THE ENTRY OF GERMANOS
Petrobey was not slow to follow up his advantage. By them in their
mountain nests the Ottoman force now in Tripoli was evidently not to
be feared in the offensive, nor could it dislodge the Greeks from the
positions they had taken up upon the high and hilly ground. On the
other hand, the Greeks were not capable of meeting cavalry, and they
must at present keep to the hills, and not attempt to blockade the town
closely, for in so doing they would have to leave their heights for
the plain in which the fortress stood, and expose themselves to the
horse. But with the ever-increasing numbers that were e flocking to the
Greek standard, the camp at Valtetzi was rapidly getting insufficient
in accommodation, and at the same time any additional position on the
hills would be another link in the iron chain which was being forged
round the town; and now, when it was unlikely that the Turks would risk
a further engagement at once, was the moment for advancing another step.
Exactly to the west of Tripoli, and within rifle-shot of its walls,
stood three steep spurs of hill, known as Trikorpha. The same stir
of primeval forces which threw up the crag on which Valtetzi stood,
must have cast them up bubbling and basaltic through some volcanic
vent-hole, long after the great range behind was fixed. They were like
the ragged peaks of slag cast out by a gaseous coal consuming in the
fire, and, standing some four hundred feet above the plain, were yet
most conveniently near the town. Nearly at the top gushed out a riotous
cold stream from the dark lips of the rocks, fringed with shivering
maidenhair and dripping moss, and behind on the mountain was good
pasturage for flocks. Lower down, where the stream-bed widened, burst
a luxuriant patch of oleanders and stiff cushions of cistus and _spina
sacra_; but the heights themselves, save for the water-course, were
barren. The three peaks were joined to each other by a sharp rocky
ridge, but all were isolated from the mountains on one side and the
plain on the other.
Petrobey set about securing this position without delay, though, in
truth, the Turks were in no temper to prevent him, and the work sped
apace. The place was nigh impregnable, and the walls, of rough blocks
of stone gathered from the peaks, were made as much with a view to
clearing the ground for the soldiers' huts as to providing the place
with a defensible wall. From here, too, by night they could push their
devastating raids right under the walls of Tripoli itself, for it was
but a stone-cast to the foot of their eyry; and early in June the
larger part of the men encamped at Valtetzi took up their quarters in
this new nest, swarming there as in spring the overfull hive sends out
its colonists. The Argive corps remained in the old nest, under the
command of Demetri, who the year before had been mayor of Nauplia,
while in the new position the Mainats, under Petrobey, occupied the
northernmost of the three peaks; Nicholas, with a regiment chiefly of
Arcadian troops, the southernmost; and in the centre a smaller body
from the parts about Sparta, under the command of a local chieftain,
whom they had followed, one Poniropoulos, a man as crooked in mind and
morality as a warped vine-stem, but who, as he was chosen leader by his
contingent, was of necessity in command.
Meantime from every part of the country was coming in news no longer
of butchery of unarmed Turks in defenceless farm-houses, but of
regular sieges of Turkish towns, sometimes successful, sometimes still
protracted and of uncertain issue. Several of the Greek islands,
notably Psara, Spetzas, and Hydra, had risen, and had already sent
out that which was so sorely needed--a fleet to watch the coasts
and destroy Turkish ships--thus preventing them from bringing men,
provisions, or ammunition into the Peloponnesus. Already during May had
this fleet performed some notable exploits, chief among which was the
destruction of a Turkish frigate bringing arms and men from a port in
Asia Minor. She was caught just outside Nauplia, and, after a desperate
resistance, boarded and taken. Only two days later two Hydriot brigs
overtook a vessel sailing from Constantinople to Egypt with rich
presents on board from the Sultan Mahmud to Mehemet Ali, a cargo which
caused shame and dishonor to the captors. All on board were ruthlessly
murdered, the persons of women were searched for treasure, which they
might have concealed about them, and the sailors, disregarding the
convention under which they sailed, whereby one-half of the prize
taken was appropriated to the conduct of the war, seized on the whole
and divided it up, and, fired by the lust of wealth so easily gotten,
became privateers rather than fellow-workers in a war for liberty.
