William Jackson Brodribb and Walter Besant

“ At last two Latin soldiers, more humane than the Greeks, drove their swords into his heart, and ended the long life of a man who was the most remarkable outcome of the time; such a man as is only produced when the greatest courage and the finest physique belong to one who has ambition, want of principle, and strength of will, and when that man is born, like Andronicus, in a time of universal and profound corruption.
The downward course of the empire was not likely to be arrested by the accession of such a man as Isaac Angelus. ”

“ As for Constantinople itself, it was in the tenth century a city which struck with astonishment the Westerns, who were accustomed to the narrow and dark streets of Paris or the winding lanes of London. There were wide open spaces, or places, stately churches, with ornate services, long crowded quays, splendid houses of the nobles, and a vast imperial palace. A population exceeding that of any dozen cities of France taken together, swarmed in the streets within the city and overflowed into the suburbs. ”

“ But he possessed a greater share of military genius. Like the first Basil, he was severe, rapacious, and cruel: unlike him, he was a man of pure and high morality. His reign—for his brother counted as nothing in the empire—began with the revolt of a general. We will not describe the suppression of this revolt. Enough that it was suppressed, and that, in great measure, by the prudence and skill of the young emperor.
Basil passed the whole of a long and vigorous reign in arms. He extended the boundaries of the empire on every side ”

“ Chrysostom's great merit was that he did not spare rank and wealth. There was no taint of worldly-mindedness about him, and in such a city as Constantinople this was quite enough to bring him a host of enemies. Of these the chief and leader was the Empress Eudoxia, whose feeble husband was now wholly under her control. Chrysostom's denunciations of luxury might easily be construed into pointed reflections on the emperor, and be regarded as almost treasonable. But, as with John the Baptist, all men counted him a prophet, and with the mass of the population he was a great favourite. ”

“ It seems that the Byzantines may not unreasonably have been confident in their ability to sustain a siege. Their fortifications were the admiration of the world, and their strong and lofty walls, we are told, were so skilfully built and cemented that they presented the appearance of one vast continuous block of stone. Visitors to the city in after days hardly knew whether to wonder most at the art and finish displayed in their origin and construction, or at the destructive power of the besieging army of Severus. ”

“ At Byzantium there would be sure to be many who feared and hated Athens, and would be ready to submit to anything rather than again pass under her power. Philip might well think that it might be possible for him to appeal successfully to such persons, and that through them the city might be cajoled into an alliance with himself against Athens. It must have been with some such idea that he made his attempt on Byzantium. But the Byzantines, much to their credit, declined to become his tools, and preferred to stand by the common cause of Greece. ”

“ Justinian died at the advanced age of eighty-three. He was not a great emperor, but he had the sagacity to select the best officers. He was a prodigy of industry; in an age of curiously active intellectual energy, he was philosopher, poet, musician, architect, lawyer, and theologian.
It was in all a most remarkable and illustrious reign—one in which many great questions seemed settled decisively, though none were. Vandals, Goths, Persians, Bulgarians, all were driven back before the "Roman" arms, and nature herself added phenomena to mark the epoch. ”

“ A time of persecution for creed is not generally a time conspicuous for elevation of moral tone. This was a period in which all society seemed abandoned to the grossest vices. It would be only a vain repetition to tell of the murders, the mutilations, the tortures, of this reign. Theodora abandoned her son's education to her brother, Bardas, who gave his nephew opportunity for indulging his vices, encouraged him to order the execution of Theoktistus, his financial minister, forced Theodora and her daughters into a monastery, and joined the young emperor in his most shameless orgies. ”

“ The poor creatures were slain or drowned to a man. The dreadful sight was witnessed from the city, and all that day and all the following night were heard piercing cries of grief from the citizens, every one of whom had doubtless seen with his own eyes the miserable death of kinsfolk and friends. Bloodstained fragments of the wrecked vessels were carried to the shores of Asia, and testified to the calamity and to the approaching fall of Byzantium, before the news had been conveyed by word of mouth. ”

“ O those who read in history of the murders, mutilations, and depositions of emperors in quick succession, it would seem as if any man destined to be emperor at Constantinople might write himself beforehand the most wretched. ”

“ Basil was the son of a herdsman of Macedonia. He was carried away as a boy by the Bulgarians, among whom he grew up, living on their wild fare, sharing in their wild sports, becoming as handsome as David and as strong as Samson; fearless and skilled in all the arts which fighting races love. He either escaped, or was allowed to return, or fought his way to freedom, and went to Constantinople, where he entered the service of the emperor's cousin, whom he accompanied to the Peloponnes. ”

