own behavior, had fortune smiled on your arms?" The reply of the Greek
betrays a sentiment, which prudence, and even gratitude, should have
taught him to suppress. "Had I vanquished," he fiercely said, "I would
have inflicted on thy body many a stripe." The Turkish conqueror
smiled at the insolence of his captive observed that the Christian law
inculcated the love of enemies and forgiveness of injuries; and nobly
declared, that he would not imitate an example which he condemned. After
mature deliberation, Alp Arslan dictated the terms of liberty and peace,
a ransom of a million, an annual tribute of three hundred and sixty
thousand pieces of gold, the marriage of the royal children, and the
deliverance of all the Moslems, who were in the power of the Greeks.
Romanus, with a sigh, subscribed this treaty, so disgraceful to the
majesty of the empire; he was immediately invested with a Turkish robe
of honor; his nobles and patricians were restored to their sovereign;
and the sultan, after a courteous embrace, dismissed him with rich
presents and a military guard. No sooner did he reach the confines
of the empire, than he was informed that the palace and provinces had
disclaimed their allegiance to a captive: a sum of two hundred thousand
pieces was painfully collected; and the fallen monarch transmitted this
part of his ransom, with a sad confession of his impotence and disgrace.
The generosity, or perhaps the ambition, of the sultan, prepared to
espouse the cause of his ally; but his designs were prevented by the
defeat, imprisonment, and death, of Romanus Diogenes.

In the treaty of peace, it does not appear that Alp Arslan extorted any
province or city from the captive emperor; and his revenge was satisfied
with the trophies of his victory, and the spoils of Anatolia, from
Antioch to the Black Sea. The fairest part of Asia was subject to his
laws: twelve hundred princes, or the sons of princes, stood before his
throne; and two hundred thousand soldiers marched under his banners.
The sultan disdained to pursue the fugitive Greeks; but he meditated the
more glorious conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of the house
of Seljuk. He moved from Bagdad to the banks of the Oxus; a bridge was
thrown over the river; and twenty days were consumed in the passage
of his troops. But the progress of the great king was retarded by the
governor of Berzem; and Joseph the Carizmian presumed to defend his
fortress against the powers of th