n, advised peace, to put an end to the
disasters of civil war. His advice was everywhere re-echoed, the demand
for peace seemed unanimous, Ziska alone opposing it. Mounting a cask,
and facing his discontented followers, he exclaimed,--

"Fear internal more than external foes. It is easier for a few, when
united, to conquer, than for many, when disunited. Snares are laid for
you; you will be entrapped, but it will not be my fault."

Despite his harangue, however, peace was concluded between the
contending factions, and a large monument raised in commemoration
thereof, both parties heaping up stones. Ziska entered the city in
solemn procession, and was met with respect and admiration by the
citizens. Prince Coribut, the leader of the opposite party and the
aspirant to the crown, came to meet him, embraced him, and called him
father. The triumph of the blind chief over his internal foes was
complete.

It seemed equally complete over his external foes. Sigismund, unable to
conquer him by force of arms, now sought to mollify him by offers of
peace, and entered into negotiations with the stern old warrior. But
Ziska was not to be placated. He could not trust the man who had broken
his plighted word and burned John Huss, and he remained immovable in his
hostility to Germany. Planning a fresh attack on Moravia, he began his
march thither. But now he met a conquering enemy against whose arms
there was no defence. Death encountered him on the route, and carried
him off October 12, 1424.

Thus ends the story of an extraordinary man, and the history of a series
of remarkable events. Of all the peasant outbreaks, of which there were
so many during the mediaeval period, the Bohemian was the only one--if we
except the Swiss struggle for liberty--that attained measurable success.
This was due in part to the fact that it was a religious instead of an
industrial revolt, and thus did not divide the country into sharp ranks
of rich and poor; and in greater part to the fact that it had an able
leader, one of those men of genius who seem born for great occasions.
John Ziska, the blind warrior, leading his army to victory after
victory, stands alone in the gallery of history. There were none like
him, before or after.

He is pictured as a short, broad-shouldered man, with a large, round,
and bald head. His forehead was deeply furrowed, and he wore a long
moustache of a fiery red hue. This, with his blind eye and his final
complete blind