Theodore Lascaris II. A. D. 1255, Oct. 30A. D. 1259, August. A strong shade of degeneracy is visible between John Vataces and his son Theodore; between the founder who sustained the weight, and the heir who enjoyed the splendour, of the Imperial crown.6 Yet the character of Theodore was not devoid of energy; he had been educated in the school of his father, in the exercise of war and hunting: Constantinople was yet spared; but in the three years of a short reign, he thrice led his armies into the heart of Bulgaria. His virtues were sullied by a choleric and suspicious temper: the first of these may be ascribed to the ignorance of control; and the second might naturally arise from a dark and imperfect view of the corruption of mankind. On a march in Bulgaria, he consulted on a question of policy his principal ministers; and the Greek logothete, George Acropolita, presumed to offend him by the declaration of a free and honest opinion. The emperor halfunsheathed his cimeter; but his more deliberate rage reserved Acropolita for a baser punishment. One of the first officers of the empire was ordered Sto dismount, stripped of his robes, and extended on the ground in the presence of the prince and army. In this posture he was chastised with so many and such heavy blows from the clubs of two guards or executioners, that when Theodore commanded them to cease, the great logothete was scarcely able to rise and crawl away to his tent. After a seclusion of some days, he was recalled by a peremptory mandate to his seat in council; and so dead were the Greeks to the scnse of honour and shame, that it is from the narraive of the sufferer himself that we acquire the knowledge of his disgrace. 7 The cruelty of the emperor was exasperated by the pangs of sickness, the approach of a premature end, and the suspicion of poison and magic. The lives and fortunes, the eyes and limbs, of his kinsmen and obles, were sacrificed to each sally of passion: ind before he died, the son of Vataces might leserve from the people, or at least from the court, the appellation of tyrant. A matron of he family of the Palæologi had provoked his inger by refusing to bestow her beauteous laughter on the vile plebeian who was recomnended by his caprice. Without regard to her birth or age, her body, as high as the neck, was enclosed in a sack with several cats, who were bricked with pins to irritate their fury against heir unfortunate fellow-captive. In his last hours the emperor testified a wish to forgive and be forgiven, a just anxiety for the fate of John his son and successor, who, at the age of eight years, was condemned to the dangers of a long Minority of John minority. His last choice intrust Lascaris. A. D. 1259, August. ed the office of guardian to the sanctity of the patriarch Arsenius, 6 A Persian saying, that Cyrus was the father, and Darius the master, of his subjects, was applied to Vataces and his son. But Pachymer (l. i. c. 23.) has mistaken the mild Darius for the cruel Cam byses, despot or tyrant of his people. By the institution of taxes, Darius had incurred the less odious, but more contemptible, name of Karos, merchant or broker (Herodotus, iii. 89.). 7 Acropolita (c. 63.) seems to admire his own firmness in sustaining a beating, and not returning to council till he was called. He relates the exploits of Theodore, and his own services, from c. 53. to c. 74. of his history. See the third book of Nicephorus Gregoras. 8 Pachymer (l. i. c. 21.) names and discriminates fifteen or twenty Greek families, και όσοι αλλοι, δις ή μεγαλογενής σειρά και χρυση συγ KETOOTηTO, Does be mean, by this decoration, a figurative, or a real, golden chain? Perhaps, both. and to the courage of George Muzalon, the great domestic, who was equally distinguished by the royal favour and the public hatred.. Since their connection with the Latins, the names and privileges of hereditary rank had insinuated themselves into the Greek monarchy; and the noble families 8 were provoked by the elevation of a worthless favourite, to whose influence they imputed the errors and calamities of the late reign. In the first council, after the emperor's death, Muzalon, from a lofty throne, pronounced a laboured apology of his conduct and intentions his modesty was subdued by an unanimous assurance of esteem and fidelity; and his most inveterate enemies were the loudest to salute him as the guardian and saviour of the Romans. Eight days were sufficient to prepare the execution of the conspiracy. On the ninth, the obsequies of the deceased monarch were solemnised in the cathedral of Magnesia, an Asiatic city, where he expired, on the banks of the Hermus, and at the foot of Mount Sipylus. The holy rites were interrupted by a sedition of the guards; Muzalon, his brothers, and his adherents, were massacred at the foot of the altar; and the absent patriarch was associated with a new colleague, with Michael Palæologus, the most illustrious, in birth and merit, of the Greek nobles. 