The storm increases--'tis no sunny shower,
Foster'd in the moist breast of March or April,
Or such as parched Summer cools his lip with:
Heaven's windows are flung wide; the inmost deeps
Call in hoarse greeting one upon another;
On comes the flood in all its foaming horrors,
And where's the dike shall stop it!
THE DELUGE, _a Poem_.
The distinguished individual who entered was a noble Grecian, of
stately presence, whose habit was adorned with every mark of dignity,
saving those which Alexius had declared sacred to the Emperor's own
person and that of the Sebastocrator, whom he had established as next
in rank to the head of the empire. Nicephorus Briennius, who was in the
bloom of youth, retained all the marks of that manly beauty which had
made the match acceptable to Anna Comnena; while political
considerations, and the desire of attaching a powerful house as
friendly adherents of the throne, recommended the union to the Emperor.
We have already hinted that the royal bride had, though in no great
degree, the very doubtful advantage of years. Of her literary talents
we have seen tokens. Yet it was not believed by those who best knew,
that, with the aid of those claims to respect, Anna Comnena was
successful in possessing the unlimited attachment of her handsome
husband. To treat her with apparent neglect, her connexion with the
crown rendered impossible; while, on the other hand, the power of
Nicephorus's family was too great to permit his being dictated to even
by the Emperor himself. He was possessed of talents, as it was
believed, calculated both for war and peace. His advice was, therefore,
listened to, and his assistance required, so that he claimed complete
liberty with respect to his own time, which he sometimes used with less
regular attendance upon the Temple of the Muses, than the goddess of
the place thought herself entitled to, or than the Empress Irene was
disposed to exact on the part of her daughter. The good-humoured
Alexius observed a sort of neutrality in this matter, and kept it as
much as possible from becoming visible to the public, conscious that it
required the whole united strength of his family to maintain his place
in so agitated an empire.
He pressed his son-in-law's hand, as Nicephorus, passing his
father-in-law's seat, bent his knee in token of homage. The constrained
manner of the Empress indicated a more cold reception of her
son-in-law, while the fair muse herself scarcely deigned to signify her
attention to his arrival, when her handsome mate assumed the vacant
seat by her side, which we have already made mention of.
There was an awkward pause, during which the imperial son-in-law,
coldly received when he expected to be welcomed, attempted to enter
into some light conversation with the fair slave Astarte, who knelt
behind her mistress. This was interrupted by the Princess commanding
her attendant to enclose the manuscript within its appropriate casket,
and convey it with her own hands to the cabinet of Apollo, the usual
scene of the Princess's studies, as the Temple of the Muses was that
commonly dedicated to her recitations.
The Emperor himself was the first to break an unpleasant silence. "Fair
son-in-law," he said, "though it now wears something late in the night,
you will do yourself wrong if you permit our Anna to send away that
volume, with which this company have been so delectably entertained
that they may well say, that the desert hath produced roses, and the
barren rocks have poured forth milk and honey, so agreeable is the
narrative of a toilsome and dangerous campaign, in the language of our
daughter."
"The Caesar," said the Empress, "seems to have little taste for such
dainties as this family can produce. He hath of late repeatedly
absented himself from this Temple of the Muses, and found doubtless
more agreeable conversation and amusement elsewhere."
"I trust, madam," said Nicephorus, "that my taste may vindicate me from
the charge implied. But it is natural that our sacred father should be
most delighted with the milk and honey which is produced for his own
special use."
The Princess spoke in the tone of a handsome woman offended by her
lover, and feeling the offence, yet not indisposed to a reconciliation.
"If," she said, "the deeds of Nicephorus Briennius are less frequently
celebrated in that poor roll of parchment than those of my illustrious
father, he must do me the justice to remember that such was his own
special request; either proceeding from that modesty which is justly
ascribed to him as serving to soften and adorn his other attributes, or
because he with justice distrusts his wife's power to compose their
eulogium."
"We will then summon back Astarte," said the Empress, "who cannot yet
have carried her offering to the cabinet of Apollo."
"With your imperial pleasure," said Nicephorus, "it might incense the
Pythian god were a deposit to be recalled of which he alone can fitly
estimate the value. I came hither to speak with the Emperor upon
pressing affairs of state, and not to hold a literary conversation with
a company which I must needs say is something of a miscellaneous
description, since I behold an ordinary life-guardsman in the imperial
circle."
