To-morrow--oh, that's sudden! Spare him, spare him!
He's not prepared to die.
SHAKSPEARE.
At the moment when Achilles Tatius, with a feeling of much insecurity,
awaited the unwinding of the perilous skein of state politics, a
private council of the Imperial family was held in the hall termed the
Temple of the Muses, repeatedly distinguished as the apartment in which
the Princess Anna Comnena was wont to make her evening recitations to
those who were permitted the honour of hearing prelections of her
history. The council consisted of the Empress Irene, the Princess
herself, and the Emperor, with the Patriarch of the Greek Church, as a
sort of mediator between a course of severity and a dangerous degree of
lenity.
"Tell not me, Irene," said the Emperor, "of the fine things attached to
the praise of mercy. Here have I sacrificed my just revenge over my
rival Ursel, and what good do I obtain by it? Why, the old obstinate
man, instead of being tractable, and sensible of the generosity which
has spared his life and eyes, can be with difficulty brought to exert
himself in favour of the Prince to whom he owes them. I used to think
that eyesight and the breath of life were things which one would
preserve at any sacrifice; but, on the contrary, I now believe men
value them like mere toys. Talk not to me, therefore, of the gratitude
to be excited by saving this ungrateful cub; and believe me, girl,"
turning to Anna, "that not only will all my subjects, should I follow
your advice, laugh at me for sparing a man so predetermined to work my
ruin, but even thou thyself wilt be the first to upbraid me with the
foolish kindness thou art now so anxious to extort from me."
"Your Imperial pleasure, then," said the Patriarch, "is fixed that your
unfortunate son-in-law shall suffer death for his accession to this
conspiracy, deluded by that heathen villain Agelastes, and the
traitorous Achilles Tatius?"
"Such is my purpose," said the Emperor; "and in evidence that I mean
not again to pass over a sentence of this kind with a seeming execution
only, as in the case of Ursel, this ungrateful traitor of ours shall be
led from the top of the staircase, or ladder of Acheron, as it is
called, through the large chamber named the Hall of Judgment, at the
upper end of which are arranged the apparatus for execution, by which I
swear"----
"Swear not at all!" said the Patriarch; "I forbid thee, in the name of
that Heaven whose voice (though unworthy) speaks in my person, to
quench the smoking flax, or destroy the slight hope which there may
remain, that you may finally be persuaded to alter your purpose
respecting your misguided son-in-law, within the space allotted to him
to sue for your mercy. Remember, I pray you, the remorse of
Constantine."
"What means your reverence?" said Irene.
"A trifle," replied the Emperor, "not worthy being quoted from such a
mouth as the Patriarch's, being, as it probably is, a relic of
paganism."
"What is it?" exclaimed the females anxiously, in the hope of hearing
something which might strengthen their side of the argument, and
something moved, perhaps, by curiosity, a motive which seldom slumbers
in a female bosom, even when the stronger passions are in arms.
"The Patriarch will tell you," answered Alexius, "since you must needs
know; though I promise you, you will not receive any assistance in your
argument from a silly legendary tale."
"Hear it, however," said the Patriarch; "for though it is a tale of the
olden time, and sometimes supposed to refer to the period when
heathenism predominated, it is no less true, that it was a vow made and
registered in the chancery of the rightful Deity, by an Emperor of
Greece."
"What I am now to relate to you," continued he, "is, in truth, a tale
not only of a Christian Emperor, but of him who made the whole empire
Christian; and of that very Constantine, who was also the first who
declared Constantinople to be the metropolis of the empire. This hero,
remarkable alike for his zeal for religion and for his warlike
achievements, was crowned by Heaven with repeated victory, and with all
manner of blessings, save that unity in his family which wise men are
most ambitious to possess. Not only was the blessing of concord among
brethren denied to the family of this triumphant Emperor, but a
deserving son of mature age, who had been supposed to aspire to share
the throne with his father, was suddenly, and at midnight, called upon
to enter his defence against a capital charge of treason. You will
readily excuse my referring to the arts by which the son was rendered
guilty in the eyes of the father. Be it enough to say, that the
unfortunate young man fell a victim to the guilt of his step-mother,
Fausta, and that he disdained to exculpate himself from a charge so
gross and so erroneous. It is said, that the anger of the Emperor was
kept up against his son by the sycophants who called upon Constantine
to observe that the culprit disdained even to supplicate for mercy, or
vindicate his innocence from so foul a charge.