Returning to Hydra, they found embroilments of all sorts going on
between the primates and the captains of their fleet, and throwing in
their lot with the former, they cemented the alliance with a sufficient
share of their booty and prepared for sea again, each man thinking
for naught but his own coffers. Yet there were tales of exploits and
great heroisms also, and notable among them the deeds of the Capsina,
a girl of Hydra, and head of the clan of Capsas, who sailed her own
ship, working havoc among the Turks. There was something strangely
inspiriting in the tale, for it seemed she took nothing for herself,
but gave all her prizes to the war fund; also, she was more beautiful
than morning, and dazzled the eyes of men.
On the second cruise three ships from Spetzas crossed straight over to
the Peloponnesus to assist in the blockade of Monemvasia, which was
besieged on the land side by a freshly enrolled body of men from the
southern peninsula, chiefly from Sparta and the outlying portions of
Argos. The town was known to be very wealthy, and the commander of the
Greeks, finding that until communication by sea was intercepted it was
impossible to starve the town out, while his own force was inadequate
to storm it, had invited the co-operation of the fleet, stipulating
that a third of the spoil taken should go to the soldiers, one-third
to the fleet, and one-third to the national treasury. But scarcely had
the ships arrived when quarrels began to break out between the fleet
and the army; a spirit of mutual mistrust and suspicion was abroad;
and the soldiers, on one hand, accused the fleet of making a private
contract with the besieged, to the effect that their lives would be
spared and themselves conveyed to Asia Minor in ships on the surrender
of their property; while the sailors brought a counter-accusation that
there was a plot on foot among the infantry to attempt to storm the
town and carry off the booty before they could claim their share. Every
one looked after his own interest, and the only matter that was quite
disregarded was the interest of the nation. But to the soldiers more
intolerable than all was the conduct of three primates from Spetzas,
who took upon themselves the airs and dignities which the Greeks had
been accustomed to see worn by Turkish officials; and though to a great
extent this war was a religious war, yet the peasants had no mind to
see the places their masters had occupied tenanted anew by any one.
This example of the island primates was to a certain extent followed
by their brethren on the main-land. There had sprung into existence,
in the last month or so, two great powers in Greece, the army and
the church, still in that time the mistress of men's souls; and the
primates, who before the Turkish supremacy had been temporal as well
as spiritual princes, wished to see themselves reinstated in the
positions they had held. Many of them too, such as Germanos, at Patras,
had worked with a true and simple purpose for the liberation of their
country; and now that the people were beginning to reap the fruits of
their labors, they looked to receive their due, and their demands, on
the whole, were just. But never were demands made at so unseasonable an
opportunity, for while the military leaders shrugged their shoulders,
saying "This is our work as yet," they obtained but a divided
allegiance, for the people were devoted to their church. The result
was a most unhappy distrust and suspicion between the two parties. The
primates openly said that the object of the military leaders was their
own aggrandizement to the detriment of other interests, the military
leaders that their reverend friends were interfering in concerns
outside of their province. Even greater complications ensued when the
primates themselves, as in the case of Germanos, were men who fought
with earthly weapons, and he, taking strongly the side of the church as
against the army, was the cause of much seditious feeling.
The personal ascendency of Petrobey and Nicholas was a large mitigation
of these evils in the army at Tripoli, but both felt that their
position was unsettled, depending only on popular favor, and matters
came to a crisis when Germanos himself came to the camp from Patras
with an armed following. To do the man justice, it was jealousy for
the church, not the personal greed of power, which inspired him; as
a prince of that body and a vicar of Christ, he had invested himself
with the insignia of his position. But it was the royalty of his Master
and not His humility which he would fain represent, and if he had
remembered the entry of One into His chosen city, meek and sitting upon
an ass and a colt, the foal of an ass, his heart would have been better
turned to the spirit of the King of kings.
