norseback, in their robes of silk and embroidery, they were mistaken by the children for kings.36 A matron of Peloponnesus, 37 who had cherished the infant fortunes of Basil the Macedonian, was excited by tenderness or vanity to visit the greatness of her adopted son. In a journey of five hundred miles from Patras to Constantinople, her age or indolence declined the fatigue of an horse or carriage; the soft litter or bed of Danielis was transported on the shoulders of ten robust slaves, and, as they were relieved at easy distances, a band of three hundred was selected for the performance of this service. She was entertained in the Byzantine palace with filial reverence and the honours of a queen; and whatever might be the origin of her wealth, her gifts were not unworthy of the regal dignity. I have already described the fine and curious manufactures of Peloponnesus, of linen, silk, and woollen; but the most acceptable of her presents consisted in three hundred beautiful youths, of whom one hundred were eunuchs;38 "for she was not ignorant," says the historian, "that "the air of the palace is more congenial to such insects, than a shepherd's dairy to the flies of the summer." During her lifetime she bestowed the greater part of her estates in Peloponnesus, and her testament instituted Leo, the son of Basil, her universal heir. After the payment of the legacies, fourscore villas or farms were added to the Imperial domain, and three thousand slaves of Danielis were enfranchised by their new lord, and transplanted as a colony to the Italian coast. From this example of a private matron we may estimate the wealth and magnificence of the emperors. Yet our enjoyments are confined by a narrow circle, and, whatsoever may be its value, the luxury of life is possessed with more innocence and safety by the master of his own, than by the steward of the public, fortune.

66

Imperial

In an absolute government, which levels the distinctions of noble and plebeian birth, the sovereign is the sole fountain of Honours and honour; and the rank, both in the palace and the empire, titles of the depends on the titles and offices which are bestowed and family. resumed by his arbitrary will. Above a thousand years, from Vespasian to Alexius Comnenus," the Caesar was the second person,

In equis vecti (says Benjamin of Tudela) regum filiis videntur persimiles. I prefer the Latin version of Constantine l'Empereur (p. 46) to the French of Baratier (tom. i. p. 49).

"See the account of her journey, munificence, and testament, in the Life of Basil, by his grandson Constantine (c. 74, 75, 76, p. 195-197 [Theophan. Contin. p. 227, sqq., 317, sqq., ed. Bonn]).

Carsamatium (agguadis, Ducange, Gloss.) Græci vocant, amputatis virilibus et virga, puerum eunuchum: quos Verdunenses mercatores ob immensum lucrum facere solent et in Hispaniam ducere (Liutprand, 1. vi. c. 3, p. 470). The last abomination of the abominable slave-trade! Yet I am surprised to find in the xth century such active speculations of commerce in Lorraine.

See the Alexiad (1. iii. p. 78, 79 [ed. Par.; tom. i. p. 147, sq., ed. Bonn]) of Anne VOL. VII.

or at least the second degree, after the supreme title of Augustus was more freely communicated to the sons and brothers of the reigning monarch. To elude without violating his promise to a powerful associate, the husband of his sister, and, without giving himself an equal, to reward the piety of his brother Isaac, the crafty Alexius interposed a new and supereminent dignity. The happy flexibility of the Greek tongue allowed him to compound the names of Augustus and Emperor (Sebastos and Autocrator), and the union produced the sonorous title of Sebastocrator. He was exalted above the Cæsar on the first step of the throne: the public acclamations repeated his name; and he was only distinguished from the sovereign by some peculiar ornaments of the head and feet. The emperor alone could assume the purple or red buskins, and the close diadem or tiara, which imitated the fashion of the Persian kings.40 It was an high pyramidal cap of cloth or silk, almost concealed by a profusion of pearls and jewels: the crown was formed by an horizontal circle and two arches of gold: at the summit, the point of their intersection, was placed a globe or cross, and two strings or lappets of pearl depended on either cheek. Instead of red, the buskins of the Sebastocrator and Cæsar were green; and on their open coronets, or crowns, the precious gems were more sparingly distributed. Beside and below the Cæsar the fancy of Alexius created the Panhypersebastos and the Protosebastos, whose sound and signification will satisfy a Grecian ear. They imply a superiority and a priority above the simple name of Augustus; and this sacred and primitive title of the Roman prince was degraded to the kinsmen and servants of the Byzantine court. The daughter of Alexius applauds with fond complacency this artful gradation of hopes and honours; but the science of words is accessible to the meanest capacity; and this vain dictionary was easily enriched by the pride of his successors. To their favourite sons or brothers they imparted the more lofty appellation of Lord or Despot, which was illustrated with new ornaments and prerogatives, and placed immediately after the person of the emperor himself. The five titles of, 1. Despot; 2. Sebastocrator; 3. Cæsar; 4. Panhypersebastos; and, 5. Protosebastos; were usually confined to the princes of his blood: they were the emanations of his majesty; but as they exercised no regular functions, their existence was useless, and their authority precarious.

