ne of insult and
defiance. "If the Barbarian wishes for peace, let him evacuate the
ground which he occupies for the encampment of the Romans, and surrender
his city and palace of Rei as a pledge of his sincerity." Alp Arslan
smiled at the vanity of the demand, but he wept the death of so
many faithful Moslems; and, after a devout prayer, proclaimed a free
permission to all who were desirous of retiring from the field. With his
own hands he tied up his horse's tail, exchanged his bow and arrows for
a mace and cimeter, clothed himself in a white garment, perfumed his
body with musk, and declared that if he were vanquished, that spot
should be the place of his burial. The sultan himself had affected to
cast away his missile weapons: but his hopes of victory were placed
in the arrows of the Turkish cavalry, whose squadrons were loosely
distributed in the form of a crescent. Instead of the successive lines
and reserves of the Grecian tactics, Romulus led his army in a single
and solid phalanx, and pressed with vigor and impatience the artful and
yielding resistance of the Barbarians. In this desultory and fruitless
combat he spent the greater part of a summer's day, till prudence and
fatigue compelled him to return to his camp. But a retreat is always
perilous in the face of an active foe; and no sooner had the standard
been turned to the rear than the phalanx was broken by the base
cowardice, or the baser jealousy, of Andronicus, a rival prince, who
disgraced his birth and the purple of the Caesars. The Turkish squadrons
poured a cloud of arrows on this moment of confusion and lassitude; and
the horns of their formidable crescent were closed in the rear of the
Greeks. In the destruction of the army and pillage of the camp, it
would be needless to mention the number of the slain or captives. The
Byzantine writers deplore the loss of an inestimable pearl: they forgot
to mention, that in this fatal day the Asiatic provinces of Rome were
irretrievably sacrificed.

As long as a hope survived, Romanus attempted to rally and save the
relics of his army. When the centre, the Imperial station, was left
naked on all sides, and encompassed by the victorious Turks, he still,
with desperate courage, maintained the fight till the close of day, at
the head of the brave and faithful subjects who adhered to his standard.
They fell around him; his horse was slain; the emperor was wounded;
yet he stood alone and intrepid, till he was oppress