OF THE EOMAN EMPIEE 241 reluctantly obeyed ; and Alp Arslan^ starting from his throne, is said to have planted his foot on the neck of the Roman emperor.^^ But the fact is doubtful ; and, if, in this moment of insolence, the sultan complied with a national custom, the rest of his conduct has extorted the praise of his bigoted foes, and may afford a lesson to the most civilised ages. He instantly raised the royal captive from the ground ; and, thrice clasping his hand with tender sympathy, assured him that his life and dignity should be inviolate in the hands of a prince who had learned to respect the majesty of his equals and the vicissitudes of fortune. From the divan Romanus was conducted to an ad- jacent tent, where he was served with pomp and reverence by the officers of the sultan, who, twice each day, seated him in the place of honour at his own table. In a free and familiar conversation of eight days, not a word, not a look, of insult escaped from the conqueror ; but he severely censured the un- worthy subjects who had deserted their valiant prince in the hour of danger, and gently admonished his antagonist of some errors which he had committed in the management of the war. In the preliminaries of negotiation, Alp Arslan asked him what treatment he expected to receive, and the calm indifference of the emperor displays the freedom of his mind. "If you are cruel," said he, " you will take my life ; if you listen to pride, you will drag me at your chariot wheels ; if you consult your interest, you will accept a ransom, and restore me to my country." — "And what," continued the sultan, "would have been your own behaviour, had fortune smiled on your arms . " The reply of the Greek betrays a sentiment, which prudence, and even gratitude, should have taught him to suppress. " Had I vanquished," he fiercely said, " I would have inflicted on thy body many a stripe." The Turkish conqueror smiled at the insolence of his captive ; observed that the Christian law in- culcated the love of enemies and forgiveness of injuries ; and nobly declared that he would not imitate an example which he condemned. After mature deliberation, Alp Arslan dictated the terms of liberty and peace, a ransom of a million, an annual tribute of three hundred and sixty thousand pieces of gold,^- ■*' This circumstance, which we read and doubt in Scylitzes and Constantine Manasses, is more prudently omitted by Nicephorus and Zonaras. [The reader may remember how the Emperor Justinian II. placed his feet on the necks of his rivals Leontius and Apsimar. Finlay (iii. 34) rebukes Gibbon for his scepticism here. ] ■•- The ransom and tribute are attested by reason and the Orientals. The other Greeks are modestly silent ; but Nicephorus Bryennius dares to affirm that the VOL. VI. 16
