Demetrius Poliorcetes and Lysiinachus

After repelling Philip, Byzantium had to submit, some years later, to Alexander. It passed through the hands of his successors, Demetrius Poliorcetes and Lysiinachus ; but on the death of the latter, regained its independence for another hundred years, until the power of Rome invaded the region of Thrace and the Hellespont. In return for the assistance it rendered to the Romans in their wars with Macedon and Antiochus, the senate conferred on Byzantium the status of a ‘ free and confederate city and it was not till the time of the Emperor Vespasian that it lost its privileges and became an ordinary provincial town (73 A.D.).

In the struggle between Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger for the Roman Empire, Byzantium espoused the cause of the latter; but was taken by Severus, after a three years siege, in 197 A.D., and reduced to ashes. A few years later, however, he rebuilt the city and embellished it with porticoes, magnificent public baths, and part of the Hippodrome or racecourse.

During the civil wars which followed the abdication of Diocletian, the city fortifications were restored, and afforded refuge to Licinius after his defeat by Constantine at Adrianople in 323 A.D. Constantine advanced on Byzantium, and, by means of constructing ramparts and towers as high as those of the city, finally succeeded in taking it.

The acquaintance with the advantages

The acquaintance with the advantages of its position gained in this campaign no doubt decided Constantine in fixing on Byzantium as the site of his new capital daily tours istanbul. It had probably been for some time clear to him that the Empire, once more united under a firm rule, required in its new circumstances a new political centre. The advisability of transferring the seat of government from Borne to a point farther east had been felt long before. The frequent wars against Persia, the repeated revolts of Asiatic nations, the incursions of tke Scythians, troubles at Borne, that old hot-bed of civil war, had already caused Diocletian to fix his residence at Nicomedia (now Ismid); and, indeed, Julius Csesar is said to have thought of transferring the capital to Alexandria Troas (Eski-Istambol), which, from its more central situation, would enable him the easier to keep the conquered nations in subjection. Constantine, however, was also actuated by other than strategic and political motives. The abandonment of Eome marked the establishment of Christianity as the State religion. The new capital was dedicated to the Virgin Mary; and the fact that the ceremony of its inauguration was performed solely by Christian ecclesiastics, and that no pagan temples were allowed to be erected in the new city, emphatically proclaimed the downfall of Paganism.

The new city was begun in 328 A.D. The Emperor himself marked out its boundaries, which included five of the seven hills enumerated on page 1. Setting out on foot, followed by a numerous retinue, and pretending that he was following the directions of a divine guide invisible to all save himself, with his spear he drew on the ground a line that crossed the triangular promontory at a distance of about two miles from the old fortifications. Along this line the new walls were erected, and on the 11th of May 330 A.D. the inaugural festivities were commenced, and lasted forty days.

Between Jambaz and Taxim Tepe

ANTIQUE THEATRE

Trimontium’s antique theatre lies on the low ground between Jambaz and Taxim Tepe. Archaeological excavations have uncovered one of the best-preserved antique theatres in the world, built at the beginning of the 2nd c. during Emperor Trayan’s rule. The theatron, the spectators’ section, is amphitheatrical, in two semi-circles with a wide horizontal aisle in between. Each tier has 14 rows of marble seats divided into sectors by aisles. The area of the stage excels in architectural design. The skene at the back is a two-storey structure with lateral wings ending in imposing triangular pediments.

Inscriptions and exquisite statues found Antique Theatre of Philippopolis on the site have been incorporated in the architecture of the building. The theatre must have seated 5 to 7 thousand people. A fire or an earthquake at the end of the 4th c. caused irreparable damage to this remarkable antique building. The splendid skene was completely demolished, just 20 out of the 28 rows of the theatron survived. In spite of the serious destruction, archaeological research made it possible to execute a successful restoration. Now the ancient building has been entirely adapted to the contemporary cultural functions of Plovdiv and it shows various performances before an audience of 5000 people.

ANTIQUE STADIUM

The imposing remains of the stadium of Philippopolis (Trimontium) were discovered under the square west of Jumaya Mosque (Friday Mosque). Part of them is now displayed below the level of the busy street. The majestic structure measures 1000 Roman steps in length (250m) by 250 steps in width (74m). The main entrance into the stadium is below the junction of Knyaz Alexander I Street and Dr Valkovitch Street. It was designed in the solemn style of Asia Minor cities like Miletus holidays bulgaria, Ephesus and Aspendos. The seats arranged in 14 marble, amphitheatrical rows stand on supports decorated with high relief lions’ paws. The major part of the stadium is occupied by the racetrack whose length is 600 Roman steps.

It starts at the main entrance and reaches the northern side turning into a bend to accommodate chariot-racing. Part of this sector is displayed under street level and under the open sky. The marble seats and the track are clearly identifiable. In the middle of the bend there is an arched corridor leading out into a street built of large syenite slabs. You can see the impressive bases of the columns supporting the aqueduct, which fed the large reservoir on Taxim Tepe with water from the Rhodope Mountains.

During Philippopolis’ apogee (2nd -4th c.) the Antique (Roman) stadium was the venue of the traditional athletic games organized in honour of the god Apollo and Alexander of Macedon. After the Emperor Theodosius the Great suspended the games at the end of the 4th c. the Philippopolis stadium was used as a hippodrome. The final information about it comes from the Byzantine autheress Anna Comnenus (end of the 11thc.) who was deeply impressed . by what had remained of the Roman stadium. In its heyday the stadium could seat thirty thousand spectators and was one of the major public facilities in ancient Philippopolis.

Iskra library club

One of the country’s most famous cultural institutes is the Iskra library club, founded in 1873 with library, theatre, cinema, and a museum with valuable exhibits. Here is also the famous Kazanluk Thracian Tomb, a unique monument of ancient Thracian art. It is believed that a prominent Thracian chieftain was buried in the tomb in the 4th-3rd century B.C. It consists of an antechamber, a stone corridor and a domed chamber. The frescoes on the walls, the corridor ceiling and the dome are kept at constant air temperature and humidity. The tomb is under the protection of UNESCO. There is a model nearby which is open to visitors.

Hotels: Kazanluk, 3 stars, 199 rooms, tel. 2-72-10; Roza, 2 stars, 1 Tolbukhin Rlvd.; Zomitsa, 2 stars, tel. 2-23-84.

Motel: Krunska Koriya, 2 stars, restaurant, 5 km from the town.

Camp sites: Krunska Koriya, 1 star, 5 km from the town. 12 km north of Kazanluk along the E-85 road at the very foot of the Balkan Range are the golden domes of the impressive church built 1897-1902 in memory of those who died in the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation 1877-78 private tour istanbul. The iconostasis of gilded woodwork was made in Moscow as were the bells while the icons were painted at the Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. Part of the frescoes are from 1902 while the rest were painted in 1959.

Mount Shipka

A road leads up Mount Shipka to the granite monument to the handful of Russians and Bulgarians defending the Shipka Pass against the 35.000-strong army of Suleiman Pasha. The monument contains the remains of the defenders of the pass.

The neighbouring peak, Bouzloudja, has a huge monument to Communism and Socialism.

East along E-772 is the village of Muglizh (pop. 5,500; where the September uprising against fascism broke out in 1923. Sliven (pop. 98,000) is situated at the foot of the Eastern Balkan Range. The Blue Stones (a picturesque rock area) tower over the town. Sliven was first mentioned in the journal of the Arabian traveller, Idrissi, 1153, but archaeological studies in the area show there was a settlement in Roman times. Bulgaria’s first textile mills were opened here in 1834.

Tourist attractions:

Monument to Hadji Dimiter in the town centre.

Monument to the Soviet Army stands on Haman Bair hill in a park south of the town.

Bust of Dobri Zhelyazkov in the town centre.

Bust of Dobri Chintoulov in Hadji Dimiter’s Square.

Bust of Subi Dimitrov — Sliven’s favourite who when sur-rounded by police in 1941 killed himself so as not to fall into their hands.

Boyansko Hanche

Bulgarian restaurants: Boyansko Hanche, Boyana District—telephone 56-30-16; Goroublyansko Hanche, Goroublyane District — telephone 78-12-60; Shoumako, Simeonovo District; Vodenicharski Mehani, Dragalevtsi District — telephone 66-50-88; Zlatna Ribka — 26 kilometres from Sofia on the road leading to Borovets winter resort; Chemata Kotka — 13 kilometres south-east of Sofia on the E-80 road.

Restaurants: Roubin, Lenin Square; Kristal — 119 Rakov- ski Street; Krim — 2 Dobroudja Street, telephone 87-01-31; Botevgradska Sreshta — 1 Pozitano Street, telephone 87-05-14;

Gambrinous — 80 Tsar Simeon Street, telephone 83-5 L74; Bu- dapeshta — 145 Rakovski Street, telephone 87-27-50; Ropota- mo — 73 Lenin Blvd, telephone 72-25-16; Havana — Vitosha Blvd.

Coffee houses

Coffee houses: Brazilia — 24 Vitosha Blvd.; telephone 88-28-39; Bulgaria — 2 Rousski Blvd., telephone 87-19-77; Co-lombia — 4 Levski Street, telephone 8743-03; Havana — 151 Rakovski Street, telephone 87-48-94; Roza — 4 Sofiiska Ko- mouna Street, telephone 88-40-87; Praga — 145 Rakovski Street, telephone 87-52-76; Opera — 113 Rakovski Street, telephone 87-40-89; Havana — Vitosha Blvd.

Souvenir shops: Sredets Souvenir Centre opposite Rila Hotel; Prizma — 2 Rousski Blvd., telephone 88-15-67; Sofia — 16 Georgi Dimitrov Blvd., telephone 83-29-58; Union of Bulgarian Artists souvenir shop, 6 Rousski Blvd., telephone 88-39-37; Mineralsouvenir — 10 Rousski Blvd.

Photographic materials: 3 Alexander StamboliiskiBlvd., telephone 87-72-74; Central Department Store, fourth floor, telephone 87-96-21.