"By the rood, son-in-law," said Alexius, "you do this gallant man
wrong. He is the brother of that brave Anglo-Dane who secured the
victory at Laodicea by his valiant conduct and death; he himself is
that Edmund--or Edward---or Hereward---to whom we are ever bound for
securing the success of that victorious day. He was called into our
presence, son-in-law, since it imports that you should know so much, to
refresh the memory of any Follower, Achilles Tatius, as well as mine
own, concerning some transactions of the day of which we had become in
some degree oblivious."
"Truly, imperial sir," answered Briennius, "I grieve that, by having
intruded on some such important researches, I may have, in some degree,
intercepted a portion of that light which is to illuminate future ages.
Methinks that in a battle-field, fought under your imperial guidance,
and that of your great captains, your evidence might well supersede the
testimony of such a man as this.--Let me know," he added, turning
haughtily to the Varangian, "what particular thou canst add, that is
unnoticed in the Princess's narrative?"
The Varangian replied instantly, "Only that when we made a halt at the
fountain, the music that was there made by the ladies of the Emperor's
household, and particularly by those two whom I now behold, was the
most exquisite that ever reached my ears."
"Hah! darest thou to speak so audacious an opinion?" exclaimed
Nicephorus; "is it for such as thou to suppose for a moment that the
music which the wife and daughter of the Emperor might condescend to
make, was intended to afford either matter of pleasure or of criticism
to every plebeian barbarian who might hear them? Begone from this
place! nor dare, on any pretext, again to appear before mine
eyes--under allowance always of our imperial father's pleasure."
The Varangian bent his looks upon Achilles Tatius, as the person from
whom he was to take his orders to stay or withdraw. But the Emperor
himself took up the subject with considerable dignity.
"Son," he said, "we cannot permit this. On account of some love
quarrel, as it would seem, betwixt you and our daughter, you allow
yourself strangely to forget our imperial rank, and to order from our
presence those whom we have pleased to call to attend us. This is
neither right nor seemly, nor is it our pleasure that this same
Hereward--or Edward--or whatever be his name--either leave us at this
present moment, or do at any time hereafter regulate himself by any
commands save our own, or those of our Follower, Achilles Tatius. And
now, allowing this foolish affair, which I think was blown among us by
the wind, to pass as it came, without farther notice, we crave to know
the grave matters of state which brought you to our presence at so late
an hour.--You look again at this Varangian.--Withhold not your words, I
pray you, on account of his presence; for he stands as high in our
trust, and we are convinced with as good reason, as any counsellor who
has been sworn our domestic servant."
"To hear is to obey," returned the Emperor's son-in-law, who saw that
Alexius was somewhat moved, and knew that in such cases it was neither
safe nor expedient to drive him to extremity. "What I have to say,"
continued he, "must so soon be public news, that it little matters who
hears it; and yet the West, so full of strange changes, never sent to
the Eastern half of the globe tidings so alarming as those I now come
to tell your Imperial Highness. Europe, to borrow an expression from
this lady, who honours me by calling me husband, seems loosened from
its foundations and about to precipitate itself upon Asia"----
"So I did express myself," said the Princess Anna Comnena, "and, as I
trust, not altogether unforcibly, when we first heard that the wild
impulse of those restless barbarians of Europe had driven a tempest as
of a thousand nations upon our western frontier, with the extravagant
purpose, as they pretended, of possessing themselves of Syria, and the
holy places there marked as the sepulchres of prophets, the martyrdom
of saints, and the great events detailed in the blessed gospel. But
that storm, by all accounts, hath burst and passed away, and we well
hoped that the danger had gone with it. Devoutly shall we sorrow to
find it otherwise."
"And otherwise we must expect to find it," said her husband. "It is
very true, as reported to us, that a huge body of men, of low rank and
little understanding, assumed arms at the instigation of a mad hermit,
and took the road from Germany to Hungary, expecting miracles to be
wrought in their favour, as when Israel was guided through the
wilderness by a pillar of flame and a cloud. But no showers of manna or
of quails relieved their necessities, or proclaimed them the chosen
people of God. No waters gushed from the rock for their refreshment.
