Full text of "The Decline And The Fall Of Roman Empire Volume V"

121 976

THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE OT) FALl

OF THE

ROMAN EMPIRE.

VOL. V.

CHILDBRIC m M THR LAST OP THE MEROVINGIAN" KINGS,
the " Hols Faineants " of history, receiver the toniwre,

and is endoiatered, 752 A,D, Kroiitinptece

Gibbon 1 * Rome, VoL V, Page X3& Pftlutitiflf by K. V, IiimiNi

CONTENTS OF VOL. V*

CHAPTER XLVIIt

OF Tim I*AT TWO [QXTAKTO] VOJLUMTCB. SUCCESSION AND OTIARAO-

TKUH OK Tim GREEK: JCMPKHOKB OF OONBTANXXNOPWC, FBOM THIS TUIK

OS? HKltACJUUS TO THJEC &ATIN CONQUEST*

A.IX

Defect* of tho Bystantino His-
tory ........ .. .....................

lt Connection with the Bevo-
lutioxift of tho World ..,. ......

I*i*m of the last two Vol-
umos. ...,....,...,..., ...... ....

Second Marriage and Death of

Constantino III* ***,.,,,*
Horaelootma ........ ......

Punishment of Martina,

IL .

608. <30itumine IV, Pogonatus...,
635. JtmcinUn II. *... ...... .,,.. .......

69^-705. Kb Exile............ ..... ....

705-711. Bia Restoration and Death
Til. Philippleuv., ...*..*.... ..... ., .....

718. AnftStMiiwU ........ * ...... ..... -

710. Theodora* HI. .. ....... . ......

718. Xrf&a HI M the taartai...........

741. Conntnntine V, Coprtmymas^.
775* Xo IV. ..,.,...., ..... . .......

780. Gooitftntift* VI. and Irene......

811.

Michael I. T
$X& 1^0 V.. th Armenia** . ...^...

BBa Mloh*el II., thoStammeror.,..
829, Theopfeilu...,. ..... ...,..,.,_...

848. Mto1mft.XIL ....... ....... ...,...

867. Ba*U I., the Maocionlan, ......

886. aC^oTLttlwiPhiowmher..^,...
ConetantW VII.

10
IB

19
20
20

21
21
23
24<
20
27
29
29
80
ai
32
M
86
SB
38
39
39
40
^
43
40
48

A.D.

945.
959.
968.
969.

970.

1025,
1028.
1084,

1041.

1054,
1056.
1057.

1067.
1071.

1078*
1081.

1148.
1180.

1188*
1185.

PA.OW
Romanus I. Lecapenus.. ...... 56

Christopher, Stephen, Con-

stantine VIII ................. 5(5

Constantino VI f ........ * ....... 57

Homanns II,* Junior ........... 58

Nieephorus IL Phooaa ......... 59

John ^imifleeH, Basil JtL, Con-

stantino IX.. .................. 61

Basil II. and Constantino

IX .......................... ..... 63

Constantino IX ................. 64

BomftttUB III. Argyrus ......... 64

Michael IV., the Paphlago-

nian. .....!., ...... . .............. 65

MWhdel VrCalaphates. ..... ... 66

Zoo and Theodora ............... 06

Constantino X. Motioma-

ohus.,. ........... ,.*. ......... C>7

Thoodora ....... . ........ .,,...... 67

Michael VI. Stratfottous...*... 67
laaac I. Comnenus... ........... 68

Constantino XI. Ducas ........ 71

Eudocia .......... .... ............ . 71

Bomanus III. Diogenes........ 72

Michaol VII. Parapinaces,

Andronlcus I*, Constantino

XII ..... .............. .......... 72

Nicophorue III, Botanfotos ,,. 74
Aloacius L Comnonws .......... W

John, or Calo-Johannos . * ..... 77

Character and first

ttires of Andronic us
Andronious I.
Iaac II. Angelua

CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

CHAPTER XLIX

INTRODUCTION, WORSHIP, AND PERSECUTION Ol? IMAGES. REVOLT OF ITALT
AND ROMR, TEMPORAL DOMINION OF THTC rOPJffiS, CONQUEST OF ITAI/tf
BY THK FUANK8. ESTABLISHMENT OF IMAGES. CHARACTER AND CORO-
NATION OF CHARLEMAGNE. RESTORATION AND DECAY OF TI1W ROMAN
KMPIKK IN THE WEST. INDEPENDENCE OF ITALY. CONSTITUTION Off
TH1C GERMANIC BODY.

A.D. PAGE

Introduction of Images into
the Christian Church ........ 07

Their worship .................... 09

The Image of Edessa .......... 100

Its Copies ......................... 102

Opposition to Imago - wor-
ship ...... , ....................... 103

726-840. Loo, the Iconoclast, and

his Successors ................. 106

754. Their Synod of Constanti-

nople ............................ 107

Their Creed ...................... 107

726-775. Their Persecution of the

Images and Monks .......... 108

State of Italy ..................... Ill

727. Epistles of Gregory II. to the

Emperor ......... , .............. lift

728. -Revolt of Italy .......... . ........ 11G

Republic of Borne ........ ,..,. 110

730-752, Rome attacked by the

Lombards ...................... 121

754* Her deliverance by Pepirt,*,.. 12&
774. Conquest of Lombardy by

Charlemagne,**,.. . ....... ... 125

751, 753, 768, Pepin and Charle-

magne, Kings of France.*.* 126
Patricians of Borne*. ........... 128

Donations of Pepin and Char-

lemagne to the Popes ..,**. 130
Forgery of the Donation of

Constantino ......... .,*,.,. 182

Restoration of Images in the

East by the Empress Irene. 185
787. Seventh General Council, Sec-

ond of Nice ....... ., .......... 186

642. Final Establishment of Im-

ages by the Empress Theo-

dora ....... -. .......... .........

794, Reluctance of the Franks and

of Charlemagne ...... . ........ 188

774-800, Final Separation of the

Popes from the Eastern Em-

pire .............................. 189

600, Coronation of Charlemagne

as Emperor of Home and

of the West.,... ............... 141

780,

187

A.D.
768-814, Reign and Character of

Charlemagne ............... *

Extent of his Empire .... - ____

In Franco .....................

Spain ..........................

Italy ...........................

Germany ........ .............

Hungary ......................

Jlifl Neighbor** arid Ene-

mies ..... * ......................

His Successors.** ........ ,,....

814-887. In Italy ....................

911. In Germany ........... * .........

i>87. In France .................. ,...

814-840. Lewis the Pious ...... .,*

840-850. tothairel ....... -...,..,.*

850-875. Lewis II ............ * .....

888. Dividon of the Empire..,*...
902. CHlio/King of Germany, re-

stores and appropriate**

the Western Empire .......

Transactions of the Western

ami Eastern Empires ..... .

800~10(K), Authority of the Em-

perors in the Elections of

the Popes .....................

14ft
H8
140
141)
150

Jtfl

I ft*

1073.

SM12.
067.
908,
774
lir>2

IU4-

ISoO,
1SH7

1B50.

Reformation and Claims of
the Church .............. .*..

Authority of the Emperorfi
in Rome ....... ... ...... . .....

Revolt of Alberta ........... ...

Of Pope John XI! ......... ..

Of the Consul CreneentluB..*

1250, The Kingdom of Italy.

119Q. Frederic I. .... ..........

Frederic II ............ *.

12JK}. Independenicie of the
Princen of Germany , .*,,*

The OeroianU) Constitution.

1878. Weaknet*H tnd Poverty
of the Grm.n Bmperor
Charles IV ........ * .........

Hi Ostentation ...... ...

Oonti'Uht of the Power and
Modesty of Awypstui ***

154
154
154

156

158
100

162

164
164
16d
167
108

171

CONTENTS OF VOL. V

CHAPTER L.

DESCRIPTION OV ARABIA AND ITS INHABITANTS. BIRTH, CHARACTER, AND
DOCTlttNJfi Off MAIIOMKT. HE PIIEACHES AT MECCA. FLIES TO MEDINA.
PKOP AGATES HIS RELIGION BY THE 8WOUD. VOLUNTARY OR RELUC-
TANT SUBMISSION OF THIS ARABS. HIS DEATH AND SUCCESSORS. THE
CLAIMS AND FORTUNES Otf AL1 AND HIS DESCENDANTS.

A.D. PAOK

Description of Arabia 1 77

The Soil and Climate 178

Division of the Handy, the
Stony, and the Happy Ara-
bia i 179

Manners of the Bedouins, or

Pastoral Arabs 180

The llorne 181

The Camel 182

Cities of Arabia 182

Mecca 184

Her Trade 184

National Independence of the

Arabs. 185

Their domestic Freedom and

Character.... - 188

Civil Wars and private Re-
venge .* 190

Annual Truce*.... . 192

Thoir social Qualifications and

Virtues 193

Lovu of Poetry... 194

Example* of 6enero*ity .*..., 1 95

Aneiunt Idolatry .......*.. 196

Tho Caaba, or Temple of

Mecca.* , 197

Sacrifices and Rltes,..,.*^.*... 199
Introduction of the Snbians... 201

The Magians , 202

The Jaws ,.*, 202

Tht* Christians.,..,,,, ,*., 202

869-601), Birth and Education of

Muhoraet .. *>* 203

Deliverance of Mecca * *,, 205

Qualification* of the Proph-
et . . 208

One God , 211

Mahomet the Apostle of God,
and the last of the Proph-
et*,.,,* . 215

Precepts of Mahomet Pray*
or, ffn

A.D.

Resurrection 226

Hell and Paradise 227

609. Mahomet preaches at Mec-
ca , 232

613-622. Is opposed by the Kor-

eish 234

622. And dm- en from Mecca 2S6

622. [Received as Prince of Me-

dina 237

622-632. His regal Dignity 239

He declares War against the

Infidels , ; 240

His defensive Wars against

the Koreish of Mecca ,.,.. 243

623, Battle of Beder 244:

OfOhud .,.. 246

625. The Nations, or the Ditch. ... 247
623-627. Mahomet subdues the

Jews of Arabia 247

629. Submission of Mecca 250

629-632. Conquest of Arabia....... 253

629, 630. First War of the Mahom-
etans against the Koman

Empire 256

632. Death of Mahomet 259

His Character,.... 262

Private Life of Mahomet 266

His Wives.... ..,.... 267

And Children.,, -. 270

Character of AIL... 271

632* Reign of Abubeker,.,. 272

634, Reign of Oman , 273

644. Beign of Othnmn 274

Discord of the Turks and Per-
sians.. 274

65f>. Death of Othman 277

665-660, Reign of Ali 277

655, or 661-680. Beign of Moa-

wiyah ,..,...,,. 281

680. Death of Hosein - 282

Posterity of Mahomet and

AIL.,., 285

6SO. Success of Mahomet... 28^

Permanency of his Religion. . 28^
His Merit towaixls his Coun-
try , 281

CONTENTS OF VOL. V

291

294
290
298
299
302
302
304
805
308
309
311
314
310
318
320

323
325
327

888
341

#44

840
848

840

CHAPTER LI.

THE CONQXJ1CST OP PERSIA, SYRIA, EGYPT, AFRICA, AND SPAIN, BY TMH
AUAliS OK HAttACTCNS. KMPIRK OF THE CAUPH8, OK SUCCESSOltB OF MA-
-8TATJB OF TUB CHKISTIANS, ETC,, UNDBU THEIR GOVBRNMBNT*

A.D.

Siege and Conquest of Alex-
andria ,

The Alexandrian Library....

Administration of ISgypt

liiches and Populousness....
647. AjyitiCA. First Invasion by

Abdullah

The Pnufoct Gregory and his

Daughter ,, .,.*,

Victory of the Arabs* . ,,

605-689. Progress of the HarnconH

in Africa

670-675. Foundation of Cuiroan .
692-698. Conquest of Carthago...
698-709. Final Conquest of Africa
Adoption of the Mooru

709- BIAIK. First r I\imptationH

and Design H of the Arabs.
State of the Gothic Monarchy

710- The first Descent of the

Arabs**. ,.*...,*..* ....

711, Their second Descant. ,,.*,>

And Victory,* .-.4** *

Buin of the Oothic Monarchy

712, 710, Conquest of Spain by

A.I).

632, Union of the Arabs ........ ,...

Character of their Caliphs....

Their Conquests .................

Invasion of PMRSIA,*., + ........

636. Battle of Qulesia ...... .........

Foundation of Bassora .........

687. HackofMudavn .................

Foundation of Cufa .............

<587~G51, Conquest of Persia ........

65L Death of the iasfc King .........

710. The Conquest of Transoxiana
682. Invasion of STOUA .............. *

Siege of Bosra ........ . ..........

688. Biege of Damascus.-..* ...... ,,

<J83, Battle of Aiznadin., ............

Arabs return to Damascus....

634. The City is tnkcn by Storm
and Capitulation ..... . .......

Pttrttiiit of the Damascenes.**
Fair of Abyia ....................

35. Sicgos of Heliopolis and
Kniesa ................. * ........

6$G, Ttattle of Yorxnuk ...............

637. Conquest of Jerusalem....,,.,.

638. Conquest of Aleppo and, An-

tioch. ....... , .......... . .........

Flight of Heraclius ........ .....

End of the Syrian War. ,*,*.*.

6S0-C39. The Conquerors of Syria.

630-655. Progress of the Syrian

Conquerors* ..... ,,..,*.......

BQYVT. Character and Life
of Amvou ............... ,..,.

688 Tnvarfon of Egypt ...... ,*.,,,.

The Cities of ftfanphte, Bab-
ylon, and Cairo ....... * ...... .

Voluntary Submission of the
Copts or Jacobites. .....,,...

858
85,6
860
301

865

866
867

869
378
874
876
378

878
880

714. Disgrace of MUM.., ..... . .....

Prosperity of Hpaln under
tho Arab ................. ....

RdigiouH Toloration ........

Propagation of Mnh
Full of the M'nguuw of
749. Decline ftiul Full of

tinnity in Africa ........ ..,.

1I4W, And Hpnin ............. ......

Toleration of the Chmtitiu.
Their Hnrdnhhrn.,* ............ ,

7ia The JSmpire of the Calipbii.*

B8B
885

B87

400
401
402

404

CHAPTER LIL

3PHB TWO SIEGES OB 1 CONSTANTXNOPfcB BY THIB

OF VRANOKy AND DEFEAT BY CHAKUDS M ARTEL, ~01 VI t WAtt OK THIfi
OMMXAPHJ0 AN1> ABBABSIDES* ^IfiAHNINO OK TUB AftASU9,-~litntimY Oi 1
THE CAL1FH8.- NAVAL KNTEltt'IUBES ON CJltlftTK, SIOXLY^ AND KOMIC.
D3ECAY ANP timSIOVr OP THE SMPIttKI O^ TUtt GAU91f&~X>KIWLTB
VICTORIES OF THE GREEK 1CMPKROKB.