Optician’s: 14, Vitosha Blvd., telephone 87-18-11; 7 Graf Ignatiev Street daily sofia tour, telephone 87-29-43.

Florist’s: 8 Pozitano Street, telephone 87-01-26; 11 Vito- sha Blvd., telephone 88-20-46,

Bookshops: the Victor Hugo bookshop for foreign and Bulgarian books, 6 Rousski Blvd., telephone 88-43-08.

The Corecom Foreign Trade Enterprise has shops selling goods manufactured abroad . These can be bought with convertible currency: 8 Tsar Kaloyan St. tel. 88-19-75;Novotel Evro- pa 131 Georgi Dimitrov Blvd., tel. 3-12-61; 166 Rakovski St. tel. 88-06-73; 27 Tolbukhin Blvd., tel. 88-44-50; Grand Hotel Sofia, Narodno Sobranie Square, tel. 23-01-02; Hotel Vitosha New Otani, 100 Anton Ivanov Blvd,, tel. 6241-51; Hotel Shtastlivetsa in Mount Vitosha, tel. 66-50-24,

Christianity in the spiritual life

A profound change was wrought by Christianity in the spiritual life of Thrace and Moesia in late antiquity; this religion had penetrated into the country very early on and left its imprint on both architecture and art in these lands. After Christianity had been proclaimed as the only religion of the State in the reign of Theodosius I (379—395), the church hurled itself with unheard of fanaticism upon all that was pagan or might recall paganism.

Many monuments of art were destroyed, many shrines and temples were ruined or turned into Christian churches. However, the church soon realized the tremendous part which art was to play in disseminating and introducing her ideas among the ignorant masses. In the East, sculpture was rejected as an art closer to the real image of the original. Painting, which provided greater opportunities of passing more easily over to the abstract spiritual treatment of natural forms, remained the only permitted imitative art. A new architectural form was necessary for the Church, which had established a ritual alien to the pagan ritual. This brought the religious Christian architecture into being, which, availing itself of many of the antique pagan traditions of building, created new forms in the monumental architecture of the Middle Ages.

Early Chirstian sculpture

In the Bulgarian lands only a few examples of early Chirstian sculpture are known to us. Among them a marble 4th century statue of the Good Shepherd, found at the village of Selanovtsi, near Orya- hovo, deserves mention, as well as a big 5th century bronze lamp with a handle in the form of a cross, and a cover decorated with the head of an emperor, found at Stara Zagora guided istanbul tours. The latter belongs to one of the finest and rarest types of Early Christian lamps known to archaeology. A sculptured portrait of a man in limestone, found in a place known as Kozyak Grad near the village of Obzor, not far from Pomorie, belongs to the scultpureof that period, although it is of profane and not Christian origin. The huge wide open eyes and the simplified and schematized features of the face are typical of this art. The trend of abstraction from the natural primitive form has been brought to the extreme. Only the most typical elements of a human face have been presented here.

The portrait from Kozyak Grad, which dates back to the time of Justinian, is one of the latest representatives of the free scultpure, then generally dying out in the Eastern Orthodox world as a branch of art. For the present, Early Christian painting is best represented in the necropolis around the Church of St. Sophia in Sofia. Some of the masonry tombs are ornamented with mural paintings in which plant motifs or motifs taken from Christian symbolism predominate. What impresses one in the decorative system of these tombs, however, is the presence of elements of the Hellenistic decorative art as well, viz., the division of the walls into separate rectangles, imitating marble panelling.

However, Early Christian art found extensive possibilities of development in the field of architecture. One of the main centres of this art is Serdica, in which there was, at the beginning of the 4th century, such a large Christian community that an ecumenical council was even called here. One of the oldest churches with a baptistry in our lands was found when the Party House was being built; it lay outside the walls of Serdica, near the East Gate.

CULTURAL MONUMENTS IN BULGARIA

PREHISTORIC

Among the objects preserved to our days are zoomorphic ceramic vessels, clay models of prehistoric dwellings, primitive figures of gods standing far apart from the later figures of the gods resembling man, figures of animals, etc. Worth seeing in this connection are in the first place the paintings in the Rabisha Cave and idols from the Neolithic and Aeneolithic Age made of bones and of baked clay, clay vessels, anthropomorphic vessels, etc. in the archaeological museums of Sofia and the larger towns in the country.

THRACIAN

Thracians inhabited the eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula.

We owe our first information about them to Homer, who describes them in the Iliad as allies of the Troyan King Priam. But they are not the aboriginal inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula. They gradually merged with the local population and lent a Nordic culture to its population to such a degree that in the last periods of the Bronze Age the culture of the Thracians can in fact be considered as part of the culture of the European continent. A great number (16) of Thracian tombs have now been excavated in Bulgaria, which give us information about the life and art of the ancient Thracians. Among them are: the big tomb near the village of Mezek, not far from Svilengrad, the Kazanluk Tomb, the Vratsa Tomb, etc. Of particularly great interest are the Vulchitrun Gold Treasure in the Sofia Archaeological Museum tour bulgaria, the Panagyurishte Gold Treasure in the Plovdiv Museum, a copy of which is kept in the crypt of the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Cathedral in Sofia, the Vratsa Treasure, the recently excavated Yakimovo Treasure and individual objects on display in the different museums in the country. An exceedingly valuable monument are the mural paintings of the Kazanluk Thracian Tomb, a copy of which is also kept in the crypt.

PROTO-BULGARIAN

First we must mention here the capital cities of the First Bulgarian State (681-1018) – Pliska and Preslav. Ruins of churches, palaces and fortress walls and stone inscriptions have been preserved from them especially valuable are Omourtag’s column, the column of Ivan Assen II, the inscription of the Chagurbil Mostich). Then come the Madara Horseman rock relief with an inscription, and remains of buildings and fortresses near the town of Shoumen; the Bachkovo Monastery, founded in the 11th century, Veliko Tur- novo – with ruins of palaces, churches, fortress walls and monasteries from the capital of the Second Bulgarian State (1185-1396); the Boyana Church — with murals of great artistic value; the Zemen Monastery with frescoes dating from the second half of the 14th century; the Dragalevtsi Monastery – with murals from the 15thcentury, the church in the villageof Berende – with murals from the second half of the 14th century; Nessebur and its churches with interesting architecture and decorations, the Church of the Holy Virgin in Pazardjik, the Church of St Marina in Plovdiv, the Rila Monastery – with its wood carving, icons and ethnographic collections.

MEET BULGARIA

‘If Europe still has any tourist reserves, Bulgaria is the first of them.’

Professor Bernecker, Director of the Institute on Tourism, Austria.

So this year you have decided to spend your annual holiday in Bulgaria. That’s fine! You are very welcome, and we hope you’ll come again next year!

The People’s Republic of Bulgaria is a small state in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula between 41° and 44° latitude North and 22° and 28° longitude East. It occupies an area of 111,000 square kilometres and has a population of 8,730,000. Bulgaria borders to the north on the Socialist Republic of Romania (the boundary line runs along the Danube River and then over land), to the west – on the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, to the south – on Greece and Turkey, and to the east – on the Black Sea.

The relief of the country is a happy combination of sea coast, picturesque mountains and verdant plains. The predominant Drown colour on your map gives the impression that it is a purely mountainous country, although this is npt so, despite the fact that in Bulgaria there are no fewer than sixteen mountain massifs. We must first of all mention the Balkan Range, which was called Hemus in ancient times. This range, the longest in the country (555 km) cuts it into two halves as it runs from west to east and has given its name to the whole peninsula. It is the living history of Bulgaria – because in its progressive settlements and in its forests the people have fought many battles for their freedom. Fifteen of the peaks of the Balkan Range rise above 2,000 m, and the highest of them Mount Botev, is 2,376 m high daily ephesus tours. The highest mountains in Bulgaria (and in the whole Balkan Peninsula) are the Rila Mountains (with Mount Moussala – 2,925 m)and then come the Pirin Mountains with Mount Vihren — 2,915 m. East of the Pirin Mountains extends like a choppy sea the massif of the Rhodopes (with Mount Big Perelik -2,192 m). From among the other mountains we must mention the Sredna Gora (Central Mountains), running parallel to the Balkan Range (the two ranges enclosing the well-known Valley of Roses); Mount Vitosha – near the capital, Sofia; the Strandja Mountains (in south-eastern Bulgaria), Belassitsa, Ossogovo (in the southwestern part of the country), etc.

Danubian Plain

Of course, side by side with the brown patches on the map of Bulgaria there are also green ones. They stand for our plains, lowlands and valleys. The most important ones are: the Danubian Plain (between the Danube and the Balkan Range) and Dobroudja — two granaries of Bulgaria; the Thracian Plain (in southern Bulgaria), which got its name from the Thracians who inhabited it in antiquity and which is renowned today for its vineyards, vegetable gardens and tobacco plantations; the Valley of Roses, which we have already mentioned; the Kyustendil Plain – Bulgaria’s orchard, etc.

There are also many rivers in Bulgaria, but most of them are seasonal and carry little water most of the time. The largest river, excluding the Danube, is the Maritsa. It springs from the Rila Mountains, crosses the Thracian Plain, and flows into the Aegean Sea. The rivers Toundja and Arda are tributaries of the Maritsa. The Strouma and Mesta also flow into the Aegean. Among the Bulgarian tributaries of the Danube the most important are the Isker, the Ogosta and the Yantra, and the rivers Kamchiya and Ropotamo flow into the Black Sea.

Since the lakes on the Danube bank were drained (only Srebuma Lake was left as a reservation) Bulgaria now has three kinds of lakes: coastal, in the limestone mountains and Alpine. The largest coastal lakes are that of Blatnitsa and of Shabla, the Varna and Gebedje and the Atanassovsko. The most important among those in limestone rocks is Rabisha Lake, and the high- mountain lakes are mainly in the Rila and Pirin Mountains (in the Rila Mountains alone there are 189 corrie lakes and in the Pirin Mountains 176).