They were enraged at their sufferings, and endeavoured to obtain
supplies by pillaging the country. The Hungarians, and other nations on
our western frontiers, Christians, like themselves, did not hesitate to
fall upon this disorderly rabble; and immense piles of bones, in wild
passes and unfrequented deserts, attest the calamitous defeats which
extirpated these unholy pilgrims."
"All this," said the Emperor, "we knew before;--but what new evil now
threatens, since we have already escaped so important a one?"
"Knew before?" said the Prince Nicephorus. "We knew nothing of our real
danger before, save that a wild herd of animals, as brutal and as
furious as wild bulls, threatened to bend their way to a pasture for
which they had formed a fancy, and deluged the Grecian empire, and its
vicinity, in their passage, expecting that Palestine, with its streams
of milk and honey, once more awaited them, as God's predestined people.
But so wild and disorderly an invasion had no terrors for a civilized
nation like the Romans. The brute herd was terrified by our Greek fire;
it was snared and shot down by the wild nations who, while they pretend
to independence, cover our frontier as with a protecting fortification.
The vile multitude has been consumed even by the very quality of the
provisions thrown in their way,--those wise means of resistance which
were at once suggested by the paternal care of the Emperor, and by his
unfailing policy. Thus wisdom has played its part, and the bark over
which the tempest had poured its thunder, has escaped, notwithstanding
all its violence. But the second storm, by which the former is so
closely followed, is of a new descent of these Western nations, more
formidable than any which we or our fathers have yet seen. This
consists not of the ignorant or of the fanatical--not of the base, the
needy, and the improvident. Now,--all that wide Europe possesses of
what is wise and worthy, brave and noble, are united by the most
religious vows, in the same purpose."
"And what is that purpose? Speak plainly," said Alexius. "The
destruction of our whole Roman empire, and the blotting out the very
name of its chief from among the princes of the earth, among which it
has long been predominant, can alone be an adequate motive for a
confederacy such as thy speech infers."
"No such design is avowed," said Nicephorus; "and so many princes, wise
men, and statesmen of eminence, aim, it is pretended, at nothing else
than the same extravagant purpose announced by the brute multitude who
first appeared in these regions. Here, most gracious Emperor, is a
scroll, in which you will find marked down a list of the various armies
which, by different routes, are approaching the vicinity of the empire.
Behold, Hugh of Vermandois, called from his dignity Hugh the Great, has
set sail from the shores of Italy. Twenty knights have already
announced their coming, sheathed in armour of steel, inlaid with gold,
bearing this proud greeting:--'Let the Emperor of Greece, and his
lieutenants, understand that Hugo, Earl of Vermandois, is approaching
his territories. He is brother to the king of kings--The King of
France,[Footnote: Ducange pours out a whole ocean of authorities to
show that the King of France was in those days styled _Rex_, by way of
eminence. See his notes on the Alexiad. Anna Comnena in her history
makes Hugh, of Vermandois assume to himself the titles which could
only, in the most enthusiastic Frenchman's opinion, have been claimed
by his older brother, the reigning monarch.] namely--and is attended by
the flower of the French nobility. He bears the blessed banner of St.
Peter, intrusted to his victorious care by the holy successor of the
apostle, and warns thee of all this, that thou mayst provide a
reception suitable to his rank.'"
"Here are sounding words," said the Emperor; "but the wind which
whistles loudest is not always most dangerous to the vessel. We know
something of this nation of France, and have heard more. They are as
petulant at least as they are valiant; we will flatter their vanity
till we get time and opportunity for more effectual defence. Tush! if
words can pay debt, there is no fear of our exchequer becoming
insolvent.--What follows here, Nicephorus? A list, I suppose, of the
followers of this great count?"
"My liege, no!" answered Nicephorus Briennius; "so many independent
chiefs, as your Imperial Highness sees in that memorial, so many
independent European armies are advancing by different routes towards
the East, and announce the conquest of Palestine from the infidels as
their common object."
