Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/77

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 57 and revenge. The Byzantine empire, since the accession of the Basilian race, had reposed in peace and dignity ; and they might encounter with their entire strength the front of some petty emir, whose rear was assaulted and threatened by his national foes of the Mahometan faith. The lofty titles of the morning star, and the death of the Saracens,^^* were applied in the public acclamations to Nicephorus Phocas, a prince as renowned in the camp as he was unpopular in the city. In the subordinate station Rodncti.nof Crete FA D of great domestic, or general of the East, he reduced the island »«] of Crete, and extirpated the nest of pirates who had so long defied, with impunity, the majesty of the empire. ^"^ His mili- tary genius was displayed in the conduct and success of the enterprise, which had so often failed with loss and dishonour. The Saracens were confounded by the landing of his troops on safe and level bridges, which he cast from the vessels to the shore. Seven months were consumed in the siege of Candia ; the despair of the native Cretans was stimulated by the frequent aid of their brethren of Africa and Spain ; and, after the massy wall and double ditch had been stormed by the Greeks, an hope- less conflict was still maintained in the streets and houses of the city. The whole island was subdued in the capital, and a sub- missive people accepted, without resistance, the baptism of the conqueror.^2^ Constantinople applauded the long-forgotten pomp 1** Liutprand, whose choleric temper was embittered by his uneasy situation, suggests the names of reproach and contempt more applicable to Nicephorus than the vain titles of the Greeks : Ecce venit Stella matutina, surgit Eous, reverberat obtutti solis radios, pallida Saracenorum mors, Nicephorus (hJwf. [Legatio, c. lo.] '** Notwithstanding the insinuations of Zonaras, Kat.tlti.rj, &c. (torn. ii. 1. x%'i. p. 197 [c. 23]) it is an undoubted fact that Crete was completely and finally subdued by Nicephorus Phocas (Pagi, Critica, tom. iii. p. 873-875. Meursius, Creta, 1. iii. c. 7, tom. iii. p. 464, 465). [The best account of the recovery of Crete will be found in Schlumberger's Nic^phore Phocas, chap. 2. There had been two ineffectual expeditions against Crete in the same century ; in 902 (general Himerius), and in 949 (general Gongylusl. We are fortunate enough to possess full details of the organisation of these expeditions in official accounts which are included in the so- called Second Book of the de Caerimoniis (chap. 44 and 45 ; p. 651 sf(/. ed. Bonn) ; and these have been utilised by M. Schlumberger for his constructive description of the expedition of 960. The conquest of Crete was celebrated in an iambic poem of 5 cantos by the Deacon Theodosius, a contemporary (publ. by F. Cornelius in Creta Sacra (Venice, 1755) ; printed in the Bonn ed. of Leo Diaconus, p. 263 s^</.) ; but it gives us little historical information. Cp. Schlumberger, p. 84.] ^^A Greek life of St. Nicon [Metanoites], the Armenian, was found in the Sforza library, and translated into Latin by the Jesuit Sirmond for the use of cardinal Baronius. This contemporary legend cast a ray of light on Crete and Peloponnesus in the tenth centurj-. He found the newly recovered island, fcedis detestandse Agarenorum superstitionis vestigiis adhuc plenam ac refertam . . . but the victorious missionary, perhaps with some carnal aid, ad baptismum omnes veraeque fidei disciplinam pepulit. Ecclesiis per totam insulam jedificatis, &c. (Annal. Eccles. a.d. 961). TThe Latin version in Migne, P. G. vol. 113, p. 975 ■J^j'. Also in the Vet. Scr. ampl. Coll. of Mart^ne and Durand, 6, 837 j^^.]