ride, this humiliating reverence was exacted from all who
entered the royal presence, from the princes invested with the diadem
and purple, and from the ambassadors who represented their independent
sovereigns, the caliphs of Asia, Egypt, or Spain, the kings of France
and Italy, and the Latin emperors of ancient Rome. In his transactions
of business, Liutprand, bishop of Cremona, [50] asserted the free spirit
of a Frank and the dignity of his master Otho. Yet his sincerity cannot
disguise the abasement of his first audience. When he approached the
throne, the birds of the golden tree began to warble their notes, which
were accompanied by the roarings of the two lions of gold. With his two
companions Liutprand was compelled to bow and to fall prostrate; and
thrice to touch the ground with his forehead. He arose, but in the short
interval, the throne had been hoisted from the floor to the ceiling,
the Imperial figure appeared in new and more gorgeous apparel, and the
interview was concluded in haughty and majestic silence. In this honest
and curious narrative, the Bishop of Cremona represents the ceremonies
of the Byzantine court, which are still practised in the Sublime Porte,
and which were preserved in the last age by the dukes of Muscovy
or Russia. After a long journey by sea and land, from Venice to
Constantinople, the ambassador halted at the golden gate, till he was
conducted by the formal officers to the hospitable palace prepared for
his reception; but this palace was a prison, and his jealous keepers
prohibited all social intercourse either with strangers or natives.
At his first audience, he offered the gifts of his master, slaves, and
golden vases, and costly armor. The ostentatious payment of the officers
and troops displayed before his eyes the riches of the empire: he was
entertained at a royal banquet, [51] in which the ambassadors of the
nations were marshalled by the esteem or contempt of the Greeks: from
his own table, the emperor, as the most signal favor, sent the plates
which he had tasted; and his favorites were dismissed with a robe
of honor. [52] In the morning and evening of each day, his civil and
military servants attended their duty in the palace; their labors were
repaid by the sight, perhaps by the smile, of their lord; his commands
were signified by a nod or a sign: but all earthly greatness stood
silent and submissive in his presence. In his regular or extraordinary
processions through the c