324 The Eastern Empire. R O 
Sicily. But the empress being informed of the design by 
her minister Saturacius, caused the conspirators to be pub¬ 
licly flogged, and took on herself the charge of punishing 
her son, in a similar manner, in the interior of the palace. 
He being thus compelled to submit to the ascendant of his 
mother, took an oath of fidelity to her, and she was after¬ 
wards proclaimed sovereign by the armies. A tumult of the 
Armenian guards, however, encouraged the general declara¬ 
tion that Constantine the Sixth was the lawful ruler. The 
people, offended at Irene’s cruelty to her son, whom she re¬ 
tained a prisoner in the apartments of his palace, obliged her 
to restore him to liberty. Saturacius, who had instigated 
her to scourge the adherents of the young emperor, was him¬ 
self subjected to the same treatment. Constantine conducted 
his mother with the utmost respect to a palace of her own 
erection, where she was shut up with her treasure; but, as 
the emperor continued to visit her, she soon regained her in¬ 
fluence over him. 
By her advice, he repudiated without provocation his wife 
Maria, and put out the eyes of three of his uncles, whom he 
suspected. The imprudence of Constantine, served as a 
pretext for the cruel machinations of Irene. Being left with 
the army at Prusa, in Bithynia, she dispatched several offi¬ 
cers to depose her son. They arrived at Constantinople 
without being suspected of such a design; and put out the 
emperor’s eyes in so barbarous a manner, that he died 
three days afterwards in the most excruciating pain, after 
having reigned, alone, or in conjunction with his mother, 
sixteen years. 
Constantine, on ascending the throne, had entertained 
hopes of marrying Rotdudris, the daughter of Charlemagne; 
but this match, which Irene had nearly brought to a conclu¬ 
sion, she broke off herself, fearing lest it should render her 
son loo powerful for control. The desire, however, of se¬ 
curing the authority she had at length obtained, made her 
eagerly embrace a proposal of espousing Charlemagne, in 
order to unite the two empires; but the malice of the 
eunuch iEtius prevented the success of this measure. Inca¬ 
pable himself of possessing the imperial dignity, he wished 
to secure it for his brother Leo, the governor of Thrace, to 
whose pretensions the intended marriage would have been 
an insurmountable obstacle. He therefore divulged the ma¬ 
trimonial negociation that was going on ; and to render it 
unpopular at the same time, insinuated that if it succeeded, 
the seat of empire would be transferred from Constantinople. 
The intrigues of i£tius, however, were disappointed; for the 
great treasurer Nicephorus, with corresponding ingratitude, 
had made a strong party against his mistress, and secretly ob¬ 
tained the purple from the citizens of the capital. The new 
emperor concealed his advancement till he had obtained 
possession of the riches of Irene ; but no sooner had he ac¬ 
complished this, than he banished her to the isle of Lesbos, 
where the want of a decent provision obliged her to earn a 
scanty subsistence by the labours of the distaff. 
The character of Nicephorus was stained with the odious 
vices of hypocrisy, ingratitude, and avarice. He made a 
treaty with the ambassadors of Charlemagne, who was then 
in the zenith of his power, and thus averted all danger from 
this quarter; but he was less fortunate with the Saracens. 
Harun, known by the surname of Al Rashid, or the Just, 
having ascended the throne of his father, Nicephorus refused 
the tribute, and resolved to obliterate this badge of servitude 
and disgrace. “ Restore,” said he in his letter to the 
caliph, “ the fruits of your injustice, or abide the determina¬ 
tion of the sword.” The reply of the caliph was couched 
in terms of tremendous brevity. “ In the name of the 
most merciful God, Harun Al Rashid, commander of the 
Faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman dog. I have read thy 
letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou shalt 
not hear, but thou shalt behold my answer.” It was 
written in characters of blood and fire on the plains of 
Phrygia; and the warlike celerity of the Arabs could only 
be checked by the deceitful repentance of Nicephorus. But 
the victorious caliph had scarcely retired, before the peace 
was violated by the emperor of the East. His return was 
M E. The Eastern Empire. 