"A dreadful enumeration," said the Emperor, as he perused the list;
"yet so far happy, that its very length assures us of the impossibility
that so many princes can be seriously and consistently united in so
wild a project. Thus already my eyes catch the well-known name of an
old friend, our enemy--for such are the alternate chances of peace and
war--Bohemond of Antioch. Is not he the son of the celebrated Robert of
Apulia, so renowned among his countrymen, who raised himself to the
rank of grand duke from a simple cavalier, and became sovereign of
those of his warlike nation, both in Sicily and Italy? Did not the
standards of the German Emperor, of the Roman Pontiff, nay, our own
imperial banners, give way before him; until, equally a wily statesman
and a brave warrior, he became the terror of Europe, from being a
knight whose Norman castle would have been easily garrisoned by six
cross-bows, and as many lances? It is a dreadful family, a race of
craft as well as power. But Bohemond, the son of old Robert, will
follow his father's politics. He may talk of Palestine and of the
interests of Christendom, but if I can make his interests the same with
mine, he is not likely to be guided by any other object. So then, with
the knowledge I already possess of his wishes and projects, it may
chance that Heaven sends us an ally in the guise of an enemy.--Whom
have we next? Godfrey [Footnote: Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower
Lorraine--the great Captain of the first Crusade, afterwards King of
Jerusalem. See Gibbon,--or Mills, _passim_.] Duke of Bouillon--leading,
I see, a most formidable band from the banks of a huge river called the
Rhine. What is this person's character?"
"As we hear," replied Nicephorus, "this Godfrey is one of the wisest,
noblest, and bravest of the leaders who have thus strangely put
themselves in motion; and among a list of independent princes, as many
in number as those who assembled for the siege of Troy, and followed,
most of them, by subjects ten times more numerous, this Godfrey may be
regarded as the Agamemnon. The princes and counts esteem him, because
he is the foremost in the ranks of those whom they fantastically call
Knights, and also on account of the good faith and generosity which he
practises in all his transactions. The clergy give him credit for the
highest zeal for the doctrines of religion, and a corresponding respect
for the Church and its dignitaries. Justice, liberality, and frankness,
have equally attached to this Godfrey the lower class of the people.
His general attention to moral obligations is a pledge to them that his
religion is real; and, gifted with so much that is excellent, he is
already, although inferior in rank, birth, and power to many chiefs of
the crusade, justly regarded as one of its principal leaders."
"Pity," said the Emperor, "that a character such as you describe this
Prince to be, should be under the dominion of a fanaticism scarce
worthy of Peter the Hermit, or the clownish multitude which he led, or
of the very ass which he rode upon! which I am apt to think the wisest
of the first multitude whom we beheld, seeing that it ran away towards
Europe as soon as water and barley became scarce."
"Might I be permitted here to speak, and yet live," said Agelastes, "I
would remark that the Patriarch himself made a similar retreat so soon
as blows became plenty and food scarce."
"Thou hast hit it, Agelastes," said the Emperor; "but the question now
is, whether an honorable and important principality could not be formed
out of part of the provinces of the Lesser Asia, now laid waste by the
Turks. Such a principality, methinks, with its various advantages of
soil, climate, industrious inhabitants, and a healthy atmosphere, were
well worth the morasses of Bouillon. It might be held as a dependence
upon the sacred Roman empire, and garrisoned, as it were, by Godfrey
and his victorious Franks, would be a bulwark on that point to our just
and sacred person. Ha! most holy patriarch, would not such a prospect
shake the most devout Crusader's attachment to the burning sands of
Palestine?"
"Especially," answered the Patriarch, "if the prince for whom such a
rich _theme_ [Footnote: These provinces were called _Themes_.] was
changed into a feudal appanage, should be previously converted to the
only true faith, as your Imperial Highness undoubtedly means."
"Certainly--most unquestionably," answered the Emperor, with a due
affectation of gravity, notwithstanding he was internally conscious how
often he had been compelled, by state necessities, to admit, not only
Latin Christians, but Manicheans, and other heretics, nay, Mahomedan
barbarians, into the number of his subjects, and that without
experiencing opposition from the scruples of the Patriarch. "Here I
find," continued the Emperor, "such a numerous list of princes and
principalities in the act of approaching our boundaries, as might well
rival the armies of old, who were said to have drunk up rivers,
exhausted realms, and trode down forests, in their wasteful advance."
As he pronounced these words, a shade of paleness came over the
Imperial brow, similar to that which had already clothed in sadness
most of his counsellors.