Not as such entered Germanos into the camp. Before him went a body
of armed men, followed by six acolytes swinging censers, then the
cross-bearer, holding high his glittering silver symbol wrought
but lately, on which Germanos had lavished the greater part of the
booty which had been his at the taking of Kalavryta, and then borne
in a chair on the shoulders of four monks the archbishop himself.
His head was bare, for in his hands he carried the gold vessels of
the sacrament, those which the Emperor Palæologus had given to the
monastery at Megaspelaion, and over his shoulders flowed his thick,
black hair, just touched with gray. His cope, another priceless
treasure from his own sacristy, was fastened round in front of his
neck with a gold clasp, set with one huge, ancient emerald. It covered
him from shoulder almost to foot, all shimmering white of woven silk,
with a border wrought with crimson and gold pomegranates, and thinly
below showed the white line of the alb and the ends of his embroidered
stole. Of his other vestments, seven in all, the girdle was a rope of
gold thread, the knee-piece hanging below it was embroidered with the
three Levitical colors, the cuffs were of lace from Kalabaka, and the
chasuble was of cambric, close fitting and sleeved according to the use
of Metropolitans. Behind came another priest carrying the office of the
church, bound in crimson leather with gold clasps, and the remainder of
his armed guard followed--in all, three hundred men.
[Illustration: "BORNE IN A CHAIR ON THE SHOULDERS OF FOUR MONKS"]
It was an act of inconceivable folly, but a folly of a certain
magnificent sort, for in Germanos's mind the only thought had been the
glory of the church. He had travelled five days from Kalavryta, and so
far he had been received by the posts of the Greek army with reverence
and respect. But his reception here, he knew, was the touchstone of
the success of his party, for the scornful Mainats looked askance on
clergy, and left them to do their praying alone. But he had come, so he
believed, to demand the vassalage of the people to the King of kings,
and that duty, so he thought, admitted neither delay nor compromise.
Yanni, who was lounging on the wall with Mitsos in the afternoon sun,
preparatory to starting on a night raid down in the plains, saw him
coming and whistled ominously.
"There will be mischief," he said, softly, to Mitsos. "Germanos is a
good man and true, but these little primates are not all like him."
"I wish they would leave us alone," grumbled Mitsos; "that little
monkey-faced Charalambes is doing a peck of harm. He tells the men that
all the fighting is for the glory of God. I dare say it is, but there
are blows to be struck, and a paper man would strike as well as he. Oh,
Yanni, but Germanos has got all his fine clothes on. Would I had been
born an archbishop!"
The procession was now passing close under them, and, looking closer,
Yanni saw what Germanos carried, and got down and stood uncovered,
crossing himself. Mitsos saw too and followed his example, but frowning
the while. It struck him somehow that this was not fair play.
Petrobey received the archbishop with the greatest respect, and had
erected for him another hut next his own. An order went round the
camp that every man was to attend mass, which would be celebrated at
daybreak the following day; but after supper that night Petrobey,
Nicholas, and the archbishop talked long together. Mitsos, to his great
delight, was put in command of some twenty young Mainats, who were to
prowl about and do damage, along with other parties, and Germanos, who
looked on the boy with peculiar favor, gave him his blessing before he
set out.
"You were ever a man who could deal with men," he said to Nicholas, as
the boy went out, "and you have trained the finest lad in Greece. But
we have other things to talk of, and let us shake hands first, for I
know not whether what I have to say will find favor with you. For we
are friends, are we not?"
Nicholas smiled.
"Old friends, surely," he said. "May we long be so!"
"That is well," said Germanos, seating himself; "but first I have to
tell you news which I hope may bind us even closer together, though
with a tie of horror and amazement. Our patriarch, Gregorios, whom I
think you knew, Nicholas, was executed at Constantinople on Easter Day,
by order of the Sultan!"
Nicholas and Petrobey sprang from their seats.
"Gregorios!" they exclaimed in whispered horror.
