The Eastern Empire. R Q 
banks of the Tigris, and the shores of the Caspian, and 
having gained two battles over Michael, formed the siege of 
Constantinople; but his camp being assaulted by a Bulgarian 
king, Thomas fell into the power of the emperor. -The hands 
and feet of the rebel were amputated; and, mounted on an 
ass, he was led through the streets of the city, which he 
sprinkled with his blood. 
But Michael was not yet secure from opposition. He had 
condemned a youth named Euphemius to the loss of his 
tongue, for stealing a nun from a convent. The gallant es¬ 
caped, and, appealing to the reason and policy of the Sara¬ 
cens of Africa, soon returned invested with the imperial 
purple, and supported by a fleet of one hundred ships, and 
an army of seven hundred horse, and ten thousand foot. 
The apostate rebel, however, was slain before the walls of Sy¬ 
racuse ; and his African friends were rescued from impending 
danger, by a reinforcement of their Andalusian brethren. 
Michael, on the death of his first wife, had drawn from a 
convent Euphrosyne, the daughter of Constantine the Sixth, 
who stipulated that her children should equally share the 
empire with his son Theophilus, but the nuptials of the em¬ 
peror with his second spouse proved unfruitful, and Euphro¬ 
syne was content with the title of the mother of Theophilus, 
who. succeeded his father after a nine-years’ reign. 
No sooner was Theophilus seated on the throne, than he 
replaced his mother-in-law in the monastery from whence 
she was taken; and, either through policy or justice, he 
punished the murderers of Leo, to whom his father owed 
the crown. The valour of this emperor, though often felt 
and acknowledged by his enemies, was rash and generally 
ineffectual; and his justice, though indisputable, was often 
arbitrary and cruel. Five times he marched against the 
Saracens in person ; and in his last expedition, he destroyed 
Sozopetra in Syria, the birth place of the caliph Mofassem. 
The commander of the Faithful was provoked by the insult 
offered to a place which was naturally dear to him. The 
troops of Irak, Syria, and Egypt, were recruited from the 
tribes of the Arabs, the herds of the Turks, and other bar¬ 
barous nations. The caliph in person commanded the formi¬ 
dable army, and, in the spirit of retaliation, his vengeance 
fell on Amovium, in Phrygia, the native city of the father of 
Theophilus. The emperor of the east embraced the gene¬ 
rous resolution of defending in a battle the country of his 
ancestors; but he was compelled to fly before the fury of 
the invaders; and his army was only saved from a total 
defeat, by the bravery of the Persian auxiliaries. Amovium 
was levelled with the ground ; and the caliph, tired with 
devastation, returned to the neighbourhood of Bagdad ; 
while Theophilus, after all his courage and military toils, 
only derived from them the surname of the Unfortunate. 
A Persian of the race of Sassanides, had died in exile at 
Constantinople; and his son, being educated in the Byzan¬ 
tine court, a Christian and a soldier, received the hand of the 
emperor’s sister, and the command of thirty thousand Per¬ 
sians, who, like his father, had fled before the Mahometan 
conquerors. These troops wished to place their general on 
the throne; but the loyal Theophobus rejected their impor¬ 
tunity, and escaped from their hands to the palace of his 
royal brother. Instead, however, of engaging the confidence 
of the emperor by this disinterested conduct, he excited his 
jealousy. Theophilus, exasperated by envy, labouring 
under disease, and fearing that the dangerous virtues of his 
brother-in-law might oppress the weakness and infancy of 
his wife and son, demanded the head of his innocent rival. 
As he received it, “ Thou,” said he, “ art no longer 
Theophobusand, sinking on his couch, he added, “ Soon, 
tod soon, I shall be no more Theophilus.” 
By the testament of Theophilus, his widow Theodora was 
entrusted with the guardianship of the empire, and her son 
Michael the Third, then only in the fifth year of his age. 
