” When I came hither he wished it,” I said, ” but since, during my long delay, he has received no news; he thinks that you have committed a crime, and that I have been taken and bound; and his whole soul, like that of a lioness bereft of her whelps, is inflamed with a desire through just wrath to take vengeance, and to renounce the marriage and to pour out his anger upon you,”

“If he attempts it,” they said, ” we will not say Italy but not even the poor Saxony where he was born – where the inhabitants wear the skins of wild beasts-will protect him. With our money, which gives us our power, we will arouse all the nations against him; and we will break him in pieces like a potter’s vessel, which, when broken can not be brought into shape again.

All nations except to us Romans

And as we imagine that Al thou, in his honor, hast bought some costly garments, we order you to bring them before us. What are fit for you shall be marked with a leaden seal and left to you; but those which are prohibited to all nations except to us Romans, shall be taken away and the price returned.”

When this had been done they took away from me five most costly purple stuffs; considering yourselves and all the Italians, Saxons, Franks, Bavarians, Swabians-nay, all nations-as unworthy to be adorned with such vestments. How unworthy, how shameful it is, that these soft, effeminate, long-sleeved, hooded, veiled, lying, neutral gendered, idle creatures should go clad in purple, while you heroes-strong men, namely, skilled in war, full of faith and love, reverencing God, full of virtues-may not! What is this, if it be not contumely?

“But where,” I said, “is the word of your emperor, where the imperial promise? For when I said farewell to him, I asked him up to what price he would permit me to buy vestments in honor of my church. And he said: “Buy whatever ones and as many as you do wish;’ and in thus designating the quantity and the quality, he clearly did not make a distinction as if he had said ‘excepting this and this.’ Leo, the marshal of the court, his brother, is witness; Enodisius, the interpreter, John, Romanus, are witnesses. I myself am witness, since even without the interpreter, I understood what the emperor said.”

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“But the pope,” I said, “whose simplicity is his title to renown, thought he was writing this to the honor of the emperor, not to his shame. We know, of course, that Constantine, the Roman emperor, came hither with the Roman knighthood, and founded this city in his name; but because you changed your language, your customs, and your dress, the most holy pope thought that the name of the Romans as well as their dress would displease you. He will show this, if he lives, in his future letters ; for they shall be addressed as follows: ‘John, the Roman pope, to Nicephorus, Constantine, Basilius, the great and august emperors of the Romans! ” And now mark, I beg, why I said this.

Invite Nicephorus to a synod

Nicephorus came to the throne through perjury and adultery. And since the salvation of all Christians -pertains to the care of the Roman pope, let the lord pope send to Nicephorus au epistle altogether like to those sepulchers which without are whited, within are full of dead men’s bones; within let him show to him how through perjury and adultery he has obtained the rule over his masters let him invite Nicephorus to a synod, and, if he do not come, let him hurl the anathema at him. But if the address be not as I have said, it will never reach him.

But to return to the matter in hand. When the princes I have mentioned heard from me the aforesaid promise concerning the address, not suspecting any guile: “We thank you,” the said, ” oh bishop. It is worthy of your wisdom to act as mediator in so great a matter. You are the only one of the Franks whom we now love; but when at your behest they shall have corrected what is evil, they also shall be loved. And when you shall come to us again you shall not go away unrewarded.”

I said to myself : “If I ever come back here again, may Nicephorus present me with a crown and a golden scepter!”

“But tell us,” they continued, ” does your most holy master wish to close with the emperor a treaty of friendship through marriage?”

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The papal messengers, therefore, being thrown into prison, that offending epistle was sent to Nicephorus in Mesopotamia; whence no one returned to bring an answer until the second day before the Ides of September (Sept. 12). On that day it came, but its import was concealed from me. And after two days- on the eighteenth day namely, before the Calends of October (Sept. 14)-I brought it about by prayers and gifts that I might adore the life-giving and salvation-bringing cross. And there in the great crowd, unnoticed by the guards, certain persons approached me, and rendered my saddened heart joyful through stolen words.

But on the fifteenth day before the Calends of October (Sept. 17), as much dead as alive, I was summoned to the palace. And when I came into the presence of the patrician Christophorus-the eunuch, receiving me kindly, rose to meet me with three others. Their- discourse began as follows The pallor in your face, the emaciation of – your whole body, your long hair, and your beard-flowing, contrary to your custom-show that there is immense grief in your heart because the date of your return to your master has been delayed. But, we pray you, be not angry with the holy emperor nor with us.

Alberic the apostate

For we will tell you the cause of the delay. The Roman pope-if indeed he is to be called pope who has held communion and worked together with the son of Alberic the apostate, with an adulterer and unhallowed person-has sent letters to our most holy emperor, worthy of himself, unworthy of Nicephorus, calling him the emperor “of the Greeks,” and not “of the Romans.” Which thing beyond a doubt has been done by the advice of your master.”