The Limits of the Arabian
Conqt*et, **.* ....... .., 400

668-G7f>- First Siege of
wople by

CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

A.1X PAOE

677. Peace and Tribute 409

716-718, Second fticge of Constan-

tinoplo. ...,.*.,,* 411

Failure and Retreat of the

Saracens 41G

Invention and Use of the

Greek-fire 11G

7UL Invafiion of France by the

Arabs 420

781. Expedition and Victories of

Abdornme 421

732, Defeat of the Saracens by

Charles Mar fed 423

They Ketreut before the Franks 42(5
746-750. Elevation of the Abbas-
Hides 427

7tfO. Fall of the OnuniadeR 420

7f>& Revolt of Spain 48TL

Triple Division of the Caliph-
ate 481

750-060. Magnificence of the Ca~

liplw , 432

Its Consequences on private

and public llappmeHB ....... 435

754-8 IS. Introduction of Learning

among the Arabians......... 436

Their real Progress iu the

Sciences, 439

Want of Erudition, Taste, and

Freedom*..,. 443

781-805* Wars of Hurun al Rashid

against the Ho m ana, ......... 445

823* The Arabs subdue the Isle of

Crete., 448

827-878. And of Sicily,,,,.,** * 450

846. Invasion of Rome by the Sar-
acens 452

849. Victory and Reign of eo IV. 454
852. Foundation of the Leonine City 456
838. Tho Amorian War between

Theophilus and Motassem. 456
841-870. Disorders of the Turkish

Guards 460

890-951. Rise and Progress of the

Carmathians 462

900. Their military Exploits 463

929. They pillage Mecca 464

800~93(>. Revolt of the Provinces... 465
Tho Independent Dynasties... 466

800-941. The Aglabitea 466

829-007. The Edrisitea 466

818-872. The Taherites 466

872-902. The SofEarides 466

874-999. The Samanidea 467

868-905. The Toulnnides 467

934-968. The Ikshidites 467

892-1001* The Htvmadanites 468

933-1055. The Bowides 468

936. Fallen State of the Caliphs of

Bagdad ,. 469

960* Enterprises of the Greeks 470

Beduction of Crete..... 471

963-975. The Eastern Conquests
of Nicephorus Phocas and

John Zimisces 472

Conquest of Cilicia,... 472

Invasion of Syria 473

Recovery of An tioc h 4 73

Passage of the Euphrates. ,.,. 474
Danger of Bagdad.............. 475

CHAPTER LIU.

6TATE OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE IN THE TENTH CENTURY. EXTENT AND
DIVISION. WEALTH AND RE VENUE.: PALACE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
TITLES AND OFFICES* PRIDE AND POWER OF THE EMPERORS. TACTICS
OF THE 0KBEKB, ARABS, AND FRANKS, LOSS OF THE LATIN TONGUE,
AND SOLITUDE OF THE GREEKS.

State of Peloponnesus: Scla-
vonians. >......

EYeemen of Laconia, .*...,., .^ "488

Cities and Revenue of "Pelo-
ponnesus. .*..,-..... 489

Manufactures, especially of

of the Gi*eek Em-

pire 477

Works of Constantino For-

phyrogenttna ,,... ....,.' 477'

Their Imperfections***.***.. 479

BatyMHy of Liutpmnd .,,. 481

The Th&m^B or Provinces of
the Empire, and its Limits

in wijr Afgf ......,*..;,. 482

Qeunral WeaJitli and

Manufactures transported
from Greece to Sicily 491

[Revenue of the Greek Em*
pire,. ,,....Ui..... 493

CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

FAQK
JPomp and Luxury of the Em-

perors . , .................... , * . . . 4 S) 1

The Palace of Constantinople 494
Furniture and Attendance..., 490
Honors and Titles of the Im-

perial Family .................. 408

Officers of the I'alace, the

State, and the Army ......... 400

Adoration of tho Emperor ____ 501

[Reception of Ambassadors. ... 502

Processions and Aeolmmuioiis 503
Marriage of the Ocasarrt with

foreign Nations.,.., .......... 505

Imaginary Law of Constantino 500
783. The firat Kxcoption ............. 50(>

The second ....................... 500

The third ......................... 50(5

Otho of Germany ............... 50B

Wolndojuir of UtusHift .......... 508

Despotic Tower ........ . ....... *. 509

048.
972.

988,

Coronation Oath*- * 501>

Military Force of the Greeks,
the Saracens, and the

Franks 510

Navy of the Greeks 51 1

Tactics and Character of the

Greeks 514

Character and Tactics of the

Saracens 51ti

The Franks or Latins 51S)

Their Character and Tactics. 520
Oblivion of the Latin Lan-
guage 5122

The Greek Kmperora and their
SuhjftrtK retain and asort

the Naino of Romans 5B5

Period of Ignorance 525

Hwvivnl of Grook Learning.*,. 52B
Decay of Taste and Genius... 529
Want of National Emulation, 531

CHAPTER LIV,

AND DOOTKINB OF TOW PAtfklClANB* THBIR PflBSBOtmON BY TH
QKBKK UMlWttOlt8.~HKHVOKr IN AUMKNIA, KTO.-^ntANSrLANTAllOK INTO
THIfcACtt* -PUOPAOATIOK XN TH WEST. TIHC HEKDB, CIIARAOTIBI^
CON8EQUENOW8 OF THIS HEFORMATION*

Supine Suparatition of the

Greek Church ..... . ...... . 58t

660. OHgiu of the Paulicians or

Disciples of St. Paul ........ . 8T>

Their Bible ....................... 580

The Simplicity of their Belief

and Worship .................. IS87

They hold the two Principles

of the MugianH and Mani

The Ktttbli8hmont of the Puu"
HciaiiH in Armenia, Pon-
tu, etc ..................... .*.** 589

Per sec tttion of the Greek

Bmperors.*. **,**.** 540

845-B80, Itovolt of the PauHeianw

They fortify Tcsphrtoe

And pilla^o Aia Minor

Their Doclino ,,

Their TrjuiBpIantittion from

Armenia to Thruce. ,

Their Introduction into Italy

and France ..,..,

Persecution of the Albigeois
Character and Oormoquomied

of the Keform^tion .*.,,,*.. 550

CHAPTER

3THK BXTLOARIANS* ORIGIN, MIGRATIONS, AN1> BWTTLIDMBNT OF TOT

OAIUAKS^THKIK 1NEOAJ> IN THK EAST AND WKBT.- THE HONAECHY
OF HUSHIA. OJOOGRAPHY AND TRAIHR. WAE6 <)* TIIK US6i:ANS AGA1KBT
THlfi illdfiKK EMHKHS, CONVUItBIOK OF THK BAKBAiilANS*

680* Etttlgration of the Bulgarians
000* Croatu or SoUmmlans uf DaU

559
040-1017. First Kingdom of the

Bulgarian*.,,... ....... ,..* 560

884. Emigration of the Turfci or
Hungarians,.. .....,..,,,,.,,..

Thdr FennJcOrigitt,,...^*,,,*

900* Tactics and Manners of the
Hungarians and Bulgarian*

CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

881).

934-.
955,

950.

PAGE
Establishment and Inroads of

the Hungarians.,,.* ........... 570

Victory of Henry the Fowler. 573
Of Otho the Great ............... 573

Origin of the Russian Mon-

archy ............................ 677

The Varangians of Constanti-

nople ............................ 579

Geography and Trade of llus-

aia ............................... 580

Naval Expeditions of the Rus-

sians against Constantino-

ple ...... , MfM ....... ........ 584

A.B.

8(35. The first 585

904. The strand 585

941. The third 586

1043. The fourth 586

Negotiations and Prophecy. 587

1)55-973, Reign of Rwatcwlaus 588

970-973. His Defeat by John

55im iscos 590

864. Con version nf 'Russia 592

5)55. Baptism of Olga 592

988. Of W.iUxlomir 593

800-1100. Christianity of the

North 594

CHAPTER LVL

THB SAKACHK8, FRANKS, AND GHEOEHKSy IN 'ITALY. FIRST ABVEOTURKS AND
BKTTl-EMliiNT OF THE NORMANS. GHAUACTKU AND CONQUEST OF KOBERT
OUIBCAKTO, I>UKB OF APX7UA. DHIsIVEttANCH OK SICILY BY HIS BROTHER
ItOGlClt. - VICTORIES OF ROBKRT OVKR TIITC KMPERORS OTB 1 THE BAST AND
W.BBT. KOGMSB, KINO OF SICILY, INVADK8 AFRICA AND GREECE. THB
KMPXfiJlOft MANUEL COMNBNUS. WAKB OF THE GREEKS AND KORMANS.
EXTINCTION OF THE NOKHANS.

040-1017. Conflict of the Sara-
cens, Latins, and Greeks

in Italy 697

871. Conquest of Bari 508

81)0* Hew Province of the Greeks

in Italy ,... 599

98& Defeat of Otho III 600

Anecdote* , .. 601

1016. Origin of the Normans inltaly 604

1029* Foundation of Aversa 607

3038, The Normans serve in Sicily 608
1040-1048. Their Conqueet of

Apulia ,.,,..,., 609

Character of the Normans*.. 610

1046, Oppression of Apulia.*... 611

1040-1054* League of the Pope

and the two Empires....... 612

2050, Expedition of Tope Leo IX,

against the Normans 613

HiB Defeat and Captivity. ... 614
Origin of the Papal Investi-
tures to the Normans C 1 5

3020-1085. Birth and Character of

Robert Gaiscard *.* 615

1054-1080. Bia Ambition and Suo^

ce*s,,.,, , 618

1000, Dukeof ApnHa 619

His Italian Conquests ., 620

School of Salerno... 621

Trade of Amdptt...*. 622

1082.

1081.

10GO-1090. Conquest of Sicily by

Count Roger ....... .......... 628

1081. Kobert Invades the Eastern

Empire ............ .... ........ 626

Siege of Dumzzo ............... 628

The Army and March of the
Emperor Alexius. .......... 630

Battle of Dnrazzo.' .......... .. 6S2

Durazzo taken ......... ..,.... $34

Keturn of Robert, and Ac-
tions of Bohemond ....,..** 635

The Emperor Henry III. in-
vited by the Greeks ......... 637

1081-1084. Besieges Rome.,. ....... 638

> Flies before Bobert...... ...... 639

1084. Second Expedition of Robert

into Greece.. ............ ..... 640

1085. His Death ............... ...... .. 642

1101-1154. Keign and Ambition

of Roger, Great Count of

Sicily..... ................. .-*. 643

1127. Duke of Apulia ................ 644

1180-1139. First King of Sicily.... 645

1122-1152, His Conquests in Africa 645
1146, His Invasion of Greece ....... 647

His Admiral delivers Louis

VII. of France ...... . ...... . 648

Insults Constantinople. ....... 649

1148, 1149. The Emperor Manuel

repulses the Normans..*... 649

CONTENTS OF VOL. V.

A,D, PAGE

1156* He reduces Apulia and Gala-

bria t 650

1165-1174:* His Design of acquir-
ing Ituly and the Western

Empire,,,.. 651

Failure of his Designs 652

lir>6. Peace with the Normans 653

1185. Laafc Wat of the Greeks and

Nonnaus 651

A,D,

1154-1166, William I, the Bad,

King of Sicily Cfirt

1 160-1 1.89. William ft,, the Good. 6W!
Lamentation of the Historian
FalcnnduB 6fiO

1194, Conquest of the Kingdom of

Sicily by Henry VI 658

1204. Final Extinction of the Nor-
mans 660

CHAPTER LYE

THE TUKKS Off THB HOUSE OF 8ELJUK. THEIR HEVOLT AGAINST MAHMTO,
CONQUEROR OF HINDOBTAN.TOGKUL 8UBDUMS PKRSIA, AND PROTECTS
THE OAIIPH8.~ DEFEAT AND CAPTIVITY OF TIIK KMPE110R UOMANtJB
DtOGBNBS BY ALP AKBLAN, POWER AHD MAGNIFICENCE OF MALKK
SOUL CONQUEST OF ASIA MINOR AND SY1UA. 8TATK AND OPPRESSION
OP JERtJSALEM. maiOMAGES TO THIS HOLY SHPULCHKB.

Tim TURKS ..................... CGI

997-1088. Mahmad the GteeneyMe 662
His twelve Expeditions into
HindoHtan.,,0 ............... 668

His Character .................. 66f>

980-1028. Manners and Emigra-
tion of the Turks, or Turk-
mans ..... , ...... ,.., ......... 667

1038, They defeat the Gaznevideg,

and Hubduo Persia ........ . 669

1088-1152. Dynasty of the Sey^

kians,, ...... , ....... , ......... 670

1088*4068* Reign and Character

of TogrulBeg.M. ........... 671

He delivers the Caliph of
Bagdad ..... ,, ....... * ......... 672

His Investiture ................. 678

And Death*,, ................... 675

1060. The Turks invade the He-

man Empire* , ............. 675

1068-1072. BeignofAtoArsku 676
106<~1068. Conquest of Armenia

i.i*.f*f.fM* 676

1068*

1 008-1071, The Emperor Bomanuu

107L Defeat of the

Captivity and Deliverance of
the Emperor,*...,** ....... .

1072- Death of Alp Anlan ..........

1072-1092. Reign and Prosperity
oFMalekShah ...............

1092, His Death ........ MMi ..........

Division of the tfeljuldan
Empire, ............ * ..........

1074-1084 Conquest of Alia Minor
by the Turks ....... * ........ ,

The Seljukiim Kingdom of
Bourn ................ , .........

688-1090* State and Pilgrimage
of Jerusalem ...... . ..........

96$M07e. Under the Fatimite
Caliphs ......... . ......... ,M

1009* Sacrilege of lUkem
1024, Inerau'e of
1076-1096 t Conqueit

677
879

680
688

684
687

688

691

690

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME V.

