in a loose dress and dishevelled hair, hurled a brass +pan down on the emperor as he rode beneath their +house. +</p> + +<p> +"Break into that door!" shouted the captain of +police to his men; "seize the old hag and her girl. I +know them well. It is a doss-house for the worst +kind of begging monk. And the women are as bad as +the monks." +</p> + +<p> +"See how Nicephorus there sits his horse and does +not even look round him!" said Leo. "He rides on as +calm and unconcerned in the hurly-burly as if he were +St. George in an ikon. What coolness and nerve the +man has! He seems to see their missiles as little as +he hears their curses. He looks as steady and +undisturbed as if he were the bronze statue of Justinian +on his horse." +</p> + +<p> +"And that stone jug might easily have smashed him," +said Joannes. "It just grazed the plume; they might +have killed him as they did Apambas in the revolution." +</p> + +<p> +The guard closed in round their emperor, who rode +on quietly, without a word and without moving a +muscle, amid execrations and volleys of mud. And +night at last dispersed the mob. +</p> + +<p> +The next day the prefect of the city waited on the +Basileus to take his orders as to the punishments to be +awarded to the riotous quarter and the fate of the +prisoners arrested by the police. +</p> + +<p> +"Let them go," said Nicephorus, "and leave the +citizens alone. No bones are broken, and I care +nothing for their shouts. The times are hard. We may +have been too close-fisted with the corn, and my +Armenians are a rough lot. But, at such a crisis in the +holy war, I dare not be too hard on my brothers in +arms who are giving their lives for Christ. If we can +smash the False Prophet forever, the city mobs will +begin to cheer me again as of old." +</p> + +<p> +The prefect was forced to abstain from any harsh +treatment of the quarter. But he kept some of the +worst of his prisoners in jail. And as for the two +women whose missiles had wounded some of the police, +and whom he knew to keep a thieves' den, Leo saw +them publicly burned in the circus of St. Mamas—a +low, suburban arena—as a warning to all rioters. +</p> + +<p> +Before leaving the capital for the front, Nicephorus +was urged to give a show of chariot-races in the +Hippodrome with more than usual magnificence. His +council regarded it as a mode of pacifying the public +discontent. Seated high in the cathisma, the royal +gallery, surrounded by the empress, her sons, and the +court, in full gala trim, Nicephorus submitted with +the best grace he could command to the tedious +exhibitions of the arena. Before the games were over +he thought it well to give the Byzantine public a sight +of the new levies from Macedonia, whom he was about +to lead into Syria. So he ordered two "bands," or +regiments, of foot-soldiers to advance into the arena, +just cleared of the horse-races, and to be paraded in +sections. For a time the citizens on their benches +watched with amusement the unwonted spectacle of +military evolutions in their Hippodrome. Warming +with the sight of his men in splendid battle array, +Nicephorus now sent orders to charge in a mimic +fight, with levelled lances and the familiar war-cries +of their tribes. As the companies charged till the +lances actually crashed upon the bucklers and the +vast Hippodrome rang with the shouts and clash of +arms, panic seized the spectators. The cry was raised +that the Basileus had ordered a general massacre, as +in the dreadful sedition of the "Nika" of old. With +shrill yells the crowds rose from their benches, poured +down the gangways in mad confusion, and choked the +doorways and passages. Shrieks rose far and near, as +the terrified crowd trampled each other to death or +were crushed by the weight of those behind them in +the agonies of fright. Before anything could be done +to stem the torrent, before the emperor, in his lofty +gallery, quite understood what was happening under +his eyes, a ghastly mass of mangled bodies and bloody +limbs, jammed inextricably together, filled the +corridors and gateways of the circus, which an hour +before had been a festive scene of beauty and enjoyment. +</p> + +<p> +The Basileus arose from his throne as soon as he +comprehended the cause of the disaster, and, in a +voice which overpowered the shrieks below, gave the +word to the troops to halt and stand at attention. +Every sword and every lance was held motionless, as +the men stood like statues in their ranks. The +emperor resumed his seat in order to recall the people +from their panic and imitate his own repose. +</p> + +<p> +It was too late. All the afternoon the ambulances +and the surgeons with their staff toiled at removing +from the quivering mass the dying and the dead. +Nicephorus, having given all necessary orders, slowly +and sadly went back to his cabinet, feeling that some +curse had fallen on his head, if it were not that God +had purposed to end his reign in ruin and blood. +</p> + +<p> +And for long years the people of Byzantium bitterly +mourned over the death and mutilation of those +dear to them, which they placed to the indifference of +their sovereign, but which really was due to their own +folly, cowardice, and panic terror. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap30"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXX +<br><br> +The Last Campaign +</h2> + +<p> +Nicephorus was now again in Asia, on his third +and last great expedition to achieve the reconquest +of Syria. Night after night, the fire-signals +across the Bosphorus recorded the rapid stages of the +imperial advance over the passes of the Amanus, and +day by day couriers arrived with despatches to the +regents and the council of state. It was known that +the Basileus was bent on recovering to Christendom +Antioch and Aleppo, finally driving the Moslem from +Syria, and at last planting the Cross again on the tomb +of the Saviour in the Holy City. +</p> + +<p> +The capital was kept in a constant state of excitement +and expectation. Crowds gathered in the streets +and forums discussing the reports and the rumors, and +decorations were hung on the buildings and public +monuments as each new success of the triumphant +army was announced. The anxiety of the official +world was at last satisfied by a meeting of the senate +at which the regents undertook to make full announcement +of the state of affairs. +</p> + +<p> +The nobles and all who had the right to attend or +who could obtain access to the tribunes and approaches +crowded into the senate house, which resounded with +loud acclamations as Leo, the curopalate, and his +ministers took their seats. And the cheers and cries +of "Long, long life!" were redoubled when the +venerable Bardas Phocas, the father of the Basileus, was +borne along into the assembly in his carrying-chair. +The old hero, shrunk to a skeleton, wrinkled and +shrivelled like a mummy—the sarcastic Bishop Luitprand +declares that he looked one hundred—with still +some light in his eye, and his snow-white beard, seemed +like a ghost of the past as he was lifted, tottering and +bent, into his place. And the cries of "Long, long +life!" again renewed, seemed a cruel mockery of his +exhausted frame. +</p> + +<p> +When the storm of cheering had at last subsided, +the regent rose and spoke thus: +</p> + +<p> +"Most noble magistroi, patricians, and illustrious +senators, we have received a series of despatches from +the august autocrator to the following effect: With +a force of 157,000 men of all arms, 55,000 of whom were +mounted, he passed from Cilicia, as already reported, +across the mountains into Syria, making straight for +Aleppo. His sudden rush upon the country of the +Hamdanites demoralized the enemy, who fled in every +direction, and left their cities and forts an easy prey +to our men. The terror of their approach called out +such outbursts of fanatical hate against our holy faith +that it spread as far as Jerusalem, where—it grieves +us to report—the patriarch John was savagely +massacred with all his priests and many of his flock, and +the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with the other +churches of Jerusalem, was burned to ashes." +</p> + +<p> +At these words groans of grief and cries of rage +broke forth in the chamber from side to side; and the +tribunes and corridors burst into yells of horror and +passion. As soon as the tumult could be appeased, +Leo again resumed his speech. +</p> + +<p> +"But the Basileus has amply avenged the blood of +the martyrs and the outrage on our faith. He has +gained a great battle under the walls of Aleppo. +Thence he ascended the valley of the Orontes, and +stormed Maaret en Noamen, that rich city named after +one of the companions of the False Prophet. Thence +he swept down upon Maaret Mouserim, on Kafartab, +and Chaizar and the city of Hamah. All these rich +and splendid cities of Chambdas have been sacked and +burned and the mosques of the False Prophet +destroyed. The land has been laid waste, and tens of +thousands of captives have been carried off, with +enormous masses of booty in coin, gems, valuables, beasts, +and stores." +</p> + +<p> +Loud cheers rang through the hall, with cries of +"Long life to our autocrator Nicephorus, the +ever-victorious!" Leo at last resumed his address. +</p> + +<p> +"But we have a still more glorious triumph to +announce. The ancient city of Emesa, which the +Hagarenes call Homs, has been captured and destroyed. +The Basileus and his staff worshipped Christ in the +hallowed and famous Church of St. John the Baptist, +and there