Agelastes gained his threshold before Count Robert of Paris and his
lady. He had, therefore, time to make his prostrations before a huge
animal, then unknown to the western world, but now universally
distinguished as the elephant. On its back was a pavilion or palanquin,
within which were enclosed the august persons of the Empress Irene, and
her daughter Anna Comnena. Nicephorus Briennius attended the Princesses
in the command of a gallant body of light horse, whose splendid armour
would have given more pleasure to the crusader, if it had possessed
less an air of useless wealth and effeminate magnificence. But the
effect which it produced in its appearance was as brilliant as could
well be conceived. The officers alone of this _corps de garde_ followed
Nicephorus to the platform, prostrated themselves while the ladies of
the Imperial house descended, and rose up again under a cloud of waving
plumes and flashing lances, when they stood secure upon the platform in
front of the building. Here the somewhat aged, but commanding form of
the Empress, and the still juvenile beauties of the fair historian,
were seen to great advantage. In the front of a deep back-ground of
spears and waving crests, stood the sounder of the sacred trumpet,
conspicuous by his size and the richness of his apparel; he kept his
post on a rock above the stone staircase, and, by an occasional note of
his instrument, intimated to the squadrons beneath that they should
stay their progress, and attend the motions of the Empress and the wife
of the Caesar.
The fair form of the Countess Brenhilda, and the fantastic appearance
of her half masculine garb, attracted the attention of the ladies of
Alexius' family, but was too extraordinary to command their admiration.
Agelastes became sensible there was a necessity that he should
introduce his guests to each other, if he desired they should meet on
satisfactory terms. "May I speak," he said, "and live? The armed
strangers whom you find now with me are worthy companions of those
myriads, whom zeal for the suffering inhabitants of Palestine has
brought from the western extremity of Europe, at once to enjoy the
countenance of Alexius Comnenus, and to aid him, since it pleases him
to accept their assistance, in expelling the Paynims from the bounds of
the sacred empire, and garrison those regions in their stead, as
vassals of his Imperial Majesty."
"We are pleased," said the Empress, "worthy Agelastes, that you should
be kind to those who are disposed to be so reverent to the Emperor. And
We are rather disposed to talk with them ourselves, that our daughter
(whom Apollo hath gifted with the choice talent of recording what she
sees) may become acquainted with one of those female warriors of the
West, of whom we have heard so much by common fame, and yet know so
little with certainty."
"Madam," said the Count, "I can but rudely express to you what I have
to find fault with in the explanation which this old man hath given of
our purpose in coming hither. Certain it is, we neither owe Alexius
fealty, nor had we the purpose of paying him any, when we took the vow
upon ourselves which brought us against Asia. We came, because we
understood that the Holy Land had been torn from the Greek Emperor by
the Pagans, Saracens, Turks, and other infidels, from whom we are come
to win it back. The wisest and most prudent among us have judged it
necessary to acknowledge the Emperor's authority, since there was no
such safe way of passing to the discharge of our vow, as that of
acknowledging fealty to him, as the best mode of preventing quarrels
among Christian States. We, though independent of any earthly king, do
not pretend to be greater men than they, and therefore have
condescended to pay the same homage."
The Empress coloured several times with indignation in the course of
this speech, which, in more passages than one, was at variance with
those imperial maxims of the Grecian court, which held its dignity so
high, and plainly intimated a tone of opinion which was depreciating to
the Emperor's power. But the Empress Irene had received instructions
from her imperial spouse to beware how she gave, or even took, any
ground of quarrel with the crusaders, who, though coming in the
appearance of subjects, were, nevertheless, too punctilious and ready
to take fire, to render them safe discussers of delicate differences.
She made a graceful reverence accordingly, as if she had scarce
understood what the Count of Paris had explained so bluntly.
At this moment the appearance of the principal persons on either hand
attracted, in a wonderful degree, the attention of the other party, and
there seemed to exist among them a general desire of further
acquaintance, and, at the same time, a manifest difficulty in
expressing such a wish.
Agelastes--to begin with the master of the house--had risen from the
ground indeed, but without venturing to assume an upright posture; he
remained before the Imperial ladies with his body and head still bent,
his hand interposed between his eyes and their faces, like a man that
would shade his eyesight from the level sun, and awaited in silence the
commands of those to whom he seemed to think it disrespectful to
propose the slightest action, save by testifying in general, that his
house and his slaves were at their unlimited command. The Countess of
Paris, on the other hand, and her warlike husband, were the peculiar
objects of curiosity to Irene, and her accomplished daughter, Anna
Comnena; and it occurred to both these Imperial ladies, that they had
never seen finer specimens of human strength and beauty; but by a
natural instinct, they preferred the manly bearing of the husband to
that of the wife, which seemed to her own sex rather too haughty and
too masculine to be altogether pleasing.
Count Robert and his lady had also their own object of attention in the
newly arrived group, and, to speak truth, it was nothing else than the
peculiarities of the monstrous animal which they now saw, for the first
time, employed as a beast of burden in the service of the fair Irene
and her daughter. The dignity and splendour of the elder Princess, the
grace and vivacity of the younger, were alike lost in Brenhilda's
earnest inquiries into the history of the elephant, and the use which
it made of its trunk, tusks, and huge ears, upon different occasions.