ChildericIII., the last of the Merovingian kings, the " Rois
Faineants " of history, receives the tonsure, and is
encloistered, 752 A.D ..... Frontispiece

Painting by E. V. I^utninais

PAGE

Roland, Paladin of Charlemange, calls for succor at the
battle of Roncesvalles ...... 145

Painting 1 by Xouis Guesnet

Mohametans at Prayer ....... 224

" The devotion of the Faithful is repeated at daybreak, at
noon, in the afternoon, in the evening* and at the first
watch of the night' 1

Painting by J, J y . Chrome

The victors of the battle of Yermuk, laying the spoils of
war at the feet of their general, Caled, " The Sword
of God/ 1 in the city of Damascus . , . . 335

Pain ting by G. Claitin

The Muhrab Chapel in the Cathedral of Cordova, erected
to the glory of the " Only One God/' by Abdalrahman
L, of the house of Ommiyah, Caliph of Spain . . 395

From a Photograph

Charles Martel (The Hammer), on the battlefield of Tours,
views the dead body of his adversary, Abd-er-Rahman,
among the miriads of slain * , . . 426

inas

Introduction of Christianity among the nations of the
North ; German missionaries preaching the Gospel of
Love on the banks of the Vistula , , ; * . 595

Painting by Arthur Kampf

Destruction of the combined Greek and Venetian fleet by
the turreted galleys of Robert Guiscard, off the Isle of
Corfu ' , " - .. - - ! - - - 6 47

THE HISTORY

THE DECLINE AND FALL

OF THE

ROMAN EMPIRE.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Plan of the last two [quarto] Volumes. Succession and Characters of the Greefc
Ifimporors of Constantinople, from the Time of Hemclius to the Latin Conquest*

now deduced from Trajan to Constantine, from
Constantino to Heraelins, the Tegular series of the Roman
tof emperors j and faithfully exposed the prosperous
theivpan* and adverse fortunes of their reigns. Five cen*
turies of the decline and fall of the empire have
ah*eady elapsed; but a period of more than eight hundred
years still separates me from the term of my labors, the tak-
ing of Constantinople by the Turks. Should I persevere in
the aame course, should I observe the same measure, a prolix
and slender thread would be spun through many a volume,
nor would the patient reader find an adequate reward of in-
struction or amusement. At every step, as we sink deepen in
the decline and fall of the Eastern empii'e, the annals of eacti
succeeding reign would impose a more ungrateful and melan-
choly task* These annals must continue to repeat a tedious
and uniform tale of weakness and misery; the natural con-
nection of causes and events would be broken by frequent

14: DEFECTS OF THE BY2ANTINE HISTOBY. [Cn, XLVItt

and hasty transitions, and a minute accumulation of circuit*
stances must destroy the light and effect of those genera-
pictures which compose the use and ornament of a remote
history. From the time of Heraclius the Byzantine theatre
is contracted and darkened: the line of empire, which had
been defined by the laws of Justinian and the arms of Beli-
fiarius, recedes on all sides from our view ; the Koman name,
the proper subject of our inquiries, is reduced to a narrow
corner of Europe, to the lonely suburbs of Constantinople ;
and the fate of the Greek empire has been compared to that
of the Rhine, which loses itself in the sands before its waters
can mingle with the ocean. The scale of dominion is dimin-
ished to our view by the distance of time and place ; nor is
the loss of external splendor compensated by the nobler gifts
of virtue and genius- In the last moments of her decay Con-
stantinople was doubtless more opulent and populous than
Athens at her most flourishing era, when a scanty sum of
six thousand talents, or twelve hundred thousand pounds ster-
ling, was possessed by twenty-one thousand male citizens of
an adult age. But each of these citizens was a freeman who
dared to assert the liberty of his thoughts, words, and actions;
whose person and property were guarded by equal law ; and
who exorcised his independent vote in the government of
the republic* Their numbers seem to be multiplied by the
strong and various discriminations of character; under the
shield of freedom, on the wings of emulation and vanity,
each Athenian aspired to the level of the national dignity;
from this commanding eminence some chosen spirits soared
beyond the roach of & vulgar oye ; and the chances of superi-
or merit in a great and populous kingdom, as they are proved
by e^perience^ would excuse the computation of imaginary
millions, The territories of Athens, Sparta, and their alliei
do not exceed a moderate province of France or England;
but after the trophies of Salamis and Plateea, they expand in
our fancy to the gigantic siasei of Asia, which had beon tram*
pled under the feet of the victorious Greeks* But the &nb*
jooto of the Byzantine empire, who assume and dishonor tlx
names both of Greeks and Romans, present a dead uniform

3H.XLV1IL] DEFECTS OF THE BYZANTINE HISTORY, 15

.ty of abject vices, which are neither softened by the weak-
ness of humanity nor animated by the vigor of memorable
sriines. The freemen of antiquity might repeat with gener-
ous enthusiasm the sentence of Homer, "that on the first day
of his servitude the captive is deprived of one half of his
manly virtue.' 5 But the poet had only seen the effects of
civil or^ domestic slavery, nor could he foretell that the sec-
ond moiety of manhood must be annihilated by the spiritual
despotism, which shackles not only the actions but even the
thoughts of the prostrate votary. By this double yoke the
Greeks were oppressed nnder the successors of Heraclius;
the tyrant, a law of eternal justice, was degraded by the
vices of his subjects; and on the throne, in the camp, in the
schools, we search, perhaps with fruitless diligence, the names
and characters that may deserve to be rescued from oblivion.
Nor are the defects of the subject compensated by the skill
and variety of the painters. Of a space of eight hundred
years, the four first centuries are overspread with a cloud in-
terrupted by some faint and broken rays of historic light : in
the lives of the emperors, from Maurice to Alexius, Basil the
Macedonian has alone been the theme of a separate work;
and the absence, or loss, or imperfection of contemporary evi-
dence must be poorly supplied by the doubtful authority of
more recent compilers. The four last centuries are exempt
from the reproach of penury : and with the Oomnenian fami-
ly the historic muse of Constantinople again revives, but her
apparel is gaudy, her motions are without elegance or grace.
A succession of priests, or courtiers, treads in each other's
footsteps in the same path, of servitude and superstition:
their views are narrow, their judgment is feeble or corrupt:
and we close the volume of copious barrenness, still ignorant
of the causes of events, the characters of the actors, and the
manners of the times which they celebrate or deplore. The
obserratioB which has been applied to a man may be extend-
ed to & whole people, that the energy of the sword is com*
TOiinioated to the pen; and it will b found by experience
that the tone of Iri&tory will rise or fall with the spirit oi
age* : , - ! *' : > * * - * - ' -

16 FLAK OF THE LAST TWO VOLUMES. [On. XLVIIL

From these considerations I should have abandoned with
out i*egret the Greek slaves and their servile historians, had I
not reflected that the fate of the Byzantine mon-
&rehy is passively connected with the most splon-
of tuo worm, ^ an( j i rn p 0r tant revolutions which have changed
the state of the world. The space of the lost provinces was
immediately replenished with new colonies and rising king-
doms; the active virtues of peace and war deserted from the
vanquished to the victorious nations; and it is in their origin
and conquests, in their religion and government, that we must
explore the causes and effects of the decline and fall of tho
Eastern empire. Nor will this scope of narrative, tho richer
and variety of these materials, be incompatible* with Ilia uni-
ty of design and composition. As, in his daily prayer**, tho
Mussulman of Fe# or Delhi still turns his face towards tho
Temple of Mecca, the historian's eye shall be always fixed
on the city of Constantinople* Tho excursive line may em-
brace the wilds of Arabia and Tartary, but tho circle will
bo ultimately reduced to the decreasing limit of the Roimm
monarchy.

On this principle I shall now ostabikh tho plan of tho last
two volumes of the present work. Tho iirwt chapter will con-
tain* in a regular series- tho emperors who raiirnod

Phmoftha * ,P i j * -1^*1 11

iniKttwi> at Constantinople during a period of BIX hundred
years, from the days of Heraclius to the* Latin con-
quest : a rapid abstract, which may be supported 1>y a ffwwwtl
appeal to tho order and text of tho original historfnrw- In
this introduction I alwll confine myself to tho revolutions of
the throne, the succession of families, tho personal dnmu*,i;ow
of the Greek princes, the mode of their life anil douth, tho
maxims and influence of their domestic government, and tho
tendency of their reign to accelerate or suspend the down-
fall of the Eastern empire. Such a chronological review will
serve to illustrate the various argument of the subsequent
chapters ; and each circumstance of the eventful story of the
barbarians will adapt itself in a proper place to the Byzantine
annals* The internal state of the empire, and the dangerous
heresy of the Paulioians, which shook the East and enlight-

CH.XLVIIL] PLAIT OF THE LAST TWO VOLUMES. 17

ened the West, will be tlie subject of two separate chapters ;
but these inquiries must be postponed till our farther prog-
ress shall have opened the view of the world in the ninth
and tenth centuries of the Christian era. After this founda-
tion of Byzantine history, the following nations will pass be-
fore our eyes, and each will occupy the space to which it may
be entitled by greatness or merit, or the degree of connection
with the Roman world and the present age. I. The FEA^ES;
a general appellation which includes all the barbarians of
France, Italy, and Germany, who were united by the sword
and sceptre of Charlemagne. The persecution of images and
their votaries separated Home and Italy from the Byzantine
throne, and prepared the restoration of the Roman empire in
the West- II. The ABABS or SAKAOTOT, Three ample chap-
ters will be devoted to this curious and interesting object. In
the first, after & picture of the country and its inhabitants, I
shall investigate the character of Mahomet; the character, re-
ligion, and success of the prophet. In the second I shall lead
the Arabs to the conquest of Syria, Egypt, and Africa, the
provinces of the Roman empire ; nor can I check their vic-
torious career till they have overthrown the monarchies of
Persia and Spain. In the third I shall inquire how Constan-
tinople and Europe were saved by the luxury and -arts, the
division and decay, of the empire of the caliphs. A single
chapter will include III. The BTOGJ^IAMTS, IV, HUNGARIANS,
and, Y* RUSSIANS, who assaulted by sea or by land the prov-
inces and the capital ; but the last of these, so important in
their present greatness, will excite some curiosity in their ori-
gin and infancy* VI. The NOBMANS ; or rather the private
adventures of that warlike people, who founded a powerful
kingdom in Apulia and Sicily, shook the throne of Constanti-
nople, displayed the trophies of chivalry, and almost realized
the wonder of romance. VII. The LATINS ; the subjects of
the pope, the nations of -tibe "West, who enlisted under the ban-
ner o the cross for the recovery or Belief of the holy sepal"
chre, Tbe 0-reek emperors were terrified and preserved by
the myriads of pilgrims who marched to Jerusalem with God-
frey of Bouillon and the peers of Christendom- The second

18 PJLAK OF THE LAST TWO VOLUMES. [Cn. XLVIII

and third crusades trod in the footsteps of the first : Asia and
Europe wei*e mingled in a sacred war of two hundred years ;
and the Christian powers were bravely resisted and finally
expelled by Saladin and the Mamelukes of Egypt. In these
memorable crusades a fleet and army of French and Vene-
tians were diverted from Syria to the Thracian Bosphorus :
they assaulted the capital, they subverted the Greek mon-
archy : and a dynasty of Latin princes was seated near three-
score years on the throne of Oonstantine. VIII. The GKKSKKB
themselves, during this period of captivity and exile, nm&t be
considered as a foreign nation ; the enemies, and again the
sovereigns of Constantinople. Misfortune had rekindled a
spark of national virtue; and the imperial series may bo
continued with some dignity from their restoration to the
Turkish conquest. IX* The MOCMJLS and TARTARS* By the
arms of Zingis and his descendants, the globe was shaken from
China to Poland and Greece : the sultans were overthrown :
the caliphs fell, and the Caesars trembled on their throne*
The victories of Timour suspended above fifty years the final
ruin of the Byzantine empire* X* I have already noticed the
first appearance of the TURKS ; and the names of the fathers,
of Setyuk and Qthman, discriminate the two successive dy-
nasties of the nation which emerged in the eleventh century
from the Scythian wilderness. The former established a po-
tent and splendid kingdom from the banks of the Oxus to
Antioch and Nice; and the first crusade was provoked by
the violation of Jerusalem and the danger of Constantinople.
From an humble origin the Ottomans arose the scourge and
terror of Christendom. Constantinople was besieged and
taken by Mahomet II., and his triumph annihilates the rem-
nant, the image, the title, of the Bomaa empire in the East,
The schism of the Greeks will be connected with their laat
calamities and the restoration of learning in the Western
world. I shall return from the captivity of the new to the
ruins of ancient ROME ; and the venerable name, the interest-
ing theme, wiH shed a ray of glory on the conduaioii of m|
labors.

A.l>. 638-641.] HEJUCLIUS'S SECOND MABEIAGE AOT) DEATH. 19

THE Emperor Heraclius had punished a tyrant and as-
cended his throne ; and the memory of his reign is perpet-
SecondmAr- uated by the transient conquest and irreparable loss
d*eath a <rf d of the Eastern provinces. After the death of Eu-
Heraciius. docia, his first wife, he disobeyed the patriarch and
violated the laws by his second marriage with his niece Mar-
tina ; and the superstition of the Greeks beheld the judgment
of Heaven in the diseases of the father and the deformity of
his offspring. But the opinion of an illegitimate birth is suf-
ficient to distract the choice and loosen the obedience of the
people : the ambition of Martina was quickened by maternal
love, and perhaps by the envy of a step-mother ; and the aged
husband was too feeble to withstand the arts of conjugal al-
lurements. Oonstantine, his eldest son, enjoyed in a mature
age the title of Augustus j but the weakness of his constitu-
tion required a colleague and a guardian, and he yielded with
j^.eas, secret reluctance to the partition of the empire.
jruiy 4. rpj ie ge n ate was summoned to the palace to ratify

or attest the association of Heraeleonas, the son of Martina :
the imposition of the diadem, was consecrated by the prayer
and blessing of the patriarch ; the senators and patricians
adored the majesty of the great emperor and the partners of
his reign ; and as soon as the doors were thrown open they
were hailed by the tumultuary but important voice of the sol-
***680, diers. After an interval of five months, the pom-
jr&mutfy, pous ceremonies which formed the essence of the
Byzantine State were celebrated in the cathedral and the hip-
podrome: the concord of the royal brothers was affectedly
displayed by the younger leaning on the arm of the elder;
and the name of Martina was mingled in the reluctant or ve-
A.*>.WI, Bal acclamations of the people. Heraclius survived
Mi, ii.' this association about two years : his last testimony
declared his two sons the equal heirs of the Eastern empire,
and commanded them to honor his widow Martina as their
mother and their sovereign.

When Martina first appeared on the throne with the name
and attributes of royalty, she was checked by a firm, though
respectful, opposition; and the dying embers of freedom were

20 CONSTANTINE III. HEBACLEONAS. [Cn-XLVHI.

kindled by the breatli of superstitious prejudice. " We rever-
once," exclaimed the voice of a citizen <c we rover-
euco ** ie mother of our princes ; but to those princes
alone our obedience is due; and Constantino, the
elder emperor, is of an ago to sustain, in lus own hands,
the weight of the sceptre. Your sex is excluded by nature
from the toils of government. How could you combat, how
could you answer, the barbarians who, with hostile or friendly
intentions, may approach the royal city ? May Heaven avert
from the Roman republic this national disgrace, which would
provoke the patience of the slaves of Persia 1" Martina do*
scended from the throne with indignation, and sought a ref-
uge in the female apartment of the palace* The reign of
Constantino the Third lasted only one hundred and three
days : he expired in the thirtieth year of his age> and, al-
though, his life had been a long malady, a belief WUB enter-
tained that poison had been the means, and his cruel Btep-
mother the author, of his untimely fate. Martina reaped

, indeed the harvest of -his death* and uMmmed the

Heraclflonae. * , * t .

