his Glossarium, as _Varangi_, Warengangi, &c. The etymology of the
name is left uncertain, though the German _fort-ganger_, _i.
e._ forth-goer, wanderer, _exile_, seems the most probable. The
term occurs in various Italian and Sicilian documents, anterior to the
establishment of the Varangian Guards at Constantinople, and collected
by Muratori: as, for instance, in an edict of one of the Lombard kings,
"Omnes Warengrangi, qui de extens finibus in regni nostri finibus
advenerint seque sub scuto potestatis nostrae subdiderint, legibus
nostris Longobardorum vivere debeant," - and in another, "De Warengangis,
nobilibus, mediocribus, et rusticis hominibus, qui usque nune in terra
vestra fugiti sunt, habeatis eos." - _Muratori_, vol. ii. p. 261.
With regard to the origin of the Varangian Guard, the most distinct
testimony is that of Ordericus Vittalis, who says, "When therefore the
English had lost their liberty, they turned themselves with zeal to
discover the means of throwing off the unaccustomed yoke. Some fled to
Sueno, King of the Danes, to excite him to the recovery of the
inheritance of his grandfather, Canute. Not a few fled into exile in
other regions, either from the mere desire of escaping from under the
Norman rule, or in the hope of acquiring wealth, and so being one day
in a condition to renew the struggle at home. Some of these, in the
bloom of youth, penetrated into a far distant land, and offered
themselves to the military service of the Constantinopolitan Emperor -
that wise prince, against whom Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, had
then raised all his forces. The English exiles were favourably received,
and opposed in battle to the Normans, for whose encounter the Greeks
themselves were too weak. Alexius began to build a town for the English,
a little above Constantinople, at a place called _Chevelot_, but
the trouble of the Normans from Sicily still increasing, he soon
recalled them to the capital, and intrusted the princial palace with
all its treasures to their keeping. This was the method in which the
Saxon English found their way to Ionia, where they still remain, highly
valued by the Emperor and the people." - Book iv. p. 508.]
Having said enough to explain why an individual Varangian should be
strolling about the Golden Gate, we may proceed in the story which we
have commenced.
Let it not be thought extraordinary, that this soldier of the life-
guard should be looked upon with some degree of curiosity by the
passing citizens. It must be supposed, that, from their peculiar duties,
they were not encouraged to hold frequent intercourse or communication
with the inhabitants; and, besides that they had duties of police
occasionally to exercise amongst them, which made them generally more
dreaded than beloved, they were at the same time conscious, that their
high pay, splendid appointments, and immediate dependence on the
Emperor, were subjects of envy to the other forces. They, therefore,
kept much in the neighbourhood of their own barracks, and were seldom
seen straggling remote from them, unless they had a commission of
government intrusted to their charge.
This being the case, it was natural that a people so curious as the
Greeks should busy themselves in eyeing the stranger as he loitered in
one spot, or wandered to and fro, like a man who either could not find
some place which he was seeking, or had failed to meet some person with
whom he had an appointment, for which the ingenuity of the passengers
found a thousand different and inconsistent reasons. "A Varangian,"
said one citizen to another, "and upon duty - ahem! Then I presume to
say in your ear" - -
"What do you imagine is his object?" enquired the party to whom this
information was addressed.
"Gods and goddesses! do you think I can tell you? but suppose that he
is lurking here to hear what folk say of the Emperor," answered the
_quid-nunc_ of Constantinople.
"That is not likely,"' said the querist; "these Varangians do not speak
our language, and are not extremely well fitted for spies, since few of
them pretend to any intelligible notion of the Grecian tongue. It is
not likely, I think, that the Emperor would employ as a spy a man who
did not understand the language of the country."
"But if there are, as all men fancy," answered the politician, "persons
among these barbarian soldiers who can speak almost all languages, you
will admit that such are excellently qualified for seeing clearly
around them, since they possess the talent of beholding and reporting,
while no one has the slightest idea of suspecting them."
"It may well be," replied his companion; "but since we see so clearly
the fox's foot and paws protruding from beneath the seeming sheep's
fleece, or rather, by your leave, the _bear's_ hide yonder, had we
not better be jogging homeward, ere it be pretended we have insulted a
Varangian Guard?"
