Page:Romances of Chivalry on Greek Soil.djvu/24

Rh so the Digenes cycle presents a comprehensive picture of the Byzantine world in Asia Minor and of the frontier life. It is a cycle of popular tales which gathered round the figure of an ideal akrites or warden of the marches, and have come down to us as they were put together by some nameless poet in the shape of an epic. The hero is called Digenes, the man of two races, because his mother was a Greek, connected with historic families, and his father a Saracen emir who captured her in a raid and became for her love a Christian. Thus his name is symbolic of the mutual influence of the two hostile empires. His deeds of prowess begin at the age of twelve, when he slays a bear and a lion. His ambition is fired by the fame of the lawless bands of free-lances who lived in the frontier hills and were a terror not only to Moslems but to Christians, on both of whom they preyed. They were known as apelatai or drivers; we might translate the word by 'cattle-lifters'. Digenes destroyed or reduced these predatory hillsmen, and the Christians enjoyed peace. In love he was also triumphant. The rumour came to his ear of the wonderful beauty of Eudoxia, daughter of a governor of one of the provinces of Asia Minor. Her father kept her under lock and key, and the numerous suitors who attempted to carry her away paid the penalty with their lives. Digenes serenades her, wins her affection, and bears her off. Pursued by her father and brothers he overcomes their men, and forces the governor to consent to the marriage. His passionate devotion for this lady endures till death. He has other amorous adventures, like Odysseus, but the devotion of his heart to Eudoxia is not more seriously endangered by these episodes than the affection of the lover of Circe and Calypso for Penelope.