.A.u.04.1, government in the name of the surviving emperor ;

ay but the incestuous widow of Heraclixis was univer-

sally abhorred ; the jealousy of the people was awakened, and
the two orphans whom Constantino had left became the ob-
jects of the public care. It was in vain that the son of Mar-
tina, who was no more than fifteen years of age> wan taught
to declare himself the guardian of Ins nephews, one of whom
he had presented at the baptismal font: it was in vain that
he swore on the wood of the true cross to defend them
against all their enemies* On his death-bod the late emperor
had despatched a trusty servant to arm the troops and prov-
inces of the East im the defence of his helpless children : the
eloquence and liberality of Valentin had been successful, and
from his camp of Ohalcedon he boldly demanded -the 'punish-
ment of the assassins, and the restoration of the lawful heir*
The license of the soldier who devoured the grapes and

Constantino III, is called by Edkhel (vol. vi!$. p, 224) itml othar writer*
clius II, For the descendants of Uoraclius I. see the genealogical table in thia
work, toi* iv, p, 697.- 8,

A.D. 641.] CONSTANS JI. 21

drank the wine of their Asiatic vineyards, provoked the citi-
zens of Constantinople against the domestic authors of their
calamities, and the dome of St. Sophia re-echoed, not with
prayers and hymns, but with the clamors and imprecations
of an enraged multitude. At their imperious command He-
racleonas appeared in the pulpit with the eldest of the royal
orphans; Constans alone was saluted as emperor of the Ro-
mans, and a crown of gold, which had been taken from the
tomb of Heraclius, was placed on his head, with the solemn
benediction of the patriarch. But, in the tumult of joy and
indignation, the church was pillaged, the sanctuary was pol-
luted by a promiscuous crowd of Jews and barbarians ; and the
Monothelite Pyrrhus, a creature of the empress, after drop-
ping a protestation on the altar, escaped by a prudent flight
from the #eal of the Catholics. A more serious and bloody
task was reserved for the senate, who derived a temporary
strength from the consent of the soldiers and people. The
spirit of Roman freedom revived the ancient and awful ex-
amples of the judgment of tyrants, and the imperial culprits
were deposed and condemned as the authors of the death of
Oonetantine* But the severity of the conscript fa-
thers was stained by the indiscriminate punishment
^ *ke innocent and the guilty: Martina and He-
ra cleonas were sentenced to the amputation, the for-
mer of her tongue, the latter of his nose; and after this cruel
execution they consumed the remainder of their days in exile
and oblivion, The Greeks who were capable of reflection
might find some consolation for their servitude by observing
the abuse of power when it was lodged for a moment in the
hands of an aristocracy.

We shall imagine ourselves transported five hundred years
backward to the age of the Antonines, if we listen to the o na-
tion which Oonstans II. pronounced, in the twelfth
year of his age, before the Byzantine senate. After
re t urn i n g hi s thanks for the just punishment of the
assassins who had intercepted the fairest hopes of his father's
reign, "By the divine Providence," said the young emperor;
"and by your righteous decree, Martina and her incestuous

a2 CONSTANS IL [CH.XLVIIL

progeny have been cast headlong from tho throne. Your
majesty and wisdom have prevented the Roman State from
degenerating into lawless tyranny. I therefore exhort and
beseech you to stand forth as the counsellors and judges of
the common safety. 57 The senators were gratified by the re-
spectful address and liberal donative of their sovereign ; but
these servile Greeks were unworthy and regardless of free-
dom ; and in Ins mind the lesson of an hour was quickly
erased by the prejudices of the age and the habits of despot-
ism. He retained only a jealous fear lest the senate or peo-
ple should one clay invade the right of primogeniture, and
seat his brother TheodoBius on an equal throne, By the im-
position of holy orders, the grandson of Heraclius was dis-
qualified for the purple ; but this ceremony, which seemed to
profane the sacraments of the Church, was insufficient to ap-
pease the suspicions of the tyrant, and the death of the Dea-
con Thcodosius could alone expiate the crime of
his royal birth, a His murder was avenged by the
imprecations of the people, and the assassin, in the fulness of
power, was driven from his capital into voluntary and perpet-
AD m ^ e:s: ^ e * Oonstans embarked for Greece ; and, as
if he meant to retort the abhorrence which he de-
served, he is said, from the imperial galley, to have spit against
the walls of his native city, After passing the winter at Ath-
ens, he sailed to Tarcntum, in Italy, visited Bome ? b and con-
cluded a long pilgrimage of disgrace and sacrilegious rapine
by fixing his residence at Syracuse. But if Oonstans could fly
from his people, ho could not fly from himself* The remorse
of his conscience created a phantom who pursued him by land
and sea, by day and by night ; and the visionary TheodosiuB f
presenting to his lips a cup of blood, said, or seemed to say*
w Drink, brother, drink 1" a sure emblem of the aggravation
of his guilt, since he had received from the hands of the dea-
con the mystic cup of the blood of Christ* Odious to him*

* His soldiers (according to Abulfaradji, Ohron. BJT. p, US) called him iwootht*
Cain, St. Martin, vol. xi.p. 379, M.

* He was received in Borne, and pillaged the churches- He carried off th*
brass roof of the Pantheon to Syracuwe, or, as Schloaaer conceives, to ConstiuiU*
nopte. SchJosser, GeaohichW) der bilderetUrmeiiden Kaiaer, p, 80M-

A,l.668.;j CONSTANTINE IV, 23

self and to mankind, Constans perished Try domestic, perhaps
by episcopal, treason in the capital of Sicily. A servant who
waited in the bath, after pouring warm water on his head,
struck him violently with the vase. He fell, stunned by the
blow and suffocated by the water ; and his attendants, who
wondered at the tedious delay, beheld with indifference the
corpse of their lifeless emperor. The troops of Sicily invest-
ed with the purple an obscure youth, whose inimitable beau-
ty eluded, and it might easily elude, the declining art of the
painters and sculptors of the age,

Constans had left in the Byzantine palace three sons, the
eldest of whom had been clothed in his infancy with the pur-
ple. When the father summoned them to attend

Oonatan- f . ~. .. ,,

tine IV M his person in Sicily, these precious hostages were

JPogonatue, nj _* , , ,, ^i tf ~ .,*

A.V. <HJS. detained by the Greeks, and a firm refusal inform*
epem er. ^ ^.^ ^^ ^^ were the children of the State,

The news of his murder was conveyed with almost supernat-
tiral speed from Syracuse to Constantinople'; and Constantine,
the eldest of his sons, inherited his throne without being the
heir of the public hatred. His subjects contributed with zeal
and alacrity to chastise the guilt and presumption of a prov-
ince which had usurped the rights of the senate and people;
the young emperor sailed from the Hellespont with a pow-
erful fleet, and the legions of Rome and Carthage were assem-
bled under his standard in -the harbor of Syracuse. The de-
feat of the Sicilian tyrant was easy, his punishment just, and
Ixis beauteous head was exposed in the hippodrome ; but I
cannot applaud the clemency of a prince who, among a crowd
of victims, condemned the son of a patrician for deploring
with some bitterness the execution of a virtuous father. The
youth, was castrated : he survived the operation, and the mem-
ory of this indecent cruelty is preserved by the elevation of
Germaxras to the rank of a patriarch and saint. After pour-
ing tMs Moody libation on his father's tomb, Con stan tine re-
turned tj>> M$ capital ; and the growth of his young beard
during &e 1 Sicilian voyage was announced, by -the familiar
surname of Pogonatus, to the 'Grecian world; But his reign,
like that of Bis ffedece^sof, was stained with fraternal discord

24r JUSTINIAN II. [CH. XLVIIL

On his two brothers, Heraclius and Tiberius, he had bestowed
the title of Augustus an empty title, for they continued to
languish, without trust or power, in the solitude of the palace.
At their secret instigation the troops of the Anatolian ilwm
or province approached the city on the Asiatic side, demanded
for the royal brothers the partition or exercise of sovereignty,
and supported their seditious claim by a theological argument*
They were Christians, they ci'ied, and orthodox Catholics, the
sincere votaries of the holy and undivided Trinity, Since
there are three equal persons in heaven, it is reasonable there
should be three equal persons upon earth- The emperor in-
vited these learned divines to a friendly conference, in which
they might propose their arguments to the senate: they
obeyed the summons, but the prospect of their bodies hang-
ing on the gibbet in the suburb of Galata reconciled their
companions to the unity of the reign of Constantino. Ho
pardoned his brothers, and their names wore still pronoun etui
in the public acclamations; bxit on the repetition or suspicion
of a similar offence, the obnoxious princes were deprived of
their titles and noses/ 1 in the presence of the Catholic bishops
who were assembled at Constantinople in the sixth general
synod. In the cloce of his life Pogonatus was anxious only
to establish the right of primogeniture : the heir of his two
sons, Justinian and Heraclius, was offered on tho shrine of
St. Peter, as a symbol of their spiritual adoption by the pope ;
but the elder was alone exalted to the rank of Augustus and
the assurance of the empire.

After the decease of his father the inheritance of the Bo*
man world devolved to Justinian IL; and the name of a
j tini n tr * um pk ant law-giver waa dishonored by tho vices
A?AT " of a boy* who imitated his namesake only in the

September. i * v -i -* YT* *

expensive luxury of building* His passions woro
strong; his understanding was feeble; and ho was intoxi*
oated with a foolish pride that his birth had given him tho

* Scbloflfler (Geschichte der bilderattirmendan Kaiier* p. 90) tuipponet that the
young princes were mutilated after the first insurrection ; that aftar thin the act*
were still inscribed with their Ramea, tho prinoen being olosuly secluded in the pal*
s#e. Tfye improbability of this cfrcumatenoe may bo woigbod agaluit 61bbou*$
want of authority for his

A,I>. 685.3 JUSTINIAN IL 25

command of millions, of whom the smallest community would
not have chosen him for their local magistrate. His favorite
ministers were two beings the least susceptible of human sym-
pathy, a eunuch and a monk : to the one he abandoned the
palace, to the other the finances ; the former corrected the
emperor's mother with a scourge, the latter suspended the
insolvent tributaries, with their heads downward, over a slow
and smoky fire. Since the days of Commodus and Oaracalla
the cruelty of the Ilomau princes had most commonly been
the effect of their fear ; but Justinian, who possessed some
vigor of character, enjoyed the sufferings, and braved the re-
venge of his subjects about ten years, till the measure was
full of his crimes and of their patience. In a dark dunjfeqri
Leontius, a general of reputation, had groaned above three
years, with some of the noblest and most deserving of the pa-
tricians : he was suddenly drawn forth to assume the govern-
ment of Greece; and this promotion of an injured man was
a mark of the contempt rather than of the confidence of his
prince* As he was followed to the port by the kind offices
of his friends, Leontius observed, with a sigh, that he was a
victim adorned for sacrifice, and that inevitable death would
pursue his footsteps. They ventured to reply that glory and
empire might be the recompense of a generous resolution,
that every order of men abhorred the reign of a monster, and
that the hands of two hundred thousand patriots expected
only the voice of a leader, The night was chosen for their
deliverance; and in the first effort of the conspirators the
prefect was slain and the prisons were forced open : the
emissaries of Leontius proclaimed in every street, "Chris-
tianSj to St* Sophia I" and the seasonable text of the patriarch,
" This is; the. day of the Lord !" was the prelude of an inflam-
matory sermon. From the church the people adjourned to
th$ hippodrome: Justinian,. in whose cause not a sword had
beea dr^wn, was dragged before these tumultuary judges, and
their clamors demanded the instant death of the tyrant. But
Leontia8,<who was already clothed with the purple, cast an
eye of pity on the prostrate son of his own benefactor and oi
so many emperors. The life of Justinian was spared; the

26 EXILE OF JUSTINIAN II C.n. XLVIIl

amputation of his nose, perhaps of his tongue, was imperfect-
ly performed : the happy flexibility of the Greek language
could impose the name of Khinotmetus ; and the mutilated
tyrant was banished to Chersonse, in Crim-Tartary, a lonely
settlement,, where corn, wine, and oil were imported as foreign
luxuries.

On the edge of the Scythian wilderness Justinian still cher-
ished the pride of his birth and the hope of his restoration,
in* exile. After three years' exile, he received the pleasing
A.I>. w-7Q, intelligence that his injury was avenged by n eotv
ond revolution, and that Leontius in his turn had been de-
throned and mutilated by the rebel Apsimar, who assumed
the more respectable name of Tiberius. But the claim of
3ineal succession was still formidable to a Plebeian usurp-
er; and his jealousy was stimulated by the complaints and
charges of the Ghersonites, who beheld the vices of the ty-
rant in the spirit of the exile* With a band of followers,
attached to his person by common hope or common despair*
Justinian fled from the inhospitable shore to the horde of
the Ohazars, who pitched their tents between the Tanais
and Borysthenes, The khan entertained with pity and respect
the royal suppliant : Phanagoria, once an opulent city, on the
Asiatic side of the lake Mseotie, was assigned for his roar*
dence ; and every Roman prejudice was stifled in his mar-
riage with the sister of the barbarian, who seems, however,
from tho name of Theodora, to have received the sacrament
of baptism. But the faithless Ohazar was soon tempted by
the gold of Constantinople : and had not the design been re-
vealed by the conjugal love of Theodora, her husband must
have been assassinated or betrayed into the power of his ene-
mies. After strangling, with Ms own hands, the two emissa-
ries of the khan, Justinian sent back Ms wife to her brother,
and embarked on the Euxine in search of new and more faith-
ful allies* His vessel was assaulted by a violent tempest ;
and one of his pious companions advised him to deserve the
mercy of God by a vow of general forgiveness if he should
be restored to the throne. "Of forgiveness?' 9 replied the
intrepid tyrant: "may 1 perish, this mstant may the At

AJ>. 705-711.] HIS RESTORATION AND DEATH. 27

mighty whelm me in the waves, if I consent to spare a single
head of my enemies 1" He survived this impious menace,
sailed into the mouth of the Danube, trusted his person in the
royal village of the Bulgarians, and purchased the aid of Ter-
belis, a pagan conqueror, by the promise of his daughter, and
a fair partition of the treasures of the empire. The Bulga-
rian kingdom extended to the confines of Thrace ; and the
two princes besieged Constantinople at the head of fifteen
thousand horse* Apsimar was dismayed by the sudden and
hostile apparition of his rival, whose head had been promised
by the Chazar, and of whose evasion he was yet ignorant.
After an absence of ten years the crimes of Justinian were
faintly remembered, and the birth and misfortunes of their
hereditary sovereign excited the pity of the multitude, ever
discontented with the ruling powers ; and by the active dili-
gence of his adherents he was introduced into the city and
palace of Constantino.