“ It is very possible that they may have exaggerated the luxury and depravity of the Romans under Theodosius, though we may admit the force of Gibbon's remark, that the perils of the age and the presence of the rapacious Goths may have inspired them with "the mad prodigality which prevails in the confusion of a siege or a shipwreck." And so, amid the calamities of a falling world, there may have been a progress of luxury which could not have been too severely reprobated. ”

“ The circumference of the city of Constantinople is eighteen miles, one half of the city being bounded by the continent, the other by the sea, two arms of which meet here, the one a branch or outlet of the Russian, the other of the Spanish, sea. Great stir and bustle prevail at Constantinople, in consequence of the confluence of many merchants, who resort thither, both by land and by sea, from all parts of the world, for purposes of trade—merchants from Babylon and Mesopotamia, from Media and Persia, from Egypt and Palestine, as well as from Russia, Hungary, Lombardy, and Spain. ”

“ Huge shoals of fish used to pour down from the Euxine into the Bosporus, and then, for some reason or other, decidedly preferred the European to the Asiatic shore. A multitude of the poorer citizens, so we are told by Aristotle, gained a livelihood as fishermen. Riches, in fact, flowed into the city from all sides, and the deep and splendid harbour to the north was known to Pliny and the ancients, as it is to us, as the Golden Horn, the aptest phrase in the ancient mind for wealth and plenty. The Byzantines, too, had the good luck to have good wine within easy reach, as well as good fish. ”

“ But when the passages of the straits were thrown open for trade, they alternately admitted the natural and artificial riches of the north and south, of the Euxine and of the Mediterranean. Whatever rude commodities were collected in the forests of Germany and Scythia, and far as the sources of the Tanais and the Borysthenes; whatsoever was manufactured by the skill of Europe or Asia; the corn of Egypt, and the gems and spices of the farthest India—were brought by the varying winds into the port of Constantinople, which, for many ages, attracted the commerce of the ancient world. ”

“ A great revolution which was to have enduring effects had been accomplished. The fragments of the empire were again united under one head; the seat of government was to be transferred from the city on the Tiber to that on the Bosporus, and Christianity was to be the established religion, we may say, of the world. As always happens, there had been a long, gradual preparation for the change, but still it is no wonder that the man by whom it was directly consummated should have been styled "the Great." Yet we almost grudge Constantine the epithet. ”

“ The worship of pictures and images had become among the common people, and especially among the ignorant monks and the lower classes of the capital, not a superstition grafted on to religion, but the whole of religion. If we imagine what London would be were all her clergy ritualists and all her laity under their control, we may realise what Constantinople was in the time of Leo. Holy pictures to be revered and kissed were hung in all the churches; every house had its saint or its picture. ”

“ The long wall had been partly thrown down by an earthquake, and the citizens of Constantinople awoke to their danger when they heard that the enemy was within twenty miles of the city, and when they saw the crowd of rustics who pressed in for refuge lamenting the loss of their flocks, the destruction of their homesteads, and the outrages of barbarian hordes who respected nothing—not even monks. ”

“ The late disastrous war with Persia may have led him to this decision; perhaps, too, being a plain soldier without much education, he may have thought he was peculiarly ill-fitted to reign over the more highly polished eastern half of the Roman world. "The weight of the universe," he is represented as saying, "is too great for the hands of a feeble mortal." So he associated with him as his colleague in empire his brother Valens, who was indeed grateful for the honour conferred on him, but who seems to have had no great and worthy qualities. ”

“ Rich men were seized by parties of courtiers, and held captive until they had paid ransom. The patriarch refused to interfere; at last the people assembled before his palace and threatened to throw him out of the windows; the Venetians and Pisans fought battles in the streets; the Turks were shamefully bought off; the Bulgarians and Sclavonians were in arms; and the empire, despite the splendour and magnificence of the court, seemed on the point of falling to pieces. ”

“ Situated in the forty-first degree of latitude, the imperial city commanded, from her seven hills, the opposite shores of Europe and Asia. The climate was healthy and temperate, the soil fertile, the harbour secure and capacious, and the approach on the side of the continent was of small extent and easy defence. The Bosporus and the Hellespont may be considered as the two gates of Constantinople, and the prince who possessed those important passages could always shut them against a naval enemy, and open them to the fleets of commerce. ”

“ The tall thin Copt from Egypt, the Venetian merchant with purse and inkhorn, the Pisan his rival, the Greek sailor from the islands, the mountaineer of Albania, the uncouth Russian, the stalwart Varangian guardsman, the Persian, the Armenian, the Moslem, the strange wild soldier enlisted in the Armenian highlands, and perhaps destined one day, should fortune prove evil, to seize the empire for himself, the almond-eyed Syrian, whom some, scowling, declared to be a Jew, or even, as some whispered, a Samaritan—all were there on business or for pleasure. ”

