New-York tribune., 1921-12-25

&c, OOtH Win heTSeI and with her
advisers, she revoked her oath to Con
stantine, took Romanus from prison
and married him and had him crowned
Emperor by her side And it is at
that point that Mr.. Phillpotts's ro-
nance abruptly ends.
1t would have been more complete
had it gone on to tell that the marriage
did not bring domestic happiness. be-
cause of Romanuss too domineering
dispositions; that it was too late for
even Romanus to check the Seliuk
onslaught; that in the great battle of
Manzlkert he WAS captured by the
Turks; that he was promptly released
by the Sultan because Of his dis
tlnguished vaior, which even his foes
honored; but that then his own people
at Byzantium deposed both him and
tudocla, with monstrous ferocity
burned out his eyes and put upon the
throne the incompetent Michael Ducas,
the son of Eudocia and Constantine
AS for Eudocia, she retired to q con-
vent for the rest of her days; living,
however, to see the bulk of Asia Minor
fall into the hands of the Turks, and
Byzantium itself saved only by the
retirement of the Ducases and the call
ing of the great Alexius Comnenus to
the throne. These were far greater
doings than those recorded in Mr..
Phillpotts's romance. But to have
dealt with them would have made the
tale a tremendous tragedy instead of q
mere comedy.
Confning himself to the question
whether Eudocia should or should not
break her vow and marry Romanus, and
the answer to it, Mr.. Phillpotts has
written nm entertaining novel, which
we are inclined to credit-in some re-
spects-with more historical value than
he seems inclined to claim for it, OF
course, it contributes nothing to the
known facts of history. But it does
give to the reader q more vivid con-
ception than he could readily obtain
elsewhere of the utterly frivolous and
decadent state Of the Byzantine court
and people at that time; court, as
the author we'll says in his preface
"as magnificent to the eye as con-
temptible to the heart of man" Its
general fidelity to the facts of history
9 admiral be-more marked than that
Of most historical romances. Happily,
TOO, the book is written in neither an
archaic nor an aggressively modern
style. 1t is quite vain for any one to
attempt to reproduce exactly the man
ner of speech Of ancient times and it
is an impertinence to invest the men
and women of ancient times with the
characteristic speech of to-day In
seeking to avoid these extremes, how
ever Mr. Phillpotts does fall into
some infelicities unworthy of his usu-
ally polished diction. We cannot re-
gard it as correct to use pleasure" as
verb synonymous with please" such
an expression as neither one nor
t'other" is out of place where he en-
ploys it, and we are by no means sure
/ lilhL tHe saying tuHI one Cali leSi'e (
The cabin if the chimney smokes" was
familiar in eleventh century Constanti-
nople. Moreover, we must confess that
the author fails TO create the illusicr
Of i Byzantine "atmosphere.' Perhaps
he did not aim to do So He remind:
us that "the comedy is not archaic;
but, read in the light Of to-day, alive
at least in spirit" That is quite
true. No human comedy-nor TRACED,
either-is archaic. What is perhaps
the oldest known drama in the world
the Book OF JoD, is as modern in III
essential spirit and motive as any
article in this mornings newspaper, ye
every line is invested with the atmos
phere of thousands of years ago. Blu
we cannot expect every novelist. no
more than one in hundred years, tt
attain the perfection of scenic and at
MT spheric illusion which Kingsle
achieved in his immortal "Hypatia."
4 W. F. j.