In rewarding his allies, and recalling his wife, Justinian
displayed some sense of honor and gratitude;* and Terbelis
HI* reatora* retired, after sweeping away a heap of gold coin
dtat* d which he measured with his Scythian whip. But
A,**. Town, never was vow more religiously performed than
the sacred oath of revenge which he had sworn amidst the
storms of the Euxine. The two usurpers, for I must reserve
the name of tyrant for the conqueror, were dragged into the
hippodrome, the one from his prison, the other from his pal-
ace Before their execution Leontius and Apsiinar were cast
prostrate in chains beneath the throne of the emperor; and
Jrastinian^ planting a foot on each of their necks, contemplated
above an hour the chariot-race, while the inconstant people
shouted, in the words of the Psalmist, " Thou shalt trample on
the asp and basilisk, and on the lion and dragon shalt thou set
thy foot 1" The universal defection which he had once experi-
enced might provoke him to repeat the wish of Caligula, that
the Boman people had but one head. Yet I shall presume to
observe that such a wish is unworthy of an ingenious tyrant,

* Of fear rathst than of more genevoua motives, Compare Le Beau, vol. aril.

28 RESTORATION AND DEATH OF JUSTUS IAN II. [Cn.XLVIIL

since his revenge arid cruelty would have been extinguished
by a single blow, instead of the slow variety of tortures which
Justinian inflicted on the victims of his anger. His pleasures
were inexhaxistible : neither private virtue nor public service
could expiate the guilt of active, or even passive, obedience
to an established government; and, during the six years of
his new reign, he considered the axe, the cord, and the rack
as the only instruments of royalty. But his most implacable
hatred was pointed against the Chersonites, who had insulted
his exile and violated the laws of hospitality. Their remote
situation afforded some means .of defence, or at least of es-
cape; and a grievous tax was imposed on Constantinople to
supply the preparations of a fleet and army* "All are guilty,
and all must perish," was the mandate of Justinian ; and the
bloody execution was intrusted to his favorite Stephen, who
was recommended by the epithet of the Savage- Tot even
the savage Stephen imperfectly accomplished the intentions
of his sovereign. The slowness of his attack allowed the
greater part of the inhabitants to withdraw into the country ;
and the minister of vengeance contented himself with reduc-
ing the youth, of both sexes to a state of servitude, with roast-
ing alive seven of the principal citizens, with drowning twen-
ty in the sea, and with reserving forty-two in chains to receive
their doom from the xnouth of the ernporor. In their return
the fleet was driven, on the rocky shores of Anatolia ; and
Justinian applauded the obedience "of the Euxine, which had
involved so many thousands of his subjects and enemies in a
common shipwreck : but the tyrant was still insatiate of blood ;
and a second expedition was commanded to extirpate tho re-
mains of the proscribed colony. In the short interval the
Ohersouites had returned to their city^and wore prepared to
die ia arms; the khan of the Chazars had renounced the
cause of his odious brother; the exiles of every province
were assembled in Tauris; and Bardanes, under the name
of PhiHppxcus, was invested with the .purple. Tho imperial
troops, -unwilling and unable to perpetrate the rovengo of
Justinian, escaped his displeasure by abjuring his allegiance :
the fleet, under their now sovereign, steered back a more

A.B. 711, 713,] PHILIPPICUS. ANASTASIUS IL 2D

auspicious course to the harbors of Sinope and Constantino-
ple ; and every tongue was prompt to pronounce, every hand
to execute, the death of the tyrant- Destitute of friends, he
was deserted by his barbarian guards ; and the stroke of the
assassin was praised as an act of patriotism andltoman virtue,
His son Tiberius had taken refuge in a church ; his aged grand-
mother guarded the door ; and the innocent youth, suspending
round his neck the most formidable relics, embraced with one
hand the altar, with the other the wood of the true cross. But
the popular fury that dares to trample on superstition is deaf
to the cries of humanity ; and the race of Heraclius was ex-
tinguished after a reign of one hundred years.

Between the fall of the Heraclian and the rise of the Isaa-
rian dynasty, a short interval of six years is divided into three
^u, * reigns. Bardanes, or Philippicus, was hailed at

Phllippicus, si , ,* T t t t i i i. i .

A. i>. Tii. Constantinople as a hero who had delivered Ins

December. . * *_ _ 11 i ^ ,

country from a tyrant ; and he might taste some
moments of happiness in the first transports of sincere and
universal joy. Justinian had left behind him an ample treas-
ure, the fruit of cruelty and rapine ; but this useful fund was
soon and idly dissipated by his successor. On the festival of
his birthday Philippicus entertained the multitude with tho
games of the hippodrome; from thence he paraded through
the streets with a thousand banners and a thousand trum-
pets ; refreshed himself in the baths of Zeuxippus, and,, re-
turning to the palace, entertained his nobles with a sumptu-
ous banquet. At the meridian hour he withdrew to his cham-
ber, intoxicated with flattery and wine, and forgetful that his
example had made every subject ambitious, and that every
ambitious subject was his secret enemy. Some bold conspira-
tors introduced themselves in the disorder of the feast ; and
the slumbering monarch was surprised, bound, blinded, and
deposed, before he was sensible of his danger. Yet the trai-
tors were deprived of their reward ; and the free voice of the
senate and people promoted Arternius from the
office of secretary to that -of emperor : he assumed
^j ie j^ of Anastasius the Second, and displayed
in a short ,and troubled reign the virtues both of peace and
war. But after the extinction of the imperial line the rule

80 THEODOSIUS HI. LEO III. [Cn. XLVIIL

of obedience was violated, and every change diffused the seeds
of new revolutions* In a mutiny of the fleet an obscure and
reluctant officer of the revenue was forcibly invested with the
purple; after some months of a naval war, Anastasius resign-
ed the sceptre ; and the conqueror, Theodosius the Third, sub-
Theodo- xnitted in his turn to the superior ascendant of Leo,
A.n!n0; *he general and emperor of the Oriental troops,
January. jjj s two predecessors were permitted to c uhraeo
the ecclesiastical profession : the restless impatience of Anas-
tasius tempted him to risk and to lose his life in a treasonable
enterprise ; but the last days of Theodosius were honorable
and secure. The single sublime word, " HEALTH," which ho
inscribed on his tomb, expresses the confidence of philosophy
or religion j and the fame of his miracles was long preserved
among the people of Ephesus. This convenient shelter of
the church might sometimes impose a lesson of clemency ; but
it may be questioned whether it is for the public interest to
diminish the perils of unsuccessful ambition.

I have dwelt on the fall of a tyrant; I shall briefly repre-
sent the founder of a new dynasty,* who is known to posterity
by the invectives of his enemies, and whose public and private
life is involved in the ecclesiastical story of the Iconoclasts**

* With the reign of Leo III. Mr, Pinlay's 4< History of the Bysaatint Empire 1 *
commences a very valuable work, from which the mute rials of several of the sub*
sequent notes ate derived. 8.

fi Genealogy of the Isaurian dynasty :

LEO IIL Imp. ob. A,JX 741.

Irene, CONSTANTINTTB V.

d of the Khan
of the Chazars.

Imp. ob* 775,

IV. Niceph- Chrbtoph- Nlcetiuu Budoxua. Anthimtii*
(Chazarus), orus, orus,

Imp. ob- 780,
m. Irene, an
Athenian,

Maria CONST ANTINUS VI. Theodata*

Imp* deposed 797,

but hia mother Irene

reigned till 802.

AJD.717.] LEO HI. 31

Yet in spite of the clamors of superstition, a favorable prej^

_ TTT udice for the character of Leo the Isaurian may
LOO in.,

, 1 1 i < i

be reasonably drawn from the obscurity of his

tA^Tn.^s.3 birth and the duration of his reign. I, In an age
of manly spirit the prospect of an imperial reward
would have kindled every energy of the mind, and produced
a crowd of competitors as deserving as they were desirous to
reign* Even in the corruption and debility of the modern
Greeks the elevation of a Plebeian from the last to the first
rank of society supposes some qualifications above the level
of the multitude. He would probably be ignorant and dis-
dainful of speculative science ; and, in the pursuit of fortune,
he might absolve himself from the obligations of benevolence
and justice ; but to his character we may ascribe the useful
virtues of prudence and fortitude, the knowledge of mankind,
and the important art of gaining their confidence and direct-
ing their passions* It is agreed that Leo was a native of Isau-
ria, and that Oonon was ids primitive name,* The writers,
whose awkward satire is praise, describe him as an itinerant
peddler, who drove an ass with some paltry merchandise to
the country fairs; and foolishly relate that he met on the
road some Jewish fortune-tellers, who promised him the Ro-
man empire, on condition, that he should abolish the worship
of idols. A more probable account relates the migration of
his father from Asia Minor to Thrace, where he exercised the
lucrative trade of a grazier ; and he must have acquired con-
siderable wealth, since the first introduction of his son was
procured by a supply of five luindred sheep to the imperial
cump* His first service was m the guards of Justinian, where
lie soon attracted the notice, and by degrees the jealousy, of
the tyrant* His valor and dexterity were conspicuous in the
Ooloihian war: from Anastasius he received the command of
Anatolian legions, aad by the suffrage of the soldiers he

Lao to timmHy salted *u* Taurian, lie was bom at Germanicia, a clfry
of Armaofa Mtoori in the mountains near ttoe border* of Cappadoda and Syria.
The fara% <rf Iieo was a foreign one t and Mr* Finlay (vol. i. p, 29} observes that
he was probaW y oslted am Isaurian becau&e the I$mmatis appear to have been
the ubfecta of tba wt$w who had retained the greatest share of their original

32 CONSTANTINE V, [On. X Jt.

was raised to the empire with the general applause of the Ko
man world. II. In this dangerous elevation Leo the Third
supported himself against the envy of his equals, the discon-
tent of a powerful faction, and the assaults of his foreign and
domestic enemies. The Catholics, who accuse his religious
innovations, are obliged to confess that they wore undertaken
with temper and conducted with firmness. Their silence re*
fipects the wisdom of his administration and the purity of his
manners. After a reign of twenty-four years he peaceably ex-
pired in the palace of Constantinople; and the purple which
he had acquired was transmitted by the right of inheritance
to the third generation. 01

In a long reign of thirty-four years the son and successor

of Leo, Constantino the Fifth, eurnamed Copronymus, attack*

ed with leas temperate zeal the images or idols of

ttS. n " the Church. 1 * Their votaries havo exhausted the

Bitterness of religious gall in their portrait of this
spotted panther, this antichrist, this Hying dragon
of the serpent's seed, who surpassed the vices of Elagabalus
and Nero. His reign was a long butchery of whatever waa
most noble, or holy, or innocent, in his empire. In person,
the emperor assisted at the execiition of Ins victims, survey-
ed their agonies, listened to their groans, and indulged, with*
out satiating, his appetite for blood ; a plate of noses was at 1 *
cepted as a grateful offering, and his domestics were often
scourged or mutilated by the royal hand. His surname was
derived from his pollution of his baptismal font. The infant
might be excused ; but the manly pleasures of Goprotiymus
degraded him below the level of a brute; his lust confounded

* During the latter part of his reign, the hostilities of the Samcon*, who !n~
Tested & Pergamenian* named Tiberius, with the purple, and proclaimed him HIS
the son of Justinian, and an earthquake which destroyed the walls of ConHtnntfuo*
pie, compelled Leo greatly to increase the burden of taxation upon hl aubjtwtn.
A twelfth WAS exacted Sn addition to every tuireus (Vri/nff/m) u ft wall-tax, Thcv
ophanes, p. 275 ; Schloaser, Qeachichte der blldei'Btttnnemlen Kateer, p 107* --ML

b Gibbon has omitted to mention that* on the death of Lf>o III;, ArttwiiNtln*,
who had married .hi* daughter Anna, seised the throne, defeated (Jotiwtttittine,
was proclaimed emperor, and ^asotiiated with him In the emplm hi* eldest lion
Nkephorus* But in 748 Constantinople was taken by the troapH of C^>nntantin,
md both Anavsdns and his ona were ptic to duuth. Theru ftr@ coin* exunt
both of Artavasdus and .Nicephoms (Eckhel, vol. vili* p. 2M). &

*.!>, 741. J CONSTANTINE V. 33

the eternal distinctions of sex and species, and he seemed to
extract some unnatural delight from the objects most offen-
sive to human sense. In his religion the Iconoclast was a
heretic, a Jew, a Mahometan, a pagan, and an atheist ; and his
belief of an invisible power could be discovered only in his
magic rites, human victims, and nocturnal sacrifices to Venus
and the demons of antiquity* His life was stained with the
most opposite vices, and the ulcers which covered his body
anticipated before his death the sentiment of hell -tortures.
Of these accusations, which I have so patiently copied, a part
Is refuted by its own absurdity ; and in the private anecdotes
of the life of princes, the lie is more easy as the detection is
more difficult. Without adopting the pernicious maxim, that
where much is alleged something must be true, I can, howev-
er, discern that Constantino the Fifth was dissolute and cruel.
Calumny is more prone to exaggerate than to invent ; and
her licentious tongue is checked in some measure by the ex-
perience of the age and country to which she appeals. Of
the bishops and monies, the generals and magistrates, who are
said to have suffered under his reign, the numbers are re-
corded, the names were conspicuous, the execution was public,
the mutilatiotx visible and permanent/ The Catholics hated
the person aad government of Oopronymus; but even their
hatred is a proof of their oppression. They dissembled the
provocations which might excuse or justify his rigor, but
even these provocations must gradually inflame his resent-
ment and harden his temper in the use or the abuse of des-
potism, Yet the character of the fifth Constantino was not
devoid of merit, nor did his government always deserve the
curses or the contempt of the Greeks* From the confession
of his enemies I am informed of the restoration of an ancient
aqueduct* of the redemption of two thousand five hundred
of the uncommon plenty of the times, and of the

* B* I* acctosed of homing the Mhraary of Constantinople, founded hy Julian* with
It* president and twelve professors. This Eastern Sorbonne had discomfited the
imperial theologians on the great question of image-worship. Schlosser observes
that this accidental fire took place si* years after the emperor had kid the Ques-
tion of image-worship before the professors. Qesoh. der bilderatiinnenden Kai-
*e*v P- *W * wmpjire &$ Beatoj i^i sdi p* 156. M.

