achment, he threatened and
propitiated in the same breath.

"I will reign supreme at Novgorod," he exclaimed; "as I do at Moscow. You
must surrender all to me; your posadnik, and the bell that calls your
national council together;" and at the same time he professed his
determination to respect those very liberties which by these demands were
to be sacrificed forever. The Novgorodians, terrified by the immense
force Ivan had collected, which it seemed he only used to menace, and not
to destroy, attempted to capitulate; but he was insensible to all their
representations, and, even while he promised them their freedom, he
refused to grant it. The armament, mighty as it was, which he had
prepared, was kept aloof to threaten and not to strike. He acted as if he
feared to risk the issue of a contest with any of his enemies, or as if
he were unwilling to suffer the loss consequent even upon victory. He
wanted to overbear by terror rather than by arms, so that the fearful
agency of his name might do the work of conquest more powerfully and at
less cost than his armies, which must have been thinned by battles, and
might have been subdued by fortune. So long as he could preserve his
terrible ascendency by the force of the fear which he inspired, he was
secure; but the single defeat, or the doubtful issue of a solitary
struggle, might reduce the potent charm of his unvanquished power. In
this way he drew the chain tighter; and in the agonies of the protracted
and narrowing pressure, Novgorod, unable to resist, died in agonies of
despair.

The surrender of the liberties of the republic was complete. On taking
possession of the city, Ivan seized upon the person of the popular
Marpha, and sent her and seven of the principal citizens as prisoners
to Moscow, confiscating their properties in the name of the state. The
national assemblies and municipal privileges ceased January 15, 1478, on
which day the people took the oath of servitude; and on the 18th, the
boyars and their immediate followers, and the wealthy and the influential
classes of the inhabitants, voluntarily came forward and entered into the
service of the Grand Prince. The revenues of the clergy, which were
by the act of submission transferred to the treasury of Ivan, were
immediately devoted by him to the service of three hundred thousand
followers of boyars, through whose intermediate agency he intended to
assert and maintain his unlimited and supreme authority over the