"Executed, dying the most shameful death, hanged at the gate of the
Patriarchate. Ah, but the vengeance of God is swift and sure, and the
blood of another martyr cries from the ground. Oh, let this bind us
together; hanged, the death of a dog; he, the holiest of men."
Germanos bowed his head and there was silence for a moment.
"That was not enough," he continued, his voice trembling with a
passionate emotion. "For three days he hung there, and the street dogs
leaped up to bite at the body. Then it was given to the Jews, and I
would sooner have seen it devoured by the dogs than cast into the hands
of those beasts; and they dragged it through the streets and threw it
into the sea. But pious men watched it and took it to Odessa, where it
was given burial such as befits the body of one of the saints of God.
And though dead, he works, for on the ship that took it there was a
woman stricken with paralysis, and they brought her to touch the body,
and she went away whole."
Nicholas was sitting with his face in his hands, but at this he looked
up.
"Glory to God!" he cried, "for in heaven His martyr now pleads for us."
Petrobey crossed himself.
"Glory to God!" he repeated. "But tell us more, father; what was the
cause of this?"
"He died for us," said Germanos; "for the liberty of the Greeks. As
you know, he was in the secrets of the patriots, and one of the agents
of the club which supplied funds for the war was found to have letters
from the patriarch, which showed his complicity. Immediately after the
execution the election for a new patriarch took place, and Eugenios, of
Pisidia, was chosen, and his election ratified by Gregorios's murderer."
Nicholas struck the table with his fist.
"I give no allegiance there," said he. "Is the church a toy in that
devil's hands, and shall we bow to his puppets?"
Germanos looked up quickly.
"I wanted to know your opinion on that," he said, "and you, Petrobey,
go with your cousin? But in the mean time we have no head."
"But at the death of a patriarch," asked Nicholas, "what is the usual
course?"
Germanos hesitated.
"You will see," he said, "why I paused, for it is in the canon of the
church that till the next patriarch is appointed the supremacy of the
church is in the hands of the senior archbishop."
Nicholas rose.
"There is none so fit as yourself," he said, "and here and now I give
you my allegiance, and I promise to obey you in all matters within your
jurisdiction, and for the glory of God."
Germanos gave them his blessing, and both kissed his hand; and when
they had seated themselves again he bent forward, and began to speak
with greater earnestness.
"And that, in part, is why I am here," he said, "to accept in the name
of the church the allegiance of the Greek army. We must not forget
among these night attacks and skirmishes and sieges that for which
we work--the liberty of Greece, it is true, but the purpose of her
liberty--to let a free people serve the God of their fathers, and
pull under no infidel yoke to the lash of unbelievers. Believe me,
my friends, how deeply unworthy I feel of the high office which has
thus come upon my shoulders, but help me to bear it, though in that
the flesh is weak I would in weakness shrink from it. But much lies
in your power and active help, for I know what deep influence both of
you, and deservedly, have with these men. Yet since to every man is his
part appointed by God Himself, I would not recoil from the task and
heavy responsibility which are on me as head of this people, who are
fighting for their liberty; and though I am not jealous for myself, as
some would maliciously count me, I am very jealous for Him with whose
authority I, all unworthy, have been invested."
Germanos paused for a moment, his eyes fixed on the ground, and
Nicholas, looking across at Petrobey, half began to speak, but the
other by an almost imperceptible gesture silenced him. But Germanos
paused only for a moment and went on, speaking a little quicker, but
weighing his words.
"For who is the general we all fight under, but One? Who is the giver
of victory, but He alone? And I--I speak in a sort of proud humility--I
am the head of His bride, the church, and the shepherd of His flock,
this people. Do not misunderstand me, for I speak not for myself, but
for Him. Already dangers, not those from our enemies the Turks, but
from friends more deadly than they, compass us about on all sides, and
are with us when we sit down to eat and take our rest, and if we are
not careful they will poison all we do. Already at Kalavryta, whence
I am come--already, as I hear, at Monemvasia; but not, as I hope and
trust, here--are there greedy and wicked men, who, raised to power for
which they have no fitness, having no self-control, and being therefore
incapable of controlling others, save in the way of inflaming their
lusts by example like beasts of the fields, already have many such,
finding themselves in command of some small local following, led their
men on by hopes of gain and promises of reward. They are becoming
no better than brigands, despoiling the defenceless, and each man
pocketing his gains."
