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 THE BYZANTINES. 9 1 served the name of Hellenes, which they as- sumed. The emperors reigned under conditions which had developed in the political new-formation or creation of Constantine the Great. They repre- sented in their person the majesty, the unity, and the coherence of the empire. The emperor had control of the army and navy, of the ex- ternal politics, of the executives, and of an essential part of the legislative power. All this constituted on the one hand the strength of the autocracy and explains on the other hand its temporary weakness. The fundamental con- struction, the essential institutions were so well founded that this remarkable organization, the Byzantine Empire, maintained itself while weak and even decidedly bad emperors governed. It endured repeatedly, without actually endanger- ing its existence, during the severest crises. It required the work of a century of the miserr able dynasty of the Angelos to enable Enrico Dandolos and the Knighthood of Lombardy, Burgundy, Champagne, and Flanders to gain the victory over the Byzantines, in the year 1204. The condition of the vast empire during the six or seven centuries from Justinian I. until the