10 A Short History of the Middle East
reclaim them by doctrinal concessions to the Monophysites: but
the latter were hard bargainers, and the emperors' freedom of
negotiation was restricted by the watchfulness of the Popes who,
while less concerned in Rome than the emperors in Constantinople
with the political exigencies of the Levant, were insistent that
orthodoxy should not be imperilled by excessive indulgence of the
Monophy site heresy; and for thirty years they broke off relations
with an over-accommodating emperor. The Monophysites for
their part were not disposed to compromise with the hated Greeks,
and periodically imperial conciliation was replaced by savage per-
secution. Thus the breach with the Levant provinces was never
bridged ,and they were ripe to fall to any invader who would offer
them greater freedom from imperial interference.