Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/107

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 87 perpetual interdict was ratified by the fabulous sanction of the great Constantine. The ambassadors of the nations, more es- pecially of the unbelieving nations, were solemnly admonished that such strange alliances had been condemned by the founder of the church and city. The irrevocable law was inscribed on imaginary the altar of St. Sophia ; and the impious prince who should stain stantine the majesty of the purple was excluded from the civil and ec- clesiastical communion of the Romans. If the ambassadors were instructed by any false brethren in the Byzantine history, they might produce three memorable examples of the violation of this imaginary law : the marriage of Leo, or rather of his father, Constantine the Fourth, with the daughter of the king of the Chozars, the nuptials of the grand-daughter of Romanus with a Bulgarian prince, and the union of Bertha of France or Italy with young Romanus, the son of Constantine Porphyrogenitus himself. To these objections three answers were prepared, which solved the difficulty and established the law. I. The The arat ex- deed and the guilt of Constantine Copronymus were acknow- a.i).'733 ledged. The Isaurian heretic, who sullied the baptismal font and declared war against the holy images, had indeed embraced a barbarian wife. By this impious alliance he accomplished the measure of his crimes, and was devoted to the just censure of the church and of posterity. II. Romanus could not be alleged tuo second. as a legitimate emperor ; he was a plebeian usurper, ignorant of the laws, and regardless of the honour, of the monarchy. His son Christopher, the father of the bride, was the third in rank in the college of princes, at once the subject and the accom- plice of a rebellious parent. The Bulgarians were sincere and devout Christians ; and the safety of the empire, with the re- demption of many thousand captives, depended on this pre- posterous alliance. Yet no consideration could dispense from the law of Constantine : the clergy, the senate, and the people disapproved the conduct of Romanus ; and he was reproached, both in his life and death, as the author of the public disgrace. III. For the marriage of his own son with the daughter of The third. Hugo, king of Italy, a more honourable defence is contrived by ^^ ^^ the wise Porphyrogenitus. Constantine, the great and holy, es- teemed the fidelity and valour of the Franks ; ''" and his pro- '■' Constantine was made to praise the tuyereia and wepitfidvda of the Franks, with whom he claimed a jirivate and public alliance. The French writers (Isaac Casaii- bon in Uedicat. Polybii) are highly delighted with these compliments. | A Monodia is e.tant which is composed by Imperial order for the young Romanus and dedi- cated by him to Bertha. It has been published by .S. Lambros in the Eullftin de Correspondance iielii'nique, ii., 266 si/i/. (1078).]