satiated his vengeance, he marched upon Kief, with a numerous army,
composed of chosen warriors from various tribes. Yaropolk, alarmed at
the strength with which his brother was approaching, did not dare to
give him battle, but accumulated all his force behind the ramparts of
Kief. The city soon fell into the hands of Vlademer, and Yaropolk,
basely betrayed by one of his generals, was assassinated by two
officers of Vlademer, acting under his authority.

Vlademer was now in possession of the sovereign power, and he
displayed as much energy in the administration of affairs as he had
shown in the acquisition of the crown. He immediately imposed a heavy
tax upon the Russians, to raise money to pay his troops. Having
consolidated his power he became a very zealous supporter of the old
pagan worship, rearing several new idols upon the sacred hill, and
placing in his palace a silver statue of Peroune. His soul seems to
have been harrowed by the consciousness of crime, and he sought, by
the cruel rites of a debasing superstition, to appease the wrath of
the Gods.

Still remorse did not prevent him from plunging into the most
revolting excesses of debauchery. The chronicles of those times state
that he had three hundred concubines in one of his palaces, three
hundred in another at Kief, and two hundred at one of his country
seats. It is by no means certain that these are exaggerations, for
every beautiful maiden in the empire was sought out, to be transferred
to his harems. Paganism had no word of remonstrance to utter against
such excesses. But Vlademer, devoted as he was to sensual indulgence,
was equally fond of war. His armies were ever on the move, and the cry
of battle was never intermitted. On the south-east he extended his
conquests to the Carpathian mountains, where they skirt the plains of
Hungary. In the north-west he extended his sway, by all the energies
of fire and blood, even to the shores of the Baltic, and to the Gulf
of Finland.

Elated beyond measure by his victories, he attributed his success to
the favor of his idol gods, and resolved to express his homage by
offerings of human blood. He collected a number of handsome boys and
beautiful girls, and drew lots to see which of them should be offered
in sacrifice. The lot fell upon a fine boy from one of the Christian
families. The frantic father interposed to save his child. But the
agents of Vlademer fell fiercely upon them, and they both were slain
and o