h of multitudes. The glory of this illustrious prize was disputed
by a slave and a soldier; a slave who had seen him on the throne of
Constantinople, and a soldier whose extreme deformity had been excused
on the promise of some signal service.

Despoiled of his arms, his jewels, and his purple, Romanus spent a
dreary and perilous night on the field of battle, amidst a disorderly
crowd of the meaner Barbarians. In the morning the royal captive was
presented to Alp Arslan, who doubted of his fortune, till the identity
of the person was ascertained by the report of his ambassadors, and by
the more pathetic evidence of Basilacius, who embraced with tears
the feet of his unhappy sovereign. The successor of Constantine, in a
plebeian habit, was led into the Turkish divan, and commanded to kiss
the ground before the lord of Asia. He reluctantly obeyed; and Alp
Arslan, starting from his throne, is said to have planted his foot on
the neck of the Roman emperor. [36] But the fact is doubtful; and if, in
this moment of insolence, the sultan complied with the national custom,
the rest of his conduct has extorted the praise of his bigoted foes, and
may afford a lesson to the most civilized ages. He instantly raised the
royal captive from the ground; and thrice clasping his hand with tender
sympathy, assured him, that his life and dignity should be inviolate
in the hands of a prince who had learned to respect the majesty of his
equals and the vicissitudes of fortune. From the divan, Romanus was
conducted to an adjacent tent, where he was served with pomp and
reverence by the officers of the sultan, who, twice each day, seated
him in the place of honor at his own table. In a free and familiar
conversation of eight days, not a word, not a look, of insult escaped
from the conqueror; but he severely censured the unworthy subjects who
had deserted their valiant prince in the hour of danger, and gently
admonished his antagonist of some errors which he had committed in the
management of the war. In the preliminaries of negotiation, Alp
Arslan asked him what treatment he expected to receive, and the calm
indifference of the emperor displays the freedom of his mind. "If you
are cruel," said he, "you will take my life; if you listen to pride, you
will drag me at your chariot-wheels; if you consult your interest,
you will accept a ransom, and restore me to my country." "And what,"
continued the sultan, "would have been your own behavior, had for