Petrobey here looked up.
"Pardon me," he said, "though such conduct has taken place on certain
ships, I think that there has been none among the soldiers. Half the
booty taken is put aside for the purpose of the war; half, as is right,
is shared among those who acquire it."
Germanos looked at him keenly, and went on with growing eloquence.
"You have hit the very point," he said, "towards which I have been
making. Half, as you say, is put away for the purposes of the war, and
though I think that is too large a proportion, still the question is
only one of degree, and we will pass it over. Half again, as you say,
is shared among those who acquire it. There is the blot, the defect of
the whole system. What are we fighting for? For wealth or for liberty?
Surely for liberty and the glory of God! To fight in such a cause,
and to fall in such a cause, is surely an exceeding reward. But what
of the glory of God? Is it not to Him that this, no niggardly tithe,
but half the goods we possess, should be given? Is it not He who has
given us the strength to fight, and the will before which even now the
Turk is crumpling as a ship crumples the waves? And for this shall we
give Him nothing? Shall every peasant possess his hoard taken from the
Turk, and the church of God go begging? Have we not given our lives
to His service, without hope of reward indeed, but very jealous for
His honor? And how shall we serve Him as we ought, when our churches
stand half ruined to the winds of heaven, and our monks, to support
themselves, must needs hoe in the fields and vineyards, and bring but a
tired frame to the blessed service of the church? Is it not there this
should be bestowed--on the church, on the priests and the primates, on
the heads and princes of the church, to be used by them for the glory
of their Master? Some of us, I know, would wish to endow a king to
rule over a free people, in royal obedience, for so they phrase it, to
a people's will. Is it not enough to have for our king, our Master,
our tender Friend, the King of kings? This only is the kingdom whose
citizenship I covet, for it is beyond price, and it is but a dubious
love for Him that is ours, if we give Him, as we fondly tell ourselves,
our hearts, and withhold from Him our gold and silver. Not in such
manner worshipped the kings of the East. Long was their journey, and
yet we who fight are not more footsore than they; but did they come
empty-handed to worship? Gold and frankincense and myrrh they gave,
their costliest and their best. Heart worship let us give, and lip
worship too, and let our hands be open in giving; it is in giving that
we show, poorly indeed, but in the best and only way, the sincerity of
our hearts. Ah, it is no pale spiritual kingdom only that God requires,
but the pledge of it in a glorious liberality, the fruits of His bounty
given to Him again. Let there be a splendor in our service to Him,
riches, wealth, all that is beautiful, poured out freely; it is our
duty to give--yes, and our privilege."
Petrobey and Nicholas both listened in dead silence, for they respected
the man, and they revered his office. Of the honesty and integrity of
his words, too, neither felt any question; but when in the history of
warfare had ears ever heard so impracticable a piece of rhetoric? Did
Germanos really suppose that these soldiers of theirs were risking
life, possessions, all that they had, for the sake of the heads of
the church? Already the primates had done infinite harm by their
pretentious meddling, giving themselves the airs of deposed monarchs,
for whom it was a privilege to fight, and encouraging seditious talk
among the men by hinting openly that the military leaders were in
league with the Turks, making conventions with them by which their
lives should be spared on the sacrifice of their property. Germanos
himself, as they knew, was a man of far different nature; this scheme
of his, by which half the booty should be placed unreservedly in the
hands of the heads of the church, to be used for the glory of God,
was as sunshine is to midnight compared to the vile slanderings of
his inferiors. But how would the army receive it? Was Petrobey, as
commander-in-chief, or Germanos, as head of this people of God, to go
to them, saying, "You have risked your lives, and it is your privilege
to have done so for the glory of God; risk them to-morrow and the next
day and the next day, and when the war is over, and unless you lie on
the battlefield, you creep back to your dismantled homes, account it
a privilege that you have been permitted to give to the primates and
priests the fruits of your toil"?
