40 THE DECLINE AND FALL

x lvIu ^ ie *’ ail( l country. On the great festivals,

.chosen band of priests and chanters was ad-mitted into the palace by a private gate to singmatins in the chapel; and Leo, who regulatedwith the same strictness the discipline of thechoir and of the camp, was seldom absent fromthose early devotions. In the ecclesiastical ha-bit, but with swords under their robes, the con.spirators mingled with the procession, lurkedin the angles of the chapel, and expected as thesignal of murder, the intonation of the first psalmby the emperor himself. The imperfect light,and the uniformity of dress, might have favouredhis escape, while their assault was pointedagainst an harmless priest: but they soon disco-vered their mistake, and encompassed on allsides the royal victim. Without a weapon andwithout a friend, he grasped a weighty cross,and stood at bay against the hunters of his life;but as he asked for mercy, — “ This is the hour,“ not of mercy, but of vengeance,” was the inex-orable reply. The stroke of a w ell-aimed swordseparated from his body the right arm and thecross, and Leo the Armenian was slain at thefoot of the altar.

me sum” A memorable reverse of fortune was display-ed in Michael II , who, from a defect in his

A- D»

Dec. 25. speech, was surnamed the Stammerer. He w assnatched from the fiery furnace to the sove-reignty of an empire; and as in the tumult asmith could not readily be found, the fetters re-mained on his legs several hours after he wasseated on the throne of the Ceesars. The royalblood which had been the price of his elevation,