This surmise of danger insinuated by the last speaker, who was a much
older and more experienced politician than his friend, determined both
on a hasty retreat. They adjusted their cloaks, caught hold of each
other's arm, and, speaking fast and thick as they started new subjects
of suspicion, they sped, close coupled together, towards their
habitations, in a different and distant quarter of the town.
In the meantime, the sunset was nigh over; and the long shadows of the
walls, bulwarks, and arches, were projecting from the westward in
deeper and blacker shade. The Varangian seemed tired of the short and
lingering circle in which he had now trodden for more than an hour, and
in which he still loitered like an unliberated spirit, which cannot
leave the haunted spot till licensed by the spell which has brought it
hither. Even so the barbarian, casting an impatient glance to the sun,
which was setting in a blaze of light behind a rich grove of cypress-
trees, looked for some accommodation on the benches of stone which were
placed under shadow of the triumphal arch of Theodosius, drew the axe,
which was his principal weapon, close to his side, wrapped his cloak
about him, and, though his dress was not in other respects a fit attire
for slumber, any more than the place well selected for repose, yet in
less than three minutes he was fast asleep. The irresistible impulse
which induced him to seek for repose in a place very indifferently
fitted for the purpose, might be weariness consequent upon the military
vigils, which had proved a part of his duty on the preceding evening.
At the same time, his spirit was so alive within him, even while he
gave way to this transient fit of oblivion, that he remained almost
awake even with shut eyes, and no hound ever seemed to sleep more
lightly than our Anglo-Saxon at the Golden Gate of Constantinople.
And now the slumberer, as the loiterer had been before, was the subject
of observation to the accidental passengers. Two men entered the porch
in company. One was a somewhat slight made, but alert-looking man, by
name Lysimachus, and by profession a designer. A roll of paper in his
hand, with a little satchel containing a few chalks, or pencils,
completed his stock in trade; and his acquaintance with the remains of
ancient art gave him a power of talking on the subject, which
unfortunately bore more than due proportion to his talents of execution.
His companion, a magnificent-looking man in form, and so far resembling
the young barbarian, but more clownish and peasant-like in the
expression of his features, was Stephanos the wrestler, well known in
the Palestra.
"Stop here, my friend," said the artist, producing his pencils, "till I
make a sketch for my youthful Hercules."
"I thought Hercules had been a Greek," said the wrestler. "This
sleeping animal is a barbarian."
The tone intimated some offence, and the designer hastened to soothe
the displeasure which he had thoughtlessly excited. Stephanos, known by
the surname of Castor, who was highly distinguished for gymnastic
exercises, was a sort of patron to the little artist, and not unlikely
by his own reputation to bring the talents of his friend into notice.
"Beauty and strength," said the adroit artist, "are of no particular
nation; and may our Muse never deign me her prize, but it is my
greatest pleasure to compare them, as existing in the uncultivated
savage of the north, and when they are found in the darling of an
enlightened people, who has added the height of gymnastic skill to the
most distinguished natural qualities, such as we can now only see in
the works of Phidias and Praxiteles - or in our living model of the
gymnastic champions of antiquity."
"Nay, I acknowledge that the Varangian is a proper man," said the
athletic hero, softening his tone; "but the poor savage hath not,
perhaps, in his lifetime, had a single drop of oil on his bosom!
Hercules instituted the Isthmian Games" - -
"But hold! what sleeps he with, wrapt so close in his bear-skin?" said
the artist. "Is it a club?"
"Away, away, my friend!" cried Stephanos, as they looked closer on the
sleeper. "Do you not know that is the instrument of their barbarous
office? They do not war with swords or lances, as if destined to attack
men of flesh and blood; but with maces and axes, as if they were to
hack limbs formed of stone, and sinews of oak. I will wager my crown
[of withered parsley] that he lies here to arrest some distinguished
commander who has offended the government! He would not have been thus
formidably armed otherwise - Away, away, good Lysimachus; let us respect
the slumbers of the bear."
So saying, the champion of the Palestra made off with less apparent
confidence than his size and strength might have inspired.
Others, now thinly straggling, passed onward as the evening closed, and
the shadows of the cypress-trees fell darker around. Two females of the
lower rank cast their eyes on the sleeper. "Holy Maria!" said one, "if
he does not put me in mind of the Eastern tale, how the Genie brought a
gallant young prince from his nuptial chamber in Egypt, and left him
sleeping at the gate of Damascus. I will awake the poor lamb, lest he
catch harm from the night dew."