Another person, who took a less direct opportunity to gaze on Brenhilda
with a deep degree of interest, was the Caesar, Nicephorus. This Prince
kept his eye as steadily upon the Frankish Countess as he could well
do, without attracting the attention, and exciting perhaps the
suspicions, of his wife and mother-in-law; he therefore endeavoured to
restore speech to an interview which would have been awkward without
it. "It is possible," he said, "beautiful Countess, that this being
your first visit to the Queen, of the world, you have never hitherto
seen the singularly curious animal called the elephant."
"Pardon me," said the Countess, "I have been treated by this learned
gentleman to a sight, and some account of that wonderful creature."
By all who heard this observation, the Lady Brenhilda was supposed to
have made a satirical thrust at the philosopher himself, who, in the
imperial court, usually went by the name of the elephant.
"No one could describe the beast more accurately than Agelastes," said
the Princess, with a smile of intelligence, which went round her
attendants.
"He knows its docility, its sensibility, and its fidelity," said the
philosopher, in a subdued tone.
"True, good Agelastes," said the Princess; "we should not criticise the
animal which kneels to take us up.--Come, lady of a foreign land," she
continued, turning to the Frank Count, and especially his
Countess--"and you her gallant lord! When you return to your native
country, you shall say you have seen the imperial family partake of
their food, and in so far acknowledge themselves to be of the same clay
with other mortals, sharing their poorest wants, and relieving them in
the same manner."
"That, gentle lady, I can well believe," said Count Robert; "my
curiosity would be more indulged by seeing this strange animal at his
food."
"You will see the elephant more conveniently at his mess within doors,"
answered the Princess, looking at Agelastes.
"Lady," said Brenhilda, "I would not willingly refuse an invitation
given in courtesy, but the sun has waxed low unnoticed, and we must
return to the city."
"Be not afraid," said the fair historian; "you shall have the advantage
of our Imperial escort to protect you in your return."
"Fear?---afraid?--escort?--protect?--These are words I know not. Know,
lady, that my husband, the noble Count of Paris, is my sufficient
escort; and even were he not with me, Brenhilda de Aspramonte fears
nothing, and can defend herself."
"Fair daughter," said Agelastes, "if I may be permitted to speak, you
mistake the gracious intentions of the Princess, who expresses herself
as to a lady of her own land. What she desires is to learn from you
some of the most marked habits and manners of the Franks, of which you
are so beautiful an example; and in return for such information the
illustrious Princess would be glad to procure your entrance to those
spacious collections, where animals from all corners of the habitable
world have been assembled at the command of our Emperor Alexius, as if
to satisfy the wisdom of those sages to whom all creation is known,
from the deer so small in size that it is exceeded by an ordinary rat,
to that huge and singular inhabitant of Africa that can browse on the
tops of trees that are forty feet high, while the length of its
hind-legs does not exceed the half of that wondrous height."
"It is enough," said the Countess, with some eagerness; but Agelastes
had got a point of discussion after his own mind.
"There is also," he said, "that huge lizard, which, resembling in shape
the harmless inhabitant of the moors of other countries, is in Egypt a
monster thirty feet in length, clothed in impenetrable scales, and
moaning over his prey when he catches it, with the hope and purpose of
drawing others within his danger, by mimicking the lamentations of
humanity."
"Say no more, father!" exclaimed the lady. "My Robert, we will go--will
we not, where such objects are to be seen?"
"There is also," said Agelastes, who saw that he would gain his point
by addressing himself to the curiosity of the strangers, "the huge
animal, wearing on its back an invulnerable vestment, having on its
nose a horn, and sometimes two, the folds of whose hide are of the most
immense thickness, and which never knight was able to wound."
"We will go, Robert--will we not?" reiterated the Countess.
"Ay," replied the Count, "and teach, these Easterns how to judge of a
knight's sword, by a single blow of my trusty Tranchefer."
"And who knows," said Brenhilda, "since this is a land of enchantment,
but what some person, who is languishing in a foreign shape, may have
their enchantment unexpectedly dissolved by a stroke of the good
weapon?"
"Say no more, father!" exclaimed the Count. "We will attend this
Princess, since such she is, were her whole escort bent to oppose our
passage, instead of being by her command to be our guard. For know, all
who hear me, thus much of the nature of the Franks, that when you tell
us of danger and difficulties, you give us the same desire to travel
the road where they lie, as other men have in seeking either pleasure
or profit in the paths in which such are to be found."
As the Count pronounced these words, he struck his hand upon his
Tranchefer, as an illustration of the manner in which he purposed upon
occasion to make good his way. The courtly circle startled somewhat at
the clash of steel, and the fiery look of the chivalrous Count Robert.
The Empress indulged her alarm by retreating into the inner apartment
of the pavilion.
With a grace, which was rarely deigned to any but those in close
alliance with the Imperial family, Anna Comnena took the arm of the
noble Count. "I see," she said, "that the Imperial Mother has honoured
the house of the learned Agelastes, by leading the way; therefore, to
teach you Grecian breeding must fall to my share." Saying this she
conducted him to the inner apartment.
"Fear not for your wife," she said, as she noticed the Frank look
round; "our husband, like ourselves, has pleasure in showing attention
to the stranger, and will lead the Countess to our board. It is not the
custom of the Imperial family to eat in company with strangers; but we
thank Heaven for having instructed us in that civility, which can know
no degradation in dispensing with ordinary rules to do honour to
strangers of such merit as yours. I know it will be my mother's
request, that you will take your places without ceremony; and also,
although the grace be somewhat particular, I am sure that it will have
my Imperial father's approbation.
