share in the recovery of the East, Asia Minor, and Armenia.
The successor of Alexius is described as possessing every virtue which becomes a Christian as well as a sovereign. He reigned five and twenty years. He made himself popular in his capital by his military successes. The people saw with satisfaction an increase in the imperial revenues, and therefore in their own material prosperity. He gave up his father's practice of disbanding his forces after each campaign, ceased to rely on the Byzantine militia, and trained his soldiers carefully as professional soldiers, not as volunteers or as militiamen. Naturally, therefore, his armies were composed entirely of foreign mercenaries, of Slavonians, Bulgarians, Patzinaks, Comans, and Turks. John, however, seems to have failed in turning his victories to the best advantage. Perhaps he despaired of improving the ruined roads, rebuilding the broken bridges, and reviving the desolate cities which everywhere mocked the magnificence of Constantinople: perhaps he found no time in the multiplicity of his campaigns. His sister, Anna Comnena, who with his mother conspired against him, did not write his life or exploits. Yet two historians have handed them down, and if we know little personally of this prince, we know enough to be assured that he had none of his father's duplicity, and relied on honest fighting for the defence of his state.
John was succeeded by his son Manuel, who possessed his father's headlong courage without his prudence. He was always, it is true, ready to fight, but he preferred a