“ To those who follow with interest the declining fortunes of Rome's empire, he figures as one of the most unfortunate of her rulers, perishing as he did in as fatal a reverse as ever befell the Roman arms. It was in the reign of Valens, from 364 to 378, that the Huns first appeared in Europe, and drove before them the Goths, then in some degree a civilized and Christian people, to the banks of the Danube. We must bear in mind that for some time past the Goths had been on peaceful and even friendly terms with the empire, and had supplied a great number of its soldiers. ”

“ Its Christianity, too, though not of the best and highest type, must have been a source of strength to it, and have been the means of raising up a number of men whose influence for good would be widely and powerfully felt. For however much the Christian religion may by human error and perverseness become corrupted, it can never wholly lose its great moral worth, or altogether fail to ally itself with some of our better feelings and instincts. The Christianity, indeed, of the East was far too metaphysical and too much addicted to subtle discussion of dogmas ”

“ The same danger threatens this realm of England as was averted for a time by Leo the Isaurian. History repeats itself. The dangers of pictures, shrines, and images are always the same; and there are never wanting those who willingly give up the personal responsibilities of the Christian life, and accept in exchange the promises of men who, with images and pictures, bell and book, incense and vestments, assert for themselves supernatural powers, and claim to guard the gate of heaven. ”

“ The Byzantines were cut off from the sea by the enemy's fleet. If they could be closed in on land, their surrender must be only a question of time. So Alcibiades simply converted the siege into a blockade, and waited patiently the pressure of famine which sooner or later would drive the populous city to desperation. As it was, the Byzantines bore their misery till they could bear it no longer. It seems that the Spartan commander did not care much for their sufferings, but coolly saw the unhappy people die in the streets, as long as he could feed his own soldiers. ”

“ Suffice it to say that, unless the historian lies, no more abandoned woman ever stood among the ranks of those who live as the servants and ministers of sin. This woman, deserted by her lover at Alexandria, and reduced to the most abject distress, found her way back to her native city, and there—perhaps repentant, though that is doubtful—earned for a time, and until she attracted the attention of the Patrician Justinian, a precarious living as a sempstress. ”

“ The tribute brought to Constantinople every year from all parts of Greece consists of silks, purple cloths, and gold, and it fills many treasuries. These buildings are equalled nowhere else in the world. It is computed that the tribute of the city alone amounts every day to twenty thousand florins, arising from hostelries and bazaars, and the duties paid by merchandise arriving by land and by sea. The Greeks who inhabit the country are exceedingly rich, possessing great wealth in gold and precious stones. ”

“ Bulgarians, Slavonians, Russians, occupied the provinces of the Greek; but the lands were tilled, and the revenue maintained.
As for the imperial palace, it was a miracle of splendour. Situated between the hippodrome, the church of St. Sophia, and the gardens, it gradually grew in extent and magnificence during eleven centuries. Every emperor who was a builder, added something or replaced something to show his taste; the long suite of chambers was decorated with paintings, statues, and mosaics of precious stones and marbles. ”

“ The emperor's palace in its establishment was made a very heavy, and to a great extent a useless, burden on the resources of the empire. Constantine's idea was, no doubt, partly to have a number of well-paid offices which might attract men of ability, partly to impress the people with the spectacle of outward magnificence. But for all this the cultivator of the soil had to pay heavily in the shape of a land-tax ”

“ He has, perhaps, been sometimes judged by too high a standard because he professed Christianity and presided at the general Council of Nice. In many of his notions it is certain that he was thoroughly pagan, though he did what he could outwardly to discourage paganism. To call him a saint looks almost like a wilful untruth. To call him "great" makes us prefer to think of what he did rather than of what he was. The year 324 B.C., however, in which Byzantium became the seat of empire, and was henceforth to be known as the city of Constantine, was assuredly a great epoch in the world's history. ”

“ The people naturally took opposite sides at the circus, and then confusing their partisanship in the games with their sides in politics, gradually joined one or other of the two great factions which perpetually troubled and menaced the tranquillity of the city, the green and the blue—one hears nothing more of red and white. ”

“ Commerce must have done much to draw them together, and to create ties of friendship. There were, doubtless, close intimacies between many Athenian and Byzantine citizens. Still, Byzantium, in the year 356 B.C., joined in a hostile movement against Athens, which caused that state extreme perplexity and serious loss. This was the Social War, as it is called, or the revolt of the allies of Athens. The blow was one from which Athens never really recovered, and which left her too weak to carry on with needful vigour the struggle against Philip of Macedon. ”