"Be it as your ladyship lists," said Count Robert. "There are few men
to whom I would yield place at the board, if they had not gone before
me in the battle-field. To a lady, especially so fair a one, I
willingly yield my place, and bend my knee, whenever I have the good
hap to meet her."
The Princess Anna, instead of feeling herself awkward in the discharge
of the extraordinary, and, as she might have thought it, degrading
office of ushering a barbarian chief to the banquet, felt, on the
contrary, flattered, at having bent to her purpose a heart so obstinate
as that of Count Robert, and elated, perhaps, with a certain degree of
satisfied pride while under his momentary protection.
The Empress Irene had already seated herself at the head of the table.
She looked with some astonishment, when her daughter and son-in-law,
taking their seats at her right and left hand, invited the Count and
Countess of Paris, the former to recline, the latter to sit at the
board, in the places next to themselves; but she had received the
strictest orders from her husband to be deferential in every respect to
the strangers, and did not think it right, therefore, to interpose any
ceremonious scruples.
The Countess took her seat, as indicated, beside the Caesar; and the
Count, instead of reclining in the mode of the Grecian men, also seated
himself in the European fashion by the Princess.
"I will not lie prostrate," said he, laughing, "except in consideration
of a blow weighty enough to compel me to do so; nor then either, if I
am able to start up and return it."
The service of the table then began, and, to say truth, it appeared to
be an important part of the business of the day. The officers who
attended to perform their several duties of deckers of the table,
sewers of the banquet, removers and tasters to the Imperial family,
thronged into the banqueting room, and seemed to vie with each other in
calling upon Agelastes for spices, condiments, sauces, and wines of
various kinds, the variety and multiplicity of their demands being
apparently devised _ex preposito_, for stirring the patience of the
philosopher. But Agelastes, who had anticipated most of their requests,
however unusual, supplied them completely, or in the greatest part, by
the ready agency of his active slave Diogenes, to whom, at the same
time, he contrived to transfer all blame for the absence of such
articles as he was unable to provide.
"Be Homer my witness, the accomplished Virgil, and the curious felicity
of Horace, that, trifling and unworthy as this banquet was, my note of
directions to this thrice unhappy slave gave the instructions to
procure every ingredient necessary to convey to each dish its proper
gusto.--Ill-omened carrion that thou art, wherefore placedst thou the
pickled cucumber so far apart from the boar's head? and why are these
superb congers unprovided with a requisite quantity of fennel? The
divorce betwixt the shell-fish and the Chian wine, in a presence like
this, is worthy of the divorce of thine own soul from thy body; or, to
say the least, of a lifelong residence in the Pistrinum." While thus
the philosopher proceeded with threats, curses, and menaces against his
slave, the stranger might have an opportunity of comparing the little
torrent of his domestic eloquence, which the manners of the times did
not consider as ill-bred, with the louder and deeper share of adulation
towards his guests. They mingled like the oil with the vinegar and
pickles which Diogenes mixed for the sauce. Thus the Count and Countess
had an opportunity to estimate the happiness and the felicity reserved
for those slaves, whom the Omnipotent Jupiter, in the plenitude of
compassion for their state, and in guerdon of their good morals, had
dedicated to the service of a philosopher. The share they themselves
took in the banquet, was finished with a degree of speed which gave
surprise not only to their host, but also to the Imperial guests.
The Count helped himself carelessly out of a dish which stood near him,
and partaking of a draught of wine, without enquiring whether it was of
the vintage which the Greeks held it matter of conscience to mingle
with that species of food, he declared himself satisfied; nor could the
obliging entreaties of his neighbour, Anna Comnena, induce him to
partake of other messes represented as being either delicacies or
curiosities. His spouse ate still more moderately of the food which
seemed most simply cooked, and stood nearest her at the board, and
partook of a cup of crystal water, which she slightly tinged with wine,
at the persevering entreaty of the Caesar. They then relinquished the
farther business of the banquet, and leaning back upon their seats,
occupied themselves in watching the liberal credit done to the feast by
the rest of the guests present.
A modern synod of gourmands would hardly have equalled the Imperial
family of Greece seated, at a philosophical banquet, whether in the
critical knowledge displayed of the science of eating in all its
branches, or in the practical cost and patience with which they
exercised it. The ladies, indeed, did not eat much of any one dish, but
they tasted of almost all that were presented to them, and their name
was Legion. Yet, after a short time, in Homeric phrase, the rage of
thirst and hunger was assuaged, or, more probably, the Princess Anna
Comnena was tired of being an object of some inattention to the guest
who sat next her, and who, joining his high military character to his
very handsome presence, was a person by whom few ladies would willingly
be neglected. There is no new guise, says our father Chaucer, but what
resembles an old one; and the address of Anna Comnena to the Frankish
Count might resemble that of a modern lady of fashion, in her attempts
to engage in conversation the _exquisite_, who sits by her side in an
apparently absent fit. "We have piped unto you," said the Princess,
"and you have not danced! We have sung to you the jovial chorus of
_Evoe, evoe,_ and you will neither worship Comus nor Bacchus! Are we
then to judge you a follower of the Muses, in whose service, as well as
in that of Phoebus, we ourselves pretend to be enlisted?"