Water by a commercial company

Water, like the roadway, is a public not a private concern. Neither water, air, nor soil are manufactures like bread, clothes, and gas. A man should be no more charged personally for water by a commercial company than he should be charged a toll for walking over London Bridge, or taking the air in Hyde Park. It concerns the health of us all that no family should be stinted in their water supply, or even should stint themselves. Roadways, streets, bridges, parks, embankments, the free use of air and earth, ought to be secured 11s by public bodies, under public control, making no private profit, and having no private interest, and supported by common rates and taxes, and so ought the free use of water to be.

Water we want unstinted and under absolute public control for cooking, cleaning, and washing in our homes, for cleansing the streets, for fire defence, for wash-houses and public baths, for adornment and recreation. And on every one of these grounds, for the same reason that it would be criminal to make Hyde Park a private company and let them charge a toll at the gates — on all these grounds we require Water to be a public and not a private interest, a common advantage of a civilised community, and not a commodity for shareholders to speculate with and to sell to the needy.

Some day, I trust, we shall take in hand our rivers. We have already done much. There is a vast deal more to do. There is no positive reason why the Thames as it flows by Westminster Palace should not be as bright as when it reflects Hampton Court on its surface. Factories, works, drainage, refuse, will no longer, in secret and in defiance of Parliament, pollute its stream; the southern shores will be embanked like the northern; and the surface drainage of this metropolitan area and its whole sewage will not be discharged pell-mell into a tidal river private guide turkey. Some day, I believe, our two or three millions of chimneys will no longer pour out their endless pall of sulphur and soot. No poisonous gas will ever enter a house; for mechanical contrivances will suck down the products of refuse, instead of, as they now do, force them up into our homes.

Great problem of health which death presents to us

Nor need we doubt that we shall one day face the great problem of health which death presents to us, in the only way in which these vast modern cities can face it — by the system of cremation. All who have studied the facts of cremation well know how idle are the objections on the score of propriety, decency, solemnity, or the concealment of crime. They know that cremation alone affords the absolutely safe means of bestowing the 80,000 corpses which each year casts upon our sorrowing hands.

The ordinary objections which we hear are but melancholy remnants of childish superstition. There are objections of weight which I recognise to the full; all that repugnance which springs out of the hallowed memory of the buried remains, the local sanctity of the grave, and all its religious and beautiful associations. No one can respect these more than I do; no one can more heartily wish to preserve them. But those who feel them have never made real to their minds all the noble associations and resources of urn burial—-one of the most ancient, beautiful, and religious of all modes of disposing of the dead.

Cremation, in its present form, absolutely pure, effective, simple, and dignified as it is, destroys the remotest germs of deleterious power in the loved remains; but it does not annihilate the remains altogether. The solid ashes remain far more pure and perfectly than in any ancient cremation the residuum of the body, purified seven times in the fire. These ashes are appropriately closed in an urn. They can be buried, if it so be thought best, in the grave, and then the grave will contain the body, not indeed putrescent in horrible decay, but in a little harmless dust in a case. Cremation need not at all affect the practice of interment. The grave may remain undisturbed; the sacred earth may be there as now; flowers, as now, will rise up and bloom over the ashes.

The Roman Empire at Constantinople

Here we reach the last, as I venture to think, the main element of strength in the Empire of New Rome — its alliance with, or rather its possession of, the Orthodox Church. The Roman Empire at Constantinople was really, if not in style, a Holy Roman Empire. The Patriarch was one of its officials. The venerable Church of the Holy Wisdom was almost the private chapel of the Emperor; the Emperor’s palace may almost be described as the Vatican of Byzantium.

The relations between the Emperor and the Patriarch were wholly different from the relations between the Emperor at Aachen and the Pope. Instead of being separated by a thousand miles and many tribes and peoples, the Emperor of the Bosphorus resided in the same group of buildings, worshipped, and was adored in the same metropolitan temple, and sat in the same council- hall with his Patriarch, who was practically one of his great officers of State. All students of the Carolingian or of the Holy Roman Empire know how immensely Pipin, Charles, the Henries, and the Ottos were strengthened by the sup-port of the Popes from Zacharias to Victor II. But the Papacy was a very intermittent, uncertain, and exacting bulwark of the Empire, and after the advent of Hildebrand, in the eleventh century, it was usually the open or secret enemy of the Empire guided turkey tours. The Catholic Church was always the co-equal, usually the jealous rival, often the irreconcilable foe of the Emperor. It never was a State Church, and rarely, until the fourteenth century, was an official and obsequious minister of any emperor or king.

State Church

But the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, from first to last, was a State Church, part of the State, servant of the State. There were, of course, rebel patriarchs, ambitious, independent, factious, and deeply spiritual patriarchs. There were whole reigns and dynasties when Emperor and Patriarch represented opposite opinions. But all this was trifling compared with the independent and hostile attitude of the Papacy to the Temporal Power. The Catholic Church represented a Spiritual Power independent of any sovereign, with a range of influence not conterminous with that of any sovereign. That was its strength, its glory, its menace to the Temporal Power.

The Orthodox Church represented a spiritual authority, the minister of the sovereign, directing the conscience of the subjects of the sovereign, and in theory of no others. The Orthodox Church was the ideal State Church, and for a thousand years it deeply affected the history of the Byzantine Empire for evil and for good. It more than realised Dante’s dream in the De Monarchia, a dream which the essence of Catholicism and the traditions of the Papacy made impossible in the West. It constituted a real and not a titular Holy Roman Empire in the East.

Ruinous to religion, morality, and freedom as was this dependence of Church on the sovereign, it gave the sovereign an immense and permanent strength. We can see to-day what overwhelming force is given to the rulers of the two great empires of Eastern Europe, who are both absolute heads of the religious organisation of their respective dominions. Now the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Empire was a more powerful spiritual authority than the Russian Church, if not quite so abject a servant of the Roman Emperor as the Russian Church is of the Czar.

And it was no doubt much more completely under the control of the Emperor than the imdms and softas of Stamboul are under the control of the Padishah. The Roman Emperor, in spite of his vices, origin, or character, even in the midst of the Iconoclast struggle, was invested in the eyes of his Orthodox subjects with that sacred halo which still surrounds Czar and Sultan, and which is the main source of their autocratic power. It was this sacred character, a character which the de facto Emperor possessed from the hour of his coronation in St. Sophia until the day when he died, was deposed, or blinded, which held together an empire of such strangely heterogeneous elements, permeated with such forces of anarchy and confusion. Christians in the West contemn, and perhaps with justice, the servility, idolatry, and formalism of the Greek priesthood. They may be right when they tell us that the essence of Greek ritualism is only a debased kind of paganism. But the Orthodox Church is still a great political force; and in the Byzantine Empire it was a political force perhaps greater than any other of which we have extant examples.

Pentelic marble in the sky of Athens

But a new building of Pentelic marble in the sky of Athens stands out soft, white, and dazzling with light. In the modern edifices of new Athens, built from the same quarry, we see the pearly radiance of the marble, the need and the uses of colour, the repose and coolness of these spacious colonnades and that which has been the puzzle of antiquarians—the entire absence of windozv. We are quite unable to conceive buildings without windows: we cannot work windows into Greek designs. At Athens we see that a colonnade of Pentelic marble lights itself, and in the sweetest way. The marble is semitransparent. It diffuses, reflects, and harmonises sunlight in so mysterious a manner that a marble hall is bathed in a subdued and delicious glow.

If we revive in imagination the Acropolis as it stood in its perfection, we see with new force the undoubted historic . truth, that the Athenians, in spite of their restlessness, audacity, and individuality, were intensely conservative in ideas, slavishly superstitious about spiritual evils, and as St. Paul told them on Mars’ Hill, too much bound by obsolete scruples. The condemnation to death of Socrates and of Aristotle, the extreme timidity of Aristotle’s utterances, the panic about the Hermae, the mob-fury after the battle of Arginusae prove it historically.

But it is equally patent in their art. It is obvious that a Doric temple was slowly developed out of a small shrine having beams and pillars of wood. The form was rigidly maintained when the material and the scale were changed; and, when temples were built of a vast size, they were still ornamented and designed on the old methods, however inapplicable these had become walking tours ephesus. As we stand beneath the peristyle and pediment of the Parthenon, we cannot fail to see that, in a building of those grand dimensions and towering position, the lovely frieze and even the majestic figures of the pediment, must have been sacrificed, so far as they never could be properly seen. Pheidias could not have been blind to this cruel result of antique convention. But neither he nor Pericles would have dared to transgress the sacred canons in which art was bound.

Athenians appears in their history

The superstitious bigotry of the Athenians appears in their history, their habits, their institutions, their language, and the uniformity of their architecture. Stand on the spot and recall the Acropolis in its glory, and you will feel that there must have been after all a profound monotony and rigidity in those eternal colonnades and unvarying architraves. The arch was unknown in the fine age; the temples were all built on one or two uniform patterns; it was left to Rome to develop all the uses of arch, tower, dome, the column supporting the arch, the successive stories, the hemicycle, and groined roof — all the intricate combinations which Rome suggested to modern architecture. Greece remained the slave of its traditions and canons of art. It is true that it avoided the incongruities and coarse realism of later Roman art. But it was left to Rome to make art progressive even in its corruption. Like the drama of Racine, Attic art remained perfect in its conventions. But its conventions were iron chains.

Accepting its traditional conventions, we cannot doubt that the Acropolis must have displayed in its splendour the most imposing mass of buildings ever raised by man. With Pheidias we feel in presence of the supreme artist (he was far more than sculptor) —the one perfect master in the history of art, of whose faultless genius no single side was weaker or less noble than the rest. He remains alone of men (or if not alone then it may be with Homer, Shakespeare, Mozart) one whose unerring instinct transmuted into beauty every form of the world around him.