"This war of nations," said Nicephorus, "has also circumstances
distinguishing it from every other, save that which his Imperial
Highness hath waged in former times against those whom we are
accustomed to call Franks. We must go forth against a people to whom
the strife of combat is as the breath of their nostrils; who, rather
than not be engaged in war, will do battle with their nearest
neighbours, and challenge each other to mortal fight, as much in sport
as we would defy a comrade to a chariot-race. They are covered with an
impenetrable armour of steel, defending them from blows of the lance
and sword, and which the uncommon strength of their horses renders them
able to support, though one of ours could as well bear Mount Olympus
upon his loins. Their foot-ranks carry a missile weapon unknown to us,
termed an arblast, or cross-bow. It is not drawn with the right hand,
like the bow of other nations, but by placing the feet upon the weapon
itself, and pulling with the whole force of the body; and it despatches
arrows called bolts, of hard wood pointed with iron, which the strength
of the bow can send through the strongest breastplates, and even
through stone walls, where not of uncommon thickness."
"Enough," said the Emperor; "we have seen with our own eyes the lances
of Frankish knights, and the cross-bows of their infantry. If Heaven
has allotted them a degree of bravery, which to other nations seems
wellnigh preternatural, the Divine will has given to the Greek councils
that wisdom which it hath refused to barbarians; the art of achieving
conquest by wisdom rather than brute force--obtaining by our skill in
treaty advantages which victory itself could not have procured. If we
have not the use of that dreadful weapon, which our son-in-law terms
the cross-bow, Heaven, in its favour, has concealed from these western
barbarians the composition and use of the Greek fire--well so called,
since by Grecian hands alone it is prepared, and by such only can its
lightnings be darted upon the astonished foe." The Emperor paused, and
looked around him; and although the faces of his counsellors still
looked blank, he boldly proceeded:--"But to return yet again to this
black scroll, containing the names of those nations who approach our
frontier, here occur more than one with which, methinks, old memory
should make us familiar, though our recollections are distant and
confused. It becomes us to know who these men are, that we may avail
ourselves of those feuds and quarrels among them, which, being blown
into life, may happily divert them from the prosecution of this
extraordinary attempt in which they are now united. Here is, for
example, one Robert, styled Duke of Normandy, who commands a goodly
band of counts, with which title we are but too well acquainted; of
_earls_, a word totally strange to us, but apparently some barbaric
title of honour; and of knights whose names are compounded, as we
think, chiefly of the French language, but also of another jargon,
which we are not ourselves competent to understand. To you, most
reverend and most learned Patriarch, we may fittest apply for
information on this subject."
"The duties of my station," replied the patriarch Zosimus, "have
withheld my riper years from studying the history of distant realms;
but the wise Agelastes, who hath read as many volumes as would fill the
shelves of the famous Alexandrian library, can no doubt satisfy your
Imperial Majesty's enquiries."
Agelastes erected himself on those enduring legs which had procured him
the surname of Elephant, and began a reply to the enquiries of the
Emperor, rather remarkable for readiness than accuracy. "I have read,"
said he, "in that brilliant mirror which reflects the time of our
fathers, the volumes of the learned Procopius, that the people
separately called Normans and Angles are in truth the same race, and
that Normandy, sometimes so called, is in fact a part of a district of
Gaul. Beyond, and nearly opposite to it, but separated by an arm of the
sea, lies a ghastly region, on which clouds and tempests for ever rest,
and which is well known to its continental neighbours as the abode to
which departed spirits are sent after this life. On one side of the
strait dwell a few fishermen, men possessed of a strange charter, and
enjoying singular privileges, in consideration of their being the
living ferrymen who, performing the office of the heathen Charon, carry
the spirits of the departed to the island which is their residence
after death. At the dead of night, these fishermen are, in rotation,
summoned to perform the duty by which they seem to hold the permission
to reside on this strange coast. A knock is heard at the door of his
cottage who holds the turn of this singular service, sounded by no
mortal hand. A whispering, as of a decaying breeze, summons the
ferryman to his duty. He hastens to his bark on the sea-shore, and has
no sooner launched it than he perceives its hull sink sensibly in the
water, so as to express the weight of the dead with whom it is filled.
