Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/121

 DYNASTIC TROUBLES. 103 unfavorably with the rule even of the cruel Andronicos. It began now to be remembered that the tyrant had reformed the judiciary, had punished judges with severity for the tak- ing of bribes, had sent the best men to be governors and judges at his own charge, and had given them salaries instead of allowing them to buy their offices and sell their judgments. Isaac sent officers into the country after the fashion of the apostles, says Nicetas, w^itliout purse or scrip, although he knew that it was their duty to do justice indifferently, and to pay into the treasury what they had levied from the people. Andronicos had encouraged traders, and had been especially anxious to increase the commerce of the country and to allow ships to pass to and fro in safety. Isaac debased the coinage, increased taxation, spent w^iat he raised in building palaces or on his own luxuries, and was believed to share the bribes which his ministers exacted. Even Nicetas, monk though he was, complained of his selfish superstition, of the money he had wasted on churches, chapels, and monasteries. The em- peror w^ent into ecstacies when he saw a picture of the Virgin, endowed several of her shrines, and exposed pictures at street corners to excite thv. devotion of the people. He scattered money with profusion among the populace, but had to sell the magistracies and other public appointments in order to obtain it. His conduct had made him deservedly unpopular with the people, since his misgovernment in tampering with the coin, in selling monopolies, in debasing the justiciary, in harassing commerce, and in diminishing the security of prop- erty seriously injured the trade of the country, which I must repeat was by far the most important interest. A new trou- ble wuth his old enemies the Bulgarians and Wallachs brought his reign to an end. In 1195 these people were again troubling the empire, and coTi?pirncy ^^ the experience of Isaac had shown him the dan- brother u^de- ger ^^ intrusting the command of the imperial pose Isaac. army to his generals, he determined himself once more to take the field against them. He had collected a large army and had asked for the aid of the King of Hungary. In the month of March he left Constantinople. He had been