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wards put his elder brother to death and seized upon the throne of Constantinople: after his own murder by Magnentius, the veteran general Vetranio, who had been governor of the Illyrian provinces, usurped the purple. Epirus, with the rest of Greece, appears to have benefited by the taste and liberality of Julian, who repaired many of its cities, especially Nicopolis, where he celebrated and restored the Actian games to a considerable degree of splendour.

At the elevation of Theodosius to a participation of imperial honours, the præfecture of Illyricum was dismembered, whilst Thessalonica was strongly fortified against the incursions of barbarians, and made the capital of all the Illyrian provinces. No ravages which these countries suffered since the days of Æmilius Paulus, are to be compared with those inflicted on them by Alaric in his invasion of Greece at the latter end of the fourth century, when he retreated from Peloponnesus, after his defeat by Stilicho: through the timid policy of the Byzantine court this Gothic general was himself created prefect of Illyricum, from whence he issued to plunder the fruitful plains of Italy.

In the middle of the fifth century, under the contemptible reign of Theodosius the younger, these provinces were again afflicted by the Scourge of war in the hands of Attila, nor did they suffer much less in the subsequent devastations committed by Genseric and his Vandals.

Near the middle of the sixth century they were laid waste, together with the rest of the European empire, by a terrible incursion of Huns or Bulgarians, so dreadful, says Gibbon, as almost to efface the memory of past inroads*: these barbarians spreading from the suburbs of Constantinople to the Ionian gulf, destroyed thirty-two cities or castles, razed Potidea to the ground, and then repassed the Danube, dragging at their horses' tails 120,000 subjects of Justinian, whilst 3,000 Sclavonians plundered with impunity the cities of Illyricum and Thrace.

*Vol. iv. p. 221.

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On the contraction of the Byzantine empire after the death of Heraclius, it was divided into districts called Themes, seventeen of which were included in the Asiatic, and twelve in the European part. One of these was called the Macedonian Theme, another the Theme of Nicopolis, comprising old Epirus and Acarnania, another of Thessalonica, and a fourth of Dyrachium, which was the capital of those southern Illyrian tribes, comprehended under the title of New Epirus or Provincia Prævalitana.

Of all the barbarous nations which overran that part of the Byzantine empire now called European Turkey, none sent forth such immense and continual hordes as the Bulgarians. From the middle of the sixth century to the fall of Constantinople in the fifteenth, this wild and fierce people issuing from the vast plains of Russia, Lithuania, and Poland, spread themselves over the finest provinces, sometimes being defeated with terrible slaughter, at others obtaining settlements by force of arms or the weak policy of the emperors, to whom they paid a nominal subjection, or exacted tribute from his coffers according to their own circumstances. They occupied very considerable districts in Epirus and Illyricum, in which country, about the latter part of the ninth century they established their capital at Achris or Ochris, the ancient Lychnidus, to whose ruler, named Peter, the emperor Romanus gave the title of king, together with his grand-daughter in marriage. This capital was in the beginning of the 10th century destroyed by Basil II. surnamed the Bulgarian-Killer*. (Bexypoxтóvos.) At the sacking of the city, he found a treasure consisting of 10,000 pounds weight in gold, but his cruelty left an indelible stain upon his character which no valour could obliterate: he blinded 15,000 of his captives, leaving a single eye alone to one out of each hundred, that he might lead his companions to the presence of their sovereign: that compassionate prince is said to have died with grief at the sight, but the

* Acropolita, c. xi.

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unfortunate victims lived to excite the spirit of revenge in a succeeding generation, and bequeath it to their posterity. But though the Bulgarians lost Achris they still continued in possession of other districts, and by the end of the tenth century had extended themselves to the most southern parts of Epirus, being masters of the city of Nicopolis*. Probably at this time the Albanians were driven by these and other invaders into the more inaccessible parts of the country, from whence they emerged about a century after the destruction of Achris and began to act a more important part upon this theatre.

Conjointly with the Bulgarians we often find the Servians mentioned by the Byzantine historians as making inroads and establishments in the eastern empire. These people were of a Sclavonian origin, and chiefly established themselves upon the Danube, in that district which still bears their name: they were governed by an hereditary monarch, under the title of Cral, a Sclavonic word signifying king, and in the twelfth century they are mentioned by Cantacuzene as having colonies and settlements in the southern part of Macedonia, towards the borders of Thessaly, where a city remains to this day, which testifies their dominion by its appellation of Servia. Even so early as in the tenth century there is reason to believe that nearly all Greece was colonised and interspersed with various tribes of Sclavonian descent, who contributed to alter the manners and debase the language of its people. Among these tribes a very curious people were found, who still exist in considerable numbers, retaining all their peculiarities of language habits and customs, amidst the mountain ridges of Epirus and Macedonia. These were the Vlakhi or Valachians, whose dialect, containing a large intermixture of Latin words, supplies a reason for referring their origin to the Roman colonies planted in Dacia and Mœsia by Trajan and his

*Cedrenus, p. 628.