34: LEO IV, [Cii.XLVia

new colonies with which he repeopled Constantinople and
the Thracian cities. They reluctantly praise his activity and
courage; he was on horseback in the field at the head of his
legions ; and, although the fortune of his arms was various,
he triumphed by sea and Iand 3 on the Euphrates and tho
Danube, in civil and barbarian war. Heretical praise must
be cast into the scale to counterbalance the weight of ortho-
dox invective. The Iconoclasts revered the virtues of tho
prince : forty years after his death they still prayed bef oro
the tomb of the saint. A miraculous vision was propagated
by fanaticism or fraud : and the Christian hero appeared on
a milk-white steed, brandishing his lance against the pagans
of Bulgaria: "An absurd fable," says the Catholic historian,
" since Copronymus is chained with the demons in tho abyss
of helL"

Leo the Fourth, the son of the fifth and the father of tho
sixth Constantine, was of a feeble constitution both of mind*

iv an< * body, and the principal care of lug roign was
seYiJ ** 1C 8e *ti ement f *he succession. The association
of the young Constantino was urged by the offi-
cious zeal of his subjects; and the emperor, conscious of his
decay, complied, after a prudent hesitation, with their unan-
imous wishes. The royal infant, at the age of five years,
was crowned with his mother Irene ; and the national con*
sent was ratified by every circumstance of pomp and solem-
nity that could dazzle the eyes or bind the conscience of the
Greeks. An oath of fidelity was administered in the palace*
the church, and the hippodrome, to the several orders of the
State, who adjured the holy names of the Son and mother of
God. "Be witness, O Christ! that we will watch orer the
safety of Constantine, the son of Leo, expose our lives in his
service, and bear true allegiance to his person and posterity."
They pledged their faith on the wood of the true cross, and
the act of their engagement was deposited on the altar of St.
Sophia, The first to swear, and the first to violate their oath,
were the five sons of Oopronymus by a second marriage ; aud

i Schlosser thinks more highly of Leo's mind ; but hi* only proof of hi*
onty is the successes of his general* agaiast the Saracens. Schtoaaer, p. &*

A.D. 775.] LEO IV. 35

the story of these princes is singular and tragic. The right
of primogeniture excluded them from the throne ; the injus-
tice of their elder brother defrauded them of a legacy of
about two millions sterling ; some vain titles were not deem-
ed a sufficient compensation for wealth and power; and they
repeatedly conspired against their nephew, before and after:
the death of his father. Their first attempt was pardoned;
for the second offence 9 * they were condemned to the ecclesi-
astical state ; and for the third treason, Nicephorus, the eldest
and moat guilty, was deprived of his eyes ; and his four broth-
ers Christopher, Nicctas, Anthimus, and Eudoxus were
punished, as a milder sentence, by the amputation of their
tongues. After five years' confinement, they escaped to the
Church of St Sophia, and displayed a pathetic spectacle to
the people. "Countrymen and Christians," cried IsTicepho-
rus for himself and his mute brethren, " behold the sons of
your emperor, if you can still recognize our features in this
miserable state* A life, an imperfect life, is all that the mal-
ice of our enemies has spared. It is now threatened, and we
now throw ourselves on your compassion." The rising mur-
mur might have produced a revolution had it not been check-
ed by the presence of a minister, who soothed the unhappy
princes with flattery and hope, and gently drew them from
the sanctuary to the palace. They were speedily embarked
for Greece, and Athens was allotted for the place of their
exile. In this calm retreat, and in their helpless condition,
Nicephorus and his brothers were tormented by the thirst of
power, and tempted by a Sclav onian chief, who offered to
break their prison and to lead them in arms, and in the pur-
ple, to the gates of Constantinople. But the Athenian peo-
ple, ever zealous in the cause of Irene, prevented her justice
or cruelty ; and the five sons of Oopronymus were plunged
in eternal darkness and oblivion*

For himself, that emperor had chosen a barbarian wife, the
daughter of the khan of the Ohazars ; but in the marriage of
his heir he preferred an Athenian virgin, an orphan, seven-

* The second oifenee was on the acceaeiou of the young Constantine. M.

36 CONSTANTINO VI. AND IBENE* [On. XLVIII

teen years old,, whose sole fortune must have consisted in lier
personal accomplishments. The nuptials of Leo

and Irene were celebrated with royal pomp: sho

and Irene. , * r * '

Boon acquired the love and confidence of a feeble
husband, and in his testament he declared the em-
press guardian of the Roman world, and of their son Oon&tnn*
tine the Sixth, who was no more than ten years of age. Bur-
ing his childhood, Irene most ably and assiduously discharged,
iu her public administration, the duties of a faithful mother;
and her #eal in the restoration of images has deserved 'tho
name and honors of a saint, which she still occupies iu tho
Greek calendar. But tho emperor attained the maturity of
youth; the maternal yoke became more grievous; and ho
listened to the favorites of his own age, who shared his pleas-
ures, and were ambitious of sharing his power- Their rea-
sons convinced him of his right, their praises of his ability, to
reign ; and he consented to reward the services of Irene by a
perpetual banishment to tho Isle of Sicily. But her vigilanco
and penetration easily disconcerted their rash projects: a sim-
ilar, or more severe, punishment was retaliated on themselves
and their advisors; and Irene inflicted on tho ungrateful
prince the chastisement of a boy. After thin con teat tho
mother and the son were at the head of two domestic fac-
tions; and instead of mild influence and voluntary obedience,
she held in chains a captive and an enemy. Tho empress
was overthrown by the abuse of victory ; tho oath of fidelity,
which sho exacted to herself alone, was pronounced with re-
luctant murmurs; and tho bold refusal of the Armenian
guards encowagod a free and general declaration that Con*
stantine the Sixth was tho lawful emperor of the Bomana
In tJais character lie ascended his hereditary throne, and dis-
missed Irene to a life of solitude and repose. But her haugh-
ty spirit condescended to the arts of dissimulation : she flat-
tered the bishops and etmuchs, revived the filial tenderness
of the prince, regained his confidence, and betrayed his eredt*-
lily* The character of Oonstantine was not destitute of sense
or spirit ; but his education had been studiously neglected ;
and his ambitious mother exposed to the public censure tho

AJ0.780.] CONSTAOTINE VL AJSTD IRENE. 37

vices which she had nourished and the actions which she had
secretly advised: his divorce and second marriage offended
the prejudices of the clergy, and by his imprudent rigor he
forfeited the attachment of the Armenian guards. A pow-
erful conspiracy was formed for the restoration of Irene ; and
the secret, though widely diffused, was faithfully kept above
eight months, till the emperor, suspicious of his danger, es-
caped from Constantinople with the design of appealing to
the provinces and armies. By this hasty flight the empress
was left on the brink of the precipice; yet before she im-
plored the mercy of her son, Irene addressed a private epistle
to the friends whom she had placed about his person, with a
menace, that unless they accomplished, she would reveal, their
treason. Their fear rendered them intrepid ; they seized the
emperor on the Asiatic shore, and he was transported to the
porphyry apartment of the palace, where he had first seen the
light. In the mind of Irene ambition had stifled every sen-
timent of humanity and nature ; and it was decreed in her
bloody council that Oonstan tine should be rendered incapable
of the throne : her emissaries assaulted the sleeping prince,
and stabbed their daggers with such violence and precipita-
tion into his eyes as if they meant 'to execute a mortal sen-
tence. An ambiguous passage of Theophanes persuaded the
annalist of the Church that death was the immediate conse-
quence of this barbarous execution. The Catholics have been
deceived or subdued by the authority of Baronius ; and Prot-
estant &eal has re-echoed the words of a cardinal, desirous, as
it should seem, to favor the patroness of images. 3 Yet the
blind son of Irene survived many years, oppressed by the
court and forgotten by the world: the Isaurian. dynasty was
silently extinguished; and the memory of Constantine was
recalled only by the nuptials of his daughter Euphrosyne with
the Emperor Michael the Second.

The most bigoted orthodoxy has justly execrated the tu>
natural mother, who may not easily be paralleled in the Ha*

* Gibbon has been attacked on account of this statement, but is successfully
defended by ScMosser, p $87* Compare JJ.e Beau, vol. xii, p. 372,- M.

38 IKENE, NICEPHORUS I. [Cn.XLVIII

tory of crimes. To her bloody deed superstition has attributed
a subsequent darkness of seventeen days, durixig which many
insno. vessels in mid-day wex*o driven from their course, as

A.I>. 799 (79T] if the Bim, a globe of fire so vast and so remote, could
sympathize with the atoms of a revolving planet.
On earth, the crime of Irene was left five years unptmi&hcd ;
her reign was crowned with external splendor ; and if she
could silence the voice of conscience, she neither heard nor
regarded the reproaches of mankind- Tho Roman world
bowed to the government of a female; and as she moved
through the streets of Constantinople, the reins of four milk-
white steeds were held by as many Patricians, who marched
on foot before the golden chariot of their queen. But these
Patricians were for the most part eunuchs j and their black
ingratitude justified, on this occasion, the popular hatred and
contempt. Raised, enriched, intrusted with the first dignities
of the empire, they basely conspired against their benefac-
tress ; the groat treasurer Nicephorus was secretly invested
with the purple ; her successor was introduced into the pal-
ace, and crowned at St. Sophia by the venal patriarch* In
their first interview she recapitulated with dignity the revo-
lutions of her life, gently accused the perfidy of Nicophorua,
insinuated that he owed his life to her unsuspicioitB clemoney,
and, for the throne and treasures which she resigned, solicit*
ed a decent and honorable retreat, His avarice refused this
modest compensation ; and, in her exile of the Isle of Lesbos,
the empress earned a scanty subsistence by the labors of her
distaff.

Many tyrants have reigned undoubtedly more criminal
than Nicephorus, but none, perhaps, have more deeply incur*
re( * *k universal abhorrence of their peoplo, His
c ^ arac * @r was stained with the three odious vices
of hypocrisy, ingratitude, and avarice : Ins want of
virtue was not redeemed by any superior talents, nor hia want
of talents by any pleasing qualifications. Unskilful and un-
fortunate in war, Nicephorus was vanquished by the Saracens
and slain by the Bulgarians ; and the advantage of his de&th
overbalanced, in the public opinion, the destruction of it Bo*

k.ix 811.] STAURACIUS. MICHAEL 1. 39

man army.* His eon and heir Stanracius escaped from the
stanraciua. field with a mortal wound ; yet six months of an
juVs expiring life were sufficient to refute his indecent,
though popular declaration, that he would in all
things avoid the example of his father. On the near prospect
of his decease, Michael, the great master of the palace, and the
husband of his sister Procopia, was named by every person of
the palace and city, except by his envious brother. Tenacious
of a sceptre now falling from his hand, he conspired against
the life of his successor, and cherished the idea of changing
to a democracy the Roman empire. But these rash projects
served only to inflame the zeal of the people and to remove
the scruples of the candidate: Michael the First accepted
the purple, and before he sunk into the grave the son of'Ni-
cephorus implored the clemency of his new sovereign. Had
Michael i., Michael in an age of peace ascended a hereditary
2^88?*" throne, he might have reigned and died the father
Octobers. of his people: but his mild virtues were adapted
to the shade of private life, nor was he capable of controlling
the ambition of his equals, or of resisting the arms of the vic-
torious Bulgarians. While his want of ability and success
exposed him to the contempt of the soldiers, the masculine
spirit of his wife Procopia awakened their indignation. Even
the Greeks of the ninth century were provoked by the inso-
lence of a female who, in the front of the standards, presumed
to direct their discipline and animate their valor; and their
licentious clamors advised the new Semirarnis to reverence
the majesty of a Roman camp* After an unsuccessful cam-
paign the emperor left, in their winter-quarters of Thrace, a
disaffected army under the command of his enemies ; and
iheir artful eloquence persuaded the soldiers to break the do-
minion of the eunuchs, to degrade the husband of Procopia,

* The Syrian historian Aboulfaradj, Chron, Syr. p. 133, ISO, speaks of him as a
brave, prodent, and pious prince, formidable to the Arabs. St, Martin, c. xii,
p. 402 ; compare Schlosser, p. 850, M.

Finlay also remarks that u on the whole he appears to have been an able ana
humane prince, He has certainly obtained a worse reputation in history than
many emperors who have been guilty of greater crimes/' Byzantine Empire,
vol. i. p. 110. S.

40 LEO V, [CH.XLVIH

and to assert the right of a military election. They marched
towards the capital ; yet the clergy, the senate, and the poo-
pie o Constantinople adhered to the cause of Michael ; and
the troops and treasures of Asia might have protracted the
mischiefs of civil war. But his humanity (by the ambitious
it will b termed his weakness) protested that not a drop of
Christian blood should bo shed in his quarrel, and his messen-
gers presented the conquerors with the keys of the city and
the palace. They were disarmed by his innocence and sub-
mission; his life and his eyes were spared; and the imperial
monk enjoyed the comforts of solitude and religion above
thirty-two years after he had been stripped of the purple and
separated from his wife,

A rebel, in the time of JsTicephorus, the famous and un-
fortunate Bardanos, had once the curiosity to consult an
.,tho Asiatic prophet, who, after prognosticating his fall,
announced the fortunes of his three principal ofii-
11. corSj ;L OO t j lc Armenian, Michael the Phrygian, and
Thomas the Oappadocian, the successive reigns of the two
former, the fruitless and fatal enterprise of the third. This
prediction was verified, or rather was produced, by the event-
Ton years afterwards, when the Tliraoian camp rejected the
husband of Procopia, the crown was presented to the samo
Leo, the first in military rank, and the secret author of the
mutiny, As ho affected to hesitate, ** With this sword," said
his companion Michael, "I will open the gates of Constanti-
nople to your imperial sway, or instantly plunge it into your
bosom, if you obstinately resist the just desires of your fel-
low-soldiers," The compliance of the Armenian was rewarded
with the empire, and he reigned seven years and a half under
the name of Leo the Fifth* Educated in a camp, and Jg-
Borant both of laws and letters, he Introduced into his civil
government the rigor and oven cruelty of military discipline;
but if his severity was sometimes dangerous to the innocent,
it was always formidable to the guilty* His religious Incon-
stancy was taxed by the epithet of Chameleon, but the Cath-
olics have acknowledged, by the voice of a. saint and confess-
ors, that the life of the Iconoclast was useful to the

A.IX 813.] LEO V. 41

The zeal of his companion Michael was repaid with riches,
honors, and military command ; and his subordinate talents
were beneficially employed in the public service. Yet the
Phrygian was dissatisfied at receiving as a favor a scanty
portion of the imperial prize which he had bestowed on his
equal ; and his discontent, which sometimes evaporated in
hasty discourse, at length assumed a more threatening and
hostile aspect against a prince whom he represented as a cruel
tyrant. That tyrant, however, repeatedly detected, warned,
and dismissed the old companion of his arms 5 till fear and re-
sentment prevailed over gratitude ; and Michael, after a scru-
tiny into his actions and designs, was convicted of treason,
and sentenced to be burned alive in the furnace of the pri-
vate baths. The devout humanity of the Empress Theopha-
no was fatal to her husband and family. A solemn day, the
twenty -fifth of December, had !>een fixed for the execution :
she urged that the anniversary of the Saviour's birth would be
profaned by this inhuman spectacle, and Leo consented with
reluctance to a decent respite. But on the vigil of the feast
his sleepless anxiety prompted him to visit at the dead of
night the chamber in which his enemy was confined: he be-
held him released from his chain, and stretched on his jailer's
bed in a profound slumber: Leo was alarmed at these signa
of security and intelligence; but though he retired with si-
lent steps, his entrance and departure were noticed by a slave
who lay concealed in a comer of the prison. Under the pre-
tence of requesting the spiritual aid of a confessor, Michael
informed the conspirators that their lives depended on his
discretion, and that a few hours were left to assure their owa
safety, by the deliverance of their friend and country. On
the great festivals a chosen band of priests and chanters was
admitted into the palace by a private gate to sing matins in
the chapel; and Leo, who regulated with the same strictness
the discipline of the choir and of the camp, was seldom ab-
sent from these early devotions. In the ecclesiastical habit,
but with swords under their robes, the conspirators mingled
with the procession, lurked in the angles of the chapel, and
e&pected, as the signal of murder, the intonation of the fiyst

