yet sufficiently ripe.]

[Footnote 61: Leo Grammaticus, p. 463, 464. Constantini Continuator
in Script. post Theophanem, p. 121, 122. Symeon Logothet. p. 445, 446.
Georg. Monach. p. 535, 536. Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 551. Zonaras, tom. ii.
p. 162.]

[Footnote 62: See Nestor and Nicon, in Leveque's Hist. de Russie, tom.
i. p. 74-80. Katona (Hist. Ducum, p. 75-79) uses his advantage to
disprove this Russian victory, which would cloud the siege of Kiow by
the Hungarians.]

[Footnote 63: Leo Grammaticus, p. 506, 507. Incert. Contin. p. 263, 264
Symeon Logothet. p. 490, 491. Georg. Monach. p. 588, 589. Cedren tom.
ii. p. 629. Zonaras, tom. ii. p. 190, 191, and Liutprand, l. v. c. 6,
who writes from the narratives of his father-in-law, then ambassador at
Constantinople, and corrects the vain exaggeration of the Greeks.]

[Footnote 64: I can only appeal to Cedrenus (tom. ii. p. 758, 759) and
Zonaras, (tom. ii. p. 253, 254;) but they grow more weighty and credible
as they draw near to their own times.]

Yet the threats or calamities of a Russian war were more frequently
diverted by treaty than by arms. In these naval hostilities, every
disadvantage was on the side of the Greeks; their savage enemy afforded
no mercy: his poverty promised no spoil; his impenetrable retreat
deprived the conqueror of the hopes of revenge; and the pride or
weakness of empire indulged an opinion, that no honor could be gained
or lost in the intercourse with Barbarians. At first their demands were
high and inadmissible, three pounds of gold for each soldier or mariner
of the fleet: the Russian youth adhered to the design of conquest and
glory; but the counsels of moderation were recommended by the hoary
sages. "Be content," they said, "with the liberal offers of Caesar; it
is not far better to obtain without a combat the possession of gold,
silver, silks, and all the objects of our desires? Are we sure of
victory? Can we conclude a treaty with the sea? We do not tread on the
land; we float on the abyss of water, and a common death hangs over our
heads." [65] The memory of these Arctic fleets that seemed to descend
from the polar circle left deep impression of terror on the Imperial
city. By the vulgar of every rank, it was asserted and believed, that an
equestrian statue in the square of Taurus was secretly inscribed with a
prophecy, how the Russians, in the last days, should become masters of
Constantinople. [66] In our own time, a Russian armamen