"Harm?" answered the older and crosser looking woman. "Ay, such harm as
the cold water of the Cydnus does to the wild-swan. A lamb? - ay,
forsooth! Why he's a wolf or a bear, at least a Varangian, and no
modest matron would exchange a word with such an unmannered barbarian.
I'll tell you what one of, these English Danes did to me" - -
So saying, she drew on her companion, who followed with some reluctance,
seeming to listen to her gabble, while she looked back upon the sleeper.
The total disappearance of the sun, and nearly at the same time the
departure of the twilight, which lasts so short time in that tropical
region - one of the few advantages which a more temperate climate
possesses over it, being the longer continuance of that sweet and
placid light - gave signal to the warders of the city to shut the
folding leaves of the Golden Gate, leaving a wicket lightly bolted for
the passage of those whom business might have detained too late without
the walls, and indeed for all who chose to pay a small coin. The
position and apparent insensibility of the Varangian did not escape
those who had charge of the gate, of whom there was a strong guard,
which belonged to the ordinary Greek forces.
"By Castor and by Pollux," said the centurion - for the Greeks swore by
the ancient deities, although they no longer worshipped them, and
preserved those military distinctions with which "the steady Romans
shook the world," although they were altogether degenerated from their
original manners - "By Castor and Pollux, comrades, we cannot gather
gold in this gate, according as its legend tells us: yet it will be our
fault if we cannot glean a goodly crop of silver; and though the golden
age be the most ancient and honourable, yet in this degenerate time it
is much if we see a glimpse of the inferior metal."
"Unworthy are we to follow the noble centurion Harpax," answered one of
the soldiers of the watch, who showed the shaven head and the single
tuft [Footnote: One tuft is left on the shaven head of the Moslem, for
the angel to grasp by when conveying him to Paradise.] of a Mussulman,
"if we do not hold silver a sufficient cause to bestir ourselves, when
there has been no gold to be had - as, by the faith of an honest man, I
think we can hardly tell its colour - whether out of the imperial
treasury, or obtained at the expense of individuals, for many long
moons !"
"But this silver," said the centurion, "thou shalt see with thine own
eye, and hear it ring a knell in the purse which holds our common
stock." "Which _did_ hold it, as thou wouldst say, most valiant
commander," replied the inferior warder; "but what that purse holds now,
save a few miserable oboli for purchasing certain pickled potherbs and
salt fish, to relish our allowance of stummed wine, I cannot tell, but
willingly give my share of the contents to the devil, if either purse
or platter exhibits symptom of any age richer than the age of copper."
"I will replenish our treasury," said the centurion, "were our stock
yet lower than it is. Stand up close by the wicket, my masters. Bethink
you we are the Imperial Guards, or the guards of the Imperial City, it
is all one, and let us have no man rush past us on a sudden; - and now
that we are on our guard, I will unfold to you - But stop," said the
valiant centurion, "are we all here true brothers? Do all well
understand the ancient and laudable customs of our watch - keeping all
things secret which concern the profit and advantage of this our vigil,
and aiding and abetting the common cause, without information or
treachery?"
"You are strangely suspicious to-night," answered the sentinel.
"Methinks we have stood by you without tale-telling in matters which
were more weighty. Have you forgot the passage of the jeweller - which
was neither the gold nor silver age; but if there were a diamond one" -
"Peace, good Ismail the Infidel," said the centurion, - "for, I thank
Heaven, we are of all religions, so it is to be hoped we must have the
true one amongst us, - Peace, I say; it is unnecessary to prove thou
canst keep new secrets, by ripping up old ones. Come hither - look
through the wicket to the stone bench, on the shady side of the grand
porch - tell me, old lad, what dost thou see there?"
"A man asleep," said Ismail. "By Heaven, I think from what I can see by
the moonlight, that it is one of those barbarians, one of those island
dogs, whom the Emperor sets such store by!"
"And can thy fertile brain," said the centurion, "spin nothing out of
his present situation, tending towards our advantage?"
