dent in the hunting field. The suspicion and ferocity of his character are shown by the fact that he caused the servant who saved his life by cutting him free from the boar, whose antlers had caught in the bridle, to be beheaded. Thus he ended his reign as he began it, a murderer.
He was succeeded by his son, Leo VI., the Philosopher. Leo reigned in comparative tranquillity for twenty-five years. The Saracen fleets ravaged fearfully the seaboard of the empire, and even succeeded in taking the important city of Thessalonica, and carrying off 22,000 of the inhabitants as prisoners. The frontier wars in Asia were still waged with success on neither side; and after seventy years of peace between the Bulgarians and the Greeks, war again broke out with that prosperous nation. It was disastrous to the Byzantine arms. The Bulgarians defeated the troops sent against them, and cut off the noses of all the prisoners. Twice again Leo's armies were defeated before peace was concluded.
Stringent rules were passed during Leo's reign on the observance of the Sunday. The suspension of all civil business on that day had been ordered long ago by Constantine: one by one, exemptions were permitted. During the iconoclastic quarrels both sides were eager to show their piety by scrupulously regarding Sunday. Leo ordered that these exemptions should all be revoked: not even necessary agricultural work was allowed.
The long reign of Constantine VII., who succeeded his father at the age of eight, offers few events of interest