they recovered that most venerable relic, +the head of the divine forerunner and herald of the +Saviour. This inestimable prize is now on its way to +our city, and will be offered to the adoration of the +faithful in the Temple of the Holy Wisdom." +</p> + +<p> +At these words there broke forth a storm of shouts +of triumph and joy. The sitting was suspended till +the excitement could be calmed, while the patriarch +offered up an invocation of thanksgiving to +God for the mercy that He had extended to His +people. +</p> + +<p> +Day after day fresh successes were made known by +the regents. The Basileus and his victorious troops +had now crossed the Lebanon Mountains and were +descending the coast of Phœnicia. They were again on +the shores of the sea, and in touch with the fleet at +hand to supply all they needed. Swift dromons now +brought round the Asian coast the reports of the chief. +Gabala fell to the conquerors, then Cæsarea; and next +Tripoli was invested. After that Laodicea was made a +subject city of the empire, and the Saracen emir was +transformed into an imperial commander. With +Tortosa and Marakieh the whole Phœnician coast from +Tripoli to Antioch was in the power of the Basileus. +By the end of the autumn the official report informed +the people of the empire "that eighteen cities, each +having large mosques of the Prophet, had been taken +by storm or surrendered; together with at least one +hundred forts, and lesser places which the Basileus +has ordered to be levelled to the ground. Vast +numbers of the enemy have been removed and taken as +prisoners. In other cases, both along Syria and the +coast, the inhabitants have renounced the Prophet, +and have accepted baptism and our holy faith. The +victorious Basileus has now closely invested Antioch, +the 'City of God,' as it was once called, and is about +to complete the annihilation of the race of Chambdas +and the recovery of the Holy Land and the sepulchre +of Christ." +</p> + +<p> +This last and memorable campaign of Nicephorus did +finally effect nearly all that its author had designed. +The power of Islam in Syria and the valleys of the +Orontes was broken for two generations. The progress +of the Saracen towards the west was stayed, and +the safety of the empire guaranteed until the fatal +arrival of the Turk. The Frank crusades had been +anticipated by more than one hundred years. Antioch, +"the third city of the world," as Nicephorus +himself called it, was ultimately stormed and captured +by his arms, and Aleppo was taken by his nephew, +and became a tributary state; but Nicephorus himself +was not present at either capture. In the midst +of this series of overwhelming triumphs, the most +brilliant and effective of his whole career, he suddenly +again returned to Byzantium for reasons which his +people could not fathom, and which his historians have +never explained. The cause was one that touched his +honor and his life. +</p> + +<p> +He was completing the investment of Antioch, and +building, to blockade it, the vast rock fort of Bagras, +carrying the stones, in order to lay the foundations, on +his own shoulder, to encourage his men in the work, +when he received from his brother Leo a most +momentous despatch. "Great and dangerous intrigues +had been discovered in the palace itself. The empress +has been in constant communication with John Tzimisces, +who, in spite of the imperial order to remain in +the Cappadocian theme, had secretly visited Nicomedia, +if not Byzantium itself. John was furiously +inveighing against the Basileus for having kept him in +the background, as he declared, in inglorious and +shameful retirement. In spite of the triumphs of the +imperial arms, the monks of the Stoudion were exciting +the rabble of the city and the mendicant hermits and +hedge-priests to rebellion and riot. Theophano was +the soul of this conspiracy; and, although they had +failed as yet to trace any criminal intercourse between +her and John, there were ominous signs that she was +plotting a revolution which would place Tzimisces on +the throne." +</p> + +<p> +This terrible missive aroused all the indignation and +suspicion in the soul of Nicephorus which he had +struggled to smother and dismiss. He felt the need +of instant action to save his government, his honor, +and his life. With bitter feelings he postponed all his +projects to recover Antioch, Aleppo, and even +Jerusalem and the sepulchre of Christ. He placed the +army of Antioch under the command of General +Michael Bourtzes, a patrician; and he despatched +another army to Aleppo under command of his own +nephew, Petros Phocas, son of Leo. Having made all +his dispositions for completing the campaign, Nicephorus +took ship and rapidly returned to the capital by +sea. +</p> + +<p> +The return of the Basileus was so sudden and +unexpected that no signs of welcome had been prepared +to greet him. It was the sour evening of a dull day +when he made his way back to the palace, with a very +small and quiet retinue, almost unnoticed. Even as +he passed hurriedly through the streets, he had noticed +monks and demagogues haranguing small knots of +citizens on their distresses and the cruelty of the +government. Leo came down to the port to meet his +brother. "The city," he said, "is seething with +suppressed resentment and discontent. In spite of all his +efforts and the rigors of the police, disaffection was +being nursed in the monasteries and churches, and +their privileges made it too dangerous to prosecute +and punish the disturbers of the peace. Daily the +chapels and courts of the clergy resounded with +incendiary sermons. The official signs of public +rejoicing had hardly concealed the apathy of the public over +the successes of the army in the east. Every triumph +was regarded as the occasion of a new tax. And the +bad season and the tempests with which they had been +afflicted made the collection of the revenue a constant +source of trouble and disorder." +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus listened to his brother's report in silence, +patient, unmoved, and resolute. He pondered it without +a word, with no sign of anger or of fear. At last +he said, slowly, forcing his lips to utter the words to +which he dreaded the answer, "Brother, tell me of her." +</p> + +<p> +Leo grasped his brother's hand, and he bent over +it as he replied in a whisper: "Sire, I obey, though I +shrink from the task. She is conspiring against you. +We seized a secret messenger of hers to John. We +found on him a document urging Tzimisces to come +to the palace to confer with herself and her privy +council. Our officers wrung from the messenger at +last that he was charged with verbal assurances of a +new marriage and promises of a lavish kind." +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus writhed silently, but said no word for a +space. Then he asked, "What, then, of Tzimisces +himself?" +</p> + +<p> +"We have not been able to obtain any evidence that +John has listened to these overtures; nor can it be +proved that they have yet reached him. But Tzimisces +is a traitor, your enemy, your supplanter. Seize +him, blind or execute him. Seize and deport her. +They will be your ruin, if not your death." +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus took no such action. He who had swept +Islam before him from the Phœnician coast to the +Euphrates, he who was the idol of the most powerful +army of that age, he who had found the civil and +military organization of all Asia work in his hand like +a perfect machine, cared little for the discontent of +the luxurious nobles of the capital, and still less for +the idle mobs of the forum. And, conscious of his +burning zeal in the cause of Christendom, and his vast +services to the people of God, he cared little for the +intrigues and anger of the churchmen. Patriarch and +abbot might be unjust. But Christ and His Mother +would intercede for him at the mercy-seat of the +Almighty. +</p> + +<p> +Even now he could not bring himself to believe in +the treason of John, and he shrank from condemning +him without convincing proof. He even suffered +Theophano to justify herself, and to refute all the +accusations of her enemies. She burst into the privy +chamber of her husband, as he strode up and down +in thought, swayed with contending emotions and +racked with doubts. She dragged in her little Basil, +and made him prostrate himself before the Basileus, +and kiss his father's hand, and, rising in an attitude of +superb majesty, with a voice that the greatest actress +would envy, she broke forth: +</p> + +<p> +"You will not believe, my lord, my lover, my glory, +that I who raised you to this throne, and saved your +life when the masters of this palace were thirsting for +your blood—that I could be seeking to injure you at +the highest hour of your triumph. Who could protect +my boys, and secure them the throne of their +ancestors, if you were cast out before they were old +enough to act for themselves? Their inheritance, +their liberty—nay, their lives, are in jeopardy if you +their father were gone. What would become of me +if they put you away? Could you bear, my Nicephorus, +to see me in prison, in a cell, in the veil and garb of a +nun? Could you bear to think of me growing old in +misery and want? Have you ceased to love me, to +feel for me? Do you hate me?" +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus looked steadily at Theophano with profound +sorrow and reproach, gazing at her as if he was +searching the depths of her soul. But he spoke not +a word. The woman shrank down before him and +clasped his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"I swear before the Mother of God that what they +say of me is false. I have never sinned against you. +Your brother Leo is a bitter enemy of me and of +Tzimisces. He envies his glory, he seeks to poison +your heart and to destroy us both. The greatest +soldier of Rome next to you has been cruelly maligned +and ill-used. Yes! I grieve to see him caged like a +wild beast when he would be your best and truest +comrade. I admit that I have sought to restore him +to his true place. I have not seen him—but—yes!