Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/337

FLIGHT OF THE EMPEROR ALEXIS. 310 of precious stones and imperial ornaments/ and embarked, deserting his wife and children, his throne and people. The llight of Alexis tilled the city with alarm. Constan- tino, the minister of finance, however, assembled the troops Restoration ^^^^^ dcjlared for Isaac. The blind old emperor was of Isaac ]^3^|^ ^y ratlicr carried, out of prison, placed upon the throne, and once more treated as the Emperor of Rome. As soon as he understood the situation he sent the news of his release to his son, to the leaders of the Venetians, and to the Crusaders. His great anxiety was to hear once more his son's voice. The Yenetians and Crusaders could scarcely believe the tinsatisfac- tidiugs of the flight of the emperor and the restora- SersoHhe ^'^^^ ^^ Isaac, and suspected treachery. Boniface espeditiou. ^^ Moutfcrrat called a council. The news had been brought during the night, and the leaders immediately armed themselves, as Yillehardouin says, "parcequ'els ne croyent pas beaucoup les Grecs." Boniface and the Yenetians had appar- ently never contemplated that such a step as a restoration of Isaac would have been taken. In the negotiations directly with Philip, in the pact of Zara, in the proceedings at Corfu, no writer gives the slightest indication that a thought had ever been given to the possibility of the restoration of the old emperor. If the design of Philip and of Boniface had not been to join the imperial dominions of the East and AVest, as I venture to think that it was, the Swabian king at least intended to keep his hold over Constantinople through the young Alexis. The desertion of the Emperor Alexis was a gain to the party of Philip, but the resurrection of Isaac from the tombs of the Blachern was a severe blow. This party had posed before their deluded followers as the asserters of right. They had dwelt on the justice of punishing a usurper who had deposed and blinded the anointed of God. They had pointed to young Alexis as the exile deprived of his rights and fleeing for his life ; the bishops had expressly authorized the siege on the ground that the Crusaders might punish a wrong and ' Nicetas, p. 723.