The Iconoclastic controversy was far from being extinguished with the fall
 of the house of Leo the Isaurian. It was destined to continue in a milder
 form for more than half a century after the dethronement of Constantine
 VI. The lines on which it was fought out were still the same--the official
 hierarchy and the Asiatic provinces favoured Iconoclasm, the clergy and
 the European provinces were "Iconodules." Hence it is interesting to
 note that through the greater part of the ninth century, while emperors of
 Eastern birth sat on the throne, the views of Leo the Isaurian were still
 in vogue, and that the eventual triumph of the image-worshippers only came
 about when a royal house sprung from one of the European themes--the family
 of Basil the Macedonian--gained possession of the crown.
 
 The treasurer, Nicephorus, who overthrew Irene, and so easily obtained
 possession of the empire, was of Oriental extraction. His ancestor had
 been a Christian Arab prince, expelled from his country at the time of the
 rise of Mahomet, and his family had always dwelt in Asia Minor. Hence we
 are not surprised to find that Nicephorus was an Iconoclast, and refused
 to follow in the steps of Irene in the direction of restoring
 image-worship. He did not persecute the "Iconodules," as the Isaurians had
 done, but he gave them no personal encouragement. This being so, it is
 natural that we should find his character described in the blackest terms
 by the monkish chroniclers of the succeeding century. He was, we are told,
 a hypocrite, an oppresser, and a miser; but we cannot find any very
 distinct traces of the operation of such vices in his conduct during the
 nine years of his reign. He was not, however, a very fortunate ruler;
 though he put down with ease several insurrections of discontented
 generals, he was unlucky with his foreign wars. The Caliph
 Haroun-al-Raschid did much harm to the Asiatic provinces, ravaging the
 whole country as far as Ancyra, nor could Nicephorus get rid of him
 without signing a rather ignominious peace, and paying a large
 war-indemnity. A yet greater disaster concluded another war. Nicephorus
 invaded Bulgaria in 811, to punish King Crumn for ravaging Thrace. The
 Byzantine army won a battle and sacked the palace and capital of the
 Bulgarian king; but a few days later Nicephorus allowed himself to be
 surprised by a night attack on his camp. In the panic and confusion the
 emperor fell, and his son and heir, Stauracius, was desperately wounded.
 The routed army did not stay its flight till Adrianople, and left the body
 of the Emperor in the hands of the Bulgarians, who cut off his head, and
 made the skull into a drinking-cup, just as the Lombards had dealt with
 the skull of King Cunimund three hundred years before.
 
 Stauracius, the only son of Nicephorus, was proclaimed emperor, but it
 soon became evident that his wound was mortal, and Michael Rhangabe, his
 brother-in-law, who had married the eldest daughter of Nicephorus, took
 his place on the throne before the breath was out of the dying emperor's
 body.
 
 Michael I. was a weak, good-natured man, who owed his elevation to the
 mere chance of his marriage. He was a devoted servant and admirer of
 monks, and began to undo the work of his father-in-law, and remove all
 Iconoclasts from office. This provoked the wrath of that powerful party,
 and led to conspiracies against Michael, but he might have held his own if
 it had not been for the disgracefully incompetent way in which he
 conducted the Bulgarian war. He allowed an enemy whom the East-Romans had
 hitherto despised, not only to ravage the open country in Thrace, but to
 storm the fortresses of Mesembria and Anchialus, and to push their
 invasions up to the gates of Constantinople. The discontent of the army
 found vent in a mutiny, and Leo the Armenian, an officer of merit and
 capacity, was proclaimed emperor in the camp. Michael I. made no
 resistance, and retired into a monastery after only two years of reign.
 [811-13.]
 
 Leo the Armenian proved himself worthy of the confidence of the army. When
 the Bulgarians appeared in front of the walls of Constantinople they were
 repulsed, but Leo tarnished the glory of his success by a treacherous
 attempt to assassinate King Crumn at a conference--a crime as unnecessary
 as it was unsuccessful, for the Emperor might, as the event proved, have
 trusted to the sword instead of the dagger. In the next spring he took the
 offensive himself, marched out to Mesembria, and inflicted on the enemy
 such a sanguinary defeat that hardly a man escaped his sword, and Bulgaria
 was so weakened that it gave no further trouble for more than fifty years.
 