—I +have been in communication with him. But for +what purpose? My own beloved friend, the Lady +Hypatia Palæologos, may be persuaded to accept him +as a husband, now that he is a lonely widower. John +presses his suit, but her family have other views. My +own messages to John were to urge him to come and +win the lady himself. But your stern orders to keep +him caged in Cappadocia have prevented him from +approaching the city. Countermand this, my lord. +Bring your best general back to your side. Let us +marry him to this noble and beautiful woman whom I +love as a sister myself. And then send John to +command an army in Syria. Yield me this, my king, +my lover, my husband. John is true, as I am true. +Do not listen to the falsehoods of our enemies—to +those who seek to displace us in your trust and in your +love." +</p> + +<p> +And she clasped him, and sank upon his neck in +tears. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly, quietly, but resolutely, Nicephorus unclasped +the woman's hands, and stood musing silently and +sadly. At last he said, "John Tzimisces shall be +summoned to me. I will hear what he has to say from +his own lips." +</p> + +<p> +Tzimisces was summoned, but no reconciliation was +effected. He furiously denied all traitorous machinations +against the throne, and made blunt denial of any +interviews with Theophano. He then inveighed with +passion against the orders to keep him in retirement. +A violent scene ensued, and the old friends and +comrades parted in wrath. Nicephorus found Tzimisces +to be mutinous, if not in actual revolt. He placed +him in arrest on the Asian frontier across the Propontis. +</p> + +<p> +The Basileus was preparing to return to the front +when despatches arrived with the startling news that +General Bourtzes had stormed Antioch and was master +of the great city and all its contents and resources. +Great rejoicings were ordered by the official world, +and Nicephorus attended the ceremony of thanksgiving +in the cathedral with great pomp. And the +news was hardly made public, when fresh despatches +announced that the emir of Aleppo, despairing of +overcoming Petros Phocas, was ready to make his +submission and to become the tributary and satrap of +the Basileus of Roum. +</p> + +<p> +Nicephorus Phocas was now at the culmination of +his great crusade against Islam. His arms had +triumphed everywhere, and for two generations the +Moslem advance was effectually repelled. The +government made every effort to celebrate these triumphs, +and Bourtzes was about to be received with honors +and rewards when Leo's agents discovered that he also +had been engaged in a new conspiracy into which +Tzimisces and others had been drawn by Theophano +herself. Thus Bourtzes was disgraced and dismissed +from office. Much as the people of Byzantium loved +pageants and public rejoicings, their irritation at the +pressure of taxation and the machinations of the +monks increased rather than allayed the general +discontent. And all the efforts of Leo, the curopalate, +and the rest of the ministers failed to rekindle the +national enthusiasm. +</p> + +<p> +In the vain hope of touching the public mind, they +caused the venerable Bardas Phocas to be carried +round in the constant services and <i>Te Deums</i> which +were sung in the churches. He was now more than +ninety years of age; and as his snow-white head on +his shrivelled body was borne along in the crowds, he +seemed to be a corpse being carried to a tomb, rather +than the living remnant of a hero whose name lived in +every field of Asian warfare. +</p> + +<p> +But the strain was too much for the last flicker of +the veteran's spirit. He was borne back fainting to +the palace and laid on the couch from which he never +rose again. Nicephorus watched long hours beside +his father, in hopes of having some last words that he +could remember before they were parted forever. +</p> + +<p> +On the third day some signs of life returned. The +old man opened his eyes and saw his glorious son. +He faintly smiled and said, "I go hence with joy and +thankfulness of heart; Rome lives, and for evermore +shall live. The people of Christ have risen from their +long night of defeat. Farewell, my son; I go to tell +the martyrs that their deaths are avenged." The smile +settled on his lips. The veteran was dead. The Basileus +bent down and kissed the lifeless forehead of his +sire. He felt alone—at peace—with his work on earth +completed. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap31"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXXI +<br><br> +The Last Agony +</h2> + +<p> +The long funeral procession had now returned to +the Sacred Palace from the Church of the Holy +Apostles in the same order and in all the solemn +magnificence with which the patriarch Bardas had been +laid to his rest. The emperor, with his robes of state +concealed in an ample black cloak, strode on in proud +and moody silence through the gorgeous halls which +now seemed to him to mock his despair. As he followed +the coffin of his father to the sepulchre, he had +heard the muttered curses of the mob which thronged +the streets; and even as he had lifted with his own +hands the shrunken corpse of his heroic sire and laid +it reverently in the royal sarcophagus wherein it was +to lie—even as he took his last gaze on his father's +face and covered it with the consecrated cloth +forever—Nicephorus saw hatred and vengeance around him +in the eyes of the monks and priests within the shrine. +</p> + +<p> +He knew himself now to be a man hated, deserted, +and betrayed—most unjustly, most cruelly—in spite +of all that he had done for the state and for the +people. But he marched along through the lowering yet +cringing mob with an air of haughty defiance and +resolute purpose, till he had completed his part in the +great ceremonial. The guard of honor filed aside at +the court-yard and drew up at the porch; the officers +of state and great dignitaries prostrated themselves in +due turn and took their way apart. Slowly the crowd +of chamberlains, nobles-in-waiting, priests, secretaries, +and ministers in their order of rank made their obeisance +and quitted the sovereign as he passed to the +private chambers of the palace. +</p> + +<p> +In silence and gloom the emperor stalked on, with +but formal acknowledgments of the endless obeisances +he received from the train, till he reached the inmost +chambers of the vast palace, accompanied now by +none but his confessor, his brother Leo, the chief +chamberlain, and two body servants of his household. Here +at last the strength of the chief seemed utterly +exhausted. They took from him his cloak of mourning, +his diadem and sword of state, blazing with precious +stones; they unlaced the imperial buskins and +the golden mail in which he was encased. He seemed +eager to fling from off him his royal trappings. And +at last, in the rough shirt which he ever chose to wear +beneath his robes, bareheaded, unshod, the mighty +Basileus of Rome sank onto a couch with a groan and +covered his face with his massive, sunburned hands. +</p> + +<p> +Long the attendants watched their master in +perplexity and fear. He spoke not, nor gave any sign. +At length his brother Leo, presuming on their kinship +and his own high office, broke silence and ventured +to remonstrate with his terrible chief. "By the +Mother of God, most august autocrator, we adjure +you to shake off grief and take heed of the manifold +perils that surround your throne and life. We +have reached the third month, foretold as fatal by +the mysterious hermit who flung the paper into your +lap in the porch of Hagia Sophia. All our efforts to +trace him have failed, and we now believe him to have +been a conspirator in disguise luring you on to your +doom. You are surrounded with traitors, intrigues, +and plots. And the nearest to you of all may be +consenting to them." But here a groan, smothered by +the clinched hands of the Basileus himself, checked +Leo's words. The emperor raised his head, glared +on his brother like a lion at bay, but spoke not, and +again covered his face and sank upon his couch. After +some minutes of awed silence, the curopalate resumed: +"My duty to your Majesty compels me to unravel all +the plots that are being hatched against you, all the +omens and portents which threaten your star. The +eclipse of last week, which your Imperial Majesty +treats with just contempt, has spread panic, suspicion, +and treason throughout the realm. The storm of last +night, wherein our hero-father passed away, has +desolated the towns of Propontis and has covered its +shores with wrecks. I hear to-day of the earthquake +in Asia Minor whereby whole provinces have been +covered with ruins and dead bodies. The tale of +calamities and omens will be shown your Majesty by the +great chamberlain here, who has been furnished with +particulars. And while the provinces are languishing +and restless, the city is a