OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 41

was nnprofitably spent: in the purple he retain- chaped the ignoble vices of his origin; and Michael XL ' nilost his provinces with as supine indifference asif they had been the inheritance of his fathers.

His title was disputed by Thomas, the last of themilitary triumvirate, who transported into Eu -rope tour-score thousand barbarians from thebanks of the Tigris and the shores of the Cas-pian. He formed the siege of Constantinople ;but the capital was defended with spiritual andcarnal weapons; a Bulgarian king assaultedthe camp of the Orientals, and Thomas had themisfortune, or the weakness, to fall alive into thepower of the conqueror. The hands and feet ofthe rebel were amputated; he wasplaced on anass, and amidst the insults of the people, wasled through the streets, which he sprinkled withhis blood. The depravation of manners, as sa-vage as they were corrupt, is marked by thepresence of the emperor himself. Deaf to thelamentations of a fellow-soldier, he incessantlypressed the discovery of more accomplices, tillhis curiosity 'h as checked by the question of anhonest or guilty minister,—“ Would you give“ credit to an enemy, against the most faithful“ of your friends?” After the death of his firstwife, the emperor at the request of the senate,drew from her monastry Euphrosyne, the daugh-ter of Constantine VI . Her august birth mightjustify a stipulation in the marriage-contract,that her children should equally share the em-pire with their elder brother. But the nuptials»>f Michael and Euphrosyne were barren; and