CHAP.
LV.

Negotiations and prophecy.

Yet the threats or calamities of a Russian war were more frequently diverted by treaty than by arms. In these naval hostilities, every disadvantage was on the side of the Greeks: their savage enemy afforded no mercy; his poverty promised no spoil; his impenetrable retreat deprived the conqueror of the hopes of revenge; and the pride or weakness of empire indulged an opinion, that no honour could be gained or lost in the intercourse with Barbarians. At first their demands were high and inadmissible, three pounds of gold for each soldier or mariner of the fleet: the Russian youth adhered to the design of conquest and glory; but the counsels of moderation were recommended by the hoary sages. "Be "content," they said, "with the liberal offers of Cæsar; is "it not far better to obtain without a combat, the possession "of gold, silver, silks, and all the objects of our desires? "Are we sure of victory? Can we conclude a treaty with "the sea? We do not tread on the land; we float on the abyss of water, and a common death hangs over our "heads."65 The memory of these Arctic fleets that seemed to descend from the Polar circle, left a deep impression of terror on the Imperial city. By the vulgar of every rank, it was asserted and believed, that an equestrian statue in the square of Taurus, was secretly inscribed with a prophecy, how the Russians, in the last days, should become masters of Constantinople. In our own time, a Russian armament, instead of sailing from the Borysthenes, has circumnavigated the continent of Europe; and the Turkish capital has been threatened by a squadron of strong and lofty ships of war, each of which with its naval science and thundering artillery, could have sunk or scattered an hundred canoes such as those of their ancestors. Perhaps the present generation may yet behold the accomplishment of the prediction, of a rare prediction, of which the style is unambiguous and the date unquestionable.

66

ii. p. 253, 254); but they grow more weighty and credible as they draw near to their own times.

65 Nestor. apud. Levesque, Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 87.

66 This brazen statue, which had been brought from Antioch, and was melted down by the Latins, was supposed to represent either Joshua or Bellerophon, an odd dilemma. See Nicetas Choniates (p. 413, 414.) Codinus (de Originibus C. P. p. 24.) and the anonymous writer de Antiquitat. C. P. (Banduri, Imp. Orient. tom. i. p. 17, 18.) who lived about the year 1100. They witness the belief of the prophecy; the rset is immaterial.

LV.

Reign of

laus,

A. D.

By land the Russians were less formidable than by sea; CHAP. and as they fought for the most part on foot, their irregular legions must often have been broken and overthrown by the cavalry of the Scythian hords. Yet their growing towns, Swatoshowever slight and imperfect, presented a shelter to the subject and a barrier to the enemy: the monarchy of Kiow, 955....973. till a fatal partition, assumed the dominion of the North; and the nations from the Volga to the Danube were subdued or repelled by the arms of Swatoslaus,67 the son of Igor, the son of Oleg, the son of Ruric. The vigour of his mind and body was fortified by the hardships of a military and savage life. Wrapt in a bear-skin, Swatoslaus usually slept on the ground, his head reclining on a saddle; his diet was coarse and frugal, and, like the heroes of Homer,68 his meat (it was often horse-flesh) was broiled or roasted on the coals. The exercise of war gave stability and discipline to his army; and it may be presumed, that no soldier was permitted to transcend the luxury of his chief. By an embassy from Nicephorus, the Greek emperor, he was moved to undertake the conquest of Bulgaria, and a gift of fifteen hundred pounds of gold was laid at his feet to defray the expense, or reward the toils, of the expedition. An army of sixty thousand men was assembled and embarked; they sailed from the Borysthenes to the Danube; their landing was effected on the Mæsian shore; and, after a sharp encounter, the swords of the Russians prevailed against the arrows of the Bulgarian horse. The vanquished king sunk into the grave: his children were made captive: and his dominions, as far as mount Hamus, were subdued or ravaged by the northern invaders. But instead of relinquishing his prey, and performing his engagements, the Varangian prince was more disposed to advance than to retire; and, had his ambition been crowned with success, the seat of empire in that early period might have been transferred to a

67 The life of Swatoslaus, or Sviatoslaf, or Sphendosthlabus, is extracted from the Russian Chronicles by M. Levesque (Hist. de. Russie, tom. i. p. 94 ....107).