“What do I hear?” I said to myself. ,I am lost; there is no doubt but what I shall go by the shortest way to the judgment-seat.”

” Now listen,” they continued, ” we know you will say that the pope is the simplest of men; you will say it, and we acknowledge it.” “But,” I answered, “I do not say it.”

Hear then! The stupid silly pope does not know that the holy Constantine transferred hither the imperial scepter, the senate, and all the Roman knighthood, and left in Rome nothing but vile minion s- fishers, namely, peddlers, bird catchers, bastards, plebeians, slaves. He would never have written this unless at the suggestion of your king; how dangerous this will be to both-the immediate future, unless they come to their senses, will show.”

Read More about The Accession of Alexius and Interfamily Power Struggles part 10

But, to increase my calamities, on the day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary the holy mother of God (August 15), there came-an evil augury for me-envoys of the apostolic and universal pope John, through whom he asked Nicephorus ,the emperor of the Greeks ” to close an alliance and firm friendship with his beloved and spiritual son Otto “august emperor of the Romans.”

Before the question as to why- this word, this manner of address, sinful and bold in the eyes of the Greeks, did not cost its bearer his life-why he was not annihilated before it was read, I, who, in other respects, have often shown myself enough of a preacher and with words enough at my command, seem dumb as a fish! The Greeks inveighed against the sea, cursed the waves, and wondered exceedingly how they had been able to transport such an iniquity end why the yawning deep had not swallowed up the ship.

Universal emperor of the Romans

” Was it not unpardonable,” they said, “to have called the universal emperor of the Romans, the august, great, only Nicephorus: “of the Greeks”‘;-a barbarian, a pauper: of the Romans’? Oh sky! Oh earth! Oh sea! But what,” they said, ” shall we do to those scoundrels, those criminals?” They are paupers, and if we kill them we pollute our hands with vile blood; they are ragged, they are slaves, they are peasants; if we beat them we disgrace not them, but ourselves; for they are not worthy of the gilded Roman flail and of such punishments.

Oh would that one were a bishop, another a margrave! For sewing them in sacks, after stinging blows with whips, after plucking out their beards or their hair, they would be thrown into the sea. But these,” they said, ” may continue to live; and, until the holy emperor of the Romans, Nicephorus, learns of this atrocity, they may languish in narrow confinement.”

When I learned this I considered them happy because poor, myself unhappy because rich. When I was at home, my desire was to excuse my poverty; but placed in Constantinople, fear itself taught me that I bad the wealth of a Croesus. Poverty had always seemed burdensome to me -then it seemed welcome, acceptable, desirable; yes, desirable, since it keeps its votaries from perishing, its followers from being flayed. And since at Constantinople alone this poverty thus defends its votaries, may it there alone be considered worth striving after!

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When you were besieging Bari only three hundred Hungarians seized five hundred Greeks near Thessalonica and led them into Hungary. Which attempt, inasmuch as it succeeded, induced two hundred Hungarians in Macedonia, not far from Constantinople, to do the like ; of whom forty, when they were retreating incautiously through a narrow pass, were captured.

These Nicephorus, freeing them from custody and adorning – them with most costly garments, has made his body guard and defenders-taking them with him against the Assyrians. But what kind of an army he a has you can conjecture from this,-that those who are in command over the others are Venetians and Amalfians!

Outside of Constantinople

But no more of this! Learn now what happened to me. On the sixth day before the Calends of August (July 27), 1 received at -Umbria, outside of Constantinople, permission from Nicephorus to return to you, And when I came to Constantinople, the patrician Christophorus, the eunuch who was the representative of Nicephorus there, sent word to me that I could not then start to return because the Saracens at that time were holding the sea and the Hungarians the land-I should have to wait until they retired. Both of which facts, oh woe is me, were false!

Then wardens were placed over us to prevent myself, and my companions from going out of our habitation. They seized and slew or put in prison the poor of Latin race who came to me to beg alms. They did not permit my Greek interpreter to go out even to buy supplies-but only my cook, who was ignorant of the Greek tongue and who could speak to the vendor, when he bought of him, not with words but by signs of his fingers or nods of his head. He bought for four pieces of money only as much as the interpreter for one.

And when some of my friends sent spices, bread, wine and apples,-pouring theta all on the ground, they sent the bearers away overwhelmed with blows of the fist. And had not the divine pity prepared before me a table against my, adversaries, I should have bad to accept the death they arranged for me. But Ho who permitted that I should be tempted, mercifully granted then that I should endure. And these perils tried my soul at Constantinople from the second day before the Nones of June (June 4), until the sixth day before the Nones of October (Oct. 2)-one hundred and twenty days.

