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diff --git a/79024-0.txt b/79024-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5fe08c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/79024-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13699 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79024 *** + + + + + + + Theophano + + The Crusade of the Tenth Century + + + A Novel + + + By Frederic Harrison + + + + New York and London + Harper & Brothers Publishers + 1904 + + + + + Copyright, 1903, by HARPER & BROTHERS. + + _All rights reserved._ + + Published October, 1904. + + + + + Contents + + + CHAPTER + + I. The Boy Basileus + II. The Warden of the Eastern March + III. The Betrothal + IV. The Young Augusta + V. The Dying Emperor + VI. The Coronation + VII. The Confession + VIII. The Sacred Palace + IX. The Muster of the Crusade + X. The Conquest of Crete + XI. The Storming of Chandax + XII. Digenes and Fatima: Roman or Saracen + XIII. The Caliph of the West + XIV. The Conquest of Aleppo + XV. Empress and Chamberlain + XVI. Cæsar at the Rubicon + XVII. The New Basileus + XVIII. Emperor and Patriarch + XIX. The Saracen Peril + XX. An Emperor's Day + XXI. Islam and Cross + XXII. The Stars in Their Courses + XXIII. The March on Antioch + XXIV. Love and Falsehood + XXV. Love and Troth + XXVI. Old Rome + XXVII. Old Rome and New Rome--Rivals in Empire + XXVIII. Basileus in Council + XXIX. The Rising Storm + XXX. The Last Campaign + XXXI. The Last Agony + XXXII. Clytemnestra + XXXIII. Retribution + + + + + Theophano: The Crusade of + the Tenth Century + + + +I + +The Boy Basileus + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"St. Michael save us!" cried the old dotard; "has fighting begun in +sight of the Sacred Palace itself?" + +"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?" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +"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. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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 _colluvies gentium_, 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. + +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. + +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." + +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 _encolpion_ +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. + +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. + +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 _was_ 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. + + + + +II + +The Warden of the Eastern March + +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 +_Arabian Nights_. 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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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!" + +"Retro! Satanas!" cried out the akritas (_i.e._, 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." + +"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!" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +III + +The Betrothal + +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." + +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. + +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. + +"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--" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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." + +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. + +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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +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. + +"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. + +"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. + +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. + + + + +IV + +The Young Augusta + +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. + +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. + +There the most majestic autocrator sank down with so much exhaustion +that the Augusta and her son, Romanus, were summoned to his side. + +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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +"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." + +"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 +_Ceremonies in Use at Court_. I will have the chapter of 'Royal +Marriage' rehearsed this very night in presence of the royal +bridegroom and bride that are to be." + +The parchment roll, the scribe, and the reader (never far from the +side of the imperial pedant) were at once in attendance. + +"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 _Basileia +Taxis_--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." + +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: + + +"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." + + +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 _Manual of Etiquette_. 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. + +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. + +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 _entrée_, 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. + + + + +V + +The Dying Emperor + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + + + + +VI + +The Coronation + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + + + + +VII + +The Confession + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"Ask my troopers," said the hero, proudly, "if I have not lived a +life as hard as any hermit of Mount Athos!" + +"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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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. + +"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!" + +"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." + +"What! Did she address thee in public?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Leave her, and begone to the East," broke in the priest, with no +little impatience and contempt in his voice. + +"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." + +A long pause followed, and neither spoke. The monk meditated in +silence. At last he spoke. + +"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!" + +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!" + +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!" + +"I go," murmured the chief, exhausted by his long agony and strife; +"I go to my ruin--to my shame--to my death." + + + + +VIII + +The Sacred Palace + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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?" + +"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." + +"From whence do they come, these children of wrath; and how are we to +find them if they have made good their escape?" + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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!" + +"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?" + +"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!" + +"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." + +"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." + +"And where shall we find the commander who is to succeed in the task +in which thy illustrious predecessor Gongyles so egregiously failed?" + +"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." + +"And that man is--?" + +"Nicephorus Phocas, O king of kings, the general-in-chief