No form is seen, and though voices are heard, yet the accents are
undistinguishable, as of one who speaks in his sleep. Thus he traverses
the strait between the continent and the island, impressed with the
mysterious awe which affects the living when they are conscious of the
presence of the dead. They arrive upon the opposite coast, where the
cliffs of white chalk form a strange contrast with the eternal darkness
of the atmosphere. They stop at a landing-place appointed, but
disembark not, for the land is never trodden by earthly feet. Here the
passage-boat is gradually lightened of its unearthly inmates, who
wander forth in the way appointed to them, while the mariners slowly
return to their own side of the strait, having performed for the time
this singular service, by which they hold their fishing-huts and their
possessions on that strange coast." Here he ceased, and the Emperor
replied,--
"If this legend be actually told us by Procopius, most learned
Agelastes, it shows that that celebrated historian came more near the
heathen than the Christian belief respecting the future state. In
truth, this is little more than the old fable of the infernal Styx.
Procopius, we believe, lived before the decay of heathenism, and, as we
would gladly disbelieve much which he hath told us respecting our
ancestor and predecessor Justinian, so we will not pay him much credit
in future in point of geographical knowledge.--Meanwhile, what ails
thee, Achilles Tatius, and why dost thou whisper with that soldier?"
"My head," answered Achilles Tatius, "is at your imperial command,
prompt to pay for the unbecoming trespass of my tongue. I did but ask
of this Hereward here what he knew of this matter; for I have heard my
Varangians repeatedly call themselves Anglo-Danes, Normans, Britons, or
some other barbaric epithet, and I am sure that one or other, or it may
be all, of these barbarous sounds, at different times serve to
designate the birth-place of these exiles, too happy in being banished
from the darkness of barbarism, to the luminous vicinity of your
imperial presence."
"Speak, then, Varangian, in the name of Heaven," said the Emperor, "and
let us know whether we are to look for friends or enemies in those men
of Normandy who are now approaching our frontier. Speak with courage,
man; and if thou apprehendest danger, remember thou servest a prince
well qualified to protect thee."
"Since I am at liberty to speak," answered the life-guardian, "although
my knowledge of the Greek language, which you term the Roman, is but
slight, I trust it is enough to demand of his Imperial Highness, in
place of all pay, donative, or gift whatsoever, since he has been
pleased to talk of designing such for me, that he would place me in the
first line of battle which shall be formed against these same Normans,
and their Duke Robert; and if he pleases to allow me the aid of such
Varangians as, for love of me, or hatred of their ancient tyrants, may
be disposed to join their arms to mine, I have little doubt so to
settle our long accounts with these men, that the Grecian eagles and
wolves shall do them the last office, by tearing the flesh from their
bones."
"What dreadful feud is this, my soldier," said the Emperor, "that after
so many years still drives thee to such extremities when the very name
of Normandy is mentioned?"
"Your Imperial Highness shall be judge!" said the Varangian. "My
fathers, and those of most, though not all of the corps to whom I
belong, are descended from a valiant race who dwelt in the North of
Germany, called Anglo-Saxons. Nobody, save a priest possessed of the
art of consulting ancient chronicles, can even guess how long it is
since they came to the island of Britain, then distracted with civil
war. They came, however, on the petition of the natives of the island,
for the aid of the Angles was requested by the southern inhabitants.
Provinces were granted in recompense of the aid thus liberally
afforded, and the greater proportion of the island became, by degrees,
the property of the Anglo-Saxons, who occupied it at first as several
principalities, and latterly as one kingdom, speaking the language, and
observing the laws, of most of those who now form your imperial
body-guard of Varangians, or exiles. In process of time, the Northmen
became known to the people of the more southern climates. They were so
called from their coming from the distant regions of the Baltic Sea--an
immense ocean, sometimes frozen with ice as hard as the cliffs of Mount
Caucasus. They came seeking milder regions than nature had assigned
them at home; and the climate of France being delightful, and its
people slow in battle, they extorted from them the grant of a large
province which was, from the name of the new settlers, called Normandy,
though I have heard my father say that was not its proper appellation.
They settled there under a Duke, who acknowledged the superior
authority of the King of France, that is to say, obeying him when it
suited his convenience so to do.