Comnena, who, except in filial piety, may be compared to Mademoiselle de Montpensier. In her awful reverence for titles and forms, she styles her father 'Exμονάρχης, the inventor of this royal art, the τέχνη τεχνῶν, and ἐπιστήμη ἐπιστημῶν.

40 Briμμa, sripavos, diádnμa; see Reiske, ad Ceremoniale, p. 14, 15. Ducange has given a learned dissertation on the crowns of Constantinople, Rome, France, &c. (sur Joinville, xxv. p. 289-303); but of his thirty-four models none exactly tally with Anna's description.

Officers of

the state,

But in every monarchy the substantial powers of government must be divided and exercised by the ministers of the palace and treasury, the fleet and army. The titles alone can differ; the palace, and in the revolution of ages, the counts and præfects, and the the prætor and quæstor, insensibly descended, while their army. servants rose above their heads to the first honours of the state. 1. In a monarchy, which refers every object to the person of the prince, the care and ceremonies of the palace form the most respectable department. The Curopalata," so illustrious in the age of Justinian, was supplanted by the Protovestiare, whose primitive functions were limited to the custody of the wardrobe. From thence his jurisdiction was extended over the numerous menials of pomp and luxury; and he presided with his silver wand at the public and private audience. 2. In the ancient system of Constantine, the name of Logothete, or accountant, was applied to the receivers of the finances: the principal officers were distinguished as the Logothetes of the domain, of the posts, the army, the private and public treasure; and the great Logothete, the supreme guardian of the laws and revenues, is compared with the chancellor of the Latin monarchies.42 His discerning eye pervaded the civil administration; and he was assisted, in due subordination, by the eparch or præfect of the city, the first secretary, and the keepers of the privy seal, the archives, and the red or purple ink which was reserved for the sacred signature of the emperor alone. 43 The introductor and interpreter of foreign ambassadors were the great Chiauss 14 and the Dragoman," two names of Turkish origin, and which are still familiar to the Sublime Porte. 3. From

Par exstans curis, solo diademate dispar,

Ordine pro rerum vocitatus Cura-Palati ;

says the African Corippus (de Laudibus Justini, 1. i. 136); and in the same century (the vith) Cassiodorus represents him, who, aureâ virga decoratus, inter obsequia numerosa, ante pedes Regios primus incederet (Variar. vii. 5). But this great officer (unknown) dnriyar, exercising no function, vu di ovduías, was cast down by the modern Greeks to the xvth rank (Codin. c. 5, p. 65 [ed. Par.; p. 35, ed. Bonn]). 2 Nicetas (in Manuel, 1. vii. c. i. [p. 262, ed. Bonn]) defines him as Aarivar [βούλεται] φωνὴ Καγκελάριον, ὡς δ ̓ Έλληνες εἴποιεν Λογοθέτην. Yet the epithet of μέγας was added by the elder Audronicus (Ducange, tom. i. p. 822, 823).

From Leo I. (A.D. 470) the Imperial ink, which is still visible on some original acts, was a mixture of vermilion and cinnabar, or purple. The emperor's guardians, who shared in this prerogative, always marked in green ink the indiction and the month. See the Dictionnaire Diplomatique (tom. i. p. 511-513), a valuable abridg

ment.

The sultan sent a acús to Alexius (Anna Comnena, 1. vi. p. 170 [tom. i. p. 301, ed. Bonn]; Ducange ad loc.); and Pachymer often speaks of the μiyas Thαous (1. vii. c. 1, 1. xii. c. 30, 1. xiii. c. 22). The Chiaoush basha is now at the head of 700 officers (Rycaut's Ottoman Empire, p. 349, octavo edition).

Tagerman is the Arabic name of an interpreter (D'Herbelot, p. 854, 855); Tos τῶν ἑρμηνίων, οὓς κοινῶς ὀνομάζουσι δραγομάνους, says Codinus (c. v. No. 70, p. 67 [p. 40, ed. Bonn]). See Villehardouin (No. 96), Busbequius (Epist. iv. p. 338), and Ducange (Observations sur Villehardouin, and Gloss. Græo. et Latin.).

the humble style and service of guards, the Domestics insensibly rose to the station of generals; the military themes of the East and West, the legions of Europe and Asia, were often divided, till the great Domestic was finally invested with the universal and absolute comniand of the land forces. The Protostrator, in his original functions, was the assistant of the emperor when he mounted on horseback: he gradually became the lieutenant of the great Domestic in the field; and his jurisdiction extended over the stables, the cavalry, and the royal train of hunting and hawking. The Stratopedarch was the great judge of the camp: the Protospathaire commanded the guards; the Constable, the great Eteriarch, and the Acolyth, were the separate chiefs of the Franks, the barbarians, and the Varangi, or English, the mercenary strangers, who, in the decay of the national spirit, formed the nerve of the Byzantine armies. 4. The naval powers were under the command of the great Duke; in his absence they obeyed the great Drungaire of the fleet; and, in his place, the Emir, or Admiral, a name of Saracen extraction," but which has Deen naturalised in all the modern languages of Europe. Of these officers, and of many more whom it would be useless to enumerate, the civil and military hierarchy was framed. Their honours and emoluments, their dress and titles, their mutual salutations and respective pre-eminence, were balanced with more exquisite labour than would have fixed the constitution of a free people; and the code was almost perfect when this baseless fabric, the monument of pride and servitude, was for ever buried in the ruins of the empire."