"Why, ay," said Ismail; "they have large pay, though they are not only
barbarians, but pagan dogs, in comparison with us Moslems and Nazarenes.
That fellow hath besotted himself with liquor, and hath not found his
way home to his barracks in good time. He will be severely punished,
unless we consent to admit him; and to prevail on us to do so, he must
empty the contents of his girdle."
"That, at least - that, at least," answered the soldiers of the city
watch, but carefully suppressing their voices, though they spoke in an
eager tone. "And is that all that you would make of such an
opportunity?" said Harpax, scornfully. "No, no, comrades. If this
outlandish animal indeed escape us, he must at least leave his fleece
behind. See you not the gleams from his headpiece and his cuirass? I
presume these betoken substantial silver, though it may be of the
thinnest. There lies the silver mine I spoke of, ready to enrich the
dexterous hands who shall labour it."
"But," said timidly a young Greek, a companion of their watch lately
enlisted in the corps, and unacquainted with their habits, "still this
barbarian, as you call him, is a soldier of the Emperor; and if we are
convicted of depriving him of his arms, we shall be justly punished for
a military crime."
"Hear to a new Lycurgus come to teach us our duty!" said the centurion.
"Learn first, young man, that the metropolitan cohort never can commit
a crime; and next, of course, that they can never be convicted of one.
Suppose we found a straggling barbarian, a Varangian, like this
slumberer, perhaps a Frank, or some other of these foreigners bearing
unpronounceable names, while they dishonour us by putting on the arms
and apparel of the real Roman soldier, are we, placed to defend an
important post, to admit a man so suspicious within our postern, when
the event may probably be to betray both the Golden Gate and the hearts
of gold who guard it, - to have the one seized, and the throats of the
others handsomely cut?"
"Keep him without side of the gate, then," replied the novice, "if you
think him so dangerous. For my part, I should not fear him, were he
deprived of that huge double-edged axe, which gleams from under his
cloak, having a more deadly glare than the comet which astrologers
prophesy such strange things of."
"Nay, then, we agree together," answered Harpax, "and you speak like a
youth of modesty and sense; and I promise you the state will lose
nothing in the despoiling of this same barbarian. Each of these savages
hath a double set of accoutrements, the one wrought with gold, silver,
inlaid work, and ivory, as becomes their duties in the prince's
household; the other fashioned of triple steel, strong, weighty, and
irresistible. Now, in taking from this suspicious character his silver
helmet and cuirass, you reduce him to his proper weapons, and you will
see him start up in arms fit for duty."
"Yes," said the novice; "but I do not see that this reasoning will do
more than warrant our stripping the Varangian of his armour, to be
afterwards heedfully returned to him on the morrow, if he prove a true
man. How, I know not, but I had adopted some idea that it was to be
confiscated for our joint behoof."
"Unquestionably," said Harpax; "for such has been the rule of our watch
ever since the days of the excellent centurion Sisyphus, in whose time
it first was determined, that all contraband commodities or suspicious
weapons, or the like, which were brought into the city during the
nightwatch, should be uniformly forfeited to the use of the soldiery of
the guard; and where the Emperor finds the goods or arms unjustly
seized, I hope he is rich enough to make it up to the sufferer."
"But still - but still," said Sebastes of Mitylene, the young Greek
aforesaid, "were the Emperor to discover" -
"Ass!" replied Harpax, "he cannot discover, if he had all the eyes of
Argus's tail. - Here are twelve of us sworn according to the rules of
the watch, to abide in the same story. Here is a barbarian, who, if he
remembers any thing of the matter - which I greatly doubt - his choice of
a lodging arguing his familiarity with the wine-pot - tells but a wild
tale of losing his armour, which we, my masters," (looking round to his
companions,) "deny stoutly - I hope we have courage enough for that - and
which party will be believed? The companions of the watch, surely!"
"Quite the contrary," said Sebastes. "I was born at a distance from
hence; yet even in the island of Mitylene, the rumour had reached me
that the cavaliers of the city-guard of Constantinople were so
accomplished in falsehood, that the oath of a single barbarian would
outweigh the Christian oath of the whole body, if Christians some of
them are - for example, this dark man with a single tuft on his head."
"And if it were even so," said the centurion, with a gloomy and
sinister look, "there is another way of making the transaction a safe
one."
