Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/210

 188 THE DECLINE AND FALL the pagans of Bulgaria : " An absurd fable, " says the Catholic historian, " since Copronymus is chained with the daemons in the abyss of hell ". Leo IV. AD. Leo the Fourth, the son of the fifth, and the father of the 775, Sept. 14 gj^th, Constantinc, was of a feeble constitution both of mind and body, and the principal care of his reign was the settle- ment of the succession. The association of the young Con- stantine was urged by the officious zeal of his subjects ; and the empei'or, conscious of his decay, complied, after a prudent hesitation, with their unanimous wishes. The royal infant, at the age of five years, was crowned with his mother Irene ; and the national consent was ratified by every circumstance of pomp and solemnity that could dazzle the eyes, or bind the conscience, of the Greeks. An oath of fidelity was ad- ministered in the palace, the church, and the hippodrome, to the several orders of the state, who adjured the holy names of the son, and mother, of God. " Be witness, O Chi'ist ! that we will watch over the safety of Constantine the son of Leo, expose our lives in his service, and bear true allegiance to his person and posterity." They pledged their faith on the wood of the true cross, and the act of their engagement was de- posited on the altar of St. Sophia. The first to swear, and the first to violate their oath, were the five sons of Copronymus by a second marriage ; and the story of these princes is singu- lar and tragic. The right of primogeniture excluded them from the throne ; the injustice of their elder brother defrauded them of a legacy of about two millions sterling ; some vain titles were not deemed a sufficient compensation for wealth and power ; and they repeatedly conspired against their nephew, before and after the death of his father. Their first attempt was pardoned ; for the second offence they were con- demned to the ecclesiastical state ; and for the third treason Nicephorus, the eldest and most guilty, was deprived of his eyes, and his four brothers, Christopher, Nicetas, Anthimus, and [Eudocimus] Eudoxus, wcre punished, as a milder sentence, by the amputa- tion of their tongues. After five years' confinement, they escaped to the church of St. Sophia, and displayed a pathetic spectacle to the people. "Countrymen and Christians," cried Nicephorus for himself and his mute brethren, " behold the sons of your emperor, if you can still recognise our features in this miserable state. A life, an imperfect life, is all that the malice of our enemies has spared. It is now threatened, and we now throw ourselves on your compassion." The rising