f the Pagan Turks; but Simeon, in a second battle,
redeemed the loss of the first, at a time when it was esteemed a
victory to elude the arms of that formidable nation. The Servians
were overthrown, made captive and dispersed; and those who visited
the country before their restoration could discover no more than
fifty vagrants, without women or children, who extorted a precarious
subsistence from the chase. On classic ground, on the banks of Achelous,
the greeks were defeated; their horn was broken by the strength of the
Barbaric Hercules. [15] He formed the siege of Constantinople; and, in
a personal conference with the emperor, Simeon imposed the conditions of
peace. They met with the most jealous precautions: the royal gallery
was drawn close to an artificial and well-fortified platform; and the
majesty of the purple was emulated by the pomp of the Bulgarian. "Are
you a Christian?" said the humble Romanus: "it is your duty to abstain
from the blood of your fellow-Christians. Has the thirst of riches
seduced you from the blessings of peace? Sheathe your sword, open
your hand, and I will satiate the utmost measure of your desires." The
reconciliation was sealed by a domestic alliance; the freedom of trade
was granted or restored; the first honors of the court were secured to
the friends of Bulgaria, above the ambassadors of enemies or strangers;
[16] and her princes were dignified with the high and invidious title of
Basileus, or emperor. But this friendship was soon disturbed: after the
death of Simeon, the nations were again in arms; his feeble successors
were divided and extinguished; and, in the beginning of the eleventh
century, the second Basil, who was born in the purple, deserved the
appellation of conqueror of the Bulgarians. His avarice was in some
measure gratified by a treasure of four hundred thousand pounds
sterling, (ten thousand pounds' weight of gold,) which he found in
the palace of Lychnidus. His cruelty inflicted a cool and exquisite
vengeance on fifteen thousand captives who had been guilty of the
defence of their country. They were deprived of sight; but to one of
each hundred a single eye was left, that he might conduct his blind
century to the presence of their king. Their king is said to have
expired of grief and horror; the nation was awed by this terrible
example; the Bulgarians were swept away from their settlements, and
circumscribed within a narrow province; the surviving chiefs bequeathed