English political struggles

During the whole of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries English political struggles had centred round this grand principle: the Declaration of Independence in 1776 had formulated it in memorable phrases. But how little the full meaning of this — the cardinal idea of 1789 — was completely accepted even in England, the whole history of the reign of George HI. may remind us, and the second and reactionary half of the careers of William Pitt and Edmund Burke.

Over the continent of Europe, down to 1789, the proprietary jure diving theory of privilege existed in full force, except in some petty republics, which were of slight practical consequence. The long war, the reactionary Empire of Napoleon, and the royal reaction which followed its overthrow, made a faint semblance of revival for privilege. But, after the final extinction of the Bourbons in 1830, the idea of privilege disappeared from the conception of the State. In England, the Reform Act of 1832, and finally the European movements of 1848, completed the change. So that throughout Europe, west of Russia and of Turkey, all governments alike — imperial, royal, aristocratic, of republican as they may be in form, exist more or less in fact, and in profession exist exclusively, for the general welfare of the nation. This is the first and central idea of 89.

Republican implies the public good

This idea is, in the deeper meaning of the word, republican — so far as republican implies the public good, the common weal as contrasted with privilege, property, or right customized tours istanbul. But it is not exclusively republican, in the sense that it implies the absence of a single ruler; nor is it necessarily democratic, in the sense of being direct government by numbers. It is an error to assume that the Revolution of 1789 introduced as an abstract doctrine the democratic republic pure and simple. Republics and democracies of many forms grew out of the movement. But the movement itself also threw up many forms of government by a dictator, government by a Council, constitutional monarchy, and democratic imperialism. All of these equally claim to be based on the doctrine of the common weal, and to represent the ideas of ’89. And they have ample right to make that claim.

The movement of ’89, based on the dominant idea of the public good as opposed to privilege, took all kinds of form in the mouths of those who proclaimed it. Voltaire understood it in one way, Montesquieu in another, Diderot in a third, and Rousseau in a fourth. The democratic monarchy of d’Argenson, the constitutional monarchy of Mirabeau, the democratic re-public of Marat, the plutocratic republic of Vergniaud, the republican dictatorship of Danton, even the military dictatorship of the First Consul — were all alike different readings of the Bible of ’89. It means government by capacity, not by hereditary title, with the welfare of the whole people as its end, and the consent of the governed as its sole legitimate title.

An Oxford Dialoguing

An Oxford Dialoguing;

ON one of those bright misty days at Oxford, when the grey towers are dimly seen rising from masses of amber and russet foliage, when reading men enjoy a brisk walk in the keen afternoon air, to talk over the feats of the Long and the chances of the coming Schools, a tutor and a freshman were striding round the meadows of Christ Church. The Reverend ^Ethelbald Wessex, called by undergraduates ‘the Venerable Bede,’ was taking a tutorial grind with his young friend, Philibert Raleigh, who had come up from Eton with a brilliant record. The Admirable Crichton, as Phil was named by his admirers, was expected to do great things in the History School: his essay had won him the scholarship, and even the Master admitted that he had read some which were worse. Phil was enlarging on the lectures of the new Regius Professor.

‘ We are in luck,’ said he, ‘ to be reading for the Schools at a time when the Professor is one of the first of living writers; his lectures are a lesson in English literature private sofia tours, instead of a medley of learned “ tips.” ’

‘ I hope my dear boy,’ said the Venerable, ‘that you are not referring to the late Professor in that rather superficial remark of yours, for he was certainly one of the most con-summate historians of modern times.’

Fortnightly Review, vol. 54, N.S. October 1893.

‘ Oh, no,’ said Phil, in an apologetic tone; ‘ I never heard Dr. Freeman lecture at all, and I have not yet finished the third volume of The Norman Conquest. But surely he is hardly in it as a writer with Froude, whose history one enjoys to read as one enjoys Quentin Durward or Ivanhoe f ’

‘You are giving yourself away, dear boy,’ replied the tutor, with his shrewd smile, ‘ when you class the History of England with a novel. Mr. Froude’s enemies (and I am certainly not one of them) have never said worse of him than that. I am afraid that the first thing which Oxford will have to teach you is that the business of a historian is to write history, not romance.’

‘ Of course,’ said the freshman, a little put out by the snub, ‘ I should not compare the History of England to romance, nor, I suppose, do you. But we know that all the histories in the world which have permanent life are composed with literary genius, and are delightful to read in themselves. A great historian has to write history, but he also has to write a great book.’

Literature is one thing

‘ Literature is one thing,’ said the Venerable, in some-what oracular tones, ‘ and history is another thing. The TCXO? of history is Truth. She may be more attractive to some minds when clothed in shining robes; but the historian has to worship at the shrine of nuda Veritas, and it is no business of his to care for the drapery she wears. What I mean is, that history implies indefatigable research into recorded facts. That is the essence: the form is mere accident.’

‘ The form of the sentences may be a secondary thing,’ pleaded the Crichton, ‘but, surely, the vivid power of striking home which marks every great book is essential to a history intended to survive. Would the Master have given all that labour to Thucydides if the whole of his

work had been occupied with monotonous accounts of how the Spartans marched into Attica, and how the Athenians sent seven ships to the coast of Thrace? Thucydides is because of the elaborate speeches, the account of the plague, the civil war in Corcyra, the siege of Syracuse, and the last sea-fight in the harbour. These are the things which make Thucydides immortal, and remind one of the messenger’s speech in the Persce. It is these magnificent pictures of the ancient world which help us to get over the wearisome parade of hoplites and sling-men, and battles of frogs and mice in obscure bays.’

This will never do,’ replied the tutor. ‘ We shall quite despair of your class, if you begin by calling “wearisome” any fact ascertainable in recorded documents. The busi-ness of the historian is to examine the evidence for what has ever happened in any place or time; and nothing which is true can be wearisome to the really historical mind.’

The long wars of Rome and Carthage

Soon came the great crisis of their history, the long wars of Rome and Carthage. On one side was the genius of war, empire, law, and art, on the other the genius of commerce, industry, and wealth. The subjects of Carthage were scattered over the Mediterranean, the power of Rome was compact. Carthage fought with regular mercenaries, Rome with her disciplined citizens. Carthage had consummate generals, but Rome had matchless soldiers. Long the scale trembled. Not once nor twice was Rome stricken down to the dust. Punic fleets swept the seas. African horsemen scoured the plains. Barbarian hordes were gathered up by the wealth of Carthage, and marshalled by the genius of her great captain.

For her fought the greatest military genius of the ancient world, perhaps of all time. Hannibal, himself a child of the camp, training a veteran army in the wars of Spain, led his victorious troops across Gaul, crossed the Alps, poured down upon Italy, struck down army after army, and at last, by one crowning victory, scattered the last military force of Rome. Beset by an invincible army in the heart of Italy, her strongholds stormed, without generals or armies, without money or allies, without cavalry or ships, it seemed that the last hour of Rome was come. Now, if ever, she needed that faith in her destiny, the solid strength of her slow growth, and the energy of her entire people. They did not fail her. In her worst need her people held firm, her senate never lost heart, armies grew out of the very remnants and slaves within her walls. Inch by inch the invader was driven back, watched and besieged in turn. The genius of Rome revived in Scipio. He it was who, with an eagle’s sight, saw the weakness of her enemy, swooped, with an eagle’s flight, upon Carthage herself, and at last, before her walls, overthrew Hannibal, and with him the hopes and power of his country and his race guided tours turkey.

Horatius defending

It is in these first centuries that we see the source of the greatness of Rome. Then was founded her true strength. What tales of heroism, dignity, and endurance have they not left us ! There are no types of public virtue grander than these. Brutus condemning his traitor sons to death; Horatius defending the bridge against an army; Cincinnatus taken from the plough to rule the state, re-turning from ruling the state again to the plough; the Decii, father and son, solemnly devoting themselves to death to propitiate the gods of Rome; Regulus the prisoner going to his home only to exhort his people not to yield, and returning calmly to his prison; Cornelia offering up her children to death and shame for the cause of the people; great generals content to live like simple yeomen; old and young ever ready to march to certain death; hearts proof against eloquence, gold, or pleasure; noble matrons training their children to duty; senates ever confident in their country; generals returning from conquered nations in poverty; the leader of triumphant armies becoming the equal of the humblest citizens.

Carthage once overcome, the conquest of the world followed rapidly. Spain and the islands of the Mediterranean Sea were the prizes of the war. Lower Gaul, Greece, and Macedon were also within fifty years incorporated in Rome. She pushed further. The whole empire of Alexander fell into her hands, and at length, after seven hundred years of conquest, she remained the mistress of the civilised world. But, long before this, she herself had become the prey of convulsions. The marvellous empire, so rapidly expanded, had deeply corrupted the power which had won it. Her old heroes were no more. Her virtues failed her, and her vast dominions had long become the prize of bloody and selfish factions. The ancient republic, whose freemen had once met to consult in the Forum, broke up in the new position for which her system was utterly unfit.

Constantinople is not one to be neglected

This city mission work and press work at Constantinople is not one to be neglected, nor to be abandoned after our fathers have planted the seed in prayer and watered it with the sweat of their care-worn brows, nor to be allowed to languish in the hope that the people of the soil will miraculously spring into power and save the Western Church the pain of long nurture of its Asiatic children. The city must be occupied in full force as a missionary centre with hearty cooperation between all denominations of Christians there living out their conception of the Master’s life of love.

When the traveller visits the mosque of St. Sophia the turbaned guide will lead him to a certain point in one of the galleries, and will silently point to the centre of the half dome of the apse. As the eve becomes accustomed to the details of the modern arabesque painted on a ground of gold, the visitor will discover underneath the arabesque of the Muslims, and forming a richer and more brilliant portion of the shining groundwork, the outlines of a figure of heroic size, with flowing robes, with arms outstretched, and with a halo crowning the head. The figure is a mosaic worked into the substance of the wall as a leading feature in the ancient decoration of the church. The Mohammedan conquerors instead of destroying the figure merely hid it from the eyes of their own people by overlaying it with gold. But it is not hidden from eyes that know how to trace the slightly different tint of its gracious outlines private ephesus tours.

