Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/97

 DYNASTIC TROUBLES. 79 mother had been brought at the request of Andronicos. Tlio latter visited them, professed his wish to serve thetn in every way, and then returned to his tent and the army. A few days later he again visited Constantinople in order to see the tomb of Manuel, and took every opportunity of impressing upon the populace the unsellishness of his designs and his desire to strengthen the empire. Meantime he was making every preparation with his friends for the furtherance of his designs. He encouraged the boy emperor to amuse himself. He dis- persed those on whose aid he could not count, surrounded himself and Alexis with those whom he could trust, and re- warded those who had been favorable to his own designs. He imprisoned many ; he put out the eyes of others, and this, as the populace noted with surprise, without trial. The city was divided. Civil war was already within its walls. His cruelties, y-,,. ^ . • i i iJrothers were informing against brothers, fathers against their children. Members of the imperial family fared no better before the ruthless cruelty of Andronicos than those of a lower class. John Cantacuzenos was blinded because he had saluted his brother Constantine Angelos, who had already been thrown into prison. Andronicos was relentless in the execution of his designs and cunning in his means of getting rid of his enemies. To receive favors from him came soon to be regarded as a sign of his hate and the beginning of ruin. In proportion as he obtained power his real nature showed itself. One of his first victims was Maria, the sister of Manuel, who had been with her husband, the caesar, the chief of the party which had intrigued and finally declared for him. She w^as found poisoned, and, as it was believed, by Andronicos. Her husband shortl}^ afterwards died, under circumstances which led to the belief that his death was not natural. It was for some time doubted whether Andronicos had buoys, and thus protected the entrance to the Bosphorus. Another chain passed from the Tower of [Manganes to a tower on the Galata side, proba- bly on the site of the modern custom-house. The reader will remember that Mahomet the Conqueror constructed a tramway from the Bosphorus to the Golden Horn, in order to take his shijDS into the harbor, and thus avoid the barrier which the latter chain formed to the entrance.