Sebastes, fixing his eye on his commander, moved his hand to the hilt
of an Eastern poniard which he wore, as if to penetrate his exact
meaning. The centurion nodded in acquiescence.
"Young as I am," said Sebastes, "I have been already a pirate five
years at sea, and a robber three years now in the hills, and it is the
first time I have seen or heard a man hesitate, in such a case, to take
the only part which is worth a brave man's while to resort to in a
pressing affair."
Harpax struck his hand into that of the soldier, as sharing his
uncompromising sentiments; but when he spoke, it was in a tremulous
voice.
"How shall we deal with him?" said he to Sebastes, who, from the most
raw recruit in the corps, had now risen to the highest place in his
estimation.
"Any how," returned the islander; "I see bows here and shafts, and if
no other person can use them" -
"They are not," said the centurion, "the regular arms of our corps."
"The fitter you to guard the gates of a city," said the young soldier,
with a horse-laugh, which had something insulting in it. "Well - be it
so. I can shoot like a Scythian," he proceeded; "nod but with your head,
one shaft shall crash among the splinters of his skull and his brains;
the second shall quiver in his heart."
"Bravo, my noble comrade!" said Harpax, in a tone of affected rapture,
always lowering his voice, however, as respecting the slumbers of the
Varangian. "Such were the robbers of ancient days, the Diomedes,
Corvnetes, Synnes, Scyrons, Procrustes, whom it required demigods to
bring to what was miscalled justice, and whose compeers and fellows
will remain masters of the continent and isles of Greece, until
Hercules and Theseus shall again appear upon earth. Nevertheless, shoot
not, my valiant Sebastes - draw not the bow, my invaluable Mitylenian;
you may wound and not kill." "I am little wont to do so," said Sebastes,
again repeating the hoarse, chuckling, discordant laugh, which grated
upon the ears of the centurion, though he could hardly tell the reason
why it was so uncommonly unpleasant. "If I look not about me," was his
internal reflection, "we shall have two centurions of the watch,
instead of one. This Mitylenian, or be he who the devil will, is a
bow's length beyond me. I must keep my eye on him." He then spoke aloud,
in a tone of authority. "But, come, young man, it is hard to discourage
a young beginner. If you have been such a rover of wood and river as
you tell us of, you know how to play the Sicarius: there lies your
object, drunk or asleep, we know not which; - you will deal with him in
either case."
"Will you give me no odds to stab a stupefied or drunken man, most
noble centurion?" answered the Greek. "You would perhaps love the
commission yourself?" he continued, somewhat ironically.
"Do as you are directed, friend," said Harpax, pointing to the turret
staircase which led down from the battlement to the arched entrance
underneath the porch.
"He has the true cat-like stealthy pace," half muttered the centurion,
as his sentinel descended to do such a crime as he was posted there to
prevent. "This cockerel's comb must be cut, or he will become king of
the roost. But let us see if his hand be as resolute as his tongue;
then we will consider what turn to give to the conclusion."
As Harpax spoke between his teeth, and rather to himself than any of
his companions, the Mitylenian emerged from under the archway, treading
on tiptoe, yet swiftly, with an admirable mixture of silence and
celerity. His poniard, drawn as he descended, gleamed in his hand,
which was held a little behind the rest of his person, so as to conceal
it. The assassin hovered less than an instant over the sleeper, as if
to mark the interval between the ill-fated silver corslet, and the body
which it was designed to protect, when, at the instant the blow was
rushing to its descent, the Varangian started up at once, arrested the
armed hand of the assassin, by striking it upwards with the head of his
battle-axe; and while he thus parried the intended stab, struck the
Greek a blow heavier than Sebastes had ever learned at the Pancration,
which left him scarce the power to cry help to his comrades on the
battlements. They saw what had happened, however, and beheld the
barbarian set his foot on their companion, and brandish high his
formidable weapon, the whistling sound of which made the old arch ring
ominously, while he paused an instant, with his weapon upheaved, ere he
gave the finishing blow to his enemy. The warders made a bustle, as if
some of them would descend to the assistance of Sebastes, without,
however, appearing very eager to do so, when Harpax, in a rapid whisper,
commanded them to stand fast.