68 This resemblance may be clearly seen in the ninth book of the Iliad (205 ...221.) in the minute detail of the cookery of Achilles. By such a picture, a modern epic poet would disgrace his work and disgust his reader; but the Greek verses are harmonious, a dead language can seldom appear low or familiar; and at the distance of two thousand seven hundred years, we are amused with the primitive manners of antiquity.

t

LV

CHAP. more temperate and fruitful climate. Swatoslaus enjoyed and acknowledged the advantages of his new position, in which he could unite, by exchange or rapine, the various productions of the earth. By an easy navigation he might draw from Russia the native commodities of furs, wax, and hydromel: Hungary supplied him with a breed of horses and the spoils of the West; and Greece abounded with gold, silver, and the foreign luxuries, which his poverty had affected to disdain. The bands of Patzinacites, Chozars, and Turks, repaired to the standard of victory; and the ambassador of Nicephorus betrayed his trust, assumed the purple, and promised to share with his new allies the treasures of the Eastern world. From the banks of the Danube the Russian prince pursued his march as far as Adrianople; a formal summons to evacuate the Roman province was dismissed with contempt; and Swatoslaus fiercely replied, that Constantinople might soon expect the presence of an enemy and a master.

His defeat

by John

A. D.

970....973.

69

Nicephorus could no longer expel the mischief which he had Zimisces, introduced; but his throne and wife were inherited by John Zimisces, who, in a diminutive body, possessed the spirit and abilities of an hero. The first victory of his lieutenants deprived the Russians of their foreign allies, twenty thousand of whom were either destroyed by the sword, or provoked to revolt, or tempted to desert. Thrace was delivered, but seventy thousand Barbarians were still in arms; and the legions that had been recalled from the new conquests of Syria, prepared, with the return of the spring, to march under the banners of a warlike prince, who declared himself the friend and avenger of the injured Bulgaria. The passes of mount Hamus had been left unguarded; they were instantly occupied; the Roman vanguard was formed of the immortals (a proud imitation of the Persian style); the emperor led the main body of ten thousand five hundred foot; and the rest of his forces followed in slow and cautious array with the baggage and military engines. The first exploit of Zimisces was the re

69 This singular epithet is derived from the Armenian language and Τζιμισκής is interpreted in Greek by μεζακίζης, οι μοιρακίζης. As I profess myself equally ignorant of these words, I may be indulged in the question in the play, "Pray which of you is the interpreter?" From the context, they seem to signify Adolescentulus (Leo Diacon. 1. iv. MS. apud Ducange, Glossar, Græc. p. 1570).

LV.

duction of Marcianopolis, or Peristhlaba,70 in two days: the CHAP. trumpets sounded; the walls were scaled; eight thousand five hundred Russians were put to the sword; and the sons of the Bulgarian king were rescued from an ignominious prison, and invested with a nominal diadem. After these repeated losses, Swatoslaus retired to the strong post of Dristra, on the banks of the Danube, and was pursued by an enemy who alternately employed the arms of celerity and delay. The *Byzantine gallies ascended the river; the legions completed a line of circumvallation; and the Russian prince was encompassed, assaulted, and famished, in the fortifications of the camp and city. Many deeds of valour were performed; several desperate sallies were attempted; nor was it till after a siege of sixty-five days that Swatoslaus yielded to his adverse fortune. The liberal terms which he obtained announce the prudence of the victor, who respected the valour, and apprehended the despair, of an unconquered mind. The great duke of Russia bound himself by solemn imprecations to relinquish all hostile designs; a safe passage was opened for his return; the liberty of trade and navigation was restored: a measure of corn was distributed to each of his soldiers; and the allowance of twenty-two thousand measures attests the loss and the remnant of the Barbarians. After a painful voyage, they again reached the mouth of the Borysthenes; but their provisions were exhausted, the season was unfavourable; they passed the winter on the ice; and, before they could prosecute their march, Swatoslaus was surprised and oppressed by the neighbouring tribes, with whom the Greeks entertained a perpetual and useful correspondence."1 Far different was the return of Zimisces, who was received in his capital like Camillus or Marius, the saviours of ancient Rome. But the merit of the victory was attributed by the pious emperor to the mother of God; and the image of the Virgin Mary, with the divine infant in her arms, was

