His embassies were received with honor, dismissed without effect, and reported with scandal in the West.] The honor of the monarchy and the safety of the capital were deeply wounded by the revolt of the Bulgarians and Walachians.

Since the victory of the second Basil, they had supported, above a hundred and seventy years, the loose dominion of the Byzantine princes; but no effectual measures had been adopted to impose the yoke of laws and manners on these savage tribes.

By the command of Isaac, their sole means of subsistence, their flocks and herds, were driven away, to contribute towards the pomp of the royal nuptials; and their fierce warriors were exasperated by the denial of equal rank and pay in the military service.

Peter and Asan, two powerful chiefs, of the race of the ancient kings, [20] asserted their own rights and the national freedom; their daemoniac impostors proclaimed to the crowd, that their glorious patron St.Demetrius had forever deserted the cause of the Greeks; and the conflagration spread from the banks of the Danube to the hills of Macedonia and Thrace.

After some faint efforts, Isaac Angelus and his brother acquiesced in their independence; and the Imperial troops were soon discouraged by the bones of their fellow-soldiers, that were scattered along the passes of Mount Haemus.