The citizens of Kief met in solemn and anxious assembly, and offered the crown to an illustrious noble, Monomaque, a brother of Sviatopolk, and a man who had acquired renown in many enterprises of most desperate daring.

In truth it required energy and courage of no ordinary character for a man at that time to accept the crown.

Innumerable assailants would immediately fall upon him, putting to the most imminent peril not only the crown, but the head which wore it.

By the Russian custom of descent, the crown incontestably belonged to the oldest son of Sviatoslaf, and Monomaque, out of regard to his rights, declined the proffered gift.

This refusal was accompanied by the most melancholy results.