tune
smiled on your arms?" The reply of the Greek betrays a sentiment, which
prudence, and even gratitude, should have taught him to suppress. "Had I
vanquished," he fiercely said, "I would have inflicted on thy body many
a stripe." The Turkish conqueror smiled at the insolence of his captive
observed that the Christian law inculcated the love of enemies and
forgiveness of injuries; and nobly declared, that he would not imitate
an example which he condemned. After mature deliberation, Alp Arslan
dictated the terms of liberty and peace, a ransom of a million, [361] an
annual tribute of three hundred and sixty thousand pieces of gold,
[37] the marriage of the royal children, and the deliverance of all
the Moslems, who were in the power of the Greeks. Romanus, with a sigh,
subscribed this treaty, so disgraceful to the majesty of the empire; he
was immediately invested with a Turkish robe of honor; his nobles and
patricians were restored to their sovereign; and the sultan, after
a courteous embrace, dismissed him with rich presents and a military
guard. No sooner did he reach the confines of the empire, than he was
informed that the palace and provinces had disclaimed their allegiance
to a captive: a sum of two hundred thousand pieces was painfully
collected; and the fallen monarch transmitted this part of his ransom,
with a sad confession of his impotence and disgrace. The generosity, or
perhaps the ambition, of the sultan, prepared to espouse the cause of
his ally; but his designs were prevented by the defeat, imprisonment,
and death, of Romanus Diogenes. [38]

[Footnote 36: This circumstance, which we read and doubt in Scylitzes
and Constantine Manasses, is more prudently omitted by Nicephorus and
Zonaras.]

[Footnote 361: Elmacin gives 1,500,000. Wilken, Geschichte der
Kreuz-zuge, vol. l. p. 10.--M.]

[Footnote 37: The ransom and tribute are attested by reason and
the Orientals. The other Greeks are modestly silent; but Nicephorus
Bryennius dares to affirm, that the terms were bad and that the emperor
would have preferred death to a shameful treaty.]

[Footnote 38: The defeat and captivity of Romanus Diogenes may be found
in John Scylitzes ad calcem Cedreni, tom. ii. p. 835-843. Zonaras,
tom. ii. p. 281-284. Nicephorus Bryennius, l. i. p. 25-32. Glycas, p.
325-327. Constantine Manasses, p. 134. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 343
344. Abulpharag. Dynast. p. 227. D'Herbelot, p. 102, 103. D Guignes,
tom. iii. p. 207-211.