70 In the Sclavonic tongue, the name of Peristhlaba implied the great or dustrious city, μεγάλη και ετα και λεγομένη, says Anna Comnena (Alexiad, I vii. p. 194). From its position between mount Hamus and the lower Danube, it appears to fill the ground, or at least the station, o Marcianopolis. The situation of Durostolus, or Dristra, is well-known and conspicuous (Comment. Academ. Petropol. tom. ix. p. 415, 416. D'Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom.i. p. 307.311).

71 The political management of the Greeks, more especially with the Patzanicites is explained in the seven first chapters, de Administratione Imperii,

LV.

CHAP. placed on a triumphal car, adorned with the spoils of war and the ensigns of Bulgarian royalty. Zimisces made his public entry on horseback; the diadem on his head, a crown of laurel in his hand; and Constantinople was astonished to applaud the martial virtues of her sovereign.72

Conversion

of Russia,

Photius of Constantinople, a patriarch whose ambition was A. D. 864. equal to his curiosity, congratulates himself and the Greek church on the conversion of the Russians.73 Those fierce and bloody Barbarians had been persuaded by the voice of reason and religion, to acknowledge Jesus for their God, the Christian missionaries for their teachers, and the Romans for their friends and brethren. His triumph was transient and premature. In the various fortune of their piratical adventures, some Russian chiefs might allow themselves to be sprinkled with the waters of baptism; and a Greek bishop with the name of metropolitan, might administer the sacraments in the church of Kiow, to a congregation of slaves and natives. But the seed of the Gospel was sown on a barren soil: many were the apostates, the converts were few; and the baptism of Olga may be fixed as the æra of Russian Christianity. A female, perhaps of the basest origin, who could revenge the death, and assume the sceptre, of her husband Igor, must have been endowed with those active virtues which command the fear and obedience of Barbarians. Baptism of In a moment of foreign and domestic peace, she sailed from Olga, Kiow to Constantinople; and the emperor Constantine PorA. D. 955. phyrogenitus has described with minute diligence the cere monial of her reception in his capital and palace. The steps, the titles, the salutations, the banquet, the presents, were exquisitely adjusted, to gratify the vanity of the stranger, with

74

72 In the narrative of this war, Leo the Deacon (apud Pagi, Critica, tom. iv. A. D. 968...973) is more authentic and circumstantial than Cedrenus (tom. ii. p. 660...683.) and Zonaras (tom. ii. p. 205...214). These declaimers have multiplied to 308,000 and 330,000 men, those Russian forces, of which the contemporary had given a moderate and consistent account.

73 Phot. Epistol..ii. No. 35. p. 58. edit. Montacut. It was unworthy of the learning of the editor to mistake the Russian nation, to 'Pas, for a war-cry of the Bulgarians; nor did it become the enlightened patriarch to accuse the Sclavonian idolaters, της Ελληνικής και αθες δόξης. They were neither

Greeks nor Atheists.

74 M. Levesque has extracted, from old chronicles and modern researches, the most satisfactory account of the religion of the Slavi, and the conversion of Russia (Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 35...54. 59. 92, 93. 113...121. 124...129. 148, 149, &c).