Yet, though Germanos was accounted a man of integrity both by Petrobey
and Nicholas, how could there but be a background to the picture he had
drawn? He was a man to whom power and the exercise of power had become
a habit, and the habit almost a passion. Though this scheme, by which
the church would be restored to its old splendor and magnificence,
the glory of those days when from Constantinople came the emperor
humbly and suppliantly with great gifts, had for its object the glory
of God, yet inasmuch as he was a man of dominant nature he could not
be unaware nor disregardful of what it would mean to him personally.
What a position! The chances were ten to one that he would be chosen
to fill the places of the martyred patriarch, instead of the Bishop
Eugenios, well known to the Greeks as a middle-minded man, who strove
to keep well with both Ottoman and Greek. For, in truth, this was no
time for diplomatic attitudes; each man must take one side or the
other, and now to consent to take from the hands of the Sultan the
insignia of his victim was to declare one's self no patriot. Greece
would certainly repudiate the appointment and choose a supreme head
for itself, and among all the primates and bishops there was none who
was so powerful with his own class, and so popular among the people,
as Germanos. As every one knew, he had thrown himself heart and soul
into the revolution; he had raised the northern army, he had headed the
attempt on the citadel of Patras in person. The chosen head of a new
and splendid church, rising glorious in the dawn of liberty, sanctified
by suffering, proved by its steadfastness to endure, a church for which
blood had been shed, and, as he had said, no pale spiritual kingdom
only, but a power on earth as in heaven! It was not in the nature of
the man to be able to shut his eyes to that; it could not but be that
so splendid a possibility should be without weight to him. His next
words showed it.
"Is it not a thing to make the heart beat fast?" he went on. "I would
not take the pontiff's chair in Rome in exchange for such a position.
A new church, or rather, the old grown gloriously young again, a
spiritual kingdom throned in the hearts of men, yet with the allegiance
not only of their souls, but of their bodies and their earthly
blessings. And I," he said, rising, "I, the unworthy, the erring, yet
called by a call that I may not disobey."
But Nicholas, frowning deeply, interrupted him.
"I ask your pardon, father," he said, "but is it well to talk of that?
Surely in this great idea which you have put before us there is
nothing personal. It is the kingdom of God of which we speak."
Germanos paused a moment.
"You are right," he said; "you have but reminded me of my own words; it
is in His name and none other that I speak."
"There is another point of view, father," continued Nicholas, "which,
with your permission, I will put before you. I speak, I hope, as it is
fitting I should speak to you; and yet, in mere justice to the position
my cousin and I hold, we must tell you that there are other interests
to be considered. For days past there has been division among us, here
not so widely as at other places, but division there is--and that,
too, at a time when anything of the kind is most disastrous. There are
in the camp priests and primates who have been saying to the men, but
not with your nobleness of aim, that which you have indicated to us.
This war, they tell them, is a war of religion; they are the champions
and ordained ministers of religion, and it is to them the soldiers'
obedience is due. What did they get for their pains? A shrug of the
shoulders, insolence, perhaps the question, 'Are we fighting or are
you?' And they answer, 'For whom are you fighting? For your captains
and leaders, let us tell you; it is they who will reap the fruits of
your toil; it is they who will get the booty for which you have spent
your blood and left your homes.' Now, before God, father, that is a
satanic slander; but if this talk continues, who can tell but that it
may become in part true? For as the army increases we have to appoint
fresh captains, and often it happens that some band of men come in
with their appointed leader, whom we have to accept. These are not
all such men as my cousin and I should naturally appoint; and what
we fear is this; and our fears, I am sorry to say, are justified by
what is taking place at Monemvasia. These captains talk to each other,
saying, 'The primates are trying to get the whole spoils of the war
for themselves. Two can play at that game. If this war is for the
enrichment of the leaders, let it be for the enrichment of the leaders
who have done the work.' And some of this talk, too, has reached the
men, with this result: some believe what the primates say, and already
distrust their captains; some distrust the primates, and say that it is
not they who are doing the work, and why should they look for wages?