 Almost the moment that he was freed from the Bulgarian war, Leo became
 involved in the fatal Iconoclastic controversy. Being a native of an
 Oriental theme, he was naturally imbued with the views of his great
 namesake, the Isaurian, and inclined to reverse the policy of the
 monk-loving Michael I. But being moderate and wary he tried to introduce,
 without the use of force, a middle policy between image-breaking and
 image-worship--a fruitless attempt, which only brought him the nickname of
 "the Chameleon." Leo's idea was the quaint device of permitting the use of
 images, but of hanging them so high from the ground that the public should
 not be able to touch or kiss them! This pleased nobody; on the one side,
 the patriarch and his monks inveighed against the moving of the images,
 while, on the other, tumultuous companies of Asiatic soldiery broke into
 churches and mutilated all the pictures and figures they could find. The
 seven years of Leo's reign were full of ecclesiastical bickerings, but it
 should be remembered to his credit that no single person suffered death
 for his conscience' sake in the whole period. The most violent of the
 opponents of the Emperor were merely interned in remote monasteries, when
 they ventured to set their will against his. Long ere the end of his
 reign, Leo had been compelled to leave his half measures and prohibit all
 use of images. Like Constantine Copronymus, he called a council to endorse
 his action, and a majority of the Eastern bishops resolved that Iconolatry
 was a dangerous heresy, and anathematized the patriarch Nicephorus and all
 other defenders of the images.
 
 Leo's reign was prosperous in all save the matter of his religious
 troubles. But he was not destined to die in peace in his bed. Michael the
 Amorian, the best general in the empire, was detected in a conspiracy
 against his master. Leo cast him into prison, but delayed his punishment,
 and left his accomplices at large. Michael had many friends in the palace
 who determined to strike a blow ere the Emperor should have discovered
 their guilt. They resolved to slay Leo in his private chapel, as he
 attended matins on Christmas Day, for he was accustomed to come unarmed
 and unguarded to the early communion. Accordingly, the conspirators
 attended the service, and attacked the Emperor in the midst of the
 Eucharistic hymn. Leo snatched the heavy metal cross off the altar and
 struck down some of his assailants, but numbers were too many for him, and
 he was cut down and slain at the very foot of the holy table. [Christmas
 Day, 820.]
 
 Michael the Amorian was dragged out of his dungeon, saluted as emperor,
 and crowned, even before the fetters were off his feet. It was not till
 the ceremony had been performed that time was found to send for a smith to
 strike away the rings.
 
 Michael was by birth a mere peasant, but had raised himself to high rank
 in the army by his courage and ability. He is sometimes styled "the
 Amorian," from his birth-place, Amorium in Phrygia, but more often
 mentioned by his nickname of "the Stammerer." He had been the friend and
 adviser of Leo the Armenian at the time of the latter's elevation to the
 throne, and his conspiracy must be reckoned a gross piece of ingratitude,
 even though we acknowledge that he was not personally responsible for his
 master's murder.
 
 Though rough and uncultured, Michael was a man of very considerable
 ability. He strengthened his title to the crown by a marriage with the
 last scion of the Isaurian house, the princess Euphrosyne, daughter of the
 blind Constantine VI. The religious difficulties of the day he endeavoured
 to treat in an absolutely impartial way, so as to offend neither
 Iconoclasts nor Iconodules. He recalled from exile the image-worshipping
 monks whom Leo the Armenian had sent to distant monasteries, and
 proclaimed that for the future every subject of the empire should enjoy
 complete liberty of conscience on the disputed question. This was far from
 satisfying the image-worshippers, who wished Michael to restore their
 idols to their ancient places: but the Amorian would not consent to this,
 and obtained but a very qualified measure of approval from the monastic
 party.
 
