Crusaders were defeated, that the Byzantine army was in full array outside the walls, and that the emperor was about to attack the camp in overwhelming numbers. The Doge ordered the walls to be abandoned, and the ships with all the men-at-arms and archers to return for the support of their allies. But the Greeks were already returning to the city.
There was no occasion for another assault, because the emperor that night, whether terrified by secret information of treachery, which is very possible, or despairing of making a successful defence, or out of sheer cowardice, collected together what he could carry of jewels and money, and with a few of his friends fled from Constantinople. It was at the dawn of day that his flight was discovered. In the confusion which ensued, one Constantine, a eunuch, succeeded in persuading the Varangian guard to replace Isaac II. on the throne. The blind prisoner was awakened in the monastery where he had been confined, by the armed tramp of those who were taking him from a dungeon to a throne. It was the second great dramatic event in the life of this undeserving fainéant.
He was proclaimed emperor, with his son, Alexis IV., as colleague. The Crusaders were disappointed. What they longed to effect by arms and courage, had been done for them by the feebleness of the usurper. There was, therefore, to be no sack of this rich and prosperous city. The Venetians, more wary, suspected some kind of treachery. They resolved on keeping young Alexis as a hostage, while they sent an embassy to Isaac, ac-