hotbed of treason, rebellion, +and intrigue. And of all this the author and head is +no other than your false lieutenant and rival, the +Armenian, John, the deadly foe of our house, who +aspires to your throne—nay, to your——" But so +fierce a spasm shook the frame of the emperor, and +his gaze upon his brother was at once so terrible and +yet so tragic, that Leo dared not finish his sentence. +Nicephorus spoke not, but he stretched forth his hand +with a sign of impatience and fatigue. Leo, on bended +knee, took his brother's hand, pressed it to his lips, and +withdrew. +</p> + +<p> +A long silence followed till the great chamberlain, +conceiving himself appealed to by the emperor's +brother, ventured to approach his master. "Will not +your mightiness deign to listen to the report I hold +in my hands of the dangerous signs which man and +the saints are holding up to our eyes? I have here +the particulars of riots in fourteen provinces, the holy +places destroyed by the earthquake, and the statements +of priests, soldiers, and officers of the empire as +to the imminent rebellion. Will your Majesty be +pleased to hear the story of their fears and their +warnings?" The Basileus groaned again, but spoke not. +He slowly shook his head, waved back his hand, and +the high chamberlain retired with the usual +prostrations and forms of reverence. +</p> + +<p> +The confessor still stood his ground beside his +imperious penitent. The venerable monk Zachariah was +renowned throughout the empire for his austere piety +and martyr-like sufferings for Christ's sake, and was +one of the few monks for whom Nicephorus had real +esteem and trust. He motioned to the attendants to +withdraw, and in a voice of deep emotion he said: +"Mighty lord, hear the words of me who am but a +worm in thy sight, as thou art but a worm in the sight +of God. Thy perils are many and great, but thy sins +also are many and great. Thou hast committed deadly +sin in taking to wife the widow of a dead man to +whose child thou art father-in-God, a woman who +would enter a third adulterous marriage if she were +rid of thee. Thou hast robbed the churches and the +patrimonies of monks and priests to carry on thy +endless wars at the distant frontiers of this realm. +Make peace with thy enemies, and cease in thy old +age to be a man of blood. Restore to the churches +and monasteries the wealth that thy tax-gatherers +have wrung from Holy Church. Put away the +adulterous, the infidel, the harlot who lies beside thee and +pollutes thy soul. And the Mother of God will yet +intercede that you may be kept safe in His holy +keeping." The emperor sat silent and motionless as a +stone. And, without a word more from penitent or +confessor, Zachariah raised his hands to heaven in +attitude of prayer, and slowly, without a gesture +passing between them, he withdrew from the presence. +</p> + +<p> +Then the emperor raised his head, with a look of +fierce passion, struggling to be calm. With the old +voice of command, as he had so often ordered a last +charge on a bloody field, he said, "Leave me! begone +all! Set double guards at the doors of this chamber, +and till I call again let no man pass into this +place—no man, on pain of death—no! and no woman either. +I have spoken. I choose to be alone this night!" +</p> + +<p> +When the doors were closed and all lights +extinguished, save the lamp that burned night and day +before the ikon of the Theotokos, Nicephorus rose and +turned towards the image of the Virgin. With bare +head, bare arms and feet, in his rude camp-shirt, he +looked in the dim light like some hermit in a rocky +cave by the Thessalonican coast. His face was +haggard and drawn with sorrow and care. His weary +eyes drooped in their dark, cavernous rings. His white +hair and grizzled beard contrasted strangely with his +swarthy skin, tanned with the suns and scarred with +the storms of Asia over fifty years, but his huge frame +and shaggy limbs gave him still the majestic air of +a veteran chief. He flung himself down before the +miraculous image, kissed the feet of the Divine Mother, +and groaned forth this prayer: +</p> + +<p> +"Hear me, hear me, Mary, Mother of God, and +turn the heart of thy Son to listen to the outpouring +of my soul. I acknowledge my offences towards men +and Mother Church, and my sins of bloodshed and +wrath burn into my memory like red-hot irons. But +Thou knowest, O God of Mercy and Judgment, for what +end were wrought all my sins of slaughter and of +punishment. If I have lived with the sword in my right +hand and have waded through torrents of human +blood from my childhood upward, Thou knowest that +it was in defence of Christian people against infidels, +heretics, and barbarians. If I slew, it was those who +would have slain Thy beloved and faithful people, the +priests of Thy altars, and the mothers of children +baptized in Thy faith. Sinner as I am, Thou wilt not +forget that my right arm has saved Thy holy city, +this realm of Rome, and Thy orthodox Church, planted +by Thy Son to save this heathen world. And the +offerings that I pressed from the wealth of Mother +Church were never taken for me or for mine, O Lord! but +to arm my soldiers in their war with the False +Prophet." +</p> + +<p> +So groaned out his confession of sins this fierce, +proud soldier and ruler. Even in the act of +acknowledging his offences and seeking for pity from the +Throne of Mercy, the consciousness of all his achievements +and the sense of his supreme mastery of the +empire made his look fire up with the pride of +commander, ruler, and despot. And as the feeling of his +abandonment and wrongs burst full on his thoughts, +he sank down prostrate before the image of the Virgin +Mother. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou only knowest, O most holy and loving of +those above—thou only knowest how lonely and +forlorn is he whom men call the mighty Autocrator of +Rome. All, all, have forsaken me. My heroic father, +the last pillar of our house, is laid in the grave, whence +at my death he may be torn again and dishonored. +Him only could I trust. My brother—whom I have +loaded with honors and gifts, works now for himself, +and would spur me on to crush his rival, the Armenian +John. The hatred of the people has been drawn down +on me by him. Help, pity, O Mother of God, the most +lonely and abandoned of all those who truly serve and +call on thee. Virgin most pure, most perfect, most +holy, thou wilt not forsake him who has ever held thy +image in his heart, who from his youth up has sinned +not in the flesh—sinned not unless thou countest it +sin to love her whom Holy Church has blessed and +consecrated to be bone of my bone." +</p> + +<p> +The last words seemed wrung from the clinched +lips of the chief as if they were blood strained from his +veins. And he groaned out the phrase "blessed and +consecrated to be bone of my bone" with prolonged +spasm of rage and pain, as if they were words wrung +from him on the rack. The mighty frame of the hero +was convulsed with tremors and fierce clinching of +the limbs. He fell prone on the ground and sobbed +and groaned in silence. +</p> + +<p> +"Holy Mother of God," he muttered at length, "is +it indeed a sin to love a woman, to desire her to wife? +Then truly have I sinned as none ever sinned before. +I was a man in years and in high place and power +when I first saw her. From that hour I was her +slave—melting like wax at her sight, trembling in her +presence, thrilled to the bone at the sound of her voice. +Never in my life, as thou knowest, O most Holy Mother, +has woman beguiled me; and but for her I am spotless +as this ancient hermit who condemns me. My sin +was to have taken to wife her to whose child I was +father-in-God. The holy fathers have pronounced on +me this judgment; and, in my passion, I have visited +my wrath upon them. Forgive, forgive this offence, +which comes from excess of love. Forgive—even as +He on earth forgave one who had loved much. Am +I not stricken enough for this sin? She loves me not, +has never loved me. Holy Mother! She loathes me +and no longer seeks to hide it from me. She loves +some other— Whom? Has she betrayed me in deed +as she has in thought? Can it be? Teach me, open my +eyes—thou knowest, O Holy and Immaculate Virgin, +thou knowest if she be false in body as in heart. I +cannot watch her; I dare not pry and probe into my +shame like a cuckold huckster. She may be false, +but I will never stoop to suspect. The wife of Cæsar +must be untouched by evil fame—untouched—ay, +or dead. It is agony enough to know that she loves +me not—she loathes me, O God!—and I love her madly +still. Holy Mother, as thou knowest, I have forsworn +her bed—never in life will I touch woman where love +is not, or is not from each to each. I tremble still in +her sight. Holy Mother, teach me if I must still +endure this pain—if I have thy command to put her +away as the false ones are left alone with Thee and +the saints." +</p> + +<p> +Hour after hour the stricken Cæsar poured forth +these prayers and lamentations in spasms of agony +and broken groans, stretched on the ground and grinding +his teeth in his wrath and madness. At length, +exhausted nature could endure no more. The long +vigils by his dying father's side, the fatigue of the +funeral ceremonies, the terrible conflict of the last +few hours, and the ecstasy of confession and of prayer +broke down the herculean strength of the veteran, and +he sank into a lethargic slumber before the image of +the Virgin. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly and silently a small and secret panel in the +gilded recess of the great chamber was cautiously +opened, enough to admit the hand of a woman. And +as the measured breathing of the Cæsar announced +that he was not waking, the door was gently opened, +and the empress, in all the fascination of her chamber +adornment, stood motionless before her lord. She +was disrobed for the night, arrayed in half-transparent +silken sheen; her exquisite limbs shining like +alabaster as the masses of her dark tresses were folded +over her bare neck and shoulders. She looked more +lovely thus than in all her imperial robes and jewels. +Long she stood in silence, looking down on her sleeping +husband, with a bitter smile playing round her +chiselled lips and the hate of a tigress in the gleam +of her lustrous eyes. Then she stooped low over him, +till her loosened locks fell from around her bosom upon +his, and, with a kiss soft as rose-leaves and warm as +sunlight on his brow, she roused the Cæsar from his +slumber. He rose from the floor with a look so dazed +and yet so terrible that the woman shrank back, still +smiling, still enticing, and yet afraid to speak. +</p> + +<p> +"What!" he cried, with a fierce voice, "have my +guards, too, betrayed me, or how did you pass, when +I had ordered no living soul to come hither, while I +watched and prayed, after all the toils I have borne?" +</p> + +<p> +"Cæsar would not shut out Cæsar's wife from his +side at such a time as this," she answered, with a subtle +glance in dulcet tones; "and they did not guard the +secret door of passage between our private chambers. +Nor yet," she added, as he spoke not, "will her hero, +her master, her lover, leave his Theophano in such +a night to be sleepless, lonely, disconsolate—forsaken." +</p> + +<p> +Cæsar turned his head away from the maddening +sight of the woman he loved so passionately, and yet +believed so profoundly to be false; he turned his head +from her, closed his eyes again, and groaned a deep +sigh that seemed to shake his breast. +</p> + +<p> +But the wily Delilah saw the trembling round the +mouth of Cæsar and the yearning of love in his eyes, +even as he had turned from her with a gesture of +disdain, and she pressed the advantage which she knew +that she retained. +</p> + +<p> +"Will the Majesty of Rome and the Terror of the +Infidel be tutored and frightened by these designing +priests and their unmanly superstitions? I know that +they have put a bar between thee and me, and in +their insolence have torn thee from the side of thy +true and loving wife. What do these holy eunuchs +know of marriage and of all the peace which the loving +wife gives to the soul of the lord who loves her? Is +the Basileus of the World, too, a weakling, like the +slaves who haunt his palace and the priests who whine +in his shrine?" +</p> + +<p> +She saw how the sovereign writhed and glowered +at such unseemly words, and she shrieked forth: +"What! do they insult me, too!—do they seek to poison +your mind!—do they tell you that I am no true wife, +that I have ceased to love you! Would they see me not +only abandoned by my lord but suspected of crime! +Holy Mother, can they have dared such infamy? +Cæsar, husband, lover, my hero, my saint, am I not +your only love? Have I not forsaken all things for +you?—have I not made you Lord of the World?—have +I not loved you madly?—do I not love you now more +passionately than when I was first your slave and +lover? Come to me again, let me wind my arms round +you and nurse you to rest after all that you have +suffered. Nicephorus, hero, lover, I have borne many +things for thee! I have risked my liberty, my honor, +my life—even the lives of my sons—certainly their +thrones! Thy enemies wait for thee. My enemies +watch for me. Thou and I united can defy them, +but divided we may both perish at their hands!" And +she stooped down again over him, like a crouching +leopard over its prey, till the silken drapery almost +slid from off her faultless and dazzling form, and he +could feel the warmth of her skin and the perfume +of her tresses. So fawning and almost purring over +his motionless body, again she softly kissed his rugged +brow, and then gently, like a beautiful sylph in the +dim light, she stole away in silence, just whispering +in tones of liquid tenderness and passion, "Come to +me, my lover, come!" +</p> + +<p> +Cæsar spoke no word, but when he knew himself to +be alone he rose, and, with a groan, he passed to the +secret door in the panel which Theophano had left +ajar. He gently but firmly closed it—it had no bolt or +fastening on the side within—and he paced the +chamber in moody silence and grim contortion of face. +Then he summoned an attendant. +</p> + +<p> +"Place double guards at the portal of this chamber. +Let none enter on pain of death. Leave me. I pass +the night here, alone." +</p> + +<p> +The attendant was preparing for the night the +imperial bed, when the emperor broke forth on him: +</p> + +<p> +"No—not there. I sleep in no bed, but as I have +so long slept in my camp, on the floor. Place in this +dark corner hard by beneath the image of Theotokos +the panther's skin which I have had from my father, +whereon the hero was wont to sleep. Here, I say, give +me my arms—at least my sword and dagger. Place +them as of old, on the beast's skin." +</p> + +<p> +"Will your Majesty choose to have them brought? +Her Imperial Majesty bade them take sword and dagger +to her own chamber, and they lie beside the great +couch." +</p> + +<p> +"Leave them! Leave me! Give me the consecrated +cloak of the ancient hermit. So! I will fold +it round me, for it has powers to ward off evil. Go!" +</p> + +<p> +Folded in the consecrated robe of the saint, +Nicephorus flung himself again on the floor before the +crucifix and sobbed forth in broken whisperings his +last prayer: +</p> + +<p> +"Son of God, who died for sinners, who now at the +right hand of the Father seest the most secret things +of every heart, look down into my tortured soul, and +judge me in Thy justice and mercy! If I have loved +an unworthy woman, it was in love and honor that I +yielded myself to her power. Thou only knowest how +false she is, and Thou knowest all that I have borne +at her hands, that I have done her no wrong nor have +sought to visit on her or hers my just indignation and +wrath. If I still desire to live and to reign, Thou +knowest that my life is given to maintain this Christian +realm, to beat off the heathen who rage round it +to destroy and pollute Thy people. If my life may yet +help Thy Church and Thy realm, keep me alive still, +albeit in agony and despair. If my death may +advance Thy inscrutable purpose, O God, let my blood +be shed for men even as was Thine own, though I be +the vilest of Thy created beings. Thy will be done, +Thy Kingdom come!" +</p> + +<p> +Long in the dark hours of night the emperor wrestled +in spirit with his Maker. And then, rolling round him +the shaggy and tattered mantle of the holy man, he +lay down upon the panther's hide on the floor, and at +last sank exhausted in profound sleep. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap32"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXXII +<br><br> +Clytemnestra +</h2> + +<p> +A storm more fierce than any in that winter of +storms was raging over the city and the Sacred +Palace. Furious gusts from the north swept over the +Euxine and coursed down the Bosphorus laden with +sleet and snow; the waters round the Golden Horn +were lashed into foam and dashed in showers of spray +against the battlements of the city. Amid the roar +of the wind against the casements and the creaking +of doors and shutters there were confused noises, +hoarse whispers, and strange cries along the corridors +and antechambers of the palace. The empress herself +was seen from time to time gliding from chamber +to chamber, her tigress eyes agleam with anxiety and +eagerness, her lovely face more marble-like in its +pallor than was usual, and her lips moving from time to +time with uncontrolled emotion. She bent low and +conferred in hurried whispers, first with one, then with +another of her women. +</p> + +<p> +The private apartments of the empress consisted +of an antechamber opening into a gorgeous bedchamber, +in the centre of which stood a royal couch with +purple hangings and surmounted by a golden eagle. +Around it were vast chests and wardrobes filled with +the robes and adornments of the empress. Within +the principal chamber, shut off by small doors, were +two inner recesses, one a tiny chapel with a life-size +painting of the Man-God upon the cross standing high +above the altar, which was covered with rare mountings +and cloth; the other a bath and attiring recess, +hung with the instruments for the royal ablutions. +</p> + +<p> +A low but distinct knock was heard without, and at +a nod from Theophano her aged nurse stealthily +advanced to the door and led in a figure completely +enveloped in one of the immense mourning cloaks that had +been used in the funeral of that day. "Enter and +approach, master of the eunuchs," said the sovereign. "I +have a charge for thee this night." She motioned to the +women to withdraw into the antechamber, as the old +nurse, who alone had remained, led the veiled figure +to the royal presence and unbuckled the mantle which +concealed both face and figure. "It is no work +to-night for a eunuch," she hissed, "but for a man, a +soldier, a hero! Michael Bourtzes, glorious victor of +Antioch, art thou ready to do the deed which shall +avenge thee on thy persecutor