"Each man to his place," he said, "happen what may. Yonder comes a
captain of the guard - the secret is our own, if the savage has killed
the Mitylenian, as I well trust, for he stirs neither hand nor foot.
But if he lives, my comrades, make hard your faces as flints - he is but
one man, we are twelve. We know nothing of his purpose, save that he
went to see wherefore the barbarian slept so near the post."
While the centurion thus bruited his purpose in busy insinuation to the
companions of his watch, the stately figure of a tall soldier, richly
armed, and presenting a lofty crest, which glistened as he stept from
the open moonlight into the shade of the vault, became visible beneath.
A whisper passed among the warders on the top of the gate.
"Draw bolt, shut gate, come of the Mitylenian what will," said the
centurion; "we are lost men if we own him. - Here comes the chief of the
Varangian axes, the Follower himself."
"Well, Hereward," said the officer who came last upon the scene, in a
sort of _lingua Franca_, generally used by the barbarians of the
guard, "hast thou caught a night-hawk?"
"Ay, by Saint George!" answered the soldier; "and yet, in my country,
we would call him but a kite."
"What is he?" said the leader.
"He will tell you that himself," replied the Varangian, "when I take my
grasp from his windpipe."
"Let him go, then," said the officer.
The Englishman did as he was commanded; but, escaping as soon as he
felt himself at liberty, with an alertness which could scarce have been
anticipated, the Mitylenian rushed out at the arch, and, availing
himself of the complicated ornaments which had originally graced the
exterior of the gateway, he fled around buttress and projection,
closely pursued by the Varangian, who, encumbered with his armour, was
hardly a match in the course for the light-footed Grecian, as he dodged
his pursuer from one skulking place to another. The officer laughed
heartily, as the two figures, like shadows appearing and disappearing
as suddenly, held rapid flight and chase around the arch of Theodosius.
"By Hercules! it is Hector pursued round the walls of Ilion by
Achilles," said the officer; "but my Pelides will scarce overtake the
son of Priam. What, ho! goddess-born - son of the white-footed Thetis! -
But the allusion is lost on the poor savage - Hollo, Hereward! I say,
stop - know thine own most barbarous name." These last words were
muttered; then raising his voice, "Do not out-run thy wind, good
Hereward. Thou mayst have more occasion for breath to-night."
"If it had been my leader's will," answered the Varangian, coming back
in sulky mood, and breathing like one who had been at the top of his
speed, "I would have had him as fast as ever grey-hound held hare, ere
I left off the chase. Were it not for this foolish armour, which
encumbers without defending one, I would not have made two bounds
without taking him by the throat."
"As well as it is," said the officer, who was, in fact, the Acoulonthos,
or _Follower_, so called because it was the duty of this highly-
trusted officer of the Varangian Guards constantly to attend on the
person of the Emperor. "But let us now see by what means we are to
regain our entrance through the gate; for if, as I suspect, it was one
of those warders who was willing to have played thee a trick, his
companions may not let us enter willingly." "And is it not," said the
Varangian, "your Valour's duty to probe this want of discipline to the
bottom?"
"Hush thee here, my simple-minded savage! I have often told you, most
ignorant Hereward, that the skulls of those who come from your cold and
muddy Boentia of the North, are fitter to bear out twenty blows with a
sledge-hammer, than turn off one witty or ingenious idea. But follow me,
Hereward, and although I am aware that showing the fine meshes of
Grecian policy to the coarse eye of an unpractised barbarian like thee,
is much like casting pearls before swine, a thing forbidden in the
Blessed Gospel, yet, as thou hast so good a heart, and so trusty, as is
scarce to be met with among my Varangians themselves, I care not if,
while thou art in attendance on my person, I endeavour to indoctrinate
thee in some of that policy by which I myself - the Follower - the chief
of the Varangians, and therefore erected by their axes into the most
valiant of the valiant, am content to guide myself, although every way
qualified to bear me through the cross currents of the court by main
pull of oar and press of sail - a condescension in me, to do that by
policy, which no man in this imperial court, the chosen sphere of
superior wits, could so well accomplish by open force as myself. What
think'st thou, good savage?"
"I know," answered the Varangian, who walked about a step and a half
behind his leader, like an orderly of the present day behind his
officer's shoulder, "I should be sorry to trouble my head with what I
could do by my hands at once."
