lory of Constantinople was away back in the early days
before the time of Mohammed, or of the Crusaders, when it was the centre
of the Christian religion, the chief and gorgeous capital of a Christian
empire, and the residence of Christian emperors,--from the days of
Constantine the conqueror to those of Justinian the law-giver and of
Irene the empress. It was the metropolis of the eastern half of the
great Roman Empire, and during this period of over five hundred years
all the wealth and treasure of the east poured into Constantinople,
while all the glories of the empire, even the treasures of old Rome
itself, were drawn upon to adorn and beautify this rival city by the
Golden Horn. And so in the days of Theodosius the Little, the court of
Constantinople, although troubled with fear of a barbarian invasion
and attack, glittered with all the gorgeousness and display of the most
magnificent empire in the world.

In the great daphne, or central space of the imperial palace, the
prefect Anthemius, with the young emperor, the three princesses, and
their gorgeously arrayed nobles and attendants, awaited, one day, the
envoys of Ruas the Hun, who sought lands and power within the limits of
the empire.

They came, at last,--great, fierce-looking fellows, not at all pleasant
to contemplate--big-boned broad-shouldered, flat-nosed, swarthy,
and small-eyed, with war-cloaks of shaggy skins, leathern armor,
wolf-crowned helmets, and barbaric decorations, and the royal children
shrunk from them in terror, even as they watched them with wondering
curiosity. Imperial guards, gleaming in golden armor, accompanied them,
while with the envoys came also as escort a small retinue of Hunnish
spearmen. And in the company of these, the Princess Pulcheria noted a
lad of ten or twelve years--short, swarthy, big-headed, and flat-nosed,
like his brother barbarians, but with an air of open and hostile
superiority that would not be moved even by all the glow and glitter of
an imperial court.

Then Eslaw, the chief of the envoys of King Ruas the Hun, made known his
master's demands So much land, so much treasure, so much in the way of
concession and power over the lands along the Danube, or Ruas the king
would sweep down with his warriors, and lay waste the cities and lands
of the empire.

"These be bold words," said Anthemius the prefect. "And what if our lord
the emperor shall say thee nay?"

But ere the chief of the envoys could reply, the la