and place thee at the +head of Rome? Art thou ready, as I am ready, and +these true men here?" +</p> + +<p> +Michael Bourtzes, for it was indeed that illustrious +chief in full armor who had been disguised and +introduced as master of the eunuchs, flung back the sable +mantle, and, drawing from its sheath his dagger, with +a look of fierce passion and proud disdain kissed the +white hand of his mistress and murmured, "Royal +lady, I am come to slay or to be slain." She glowed on +him with cruel joy in her gleaming eyes, and led him +smiling into the chapel. Then, raising the embroidered +cloth over the altar, with the pathetic image of +the Divine Mother worked on it in gold, "Here is your +comrade," she said, and showed him, concealed beneath +the altar-cloth, Balantes, the taxiarch, who had +been hidden in his coat of mail within the very altar +itself. The iron nerves of Bourtzes, who had faced +death on a hundred bloody fields, did not quail at so +strange a device, and he silently obeyed the empress +when she bade him stand upon the altar and conceal +himself behind the picture of the Redeemer that hung +above it. +</p> + +<p> +In a lull of the storm the low knock was heard again +at the door, and again the aged nurse hastened to +unloose the bolts. "Bring in my tiring-women for the +night!" called the empress; and four maids in loose +robes and of somewhat unusual stature and masculine +air advanced into the centre of the bedchamber. +"Welcome, stout friends," fawned the empress; "all +goes well, and the hour of deliverance is at hand!" +as one by one the maids slipped off their woman's +attire and stood forth stalwart men-at-arms, in full array +for work and combat. "We want now but John +Tzimisces himself; but the watchers expect him minute +by minute." +</p> + +<p> +The empress had hardly uttered these words when +the unmistakable tramp of armed heels was heard +along the corridor without. The four disguised bravos +looked around with rage and fear, under a sudden +impulse that they had been caught in a trap and were +about to be slain. Each man fingered his weapon +uneasily; and had Theophano at that moment showed +signs of conscious treachery, more than one dagger +would have been planted in her heart. The crone +rushed to the chamber-door to secure the bolts. +"Hold them in parley while you may!" hissed the +empress; "I will secure our friends!" "Stand close, +and fear not," she whispered to the two chiefs in the +chapel. "Follow me, my men," she said to the four +bravos, as she dragged them within the bath-room and +closed the door from inside. +</p> + +<p> +In the mean time, loud knocking and high words +were heard in the antechamber, and voices of +command rang through the private apartments. "Open +at once in the name of our sovereign lord Nicephorus, +Augustus ever-victorious! Here is the order to search +every corner of this palace for concealed traitors, +countersigned by the master of the household! Open, +or we force these doors!" +</p> + +<p> +"Not the private chambers of her August Majesty!" +screamed the crone, "and her sacred person now +within her couch!" +</p> + +<p> +"Yea! Her Majesty's chamber, above all, and her +bed if we choose," shouted the angry voice of the +captain of the guard, striking the door with the hilt +of his sword. +</p> + +<p> +The noise without grew so loud that the terrified +women opened the doors and crouched aside like vixens +caught in a trap. "A mysterious warning has just +reached the emperor that traitors lie this night +concealed within the palace, and our orders are peremptory +to search every corner of it even to the imperial +bed and closet." Nor was this a vain threat. The +captain of the guard, a man devoted to his master, +whose life he had saved in the siege of Crete, ordered +his men to ransack the anteroom, and then the +chamber of the empress. They were no novices at the +work; every corner was probed; their daggers struck +through every tapestry and curtain; each recess and +chest, closet and niche, was tried and pierced through +and through by sharp eyes and sharper knives. The +coverlets of the imperial couch were flung aside; and +it being evident that her Majesty was not within it, +the hangings, curtains, and ornaments were separately +examined by sight and by steel. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing had been found. "Now open these two +inner recesses, unless we are to break into them with +our halberds," said the captain to the crone. "What! the +shrine of Christ and his Mother?" shrieked the +old woman, partially opening the door of the chapel +and standing across it fiercely herself; "are you +sacrilegious infidels about to profane the holy retreat of +the Mother of God? Look, ye miscreant sons of +Ishmael and Hagar, do ye see aught but our blessed +Redeemer and the Holy Virgin who bore Him?" The +rude soldier and his men shrank from the sacrilege of +disturbing the Christ and the Mother of Christ in their +consecrated shrine. And they hesitated to pull aside +the miraculous picture of the Crucified One behind +which Bourtzes held his breath, nor did they venture +to raise the altar-cloth that concealed the mailed form +and blanched face of Balantes, the taxiarch. +</p> + +<p> +"Then open this!" shouted the captain, planting +himself firmly before the closed door of the remaining +recess. "What!" shrieked the crone, "you shameless +brigand and foul dog, would you thrust your +brutal limbs into the very bath of her Sacred Majesty, +and she at this moment within it, in the very act of +bathing her inviolate person? Our august lord, the +autocrator, will know how to punish such brutality +and insolence to his adored consort!" +</p> + +<p> +"I know my duty," said the captain, "If we have +any empress here," he added, with a rude sneer, +"she wears a beard and carries steel. Open, I say, +or, by St. Michael, this door comes down with a +crash!" +</p> + +<p> +But here, to the unbounded astonishment of the +captain of the guard, as he stood close against the +entrance ready to force his way, the door was flung +open from within; and there, in front of the bath, +facing the soldier, stood the empress herself in all +her majesty of port and imperious pride. She stood +there like Aphrodite as she rose out of the Paphian +waves, as naked and as lovely as the queen of Cyprus, +the water of her bath still dripping from her rosy limbs, +and the masses of her hyacinthine tresses curling +around that form of Parian marble. She stood there, +smiling a deadly smile of scorn and triumph, a vision +as it were, of the Cnidian statue of Praxiteles, or Phryne +when she stepped forth from the billows on the shore +of Eleusis. +</p> + +<p> +"Back!" she called aloud. "Back! brutal hound, +who would violate the sanctity of thy sovereign's +bed! He shall rebuke the outrage which you have +offered to my person; the very eyes which have +polluted my purity shall be burned out with red-hot +irons, and your manhood torn off and thrown to the +dogs. Begone! till I can have thee made one who +can never see woman more." And she closed the door +of the bath-room, which she had held half open, so as +to conceal the four bravos behind it, having hastily +covered them with the cloths and carpets with which +the bath was provided. +</p> + +<p> +Aghast at so terrible a threat, and struck dumb +with so extraordinary an apparition, the captain of +the guard withdrew with a sense of unpardonable +crime, to which, in his innocence, he supposed that his +duty had exposed him. He staggered down the +corridor like a man who had seen the dead rise from a +grave, perplexed and bewildered, pondering if his +best chance lay in seeking the emperor in person or +in making his own flight secure. If the Mother of +God had spoken to him directly from her image he +could not have been more amazed. And soon the +tramp of the guards was heard to resound in the +distance, and at last died away in the corridors, echoing +only with the moanings of the storm. +</p> + +<p> +The imperial chamber was hardly free from its +intruding visitors when the empress burst into it from +the bath in a loose wrapper which she had flung over +her limbs, radiant with the success of her stratagem +and on fire to begin the work of the night. She +ordered the four bravos to keep close in the bath-room, +and, rushing to the chapel, she called to Balantes to +come forth from the altar, and to Bourtzes to descend +from behind the miracle-working picture of the +Redeemer. The veteran thrust forth his huge form from +behind the panel, but in so doing he burst it from its +fastenings, and in his struggle to save himself from +falling he tore the sacred image from the wall, and it +fell to the marble floor with a resounding crash. At +the sound all started in dread—the women, the +attendants, the soldiers in hiding, and the two generals—and +dismay made the blood of the stoutest run chill. +The Christ was broken in fragments—the embossed +ornaments upon it and its heavy setting lay on the +marble in confusion, and the head of the Saviour, +bleeding in its crown of thorns, rolled at the feet of +Theophano herself. +</p> + +<p> +Even the stout Bourtzes was aghast at the sight of +the sacrilege of which he had been guilty, and the rest +were cowering, as if the avenging God were about to +consume them with His thunderbolt. Men who had +never quailed before the sons of Ishmael were struck +dumb with horror at the destruction of the miraculous +ikon. The women screamed and sobbed, and the +bravos quivered like whipped hounds. Theophano +sprang forward, and, seizing a dagger from the +trembling hand of a soldier, shouted to them: "What! +Must a woman teach men to be firm? Are you scared +like children by the noise of fallen furniture? Shall +I reveal the plot this very instant to his Majesty, +now sleeping behind this panel, and have you all +blinded and mutilated by to-morrow's sun? Are you +all priests or monks, to be frightened by a few broken +bits of painted wood and stone. This is nothing but +old lumber!" she shrieked, as she crushed with her +heel the fragment at her feet, and stamped in derision +on the face of the Saviour. "Go on," she cried, "if +ye are men and warriors, and care to live another +day! But where is the leader himself?