"Did I not say so?" replied the Follower, who had now for some minutes
led the way from the Golden Gate, and was seen gliding along the
outside of the moonlight walls, as if seeking an entrance elsewhere.
"Lo, such is the stuff of what you call your head is made! Your hands
and arms are perfect Ahitophels, compared to it. Hearken to me, thou
most ignorant of all animals, - but, for that very reason, thou stoutest
of confidants, and bravest of soldiers, - I will tell thee the very
riddle of this night-work, and yet, even then I doubt if thou canst
understand me."
"It is my present duty to try to comprehend your Valour," said the
Varangian - "I would say your policy, since you condescend to expound it
to me. As for your valour," he added, "I should be unlucky if I did not
think I understand its length and breadth already."
The Greek General coloured a little, but replied, with unaltered voice,
"True, good Hereward. We have seen each other in battle."
Hereward here could not suppress a short cough, which to those
grammarians of the day who were skilful in applying the use of accents,
would have implied no peculiar eulogium on his officer's military
bravery. Indeed, during their whole intercourse, the conversation of
the General, in spite of his tone of affected importance and
superiority, displayed an obvious respect for his companion, as one who,
in many points of action, might, if brought to the test, prove a more
effective soldier than himself. On the other hand, when the powerful
Northern warrior replied, although it was with all observance of
discipline and duty, yet the discussion might sometimes resemble that
between an ignorant macaroni officer, before the Duke of York's
reformation of the British army, and a steady sergeant of the regiment
in which they both served. There was a consciousness of superiority,
disguised by external respect, and half admitted by the leader.
"You will grant me, my simple friend," continued the chief, in the same
tone as before, "in order to lead thee by a short passage into the
deepest principle of policy which pervades this same court of
Constantinople, that the favour of the Emperor" - (here the officer
raised his casque, and the soldier made a semblance of doing so also) -
"who (be the place where he puts his foot sacred!) is the vivifying
principle of the sphere in which we live, as the sun itself is that of
humanity" - -
"I have heard something like this said by our tribunes," said the
Varangian.
"It is their duty so to instruct you," answered the leader; "and I
trust that the priests also, in their sphere, forget not to teach my
Varangians their constant service to their Emperor."
"They do not omit it," replied the soldier, "though we of the exiles
know our duty."
"God forbid I should doubt it," said the commander of the battle-axes.
"All I mean is to make thee understand, my dear Hereward, that as there
are, though perhaps such do not exist in thy dark and gloomy climate, a
race of insects which are born in the first rays of the morning, and
expire with those of sunset, (thence called by us ephemeras, as
enduring one day only,) such is the case of a favourite at court, while
enjoying the smiles of the most sacred Emperor. And happy is he whose
favour, rising as the person of the sovereign emerges from the level
space which extends around the throne, displays itself in the first
imperial blaze of glory, and who, keeping his post during the meridian
splendour of the crown, has only the fate to disappear and die with the
last beam of imperial brightness."
"Your Valour," said the islander, "speaks higher language than my
Northern wits are able to comprehend. Only, methinks, rather than part
with life at the sunset, I would, since insect I must needs be, become
a moth for two or three dark hours."
"Such is the sordid desire of the vulgar, Hereward," answered the
Follower, with assumed superiority, "who are contented to enjoy life,
lacking distinction; whereas we, on the other hand, we of choicer
quality, who form the nearest and innermost circle around the Imperial
Alexius, in which he himself forms the central point, are watchful, to
woman's jealousy, of the distribution of his favours, and omit no
opportunity, whether by leaguing with or against each other, to
recommend ourselves individually to the peliar light of his
countenance."
"I think I comprehend what you mean," said the guardsman; "although as
for living such a life of intrigue - but that matters not."
"It does indeed matter not, my good Hereward," said his officer, "and
thou art lucky in having no appetite for the life I have described. Yet
have I seen barbarians rise high in the empire, and if they have not
altogether the flexibility, the malleability, as it is called - that
happy ductility which can give way to circumstances, I have yet known
those of barbaric tribes, especially if bred up at court from their
youth, who joined to a limited portion of this flexile quality enough
of a certain tough durability of temper, which, if it does not excel in
availing itself of opportunity, has no contemptible talent at creating
it. But letting comparisons pass, it follows, from this emulation of
glory, that is, of royal favour, amongst the servants of the imperial
and most sacred court, that each is desirous of distinguishing himself
by showing to the Emperor, not only that he fully understands the
duties of his own employments, but that he is capable, in case of
necessity, of discharging those of others."
