apital, he unveiled his person to the public
view: the rites of policy were connected with those of religion, and his
visits to the principal churches were regulated by the festivals of the
Greek calendar. On the eve of these processions, the gracious or devout
intention of the monarch was proclaimed by the heralds. The streets were
cleared and purified; the pavement was strewed with flowers; the most
precious furniture, the gold and silver plate, and silken hangings,
were displayed from the windows and balconies, and a severe discipline
restrained and silenced the tumult of the populace. The march was opened
by the military officers at the head of their troops: they were followed
in long order by the magistrates and ministers of the civil government:
the person of the emperor was guarded by his eunuchs and domestics, and
at the church door he was solemnly received by the patriarch and
his clergy. The task of applause was not abandoned to the rude and
spontaneous voices of the crowd. The most convenient stations 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 T