wherewith I was charged by the Augusta is not to oppress but to protect you and your imperial brothers."
Then I told him the story of the poisoned figs.
When he had heard it, the tears welled from his hollow eyes and ran down his pale cheeks.
"Constantine, my brother Leo's son, has done this," he said, "for never will he rest until all of us are in the grave."
"He is cruel because he fears you, O Nicephorus, and it is said that your ambition has given him cause to fear."
"Once, General, that was true," the prince replied. "Once, foolishly, I did aspire to rule; but it is long ago. Now they have made a priest of me, and I seek peace only. Can I and my brethren help it if, mutilated though we are, some still wish to use us against the Emperor? I tell you that Irene herself is at the back of them. She would set us on high that afterwards she may throw us down and crush us."
"I am her servant, Prince, and may not listen to such talk, who know only that she seeks to protect you from your enemies, and for that reason has placed me here, it seems not in vain. If you would continue to live, I warn you and your brethren to fly from plots and to be careful of what you eat and drink."
"I do not desire to live, General," he answered. "Oh! that I might die. Would that I might die."
"Death is not difficult to find, Prince," I replied, and left him.
These may seem hard words, but, be it remembered, I was no Christian then, but a heathen man. To see one who had been great and fallen from his greatness, one whom Fortune had deserted utterly, whining at