"Fair lady," replied the Frank, "be not offended at my stating once for
all, in plain terms, that I am a Christian man, spitting at, and
bidding defiance to Apollo, Bacchus, Comus, and all other heathen
deities whatsoever."
"O! cruel interpretation of my unwary words!" said the Princess; "I did
but mention the gods of music, poetry, and eloquence, worshipped by our
divine philosophers, and whose names are still used to distinguish the
arts and sciences over which they presided--and the Count interprets it
seriously into a breach of the second commandment! Our Lady preserve
me, we must take care how we speak, when our words are so sharply
interpreted."
The Count laughed as the Princess spoke. "I had no offensive meaning,
madam," he said, "nor would I wish to interpret your words otherwise
than as being most innocent and praiseworthy. I shall suppose that your
speech contained all that was fair and blameless. You are, I have
understood, one of those who, like our worthy host, express in
composition the history and feats of the warlike time in which you
live, and give to the posterity which shall succeed us, the knowledge
of the brave deeds which have been achieved in our day. I respect the
task to which you have dedicated yourself, and know not how a lady
could lay after ages under an obligation to her in the same degree,
unless, like my wife, Brenhilda, she were herself to be the actress of
deeds which she recorded. And, by the way, she now looks towards her
neighbour at the table, as if she were about to rise and leave him; her
inclinations are towards Constantinople, and, with your ladyship's
permission, I cannot allow her to go thither alone."
"That you shall neither of you do," said Anna Comnena; "since we all go
to the capital directly, and for the purpose of seeing those wonders of
nature, of which numerous examples have been collected by the splendour
of my Imperial father.--If my husband seems to have given offence to
the Countess, do not suppose that it was intentionally dealt to her; on
the contrary, you will find the good man, when you are better
acquainted with him, to be one of those simple persons who manage so
unhappily what they mean for civilties, that those to whom they are
addressed receive them frequently in another sense."
The Countess of Paris, however, refused again to sit down to the table
from which she had risen, so that Agelastes and his Imperial guests saw
themselves under the necessity either to permit the strangers to
depart, which they seemed unwilling to do, or to detain them by force,
to attempt which might not perhaps have been either safe or pleasant;
or, lastly, to have waived the etiquette of rank and set out along with
them, at the same time managing their dignity, so as to take the
initiatory step, though the departure took place upon the motion of
their wilful guests. Much tumult there was--bustling, disputing, and
shouting--among the troops and officers who were thus moved from their
repast, two hours at least sooner than had been experienced upon
similar occasions in the memory of the oldest among them. A different
arrangement of the Imperial party likewise seemed to take place by
mutual consent.
Nicephorus Briennius ascended the seat upon the elephant, and remained
there placed beside his august mother-in-law. Agelastes, on a
sober-minded palfrey, which permitted him to prolong his philosophical
harangues at his own pleasure, rode beside the Countess Brenhilda, whom
he made the principal object of his oratory. The fair historian, though
she usually travelled in a litter, preferred upon this occasion a
spirited horse, which enabled her to keep pace with Count Robert of
Paris, on whose imagination, if not his feelings, she seemed to have it
in view to work a marked impression. The conversation of the Empress
with her son-in-law requires no special detail. It was a tissue of
criticisms upon the manners and behaviour of the Franks, and a hearty
wish that they might be soon transported from the realms of Greece,
never more to return. Such was at least the tone of the Empress, nor
did the Caesar find it convenient to express any more tolerant opinion
of the strangers. On the other hand, Agelastes made a long circuit ere
he ventured to approach the subject which he wished to introduce. He
spoke of the menagerie of the Emperor as a most superb collection of
natural history; he extolled different persons at court for having
encouraged Alexius Comnenus in this wise and philosophical amusement.
But, finally, the praise of all others was abandoned that the
philosopher might dwell upon that of Nicephorus Briennius, to whom the
cabinet or collection of Constantinople was indebted, he said, for the
principal treasures it contained.
"I am glad it is so," said the haughty Countess, without lowering her
voice or affecting any change of manner; "I am glad that he understands
some things better worth understanding than whispering with stranger
young women. Credit me, if he gives much license to his tongue among
such women of nay country as these stirring times may bring hither,
some one or other of them will fling him into the cataract which dashes
below."
"Pardon me, fair lady," said Agelastes; "no female heart could meditate
an action so atrocious against so fine a form as that of the Caesar
Nicephorus Briennius."
"Put it not on that issue, father," said the offended Countess; "for,
by my patroness Saint, our Lady of the Broken Lances, had it not been
for regard to these two ladies, who seemed to intend some respect to my
husband and myself, that same Nicephorus should have been as perfectly
a Lord of the Broken Bones as any Caesar who has borne the title since
the great Julius!"
The philosopher, upon this explicit information, began to entertain
some personal fear for himself, and hastened, by diverting the
conversation, which he did with great dexterity, to the story of Hero
and Leander, to put the affront received out of the head of this
unscrupulous Amazon.
