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were occupied by the bands of the blue and green factions of the circus; and their furious conflicts, which had shaken the capital, were insensibly sunk to an emulation of servitude. From either side they echoed in responsive melody the praises of the emperor; their poets and musicians directed the choir, and long life ^53 and victory were the burden of every song. The same acclamations were performed at the audience, the banquet, and the church; and as an evidence of boundless sway, they were repeated in the Latin, ^54 Gothic, Persian, French, and even English language, ^55 by the mercenaries who sustained the real or fictitious character of those nations. By the pen of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, this science of form and flattery has been reduced into a pompous and trifling volume, ^56 which the vanity of succeeding times might enrich with an ample supplement. Yet the calmer reflection of a prince would surely suggest that the same acclamations were applied to every character and every reign: and if he had risen from a private rank, he might remember, that his own voice had been the loudest and most eager in applause, at the very moment when he envied the fortune, or conspired against the life, of his predecessor. ^57

[Footnote 49: The respectful salutation of carrying the hand to the mouth, ad os, is the root of the Latin word adoro, adorare. See our learned Selden, (vol. iii. p. 143 - 145, 942,) in his Titles of Honor. It seems, from the 1st book of Herodotus, to be of Persian origin.]

[Footnote 50: The two embassies of Liutprand to Constantinople, all that he saw or suffered in the Greek capital, are pleasantly described by himself (Hist. l. vi. c. 1 - 4, p. 469 - 471. Legatio ad Nicephorum Phocam, p. 479 - 489.)]

[Footnote 51: Among the amusements of the feast, a boy balanced, on his forehead, a pike, or pole, twenty-four feet long, with a cross bar of two cubits a little below the top. Two boys, naked, though cinctured, (campestrati,) together, and singly, climbed, stood, played, descended, &c., ita me stupidum reddidit: utrum mirabilius nescio, (p. 470.) At another repast a homily of Chrysostom on the Acts of the Apostles was read elata voce non Latine, (p. 483.)]

[Footnote 52: Gala is not improbably derived from Cala, or Caloat, in Arabic a robe of honor, (Reiske, Not. in Ceremon. p. 84.)]

[Footnote 53: It is explained, (Codin, c. 7. Ducange, Gloss. Graec. tom. i. p. 1199.)]

[Footnote 54: (Ceremon. c. 75, p. 215.) The want of the Latin 'V' obliged the Greeks to employ their 'beta'; nor do they regard quantity. Till he recollected the true language, these strange sentences might puzzle a professor.]

[Footnote 55: (Codin.p. 90.) I wish he had preserved the words, however corrupt, of their English acclamation.]

[Footnote 56: For all these ceremonies, see the professed work of Constantine Porphyrogenitus with the notes, or rather dissertations, of his German editors, Leich and Reiske. For the rank of standing courtiers, p. 80, not. 23, 62; for the adoration, except on Sundays, p. 95, 240, not. 131; the processions, p. 2, &c., not. p. 3, &c.; the acclamations passim not. 25 &c.; the factions and Hippodrome, p. 177 - 214, not. 9, 93, &c.; the Gothic games, p. 221, not. 111; vintage, p. 217, not 109: much more information is scattered over the work.]

[Footnote 57: Et privato Othoni et nuper eadem dicenti nota adulatio, (Tacit. Hist. 1,85.)]

The princes of the North, of the nations, says Constantine, without faith or fame, were ambitious of mingling their blood with the blood of the Caesars, by their marriage with a royal virgin, or by the nuptials of their daughters with a Roman prince. ^58 The aged monarch, in his instructions to his son, reveals the secret maxims of policy and pride; and suggests the most decent reasons for refusing these insolent and unreasonable demands. Every animal, says the discreet emperor, is prompted by the distinction of language, religion, and manners. A just regard to the purity of descent preserves the harmony of public and private life; but