Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/398

 Aprils 376 THE DECLINE AND FALL Danube to the hills of Macedonia and Thrace. After some faint efforts, Isaac Angelus and his brother acquiesced in their inde- pendence ; and the imperial troops were soon discouraged by the bones of their fellow-soldiers, that were scattered along the [johnn. A.D. passes of mount Haemus. By the arms and policy of John or Joannices, the second kingdom of Bulgaria was firmly established. The subtle barbarian sent an embassy to Innocent the Third, to acknowledge himself a genuine son of Rome in descent and re- ligion,^'' and humbly received fi-om the pope the licence of coin- ing money, the royal title, and a Latin archbishop or patriarch. The Vatican exulted in the spiritual conquest of Bulgaria, the first object of the schism ; and, if the Gi'eeks could have preserved the prerogatives of the church, they would gladly have resigned the rights of the monarchy. Usurpation The Bulgarians were malicious enough to pray for the long 2f Ai'exiii'^ ^'^ life of Isaac Angelus, the surest pledge of their freedom and iisf^^os, ' ■ prosperity. Yet their chiefs could involve in the same indis- criminate contempt the family and nation of the emperor. " In all the Greeks," said Asan to his troops, "the same climate and character and education will be productive of the same fi-uits. Behold my lance," continued the warrior, "and the long streamers that float in the wind. They differ only in colour ; they are formed of the same silk, and fashioned by the same workman ; nor has the stripe that is stained in purple any su- perior price or value above its fellows." -' Several of these candidates for the purple successively rose and fell under the empire of Isaac : a general who had repelled the fleets of Sicily was driven to revolt and ruin by the ingratitude of the prince ; and his luxurious repose was disturbed by secret conspiracies and popular insurrections. The emperor was saved by accident, or the merit of his servants : he was at length oppressed by an ambitious brother, who, for the hope of a precarious diadem, forgot the obligations of nature, of loyalty, and of friend- 26 The pope acknowledges his pedigree, a nobili urbis Romee prosapi^ geni- tores tui originem traxerunt. This tradition, and the strong resemblance of the Latin and Walhichian idioms, is explained by M. d'Anville (Etats de I'Europe, p. 258-262). The Italian colonies of the Dacia of Trajan were swept away by the tide of emigration from the Danube to the Volga, and brought back by another wave from the Volga to the Danube. Possible, but strange ! [Compare Ap- pendix II.] 27 This parable is in the best savage style; but I wish the Wallach had not introduced the classic name of Mysians, the experiment of the magnet or load- stone, and the passage of an old comic poet (Nicetas, in Alex. Comneno, 1. i. p. 299, 300).