10 Family and character of Michael l'a Of those who are proud of their ancestors, the far greater part must be content with local or domestic læologus. renown; and few there are who dare trust the memorials of their family to the public annals of their country. As early as the middle of the eleventh century, the noble race of the Palæologi stands high and conspicuous in the Byzantine history; it was the valiant George Palæologus who placed the father of the Comneni on the throne; and his kinsmen or descendants continue, in each generation, to lead the armies and councils of the state. The purple was not dishonoured by their alliance; and had the law of succession, and female succession, been strictly observed, the wife of Theodore Lascaris must have yielded to her elder sister, the mother of Michael Palæologus, who afterwards raised his family to the throne. In his person, the splendour of birth was dignified by the merit of the soldier and statesman: in his early youth he was promoted to the office of constable or commander of the French mercenaries; the private expense of a day never exceeded three pieces of gold; but his ambition was rapacious and profuse; and his gifts were doubled by the graces of his conversation and manners. The love of the soldiers and people excited the jealousy of the court; and Michael thrice escaped from the dangers in which he was involved by his own imprudence or that of his friends. I. Under the 9 The old geographers, with Cellarius and D'Anville, and our tra vellers, particularly Pocock and Chandler, will teach us to distinguish the two Magnesias of Asia Minor, of the Meander and of Sipylus. The latter, our present object, is still flourishing for a Turkish city, and lies eight hours, or leagues, to the north-east of Smyrna (Tourne fort, Voyage du Levant, tom. iii. lettre xxii. p. 365-370. Chandler's Travels into Asia Minor, p. 267.). 10 See Acropolita (c. 75, 76, &c.), who lived too near the times; Pachymer (1. i. c. 13-25.), Gregoras (1. iii. c. 3, 4, 5.). 11 The pedigree of Palæologus is explained by Ducange (Famil. Byzant. p. 230, &c.): the events of his private life are related by Pachymer (1. i. c. 7-12.) and Gregoras (1. ii. 8. 1. iii. 2. 4. 1. iv. 1.) with visible favour to the father of the reigning dynasty. reign of Justice and Vataces a dispute arose 12 between two officers, one of whom accused the other of maintaining the hereditary right of the Palæologi. The cause was decided, according to the new jurisprudence of the Latins, by single combat: the defendant was overthrown; but he persisted in declaring that himself alone was guilty; and that he had uttered these rash or treasonable speeches without the approbation or knowledge of his patron. Yet a cloud of suspicion hung over the innocence of the constable: he was still pursued by the whispers of malevolence; and a subtle courtier, the archbishop of Philadelphia, urged him to accept the judgment of God in the fiery proof of the ordeal. 13 Three days before the trial, the patient's arm was enclosed in a bag, and secured by the royal signet; and it was incumbent on him to bear a red-hot ball of iron three times from the altar to the rails of the sanctuary, without artifice and without injury. Palæologus eluded the dangerous experiment with sense and pleasantry. "I am "a soldier," said he, " and will boldly enter the "lists with my accusers: but a layman, a sinner "like myself, is not endowed with the gift of "miracles. Your piety, most holy prelate, may "deserve the interposition of Heaven, and from "your hands I will receive the fiery globe, the "pledge of my innocence." The archbishop started; the emperor smiled; and the absolution or pardon of Michael was approved by new rewards and new services. II. In the succeeding reign, as he held the government of Nice, he was secretly informed, that the mind of the absent prince was poisoned with jealousy; and that death, or blindness, would be his final reward. Instead of awaiting the return and sentence of Theodore, the constable, with some followers, escaped from the city and the empire; and though he was plundered by the Turkmans of the desert, he found an hospitable refuge in the court of the sultan. In the ambiguous state of an exile, Michael reconciled the duties of gratitude and loyalty: drawing his sword against the Tartars; admonishing the garrisons of the Roman limit; and promoting, by his influence, the restoration of peace, in which his pardon and recall were honourably included. III. While he guarded the West against the despot of Epirus, Michael was again suspected and condemned in the palace; and such was his loyalty or weakness, that he submitted to be led in chains above six hundred miles from Durazzo to Nice. The civility of the messenger alleviated his disgrace; the emperor's sickness dispelled his danger; and the last breath of Theodore, which recommended his infant son, at once acknowledged the innocence and the power of Palæologus. 