The figure of Jesus Christ

That figure which could not be hid by the gold leaf which veils it, is the figure of Jesus Christ. For a thousand years it has stood with outstretched arms as if giving a benediction to every congregation which has worshipped God according to its lights in the ancient temple. And when the Mohammedan guide silently points the Christian visitor to this figure, all unknowingly he points to a fact too often forgotten. From the first the Lord Jesus Christ has had an interest of good will in the welfare of all the people of this city.

He still waits for His Church to establish His invisible kingdom in this centre of commanding influence. No weariness, nor impatience, nor actual pain of sacrifice can justify us in permitting work which He waits to have performed languish in this place to which all nations of Western Asia come to be taught. Let the Church press on this work, adopting for its motto and rule, the words of Constantine the Great, when he believed that he was laying the foundations of the capital of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ: “We will not stop until he stops who goes before us.”

European colony without really knowing

With rare exceptions the result of this state of affairs is that the Turk, if in official position, rubs shoulders with the best part of the European colony without really knowing one of them, or if he is in common life he merely looks at them afar off. In either case the European with whom the Turk comes into real contact is the profligate one—the one who to whom the Turk might perhaps teach morals, or else it is the half-blood Levantine who poses as a European on the strength of his right to wear a hat. The idea of the Western civilization received by the Turk from either of these is that it centres about wine, women, and the roulette table. If he had before no tendency to haunt the drinking houses and brothels of Pera, the Turk gets the impulse to do so from the “ Europeans ” whom he has met, and that very rapidly makes an end of him.

Civilization represented by Western commercial enterprise and isolated from religious principle has been in contact with the people of Constantinople for many many years. Since the Crimean War it has had untrammelled sway. Some of the externals of environment have benefited from this contact. Individuals may sometimes have been lifted out of the quagmires of the mass of the population by glimpses of what manhood really is. But there is no question as to the general result. The result has been the moral deterioration of the city, and the strengthening of the repulsion felt by Turks toward the West.

Constantinople dealt

One of the leading Turkish papers of Constantinople dealt with this subject not long ago. It said that the one positive influence of Western civilization is against faith in God and in favour of drunkenness and debauchery. It pointed to the great number of disorderly houses in Pera, which engulf and destroy large numbers of Mohammedan youth, and it declared in open terms that the family life of Europeans living in Pera is such as to lead to the supposition that marital fidelity is not known there. “ We want none of this Christian civilization,” said the Turk jeep safari bulgaria.

The syndicate of European officials who constitute the Administrators of the Turkish Public Debt, have multiplied several fold the places in Constantinople where liquor is sold. They are proud of this, for it has added to the revenues derived from the tax on liquors and has brought dividends to the holders of Turkish bonds. But it is worthy of note that during two hundred years of commercial intercourse between the Turkish people and civilized Europe, the mercantile colonists living in Constantinople in all the splendour of superior culture, enterprise and business success, have not once tried to do anything for the improvement of the minds or the morals of the native population, whether Mohammedan or Christian. It was the missionary spirit in Roman Catholic and Protestant churches which first gave the city schools that could teach and school books which children could understand.

The incident loses some of its pathos

The incident loses some of its pathos in view of the circumstance that the mob was largely made up of professionals hired to make a disturbance. When officials are in need of cash and salaries are delayed, the officials sometimes be take themselves to the professional collectors, who are women, and who receive a small percentage on the fruits of these extreme measures. The women herd together in mobs to cry in public, watering the pavements with their tears and deluging the palace officials with statements of their wretched condition, until the thing becomes a scandal. Then an Imperial order issues for some small payment of salaries. At the appointed time these women armed with the necessary powers occupy the corridors of the Ministry and repulse every unhappy male creature who attempts to get his pay, until they have drawn the last penny which they can extract from the hard-hearted cashiers.

It has been hinted that the Mohammedan women are quite religious. They are one of the strong bulwarks of Islam; keeping their husbands to religious duty by talking all over the city of any laxness in practice or remissness in faith on the part of their men. But this does not imply any deep convictions private tours istanbul. The prevalent idea respecting religious exercises is that along with various other forms of words they are useful to ward off ill-luck. The women generally are under the sway of superstitions of ancient paganism, looking at worship as a means of placating evil spirits. No one has thought it worth while to free them from belief in demons and local genii and fairies and the evil eve.

Mohammedan woman

A European lady desiring to be friendly with a Mohammedan woman will sometimes speak of the beauty of the little child tugging at its mother’s skirts. It is a most terrible mistake and is regarded as almost an act of enmity. Its dire consequences can only be averted by spitting in the child’s face at once so as to imply to the watchful demons of the house that the child is not highly valued. If a child is sick, the mother will not call a doctor, but will seek some old man or old woman who knows what to recite over it in order to counteract evil influences. Or she will go herself to the tomb of some saint, or to the holy resort of Muslim, Christian, or Jewish neighbours, and there mutter formulas of prayer that promise effective results.

On the top of one of the hills of the Bosphorus which overlooks the Black Sea is a very ancient tomb some forty feet long. Tradition makes it the tomb of Bcbryces, King of Bythinia, who was killed in a boxing bout by Castor and Pollux at the time of the Argonautic Expedition after the Golden Fleece. With characteristic willingness to take possession of good things—” even though found in China ” the Turks have adopted this grave as a shrine. A tablet in the mosque which they have erected at this place says that the tomb is that of Joshua the son of Nun, “ Who defeated the Romans with great slaughter by the power of God, and if any doubts let him read the sacred books of the Christians.”

The wire netting which surrounds the head of this tomb is covered with small bits of rag tied into the wire by Turkish women who have painfully toiled up that great hill in order to present at that tomb some dire need which they hope to keep in the memory of the spirits of the place by the bit of rag tied on the wire in a secure knot. Mohammedans believe that the events of every life are foreseen from eternity and are written on the “ Reserved Tablets ” laid up under the Throne of God. Yet their women maintain the gypsies who foretell the coming storm or sunshine of life from a bag of beans. It is upon the women that those dervishes rely who make a fat living out of their reputed ability to cure the sick by a touch, or to compound a philter for any emergency which will secure the desired result especially if accompanied by a charm written with ink in which ambergris is an ingredient.

Jesus Christ over the heathen world

When Constantine, 1500 years ago, was marking out lines of fortification for his new capital, some of his couriers, surprised at the greatness of the included space, asked “ How far are you going to carry the lines?” “ Until lie stops who goes before me,” was the answer of the Emperor. He deemed the city to belong to Jesus Christ; a token of the triumph of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ over the heathen world. To emphasize this idea, Justinian in reconstructing the Cathedral of St. Sophia, tore from the temples of Jupiter, and Venus, and Diana, and Baal, and Astarte, and Isis, and Osiris through all the region of the Eastern Mediterranean, their finest marbles and most noble columns. And the gracious majesty of that venerable monument to the overthrow of paganism still draws visitors from all parts of the world.

The name of Mohammed gleaming

The church is now a Mohammedan mosque. The name of Mohammed gleaming in letters of gold by the side of the name of God above the place where the Christian altar used to be, testifies to the failure and downfall of Oriental Christianity in that place, and makes this ancient Cathedral a monument to warn men of the doom awaiting political Christianity everywhere. Knowing by experience, ourselves, the blinding splendour of the temptation when the devil insidiously offers to satisfy all cravings of selfishness in return for some small concession—the Kingdoms of the earth in return for admission that the glory of such possession will content our cravings —we may not judge too harshly the fall of the early Church into this snare. But thus it was that this Church, after celebrating here in the fourth century the triumph of Christianity over the pagan world, became itself in the tenth century an object lesson in the capacity of the old pagan covetousness and lust for power to deaden disinterested devotion to Jesus Christ, so that in the fifteenth century the Lord “ removed its candlestick out of its place sightseeing sofia.”

Eastern Roman Empire

By the time that Islam finally crushed the Eastern Roman Empire, the name of Constantinople had long been synonymous in Western Asia with Imperial power. The Arabs to this day give it the dreadful name of Imperial Rome (Rourn) and know its sovereign as the Sultan of Rome. To the people of the whole region between Bokhara and Afghanistan and the Mediterranean this city is the wonderful place where might and wealth and knowledge take their source. As for the Turkish Empire the whole mass of doleful, disheartened territory is a mere appendage to Constantinople. Throughout its whole extent not a church nor a school, nor a factory nor a sawmill nor a village road nor a bridge over a rivulet can be built, not a book or newspaper can be printed nor a printing press set up, not a single petty official can take office without examination of the question at Constantinople. To this city young men in all Turkey look for their career, merchants for their goods, farmers for their market, mechanics for a field for their skill, and day-laborer’s for unlimited employment.

The whole male population of the Empire has for its ideal of success in life the opportunity to spend some years in Constantinople, and a large part of each successive generation attains to this ideal and is thus more or less formed by the influences of the great city. The eyes of all religious denominations too, instinctively turn to Constantinople for instruction in doctrine and polity and for the crown of successful effort. There lives the great head of Mohammedanism in all the world. There the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church still sits in the chair of Chrysostom, unmoved by the vain and restless curiosity respecting the nature of truth which first drove the Western Church into schism, and then tore the wandering schismatics of Rome into separate and discordant sects of many names.

Fine views of the Bosphorus

We were at a tolerable elevation, and now and then got fine views of the Bosphorus. Occasionally, a long smooth piece of turf offered a course for a capital gallop, and the air was so pure and delightful, that our spirits were raised to the highest degree. Hence the thirteen miles between Pera and Buyukdere appeared to be traversed at express speed. I did not see many travellers on the road. Now and then an araba or teleha was met, crawling along—the latter usually filled with Greek girls — and we came up with two or three horsemen, apparently on a journey, and armed to the teeth. Once, also, in the distance, I saw a string of camels, laden, most probably, with charcoal, for Constantinople; but this was all. The difference in traffic which a road of the same relation would have shown, between two of our humblest market-towns in England, was a matter of some interest.