"Now, it chanced many years since, while these two nations of Normans
and Anglo-Saxons were quietly residing upon different sides of the
salt-water channel which divides France from England, that William,
Duke of Normandy, suddenly levied a large army, came over to Kent,
which is on the opposite side of the channel, and there defeated in a
great battle, Harold, who was at that time King of the Anglo-Saxons. It
is but grief to tell what followed. Battles have been fought in old
time, that have had dreadful results, which years, nevertheless, could
wash away; but at Hastings--O woe's me!--the banner of my country fell,
never again to be raised up. Oppression has driven her wheel over us.
All that was valiant amongst us have left the land; and of
Englishmen--for such is our proper designation--no one remains in
England save as the thrall of the invaders. Many men of Danish descent,
who had found their way on different occasions to England, were blended
in the common calamity. All was laid desolate by the command of the
victors. My father's home lies now an undistinguished ruin, amid an
extensive forest, composed out of what were formerly fair fields and
domestic pastures, where a manly race derived nourishment by
cultivating a friendly soil. The fire has destroyed the church where
sleep the fathers of my race; and I, the last of their line, am a
wanderer in other climates--a fighter of the battles of others--the
servant of a foreign, though a kind master; in a word, one of the
banished--a Varangian."
"Happier in that station" said Achilles Tatius, "than in all the
barbaric simplicity which your forefathers prized so highly, since you
are now under the cheering influence of that smile which is the life of
the world."
"It avails not talking of this," said the Varangian, with a cold
gesture.
"These Normans" said the Emperor, "are then the people by whom the
celebrated island of Britain is now conquered and governed?"
"It is but too true" answered the Varangian.
"They are, then, a brave and warlike people?"--said Alexius.
"It would be base and false to say otherwise of an enemy" said
Hereward. "Wrong have they done me, and a wrong never to be atoned; but
to speak falsehood of them were but a woman's vengeance. Mortal enemies
as they are to me, and mingling with all my recollections as that which
is hateful and odious, yet were the troops of Europe mustered, as it
seems they are likely to be, no nation or tribe dared in gallantry
claim the advance of the haughty Norman."
"And this Duke Robert, who is he?"
"That," answered the Varangian, "I cannot so well explain. He is the
son--the eldest son, as men say, of the tyrant William, who subdued
England when I hardly existed, or was a child in the cradle. That
William, the victor of Hastings, is now dead, we are assured by
concurring testimony; but while it seems his eldest son Duke Robert has
become his heir to the Duchy of Normandy, some other of his children
have been so fortunate as to acquire the throne of England,--unless,
indeed, like the petty farm of some obscure yeoman, the fair kingdom
has been divided among the tyrant's issue."
"Concerning this," said the Emperor, "we have heard something, which we
shall try to reconcile with the soldier's narrative at leisure, holding
the words of this honest Varangian as positive proof, in whatsoever he
avers from his own knowledge.--And now, my grave and worthy
counsellors, we must close this evening's service in the Temple of the
Muses, this distressing news, brought us by our dearest son-in-law the
Caesar, having induced us to prolong our worship of these learned
goddesses, deeper into the night than is consistent with the health of
our beloved wife and daughter; while to ourselves, this intelligence
brings subject for grave deliberation."
The courtiers exhausted their ingenuity in forming the most ingenious
prayers, that all evil consequences should be averted which could
attend this excessive vigilance.
Nicephorus and his fair bride spoke together as a pair equally desirous
to close an accidental breach between them. "Some things thou hast
said, my Caesar," observed the lady, "in detailing this dreadful
intelligence, as elegantly turned as if the nine goddesses, to whom
this temple is dedicated, had lent each her aid to the sense and
expression."
"I need none of their assistance," answered Nicephorus, "since I
possess a muse of my own, in whose genius are included all those
attributes which the heathens vainly ascribed to the nine deities of
Parnassus!"
"It is well," said the fair historian, retiring by the assistance of
her husband's arm; "but if you will load your wife with praises far
beyond her merits, you must lend her your arm to support her under the
weighty burden you have been pleased to impose." The council parted
when the imperial persons had retired, and most of them sought to
indemnify themselves in more free though less dignified circles, for
the constraint which they had practised in the Temple of the Muses.