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 willingness to cast in his lot with his captors. His brother, indeed, who had become a Mohammedan, was already at the court.

On his return he was twice entrusted with the command of the army in Cilicia, and twice defeated. Subsequently he was appointed governor of the two principal fortresses on the Hungarian frontier, and again he brought disaster upon the empire. Then Manuel ceased to employ him. He returned to Constantinople, and lived aloof from the court, with Eudocia, and a crowd of actresses and dancing-girls. After a time he was suspected of a treasonable correspondence with the sultan of Iconium and the king of Hungary. There can be small doubt that he had read the annals of his country, and knew that an emperor might be dethroned. But this emperor was too strong. He might, however, be assassinated. Andronicus presented himself at an imperial hunting party, uninvited, with a numerous train of armed followers. The emperor's escort was too strong for open violence; but he was watched, and during the night Andronicus was found lurking near the emperor's tent, disguised as a Latin soldier, and armed with a dagger.

He was thrown into prison, where he remained in solitary confinement for nine years. At the end of this time he discovered some secret recess in the tower, the entrance to which he found means to close after he himself should be within it, so that it could not be suspected. Then he saved up provisions, got into his cell, and shut himself in. The prisoner had escaped. There was no apparent way out of the tower; the guards had seen no one