12 Acropolita (c. 50.) relates the circumstances of this curious adventure, which seem to have escaped the more recent writers. 13 Pachymer (l. i. c. 12.), who speaks with proper contempt of this barbarous trial, affirms, that he had seen in his youth many persons who had sustained, without injury, the fiery ordeal. As a Greek, he is credulous: but the ingenuity of the Greeks might furnish some remedies of art or fraud against their own superstition, or that of their tyrant. 14 Without comparing Pachymer to Thucydides or Tacitus, I will praise his narrative (1.i. c. 13-32. 1. ii. c. 1-9.), which pursues the ascent of Palacologus with eloquence, perspicuity, and tolerable freedom. Acropolita is more cautious, and Gregoras more concise. 15 The judicial combat was abolished by St. Louis in his own ter ritories; and his example and authority were at length prevalent in France (Esprit des Loix, 1. xxviii. c. 29.). 16 In civil cases Henry II. gave an option to the defendant: Glan to the the But his innocence had been too His denn unworthily treated, and his power was too strongly felt, to curb an aspiring subje in the fair field that was opened to his ambi tion. 14 In the council after the death of Thes dore, he was the first to pronounce, and the firs to violate, the oath of allegiance to Muzake and so dexterous was his conduct, that he reaped the benefit, without incurring the guilt, or least the reproach, of the subsequent massacr In the choice of a regent, he balanced the in terests and passions of the candidates; turne their envy and hatred from himself against ex other, and forced every competitor to own, that after his own claims, those of Palæologus we best entitled to the preference. Under the tite of Great Duke, he accepted or assumed, during a long minority, the active powers of gover ment; the patriarch was a venerable name; the factious nobles were seduced, or oppressed by the ascendant of his genius. The fruits d the economy of Vataces were deposited in a strong castle on the banks of the Hermus, int custody of the faithful Varangians: the stable retained his command or influence the foreign troops; he employed the guards possess the treasure, and the treasure to corre the guards; and whatsoever might be the she of the public money, his character was above t suspicion of private avarice. By himself, or his emissaries, he strove to persuade every of subjects, that their own prosperity would's in just proportion to the establishment of authority. The weight of taxes was suspende the perpetual theme of popular complaint; he prohibited the trials by the ordeal and cial combat. These barbaric institutions wet already abolished or undermined in Franc and England; 16 and the appeal to the swart offended the sense of a civilised,17 and the te per of an unwarlike, people. For the futur maintenance of their wives and children, veterans were grateful: the priest and the p sopher applauded his ardent zeal for the advance ment of religion and learning; and his promise of rewarding merit was applied by e candidate to his own hopes. Conscious of influence of the clergy, Michael success laboured to secure the suffrage of that poweź order. Their expensive journey from Nice Magnesia afforded a decent and ample pretenc the leading prelates were tempted by the liben ity of his nocturnal visits; and the incorrupt patriarch was flattered by the homage of his colleague, who led his mule by the bridles the town, and removed to a respectful distanc the importunity of the crowd. Without renou ing his title by royal descent, Palæologus exc raged a free discussion into the advantages ville prefers the proof by evidence, and that by judicial reprobated in the Fleta. Yet the trial by battle has ne abrogated in the English law, and it was ordered by the judg as the beginning of the last century. 17 Yet an ingenious friend has urged to me in mitigation practice, 1. That in nations emerging from barbarism, mer the licence of private war and arbitrary revenge. 2. The which it has contributed to abolish. 3. That it served at test of personal courage; a quality so seldom united with a ha position, that the danger of a trial might be some check to a ma prosecutor, and an useful barrier against injustice supported The gallant and unfortunate earl of Surrey might probably b escaped his unmerited fate, had not his demand of the combat g his accuser been over-ruled. 