Meantime, Count Robert of Paris was engrossed, as it may be termed, by
the fair Anna Comnena. She spoke on all subjects, on some better,
doubtless, others worse, but on none did she suspect herself of any
deficiency; while the good Count wished heartily within himself that
his companion had been safely in bed with the enchanted Princess of
Zulichium. She performed, right or wrong, the part of a panegyrist of
the Normans, until at length the Count, tired of hearing her prate of
she knew not exactly what, broke in as follows:--
"Lady," he said, "notwithstanding I and my followers are sometimes so
named, yet we are not Normans, who come hither as a numerous and
separate body of pilgrims, under the command of their Duke Robert, a
valiant, though extravagant, thoughtless, and weak man. I say nothing
against the fame of these Normans. They conquered, in our fathers'
days, a kingdom far stronger than their own, which men call England; I
see that you entertain some of the natives of which country in your
pay, under the name of Varangians. Although defeated, as I said, by the
Normans, they are, nevertheless, a brave race; nor would we think
ourselves much dishonoured by mixing in battle with them. Still we are
the valiant Franks, who had their dwelling on the eastern banks of the
Rhine and of the Saale, who were converted to the Christian faith by
the celebrated Clovis, and are sufficient, by our numbers and courage,
to re-conquer the Holy Land, should all Europe besides stand neutral in
the contest."
There are few things more painful to the vanity of a person like the
Princess, than the being detected in an egregious error, at the moment
she is taking credit to herself for being peculiarly accurately
informed.
"A false slave, who knew not what he was saying, I suppose," said the
Princess, "imposed upon me the belief that the Varangians were the
natural enemies of the Normans. I see him marching there by the side of
Achilles Tatius, the leader of his corps.--Call him hither, you
officers!--Yonder tall man, I mean, with the battle-axe upon his
shoulder."
Hereward, distinguished by his post at the head of the squadron, was
summoned from thence to the presence of the Princess, where he made his
military obeisance with a cast of sternness in his aspect, as his
glance lighted upon the proud look of the Frenchman who rode beside
Anna Comnena.
"Did I not understand thee, fellow," said Anna Comnena, "to have
informed me, nearly a month ago, that the Normans and the Franks were
the same people, and enemies to the race from which you spring?"
"The Normans are our mortal enemies, Lady," answered Hereward, "by whom
we were driven from our native land. The Franks are subjects of the
same Lord-Paramount with the Normans, and therefore they neither love
the Varangians, nor are beloved by them."
"Good fellow," said the French Count, "you do the Franks wrong, and
ascribe to the Varangians, although not unnaturally, an undue degree of
importance, when you suppose that a race which has ceased to exist as
an independent nation for more than a generation, can be either an
object of interest or resentment to such as we are."
"I am no stranger," said the Varangian, "to the pride of your heart, or
the precedence which you assume over those who have been less fortunate
in war than yourselves. It is God who casteth down and who buildeth up,
nor is there in the world a prospect to which the Varangians would look
forward with more pleasure than that a hundred of their number should
meet in a fair field, either with the oppressive Normans, or their
modern compatriots, the vain Frenchmen, and let God be the judge which
is most worthy of victory."
"You take an insolent advantage of the chance," said the Count of
Paris, "which gives you an unlooked-for opportunity to brave a
nobleman."
"It is my sorrow and shame," said the Varangian, "that that opportunity
is not complete; and that there is a chain around me which forbids me
to say, Slay me, or I'll kill thee before we part from this spot!"
"Why, thou foolish and hot-brained churl," replied the Count, "what
right hast thou to the honour of dying by my blade? Thou art mad, or
hast drained the ale-cup so deeply that thou knowest not what thou
thinkest or sayest."
"Thou liest," said the Varangian; "though such a reproach be the utmost
scandal of thy race."
The Frenchman motioned his hand quicker than light to his sword, but
instantly withdrew it, and said with dignity, "thou canst not offend
me."
"But thou," said the exile, "hast offended me in a matter which can
only be atoned by thy manhood."
"Where and how?" answered the Count; "although it is needless to ask
the question, which thou canst not answer rationally."
"Thou hast this day," answered the Varangian, "put a mortal affront
upon a great prince, whom thy master calls his ally, and by whom thou
hast been received with every rite of hospitality. Him thou hast
affronted as one peasant at a merry-making would do shame to another,
and this dishonour thou hast done to him in the very face of his own
chiefs and princes, and the nobles from every court of Europe."
"It was thy master's part to resent my conduct," said the Frenchman,
"if in reality he so much felt it as an affront."
"But that," said Hereward, "did not consist with the manners of his
country to do. Besides that, we trusty Varangians esteem ourselves
bound by our oath as much to defend our Emperor, while the service
lasts, on every inch of his honour as on every foot of his territory; I
therefore tell thee, Sir Knight, Sir Count, or whatever thou callest
thyself, there is mortal quarrel between thee and the Varangian guard,
ever and until thou hast fought it out in fair and manly battle, body
to body, with one of the said Imperial Varangians, when duty and
opportunity shall permit:--and so God schaw the right!"
As this passed in the French language, the meaning escaped the
understanding of such Imperialists as were within hearing at the time;
and the Princess, who waited with some astonishment till the Crusader
and the Varangian had finished their conference, when it was over, said
to him with interest, "I trust you feel that poor man's situation to be
too much at a distance from your own, to admit of your meeting him in
what is termed knightly battle?"
"On such a question," said the knight, "I have but one answer to any
lady who does not, like my Brenhilda, cover herself with a shield, and
bear a sword by her side, and the heart of a knight in her bosom."
"And suppose for once," said the Princess Anna Comnena, "that I
possessed such titles to your confidence, what would your answer be to
me?"
