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 242 THE DECLINE AND FALL the marriage of the royal children, and the deliverance of all the Moslems who were in the power of the Greeks. Romanus, with a sigh, subscribed this treaty, so disgraceful to the majesty of the empire ; he was immediately invested with a Turkish robe of honour ; his nobles and patricians were restored to their sovereign ; and the sultan, after a courteous embrace, dismissed him with rich presents and a militaiy guard. No sooner did he reach the confines of the empire than he was informed that the palace and provinces had disclaimed their allegiance to a captive : a sum of two hundred thousand pieces was painfully collected ; and the fallen monarch transmitted this part of his ransom, with a sad confession of his impotence and disgrace. The generosity, or perhaps the ambition, of the sultan prepared to espouse the cause of his ally ; but his de- signs were prevented by the defeat, imprisonment, and death of Romanus Diogenes.*-^ Death of Alp In the treaty of peace it does not appear that Alp Arslan 1072 extorted any province or city from the captive emperor ; and his revenge was satisfied with the trophies of his victory, and the spoils of Anatolia from Antioch to the Black Sea. The fairest part of Asia was subject to his laws ; twelve hundred princes, or the sons of princes, stood before his throne ; and two hundred thousand soldiers marched under his banners. The sultan disdained to pursue the fugitive Greeks ; but he meditated the more glorious conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of the house of Seljuk. He moved from Bagdad to the banks of the Oxus ; a bridge was thrown over the river ; and twenty days were consumed in the passage of his troops. But the progress of the great king was retarded by the governor of Berzera ; and Joseph the Carizmian presumed to defend his fortress against the powers of the East. When he was produced terms were ovk iiaf to? 'Pufiaiui- opxisi and that the emperer would have preferred death to a shameful treaty. ^ The defeat and captivity of Romanus Diogenes may be found in John Scylitzes ad calcem Cedreni, torn. ii. p. 835-843 [ii. p. 689 s^^. ed. B.J. Zonaras, torn. ii. p. 281-284 [xvii. 13, 14, 15]. Isicephorus Bryennius, 1. i. p. 25-32 [p. 33 s^(/. ed. B.]. Glycas, p. 325-327 [p. 6cq sqq. ed. B.]. Constantine Manasses, p. 134 [p. 280, ed. B.]. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen, p. 343, 344. Abulpharag. Dynast, p. 227. D'Herbelot, p. 102, 103. De Guignes, torn. iii. p. 207-211. Besides my old ac- quaintance, Elmacin and Abulpharagius, the historian of the Huns has consuUed Abulfeda, and his epitomizer, Benschounah, a Chronicle of the Caliphs, by Soyouthi, Abulmahasen of Egypt, and Xovairi of Africa. [See also the Chronicle of Michael Attaleiates, p. 152 sqq. ed. Bonn. On the battle Finlay, vol. iii. p. 32-4, and Gfrorer, Byzantinische Geschichten, vol. iii. chap. 28 ; Oman, cited above, note 38 ; cp. too Seger, Nikephoros Bryennios, p. 41 sqq. Gfrorer insists (p. 785) on the statement of Elmacin that the battle was fought at Zahra (Zareshad ? east of Manzikert).]