"But the death-blow had no sooner struck the innocent youth, than his
father obtained proof of the rashness with which he had acted. He had
at this period been engaged in constructing the subterranean parts of
the Blacquernal palace, which his remorse appointed to contain a record
of his paternal grief and contrition. At the upper part of the
staircase, called the Pit of Acheron, he caused to be constructed a
large chamber, still called the Hall of Judgment, for the purpose of
execution. A passage through an archway in the upper wall leads from
the hall to the place of misery, where the axe, or other engine, is
disposed for the execution of state prisoners of consequence. Over this
archway was placed a species of marble altar, surmounted by an image of
the unfortunate Crispus--the materials were gold, and it bore the
memorable inscription, TO MY SON, WHOM I RASHLY CONDEMNED, AND TOO
HASTILY EXECUTED. When constructing this passage, Constantine made a
vow, that he himself and his posterity, being reigning Emperors, would
stand beside the statue of Crispus, at the time when any individual of
their family should be led to execution, and before they suffered him
to pass from the Hall of Judgment to the Chamber of Death, that they
should themselves be personally convinced of the truth of the charge
under which he suffered.
"Time rolled on--the memory of Constantine was remembered almost like
that of a saint, and the respect paid to it threw into shadow the
anecdote of his son's death. The exigencies of the state rendered it
difficult to keep so large a sum in specie invested in a statue, which
called to mind the unpleasant failings of so great a man. Your Imperial
Highness's predecessors applied the metal which formed the statue to
support the Turkish wars; and the remorse and penance of Constantine
died away in an obscure tradition of the Church or of the palace.
Still, however, unless your Imperial Majesty has strong reasons to the
contrary, I shall give it as my opinion, that you will hardly achieve
what is due to the memory of the greatest of your predecessors, unless
you give this unfortunate criminal, being so near a relation of your
own, an opportunity of pleading his cause before passing by the altar
of refuge; being the name which is commonly given to the monument of
the unfortunate Crispus, son of Constantine, although now deprived both
of the golden letters which composed the inscription, and the golden
image which represented the royal sufferer."
A mournful strain of music was now heard to ascend the stair so often
mentioned.
"If I must hear the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius, ere he pass the altar
of refuge, there must be no loss of time," said the Emperor; "for these
melancholy sounds announce that he has already approached the Hall of
Judgment."
Both the Imperial ladies began instantly, with the utmost earnestness,
to deprecate the execution of the Caesar's doom, and to conjure
Alexius, as he hoped for quiet in his household, and the everlasting
gratitude of his wife and daughter, that he would listen to their
entreaties in behalf of an unfortunate man, who had been seduced into
guilt, but not from his heart.
"I will at least see him," said the Emperor, "and the holy vow of
Constantine shall be in the present instance strictly observed. But
remember, you foolish women, that the state of Crispus and the present
Caesar, is as different as guilt from innocence, and that their fates,
therefore, may be justly decided upon opposite principles, and with
opposite results. But I will confront this criminal; and you,
Patriarch, may be present to render what help is in your power to a
dying man; for you, the wife and mother of the traitor, you will,
methinks, do well to retire to the church, and pray God for the soul of
the deceased, rather than disturb his last moments with unavailing
lamentations."
"Alexius," said the Empress Irene, "I beseech you to be contented; be
assured that we will not leave you in this dogged humour of
blood-shedding, lest you make such materials for history as are fitter
for the time of Nero than of Constantine."
The Emperor, without reply, led the way into the Hall of Judgment,
where a much stronger light than usual was already shining up the stair
of Acheron, from which were heard to sound, by sullen and intermitted
fits, the penitential psalms which the Greek Church has appointed to be
sung at executions. Twenty mute slaves, the pale colour of whose
turbans gave a ghastly look to the withered cast of their features, and
the glaring whiteness of their eyeballs, ascended two by two, as it
were from the bowels of the earth, each of them bearing in one hand a
naked sabre, and in the other a lighted torch. After these came the
unfortunate Nicephorus; his looks were those of a man half-dead from
the terror of immediate dissolution, and what he possessed of remaining
attention, was turned successively to two black-stoled monks, who were
anxiously repeating religious passages to him alternately from the
Greek scripture, and the form of devotion adopted by the court of
Constantinople. The Caesar's dress also corresponded to his mournful
fortunes: His legs and arms were bare, and a simple white tunic, the
neck of which was already open, showed that ho had assumed the garments
which were to serve his last turn. A tall muscular Nubian slave, who
considered himself obviously as the principal person in the procession,
bore on his shoulder a large heavy headsman's axe, and, like a demon
waiting on a sorcerer, stalked step for step after his victim. The rear
of the procession was closed by a band of four priests, each of whom
chanted from time to time the devotional psalm which was thundered
forth on the occasion; and another of slaves, armed with bows and
quivers, and with lances, to resist any attempt at rescue, if such
should be offered.
It would have required a harder heart than that of the unlucky princess
to have resisted this gloomy apparatus of fear and sorrow, surrounding,
at the same time directed against, a beloved object, the lover of her
youth, and the husband of her bosom, within a few minutes of the
termination of his mortal career.