of the +orient themes--he who never yet failed his sovereign lord." + +"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." + +"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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +"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!" + +"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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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!" + +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 _mêlée_ 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. + +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. + +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!" + + + + +IX + +The Muster of the Crusade + +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. + +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 _vestiarius_, 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. + +"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." + +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: + + "'Return triumphant with thy sable greaves + Dyed crimson in the blood of heathen foes." + + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"And Rome has at last risen to the occasion," said Dionysius; "it was +time that she did!" + +"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 +_Memoirs and Regulations_. 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. + +"Unspeakable barbarians and unbaptized heathen is what I call them," +said Dionysius. + +"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." + +"And what may the total of the forces amount to?" asked Dionysius, +eagerly. + +"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." + +"No such army ever left the Golden Horn!" they all cried at once. +"May Mary Hodogetria bring them home in triumph!" + +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. + +"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." + +The poet was only too ready to dilate on his favorite theme, and to +display his official information. + +"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." + +"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." + +"That is the commander's own flag-ship--_The Archangel Michael_--one +of the largest dromons or war-ships that we have. It is waiting now +to receive him on board." + +"And what is the great turret in the middle of her?" asked the fair +girl. + +"That is the war-tower to which the fighting men ascend in +action--the _xylocastron_--from the bulwarks of which they pour down +missiles, stones, and molten lead." + +"And the smaller turret in front, with the brazen throat like the +dragon which St. George slew with his spear?" she asked again. + +"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 _St. Michael_. +This is our secret; and our Greek fire makes our ships invincible at +close quarters." + +"And for what are all these clumsy-looking merchant and traffic +vessels which seem to be swarming on the sea?" + +"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." + +"Oh, spare us these catalogues of weapons, good deacon; poor girls as +we are do not so much as know what all these mean!" + +"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--" + +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. + +"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. + +"Well," said he, "did not Homer fill the second _Iliad_ with his +catalogue of the ships and their captains? The world shall rehearse +my _Iliad--The Taking of Crete_--a thousand years hence. Have you +heard my invocation? Something new and sublime, I can assure you. +Listen to this: + + "Old Rome, our mother, grudge not to thy child + That New Rome shall an equal glory boast. + Thy Scipios and thy Cæsars have not yet + Drained to the dregs the flowing cup of Fame--" + + +But before the poet could recite any more of his epic, which he +fondly believed would outlive the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, 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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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. + +"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?" + +"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!" + +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. + +"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. + +"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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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!" + + + + +X + +The Conquest of Crete + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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!" + +"What have you learned of the enemy's strength?" said the emir. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +"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. + +The sickening scene was repeated with the second Chian, who suffered +and died with the same stoical silence. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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 _Iliad_ he +designed on "_The Capture of Crete_" 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: + +"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!" + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"Hast thou forsworn Christ and His Holy Mother?" asked the chief. + +"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." + +"Are there many Roman women, Christians and virtuous, in like case?" + +"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." + +"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: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"And my orders?" said the chief. "Where were the scouts, the +outposts, the eyes of the general?" + +"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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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: + +"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!" + +"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. + +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. + +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! +_Seeph--echeimat--ischarop--rhasan--sennet--midene--chaët--iphesane!_" + +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 "_Seeph-echeimat_," 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. + +"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. + +"_Seeph--echeimat!