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The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

History

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

World history

He returned to Constantinople with the loss of more than half of his
fleet and army, and sheltered his guilty head in the sanctuary of St.
Sophia, till his sister, by her tears and entreaties, could obtain his
pardon from the indignant emperor. Leo confirmed and dishonoured his
reign by the perfidious murder of Aspar and his sons, who too rigorously
exacted the debt of gratitude and obedience. The inheritance of Leo and
of the East was peaceably devolved on his infant grandson, Leo II, the
son of his daughter Ariadne; and her Isaurian husband, the fortunate
Trascalisseus, exchanged that barbarous sound for the Grecian appellation
of Zeno. After the decease of the elder Leo, he approached with unnatural
respect the throne of his son, humbly received as a gift the second
rank in the empire, and soon excited the public suspicion on the sudden
and premature death of his young colleague, whose life could no longer
promote the success of his ambition. But the palace of Constantinople was
ruled by female influence, and agitated by female passions; and Verina,
the widow of Leo, claiming his empire as her own, pronounced a sentence
of deposition against the worthless and ungrateful servant on whom she
alone had bestowed the sceptre of the East.

As soon as she sounded a revolt in the ears of Zeno, he fled with
precipitation into the mountains of Isauria, and her brother Basiliscus,
already infamous by his African expedition, was unanimously proclaimed by
the servile senate. But the reign of the usurper was short and turbulent.

Basiliscus presumed to assassinate the lover of his sister; he dared
to offend the lover of his wife, the vain and insolent Harmatius, who,
in the midst of Asiatic luxury, affected the dress, the demeanour, and
the surname of Achilles. By the conspiracy of the malcontents, Zeno
was recalled from exile; and the armies, the capital, the person of
Basiliscus, were betrayed; and his whole family was condemned to the long
agony of cold and hunger by the inhuman conqueror who wanted courage
to encounter or to forgive his enemies. [It was after Zeno’s return to
the throne that Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king, left Illyricum with
his people to invade Italy (488). This event will be fully described in
Chapter I of the “Western Empire.”]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

World history

He returned to Constantinople with the loss of more than half of his
fleet and army, and sheltered his guilty head in the sanctuary of St.
Sophia, till his sister, by her tears and entreaties, could obtain his
pardon from the indignant emperor. Leo confirmed and dishonoured his
reign by the perfidious murder of Aspar and his sons, who too rigorously
exacted the debt of gratitude and obedience. The inheritance of Leo and
of the East was peaceably devolved on his infant grandson, Leo II, the
son of his daughter Ariadne; and her Isaurian husband, the fortunate
Trascalisseus, exchanged that barbarous sound for the Grecian appellation
of Zeno. After the decease of the elder Leo, he approached with unnatural
respect the throne of his son, humbly received as a gift the second
rank in the empire, and soon excited the public suspicion on the sudden
and premature death of his young colleague, whose life could no longer
promote the success of his ambition. But the palace of Constantinople was
ruled by female influence, and agitated by female passions; and Verina,
the widow of Leo, claiming his empire as her own, pronounced a sentence
of deposition against the worthless and ungrateful servant on whom she
alone had bestowed the sceptre of the East.

As soon as she sounded a revolt in the ears of Zeno, he fled with
precipitation into the mountains of Isauria, and her brother Basiliscus,
already infamous by his African expedition, was unanimously proclaimed by
the servile senate. But the reign of the usurper was short and turbulent.

Basiliscus presumed to assassinate the lover of his sister; he dared
to offend the lover of his wife, the vain and insolent Harmatius, who,
in the midst of Asiatic luxury, affected the dress, the demeanour, and
the surname of Achilles. By the conspiracy of the malcontents, Zeno
was recalled from exile; and the armies, the capital, the person of
Basiliscus, were betrayed; and his whole family was condemned to the long
agony of cold and hunger by the inhuman conqueror who wanted courage
to encounter or to forgive his enemies. [It was after Zeno’s return to
the throne that Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king, left Illyricum with
his people to invade Italy (488). This event will be fully described in
Chapter I of the “Western Empire.”]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

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