As the mournful train approached towards the altar of refuge,
half-encircled as it now was by the two great and expanded arms which
projected from the wall, the Emperor, who stood directly in the
passage, threw upon the flame of the altar some chips of aromatic wood,
steeped in spirit of wine, which, leaping at once into a blaze,
illuminated the doleful procession, the figure of the principal
culprit, and the slaves, who had most of them extinguished their
flambeaux so soon as they had served the purpose of lighting them up
the staircase.
The sudden light spread from the altar failed not to make the Emperor
and the Princess visible to the mournful group which approached through
the hall. All halted--all were silent. It was a meeting, as the
Princess has expressed herself in her historical work, such as took
place betwixt Ulysses and the inhabitants of the other world, who, when
they tasted of the blood of his sacrifices, recognised him indeed, but
with empty lamentations, and gestures feeble and shadowy. The hymn of
contrition sunk also into silence; and, of the whole group, the only
figure rendered more distinct, was the gigantic executioner, whose high
and furrowed forehead, as well as the broad steel of his axe, caught
and reflected back the bright gleam from the altar. Alexius saw the
necessity of breaking the silence which ensued, lest it should, give
the intercessors for the prisoner an opportunity of renewing their
entreaties.
"Nicephorus Briennius," he said, with a voice which, although generally
interrupted by a slight hesitation, which procured him, among his
enemies, the nickname of the Stutterer, yet, upon important occasions
like the present, was so judiciously tuned and balanced in its
sentences, that no such defect was at all visible--"Nicephorus
Briennius," he said, "late Caesar, the lawful doom hath been spoken,
that, having conspired against the life of thy rightful sovereign and
affectionate father, Alexius Comnenus, thou shalt suffer the
appropriate sentence, by having thy head struck from thy body. Here,
therefore, at the last altar of refuge, I meet thee, according to the
vow of the immortal Constantine, for the purpose of demanding whether
thou hast any thing to allege why this doom should not be executed?
Even at this eleventh hour, thy tongue is unloosed to speak with
freedom what may concern thy life. All is prepared in this world and in
the next. Look forward beyond yon archway--the block is fixed. Look
behind thee, thou seest the axe already sharpened--thy place for good
or evil in the next world is already determined--time flies--eternity
approaches. If thou hast aught to say, speak it freely--if nought,
confess the justice of thy sentence, and pass on to death."
The Emperor commenced this oration, with those looks described by his
daughter as so piercing, that they dazzled like lightning, and his
periods, if not precisely flowing like burning lava, were yet the
accents of a man having the power of absolute command, and as such
produced an effect not only on the criminal, but also upon the Prince
himself, whose watery eyes and faltering voice acknowledged his sense
and feeling of the fatal import of the present moment.
Rousing himself to the conclusion of what he had commenced, the Emperor
again demanded whether the prisoner had any thing to say in his own
defence.
Nicephorus was not one of those hardened criminals who may be termed
the very prodigies of history, from the coolness with which they
contemplated the consummation of their crimes, whether in their own
punishment, or the misfortunes of others. "I have been tempted," he
said, dropping on his knees, "and I have fallen. I have nothing to
allege in excuse of my folly and ingratitude; but I stand prepared to
die to expiate my guilt," A deep sigh, almost amounting to a scream,
was here heard, close behind the Emperor, and its cause assigned by the
sudden exclamation of Irene,--"My lord! my lord! your daughter is
gone!" And in fact Anna Comnena had sunk into her mother's arms without
either sense or motion. The father's attention was instantly called to
support his swooning child, while the unhappy husband strove with the
guards to be permitted to go to the assistance of his wife. "Give me
but five minutes of that time which the law has abridged--let my
efforts but assist in recalling her to a life which should be as long
as her virtues and her talents deserve; and then let me die at her
feet, for I care not to go an inch beyond."
The Emperor, who in fact had been more astonished at the boldness and
rashness of Nicephorus, than alarmed by his power, considered him as a
man rather misled than misleading others, and felt, therefore, the full
effect of this last interview. He was, besides, not naturally cruel,
where severities were to be enforced under his own eye.
"The divine and immortal Constantine," he said, "did not, I am
persuaded, subject his descendants to this severe trial, in order
further to search out the innocence of the criminals, but rather to
give to those who came after him an opportunity of generously forgiving
a crime which could not, without pardon--the express pardon of the
Prince--escape unpunished. I rejoice that I am born of the willow
rather than of the oak, and I acknowledge my weakness, that not even
the safety of my own life, or resentment of this unhappy man's
treasonable machinations, have the same effect with me as the tears of
my wife, and the swooning of my daughter. Rise up, Nicephorus
Briennius, freely pardoned, and restored even to the rank of Caesar. We
will direct thy pardon to be made out by the great Logothete, and
sealed with the golden bull. For four-and-twenty hours thou art a
prisoner, until an arrangement is made for preserving the public peace.