Read More about The Accession of Alexius and Interfamily Power Struggles part 26

The aforesaid Hippolytus writes also that not the Greeks but the Franks shall put an end to the Saracens. Encouraged by which prophecy the Saracens, three years ago, engaged in battle near Scylla and Charybdis in the Sicilian waters, with the patrician Manuel, the nephew of Nicephorus. And when they bad laid low his immense forces -they took his own self and beheaded him and hung up his corpse, And when they bad captured his companion and colleague, who was of neither gender, they scorned to kill him; but having bound him and kept him to pine in long imprisonment, they sold him for a price at which no mortals who were sound in their heads would have bought him. And with no less spirit, encouraged by this same prophecy, they shortly after met the general Exachontes. And when they had put him to flight, they destroyed his army in every way.

Another reason also compelled Nicephorus at this time to lead his army against the Assyrians. For at this time, by the will of God, a famine had so laid waste all the land of the Greeks, that not even two Pavian sextares could be bought for a piece of gold: and this in the very realm of plenty, as it were, This misfortune, the field mice aiding him, Nicephorus increased by collecting for himself, at the time of harvest, whatever corn there was anywhere; giving a minimum price to the despairing owners.

Absence of the mice

And when he had clone this on the side towards Mesopotamia, where the supply of grain on account of the absence of the mice was greater: the amount of corn that he had equaled the amount of the sands of the sea. When, therefore, on account of this vile transaction, famine was everywhere shamefully raging, he brought together eighty thousand men under pretext of a military expedition; and he sold to them, during one whole mouth, for two gold pieces what he had bought for one.

These, my master, are the reasons which compelled Nicephorus now to lead his forces against the Assyrians. But what sort of forces? I ask. Truly, I answer, not men, but only images of men; whose tongue only is bold, but whose right hand is frigid in war. Nicephorus did not look for quality in them, but only for quantity, How perilous this is for him he will learn to his sorrow, when the multitude of unwarlike ones, brave only on account of numbers, shall be put to rout by a handful of our men who are skilled in war – nay, thirsting for it.

Read More about Report of his Mission to Constantinople part 27

You have beard the interpretation of the Greeks; hear how that of Liutprand, bishop of Cremona. For I say and not alone do I say, but I affirm-that if the prophecy is to be fulfilled in the present time, the lion and the whelp are the father and the son, Otto and Otto, unlike in nothing only differing in age,-and that they together shall, in this present time, exterminate the wild ass Nicephorus; who not incongruously is compared to the wild ass on account of his vain and empty gladly, and on account of his incestuous marriage with his fellow god-parent and mistress. If now that wild ass shall not be exterminated by our lion and his whelp-by Otto and Otto, the father, namely, and the son, the august emperors of the Romans-then that which Hippolytus wrote will not have been true; for that former interpretation of the Greeks is entirely to be discarded.

But oh blessed Jesus, eternal God, the Word of the Father-who does speak to us, unworthy as we are, not by voice but by inspiration – may you be willing to see in this sentence no other interpretation than mine. Command that that lion and that whelp may exterminate and bodily humble this wild ass; to the end that, retiring into himself, subjecting himself to his masters the emperors Basilius and Constantine, his soul may be saved at the Day of the Lord!

Truly wonderful

But the astronomers prophesy alike concerning yourselves and Nicephorus. Truly wonderful, I say. I have spoken with a certain astronomer who truly described your form and habits, most illustrious master, and that of your august namesake; and who related all my past experiences as if they were present.

Nor were the names mentioned of any of my friends or enemies concerning whom I thought of asking him, but that he could tell me their appearance, form and character. He foretold all calamity that has happened to me on this journey. But may all that he said to me be false, I only ask that one thing alone be true that which he foretold you would do to Nicephorus. Oh may it come to pass! Oh may it come to pass! And then I shall feel that the wrongs I have suffered are as nothing at all.

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Hippolytus, indeed, a certain Sicilian bishop, wrote similarly concerning your empire and our people-I call “our people,” namely, all those who are under your rule;-and would that it were true what he prophesied concerning the present times. The other things have hitherto come to pass as he foretold, as I have heard from those who know these books. And of his many sayings I will mention one. For he says that now the saying is to be fulfilled: “The lion and his whelp shall together exterminate the wild ass.”

Lion be the emperor of the Greeks

The interpretation of which is, according to the Greeks: Leo -that is, the emperor of the Romans or Greeks-and his whelp,-the king, namely, of the Franks – shall together in these days drive out the wild ass – that is, the African king of the Saracens. Which interpretation does not seem to me true, for this reason, that the lion and the whelp, although differing in size, are nevertheless of one nature and species or kind; and, as my knowledge suggests to me, if the lion be the emperor of the Greeks, it is not fitting that the whelp should be the king of the Franks. For although both are men, as the lion and the whelp are both animals, yet they differ in habits as much-I will not say alone as one species from another-but as rational beings from those who have no reason.

