Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/122

 104: THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. warned that it would be unsafe to leave the capital without taking precautions against his brother xlexis, and had accused those who warned him of wishing to destroy the fraternal un- derstanding which had always existed between them. Isaac went to Eodosto on the Marmora, about seventy miles from Constantinople, and there celebrated Easter. Thence he went on to Cypsella, the modern Ipsala on the Hebrus or Maritza, and, while waiting for the arrival of a portion of his troops, went out hunting and invited his brother Alexis to accompany him. Alexis excused himself on the pretence that he was about to be bled on account of illness. Isaac therefore went alone. His brother remained at home to carry out a plot in which he was the principal figure. A conspiracy, the secret of which had been well kept, had been formed among the nobles for deposing Isaac and placing Alexis on the throne. During the absence of the emperor the pretender was proclaimed. As Isaac re- turned he was met by a few of liis servants who remained faithful, and informed of what had taken place. He stopped, crossed himself, took out the miniature of the Virgin which he always carried, kissed it, and, seeing that the friends of Alexis were galloping towards him, turned and fled. He was, how- ever, intercepted, given np to the rebels, and was sent as a prisoner to a monastery in Pera. From thence he, together with his son Alexis, was transferred to a prison in the palace and afterwards to one in the Taurus, where his eyes were put out and where he was treated like an ordinary criminal. At the time of his deposition he was in his fortieth year. He remained in prison, as we shall see, until the Crusaders who effected the conquest of Constantinople set him free. The accession of Alexis Angelos to the throne of his broth- Accession of er was followed by a distribution of monc}^, in- Aiexis. eluding that which had been collected for the press- ing necessities of the AVallach-Bulgarian war, of public honors, titles, and dignities, of the crown lands, and of almost every available species of wealth. He granted every concession that he was asked for, and would have given the privi- lege, says Nicetas, if he had been asked for it, to cultivate the sea, to sail over land, or to pile Mount Athos on Olym-