48

The most lofty titles, and the most humble postures, which devotion Adoration of has applied to the Supreme Being, have been prostituted by the emperor. flattery and fear to creatures of the same nature with ourselves. The mode of adoration,19 of falling prostrate on the ground and kissing the feet of the emperor, was borrowed by Diocletian from Persian servitude; but it was continued and aggravated till the last age of the Greek monarchy. Excepting only on Sundays, when it

46 Kovéstaudes, or xovrósraukos, a corruption from the Latin Comes stabuli, or the French Connétable. In a military sense it was used by the Greeks in the xith century, at least as early as in France.

47 It was directly borrowed from the Normans. In the xiith century Giannone reckons the admiral of Sicily among the great officers.

48 This sketch of honours and offices is drawn from George Codinus Curopalata. who survived the taking of Constantinople by the Turks: his elaborate, though trifling, work (de Officiis Ecclesia et Aula C. P.) has been illustrated by the notes of Goar, and the three books of Gretser, a learned Jesuit.

49 The respectful salutation of carrying the hand to the mouth, ad os, is the root of the Latin word adoro, adorare. See our learned Selden (vol. iii. p. 143-145, 942), in his Titles of Honour. It seems, from the 1st book of Herodotus, to be of Persian origin.

Adoro is a compound of ad and oro, and does not come from ad os, though oro is of the same reot as os.-S.

was waved, from a motive of religious pride, this humiliating reverence was exacted from all who entered the royal presence, from the princes invested with the diadem and purple, and from the ambassadors who represented their independent sovereigns, the caliphs of Asia, Egypt, or Spain, the kings of France and Italy, and the Latin emperors of ancient Rome. In his transactions of business, Liutprand, Reception of bishop of Cremona,50 asserted the free spirit of a Frank and ambassadors. the dignity of his master Otho. Yet his sincerity cannot disguise the abasement of his first audience. When he approached the throne, the birds of the golden tree began to warble their notes, which were accompanied by the roarings of the two lions of gold. With his two companions Liutprand was compelled to bow and to fall prostrate; and thrice he touched the ground with his forehead. He arose ; but in the short interval the throne had been hoisted by an engine from the floor to the ceiling, the Imperial figure appeared in new and more gorgeous apparel, and the interview was concluded in haughty and majestic silence. In this honest and curious narrative the bishop of Cremona represents the ceremonies of the Byzantine court, which are still practised in the Sublime Porte, and which were preserved in the last age by the dukes of Muscovy or Russia. After a long journey by the sea and land, from Venice to Constantinople, the ambassador halted at the golden gate, till he was conducted by the formal officers to the hospitable palace prepared for his reception; but this palace was a prison, and his jealous keepers prohibited all social intercourse either with strangers or natives. At his first audience he offered the gifts of his master-slaves, and golden vases, and costly armour. The ostentatious payment of the officers and troops displayed before his eyes the riches of the empire: he was entertained at a royal banquet,31 in which the ambassadors of the nations were marshalled by the esteem or contempt of the Greeks: from his own table, the emperor, as the most signal favour, sent the plates which he had tasted; and his favourites were dismissed with a robe of honour.52 In the morn

30 The two embassies of Liutprand to Constantinople, all that he saw or suffered in the Greek capital, are pleasantly described by himself (Hist. 1. vi. c. 1-4, p. 469-471; Legatio ad Nicephorum Phocam, p. 479-489).

si Among the amusements of the feast, a boy balanced, on his forehead, a pike or pole, twenty-four feet long, with a cross bar of two cubits a little below the top. Two boys, naked, though cinctured (campestrati), together, and singly, climbed, stood, played, descended, &c., ita me stupidum reddidit: utrum mirabilius nescio (p. 470 [Liutpr. Hist. vi. c. 4]). At another repast an homily of Chrysostom on the Acts of the Apostles was read elatâ voce non Latine (p. 483 [Murat. S. I. t. ii.]).

a

Gala is not improbably derived from Cala, or Caloat, in Arabic a robe of honour (Reiske, Not. in Ceremon. p. 84).b

On the contrary, the passage is: "Hac "in cœnâ voce Latinâ Beati Joannis Chry. "sostomi homiliam in Apostolorum Ac⚫tibus legere jussit.”—S.

This is doubtful. Diez in his Ety. mologisches Wörterbuch der Romanischen Sprachen, p. 159 (Bonn, 1853), assigns to gala a Teutonic origin, and derives it from