As we approached Buyukdere the country became very rich and beautiful, and a little way out of the village, in a large meadow, I was shown some wonderfully fine plane trees, under which Godfrey de Bouillon was said to have encamped, when on his way to the crusades. This is one of those pleasant local legends, which a traveller never believes, and yet would not spare from any agreeable spot he may be passing. So it is with the Pihine, and William Toll’s country. The plane trees here are finer even than those in the Sultan’s valley, on the opposite side of the Bosphorus. Formerly there were several more, and they grow so closely together that they look as though one root was sending up several huge stems city tours istanbul.

Facing the Bosphorus

We came down to the sufiny water-side, along which the village runs, and stopped at an excellent house — the Hotel de V Empire Ottoman, kept by a Piedmontese and his wife, and facing the Bosphorus. The bill of this establishment was in five languages, — viz., Turkish, Armenian, French, Greek and English; and, for a wonder, there were none of those amusing mistakes in the latter, for which polyglot hotel cards abroad are so famous.

This was one of the loveliest mornings I ever knew. The Bosphorus was sparkling like a stream of liquid lapis-lazuli, and so beautifully clear that all the shells and pebbles at the bottom were perceptible, as well as numbers of gleaming fish. A light cool breeze came up from the Euxine, just moving the pennants of the ships lying about, and the mists on the Asiatic side were gradually lifting up and dispersing, as they revealed the beautiful hills near the Genoese castle. All the pretty card-board waterside palaces, far away on either side, came out brightly in the clear sunlight against the dark woods behind them. Two or three bits of bright color, in the dresses of the people who lounged about, came in exactly where they were wanted, for effect, and all points contributed to make so charming an ensemble, that I marveled how any one, with means and leisure at their command, could give up this glittering spot for the noisome, dusty, corpse-crammed Pera.

Cashmere shawls

Smyrna had, in some measure, prepared me for the general appearance of an oriental bazaar; but the vast extent of these markets at Constantinople created a still more vivid impression. To say that the covered rows of shops must, altogether, be miles in length — that vista after vista opens upon the gaze of the astonished stranger, lined with the costliest productions of the world, each collected in its proper district — that one may walk for an hour, without going over the same ground twice, amidst diamonds, gold, and ivory; Cashmere shawls, and Chinese silks; glittering arms, costly perfumes, embroidered slippers, and mirrors; rare brocades, ermines, Morocco leathers, Persian nick-nacks; amber mouth-pieces, and jewelled pipes —that, looking along the shortest avenue, every known tint and color meets the eye at once, in the wares and costumes, and that the noise, the motion, the novelty of this strange spectacle are at first perfectly bewildering — all the possibly gives the reader the notion of some kind of splendid mart fitted to supply the wants of the glittering personages who figure in the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments; yet it can convey but a poor idea of the real interest which such a place calls forth, or the most extraordinary assemblage of treasures displayed there, amidst so much apparent shabbiness.

Elegant street

No spot in the world — neither the Parisian Boulevards, nor our own Elegant-street — can boast of such an accumulation of valuable wares from afar, as the great bazaar at Constantinople. Hundreds and thousands of miles of rocky road and sandy desert have been traversed by the moaning camels who have carried those silks and precious stones from Persia, with the caravan. From the wild regions of the mysterious central Africa, that ivory, so cunningly worked, in the next row, has been brought — the coal-black people only know how — until the Nile floated it down to Lower Egypt. Then those soft Cashmere shawls have made a long and treacherous journey to Trebizond, whence the fleet barks of the cold and stormy Euxine at last brought them up the fairy Bosphorus to the very water’s edge of the city. From the remote active America; from sturdy England ; from Cadiz, Marseilles, and all along the glowing shores of the Mediterranean, safely carried over the dark and leaping sea, by brave iron monsters that have fought the winds with their scalding breath, — these wares have come, to tempt the purchasers in the pleasant, calm, subdued light of the bazaars of Stamboul.

I have said that each article has its proper bazaar assigned to it. Tims, there L one row for muslins, another for slippers, another for fezzes, for shawls, for arms, for drugs, and so on. let there is no competition amongst the shopkeepers. No struggling to out-placard or out-ad verity each other, as would oeuvre with us in cool-headed, feverish, crafty, credulous London. You must not expect them to pull one thing down after another for yon to look at, until it appears hopeless to conceive that the counter will ever again be tidy, or everything returned to its place. The merchant will show you what you ask for, but no more. He imagines that when you came to buy at his store, you had made up your mind as to what you wanted; and that, not finding it, you will go elsewhere, and leave him to his pipe again.

He knows how to charge, though, but he is easily open to conviction that he has asked too high a price. For the way of dealing with him is as follows. Wanting one of the light scarfs with the fringed ends, which supersede the use of braces in the Levant, I inquired the price at a bazaar stall. The man told me fifty piastres, (half a sovereign.) I immediately offered him five-and- twenty. This he did not take, and I was walking away, when he called me back, and said I should have it. I told him, as he had tried to cheat me, I would not give him more than twenty, now; upon which, without any hesitation, he said it was mine. This plan I afterwards pursued, whenever I made a purchase at Constantinople, and I most generally found it answer. My merry friend at Smyrna had given me the first lesson in its practicability private tour ephesus.

I do not suppose that they ask these high prices, as the French do, because they suppose we are made of money; I believe, on the contrary, that they try to impose on their own countrymen in the same manner; for, to judge from the long haggling and solemn argument which takes place when they buy of each other, the same wide difference of opinion as to a fair value exists between the purchaser and vendor, under every circumstance.

Considered contagious except money

When a ship arrives in a quarantine port, from a suspected district, she is placed under the strictest surveillance. Attendants from the health-office are put on board: everything sent on shore has to undergo purification—if goods, by quarantine; if letters, by fumigation—in fact, everything is considered contagious except money, which is simply received in a vessel of water at the end of a pole by the people in the boats. On the other hand, everything from the shore, touched by anything or any body on the ship, is at once contaminated, and subject to the same quarantine. At Malta, this circumstance leads to many rows with the homeward bound passengers. Yaletta is famous for the manufacture of fine mittens and black lace; and when the overland steamers arrive, the quarantine harbour is filled with the boats of the dealers.

The articles are handed up in boxes at the ends of poles for inspection. The unthinking passengers turn them over to look at, and are immediately compelled to take the whole, because their touch has infected them. At Beyrout, speculators occasionally put off with Syrian curiosities—chaplets of olive-stones, from the Mount of Olives; cedar cones from Lebanon, and the like. On the occasion to which I now allude, a sharp touter had got ahead of his companions, and was beginning to treat with some passengers; selling the aforesaid wonders, and recommending dragomen. The engineer had, as is common, a little bird in his cabin, that was very tame, and used to be permitted to fly about the deck and rigging. It was loose on the morning of the arrival, and when the tooter came alongside, innocently perched on his shoulder. In an instant the quick-eyed guardians observed it. The poor tooter was declared compromised by the contact. He was hurried off to the lazaretto, in spite of his protestations and arguments, for ten days; and the engineer, as owner of the bird, was compelled to pay all the expenses of his incarceration.

The other case was more annoying still. In every lazaretto is a place called the parlatorio, at which the inmates may communicate with their friends. It is very like the grating used for the same purpose at our prisons. There is a double wall of bars, with a space of six or seven feet between them; and articles are pushed backwards and forwards on boards which run across communist bulgaria tour, in boxes fixed to poles. A person in quarantine received a visit from a friend on the first day of his confinement. Laden with treasures of travel, he was exhibiting some beautiful feathers to his friend, when a sudden puff of wind dispersed the collection, and by an evil chance blew one between the bars into the bosom of his innocent visitor.

The unfortunate weight

The unfortunate weight was directly condemned. All egress was denied him; he was told that, of all things, feathers were peculiarly susceptible of plague; and he had to join his friend for the whole term of his imprisonment. In fine, the laws of quarantine appear to be the most rigid of any existing, and cannot by any influence or interest, be evaded. This is not so much to be wondered at when the various incomes derived from enforcing them are taken into consideration; and, indeed, this appears to be, at present, the sole cause of their continuance.

There was a large quantity of beasts of burden awaiting the turn-out—camels, horses, and donkeys. The boys who attended the latter were sad young scamps—little dusky chaps with nothing on but what seemed to be a long blue bedgown. When a stranger appeared, they caught their donkeys by the head, and backed them, all in a heap, against him. In vain the valet beat them furiously about the head, face, and naked legs. They only fell back for an instant, and then all returned to the charge again, shouting, “ I say, master—good jackass ! ” Somehow or another, I was hustled on to one of the donkeys—I am sure I don’t know how; I never chose one—and then we set off at a quick easy amble towards Alexandria.

THE BOSPHORUS

Our lanterns glimmered along the street of Pera that evening at an unwonted hour, quite astonishing the watchmen; and as we crossed the great burying ground the dogs were sleeping about it so thickly, that they looked collecting like a flock of sheep. But they did not annoy us; on the contrary, one poor animal followed us in a most humble manner, as far as the circus; when, probably reflecting that he would overpass his own boundaries, if he came further, he gave a dismal howl of parting salutation, and was immediately lost in the darkness.

THE BOSPHORUS

All my readers know that the Bosphorus is the broad stream of sea water which connects the Euxine with the Sea of Marmora, falling into the latter between Stamboul and Scutari. It is joined at this point by the “ Sweet waters of Europe,” which flow into the upper end of the Golden Horn, as the Liane may be said to do into the Port of Boulogne, to use a familiar example. There is, however, no tide. It is of great importance to the beauties of Constantinople and its neighbourhood that the water is always at the same height.