增 elective monarchy; and his adherents asked, with the insolence of triumph, what patient would trust his health, or what merchant would abandon his vessel, to the hereditary skill of a physician or a pilot? The youth of the emperor, and the impending dangers of a minority, required the support of a mature and experienced guardian; of an associate raised above the envy of his equals, and invested with the name and prerogatives of royalty. For the interest of the prince and people, without any selfish views for himself or his family, the Great Duke consented to guard and instruct the son of Theodore; but he sighed for the happy moment when he might restore to his firmer hands the administration of his patrimony, and enjoy the blessings of a pri7vate station. He was first invested with the title and prerogatives of despot, which bestowed the purple ornaments, and the second place in the Roman monarchy. It was afterwards agreed that John and Michael should be proclaimed as joint emperors, and raised on the buckler, but that the pre-eminence should be reserved for the birthright of the former. A mutual league of amity was pledged between the royal partners; and in case of a rupture, the subjects were bound by their oath of allegiance to declare themselves against the aggressor; an ambiguous name, the seed of discord and civil war. Palæologus was content; but on the day of the coronation, and in the cathedral of Nice, his zealous adherents most vehemently urged the just priority of his age and merit. The unseasonable dispute was eluded by postponing to a more convenient opportunity the coronation of John Lascaris; and he walked with a slight diadem in the train of his guardian, who alone received the Imperial Michael Palmologus emperor. A.D. 1260, crown from the hands of the patriarch. It was not without extreme reluctance that Arsenius abandoned Jan. 1. the cause of his pupil; but the Varangians brandished their battle-axes; a sign of assent was extorted from the trembling youth; and some voices were heard, that the life of a child should no longer impede the settlement of the nation. A full harvest of honours and employments was distributed among his friends by the grateful Palæologus. In his own family, he created a despot and two sebastocrators; Alexius Strategopulus was decorated with the title of Cæsar; and that veteran commander soon repaid the obligation, by restoring Constantinople to the Greek emperor. A. D. 1261, July 25. Recovery of It was in the second year of his Constantinople. reign, while he resided in the palace and gardens of Nymphæum, 18 near Smyrna, that the first messenger arrived at the dead of night; and the stupendous intelligence was imparted to Michael, after he had been gently waked by the tender precaution of his sister Eulogia. The man was unknown or obscure; he produced no letters from the victorious Cæsar; nor could it easily be credited, after the defeat of Vataces and the recent failure 18 The site of Nymphæum is not clearly defined in ancient or modern geography. But from the last hours of Vataces (Acropolita, c. 52.), it is evident the palace and gardens of his favourite residence were in the neighbourhood of Smyrna. Nymphæum might be loosely placed in Lydia (Gregoras, 1. vi. 6.). 19 This sceptre, the emblem of justice and power, was a long staff, such as was used by the heroes in flomer. By the latter Greeks it was of Palæologus himself, that the capital had been surprised by a detachment of eight hundred soldiers. As an hostage, the doubtful author was confined, with the assurance of death or an ample recompence; and the court was left some hours in the anxiety of hope and fear, till the messengers of Alexius arrived with the authentic intelligence, and displayed the trophies of the conquest, the sword and sceptre, 19 the buskins and bonnet, 20 of the usurper Baldwin, which he had dropped in his precipitate flight. A general assembly of the bishops, senators, and nobles, was immediately convened, and never perhaps was an event received with more heartfelt and universal joy. In a studied oration, the new sovereign of Constantinople congratulated his own and the public fortune. "There "was a time," said he, "a far distant time, "when the Roman empire extended to the "Hadriatic, the Tigris, and the confines of "Ethiopia. After the loss of the provinces, "our capital itself, in these last and calamitous "days, has been wrested from our hands by the "barbarians of the West. From the lowest "ebb, the tide of prosperity has again re"turned in our favour; but our prosperity "was that of fugitives and exiles; and when "we were asked, which was the country of "the Romans, we indicated with a blush the "climate of the globe and the quarter of the "heavens. The divine Providence has now "restored to our arms the city of Constantine, "the sacred seat of religion and empire; and it "will depend on our valour and conduct to "render this important acquisition the pledge "and omen of future victories." So eager was the impatience of the prince and Return of the people, that Michael made his tri- Greek emperor. umphal entry into Constantinople only twenty days after the expulsion of the Latins. The golden gate was thrown open at his approach; the devout conqueror dismounted from his horse; and a miraculous image of Mary the Conductress was borne before him, that the divine Virgin in person might appear to conduct him to the temple of her Son, the cathedral of St. Sophia. But