—where is +Tzimisces? Every instant may bring death to him—to +us all—death and torture of the sharpest that can +be devised by his Sacred Majesty, the vicegerent of +Christ on earth!" +</p> + +<p> +With these words, in an agony of eagerness and +excitement, she rushed to the anteroom, where the +narrow window of a tower looked out upon the sea below. +The storm was still howling along the Bosphorus, and +the watchers, livid with anxiety, were straining their +eyes through the darkness, if they could see any sign +of a boat in the waters. "Nothing can float this night +in such a gale," said Bourtzes; "it is idle to wait for +John. Let us work this instant, for delay will cost us +our lives!" +</p> + +<p> +"Wait, I bid you!" cried Theophano, in fury; "wait +for Tzimisces to lead, or I pass to the emperor +myself and denounce you as his murderers here!" Bourtzes +looked doubtfully at Balantes, and Balantes looked at +Bourtzes, but neither dared brave the woman at bay. +Each hesitated, and submitted to her will. +</p> + +<p> +At this time a suppressed cry broke out from the +watchers that a small ship could be descried battling +with the billows and nearing the quay, where a tiny +port admitted a boat to the very foot of the turret. +The empress flung herself into the embrasure, and, +with the gesture of a mænad, shouted a hoarse note of +triumph, "It is he, my hero, my own John, my savior!" +</p> + +<p> +With wonderful skill and good fortune, the stout +ship was driven into the small dock, and in the shelter +of its quay was able to discharge its three passengers. +The basket and tackle, with its windlass, that was often +used for such ends, was swiftly lowered from the +window, and soon was drawn up swaying in the gale but +deftly guided from below. And at length, with +hairbreadth escapes and astonishing feats of strength and +adroitness, John Tzimisces crept from the basket and +was dragged into the narrow embrasure. He leaped +into the room, and, as he was, all dripping with salt +foam, chilled with the snow and in his coat of mail, +he flung himself desperately into the open arms of the +empress. "My hero, my avenger, my lord, my +sovereign that is to be!" fawned Theophano, pressing her +lips to his in a torrent of wild kisses. "The hour is +come, and the man!" she cried. "Draw your weapons +and follow me!" +</p> + +<p> +The private bedchamber of the emperor was silent +and dark, dimly lit in one corner by the ceremonial +lamp which ever burned with a dull, veiled flame +before the altar and image of Christ. The double doors +and heavy tapestries which covered the exits to the +corridor on one side and to the public hall of audience +on the other side, effectually shut out the sound of +the guards who still kept watch without. The chamber +seemed empty and completely closed. Stealthily +and without a breath of sound the small and secret +panel in the recess through which the empress had +entered and retreated some hours before was gradually +opened inch by inch, and an exquisite white hand, +covered with rubies and pearls, could be seen to be +holding it ajar. Silence followed, broken only by the +moaning of the surf below, and then the lovely face +of Theophano was stealthily thrust in the opening. +She was pale as marble; but the transparence of her +skin and the absolute perfection of her features made +her the very image of Here as figured by the hand of +Scopas, but a Here about to strike some profane +intruder. The wonderful eyes of Theophano, with their +deep sapphire glow, had never been seen so full of fire +and life. It was no marble head of woman that men +saw that night, but the head of some lovely Gorgon, +with the flashing eyes of the tigress calculating her +spring. Assured at last that the weary Nicephorus was +buried in sleep, she opened the narrow panel till it +admitted the traitors one by one into the sombre chamber. +</p> + +<p> +Bourtzes and Balantes passed in first, closely +followed by John Tzimisces, and behind him stole into +the darkness the four men-at-arms. All had their +weapons drawn. At a sign from Tzimisces they +surrounded the royal bed on all sides at once, and as the +dim light seemed to betray the person of the emperor +beneath the coverlets, Bourtzes. Balantes, and John, +at a sign from the latter, struck their daggers heavily +into the pile of clothes. Thrice they struck in the +dim light, but not a thing moved, nor did they feel the +stir of living being. The dagger of John had inflicted +a flesh wound in the arm of Bourtzes, whose passion +was fired at the sight of his own blood. They tore +the coverlets aside and flung them on the floor. The +bed was empty, and no sign of the emperor's presence +could be perceived. +</p> + +<p> +The three traitors stared at one another with wild +eyes; and, brave as they all were, they felt their hearts +beat loud. "We are betrayed by this fiend!" cried +Bourtzes, in a hoarse whisper. "She has lured us here +for her own evil purpose. Let us slay her in her sin, +even if it cost us our lives." And Bourtzes and +Balantes glared upon Tzimisces, as if they would accuse +him of being an accomplice of the woman in the plot to +entrap them. Tzimisces himself was at a loss, and the +four bravos stood livid with confusion, as furtive as +rats in a trap. It seemed to all that they were on the +verge of a desperate combat among themselves or +headlong flight by flinging themselves out into the sea +and terrace below. +</p> + +<p> +Then the panel door, behind which Theophano had +been listening breathless, opened again, and the empress +passed in, moving swiftly and noiselessly in her +bare feet, wrapped in a loose, red mantle and dishevelled +tresses, her eyes gleaming like coals of fire beneath +her marble brow. She looked like some mænad leading +a mad rout of furious satyrs. She spoke no word, +but she waved her bare arm and pointed across the +chamber to the corner where, on the panther's skin, +and concealed under the shaggy mantle of the hermit, +Nicephorus lay motionless in sleep. +</p> + +<p> +Bourtzes and Balantes advanced with drawn swords +and death in their eyes, followed by the men-at-arms, +while John Tzimisces stood by the couch to give the +word of command. "Strike the tyrant!" he hissed, +in a hoarse whisper. Balantes, with a savage kick of +his cavalry boot, struck the sleeping emperor in the +side. He started convulsively from the floor, and +struggled on to his elbow, gazing fiercely at the +assassins, as his cap fell from his head and disclosed in +the dim light his white locks and beard. At that +moment, with a horrid curse, the sword of Bourtzes +descended on the brow of the veteran, gashing his nose +and cheek and lips, and horribly mangling his face. +He sank down, blinded with the blood and agonized +with the wound, gasping out, "Mother of +God!—help!—help!" The bravos seized him by the legs and sought +to force the fainting body to kneel before the +Armenian, who sat on the couch in an attitude of mock +judgment. But the mutilated hero sank prone on the +floor, which he bathed in his blood—faintly gasping +out the words, "Help! Mother of God!—help!" +</p> + +<p> +Tzimisces spurned him with his mailed foot, and all +his pent-up rage and hatred burst forth in one cry +of triumph: "Tyrant! traitor! miscreant! Why didst +thou play me false? Thou owest to me thy glory, thy +victories, thy throne! Without me thou wouldst be +nothing. It is I who beat thy enemies, it is I who placed +thee here, and set thee on the throne which thou hast +disgraced. And all my services have been repaid by +injuries and my benefits answered by insults. Envy +of a braver man, jealousy, and suspicion have turned +thee into a monster of ingratitude and a by-word of +falseness and cruelty." With these words, John, in +his rage, trampled on his fallen chief, and, hoarse with +passion, he tore handfuls from his beard, screaming +aloud: "All loathe thee—thy people, thy comrades, +thy servants—ay, and thy wife," he added, with a +savage grin, stamping on the mangled and bloody face. +</p> + +<p> +"Mother!