The length of the Bosphorus is, at a rough guess, about twenty miles. Its course is very winding; its shores are irregular and hilly, broken by small valleys or chines; its banks are covered with picturesque villages, and indeed nearly all along the water’s edge the line of pretty dwellings is unbroken. It divides Europe from Asia, and is the great channel of communication between all the ports of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

On my first disengaged day, I arranged with a friend to make a little voyage up this beautiful stream, in a caique. He was residing at Pera, and made a bargain with two fellows to take us for the day for forty-five piastres, (about ten shillings.) We took a large basket of food—principally consisting of hard eggs, bread, and pale ale; and started from the Tophane landing-place about nine A.M.

The morning was threatening, and it soon began to rain in torrents; so drenching our poor boatmen, in their flimsy white jackets and drawers, that we pulled up at a little cluster of houses, where there was a Greek cafe (properly inscribed Kaipwewv that there might be no mistake about it), and waited until the storm was over private tour Istanbul.

Greeks drinking smoking, and playing cards

The room was crowded with Greeks, drinking, smoking, and playing cards; and in an adjoining room, as many more were absorbed in a game of billiards, played with small ninepins on the cloth. The master had not much to offer beyond some muddy coffee and execrably bad brandy; but he pointed with great pride to a shelf of English pickles, and bottled beer, which, he appeared to have some vague notion, were always taken together. There was also a picture of Queen Victoria, which had been presented gratis with some newspaper—hung up, I suppose, in compliment to the Anglo-Ionian subjects who used the house. The noise and confusion was bewildering, and the intentions of Kussia the sole subject of conversation. In about half an hour, the weather held up, and when we embarked again the scene was most lovely.

The greater part of the noble Turkish fleet was lying at anchor in the middle of the stream. Many ships were sailing down from the Euxine ports, on the sterns of some of which it was pleasant to read the Polly of Sunderland, or the Two Sisters of London : all the caiques had come out of their nooks and corners again, and the roofs of the houses, wet with rain, glistened in the sunlight as though they had been silver.

I can reconceive nothing so exciting as the approach to Constantinople must be, by the Bosphorus, to those travellers who have come down the Danube. The banks display every variety of water scenery. Now the handsome villas and palaces remind one of the edges of an Italian lake, Como or Orta, for instance ; the next turn of the stream brings you to rocky eminences with such ruins on them as you might see on the Rhine or Moselle; and a little further on, gentle hills, covered with hanging woods, rise from the stream, as they might do anywhere between Maidenhead Bridge and Marlow.

PROFIT TO BE DERIVED FROM THE THREATENINGS OF GOD

Now let us return to our subject, and proceed. After we had escaped from these two perils, the king sat himself on he bulwark of the ship, and made me sit at his feet, and spoke hues: “Seneschal, our God has shown us His great power 1 this: that a little wind not one of the four great master hends! has come near to drowning the King of France, is wife, and his children, and all his company. Now are we found to give Him grace and thanks for the peril from which .e has delivered us. Seneschal,” said the king, “ such tribulations, when they come to people, or great sicknesses, I great persecutions, are, as the saints tell us, the threaten- digs of our Saviour.

For just as God says to those who scape from great sicknesses: ‘ Now see how I might have trough your life to an end, had/such been My will,’ even so oculi He now say to us: ‘ You see how I might have drowned of all, had such been My will,’ Now ought we,” continued he king, “ to look to ourselves, and see if there is anything n us that displeases Him, and on account whereof He has hues placed us in fear and jeopardy; and if we find anything n us that displeases Him, we should cast it out. For if we lo otherwise, after the warning He has given us, He will mite us with death, or with some other great tribulation, to he destruction of our bodies and of our souls.” And the The present king, Philip the Fair, whose sister Blanche named Rudolph, the son of the King or Emperor of Germany.

king added: “ Seneschal, the saint says: Lord God, why dost thou threaten us? For if thou destroys us all, Thou wilt be none the poorer; and if Thou saves as alive Thou wilt be none the richer. Whereby we may see,’ says the saint, ‘ that the warnings that God gives us can neither be to His advantage, nor save Him from harm; and that it is only out of His great love that He sends His warnings to awaken us bulgaria tour, so that we may see our defects clearly, and remove from us all that is displeasing to Him.’ Now let us do this,” said the king, “ and we shall be acting wisely.”

THE ISLE OF LAMPEDOUSA

We left the island of Cyprus after we had watered there, and taken in such other things as we required. Then we came to an isle called Lampedousa, where we took a great quantity of conies; and we found an ancient hermitage ir the rocks, and found the garden that the hermits who dwell there had made of old time: where were olives, and figs, and vines, and other trees. The stream from the fountain rare through the garden. The king, and we all, went to the end of the garden, and found an oratory in the first cave, white-washed with lime, and there was there a cross of red earth We entered into the second cave, and found two bodies oil dead men, with the flesh all decayed; the ribs yet held al together, and the bones of the hands were on their breasts and they were laid towards the East, in the same manner that bodies are laid in the earth. ‘When we got back to out ship, we found that one of our mariners was missing; and the master of the ship thought he had remained there to be a hermit: wherefore Nicholas of Soisi, who was the king’s master sergeant, left three bags of biscuit on the shore, so that the mariner might find them, and subsist thereon.

ST. LEWIS FORTIFIES JAFFA

TREATY WITH THE EGYPTIAN EMIRS ST. LEWIS FORTIFIES JAFFA

While the king was fortifying the city of Caesarea, his ivory’s returned from Egypt, and brought with them the eat, as devised by the icing, in the manner already told, nd the covenants between the king and the emirs were such at the king was to go, on a day therein named, to Jaffa; id on the day that the king went to Jaffa the Egyptian lairs were bound by their oaths to be at Gaza to deliver up the king the kingdom of Jerusalem. The treaty, such the envoys brought it, was sworn to by the king, and by e men of note in the host ; and by our oaths we were bound help the emirs against the Soldan of Damascus.

When the Soldan of Damascus knew that we had allied themselves with those in Egypt, he sent full four thousand irks, well appointed, to Gaza, whither those from Egypt ire to come; and this he did because he knew full well that the host from Egypt could join us, it would be to his loss, nevertheless the king did not desist from marching on Jaffa. Tien the Count of Jaffa saw that the king was coming, he eared his castle in such wise that it seemed to be a town :11 capable of defense; for at each of the battlements- of lich there were full five hundred he set a shield, with his us, and a pennon; and this thing was fair to see, for his were with a cross of gules fixate.

We encamped in the fields round the castle, and surrounded the castle, which lies on the sea, from the one sea the other. Forthwith the king betook himself to fortify new burgh, all round the old castle, and going from the one a to the other. Oftentimes I saw the king himself carry- g a hood to the trenches so as to gain the promised indolence.

Aforetime been a Christian

The king asked him where he had learnt French; and he ;aid that he had aforetime been a Christian. Then the king ;aid: “ Away, I will speak to you no further! ” I drew him apart, and asked what was his story. He told me he was aom at Provins, and that he had come to Egypt with King John, and that he was married in Egypt, and a man of great note. And I said: “ Do you not know very well that if you die in this condition you will be damned, and go to hell? ”

And he said “ Yes,” for be was assured no religion was as good as the Christian religion; “ but I dare not face the poverty in which I should be, and the shame, if I returned to you. Every day they would say to me: ‘ Look at that renegade! ’ So I like better to live here rich and at ease rather than put myself ir. such a position as 1 foresee.” And I told him he would have to suffer greater shame in the day of judgment, when his sin would be made manifest to all, than the shame of which he spoke. Many good words did I speak to him, but little did they avail. So he left me, and I never saw LLn more.

THE SUFFERINGS OF THE QUEEN AT DAMIETTA

Now you have heard, in what has gone before, of the great tribulations which the king and all of us endured. From such tribulations the queen did not escape, as you shall presently be told. For, three days before she was brought to bed, ‘-ame the news that the king was taken; with which news she was so affrighted that, as oft as she slept in her bed, it seemed to her that the chamber was full of Saracens, and she cried out, “ Help! help! ” And so that the child she bore in her body should not perish, she caused an ancient knight, of eighty years, to lie near her bed, and hold her by the hand; and every time she so cried out, he said: “ Lady, have no fear, for I am here.”

Before she was brought to bed she caused every one to leave her chamber, save this knight only, and knelt before him, and besought him to do her a service; and the knight consented, and gave her his oath. And she said: “ I ask of you, by the troth you have now pledged me, that if the Saracens take thus city, you will cut off my head before I fall into their hands.” And the knight replied: ‘ Be assured that I shall do so willingly; for I was already fully minded to kill you or ever you should be taken.”

SARACENS PREPARE EOR A GENERAL ATTACK

THE SARACENS PREPARE EOR A GENERAL ATTACK UPON THE CAMP

These things happened on the first day of Lent ( the 9th February 1250). On that very day a valiant Saracen made Scheik by our enemies in the place of Scecedin, the Scheik’s son, whom they had lost in the battle on Shrove Tuesday took the Count of Artois’s coat of arms, and hawed it to all the people of the Saracens, and told them it vas the king’s coat of arms, and that the king was dead.

“ And I show you these things,” said he, “ because a body ^without a head is not to be feared, nor a people without a’ Iwny. if it so please you, we will attack’ them on Friday; and, me seems, you can but agree, for we cannot ail to take them all, seeing they have lost their chief.” and all agreed that they would come and attack us on the Friday.

Camp of the Saracens

The king’s spies, who were in the camp of the Saracens, amen and told these tidings to the king. Then the king commanded all the chiefs of the divisions to cause their people to be armed by- midnight, and to draw them up out- ide the pavilions and within the enclosure (which was made to long stakes of wood so that the Saracens might not throw their selves into the camp; and the stakes were fixed in the round in such manner that you could pass between them in foot). And as the king had commanded, so was it done.

Right at the sun-rising the Saracen before mentioned, whom they had made their chief, brought against us at least our thousand mounted Turks, and ordered them all round camp, and round his own person- -from the river that comes from Babylon to the river that went from our camp ,o a town called Rexi. When they had done this they rough against us such a great number of Saracens on foot hat they surrounded all our camp as the mounted men surrounded it. Besides these two forces (mounted and dismounted) that T am telling you of, they arrayed all the power the Soldan of Babylon, so as to give help if need were.