42 MICHAEL II., THE STAMMERER. [On. XLVIH

pealm by the emperor himself , Tho imperfect light, and the
uniformity of dress, might have favored his escape, while their
assault was pointed against a harmless priest ; but they Boon
discovered their mistake, and encompassed on all sides the
royal victim. Without a weapon and without a friend, he
grasped a weighty cross, and stood at bay against the hunters
of his life ; but as he asked for mercy, " This is the hour, not
of mercy, but of vengeance/' was the inexorable reply* The
stroke of a well -aimed sword separated from his body the
right arm and the cross, and Leo the Armenian was slain at
the foot of the altar,

A memorable reverse of fortune was displayed in Michael
the Second, who from a defect in his speech was surnamod
Michael n.,tbe *^ e Stammerer. He was snatched from the fiery
l^fSSoJ 1 *^ furnace to the sovereignty of an empire; and as in
i>ec.w. t j io tumult a smith could not readily be found, tho
fetters remained on his legs several hours after he was seated
on the throne of the Csesars* The royal blood which had
been the price of his elevatida was unprofitably spent : in the
purple he retained the ignoble vices of his origin ; and Mi-
chael lost his provinces with as supine indifference as if they
had been the inheritance of his fathers. His title was dis-
puted by Thomas, the last of tho military triumvirate, who
transported into Europe fourscore thousand barbarians from
the -banks of the Tigris and the shores of the Caspian. He
formed the siege of Constantinople ; but the capital was de-
fended with spiritual and carnal weapons ; a Bulgarian king
assaulted the camp of the Orientals, and Thomas had the mis*
fortune or the weakness to fall alive into the power of the
conqueror. The hands and feefc of the rebel were amputated;
he was placed on an ass, and, amidst the insults of the peo-
ple, was led through the streets, which he sprinkled with his
blood.. The depravation of manners, as savage as they ware
corrupt, is marked by the presence of the emperor himself.
Deaf to the lamentations of a fellow-soldier, ho incessantly
pressed the discovery of more accomplices, till his curiosity
was checked by the question of an honest or guilty minister:
* Wcmld you give credit to an enemy against the motfc

,P. 829.] THEOPHILUS. 43

ul of your friends ?" After the death of his first wife, the
imperor, at the request of the senate, drew from her monas-
ery Euphrosyne, the daughter of Constantine the Sixth. Her
uigust birth might justify a stipulation in the marriage-con-
;ract that her children should equally share the empire with
;heir elder brother. But the nuptials of Michael and Eu-
:>hrosyne were barren : and she was content with the title of
mother of Theophilus, his son and successor*

The character of Theophilus is a rare example in which re-
ligious zeal hiis allowed and perhaps magnified the virtues of
a heretic and a persecutor. His valor was often

TbeophUus, -,, . -,,...,.

outer's ^ enemies, and his justice by the subjects,

of the monarchy ; but the valor of Theophilus was
rash and fruitless, and his justice arbitrary and cruel. He
displayed the banner of the cross against the Saracens ; but
his five expeditions were concluded by a signal overthrow :
Amoriuxxx, the native city of his ancestors, was levelled with
the ground, and from his military toils he derived only the
surname of the Unfortunate, The wisdom of a sovereign is
comprised in. the institution of laws and the choice of mag-
istrates, and, while he seems without action, his civil govern-
ment revolves round his centre with the silence and order
of the planetary system. But the justice of Theophilus was
fashioned on the model of the Oriental despots, who, in per-
sonal and irregular acts of authority, consult the reason or
passion of the moment, without measuring the sentence by
the law, or the penalty by the offence. A poor woman threw
herself at the emperor's feet to complain of a powerful neigh-
bor, the brother of the empress, who had raised his palace-
wall to such an inconvenient height that her humble dwell-
ing was excluded from light and airl On the proof of the
fact, instead of granting, like an ordinary judge, sufficient or
ample damages to the plaintiff, the sovereign adjudged to her
use and benefit the palace and the ground. Nor was Theoph-
ilus content with this extravagant satisfaction : his zeal con-
verted a civil trespass into a criminal act ; and the unfortu-
nate Patrician was stripped and scourged in the public place
of Constantinople. For some venial offences, some defect of

44: THEOPHILUS. [On. XLVItt

equity or vigilance, the principal ministers, a prsefect, a quaes-
tor, a captain of the guards, were banished or nrntilated, or
scalded with boiling pitch, or burned alive in the hippo-
drome; and as these dreadful examples might be the effects
of error or caprice, they must have alienated from his service
the best and wisest of the citizens,* But the pride of the
monarch was flattered in the exercise of power, or, as ho
thought, of virtue ; and the people, safe in their obscurity,
applauded the danger and debasement of their superiors.
This extraordinary rigor was justified in some moii&uro by
its salutary consequences ; since, after a scrutiny of aovemteou
days, not a complaint or abuse could be found in the court or
city : and it might be alleged that the Greeks could be ruled
only with a rod of iron, and that the public interest is the
motive and law of the supreme judge* Yet in the crime, or
the suspicion, of treason, that judge is of all others the most
credulous and partial* Theophilus might inflict a tardy ven-
geance on the assassins of Leo and the saviors of his father ;
but he enjoyed the fruits of their crime ; and his jealous tyr-
anny sacrificed a brother and a prinee to the future safety of
his life. A Persian of the race of the Saasanidos died in pov-
erty and exile at Constantinople, leaving an only son, tho is*
sue of a Plebeian marriage. At tho age of twelve yoara tho
royal birth of Theophobus was revealed, and his merit was
mot unworthy of his birth* He was educated in tho Byan
tino palace, a Christian and a soldier; advanced with rapid
steps in the career of fortune and glory; received the hand
of the emperor's Bister; and was promoted to tho command
of thirty thousand Persians, who, like his father, had flodi
from the Mahometan conquerors. These troops, doubly in-
fected with mercenary and fanatic vices, wore desirous of ra*
wlfcing against their benefactor, and erecting the standard of
their native king : but the loyal Theophobus rejected their
disconcerted their schemes, and escaped from their
to the camp or palace of his loyal brother, A

* Ffakjr aay* (p, 178) that Gibbon has exaggerated the enmity of tho mmUh-
ments inflicted by Theophilus ; and SehloBser alto obnervoK (p. 524) that n* ha*
BO imthority to jnatdty the reproaches of exceasive

A.r>. 829.] THEOPHILUS. 45

ous confidence might have secured a faithful and able guar-
dian for his wife and his infant son, to whom Theophilus, in
the flower of his age, was compelled to leave the inheritance
of the empire* But his jealousy was exasperated by envy
and disease : he feared the dangerous virtues which might
either support or oppress their infancy and weakness; and
the dying emperor demanded the head of the Persian prince.
With savage delight he recognized the familiar features of
his brother: "Thou art no longer Theophobus," he said;
and, sinking on his couch, he added, with a faltering voice,
" Soon, too soon, I shall be no more Theophilus !"

The Russians, who have borrowed from the Greeks the
greatest part of their civil and ecclesiastical policy, preserved,
till the last century, a singular institution in the marriage of
the Ozar, They collected, not the virgins of every rank and
of every province, a vain and romantic idea, but the daugh-
ters of the principal nobles, who awaited in the palace the
choice of their sovereign- It is affirmed that a similar meth-
od was adopted in the nuptials of Theophilus. With a golden
apple in his hand, he slowly walked between two lines of con-
tending beauties ; his eye was detained by the charms of lea-
aia, and, in the awkwardness of a first declaration, the prince
could only observe that, in this world, women had been the
cause of much evil; "And surely, sir," she pertly replied,
M they have likewise been the occasion of much good." This
affectation of unseasonable wit displeased the imperial lover :
he turned aside in disgust ; leasia concealed her mortification
in a convent; and the modest silence of Theodora was re-
warded with the golden apple. She deserved the love, but
did not escape the severity, of her lord. From the palace
garden he beheld a vessel deeply laden, and steering into the
port : oil the discovery that the precious cargo of Syrian lux-
ury was the property of his wife, he condemned the ship to
the flames, with a sharp reproach that her avarice had de-
graded the character of an empress into that of a merchant.
Yet his last choice intrusted her with the guardianship of the
empire and her son Michael, who was left an orphan in the
fifth year of his age. The restoration of images, and the final

46 MICHAEL HI, [On, XLVItt

extirpation of the Iconoclasts, has endeared her name to the
devotion of the Greeks; but in the fervor of re*
ligious jseal Theodora entertained a grateful re-
gg-^j f or t j ie mcmor y an< j salvation of her husband*
After thirteen years of a prudent and frugal administration,
she perceived the decline of her influence; but the second
Irene imitated only the virtues of her predecessor. Instead
of conspiring against the life or government of her son, she
retired without a struggle, though not without a murmur, to
the solitude of private life, deploring the ingratitude, the vices,
and the inevitable ruin of the worthless youth.

Among the successors of Nero and Elagabalus we have not
hitherto found the imitation of their vices, the character of a
Eoman prince who considered pleasure as the object of life,
and virtue as the enemy of pleasure, "Whatever might havo
been the maternal care of Theodora in the education of Mi-
chael the Third, her unfortunate son was a king before ho
was a man* If the ambitioits mother labored to check tho
progress of reason, she could not cool the ebullition of pas-
sion ; and her selfish policy was justly repaid by tho con-
tempt and ingratitude of the headstrong youth* At tho ago
of eighteen he rejected her authority, without feeling his own
incapacity to govern the empire and himself. With Theo-
dora all gravity and wisdom retired from tho court; their
place was supplied by the alternate dominion of vice and
folly ; and it was impossible, without forfeiting tho public*
esteem, to acquire or preserve the favor of the emperor. The
millions of gold and silver which had been accumulated for
the service of the State were lavished on the vilest of men f
who flattered his passions and shared his pleasures ; and* in a
reign of thirteen years, tho richest of sovereigns was compel-
led to strip the palace and the churches of their procioxis fur-
niture* Like Nero, he delighted in the amusements of the
theatre, and sighed to be surpassed in the accomplishments
in which he should have blushed to excel. Yet the studies
of Kero in music and poetry betrayed some symptoms of a
liberal taste ; the more ignoble arts of the son of Theophilus
were confined to the chariot-race of the hippodrome. The

MICHAEL in. 47

four factions which had agitated the peace, still amused the
idleness, of the capital : for himself, the emperor assumed the
blue livery : the three rival colors were distributed to his fa-
vorites, and in the vile though eager contention he forgot the
dignity of his person and the safety of his dominions. He
silenced the messenger of an invasion who presumed to di-
vert his attention in the most critical moment of the race ;
and by his command the importunate beacons were extin-
guished that too frequently spread the alarm from Tarsus to
Constantinople. The most skilful charioteers obtained the
first place in his confidence and esteem ; their merit was pro-
fusely rewarded ; the emperor feasted in their houses, and
presented their children at the baptismal font; and while he
applauded his own popularity, he affected to blame the cold
and stately reserve of his predecessors. The unnatural lusts
which had degraded even the manhood of ISTero were ban-
ished from the world ; yet the strength of Michael was con-
sumed by the indulgence of love and intemperance.* In his
midnight revels, when his passions were inflamed by wine, he
was provoked to issue the most sanguinary commands ; and
if any feelings of humanity were left, he was reduced, with
the return of sense, to approve the salutary disobedience of
his servants. But the most extraordinary feature in the char-
acter of Michael is the profane mockery of the religion of
his country* The superstition of the Greeks might, indeed,
excite the smile of a philosopher ; but his smile would have
been rational and temperate, and he must have condemned
the ignorant folly of a youth who insulted the objects of
public veneration. A buffoon of the court was invested in
the robes of the patriarch : his twelve metropolitans, among
whom the emperor was ranked, assumed their ecclesiastical
garments : they used or abused the sacred vessels of the al-
tar; and in their bacchanalian feasts the holy communion
was administered in a nauseous compound of vinegar and
mustard. Nor were these impious spectacles concealed from
the eyes of the city. On the day of a solemn festival, the

* In a campaign against the Saracens he betrayed both imbecility and coward-
tee, GenesiuB, c. iv p. 94, M.