after the first transport of devotion and pride, he sighed at the dreary prospect of solitude and ruin, palace was defiled with smoke and dirt, and the gross intemperance of the Franks; whole streets had been consumed by fire, or were decayed by the injuries of time; the sacred and profane edifices were stripped of their ornaments; and, as if they were conscious of their approaching exile, the industry of the Latins had been confined to the work of pillage and destruction. Trade had expired under the pressure of anarchy and distress, and the numbers of inhabitants had decreased with the opulence of the city. It was the first care of the Greek monarch to reinstate the nobles in the palaces of their fathers; and the houses or the ground which they occupied were restored to the families that A. D. 1261, Aug. 14. The named Dicanice, and the Imperial sceptre was distinguished as usual by the red or purple colour. 20 Acropolita affirms (c. 87.), that this bonnet was after the French fashion; but from the ruby at the point or summit, Ducange (Hist. de C. P. 1. v. c. 28, 29.) believes that it was the high-crowned hat of the Greeks. Could Acropolita mistake the dress of his own court? could exhibit a legal right of inheritance. But the far greater part was extinct or lost; the vacant property had devolved to the lord; he repeopled Constantinople by a liberal invitation to the provinces; and the brave volunteers were seated in the capital which had been recovered by their arms. The French barons and the principal families had retired with their emperor; but the patient and humble crowd of Latins was attached to the country, and indifferent to the change of masters. Instead of banishing the factories of the Pisans, Venetians, and Genoese, the prudent conqueror accepted their oaths of allegiance, encouraged their industry, confirmed their privileges, and allowed them to live under the jurisdiction of their proper magistrates. Of these nations, the Pisans and Venetians preserved their respective quarters in the city; but the services and power of the Genoese deserved at the same time the gratitude and the jealousy of the Greeks. Their independent colony was first planted at the seaport town of Heraclea in Thrace. They were speedily recalled, and settled in the exclusive possession of the suburb of Galata, an advantageous post, in which they revived the commerce, and insulted the majesty, of the Byzantine empire. 21 Palæologus blinds and banishes the young emperor, A. D. 1261, Dec. 25; The recovery of Constantinople was celebrated as the æra of a new empire the conqueror, alone, and by the right of the sword, renewed his coronation in the church of St. Sophia; and the name and honours of John Lascaris, his pupil and lawful sovereign, were nsensibly abolished. But his claims still lived in the minds of the people; and the royal youth must speedily attain the years of manhood and ambition. By fear or conscience, Palæologus was restrained from dipping his hands in iunocent and royal blood; but the anxiety of an usurper and a parent urged him to secure his throne, by one of those imperfect crimes so familiar to the modern Greeks. The loss of sight incapacitated the young prince for the active business of the world: instead of the brutal violence of tearing out his eyes, the visual nerve was destroyed by the intense glare of a red-hot basin, 22 and John Lascaris was removed to a distant castle, where he spent many years in privacy and oblivion. Such cool and deliberate guilt may seem incompatible with remorse; but if Michael could trust the mercy of Heaven, he was not inaccessible to the reproaches and vengeance of mankind, which he had provoked by cruelty and treason. His cruelty imposed on a servile court the duties of applause or silence; but the clergy had a right to speak in the name of their invisible master; and their holy legions were led by a prelate, whose character was above the temptations of hope or fear. After a short abdication of his dignity, Arsenius 23 had con 21 See Pachymer (1. ii. c. 28-33.), Acropolita (c. 88.), Nicephorus Gregoras (1. iv. 7.), and for the treatment of the subject Latins, Ducange (1. v. c. 30, 31.). 22 This milder invention for extinguishing the sight, was tried by the philosopher Democritus on himself, when he sought to withdraw his mind from the visible world: a foolish story! The word abacinare, in Latin and Italian, has furnished Ducange (Gloss. Latin.) with an opportunity to review the various modes of blinding: the more violent were scooping, burning with an iron or hot vinegar, and binding the A.D. 10-15 sented to ascend the ecclesiastical throse Constantinople, and to preside in the restoranis of the church. His pious simplicity was ing deceived by the arts of Palæologus; and his p tience and submission might soothe the usurpe and protect the safety of the young prince. On the news of his inhuman treatment, the p triarch unsheathed the spiritual