The whelp differs from the lion only in age; the form is the same, the ferocity the same, the roar the same. The king of the Greeks wears long hair, a tunic, long sleeves, a hood; is lying, crafty, without pity, sly as a fox, proud, falsely humble, miserly, and greedy; lives on garlic, onions, and leeks, and drinks bath-water. The king of the Franks, on the contrary, is beautifully shorn ; wears a garment not at all like a woman’s garment, and a hat; is truthful, without guile, merciful enough when it is right, severe when it is necessary, always truly humble, never miserly; does not live on garlic, onions and leeks so as to spare animals and, by not eating them, but selling them, to heap money together.

You have heard the difference; do not be willing to accept their interpretation, for either it refers to the future, or it is not true. For it is impossible that Nicephorus, as they falsely say, can be the lion and Otto the whelp, and that they together shall exterminate anyone. For “sooner mutually changing their bounds shall the Parthian exile drink the Araris, or the German the Tigris,”. than that Nicephorus and Otto shall become friends and close a treaty with each other.

Read More about Report of his Mission to Constantinople part 11

As I did this there met us, herded together with goats, the so-called wild asses. But why, I ask, wild asses? Our tame ones at Cremona are the same. Their color, shape and ears are the same; they are equally melodious when they begin to bray; they resemble each other in size, have the same swiftness, and are equally pleasant food for wolves.

When I saw them I said to the Greek who was riding with me: “I never saw the like in Saxony.” ,If,” he said, ” your master shall be friendly to the holy emperor, he will give him many such; and it will be no little glory to him himself to possess what no one of his distinguished predecessors has ever seen.”

But believe me, my august masters, my brother and fellow bishop, master Antony, (of Brixen) can furnish ones that are not inferior, as is witnessed by the markets which are held at Cremona; and there they walk about not as wild asses but as tame ones. But when my escort bad announced the above words to Nicephorus, he sent me two goats, and gave me permission to go away. On the following day he himself started towards Syria.

Greeks and Saracens

But mark now why he led his army against the Assyrians. The Greeks and Saracens have books which they call the Visions of Daniel; I would call them Sibylline Books. In them is found written how many years each emperor shall live; what things, whether peace or war, are to happen during his reign; whether fortune is to be favorable to the Saracens, or the reverse.

And so it reads, that, in the time of this Nicephorus, the Assyrians will not be able to resist the Greeks, and that he, Nicephorus, will only live seven years; and that after his death an emperor shall arise worse than he-only I fear that none such can be found-and more unwarlike; in whose time the Assyrians shall so prevail, that they shall bring all the regions as far as Chalcedon, which is not far from Constantinople, under their sway. For both peoples have regard for their favorable seasons; and from one and the same cause the Greeks press on encouraged, and the Saracens, in despair, make no resistance; awaiting the time when they themselves may press on, and the Greeks, in turn, may not resist.

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I answered him: “Those princes are nobles of the first rank and vassals of my master; and, if he see that your army attacks them, be will send to them aid which will enable them to annihilate your forces and to take away those two provinces which are yours beyond the sea.” Then, swelling like a toad and -very angry: “Go away,” be said; ” by myself, by my parents who engendered me such as I am, I will make your master think of other things than of protecting rebellious slaves.”

Bysantius of Bari

As I was going away, he ordered the interpreter to invite me to table; and summoning the brother of those two princes, and Bysantius of Bari, he ordered them to give vent to gross insults against yourselves and against the Latin and the Teuton race. But as I was going away from the foul meal, they sent word to me secretly through messengers and swore that what they had growled out bad been said not of their own will, but because of the wishes and threats of the emperor. But Nicephorus himself asked me at that meal if you bad parks and if in your parks you had wild asses and other animals.

When I had answered him that you had parks and animals in the parks, but no wild asses, he said: “I will take you into our park and you will be surprised to see its size and to look at the wild asses.” I was led therefore into a park which was rather large, hilly and fruitful, but -not at all pleasing to the view; and as I was riding along with my hat on and the marshal of the court saw me from afar, he quickly, dispatched his son to me to say that it was wrong for any one to be with his bat on where the emperor was and that I must wear the Teristra. I answered: ” With us the women wear hoods and veils; the men ride with their hats on.

And you have no right to compel me here to change the custom of my country, considering that we permit your envoys who come to us to keep to the custom of theirs, For with long sleeves, swathed, spangled, with long hair, clad in tunics down to their ankles, they ride, walk and sit at table with us; and, what to all of us seems too disgraceful, they alone kiss our emperors with uncovered heads.”-” May God not allow it to be done any longer ” I said to myself.-” you must turn back, then,” he said.

Read More about Report of his Mission to Constantinople part 44