† Και νῦν δὲ πᾶσαν Ἤπειρον και Ἑλλάδα σχεδόν και Πελοπόννησον και Μακεδονίαν Σκύθαι Σκλάβο VEμOVтa Epit. Strab. Geog. 1. vii. p. 99. ed. Huds.

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successors. The original Valachians were so warlike that they frequently endangered the very seat of empire*, but their descendants are a peaceable, inoffensive race, addicted principally to pastoral occupations. They were extirpated in the more northern districts by the conquering arms of the Turks, and the remnant now found were preserved in the mountain fastnesses of the south.

It seemed as if each tempest of war that troubled Europe cast a wave upon the devoted shores of this country, and that every emigratory inundation left a portion of slime upon its plains. In the latter part of the eleventh century Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemond led their fierce adventurous Normans out of the kingdom of Apulia, in which they had been firmly established, to attack the frontiers of the eastern empire on the other side of the Adriatic. Their first enterprise was the siege of Durazzo, which was bravely defended by its governor George Palæologus till the arrival of the Emperor Alexius Comnenust. This enterprise not only introduces the Albanians for the first time into historical notice, a people destined hereafter to act so conspicuous a part in the annals of Epirus, but occasions the earliest mention of Ioannina, the capital of their extended empire.

After an unsuccessful battle fought by Alexius under the walls of Durazzo, he fled to Achris, leaving a Venetian garrison in command of the citadel, and the city itself under the government of Comiscorta an Albanian chieftain. The victorious Robert deliberated for some time whether he should press the siege, as the season was far advanced, or retire into winter quarters at Glabinitza, aud re-commence operations in the ensuing spring. A secret correspondence which he entered into with one of the Venetian garrison determined him to remain, and

* They contributed chiefly, with the Bulgarian and other northern tribes, to gain the battle of Adrianople, which led to the expulsion of Baldwin from the Byzantine throne, A. D. 1205. The Vlakhi of Epirus are called Kéro-Bλáxoɩ (or lame Vlakhi) to distinguish them from the original settlers on the Danube named Mαυρο-Βλάχοι (or black Vlakhi.)

+ Father of the celebrated Anna the historian. The siege commenced in June, A, D. 1081. Annæ Comn. Alex. 1. iv. sub fin.

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the city was delivered up on the 8th of February, 1082. After this success he was recalled to Italy by a rebellion among his own states*, and left his son Bohemond to prosecute the war.

This celebrated warrior trod in the footsteps of his victorious father. According to the account of Anna Comnena he led his troops through the heart of Epirus, and occupied a most important and advantageous station at Ioannina, fortifying its castron or citadel† and repairing the walls, whilst he entrenched his army amongst the beautiful vineyards in its vicinity. From this post he sent out parties to ravage the adjacent towns: these committed so many enormities that the emperor once more collected an army with all possible expedition and marched forth to give them battle. In the conflict which ensued under the walls of Ioannina, and which lasted from the rising to the setting of the sun, the imperial forces were totally routed, although Alexius, according to the partial but very pardonable account of his filial historian, performed prodigies of valour, standing like a vast tower opposed to the raging waves of battle, remaining till his best troops and officers were all cut in pieces around him, and then only flying to preserve himself for better hopes and greater dangers.

The course of events hath thus brought us to the city of Ioannina : we shall however have occasion to dwell for a short time only upon its early annals; since no historian has left us any account of its origin, or progress, or the character of its people, in those ages when human beings were reduced to the lowest point of degradation and all the energies of mind corrupted or destroyed by the enervating influence of the Byzantine government: neither does it derive any importance from its connexion with literature and the fine arts, nor claim a share

• In 1084 he marched to the relief of Pope Gregory VII. of whom he declared himself the protector, though he had formerly been excommunicated by that pontiff. He died in Cephalonia, July 17th, 1085, as he was preparing a renewal of his attack upon the eastern empire.

+ That incomparable geographer Meletius says it was fortified by Michael Ducas, the sebastocrator (read protostrator), uncle of the Princess Anna Comnena.