Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/240

 1034, April 11 218 THE DECLINE AND FALL his safety and greatness ; and hei' entrance into a monastery I'emovetl the only bar to the Imperial nuptials. After the decease of Constantine, the sceptre devolved to Romanus the Third ; but his labours at home and abroad were equally feeble and fruitless ; and the mature age, the forty-eight years of Zoe, were less favourable to the hopes of pregnancy than to the in- dulgence of pleasure. Her favourite chamberlain was an hand- some Paphlagonian of the name of Michael, whose first trade had been that of a money-changer ; and Romanus, either from gratitude or equity, connived at their criminal intercourse, or acce})ted a slight assurance of their innocence. But Zoe soon justitied the Roman maxim that every adulteress is capable of poisoning her husband ; and the death of Romanus was instantly followed by the scandalous mai'riage and elevation of Michael the Miciiiei rv. Fourth. The expectations of Zoe were however disappointed : in- the Paphlajo- i^. i /'ii iiii i-iii nian. AD. stead ot a vigorous and ffrateiul lover, she had placed m her bed a 1034 Anril n lllllll -i miserable wretch, whose health and reason were impaired by epileptic fits, and whose conscience was tormented by despair and remorse. The most skilful j)hysicians of the mind and body were summoned to his aid ; and his hopes were amused by frequent pilgrimages to the baths, and to the tombs of the most popular saints ; the monks applauded his j^enance, and, except restitution (but to whom should he have restored ?), Michael sought every method of expiating his guilt. While he groaned and prayed in sackcloth and ashes, his brother, the eunuch John, smiled at his remorse, and enjoyed the harvest of a crime of which himself was the secret and most guilty author. His administration was only the art of satiating his avarice,^^ and Zoe became a captive in the palace of her fathers and in the hands of her slaves. When he perceived the irretrievable decline of his brother's health, he introduced his nephew, another Michael, who derived his surname of Calaphates from his father's occupation in the careening of vessels ; at the command of the eunuch, Zoe adopted for her son the son of a mechanic ; and this fictitious heir was invested with the title and purple of the Ca,'- sars, in the presence of the senate and clergy. So feeble was the character of Zoe that she was oppressed by the liberty and power which she recovered by the death of the Paphlagonian ; ''I [Gibbon, like most historians, is unjust to these Paphlagonians, who, it greedy adventurers, were all competent men. The reign of Michael IV. was distinguished by a temporary recovery of the western coast of Sicily (a.d. 1039-42) through the ability of the great general George Maniaces (see below, chap. Ivi. ). The govern- ment had to meet the danger of a rebellion of the Bulgarian Slavs of Macedonia under Peter Deljan. This was put down ; but Servia rose under Stephen Bogislav and successfully asserted its independence (a.d. 1040).]