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 120 THE DECLINE AND FALL and content himself with a royal donative of gold and silver and silk-garments. "If the emperor,"' replied the insolent fanatic, "be desirous of peace, let him abdicate the East, and reign without molestation in the West. If he refuse, the seivants of the Lord will precipitate him from the throne." The reluctant Basil suspended the treaty, accepted the defiance, and led his army into the land of heresy, which he wasted Avith [c. A.D. S71 2] five and sword. The open country of the Paulicians was exposed to the same calamities which they had inflicted ; but, when he had explored the strength of Tephrice, the multitude of the barbarians, and the ample magazines of arms and provisions, he desisted with a sigh from the hopeless siege. -'^ On his return to Constantinople he laboured, by the foundation of convents and churches, to secure the aid of his celestial patrons, of Michael the archangel and the prophet Elijah ; and it was his daily prayer that he might live to transpierce, with three arrows, the head of his impious adversary. Beyond his expectations, the wish was accomplished : after a successful inroad, Chrvso- cheir was surprised and slain in his retreat ; and the rebel's [A.D. 874-5] head was triumphantly presented at the foot of the throne. On the reception of this welcome trophy, Basil instantly called for his bow, discharged three arrows with unerring aim, and accepted the applause of the court, who hailed the victory of the royal Their decline archer. With Chrysocheir, the glory of the Paulicians faded and withered ; "-' on the second expedition of the emperor, the impregnable Tephrice was deserted by the heretics, who sued for mercy or escaped to the bordei-s. The city was ruined, but the spirit of independence survived in the mountains ; the Paulicians defended, above a centuiy, their religion and liberty, infested the Roman limits, and maintained their perpetual al- liance with the enemies of the empire and the gospel. Their trans- About the middle of the eighth century, Constantine, sur- fr^'iLr"" named Copronymus by the worshippers of images, had made an mirace*^ expedition into Armenia, and found, in the cities of Melitene ^'[In regard to this campaign of Basil (in 871 or 872) it was generally supposed that he crossed the Euphrates, as the Continuator of Theophanes states (p. 269). Eut Mr. J. G. C. Anderson has shown that this must be a mistake and that the scene of the whole campaign was west of the Euphrates (Classical Review, April, 1896, p. 139). Basils object (after his failure at Tephrice) was to capture Meli- tene, the chief Saracen stronghold of the Cis-Euphratesian territory in Asia Minor. Theoph. Contin. ifi.] ^ SvfanetiapdvOr) TrniTa t) ai6ov(Ta ti)? TeffjpiKrj? evavSpia [p. 212]. How elegant is the Greek tongue, even in the mouth of Cedrenus ! [Cp. George Mon. p. 841, ed. Bonn.]