—Mother of God!" groaned the dying man +with his last gasp. +</p> + +<p> +Maddened with rage and pent-up vengeance, the +conspirators beat the unconscious body on the floor. They +smashed his jaw and broke in his teeth with the +pommel of their swords, and hacked him limb by limb. +Then John, sweeping once more aloft his dripping +sword, smote him through the skull so that the brains +poured forth. +</p> + +<p> +The noise of the murder and the hoarse cries of the +murderers at last penetrated to the guard in the +corridors outside. They, not daring to break in without +command, sent for help and orders to the main corps +on guard in the outer court. These Varangians, +wholly consisting of northern soldiers, devoted to the +person of the emperor <i>de facto</i>, rushed forth to break +into the palace by the bronze portal, which they found +barred by the conspirators. The rumor of a palace +intrigue ran through the city. Wild mobs, mixed +with soldiers and priests, gathered round the palace +walls, and fierce cries were raised by the surging +multitudes below. Leo, the brother of Nicephorus, was +hastening to the gates with a band of Varangians and +followed by his partisans. +</p> + +<p> +All at once a powerful light, cast by many torches, +is seen by the mob below at the window of the palace. +John Tzimisces, already in the imperial purple, and +fully robed, appears before the crowd beneath; and as +he withdraws from the confused shouts they send forth, +Theodorus, his lieutenant, leaps into the window, and +there brandishes in sight of all the mangled, bloody +head of him who, but an hour before, was emperor +of the Roman world. The mob below uttered hoarse +yells of different import—joy mingled with horror; +but amazement and fear prevailed. The Varangian +guardsmen stood to arms, impassive, waiting for +orders from the emperor. Neither politics nor rights +nor dynasties troubled them. They were ready to +die in defence of a living autocrat; they would not +avenge a dead one. Wulf, the son of Sigurd, their +chief, cried out aloud: "When an emperor is crowned +and gives the word, we will march and fight. We +take no orders from a corpse!" +</p> + +<p> +Seeing the Varangians stubbornly impassive and +the chief nobles bewildered, the vast crowd of the +city became paralyzed with fear and gradually melted +away. Black clouds laden with sleet from the Euxine +swept across the turbid sky, and the storm howled +round the gloomy battlements of the Sacred Palace. +Snow now lay thick on the ground and covered the +terraces below. The headless corpse of the mighty lord +of Rome, maimed, bloody, and crushed out of all +resemblance to man, was flung from the palace window +in a heap, and lay all day a ghastly sight on the ground, +staining the snow with its gore. And above it at the +window dangled on a chain in the wind the mutilated +head of Nicephorus Ever-victorious, that head of +which the sight had so often struck terror into the +ranks of the Saracens, and had so often, on many a +wavering field, given new life to the warriors of Rome +and of Christ. +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p><a id="chap33"></a></p> + +<h2> +XXXIII +<br><br> +Retribution +</h2> + +<p> +The blood had hardly ceased to flow from the +wounds of the murdered emperor when the +conspirators hurried from Boucoleon, the scene of their +crime, to the great halls of the Sacred Palace, in order +to enthrone a new autocrator in the person of John, +the Armenian. All had been carefully prepared by +the arts of Theophano and the skill of Tzimisces. His +agents and ministers hurried about the throng of +grandees and officials, loading some with gifts, some +with offices, all with promises and seduction. +Tzimisces was hastily robed in the imperial purple and +adorned with the regal insignia—he was shod in the +vermilion buskins and crowned with the august diadem +of high state. The venerable patriarch had been +summoned to his office, and serried ranks of chamberlains, +officers, spathaires, priests, and eunuchs were +gathered together in the golden throne-room. +</p> + +<p> +With a blare of trumpets and the chant of choristers +in unison, Tzimisces advanced amid his guards and +officials, radiant with triumph, but still keen and +anxious. The pompous ceremony was begun and hurried +through by the eagerness and fear of all present, and +amid breathless interest a second cortège advanced, +more beautiful, if less numerous, than the last; and +Theophano appeared amid her maidens and ladies of +honor, smiling like Aphrodite when she entered the +circle of Olympus, more lovely than ever, radiant with +pride and love. With pride, for she had achieved the +most desperate of all her adventures and crushed her +most hated enemy; with love, for she beamed on her +new lover with all the self-abandonment of passion. +She stepped through the gorgeous hall like the goddess +at once of Empire and of Love, and was about to take +her place beside the throne of Tzimisces, on a couch +which had been placed on the dais beside him. +</p> + +<p> +"Holy and venerable patriarch," said John, in a +voice of thunder, "your office to-day is twofold. First +you will unite me and this royal lady beside me in holy +matrimony, and then you will pronounce us to the +Roman world as anointed Augustus and Augusta." +</p> + +<p> +"That shall never be!" rang out the clear voice of +the aged patriarch. "We acknowledge thee Lord +John Tzimisces, our sovereign autocrator, and I will +anoint thee with the blessing of God and his Begotten +Son; but never shall that woman be thy consort on +the throne, nor will I join her in holy marriage to thee +or any other man. She, the adulteress, the murderess, +the profaner of the altar and the Church—she shall +not pollute the Sacred Palace again. Drive her forth, +in the name of Christ and His Mother, drive her forth +from the Sacred Palace, or cease to pretend to it +thyself. Choose between God and this woman, John, son +of Theophilus. I have spoken in the name of the +saints who watch over us." +</p> + +<p> +Theophano shrieked with rage, and John foamed at +the mouth in his indignation and wrath. But, as he +looked around him in the vast hall and closely scanned +the looks of his officers and soldiers, he perceived but +too clearly that the patriarch had the whole audience +in his power. Balantes thrust himself through the +crowd of grandees around the expectant emperor, and +whispered in a voice of intense excitement in the ear +of Tzimisces. "John, son of Theophilus, listen to +me—it is life or death to us both. The patriarch has +already suborned the most powerful of the nobles and +officials about you, and he will anoint Bourtzes as +autocrator if you refuse to put away the woman. +Choose, then, between her, with a dungeon and +mutilation to her portion, or the throne of Rome and the +world. To hesitate is to be lost!" +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, Theophano could no longer be held +back by the eunuchs around her, and she forced her +way to the side of Tzimisces. "John, my own hero, +my love, my king, I have loved you wildly since my +eyes first saw you. I have sacrificed my life, my soul, +my children for you. If I have sinned, it was for love +of you, that I might have you to myself, and be free +from the monster who outraged us both at once, whom +you can only torture any more, now that he is in hell, +by letting him see me in your arms and proving to +him at last what is the real love of a woman. Save +me, John—take me and hold me. You owe all to me—your +life that I saved from his vengeance, your revenge +which you have yet to complete, the throne of Rome, +from which this wretched monk would debar you, the +noblest Roman of them all. We have won it together. +We will mount it and hold it together. Come +to me; be the man, the hero that you are. Love me, +and you shall see how I can love." +</p> + +<p> +Again the patriarch spoke in a voice of awful solemnity +amid the most profound silence in the vast hall: +"John Tzimisces, thou shalt not pollute the +consecrated throne of our imperial line by dragging into +it this unholy woman. Order her this instant into +captivity in a convent to be dedicated to God for what +remains to her of life on earth. Failing this, with the +assent of the chief notables of Rome, I consecrate +another as autocrator and Augustus, vicegerent and +tutor of Basil and Constantine, grandsons both of our +venerated Constantine Porphyrogennetus. Priests of +God and His Mother, nobles and soldiers of Rome, +do I speak the words of justice, of Rome, and of Holy +Church?" +</p> + +<p> +A deep murmur of assent rang through the hall, and +the keen eye of Tzimisces saw the inevitable sentence +on the woman in the countenances of all around. The +young princes, Basil and Constantine, shrank from +their mother's women, and took their place by the +side of the patriarch, as fully comprehending the +nature of his threat. At that sight Theophano sprang +forward like a tigress, struck the child Basil twice +across the mouth till his blood gushed forth over her +royal robes, screaming, "Are ye all curs and traitors +together? Mongrel priest, bastard child, false lover, +slaves, eunuchs, I defy ye all, I curse ye all!" And +with these words she fell forward fainting in the arms +of the black guards, who seized her and held her in +their unsparing grasp. +</p> + +<p> +John Tzimisces heaved a deep groan, and at last, +raising his hand high above his head, in a voice of +subdued passion and fierce command, he cried: "Holy +patriarch, ye servants of the Most High, chiefs, +nobles, and soldiers of Rome, I acknowledge my sin +in that I was seduced by the woman. Take her into +strict imprisonment, and let her be immured in a convent +in a distant island of the Euxine, so that she never +again persuade man to evil, as she was about to +persuade myself. Venerable patriarch, do thy office as +of right. Your words have triumphed. The evil one +is put away from Rome forever." +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE END +</p> + +<p><br><br><br><br></p> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79024 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/79024-h/images/img-cover.jpg b/79024-h/images/img-cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbc8814 --- /dev/null +++ b/79024-h/images/img-cover.jpg |