 It was not to be expected that the reign of a military usurper, with no
 title to the throne whatever, would be untroubled by revolts. Michael had
 his share of such afflictions, and though he finally slew Thomas and
 Euphemius, the two pretenders who laid claim to his crown, yet by their
 means he lost two not inconsiderable provinces of his empire. While the
 rebellion of Thomas was in progress, an army of Saracens from Alexandria
 threw themselves on the island of Crete, and conquered it from end to end.
 When Michael's hands were free he sent two great armaments to expel the
 intruders, but both failed, and Crete was destined to remain for a whole
 century in Moslem hands. Its hundred harbours became the haunts of
 innumerable Corsairs, who grew to be the bane of commerce in the Levant,
 and were a serious danger to the empire whenever its fleet fell into bad
 hands and failed to keep the police of the seas.
 
 A similar rising in Sicily under a rebel named Euphemius led to the
 invasion of that island by an army of Moors from Africa, who landed in
 827, and maintained a foothold in spite of all efforts to expel them. At
 first their gains were not rapid, but in the time of Michael's successors
 they gradually won for themselves the whole of the island.
 
                               
 
   Byzantine Metal Work (Our Lord and the Twelve Apostles). (_From "L'Art
           Byzantin." Par Charles Bayet. Paris, Quantin, 1883._)
 
 
 After nine years of reign the Amorian died a natural death, still wearing
 the crown he had won. It was just fifty years since any ruler of the
 empire had met such a peaceful end. He was succeeded by his son
 Theophilus, a vehement Iconoclast, whose persecuting tendencies had been
 with difficulty restrained in his father's life-time. His accession was
 the signal for a new campaign against image-worship; he induced the
 patriarch John the Grammarian, a strong Iconoclast like himself, to
 excommunicate as idolaters all who differed from him, and began to flog,
 banish, and imprison their leading men. His persecution would have been
 almost as vehement as that of Constantine Copronymus, but for the fact
 that he did not ever inflict the punishment of death; branding and
 mutilation however he did not disdain.
 
 The Iconodules saw the vengeance of heaven for the misdeeds of Theophilus
 in the disasters which he suffered in war from the Saracens. He fell out
 with the Caliph Motassem, and in the first campaign took and burnt the
 town of Zapetra, for which the Commander of the Faithful had great
 regard. This roused Motassem to furious wrath; he swore that he would
 destroy in revenge the town which Theophilus held most dear; he collected
 the largest Saracen army that had been seen since Moslemah beleaguered
 Constantinople in 717, and marched out of Tarsus with 130,000 men, each of
 whom (if legend speaks true) had the word Amorium painted on his shield.
 For it was Amorium, the birth-place of the Emperor, and the home of his
 ancestors that Motassem had sworn to sack. While one division of the
 Caliph's army defeated Theophilus, who had taken the field in person,
 another headed by Motassem himself marched straight on Amorium, and took
 it after a brave defence of fifty-five days. Thirty thousand of its
 inhabitants were massacred, and the town was burnt, but the Caliph then
 turned home satisfied with his revenge, and the empire suffered nothing
 more from this most dangerous invasion. The Saracen war dragged on in an
 indecisive way, but no further disaster was encountered.
 
 There are other things to be recorded of Theophilus beside his persecution
 of image-worshippers and his war with the Caliph. He was long remembered
 for his taste for gorgeous display; of all the East-Roman emperors he
 seems to have delighted the most in gold and silver work, gems and
 embroidery. His golden plane-tree was the talk of the East, and the golden
 lions at the foot of his throne, which rose and roared by the means of
 ingenious machinery within, were remembered for generations.
 
 Nor should the curious tale of his second marriage be left untold. When
 left a widower he bade the Empress-dowager Euphrosyne assemble at her
 levee all the most beautiful of the daughters of the East-Roman
 aristocracy, and came among them to choose a wife, carrying like Paris a
 golden apple in his hand. His glance was first fixed on the fair Eikasia,
 but approaching her he found no better topic to commence a conversation
 than the awkward statement that "most of the evil had come into the world
 by means of women." The lady retorted that surely most of the good had
 also come into the world by their means, a reply which apparently
 discomposed Theophilus, for he walked on and without a further word gave
 the golden apple to Theodora, a rival beauty. The choice was hasty and
 unhappy, for Theodora was a devoted Iconodule, and used all her influence
 against her husband's religious opinions.
 
