Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/124

100 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. niies who had taken possession of the Balkans, the panderings to the mob and the soldiery, and the lavish way in which the imperial treasures had been distributed, disgusted men of sense and especially the well-to-do classes. This disgust was in- creased when it was seen that the new emperor cared for nothing but his own pleasures, that the interests of commerce were disregarded, that the government was left in the hands of his favorites, and that his lavish profusion in squandering what should have been employed for the use of the state forced him to levy new taxes. The ease with which Alexis had obtained the throne in- creased the supply of pretenders. Three months after his accession the news arrived that another Alexis had arisen in Cilicia, who claimed to be the son of Manuel; that the Sultan of Angora had received him favorably, and professed to be- lieve him to be the boy-emperor Alexis, who had been strangled by Andronicos. The emperor took the field against him, but after two months of unsuccessful warfare he returned to Con- stantinople. The pretender, however, was shortly afterwards killed. While the emperor had been in pursuit of the false Alexis, the Wallachs, still under Asan and Peter, had at- wuh^the tacked the imperial troops, had cut them to pieces, ^^'^^^^^^^^ and had captured their leader. The emperor sent a new army to repel their attacks, but the imperial troops were again beaten and their leader captured. Alexis then sent his son-in-law Isaac, who fought valiantly, but was likewise defeated and captured, and brought before Asan. Shortly afterwards, however, this leader was himself assassinated by his nephew John, who then found it necessary to ask the as- sistance of the emperor against Peter. The war dragged on with little credit to the imperial troops. Their leader died in captivity, the troops were unwilling to continue a mountain warfare where the enemy had a great advantage in his knowl- edge of the country and was gaining ground every day. In the midst of it Peter himself was killed by one of his own followers. The leadership of the Wallachs then fell to Ivan, a younger brother of Peter, who came to Constantinople and