sword; superstition, on this occasion, was enlisted the cause of humanity and justice. In a synod of bishops, who were stimulated by the example of his zeal, the patriarch pronounced a sentence of excommunication; though his pr dence still repeated the name of Michael is the public prayers. The Eastern prelates had not adopted the dangerous maxims of ances Rome; nor did they presume to enforce ther censures, by deposing princes, or absolving u tions from their oaths of allegiance. But r Christian who had been separated from God the church, became an object of horror; and, a a turbulent and fanatic capital, that ba might arm the hand of an assassin, or inta a sedition of the people. Palæologus felt a danger, confessed his guilt, and deprecated i judge: the act was irretrievable; the prize obtained; and the most rigorous penance, wh he solicited, would have raised the sinner to th reputation of a saint. The unrelenting p triarch refused to announce any means of st ment or any hopes of mercy; and condescend only to pronounce, that, for so great a cr great indeed must be the satisfaction. *D 66 you require," said Michael, “that I sha "abdicate the empire?" And at these was he offered, or seemed to offer, the sword state. Arsenius eagerly grasped this pledge sovereignty: but when he perceived that t emperor was unwilling to purchase absol at so dear a rate, he indignantly escaped to t cell, and left the royal sinner kneeling s weeping before the door. 24 The danger and scandal of this Schi excommunication subsisted above three years, till the popular clamour was assuaged by time and repentance; th brethren of Arsenius condemned his intens spirit, so repugnant to the unbounded forgivenes of the Gospel. The emperor had artfully ins ated, that, if he were still rejected at home, might seek, in the Roman pontiff, a more gent judge; but it was far more easy and eft tual to find or to place that judge at the head the Byzantine church. Arsenius was invol in a vague rumour of conspiracy and disafe tion; some irregular steps in his ordination government were liable to censure; a synod → posed him from the episcopal office; and be ** transported under a guard of soldiers to & island of the Propontis. Before his exe sullenly requested that a strict account might head with a strong cord till the eyes burst from their sockets. nious tyrants! 23 See the first retreat and restoration of Arsenius, in Pa (1. ii. c. 15. l. iii. c. 1, 2.), and Nicephorus Gregoras (1 c. 1.). Posterity justly accused the ache and pap of Ame the virtues of an hermit, the vices of a minister (1. xil. c. 2p, 24 The crime and excommunication of Michael are fairly Pachymer (1. ill. c. 10. 14. 19, &c.) and Gregoras (Liv. c.4) fession and penance restored their freedom. taken of the treasures of the church; boasted, that his sole riches, three pieces of gold, had › been earned by transcribing the psalms; continued to assert the freedom of his mind; and denied, with his last breath, the pardon which was implored by the royal sinner.25 After some delay, Gregory, bishop of Adrianople, was translated to the Byzantine throne; but his authority - was found insufficient to support the absolution : of the emperor; and Joseph, a reverend monk, was substituted to that important function. This edifying scene was represented in the presence of the senate and people; at the end of six years, the humble penitent was restored to the communion of the faithful; and humanity will rejoice, that a milder treatment of the captive Lascaris was stipulated as a proof of his remorse. But the spirit of Arsenius still survived in a powerful faction of the monks and clergy, who persevered above forty-eight years in an obstinate schism. Their scruples were treated with tenderness and respect by Michael and his son; and the reconciliation of the Arsenites was the serious labour of the church and state. In the confidence of fanaticism, they had proposed to try their cause by a miracle; and when the two papers, that contained their own and the adverse cause, were cast into a fiery brasier, they expected that the Catholic verity would be respected by the flames. Alas! the two papers were indiscriminately consumed, and this unforeseen accident produced the union of a day, and renewed the quarrel of an age. 26 The final treaty displayed the victory of the Arsenites: the clergy abstained during forty days from all ecclesiastical functions: a slight penance was imposed on the laity; the body of Arsenius was deposited in the sanctuary; and in the name of the departed saint, the prince and people were released from the sins of their fathers. 