"I understand," said the Saxon; "and thence it happens that the under
ministers, soldiers, and assistants of the great crown-officers, are
perpetually engaged, not in aiding each other, but in acting as spies
on their neighbours' actions?"
"Even so," answered the commander; "it is but few days since I had a
disagreeable instance of it. Every one, however dull in the intellect,
hath understood thus much, that the great Protospathaire, [Footnote:
Literally, the First Swordsman.] which title thou knowest signifies the
General-in-chief of the forces of the empire, hath me at hatred,
because I am the leader of those redoubtable Varangians, who enjoy and
well deserve, privileges exempting them from the absolute command which
he possesses over all other corps of the army - an authority which
becomes Nicanor, notwithstanding the victorious sound of his name,
nearly as well as a war-saddle would become a bullock."
"How!" said the Varangian, "does the Protospathaire pretend to any
authority over the noble exiles? - By the red dragon, under which we
will live and die, we will obey no man alive but Alexius Comnenus
himself, and our own officers!"
"Rightly and bravely resolved," said the leader; "but, my good Hereward,
let not your just indignation hurry you so far as to name the most
sacred Emperor, without raising your hand to your casque, and adding
the epithets of his lofty rank."
"I will raise my hand often enough and high enough," said the Norseman,
"when the Emperor's service requires it."
"I dare be sworn thou wilt," said Achilles Tatius, the commander of the
Varangian Imperial Body Guard, who thought the time was unfavourable
for distinguishing himself by insisting on that exact observance of
etiquette, which was one of his great pretensions to the name of a
soldier. "Yet were it not for the constant vigilance of your leader, my
child, the noble Varangians would be trode down, in the common mass of
the army, with the heathen cohorts of Huns, Scythians, or those
turban'd infidels the renegade Turks; and even for this is your
commander here in peril, because he vindicates his axe-men as worthy of
being prized above the paltry shafts of the Eastern tribes and the
javelins of the Moors, which are only fit to be playthings for
children."
"You are exposed to no danger," said the soldier, closing up to
Achilles in a confidential manner, "from which these axes can protect
you."
"Do I not know it?" said Achilles. "But it is to your arms alone that
the Follower of his most sacred Majesty now intrusts his safety."
"In aught that a soldier may do," answered Hereward; "make your own
computation, and then reckon this single arm worth two against any man
the Emperor has, not being of our own corps."
"Listen, my brave friend," continued Achilles. "This Nicanor was daring
enough to throw a reproach on our noble corps, accusing them - gods and
goddesses! - of plundering in the field, and, yet more sacrilegious, of
drinking the precious wine which was prepared for his most sacred
Majesty's own blessed consumption. I, the sacred person of the Emperor
being present, proceeded, as thou may'st well believe" -
"To give him the lie in his audacious throat!" burst in the Varangian -
"named a place of meeting somewhere in the vicinity, and called the
attendance of your poor follower, Hereward of Hampton, who is your
bond-slave for life long, for such an honour! I wish only you had told
me to get my work-day arms; but, however, I have my battle-axe, and" -
Here his companion seized a moment to break in, for he was somewhat
abashed at the lively tone of the young soldier.
"Hush thee, my son," said Achilles Tatius; "speak low, my excellent
Hereward. Thou mistakest this thing. With thee by my side, I would not,
indeed, hesitate to meet five such as Nicanor; but such is not the law
of this most hallowed empire, nor the sentiments of the three times
illustrious Prince who now rules it. Thou art debauched, my soldier,
with the swaggering stories of the Franks, of whom we hear more and
more every day."
"I would not willingly borrow any thing from those whom you call Franks,
and we Normans," answered the Varangian, in a disappointed, dogged tone.
"Why, listen, then," said the officer as they proceeded on their walk,
"listen to the reason of the thing, and consider whether such a custom
can obtain, as that which they term the duello, in any country of
civilization and common sense, to say nothing of one which is blessed
with the domination of the most rare Alexius Comnenus. Two great lords,