"There can be little reason for concealing it," said the Count. "The
Varangian is a brave man, and a strong one; it is contrary to my vow to
shun his challenge, and perhaps I shall derogate from my rank by
accepting it; but the world is wide, and he is yet to be born who has
seen Robert of Paris shun the face of mortal man. By means of some
gallant officer among the Emperor's guards, this poor fellow, who
nourishes so strange an ambition, shall learn that he shall have his
wish gratified."
"And then?"--said Anna Comnena.
"Why, then," said the Count, "in the poor man's own language, God schaw
the right!"
"Which is to say," said the Princess, "that if my father has an officer
of his guards honourable enough to forward so pious and reasonable a
purpose, the Emperor must lose an ally, in whose faith he puts
confidence, or a most trusty and faithful soldier of his personal
guard, who has distinguished himself upon many occasions?"
"I am happy to hear," said the Count, "that the man bears such a
character. In truth, his ambition ought to have some foundation. The
more I think of it, the rather am I of opinion that there is something
generous, rather than derogatory, in giving to the poor exile, whose
thoughts are so high and noble, those privileges of a man of rank,
which some who were born in such lofty station are too cowardly to
avail themselves of. Yet despond not, noble Princess; the challenge is
not yet accepted of, and if it was, the issue is in the hand of God. As
for me, whose trade is war, the sense that I have something so serious
to transact with this resolute man, will keep me from other less
honourable quarrels, in which a lack of occupation might be apt to
involve me."
The Princess made no farther observation, being resolved, by private
remonstrance to Achilles Tatius, to engage him to prevent a meeting
which might be fatal to the one or the other of two brave men. The town
now darkened before them, sparkling, at the same time, through its
obscurity, by the many lights which illuminated the houses of the
citizens. The royal cavalcade held their way to the Golden Gate, where
the trusty centurion put his guard under arms to receive them.
"We must now break off, fair ladies," said the Count, as the party,
having now dismounted, were standing together at the private gate of
the Blacquernal Palace, "and find as we can, the lodgings which we
occupied last night."
"Under your favour, no," said the Empress. "You must be content to take
your supper and repose in quarters more fitting your rank; and," added
Irene, "with no worse quartermaster than one of the Imperial family who
hag been your travelling companion."
This the Count heard, with considerable inclination to accept the
hospitality which was so readily offered. Although as devoted as a man
could well be to the charms of his Brenhilda, the very idea never
having entered his head of preferring another's beauty to hers, yet,
nevertheless, he had naturally felt himself flattered by the attentions
of a woman of eminent beauty and very high rank; and the praises with
which the Princess had loaded him, had not entirely fallen to the
ground. He was no longer in the humour in which the morning had found
him, disposed to outrage the feelings of the Emperor, and to insult his
dignity; but, flattered by the adroit sycophancy which the old
philosopher had learned from the schools, and the beautiful Princess
had been gifted with by nature, he assented to the Empress's proposal;
the more readily, perhaps, that the darkness did not permit him to see
that there was distinctly a shade of displeasure on the brow of
Brenhilda. Whatever the cause, she cared not to express it, and the
married pair had just entered that labyrinth of passages through which
Hereward had formerly wandered, when a chamberlain, and a female
attendant, richly dressed, bent the knee before them, and offered them
the means and place to adjust their attire, ere they entered the
Imperial presence. Brenhilda looked upon her apparel and arms, spotted
with the blood of the insolent Scythian, and, Amazon as she was, felt
the shame of being carelessly and improperly dressed. The arms of the
knight were also bloody, and in disarrangement.
"Tell my female squire, Agatha, to give her attendance," said the
Countess. "She alone is in the habit of assisting to unarm and to
attire me."
"Now, God be praised," thought the Grecian lady of the bed-chamber,
"that I am not called to a toilet where smiths' hammers and tongs are
like to be the instruments most in request!"
"Tell Marcian, my armourer," said the Count, "to attend with the silver
and blue suit of plate and mail which I won in a wager from the Count
of Thoulouse." [Footnote: Raymond Count of Thoulouse, and St. Giles,
Duke of Carboune, and Marquis of Provence, an aged warrior who had won
high distinction in the contests against the Saracens in Spain, was the
chief leader of the Crusaders from the south of France. His title of
St. Giles is corrupted by Anna Comnena into _Sangles_, by which name
she constantly mentions him in the Alexiad.]
"Might I not have the honour of adjusting your armour," said a
splendidly drest courtier, with some marks of the armourer's
profession, "since I have put on that of the Emperor himself?--may his
name be sacred!"
"And how many rivets hast thou clenched upon the occasion with this
hand," said the Count, catching hold of it, "which looks as if it had
never been washed, save with milk of roses,--and with this childish
toy?" pointing to a hammer with ivory haft and silver head, which,
stuck into a milk-white kidskin apron, the official wore as badges of
his duty. The armourer fell back in some confusion. "His grasp," he
said to another domestic, "is like the seizure of a vice!"
While this little scene passed apart, the Empress Irene, her daughter,
and her son-in-law, left the company, under pretence of making a
necessary change in their apparel. Immediately after, Agelastes was
required to attend the Emperor, and the strangers were conducted to two
adjacent chambers of retirement, splendidly fitted up, and placed for
the present at their disposal, and that of their attendants. There we
shall for a time leave them, assuming, with the assistance of their own
attendants, a dress which their ideas regarded as most fit for a great
occasion; those of the Grecian court willingly keeping apart from a
task which they held nearly as formidable as assisting at the lair of a
royal tiger or his bride.