attended with the defeat of the victorious Greek, who es¬ 
caped from the field of battle with three wounds. The 
torrent of the invaders deluged the surface of Asia Minor, 
and swept away the Pontic Heraclea: Nicephorus was com¬ 
pelled to submit, and the coin of the tribute was marked 
with the superscription of Harun and his three sons. These, 
however, after their father’s death, being involved in civil 
discord, the conqueror Almaron, being engaged in the 
introduction of science, tacitly relinquished his claim to the 
Roman tribute. 
Nicephorus at last was slain by the Bulgarians. His son 
Stauracius escaped from the field with a mortal wound; but 
the six months that he survived, were sufficient to prove 
that, with the kingdom, he inherited the vices of his father. 
Michael, who had married his sister Procopia, possessed 
the wishes and esteem of the court and the city. The 
jealousy of Stauracius conspired against the life of his 
brother-in-law, which exasperated the people; and before 
he sunk into the grave, the son of Nicephorus was compelled 
to implore the clemency of the new emperor. 
The mild virtues of Michael were adapted to the shade of 
private life ; but were soon found unequal to the task of 
controlling his seditious subjects, or repelling the invasions 
of the victorious barbarians. The masculine spirit of his 
wife Procopia, who presumed to direct the discipline of the 
camp, aroused the indignant feelings of the soldiers. A 
disaffected army, in consequence, asserted the claims of 
Leo- the Armenian, an officer of distinguished merit; and 
the humanity of Michael prevented, by a voluntary resig¬ 
nation, the miseries of a civil war. The abdicated emperor 
withdrew to a monastery, separated from his power and his 
wife, and enjoyed the comforts of solitude and religion 
above thirty-two years. 
Leo the Fifth had been early educated in a camp, and was 
fond of military parade. He introduced into his civil go¬ 
vernment the rigour of military discipline; and if his severity 
was sometimes dangerous to the innocent, it was always 
formidable to the guilty. Michael, his companion, had 
contributed towards the elevation of the emperor, and he 
soon conspired against his authority. His criminal designs 
had been frequently detected, and as often pardoned by the 
indulgent gratitude of Leo; but he was at length, when 
found incorrigible, condemned to be burnt alive. On the 
eve of Christmas he was leading to execution, when the 
empress Theodosia represented to her husband, that such a 
scene would be little suitable to the respect due to the hal¬ 
lowed season on which they were to receive the eucharist 
together, and therefore solicited a respite till the sacred festi¬ 
val was past. The emperor granted her request; but lest 
the criminal should escape, he was loaded with irons, which 
were locked, and the keys brought to Leo himself. 
Michael having obtained this interval of life, determined 
to employ it to the best advantage, and assembling the con¬ 
spirators in his prison, he threatened to discover their prac¬ 
tices if they refused to save him. Fear, rather than affection, 
induced them to run all hazards; and early in the morning 
they attacked the unsuspecting Leo in the chapel of his 
palace, and slew him at the foot of the altar. Not satisfied 
with this, they drew Michael from his prison, loaded 
with irons, and seated him on the throne. The em¬ 
press Theodosia, who had been the means of saving his 
life, was with signal ingratitude banished to an island with 
her four sons. 
Michael who from a defect in his speech was surnamed 
the Stammerer, was delivered from a dungeon and impend¬ 
ing death, only to display his depraved and ignoble man¬ 
ners on a throne. Though he had been favoured by the 
orthodox, he was but little solicitous concerning their disputes, 
but rather inclined to Judaism. He observed, indeed, the 
Jewish sabbath, denied the resurrection of the dead, and 
was but little scrupulous in his morals, though severe to the 
faults of others. A person, named Thomas, having seduced 
the wife of a magistrate, in order to avoid suffering from 
justice, conspired against the emperor, transported into 
Europe an army of "fourscore thousand barbarians from the 
banks 