But the most part of those who have heard this seditious talk distrust
both, and are each man for himself. And all this is the fault of the
primates. This is no place for them; for those of them, at least, who
have taken no part in the war. It is the work of soldiers we are doing,
not the work of priests. The danger is a real one; as you say, it is
a danger from those who sit at meat with us, and more deadly and more
intimate than that we experience from our enemies. There was none of it
before the primates came among us. I have said."
Nicholas spoke with rising anger; the thought of these mean, petty
squabbles poisoned the hopes which had ruled his life for so long. Were
they all to be wrecked in port on the very eve of their fulfilment?
Strong as the Greek position now was, inevitable though the fall of
Tripoli appeared, yet he knew that an army demoralized is no army at
all. Was the honey to turn to bitterness? Was that fair day that seemed
now dawning to come in cloud and trouble?
Germanos had listened with growing resentment, and he burst out in
answer:
"You are wrong, Nicholas; believe me, you are wrong! It is the
primates who have to put up with insult. This army of yours is a band
of wanton children, long chid and beaten, breaking out from school. It
knows neither reverence nor respect, where respect is due."
"Ah, pardon me again," said Nicholas; "the first duty of the soldier is
obedience to those who are put over him as captains and commanders. To
them he has never yet failed in respect nor in obedience."
"These soldiers are men, I take it," said Germanos, "and the first duty
of man is to obey those who are over him in the Lord."
"But, father, father!" cried Nicholas, pained himself, but unwilling
to give pain, "is this a time, now when we are in the middle of the
operations of the war, to talk of that? Of course you are right; that
every Christian man believes. But our hands are full, we have this
siege before us, and it is injudicious of these primates to stir up
such talk now. Oh, I am no hand at speaking; but you see, do you not,
what I mean? It is the Lord's work, surely, but the means by which it
is accomplished is swords in unity, men bound together by one aim."
"And that aim the glory of God," said Germanos.
Nicholas made a hopeless gesture of dissent and shook his head, and
Petrobey, who had hitherto taken no part in the discussion, broke in:
"Surely we can do better than wrangle together like boys," he said.
"It is no light matter we have in hand. But let us talk practically.
What Nicholas says is true. Father, there is mischievous talk going on,
and there was none till the primates came. What do you propose to do?
Will you help us to stop it? Will you speak to the men? Will you tell
them that, though you are a primate yourself, yet you believe in the
integrity of the military commanders, and that though our soldiers'
duty as men exacts obedience to the rulers of the church, yet their
duty as soldiers exacts obedience to their commanders, and trust in
them?"
The question was cleverly chosen. To refuse to do as Petrobey asked
would, without an explanation, be wholly unreasonable; to comply would
be tantamount to telling the soldiers to disregard the primates.
Germanos hesitated a moment.
"I do not wish to put myself outside my province," said Germanos, "and
I am here only as the head of the church, and not as a military leader.
To interfere with the ordering of the army is not my business."
"Then how much less," said Nicholas, eagerly, "is it the business of
your inferiors to do so? Will you, then, tell them to follow your own
most wise example?"
Germanos was silent, but his brain was busy, and yet he had no reply
ready.
"See," said Nicholas, "a little while ago you asked us to help you, but
now we ask you to help us, for the danger is no less to your party than
to ours. Speak to the primates if you will, or speak to the captains;
they will perhaps listen to you."
"At any rate, I asked not your help against my own subordinates," said
Germanos, in a sudden flash of anger; "if you want help against your
own men, I can only say--" and with that he stopped short, for an
insult was on his lips.
Petrobey sat down again with a little sigh, but Nicholas answered
Germanos according to his own manner.