Her regency was in general honourable to herself, and advan¬ 
tageous to the people; and had she not punished the 
Iconoclasts whom her husband had protected, she might have 
been proposed as a model for good conduct and good sense. 
During the fourteen years in which she held the reins of 
Vol. XXII. No. 1504. 
M E. The Eastern Empire. 325 
government, she almost cleared the empire of that sect, as 
well as of the Manicheans, who then had risen to considera¬ 
ble power and influence among the heretical sects. 
At last, finding her authority decline she retired into 
solitude, deploring the vices and inevitable ruin of the 
unworthy youth. However, before she abdicated the 
throne, she gave a public account of her administration to 
the senate; and in order, if possible, to check the extravagance 
of her son, she made known what considerable sums she left 
in the treasury. She then, with her three daughters, bade an 
adieu to the court; but the undutiful Michael caused her to 
be shut up in a monastery, where she soon after died of 
chagrin. 
The emperor, now emancipated from all control, gave 
himself up to unbounded licentiousness; and in a short time 
wasted the accumulated treasures which he had received 
from his mother. He delighted in the amusements of the 
theatre, and devoted himself to the unrestrained indulgence of 
lust and intemperance. Continually surrounded with 
buffoons and wretches, destitute of any sense of honour or 
virtue, he turned the most sacred things into ridicule. Some 
of his loose companions would dress themselves in the 
vestments worn by priests on solemn occasions, and in these 
habiliments, imitate the ceremonies of the church, with equal 
folly and impiety. 
Whilst the emperor passed his life in such disgraceful 
scenes, his uncle Bardas, who had been instrumental in cor¬ 
rupting him, ruled with the most despotic authority, under 
the title of Caesar; but Michael beginning to suspect him of 
aiming at the sovereignty, not only in power but also in 
name, he procured his assassination. As the indulgence, 
however, of his ease and his vices required that he should 
have some one on whom he might devolve the cares and 
fatigues of government, he selected Basil, his great chamber- 
lain, a man of very low original fortune, but of a prepos¬ 
sessing appearance, and very dexterous in his exercises. 
This man first attracted the notice of Bardas by his skill 
and agility in breaking colts, and through him gained 
admission into the emperor’s household, in which he rose to 
the highest offices; yet, with the blackest ingratitude, it was 
he who instilled into Michael those suspicions which cost his 
benefactor his life. In return, the emperor not only raised 
Basil to the dignity of Caesar, but also appointed him his 
colleague. In this capacity Basil applied himself to reform 
the abuses of government, and even endeavoured to correct 
the vicious habits of the emperor; but being apprised that 
Michael was become weary of such a censor of his actions, 
and that in consequence he meditated to take him oft’, the 
associate in the empire entered the royal chamber in the 
hours of sleep and intoxication, and slew the son of Theo¬ 
philus in the thirtieth year of his age. 
Though this crime cannot be palliated or any pretence, 
Basil removed a tyrant who disgraced his station; and in 
himself gave the empire a just and moderate governor. 
His solid praise is drawn from the ruined state of his king¬ 
dom at his accession, and its flourishing condition at his 
death. His application was indefatigable, his temper cool, 
and his understanding vigorous and decisive. He raised 
men only on account of their merit; and allowed all his 
subjects, of whatever rank, to address him with freedom, 
which endeared him so much to them, that they regarded 
him as a common father, while they revered him as their 
emperor. 
Though not endowed with the talents of a warrior, the 
Roman arms, under his reign, were again formidable to the 
barbarians; but his principal fame was derived from the civil 
administration of the finances and the laws, Basil, however, 
had nearly been guilty of a crime which would for ever have 
stained his memory. His son Leo being falsely accused of 
an attempt to assassinate him, in the first paroxysm of his 
rage, he intended to deprive him of his sight, but afterwards 
was satisfied with confining him. The courtiers in general 
being convinced of the prince’s innocence, continually 
importuned the emperor to set him at liberty, but without 
effect; and to get rid of their applications, he forbade his son 
4 0 to 