When they had done this, the chief came all alone, riding in a little stallion, to see the disposal of our host; and accord- ng as he saw that our troops were more numerous in one dace than another, he went back to fetch his men, and enforced his battalions against ours. After this he caused the Bedouins, of whom there were at least three thousand, to pass towards the camp held by the Duke of Burgundy, which lay between the two rivers. And this he did, because ae thought the king would send some of his people to help the duke against the Bedouins, whereby the king’s host would be weakened.

TEE DEVOTIONS OF ST. LEWIS HOW HE DID JUSTICE IN HIS LAND

The rule of his land was so arranged that every day he heard the hours sung, and a Requiem mass wijjiout song; and then, if it was convenient, the mass of the day, or of the saint, with song. Every day he rested in his bed after having eaten, and when he had slept and rested, he said, privily in his chamber he and one of his chaplains together the office for the dead; and after he heard vespers. At night he heard compline’s.

A gray-friar (Franciscan) came to him at the castle of Hydros, there where we disembarked; and said in his sermon, for the king’s instruction, that he had read the Bible, and the books pertaining to heathen princes, and that he had never found, either among believers or misbelievers, that a kingdom had been lost, or had changed lords, save there had first been failure of justice. “ Therefore let the king, who is going into France, take good heed,” said he, “ that he do justice well and speedily among his people, so that our Lord suffer his kingdom to remain in peace all the days of his life.” It is said that the right worthy man who thus instructed the king, lies buried at Marseilles, where our Lord, for his sake, per forms many a fine miracle. He would never consent to remain with the king, however much the king might urge it, for more than a single day.

Gate of Requests

The king forgat not the teaching of the friar, but ruled his land very loyally and godly, as you shall hear. He had so arranged that my Lord of Nesle, and the good Count of Soissons, and all of us who were about him, should go, after we had heard our masses, and hear the pleadings at the gate which is now called the gate of Requests.

And when he came back from church, he would send for us and sit at the foot of his bed, and make us all sit round him, and ask if there were any whose cases could not be settled save by himself in person. And we named the litigants; and re would then send for such and ask: “ Why do you not accept what our people offer? ” And they would make reply, “ Sire, because they offer us very little.” Then would le say, “ You would do well to accept what is proposed, as aura people desire.” And the saintly man endeavored thus, with all his power, to bring them into a straight path and a reasonable.

Ofttimes it happened that he would go, after his mass, and leapt himself in the wood of Vincennes, and lean against an and make us sit round him. And all those who had any muse in hand came and spoke to him, without hindrance of usher, or of any other person. ThIs there any one who has a cause in hand? ”fond those who had a cause in hand stood up. Then would he say, “ Keep silence all, and you shall be heard in turn, one after the other.” Then he would call my Lord Peter of Fontaines and my Lord Geosry of Villette, and say to one of them, “ Settle me this cause. customized guided tour”

And when he saw that there was anything to amend in the words of those who spoke on his behalf, or in the words of those who spoke on behalf of any other person, he would himself, out of his own mouth, amend what they had said. Sometimes have I seen him, in summer, go to do justice among his people in the garden of Paris, clothed in a tunic of camlet, a surcoat of tartan without sleeves, and a mantle of black taffeta about his neck, his hair well combed, no cap, and a hat of white peaock’s feathers upon his head. And he would cause a carpet to be laid down, so that we might sit round him, and all the people who had any cause to bring before him stood around. And then would he have their causes settled, as I have told you afore he was wont to do in the wood of Vincennes.

ST. LEWIS REFUSES AN UNJUST DEMAND MADE BY THE BISHOPS

Smilingly whomsoever it could be shown to him that the excommunicate persons were in the wrong. The bishops said they would accept this condition at no price whatever, as they untested his jurisdiction in their causes. Then the king :old them he would do no other; for it would be against God and reason if he constrained people to seek absolution when he clergy were doing them wrong. “ And of this,” said the ring, “ I will give you an example, viz., that of the Count of Brittany, who, for seven years long, being excommunicated, ^leaded against the prelates of Brittany, and carried his amuse so far that the Apostle (the Pope) condemned them all. Wherefore, if I had constrained the Count of Brittany, at :he end of the first year, to get himself absolved, I should lave sinned against God and against him.” Then the preates resigned themselves; nor did I ever hear tell that any further steps were taken in the aforesaid matters.

Quite near to the church of St Sophia

Thus did the fire prevail, and win across the port, even to the densest part of the city, and to the sea on the other side, quite near to the church of St. Sophia. It lasted two days and two nights, nor could it be put out by the hand of man. And the front of the fire, as it went flaming, was well over half a league broad. What was the damage then done, what the possessions and riches swallowed up, could no man tell nor what the number of men and women and children who perished for many were burned.

Lodged in Constantinople

All the Latins, to whatever land they might belong, who were lodged in Constantinople, dared no longer to remain therein; but they took their wives and their children, and such of their possessions as they could save from the fire, and entered into boats and vessels, and passed over the port and came to the camp of the pilgrims. Nor were they few in number, for there were of them some fifteen thousand, small and great; and afterwards it proved to be of advantage to the pilgrims that these should have crossed over to them. Thus was there division between the Greeks and the Franks; nor were they ever again as much at one as they had been before, for neither side knew on whom to cast the blame for the fire; and this rankled in men’s hearts upon either side.

At that time did a thing befall whereby the barons and those of the host were greatly saddened; for the Abbot of Loos died, who was a holy man and a worthy, and had wished well to the host. He was a monk of the order of the Cistercians.

We pray you by God

And when they had heard him, they cried with one voice: “ We pray you by God that you consent, and do it, and that you come with us! ”

Very great was then the pity and compassion on the part of the people of the land and of the pilgrims: and many were the tears shed, because that worthy and good man would have had so much reason to remain behind, for he was an old man, and albeit his eyes were unclouded, yet he saw naught, having lost his sight through a wound in the head. He was of a great heart. Ah! how little like him were those who had gone to other ports to escape the danger.

Thus he came down from the reading-desk, and went before the altar, and knelt upon his knees greatly weeping. And they sewed the cross on to a great cotton hat, which he wore, in front, because he wished that all men should see it. And the Venetians began to take the cross in great numbers, a great multitude, for up to that day very few had taken the cross. Our pilgrims had much joy in the cross that the Doge took, and were greatly moved, because of the wisdom and the valour that were in him.

Thus did the Doge take the cross, as you have heard. Then the Venetians began to deliver the ships, the galleys, and the transports to the barons, for departure; but so much time had already been spent since the appointed term, that September drew near (1202).

MESSAGE OF ALEXIUS, THE SON OF ISAAC, THE DETHRONED EMPEROR OF CONSTANTINOPLE DEATH OF FULK OF NEU1LLV ARRIVAL OF THE GERMANS

Now give ear to one of the greatest marvels, and most wonderful adventures that you have ever heard tell of. At that time there was an emperor in Constantinople, whose name was Isaac, and he had a brother, Alexius by name, whom he had ransomed from captivity among the Turks. This Alexius took his brother the emperor, tore the eyes out of his head, and made himself emperor by the aforesaid

treachery. He kept Isaac a long time in prison, together with a son whose name was Alexius. This son escaped from prison, and fled in a ship to a city on the sea, which is called Ancona. Thence he departed to go to King Philip of Germany, who had his sister for wife; and he came to Verona in Lombardy, and lodged in the town, and found there a number of pilgrims and other people who were on their way to join the host.

And those who had helped him to escape, and were with him, said: “ Sire, here is an army in Venice, quite near to us, the best and most valiant people and knights that are in the world, and they are going oversea. Cry to them therefore for mercy, that they have pity on thee and on thy father, who have been so wrongfully dispossessed. And if they be willing to help thee, thou shalt be guided by them. Per chance they will take pity on thy estate.” And Alexius said he would do this right willingly, and that the advice was good.

Jerusalem was Heraclius’s last moment of glory

The trip to Jerusalem was Heraclius’s last moment of glory. He fell ill soon afterward; and in the field in the 630s he was represented by other generals, who saw his most important frontiers collapse.

The future lay to the south. Muhammad died in 632, leaving behind a whirlwind prepared to move north, east, and west. The pummeling that Byzantine and Persian forces gave each other and the relative detachment of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt from Byzantine control gave the men of the desert their chance. Just as the northern barbarians had found their strength shadowing the empire they admired, so the Arabs of the desert marches had grown in strength and confidence and were prepared to seize an opportunity. If it was not divine providence that brought them to this moment, they seized it as though it were.

Defeated Theodore

In 634 the Arab armies invaded Syria and defeated Theodore, the emperor’s brother, in a string of battles. Heraclius raised a large army that attacked the Arabs near the Yarmuk River, a tributary of the Jordan, in the fall of 636. After a successful beginning, the larger Byzantine army was defeated and put to flight. Roman Syria was easily taken at that point. The Arabs capitalized on Persia’s disarray by quickly taking the whole of the frontier lands (including Mesopotamia and Armenia) and then Egypt not long afterward. Alexandria fell in 640 after a siege that lasted more than a year. At that time, Muhammad had been dead less than a decade.

What was left for ancient empire? The Balkans, the suburbs of Constantinople, most of Asia Minor, and the African outpost around Carthage that Justinian had seized at such cost. Italy remained, with as much cost as benefit, but the African base would support Constantinople for the sixty years remaining before the Arabs seized it at the turn of the eighth century. (Sicily remained Byzantine much longer: without it, the whole of Byzantine pretension might have fallen.) By the end of the seventh century, the economics of empire had caught up with Constantinople and the city population collapsed.

Heraclius died on February 11, 641, his empire fully and finally in tatters. His two sons failed to establish themselves, and it was his grandson Constans II who became emperor later that year at age eleven, at the onset of what would be a long and pointless reign. Irony alone would accompany him as he visited Rome in 663, the first emperor seen there in two centuries. He was assassinated in his bath in 668, and his successors forgot the west.