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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 195 anxiety prompted him to visits at the dead of night, the chamber in which his enemy was confined ; he beheld him released from his chain, and stretched on his gaoler's bed in a profound slumber. Leo was alarmed at these signs of security and in- telligence ; but, though he retired with silent steps, his entrance and departure were noticed by a slave who lay concealed in a corner of the prison. Under the pretence of requesting the spiritual aid of a confessor, Michael informed the conspirators that their lives depended on his discretion, and that a few hours were left to assure their own safety by the deliverance of their friend and country. On the great festivals, a chosen band of priests and chanters was admitted into the palace, by a private gate, to sing matins in the chapel ; and Leo, who regulated with the same strictness the discipline of the choir and of the camp, was seldom absent from those early devotions. In the ecclesiastical habit, but with swords under their robes, the conspirators mingled with the procession, lurked in the angles of the chapel, and expected, as the signal of murder, the in- tonation of the first psalm by the emperor himself. The imperfect light, and the uniformity of dress, might have favoured his escape, while their assault was pointed against an harmless priest ; but they soon discovered their mistake, and encom- passed on all sides the royal victim. Without a weapon, and without a friend, he grasped a weighty cross, and stood at bay against the hunters of his life ; but, as he asked for mercy, " This is the hour, not of mercy, but of vengeance," was the inexorable reply. The stroke of a well-aimed sword separated from his body the right arm and the cross, and Leo the Ar- menian was slain at the foot of the altar. A memorable reverse of fortune was displayed in Michael the Mkhaam. Second, who, from a defect in his speech, was surnamed the merer, a.d. Stammerer. He was snatched from the fiery furnace to the sovereignty of an empire ; and, as in the tumult a smith could not readily be found, the fetters remained on his legs several hours after he was seated on the throne of the Caesars. The royal blood which had been the price of his elevation was unprofitably spent ; in the purple he retained the ignoble vices of his origin ; and Michael lost his provinces with as supine indifference as if they had been the inheritance of his fathers.-^ His title was disputed by Thomas, the last of the military triumvirate, who [Rebellion of transported into Europe fourscore thousand barbarians from the bt^'^'^^' *'°* ^^ Lpor the loss of Crete and the beginnings of the Saracen conquest of Sicily, see below, chap. lii. For Michael's ecclesiastical policy see below, p. 278.]