Agelastes found the Emperor sedulously arranging his most splendid
court-dress; for, as in the court of Pekin, the change of ceremonial
attire was a great part of the ritual observed at Constantinople.
"Thou hast done well, wise Agelastes," said Alexius to the philosopher,
as he approached with abundance of prostrations and genuflexions--"Thou
hast done well, and we are content with thee. Less than thy wit and
address must have failed in separating from their company this tameless
bull, and unyoked heifer, over whom, if we obtain influence, we shall
command, by every account, no small interest among those who esteem
them the bravest in the host."
"My humble understanding," said Agelastes, "had been infinitely
inferior to the management of so prudent and sagacious a scheme, had it
not been shaped forth and suggested by the inimitable wisdom of your
most sacred Imperial Highness."
"We are aware," said Alexius, "that we had the merit of blocking forth
the scheme of detaining these persons, either by their choice as
allies, or by main force as hostages. Their friends, ere yet they have
missed them, will be engaged in war with the Turks, and at no liberty,
if the devil should suggest such an undertaking, to take arms against
the sacred empire. Thus, Agelastes, we shall obtain hostages at least
as important and as valuable as that Count of Vermandois, whose liberty
the tremendous Godfrey of Bouillon extorted from us by threats of
instant war."
"Pardon," said Agelastes, "if I add another reason to those which of
themselves so heavily support your august resolution. It is possible
that we may, by observing the greatest caution and courtesy towards
these strangers, win them in good earnest to our side."
"I conceive you, I conceive you,"--said the Emperor; "and this very
night I will exhibit myself to this Count and his lady in the royal
presence chamber, in the richest robes which our wardrobe can furnish.
The lions of Solomon shall roar, the golden tree of Comnenus shall
display its wonders, and the feeble eyes of these Franks shall be
altogether dazzled by the splendour of the empire. These spectacles
cannot but sink into their minds, and dispose them to become the allies
and servants of a nation so much more powerful, skilful, and wealthy
than their own--Thou hast something to say, Agelastes. Years and long
study have made thee wise; though we have given our opinion, thou mayst
speak thine own, and live."
Thrice three times did Agelastes press his brow against the hem of the
Emperor's garment, and great seemed his anxiety to find such words as
might intimate his dissent from his sovereign, yet save him from the
informality of contradicting him expressly.
"These sacred words, in which your sacred Highness has uttered your
most just and accurate opinions, are undeniable, and incapable of
contradiction, were any vain enough to attempt to impugn them.
Nevertheless, be it lawful to say, that men show the wisest arguments
in vain to those who do not understand reason, just as you would in
vain exhibit a curious piece of limning to the blind, or endeavour to
bribe, as scripture saith, a sow by the offer of a precious stone. The
fault is not, in such case, in the accuracy of your sacred reasoning,
but in the obtuseness and perverseness of the barbarians to whom it is
applied."
"Speak more plainly," said the Emperor; "how often must we tell thee,
that in cases in which we really want counsel, we know we must be
contented to sacrifice ceremony?"
"Then in plain words," said Agelastes, "these European barbarians are
like no others under the cope of the universe, either on the things on
which they look with desire, or on those which they consider as
discouraging. The treasures of this noble empire, so far as they
affected their wishes, would merely inspire them with the desire to go
to war with a nation possessed of so much wealth, and who, in their
self-conceited estimation, were less able to defend, than they
themselves are powerful to assail. Of such a description, for instance,
is Bohemond of Tarentum,--and such, a one is many a crusader less able
and sagacious than he;--for I think I need not tell your Imperial
Divinity, that he holds his own self-interest to be the devoted guide
of his whole conduct through this extraordinary war; and that,
therefore, you can justly calculate his course, when once you are aware
from which point of the compass the wind of avarice and self-interest
breathes with respect to him. But there are spirits among the Franks of
a very different nature, and who must be acted upon by very different
motives, if we would make ourselves masters of their actions, and the
principles by which they are governed. If it were lawful to do so, I
would request your Majesty to look at the manner by which an artful
juggler of your court achieves his imposition upon the eyes of
spectators, yet needfully disguises the means by which he attains his
object. This people--I mean the more lofty-minded of these crusaders,
who act up to the pretences of the doctrines which they call
chivalry--despise the thirst of gold, and gold itself, unless to hilt
their swords, or to furnish forth some necessary expenses, as alike
useless and contemptible. The man who can be moved by the thirst of
gain, they contemn, scorn, and despise, and liken him, in the meanness
of his objects, to the most paltry serf that ever followed the plough,
or wielded the spade. On the other hand, if it happens that they
actually need gold, they are sufficiently unceremonious in taking it
where they can most easily find it. Thus, they are neither easily to be
bribed by giving them sums of gold, nor to be starved into compliance
by withholding what chance may render necessary for them. In the one
case, they set no value upon the gift of a little paltry yellow dross;
in the other, they are accustomed to take what they want."
"Yellow dross," interrupted Alexius. "Do they call that noble metal,
equally respected by Roman and barbarian, by rich and poor, by great
and mean, by churchmen and laymen, which all mankind are fighting for,
plotting for, planning for, intriguing for, and damning themselves for,
both soul and body--by the opprobrious name of yellow dross? They are
mad, Agelastes, utterly mad. Perils and dangers, penalties and
scourges, are the arguments to which men who are above the universal
influence which moves all others, can possibly be accessible."