"Then if you are so good as to think that our own affairs are out
of hand," he said, with angry sarcasm, "it will be time to think of
helping you when we have put them in order. Let me quote your own
words: 'I am not jealous for myself, but I am very jealous for the
honor of the army, and I have myself a pledge of the favor of God on my
undertaking.'"
Germanos held up his hand pacifically.
"We shall gain nothing by quarrelling," he said, "and I am in the
wrong, for I was the first to speak in anger. What is this pledge of
which you speak?"
Nicholas told him of the vision at Serrica, and when he had finished it
was gently that he answered.
"Surely the Mother of God looks with favor on you, Nicholas!" said the
archbishop; "and for her sake, if not for our own, let us see if we
cannot put an end to these unhappy divisions of which you tell me. You
lay the whole blame on my order; are you sure that you are not hasty?"
"There was at least no seditious talk before the primates came," said
Nicholas.
"I, then, have a proposal to make," said Petrobey, "and it is this:
The men are divided; some side with the primates, some with us. The
two parties are bitterly opposed. If a supreme council was appointed,
consisting of primates and commanders, might not the division be
healed?"
Nicholas shook his head.
"I do not wish to make difficulties," he said, "but the case is this:
The siege of Tripoli is the work of the army. What have the primates to
do with it? I might as well demand a seat in the synod of the church."
Germanos's eyes brightened. He realized the impossibility of pushing
his first demand just now, and this, at any rate, would be a step
gained. For the rest, he trusted in his own ability to soon get in
his hands the chief share of the work of the supreme council, which
Petrobey had suggested, and with the most diplomatic change of front,
he proceeded to conciliate Nicholas.
"My dear Nicholas," he said, "I wish with all my heart you had a place
in the synod of the church. As a priest you would have soon earned one;
but you selected another vocation, in which I need give no testimony to
your merits. But consider, dear Nicholas, this is a national movement,
and the church is a great national institution, and has always had a
voice, often the supreme voice, in the direction of national affairs.
You must not think we want to interfere in military matters; you will
not find Charalambes, for instance, or, for that matter, me, wishing to
lead a sortie or direct the fire. In England, as you know, there are
two great legislative houses--one composed of the lords of the land,
without initiative, but with the power of check; the other, the elected
body--the voice of the people. You generals are the elected body, on
you the initiative depends; but we primates correspond to the titular
power. And where can you find so splendid and august a government as
that? See, I come to meet you half-way; it is not the time now to
talk of the supremacy of the church, meet me half-way, and allow that
in national concerns we should not be without a voice. There are two
powers in this new Greece; if they are in accord, the danger we have
spoken of melts like a summer mist."
Nicholas looked across at Petrobey.
"You would have me follow?" he asked. "Well, I consent."
Germanos was careful not to betray too much elation at the success
of this scheme, and he soon spoke of other things. Prince Demetrius
Ypsilanti, whom the Hetairia, or Club of Patriots in north Greece, had
chosen to take the place of his treacherous and inefficient brother,
was shortly to come to the Peloponnesus. Hitherto the proceedings
of the club had been very secret and their funds intrusted to a few
agents, such as Nicholas and Germanos; but the rapid success of the
war, and its still more brilliant promise--for in north Greece as
well it had spread like fire--had rendered all further concealment
unnecessary, and they came forward now as the authors of the liberty
of Greece, a credit which was, through their admirable agents, due
them, and they were exercising their undoubted right in giving the
command to whomever they would. Germanos also assured Petrobey and
Nicholas that they were both in the highest favor with the club, and
that Prince Demetrius was most amicably and warmly inclined to them. He
might also tell them that the prince had no intention of interfering
in the conduct of the war, which he was content to leave in more
experienced hands; but he was coming as the head of the Hetairia, which
had organized and financed the outbreak of the war, and he was sure,
so thought Germanos, to approve of the step they had decided on, to
appoint a national senate, and no doubt he would take his place at the
head of the assembly.