 Theophilus died in 842, while still a young man, leaving the throne to his
 only son Michael, a child of three years, and the regency to the young
 empress. The moment that her husband's grave was closed Theodora set to
 work to undo his policy. Amid the applause of the monks and the populace
 of Constantinople she proclaimed the end of the persecution, sent for the
 banished image-worshippers from their places of exile, and deposed John
 the Grammarian, the Iconoclastic patriarch who had served Theophilus.
 Within thirty days of the commencement of the new reign the images had
 appeared once more on the walls of all the churches of Constantinople. The
 Iconoclasts seem to have been taken by surprise, and made no resistance to
 the revolution: however the empress did not take any measures to persecute
 them; it was only power and not security for life and limb that they lost.
 The sole permanent result of the long struggle which they had kept up was
 a curious compromise in the Eastern Church on the subject of
 representation of the human figure. Statues were never again erected in
 places of worship, but only paintings and mosaics. It was apparently
 believed that the actual image savoured too much of the heathen idol, but
 that no offence could possibly be given by the picture, which served as a
 pious remembrance of the holy personage it represented, but could be
 nothing more. Nevertheless the veneration of the Byzantines for their holy
 "Eikons" became almost as grotesque as idol-worship, and led to many
 quaint and curious forms of superstition.
 
 Theodora, engrossed in things religious, handed over the education of her
 young son to her brother Bardas, who became her co-regent and was
 afterwards made Caesar. He brought up the young Michael in the most
 reckless and unconscientious manner, teaching him his own vices of
 drunkenness and debauchery. Michael was an apt pupil, and ere he reached
 the age of twenty-one had become a confirmed dipsomaniac. History knows
 him by the dishonourable nickname of "Michael the Drunkard." Some years
 after his majority he grew discontented with his uncle, and slew him, in
 order that he might reign alone. His profligacy and intemperance became
 still more unbearable after Bardas was dead, and had it not been for the
 splendid organization of the Byzantine civil service the administration of
 the empire must have gone to pieces. Presently Michael grew tired of
 spending on state affairs any time that he could spare from his orgies,
 and appointed as Caesar and colleague his boon companion Basil the
 Macedonian. Basil had reached the position of grand chamberlain purely by
 the Emperor's favour; he rose from the lowest ranks and is said to have
 first entered Michael's service in the humble position of a groom. His
 practical ability, combined with a head hard enough to withstand the
 effect of even the longest debauch, won Michael's admiration, and so he
 came to be first chamberlain and then Caesar. Under the mask of a
 roisterer Basil concealed the most devouring ambition, and when he knew
 that his drunken benefactor had won the contempt of all the East-Roman
 world, had the impudence and ingratitude to plan his murder. Michael was
 stabbed while sleeping off the effects of one of his orgies, and his
 low-born colleague seized the palace and proclaimed himself emperor.
 
 It might have been expected that the East-Roman world would have refused
 to receive as its lord a man who owed his elevation to the freak of a
 drunkard, and had then become the assassin of his benefactor. But
 strangely enough Basil was destined to found the longest dynasty that ever
 sat upon the Constantinopolitan throne. He turned out a far better ruler
 than might have been expected from his disgraceful antecedents, being one
 of those fortunate men who are able to utilize the work of others when
 their own powers and knowledge fall short.
 
 Basil is mainly remembered for his codification of the laws of the empire,
 which superseded the _Ecloga_ of Leo the Isaurian, even as Leo's
 compilation had superseded the more solid and thorough work of Justinian.
 The _Basilika_ of Basil with the additions made by his son Leo VI. formed
 the code of the Byzantine Empire down to its last days, no further
 rearrangement being ever made.
 
 Basil, being of European birth and not an Asiatic like the preceding
 emperors, was naturally an orthodox image-worshipper. He showed his
 bigotry by a fierce persecution of the Paulicians, an Asiatic sect of
 heretics accused of Manicheanism, whom the Iconoclast emperors had been
 wont to tolerate. Basil's oppression drove many of them over the Saracen
 frontier, where they took refuge with the Moslems and maintained
 themselves by plundering the borders of the empire.
 
 Among the other transactions of his nineteen years of reign [867-886], the
 only one deserving notice is the final loss of Sicily. The Saracens of
 Africa, who had held a footing in the island ever since the time of
 Michael II., now finished their work by storming Syracuse in 878.