Meanwhile, thou wilt remain under the charge of the Patriarch, who will
be answerable for thy forthcoming.--Daughter and wife, you must now go
hence to your own apartment; a future time will come, during which you
may have enough of weeping and embracing, mourning and rejoicing. Pray
Heaven that I, who, having been trained on till I have sacrificed
justice and true policy to uxorious compassion and paternal tenderness
of heart, may not have cause at last for grieving in good earnest for
all the events of this miscellaneous drama."
The pardoned Caesar, who endeavoured to regulate his ideas according to
this unexpected change, found it as difficult to reconcile himself to
the reality of his situation as Ursel to the face of nature, after
having been long deprived of enjoying it; so much do the dizziness and
confusion of ideas, occasioned by moral and physical causes of surprise
and terror, resemble each other in their effects on the understanding.
At length he stammered forth a request that he might be permitted to go
to the field with the Emperor, and divert, by the interposition of his
own body, the traitorous blows which some desperate man might aim
against that of his Prince, in a day which was too likely to be one of
danger and bloodshed.
"Hold there!" said Alexius Comnenus;--"we will not begin thy
newly-redeemed life by renewed doubts of thine allegiance; yet it is
but fitting to remind thee, that thou art still the nominal and
ostensible head of those who expect to take a part in this day's
insurrection, and it will be the safest course to trust its
pacification to others than to thee. Go, sir, compare notes with the
Patriarch, and merit your pardon by confessing to him any traitorous
intentions concerning this foul conspiracy with which we may be as yet
unacquainted.--Daughter and wife, farewell! I must now depart for the
lists, where I have to speak with the traitor Achilles Tatius and the
heathenish infidel Agelastes, if he still lives, but of whose
providential death I hear a confirmed rumour."
"Yet do not go, my dearest father!" said the Princess; "but let me
rather go to encourage the loyal subjects in your behalf. The extreme
kindness which you have extended towards my guilty husband, convinces
me of the extent of your affection towards your unworthy daughter, and
the greatness of the sacrifice which you have made to her almost
childish affection for an ungrateful man who put your life in danger."
"That is to say, daughter," said the Emperor, smiling, "that the pardon
of your husband is a boon which has lost its merit when it is granted.
Take my advice, Anna, and think otherwise; wives and their husbands
ought in prudence to forget their offences towards each other as soon
as human nature will permit them. Life is too short, and conjugal
tranquillity too uncertain, to admit of dwelling long upon such
irritating subjects. To your apartments, Princesses, and prepare the
scarlet-buskins, and the embroidery which is displayed on the cuffs and
collars of the Caesar's robe, indicative of his high rank. He must not
be seen without them on the morrow.--Reverend father, I remind you once
more that the Caesar is in your personal custody from this moment until
to-morrow at the same hour."
They parted; the Emperor repairing to put himself at the head of his
Varangian guards--the Caesar, under the superintendence of the
Patriarch, withdrawing into the interior of the Blacquernal Palace,
where Nicephorus Briennius was under the necessity of "unthreading the
rude eye of rebellion," and throwing such lights as were in his power
upon the progress of the conspiracy.
"Agelastes," he said, "Achilles Tatius, and Hereward the Varangian,
were the persons principally entrusted in its progress. But whether
they had been all true to their engagements, he did not pretend to be
assured."
In the female apartments, there was a violent discussion betwixt Anna
Comnena and her mother. The Princess had undergone during the day many
changes of sentiment and feeling; and though they had finally united
themselves into one strong interest in her husband's favour, yet no
sooner was the fear of his punishment removed, than the sense of his
ungrateful behaviour began to revive. She became sensible also that a
woman of her extraordinary attainments, who had been by a universal
course of flattery disposed to entertain a very high opinion of her own
consequence, made rather a poor figure when she had been the passive
subject of a long series of intrigues, by which she was destined to be
disposed of in one way or the other, according to the humour of a set
of subordinate conspirators, who never so much as dreamed of regarding
her as a being capable of forming a wish in her own behalf, or even
yielding or refusing a consent. Her father's authority over her, and
right to dispose of her, was less questionable; but even then it was
something derogatory to the dignity of a Princess born in the
purple--an authoress besides, and giver of immortality--to be, without
her own consent, thrown, as it were, at the head now of one suitor, now
of another, however mean or disgusting, whose alliance could for the
time benefit the Emperor. The consequence of these moody reflections,
was that Anna Comnena deeply toiled in spirit for the discovery of some
means by which she might assert her sullied dignity, and various were
the expedients which she revolved.