27 Reign of A. D. 1259, Dec. 1 Dec. 11. Reign of Andronicus the Elder. Nov. 8 The establishment of his family was the motive, or at least the pretence, of the crime of Palæologus; and he was impatient to confirm the succession, by sharing with his eldest son the honours of the purple. A. D. 1973, Andronicus, afterwards surnamed A. D. 1332, the Elder, was proclaimed and Feb. 13. crowned emperor of the Romans, in the fifteenth year of his age; and, from the first æra of a prolix and inglorious reign, he held that august title nine years as the colleague, and fifty as the successor, of his father. Michael himself, had he died in a private station, would have been thought more worthy of the empire and the assaults of his temporal and spiritual enemies left him few moments to labour for his own fame or the happiness of his subjects. He wrested from the Franks several of the noblest islands of the Archipelago, Lesbos, Chios, and Rhodes: his brother Constantine 25 Pachymer relates the exile of Arsenius (1. iv. c. 1-16.): he was one of the commissaries who visited him in the desert island. The last testament of the unforgiving patriarch is still extant (Dupin, Bibliothèque Ecclésiastique, tom. x. p. 9.5.). 26 Pachymer (1. vii. c. 22.) relates this miraculous trial like a philosopher, and treats with similar contempt a plot of the Arsenites, to hide a revelation in the coffin of some old saint (1. vii. c. 13.). He compensates this incredulity by an image that weeps, another that bleeds (1. vii. c. 30.), and the miraculous cures of a deaf and a mute patient (1. xi. c. 32.). 27 The story of the Arsenites is spread through the thirteen books of Pachymer. Their union and triumph are reserved for Nicephorus Gregoras (1. vii. c. 9.), who neither loves nor esteems these sectaries. was sent to command in Malvasia and Sparta; and the eastern side of the Morea, from Argos and Napoli to Cape Tænarus, was repossessed by the Greeks. This effusion of Christian blood was loudly condemned by the patriarch; and the insolent priest presumed to interpose his fears and scruples between the arms of princes. But in the prosecution of these western conquests, the countries beyond the Hellespont were left naked to the Turks; and their depredations verified the prophecy of a dying senator, that the recovery of Constantinople would be the ruin of Asia. The victories of Michael were achieved by his lieutenants; his sword rusted in the palace; and, in the transactions of the emperor with the popes and the king of Naples, his political arts were stained with cruelty and fraud. 28 His union with the Latin church. -1277. I. The Vatican was the most natural refuge of a Latin emperor, who had been driven from his throne; and pope Urban the Fourth appeared to pity the misfortunes, and vindicate the cause, of the fugitive Baldwin. A crusade, with plenary indulgence, was preached by his command against the schismatic Greeks; he excommunicated their allies and adherents; solicited Louis the Ninth in favour of his kinsman; and demanded a tenth of the ecclesiastical revenues of France and England for the service of the holy war. 29 The subtle Greek, who watched the rising tempest of the West, attempted to suspend or soothe the hostility of the pope, by suppliant embassies and respectful letters; but he insinuated that the establishment of peace must prepare the reconciliation and obedience of the Eastern church. The Roman court could not be deceived by so gross an artifice; and Michael was admonished, that the repentance of the son should precede the forgiveness of the father; and that faith (an ambiguous word) was the only basis of friendship and alliance. After a long and affected delay, the approach of danger, and the importunity of Gregory the Tenth, compelled him to enter on a more serious negotiation: he alleged the example of the great Vataces; and the Greek clergy, who understood the intentions of their prince, were not alarmed by the first steps of reconciliation and respect. But when he pressed the conclusion of the treaty, they strenuously declared, that the Latins, though not in name, were heretics in fact, and that they despised those strangers as the vilest and most despicable portion of the human race, 30 It was the task of the emperor to persuade, to corrupt, to intimidate, the most popular ecclesiastics, to gain the vote of each individual, and alternately to urge the arguments of Christian charity and the public welfare. The texts of the fathers and the arms of the Franks were balanced in the theological and political scale; 28 Of the xiii books of Pachymer, the first six (as the ivth and vth of Nicephorus Gregoras) contain the reign of Michael, at the time of whose death he was forty years of age. Instead of breaking, like his editor the Père Poussin, his history into two parts, I follow Ducange and Cousin, who number the xiii books in one series. 29 Ducange, Hist. de C. P. l. v. c. 33, &c. from the Epistles of Urban IV. 30 From their mercantile intercourse with the Venetians and Genoese, they branded the Latins as καπηλοι and βαναυσοι (Pachymer, 1. v. c. 10.). "Some are heretics in name; others, like the Latins, in "fact," said the learned Veccus (1. v. c. 12.), who soon afterwards became a convert (c. 15, 16.) and a patriarch (c. 24.). |