"Nor are they," said Agelastes, "more accessible to fear than they are
to self-interest. They are indeed, from their boyhood, brought up to
scorn those passions which influence ordinary minds, whether by means
of avarice to impel, or of fear to hold back. So much is this the case,
that what is enticing to other men, must, to interest them, have the
piquant sauce of extreme danger. I told, for instance, to this very
hero, a legend of a Princess of Zulichium, who lay on an enchanted
couch, beautiful as an angel, awaiting the chosen knight who should, by
dispelling her enchanted slumbers, become master of her person, of her
kingdom of Zulichium, and of her countless treasures; and, would your
Imperial Majesty believe me, I could scarce get the gallant to attend
to my legend or take any interest in the adventure, till I assured him
he would have to encounter a winged dragon, compared to which the
largest of those in the Frank romances was but like a mere dragon-fly?"
"And did this move the gallant?" said the Emperor.
"So much so," replied the philosopher, "that had I not unfortunately,
by the earnestness of my description, awakened the jealousy of his
Penthesilea of a Countess, he had forgotten the crusade and all
belonging to it, to go in quest of Zulichium and its slumbering
sovereign."
"Nay, then," said the Emperor, "we have in our empire (make us sensible
of the advantage!) innumerable tale-tellers who are not possessed in
the slightest degree of that noble scorn of gold which is proper to the
Franks, but shall, for a brace of besants, lie with the devil, and beat
him to boot, if in that manner we can gain, as mariners say, the
weathergage of the Franks."
"Discretion," said Agelastes, "is in the highest degree necessary.
Simply to lie is no very great matter; it is merely a departure from
the truth, which is little different from missing a mark at archery,
where the whole horizon, one point alone excepted, will alike serve the
shooter's purpose; but to move the Frank as is desired, requires a
perfect knowledge of his temper and disposition, great caution and
presence of mind, and the most versatile readiness in changing from one
subject to another. Had I not myself been, somewhat alert, I might have
paid the penalty of a false step in your Majesty's service, by being
flung into my own cascade by the virago whom I offended."
"A perfect Thalestris!" said the Emperor; "I shall take care what
offence I give her."
"If I might speak and live," said Agelastes, "the Caesar Nicephorus
Briennius had best adopt the same precaution."
"Nicephorus," said the Emperor, "must settle that with our daughter. I
have ever told her that she gives him too much of that history, of
which a page or two is sufficiently refreshing; but by our own self we
must swear it, Agelastes, that, night after night, hearing nothing
else, would subdue the patience of a saint!--Forget, good Agelastes,
that them hast heard me say such a thing--more especially, remember it
not when thou art in presence of our Imperial wife and daughter."
"Nor were the freedoms taken by the Caesar beyond the bounds of an
innocent gallantry," said Agelastes; "but the Countess, I must needs
say, is dangerous. She killed this day the Scythian Toxartis, by what
seemed a mere fillip on the head."
"Hah!" said the Emperor; "I knew that Toxartis, and he was like enough
to deserve his death, being a bold unscrupulous marauder. Take notes,
however, how it happened, the names of witnesses, &c., that, if
necessary, we may exhibit the fact as a deed of aggression on the part
of the Count and Countess of Paris, to the assembly of the crusaders."
"I trust," said Agelastes, "your Imperial Majesty will not easily
resign the golden opportunity of gaining to your standard persons whose
character stands so very high in chivalry. It would cost you but little
to bestow upon them a Grecian island, worth a hundred of their own
paltry lordship of Paris; and if it were given under the condition of
their expelling the infidels or the disaffected who may have obtained
the temporary possession, it would be so much the more likely to be an
acceptable offer. I need not say that the whole knowledge, wisdom, and
skill of the poor Agelastes is at your Imperial Majesty's disposal."
The Emperor paused for a moment, and then said, as if on full
consideration, "Worthy Agelastes, I dare trust thee in this difficult
and somewhat dangerous matter; but I will keep my purpose of exhibiting
to them the lions of Solomon, and the golden tree of our Imperial
house."
"To that there can be no objection," returned the philosopher; "only
remember to exhibit few guards, for these Franks are like a fiery
horse; when in temper he may be ridden with a silk thread, but when he
has taken umbrage or suspicion, as they would likely do if they saw
many armed men, a steel bridle would not restrain him."
"I will be cautious," said the Emperor, "in that particular, as well as
others.--Sound the silver bell, Agelastes, that the officers of our
wardrobe may attend."
"One single word, while your Highness is alone," said Agelastes. "Will
your Imperial Majesty transfer to me the direction of your menagerie,
or collection of extraordinary creatures?"
"You make me wonder," said the Emperor, taking a signet, bearing upon
it a lion, with the legend, _Vicit Leo ex tribu Judae_. "This," he
said, "will give thee the command of our dens. And now, be candid for
once with thy master--for deception is thy nature even with me--By what
charm wilt thou subdue these untamed savages?"
"By the power of falsehood," replied Agelastes, with deep reverence.
"I believe thee an adept in it," said the Emperor. "And to which of
their foibles wilt thou address it?"
"To their love of fame," said the philosopher; and retreated backwards
out of the royal apartment, as the officers of the wardrobe entered to
complete the investment of the Emperor in his Imperial habiliments.