_" 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. + + + + +XI + +The Storming of Chandax + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Oh, my dearest foster-child, this is a strange delusion," said the +slave-woman. + +"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!" + +"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. + +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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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!" + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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?" + +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. + +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. + +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 _mêlée_, 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + + + + +XII + +Digenes and Fatima: Roman or Saracen + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"What is your name, my daughter, your home, and your age?" asked the +lord warden, in a tone of paternal encouragement. + +"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." + +"Was it in the country or in a city, my daughter, that you dwelt?" + +"In a city called Melos, that looked out towards the rising sun," she +said. + +"And what could you see from your home?" + +"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." + +"Was the island flat, or full of hills and rocks?" + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"But what particular part am I to bear in the mission?" said Digenes. + +"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." + +"Choose some other as her guardian, my lord general," said Digenes, +rather shortly. + +"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. + +"Lovers!" muttered the lord warden; "could I love any but a true +Christian, or any but--" and his lips moved silently. + +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. + +"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." + +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: + +"The will of God be done," she sighed; "be it as my lord, the +general, orders. We are his captives; we listen and submit." + +"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?" + +"I am content--and thank my lord," she said--and sighed. + +"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." + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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?" + +"Did the emir of Edessa forfeit his honor when he bowed the knee to +the crucified Redeemer?" + +"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!" + +"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!" + +"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!" + +"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. + +"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." + +"And Christian women do this, you mean to tell me, and busy +themselves with the things of heaven and the care of their souls?" + +"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. + +"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?" + +"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?" + +"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!" + +"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?" + +"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!" + +"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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"And who, then, is the Princess Agatha?" asked Fatima, abruptly. + +"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." + +"And what is she like?" + +"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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + + + + +XIII + +The Caliph of the West + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"What may be the extent of your city?" asked Digenes of the vizier. + +"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." + +And here the poetic deacon, ever keen to get accurate information, +begged to be told the number of the inhabitants. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"Too much like the silken robes of our parakeimomenos, which cover a +huge but emasculated frame," said Michael. + +The poet laughed uneasily and looked round instinctively, for even in +Spain he felt the risk of a jest at the expense of Bringas. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Then the credentials issued by Nicephorus were read by the chief of +the protocol service: + + +"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!" + + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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." + +"But was not your brother killed in the hour of victory?" said +Digenes. + +"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.'" + +"Our priests talk thus," said Digenes, "but I never heard of an +emperor who spoke such words." + +"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!" + +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. + +"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?" + + + + +XIV + +The Conquest of Aleppo + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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." + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +Nicephorus was speechless; a shudder shook his huge breast, but he +could find no words. + +"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. + + +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. + +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. + +Nicephorus opened the council thus: + +"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." + +"And may we know the day and the line of the advance, my lord +general?" broke in the impetuous John Tzimisces. + +"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!" + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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!" + +"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." + +"Will it be three days more, twice three days, as many weeks yet?" +asked Bourtzes, in his blunt way. + +"God in heaven knows, my dear general," said the chief, with his grim +smile. "In the mean time, I have copies ready of the _Hand-book of +Tactics_, 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." + +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 _Tactics_, which he was explaining to the +lord warden as he ran over the heads of the twenty-five chapters. + +"'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.' + +"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.' + +"'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.' + +"'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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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!" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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." + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +XV + +Empress and Chamberlain + +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. + +"Most august lady," said the nurse, "the physicians have strictly +forbidden us to disturb your Majesty with any news." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"And has my messenger returned from Cæsaria?" asked the Augusta, +eagerly, catching her breath with excitement. + +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." + +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? + +"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." + +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. + +"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!" + +"Are you leaving it to me, indeed?" asked the empress, eagerly; "have +you sealed such a will? Is any testament signed?" + +"It shall be, if you wish it," murmured the dying man; "send for my +secretaries and the keeper of the archives." + +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." + +"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. + +"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. + +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." + +"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. + +"Bringas--will be--your counsellor--your minister," gasped the dying +king, as he heard the name of his terrible master. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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-- + + _Romanos, Basileus Romaiôn._ + + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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: + +"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." + +"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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"The pretexts of a traitor!" cried Bringas, fiercely. "Guards, do +your duty and seize this rebel!" + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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!" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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! + +"By the just judgment of God our enemies have been thrust down! The +horse and his rider hath He cast into the sea! + +"Thy right hand, O Lord, hath become glorious in power. Thy right +hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. + +"Who is like unto Thee, O Lord; who is like Thee, glorious in +holiness, doing wonders? + +"Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed! + +"The Lord shall reign forever and ever!" + +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. + +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. + +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.[1] + + +[1] 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. + + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +XVI + +Cæsar at the Rubicon + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"It is too late," said Digenes, with a groan--"too late to save you +from arrest, mutilation--it may be death!" + +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. + +"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." + +Digenes withdrew in despair; and now the hermit Athanasius was again +announced as craving an interview. + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +"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. + +"Madam," he said, slowly, "I am dead to this world. I am dedicated +now to God and to heaven." + +"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?" + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +"Prison! what prison?" said Nicephorus, stupefied by the violence of +the furious Joannes. + +"Read this," said John; "and a similar offer is made to General +Courcouas!" + +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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +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. + +"March!" they shouted, "or take this sword and die as a Roman general +should die rather than be made a captive and a slave!" + +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!" + +Nicephorus, indeed had crossed his Rubicon. + + + + +XVII + +The New Basileus + +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: + +"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!" + +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." + +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. + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"Where is he now?" asked Theophano. "I was assured he had made his +escape into Asia to the army." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.[1] 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. + + +[1] 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. + + +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!" + +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. + +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!" + +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!" + +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. + +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. + + + + +XVIII + +Emperor and Patriarch + +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.e._, 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"Dost thou, indeed, counsel me, holy father, to take to myself the +late regent?" asked Nicephorus, with an eagerness that was almost +fierce. + +"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." + +"What, then, is your meaning, my father?" asked the Basileus, sternly. + +"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." + +"And if I choose that she shall remain--being mother to the infant +Basileis," asked Nicephorus, proudly, "who will say me nay?" + +"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." + +And with that the monk left the presence of the sovereign, who +stifled his rage, perplexity, and bitterness. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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!" + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"The canon of the sixth council is precise and conclusive," said +Polyeuctus. + +"And if I refuse to accept this fantastic rule of spiritual +affinity?" asked the Basileus. + +"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." + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +The cubicular returned with the formal message from the patriarch +that excommunication would be pronounced in full conclave on the +following day. + +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. + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +XIX + +The Saracen Peril + +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. + +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. + +"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?'" + +"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." + +"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." + +"At what point will you strike them first?" asked Digenes, abruptly. + +"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." + +"Seif Eddauleh! a hero worthy even of your sword," said the warden. + +"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." + +"Will it be Aleppo, Antioch, or Edessa, that you strike first?" asked +Digenes, eagerly. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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. + +"And the Russ of Kiev and the coasts of the Euxine and the +Chersonesus?" asked Digenes, "are they not within your plans?" + +"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." + +"Then wherein lie the great dangers of the empire?" asked the lord +warden. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"And is not the Roman empire wealthy?" asked the lord warden. + +"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.'" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"It is impossible, sire," replied Basil, after making some brief +calculations in his note-book. + +"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." + +"They shall sail within an hour," said Basil, "and whom do you +destine to command the expedition?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"Remember, that in this crisis speed is of more importance than +numbers, and dash is more needed than strategy," said the emperor. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"And what would my queen have?" he asked. "All that I have is +hers--all that I can win shall be hers." + +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." + +"You have heard the black news from the far west?" asked Nicephorus. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"He seems to be even better trusted--better loved," she said, with a +bewitching air of jealousy. Theophano continued to pout. Silence +ensued. + +"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. + +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. + +"You must name for this office," she said, "members of your own +family and close allies of yourself." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Too fiery, perhaps," said Nicephorus, musing; "but the crisis +demands the most reckless valor." + +"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." + +"What! The eunuch Nicetas?" said Nicephorus--"a man of hearty piety +and profound learning, but hardly fit to lead a forlorn hope." + +"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." + +"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." + +"No," said the temptress. "Promise me this, if you love me." + +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. + +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. + + + + +XX + +An Emperor's Day + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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 _Tactics_. + +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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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. + +"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 +_Strategicon_ of the illustrious Emperor Maurice, which, old as it +is, is still to be read. Then there are the _Tactics_ of the Emperor +Leo, the Learned, ancestor of the young Basileis minors; and, above +all others, there is the _Tactics_ 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." + +"But I never saw or heard anything of all this _science_ 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." + +"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." + +"Ay, I have seen Saxons, Franks, and Lombards charge like a herd of +wild bulls in the Thuringian forests," said Eric. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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.e._, +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.: + + +"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." + + +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. + +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. + +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.e._, 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.e._, +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, _The Administration of the Empire_, which he so +laboriously--and so uselessly--prepared for the instruction of his +feckless son. + +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. "_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._" 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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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?" + +The audience held their breath in awe. The Bulgarian envoys cowered. + +"Here!" roared Nicephorus. "Ushers, bring your rods and drive these +fellows from our presence!" + +Nicephorus was now choking with rage, and attempted no longer to +restrain himself. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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." + + + + +XXI + +Islam and Cross + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"What can I do for you, my dearest father?" she asked, in the musical +tones natural to an Arab maiden. + +"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." + +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." + +"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." + +"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!" + +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?" + +"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. + +"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." + +"And whom is she about to marry?" asked the chief, carelessly. + +"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!" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"And who are they?" asked the chief, quickly. "Anemas, I know, is +one, but who is the other?" + +"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." + +"And is he, too, Roman and Christian?" asked her father, promptly. + +"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. + +"Have you spoken with him, my daughter?" the old man peremptorily +asked. + +"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. + +"And did you see the famous empress?" asked the father, wishing to +make the girl talk of other things. + +"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!" + +"And she is absolute mistress of our conqueror. Allah! the just, the +merciful, thy stricken people will be avenged at last!" + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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? + +These and such questions she eagerly poured out to her young +compatriot from the Byzantine court. + +Anemas answered her questions truthfully, and at length. And, in +turn, he put to her some similar questions of his own: + +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? + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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." + +"Has not Christendom its heroes, too?" he asked, suddenly, looking at +her with passionate devotion. + +"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. + +"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?" + +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." + + + + +XXII + +The Stars in Their Courses + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Call me simply lady--I am no more," said Theophano, "and give me the +details of each horoscope." + +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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"'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." + +"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?" + +"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.'" + +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. + +"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. + +"And now, what of the second nativity you have calculated?" she +asked, at length. + +"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." + +"And that is what?" she asked, with an audible gasp. + +"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." + +Theophano held her breath. "What comes after?" she whispered. + +"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." + +"When shall that be?" she gasped. + +"Lady, it may be retarded by events or it may be hastened by art." + +"And what is destined to be this superior conjunction of which you +spoke?" + +"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." + +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." + +"But when--with whom--how will it be brought about?" she gasped. + +"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. + +"Give them to me," she said, in a cold, firm voice, and slipped the +ruby armlet from her wrist into his trembling fingers. + +"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 _he sleeps soundly to-night_." + +"Ashmodai, my lord and master, guards his servant, lady," said Aaron, +fawning, and yet with a certain subdued vein of menace. + +Psellus looked steadily at his mistress, with inquiry for the +concerted sign. She did not blench, but repeated again, "_See that +he sleeps soundly to-night_. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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--" + +"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. + +"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." + +"Mother of God," cried Agatha, in her agony, "do you hear the +blasphemy and the calumnies they utter?" + +"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." + +"Never!" burst in Agatha. + +"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." + +"Never!" she gasped. "I will choose death rather than such a +marriage. I will marry none but Basil Digenes." + +"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. + +"Mother of God," shrieked Agatha, "dost thou hear this?" + +"Marry Sisinnios," said Theophano, hoarsely. + +"None but my Basil!" screamed Agatha, wild with horror and wrath. + +The empress struck the door twice with her jewelled baton, and three +black cubiculars rushed in, seized Agatha, now speechless, and almost +fainting. + +"Take her away, and carry out my orders," said Theophano. + +"Fiend, I defy you!" shrieked Agatha, as the huge eunuchs carried her +off, and closed her mouth with their unholy hands. + +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. + +"Bring in the prisoner," she said to her cubiculars, "if he has +tasted the cup I sent him to drink." + +Two great palace guards accordingly led in a man heavily manacled +with a chain attached to the arm of each of his guards. + +"Loose all these bonds," said the empress, imperiously. + +"All, madam?" the attendants asked, as if in doubt of her meaning. + +"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. + +"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. + +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. + +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." + +"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." + +"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. + +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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"What is that?" he said, with a fierce air of resolution. + +"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." + +"Never will I renounce her--never! I will face death, imprisonment, +mutilation, torture, but never will I give up my Agatha in life." + +"Basil, it is too late. She has renounced you; she consents to marry +the Marshal Sisinnios, and the ceremony takes place to-morrow." + +"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." + +"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--" + +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. + +"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!" + +He listened like a man in an evil dream, who cannot move or speak. +The drug had begun to make him delirious. + +She advanced towards him, opening her white arms, that glistened with +jewels, and sought to wrap him round and draw him towards her. + +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." + + +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. + + + + +XXIII + +The March on Antioch + +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. + +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?" + +"I knew the signal was expected, but I did not understand it had +arrived." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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: + + 'From Ida's top, Hephæstus, Lord of Fire, + Sent forth his sign; and on, and ever on, + Beacon to beacon sped the courier-flame. + From Ida to the crag, that Hermes loves, + On Lemnos; thence, unto the steep sublime + Of Athos, throne of Zeus, the broad blaze flared + Thence, raised aloft to shoot across the sea, + The moving light, rejoicing in its strength, + Sped from the pyre of pine, and urged its way, + In golden glory, like some strange new sun, + Onward, and reached Macistus's watching heights.'" + + +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. + +"Beware how you talk of Clytemnestra within sight of our palace, my +young friend, or you may be a Cassandra yourself," said he. + +"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: + + "'Wherefore, forever, on the wings of Fear + Hovers a vision drear + Before my boding heart? a strain, + Unbidden and unwelcome, thrills mine ear + Oracular of pain.'" + + +"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." + +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. + +"And what means that?" Eric asked his guides. + +"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." + +"An ancient custom?" asked Eric. + +"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 _Book of Ceremonies_ of our +ever-revered Constantine Porphyrogennetus," said Symmachos, with an +air of authority, as if that had settled the matter. + +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 _Book of Ceremonies_, when a Basileus takes +the field in person. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +Nicephorus listened in silence with a clouded brow. At last he spoke. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"You will have no longer all these toils." + +"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?" + +"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. + +"Your father, Bardas?" she gasped; "but he is decrepit with age and +infirmity." + +"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." + +"And cannot you trust your own wife?" she broke out. + +Nicephorus uttered not a word, nor did he make a sign. + +"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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +"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. + +"Fear not," said Nicephorus, quietly; "you go with headquarters into +Asia yourself. All fitting preparations for your journey are already +being made." + +"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?" + +"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?" + +"Do you take me with you, do you mean?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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: + + +"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." + + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"Is the number of each requisition fixed by law, and always the same?" + +"Certainly, it is all noted in the appendix to our first _Book of +Ceremonies_." + +"There are no imperial sumpter animals then?" asked Leo. + +"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." + +"That is not enough for the army?" asked Leo. + +"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." + +"What is the emperor stopping for now in that group?" asked Leo. + +"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!" + +"Why so?" asked the curious Leo. + +"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." + +"He is rather more tender to his mules than to his men," said Leo. + +"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." + +"Inexorable as Rhadamanthus or Achilles," said Leo, whose mind ran on +his Hellenic classics. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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?" + +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!" + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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.'" + +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: + +"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." + +Again he shouted, as his long arm pointed at Theophano: + +"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." + +The courtiers groaned out their indignation, but Theophano sat +motionless like a statue of Clytemnestra. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + + + + +XXIV + +Love and Falsehood + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"Speak," said Nicephorus. + +"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. + +"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." + +"Sire, he has not cooled down; he has flamed up more fiercely than +ever; he has been tampering with the loyalty of the troops." + +"Your proofs," said the emperor, sternly. + +"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!'" + +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?" + +"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. + +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: "_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._" + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Why was I dragged from Cæsarea?" she asked, with bitterness. + +"Cæsarea to-day is a mere camp of exercise. It is no place for the +court of an empress." + +"Am I a prisoner?" she asked again. + +"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. + +Theophano watched him as he left her with eyes flaming with rage. +From that hour she nursed in her heart plans of implacable revenge. + +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? + +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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +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. + +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." + +"Whom did you count on to take you from this prison, to whom did you +write to deliver you?" said Nicephorus. + +"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. + +"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." + +"Do you mean this?" said he, and took from his bosom the Armenian +script--"'_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._'" + +"Ah!" she cried in triumph; "then you did have the last, and it +brought you! My lord, my husband, and my consoler!" + +And she moved to embrace him again. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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?" + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"You have had no cubicular at your own quarters?" asked the Basileus. + +"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. + +"You had no missives from Drizibion?" asked Nicephorus. + +"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?" + +"The Basilissa and her sons," said the emperor, "and all their guards +and retinue." + +"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. + +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. + + + + +XXV + +Love and Troth + +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 _Encyclopœdia of Medicine_, 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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + +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. + +"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." + +"Was Fatima so very beautiful?" asked Agatha, suddenly. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"He thinks only of you, Agatha, as his protector and saint," said +Theodosia, at last. + +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!" + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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 +_Iliad_, 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-- + + Φαίνεταί μοι κηνος ίσος Θεοισιν-- + ("_that man seems to me the peer of gods_") + +--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. + +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." + +"A conundrum," said they both; "we give it up." + +"A rival of yours, Agatha, a flame of yours, brother," said +Theodosia, with a peal of laughter. + +"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." + +"Thanks be to Mary of the Daphne," said Digenes, with hearty +rejoicing. "Has she promised Anemas?" + +"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." + +"Who told her that?" said Agatha, quickly. + +"Well, I strongly suspect that Anemas told her, as an indispensable +condition of proposing marriage with himself." + +"Ah! then I was right, after all," said Agatha, with a deep sigh, and +looked earnestly and almost reproachfully at Digenes. + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +With one long kiss they parted--nor did they meet again on earth. + + + + +XXVI + +Old Rome + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"Well, they helped Belisarius to beat off the Goths," said Joannes; +"but then they had our soldiers under a great chief inside them." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"How many popes have you seen, Master Guido?" asked Symeon. + +"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." + +"Why, that makes as many as twelve Holy Fathers of Rome within forty +years," said Michael, with a sneer. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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?" + +"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. + +"Woe, woe is Rome!" groaned Symeon; "thy glory is departed. +Desolation has made in thee its home!" + +"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." + +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. + +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 _fuori la Mura_, 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 _iconostasis_, crowded +with silver images of saints and virgins. And the whole was +illuminated by a gigantic candelabrum holding more than a thousand +lighted tapers. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"Did not the pretender Charles, even after his mock coronation in the +Vatican, actually propose to marry the Basilissa Irene himself?" said +Joannes. + +"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. + +"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!" + +The idea of some conciliation--at least some _modus vivendi_--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. + +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. + +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?" + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"What says our empress?" asked Otto. "For this touches her deeply, +too, and must move a mother's heart." + +"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." + +"But will our advances be well received by him who occupies the +golden palace of Justinian?" said Otto. + +"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." + +"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." + + + + +XXVII + +Old Rome and New Rome--Rivals in Empire + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"But _Basileus_ is Greek for king--is it not?" the bishop rejoined. + +"No," said Leo; "the Greek word for _king_ is ρηχ." + +"That is Latin--rex--not Greek," cried out the learned and +pertinacious bishop. + +"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. + +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. + +"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." + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"The champion of Adelbert tells us a very different tale," interposed +Nicephorus. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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?" + +The indignant bishop tried to speak, but Nicephorus waved him to his +seat. "You are not Romans at all; you are Lombards," he shouted. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + + + + +XXVIII + +Basileus in Council + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"This must be strictly limited to the restoration of houses which +have fallen into decay," replied the Basileus. + +"And will this apply to pious gifts to the use of bishoprics and +metropolitan sees?" asked the chief-justice. + +"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." + +"And as to the cells and hermitages of solitary recluses, your +Majesty will not interfere with them?" asked Simon, with some anxiety. + +"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." + +And now Basil, the prime-minister, craved an audience, and was +admitted to the council. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"We come to implore your grace to put no bonds upon those who offer +their gifts to God," said the abbot, stoutly. + +"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." + +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'!" + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"Go back to his holiness and press him to consider the imminent peril +of our empire and our faith." + +"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." + +"What! those who die fighting for Christ in defence of His people and +of His consecrated altars and fanes!" + +"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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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!" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Whom has she seduced?" said the monk, imperatively. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"And the Church condemns me to death and makes me the victim," said +Nicephorus, sadly and with resignation. + +"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." + +With this terrible word, which was cruel enough to break every spirit +of that age, the inexorable confessor left the presence. + +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. + + + + +XXIX + +The Rising Storm + +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. + +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--_rem quocunque modo, rem_. 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 _nomisma_, or gold bezant, which was said to be alloyed as to +one-fourth with baser metal, and was henceforth known as a +_tetrateron_, a "quarter-piece." + +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." + +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. + +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: + +"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." + +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." + +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." + +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." + +"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." + +"There is still one woman to whom he gives way," fawned the patrician +Theodore. + +"No longer," she replied, hotly, and added, with an air of +resignation, "He has designs upon my liberty--perhaps upon my life." + +"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." + +"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." + +"A chief must be found who is able to resist this oppression," said +the patriarch. + +"Say, rather," said the abbot, "one who is able to replace the +oppressor." + +Marianos and the patricians smiled with a complacent and important +air. + +"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." + +"Her Majesty speaks truly and wisely," said the crafty abbot, as the +conference closed. Nor did magistroi or patricians venture to say +her nay. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"Hear that yell of rage from the roof of the baker's house on the +left," said Joannes. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +XXX + +The Last Campaign + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When the storm of cheering had at last subsided, the regent rose and +spoke thus: + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +Loud cheers rang through the hall, with cries of "Long life to our +autocrator Nicephorus, the ever-victorious!" Leo at last resumed his +address. + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + +Nicephorus writhed silently, but said no word for a space. Then he +asked, "What, then, of Tzimisces himself?" + +"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." + +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. + +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: + +"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?" + +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. + +"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." + +And she clasped him, and sank upon his neck in tears. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In the vain hope of touching the public mind, they caused the +venerable Bardas Phocas to be carried round in the constant services +and _Te Deums_ 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +XXXI + +The Last Agony + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +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!" + +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. + +"Place double guards at the portal of this chamber. Let none enter +on pain of death. Leave me. I pass the night here, alone." + +The attendant was preparing for the night the imperial bed, when the +emperor broke forth on him: + +"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." + +"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." + +"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!" + +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: + +"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!" + +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. + + + + +XXXII + +Clytemnestra + +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. + +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. + +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?" + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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!" + +"Not the private chambers of her August Majesty!" screamed the crone, +"and her sacred person now within her couch!" + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +"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!" + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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!" + +"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. + +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!" + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +"Mother!--Mother of God!" groaned the dying man with his last gasp. + +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. + +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 +_de facto_, 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. + +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!" + +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. + + + + +XXXIII + +Retribution + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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!" + +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." + +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?" + +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. + +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." + + + +THE END + + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79024 *** |