“ When an emperor failed in war, when the soldiers of Europe or Asia conceived a prejudice against his orthodoxy, his parsimony, or his weakness, there were plenty of precedents for the proclamation of their own general as emperor, and for a march, quite likely to be successful, on the capital.
First, as to the revenue of the empire. So great was it, that Theodora saved for her son the sum of 109,000 pounds weight of gold, and 300,000 pounds weight of silver; while Basil II., who maintained and paid enormous armies, accumulated no less than 200,000 pounds of gold. ”

“ The empire was supposed to be immensely rich, but wild extravagance in the court and capital and an ill-administered financial system had made it poor. We are told that the wealthy nobles and citizens had to sell their wives' jewels by auction, and part with the sumptuous furniture of their mansions, which usually included a semicircular table of solid silver and a dinner service of gold. It seems as if henceforth the empire was to exist simply on sufferance. The young Theodosius was styled indeed a Roman emperor, but of the Roman there was really nothing about him. ”

“ The successes of Severus were rapid and complete. Having crossed the Hellespont into Asia with part of his army, he utterly defeated Niger near Issus, where more than five centuries before Alexander had won his second great victory over Dareius. But his work was not yet done. Niger was a man who inspired respect and might be thought worthy of empire. There were those who still clung to him. One city was faithful to his cause, and put forth all its powers of resistance. It was Byzantium. The city may have felt that it had a right to become the head of an Eastern empire. ”

“ Justinian favoured the blues. They were the orthodox party; they were stronger than their enemies. They began to parade the streets at night, plundering the houses of the greens, and murdering them wholesale. No justice could be had, and it seemed as if the cause of the greens would be extinguished by the massacre of the whole party. ”

“ But the position was so splendid, the power so boundless, that there never was wanting an ambitious man, when the chance came, ready to stake his life on a single effort—he never had more than one chance—to get the crown, and having won, to wear it, in spite of all risks and anxieties. Once on the throne, indeed, a man would easily persuade himself that he was in perfect safety, notwithstanding history and all its warnings. ”

“ Although he had been a plain soldier, he knew and recognised the value of learning and education. Once a courtier ventured to upbraid him for giving a pension to a philosopher. Leo's reply was, "Would God that I had to pay no other people than scholars!" He was a really wise and well-meaning ruler. His reign, too, was not without some military glory. The Huns were checked near Sophia, and were glad to make peace. His attempt, however, with the aid of the empire of the West, now much enfeebled, to overthrow the kingdom of the Vandals under Genseric in Africa, was a disastrous failure. ”

“ It was comparatively easy for Constantine to attract new citizens; any city, indeed, which is made a seat of government must become moderately populous, and even already the new capital must have been well furnished with inhabitants. We hear of the desertion of Rome by its old and noble families, which are said to have followed the emperor to the Bosporus. But these stories are mainly due to the lively Greek imagination. Rome was not quite shorn of its glory or of its population. We may assume that a number of rich idlers gladly accepted Constantine's invitation to settle in his city. ”

“ No doubt the luxury of the time, in the capital especially, was a scandal and a source of corruption and feebleness; but luxury is, we know, inseparable from wealth and softness of manners, and throughout the East it may have been a civilizing and not a purely demoralizing agency.
A university was founded at Constantinople in the reign of Theodosius—a distinct symptom of intellectual activity. We may conjecture that the emperor's cultivated and energetic sister helped on the movement. ”

“ BYZANTIUM UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
NDER the Emperors of Rome, Byzantium, as far as we know, enjoyed quiet and prosperity. Its citizens, we may assume, were no longer annoyed by their barbarous neighbours, but were, no doubt, able to trade and make money to their hearts' content. For such people the rule of Rome over the world, with the peace and order it established, was a decided advantage. The city must have had many attractions for a rich and cultivated Roman visitor. ”

“ Constantinople was plentifully supplied with gold and silver from the regions of Thrace and the Pontus, and its coinage was particularly famous. Its merchants, too, almost monopolised the commerce of the world, and its wealth and luxury seem to have become prodigious. There is every reason to believe that many of the countries under the sway of the Eastern empire were richer and more populous than at present. ”

“ But what most grieved the Byzantines was the destruction of their noble walls, which had long been their pride and glory. Severus had them demolished as far as was possible with such a substantial structure. Thereby he destroyed one of Rome's great safeguards against the barbarian tribes of Asia and Pontus. Against these Byzantium was both a defence and a place of refuge. This fact is noted by the historian [3] who has described the siege and fall of the city, and it seems to have much impressed him. ”

“ The city had also a numerous and well-appointed fleet. Three hundred vessels of every variety, well piloted and manned, some armed with particularly formidable beaks, were at the disposal of the Byzantines.
For the unusually long period of three years they defended themselves; and their brave persistency amid the sufferings which so prolonged a struggle necessarily involved, shows plainly enough that in great emergencies these citizens, who had the character of being mere lovers of ease and comfort, could rise to a high degree of patriotism and loyalty. ”