78 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book i.

him. And though upon these tidings, his liberatordid not withdraw the boon he had already given,but pitied him and pardoned the ransom, Ro-rnanus died almost immediately, and the generoussavage was assassinated in Transoxiana somemonths later in the same year, 1072. After himcame his son, and then his grandson, Malek-Sha;of whose three younger brothers, one had thePersian province of Kerman; another, Syria ; andthe third, Asia Minor, which quickly slipped fromhim ; and, to avoid a civil war, he was obliged tocede it to his cousin Solvman, whose kingdom ofRoum extended from the Euphrates to the Bos-phorus. In this manner, Solyman and his heirapparent, Kislig-Arslan, were the tremendous lordsof the inhuman hordes that, towards the close ofthe eleventh century, crowded all along the Asiaticedge of the cerulean tide that bathes the walls ofConstantinople.

A voice of woful entreaty had been directed tothe West. But conscious of their having neverbeen friendly but in times of trouble, of their ownfrequent ingratitude, and former exaggerations, theGreeks asked themselves whether it would be heardnow? Or even so, would it not be too late? Thisvery evening one of the Turks could be seenputting down his foot towards the waves; but he