48 BASIL L 1CH.XLVIIL

emperor, with, his bishops or buffoons, rode on asses through
the streets, encountered the true patriarch at the head of his
clergy, and, by their licentious shouts and obscene gestures,
disordered the gravity of the Christian, procession. The de-
rotion of Michael appeared only in some offence to reason or
piety: he received his theatrical crowns from the statue of
the "Virgin ; and an imperial tomb was violated for the sa"ko
of burning the bones of Constantine the Iconoclast. 'By this
extravagant conduct the son of Theophilus became as con-
temptible as he was odious: every citizen was impatient for
the deliverance of his country ; and even the favorites of tho
moment were apprehensive that a caprice might snatch away
what a caprice had bestowed. In the thirtieth year of his
age, and in the hour of intoxication and sloop, Michael tho
Third was murdered in his chamber by the founder of a now
dynasty, whom the emperor had raised to an equality of rank
and power*

The genealogy of Basil the Macedonian (if it be not tho
spurious offspring of pride and flattery) exhibits a genuine
Basil i. t the picture of the revolution of tho most illustrious
A^6T uian " families^ The Arsacides, the rivals of Home, pos-
septsa. sessed the sceptre of the East near four hundred
years : a younger branch of these Parthian kings continued
to reign in Armenia; and their royal descendants survived
the partition and servitude of that ancient monarchy* Two
of these, Ai*tabanus and Ghlienes, escaped or retired to tho
court of Leo the First : his bounty seated thorn in a safe and
hospitable exile in the province of Macedonia: Adrianoplo
was their final settlement. During several generations they
maintained tho dignity of their birth ; and their Roman pa-
triotism rejected the tempting offers of the Persian and Ara-
bian powers, who recalled them to their native country* But
their splendor was insensibly clouded by time and poverty ;
and the father of Basil was reduced to a small farm, which

* This attempt to connect the family of Basil X* with the royal family
ma must be entirely rejected, and is only an instance of the Influence of ariatocrttk
ic and Asiatic Radices *it Constantinople, There can be Httle doubt that BftlBl
wn* Slavonian. See Finlay, vol i. p, 288, 2

. 867.] BASIL L 49

he cultivated with, his own hands : yet he scorned to disgrace
the blood of the Arsacides by a plebeian alliance : his wife, a
widow of Adrianople, was pleased to count among her ances-
tors the great Oonstantine ; and their royal infant was con-
nected by some dark affinity of lineage or country with the
Macedonian Alexander. No sooner was he born than the
cradle of Basil, hie family, and his city, were swept away by
an inundation of the Bulgarians : he was educated a slave in
a foreign land ; and in this severe discipline he acquired the
hardiness of body and flexibility of mind which promoted his
future elevation* In the age of youth or manhood he shared
the deliverance of the Koman captives, who generously broke
their fetters, marched through Bulgaria to the shores of the
Euxine, defeated two armies of barbarians, embarked in. the
ships which had been stationed for their reception, and re-
turned to Constantinople, from whence they were distributed
to their respective homes. But the freedom of Basil was
naked and destitute; his farm was ruined by the calamities
of war : after his father's death his manual labor or service
could no longer support a family of orphans ; and- he re-
solved to seek a more conspicuous theatre, in which every
virtue and every vice may lead to the paths of greatness.
The first night of hie arrival at Constantinople, without
friends or money, the weary pilgrim slept on the steps of the
church of St. Diomede: he was fed by the casual hospitality
of a monkj and was introduced to the service of a cousin
and namesake of the Emperor Theophilua, who, though him-
self of a diminutive person, was always followed by a train
of tall and handsome domestics- Basil attended his patron to
the government of Peloponnesus ; eclipsed, by his personal
merit, the birth and dignity of Theophilus, and formed a use-
ful connection with a wealthy and charitable matron of Pa-
{.ivat Her spiritual or carnal love embraced the young ad vent-
urer, -wham she adopted as her son. Danielis presented him
with thfe%* slaves; and tine produce of her bounty was ex-
pended in the support of his brothers, and the purchase of
some large ^tate* in Macedonia* His gratitude or ambition
still attached iaiia *o the aerviae of Theophilus ; and a luck;*

fiO BASIL L [On. XLVIIl

accident recommended him to the notice of the court. A
famous wrestler in the train of the Bulgarian ambassadors
had defied, at the royal banquet, the boldest and most robust
of the Greeks. The strength of Basil was praised ; he ac-
cepted the challenge ; and the barbarian champion was over-
thrown at the first onset* A beautiful but vicious horse was
condemned to be hamstrung : it was subdued by the dexterity
and courage of the servant of Theophilus ; and his conqueror
was promoted to an honorable rank in the imperial stables*
But it was impossible to obtain the confidence of Michael
without complying with his vices; and his new favorite, the
great chamberlain of the palace, was raised and supported by
a disgraceful marriage with a royal concubine, and the dis-
honor of his sister, who succeeded to her place.* Tho public
administration had been abandoned to the Oeosar Bardas, the
brother and enemy of Theodora ; but the arts of female in-
fluence persuaded Michael to hato and to fear his uncle : ho
was drawn from Constantinople under the pretence of a Ore-
tan expedition, and stabbed in the tent of audience by the
sword of the chamberlain, and in the presence* of the emper-
or. About a month after thte execution, Basil was invested
with the title of Augustus and tho government of the empire,
He supported this unequal association till hiw influence was
fortified by popular esteem. HUH life was endangered by tho
caprice of the emperor ; and his dignity was profaned by a
second colleague, who had rowed in tho galleys* Yet the
murder of his benefactor must bo condemned as an act of in-
gratitude and treason ; and the churches which he dedicated
to the name of St. Michael were a poor and puerile expiation
of his guilt.

The different ages of Basil tho First may bo compared with
those of Augustus, The situation of the Greek did not allow
him in his eax*liest youth to lead an army against his country,
or to proscribe the noblest of her sons; but his aspiring gen-
ius stooped to the arts of a slave; he dissomblod his ambition
and even his virtues, and grasped, with the bloody hand of

* Finlay (vol. | p. BOO) controvert* thte BtatomftW, nml lwws that Thed% tbt
iater of the Jttipuw Michael, was tho concubine of BuruL JS.

A.D.8G7.J BASIL L 51

an assassin, the empire which he ruled with the wisdom and
tenderness of a parent. A private citizen may feel his inter-
est repugnant to his duty ; but it must be from a deficiency
of sense or courage that an absolute monarch can separate his
happiness from his glory, or his glory from the public wel-
fare- The life or panegyric of Basil has indeed been com-
posed and published under the long reign of his descendants ;
but even their stability on the throne may be justly ascribed
to the superior merit of their ancestor. In his character, his
grandson Constantirie has attempted to delineate a perfect
image of royalty : but that feeble prince, unless he had copied
a real model, could not easily have soared so high above the
level of his own conduct or conceptions. But the most solid
praise of Basil is drawn from the comparison of a ruined and
a flourishing monarchy, that which he wrested from the dis-
solute Michael, and that which he bequeathed to the Macedo-
nian dynasty* The evils which had been sanctified by time
and example were corrected by his master-hand ; and he re-
vived, if not tho national spirit, at least the order and majes-
ty of the Roman empire. His application was indefatigable,
his temper cool, his understanding vigorous and decisive ; and
in his practice he observed that rare and salutary moderation,
which pursues each virtue, at an equal distance between the
opposite vices. His military service had been confined to the
palace ; nor was the emperor endowed with the spirit or the
talents of a warrior* Yet under his reign the Roman arms
were again formidable to the barbarians. As soon as he had
formed a new army by discipline and exercise, ho appeared in
person on the banks of the Euphrates, curbed the pride of the
Saracens, and suppressed the dangerous though just revolt of
the Manichseatts- His indignation against a rebel who had
long eluded his pursuit provoked him to wish and to pray
that, by the grace of God, he might drive three arrows into
the head of Qhrysochir, That odious head, which had been
obtained by treason rather than by valor, was suspended from
a tree, and thrice exposed to the dexterity of tho imperial
archer: a base revenge against the dead, more worthy of the
times than of the character of Basil. But his principal merit

62 BASIL L [CH. XLVIIL

was in the civil administration of the finances and of the laws.
To replenish an exhausted treasury, it was proposed to resume
the lavish and ill-placed gifts of his predecessor : his prudence
abated one moiety of the restitution ; and a sum of twelve
hundred thousand pounds was instantly procured to answer
the most pressing demands, and to allow some space for the
mature operations of economy. Among the various schemes
for the improvement of the revenue, a new mode was suggest-
ed of capitation, or tribute, which would have too much de-
pended on the arbitrary discretion of the assessors. A suffi-
cient list of honest and able agents was instantly produced by
the minister ; but on the more careful scrutiny of Basil him-
self, only two could be found who might be safely intrusted
with such dangerous powers ; and they justified hie esteem by
declining his confidence. But the serious and successful dil-
igence of the emperor established by degrees an equitable bal-
ance of property and payment, of receipt and expenditure ; a
peculiar fund was appropriated to each service ; and a public
method secured the interest of the prince and the property
of the people. After reforming the luxury, he assigned two
patrimonial estates to supply the decent plenty of the impe-
rial table : the contributions of the subject were reserved for
his defence ; and the residue was employed in the embellish-
ment of the capital and provinces- A taste for building,
however costly, may deserve some praise and much excuse :
from thence industry is fed, art is encouraged, and sotue ob*
jeet is attained of public emolument or pleasure : the use of
a road, an aqueduct, or an hospital, is obvious and solid; and
the hundred churches that arose by tho command of Basil
were consecrated to the devotion of the age. In the charac-
ter of a judge he was assiduous and impartial ; desirous to
save, but not afraid to strike: the oppressors of the people
were severely chastised ; but his personal foes, whom it might
be unsafe to pardon, were condemned, after the loss of their
eyes, to a Hfe of solitude and repentance. The change of
language and manners demanded a revision of the obsolete
jurisprudence of Justinian: the voluminous body of his In*
etitutes, Pandects, Code, and Novels was digested under forty
titles, in the Greek idiom ; and the JBmiUc^ which were im*

. 867,]

BASIL I.

proved and completed by his son and grandson, must be re-
ferred to the original genius of the founder of their race. a
This glorious reign was terminated by an accident in the
chase. A furious stag entangled his horns in the belt of
Basil, and raised him from his horse : he was rescued by an
attendant, who cut the belt and slew the animal; but the fall,
or the fever, exhausted the strength of the aged monarch, arid
lie expired in the palace amidst the tears of his family and
people. If lie struck off the head of the faithful servant for
presuming to draw his sword against his sovereign, the pride
of despotism, which had lain dormant in his life, revived in
the last moments of despair, when he no longer wanted or
valued the opinion of mankind^

* On the history of the Basilica and the Byzantine law, see ch. liiL note 5, with
editor's note, 8.

6 Genealogy of the Baailian dynasty :

Maria, BASIX, L Eadocia.

Imp, ob. 880.

Constantinua.

VI. Alexander.
Philosophic.
Imp. ob. 911,
m. Zoo.

Step]

Porphyrogenitus.

Imp. ob. 969,

m. Helena.

II.

ImpVob. 968,

Theodora.

m. JOHN ZIMTSCBS

Imp. ob. 976*

bnpr'ob. 1025.

CoNTANTitf IX.
Imp, ob. 1028.

Theophano,
m. Qtho IL
. of the West.

Anna,

m. Wolodomir,
duke of Russia.

Endocia,

Imp. ob, 1050,

X. EOMAKtTS III.

Imp* ob. 1034.
ob. 1041/

THJBQJDOKA.
Imp, ob. 106U

Imp, ob. 1054:.

54 LEO VI., THE PHILOSOPHER. [Cn. XL VIII.

Of the four sons of the emperor, Constantino died before
his father, whose grief and credulity were amused by a flat-
Loo vi, the toring impostor and a vain apparition. Stephen
A?pl c S? hen *^ e youngest, was content with the honors of a pa-
March i. triarch and a saint; both Leo and Alexander were
alike invested with the purple, but the powers of government
were solely exercised by the elder brother. The name of Leo
the Sixth has been dignified with the title of philosopher ;
and the union of the prince and the sage, of the active and
speculative virtues, would indeed constitute the perfection of
human nature. But the claims of Leo are far short of this
ideal excellence. Did he reduce his passions and appetites
under the dominion of reason? His life was spent in the
pomp of the palace, in the society of his wives and concu-
bines; and even the clemency which he showed, and the
peace which he strove to preserve, must be imputed to the
softness and indolence of his character. Did he subdue his
prejudices, and those of his subjects ? His mind was tinged
with the most puerile superstition; the influence of the cler-
gy and the errors of the people were consecrated by his
laws ; and the oraclee of Leo, which reveal, in prophetic stylo,
the fates of the empire, are founded on the arts of astrology
a.nd divination. If we still inquire the reason of his sage
appellation, it can. only be replied, that the son of Basil was
less ignorant than the greater part of his contemporaries in
Church and State ; that his education had been directed by
the learned Photius; and that several books of profane and
ecclesiastical science were composed by the pen, or in the
name, of the imperial philosopher. But the reputation of his
philosophy and religion was overthrown by a domestic vice,
the repetition of his nuptials* The primitive ideas of the
merit and holiness of celibacy were preached by the monks
and entertained by the Greeks, Marriage was allowed as a
necessary means for the propagation of mankind ; after the
death of either party, the survivor might satisfy by a sec-
ond union the weakness or the strength of the flesh ; but a
thvrd marriage was censured as a state of legal fornication;
and fyfowrth was a am or scandal as yet unknown to the

.] ALEXANDER CONSTAHTlNE PORPHYROGENITUS. 5#

Christians of the East In the beginning of his reign, Leo
himself had abolished the state of concubines, and condem-
ned, without annulling, third marriages : but his patriotism
and love soon compelled him to violate his own laws, and to
incur the penance which in a similar case he had imposed on.
his subjects. In his three first alliances his nuptial bed was
unfruitful ; the emperor required a female companion, and
the empire a legitimate heir. The beautiful Zoe was intro-
duced into the palace as a concubine ; and after a trial of her
fecundity, and the birth of Constantine, her lover declared
his intention of legitimating the mother and the child by the
celebration of his fourth nuptials* But the patriarch Nich-
olas refused his blessing : the imperial baptism of the young
prince was obtained by a promise of separation ; and the con-
tumacious husband of Zoe was excluded from the communion
of the faithful* Neither the fear of exile, nor the desertion
of his brethren, nor the authority of the Latin Church, nor
the danger of failure or doubt in the succession to the em-
pire, could bend the spirit of the inflexible monk. After the
death of Leo he was recalled from exile to the civil and ec-
clesiastical administration ; and the edict of union which was
promulgated in the name of Oonstantine condemned the fut-
ure scandal of fourth marriages, and left a tacit imputation on
his own birth.

lu the Greek language gwrple and porphyry are the same
word: and as the colors of nature are invariable, we may

* 6arn ' *^ at a dar ^ ^ 66 P re< * was tlie ^yrian dye
which stained the purple of the ancients. An

'*'.

apartment of the Bysantine palace was lined with

. r , .. ^ T / ,i A j/i

M*' iV* porphyry: it was reserved for the use of the preg-
* y * nant empresses : and the royal birth of their chil-
dren was expressed by tho appellation of jporpky rogenite, or
born in the purple. Several of the Born an princes had been
blessed with an heir ; but this peculiar surname was first ap-
plied to Oonstantine the Seventh* His life and titular reign
were of equal duration : but of fifty-four years six had elapsed
before his father's death ; and the son of Leo was ever the
voluntary or reltiatent subjeet of those who oppressed Ma

56 EOMANtTS 1. AND HIS SONS. [Ca, XL VIII

weakness or abused liis confidence. His uncle Alexander,
who had long been invested with the title of Augustus, waa
the first colleague and governor of the young prince : but in
a rapid career of vice and folly the brother of Leo already
emulated the reputation of Michael ; and when he was extin-
guished by a timely death, he entertained a project of castra-
ting his nephew and leaving the empire to a worthless favor-
ite- The succeeding years of the minority of Constantino
were occupied by his mother Zoe, and a succession or council
of seven regents, who pursued their interest, gratified their
passions, abandoned the republic, supplanted each other, and
finally vanished in the presence of a soldier. From an ob-
scure origin Romanus Lecapcnus had raised himself to the
command of the naval armies; and in the anarchy of the
times had deserved, or at least had obtained, the national en-
teem. With a victorious and affectionate fleet ho sailed from
the mouth of the Danube into the harbor of Constantinople*
WIS hailed as the deliverer of the people and
guardian of the prince. His supremo office
aec.24, was at g rst <j e f mc< i by the new appellation of fa-
ther of the emperor; but Romanus soon disdained the subor-
dinate powers of a minister, and assumed, with the titles of
Ctesar and Augustus, the full independence of roy-
alty, which he held near five -and -twenty years,
tino VUL JJJ B three sons, Christopher, Stephen, and Oonstan-
tine, were successively adorned with the same honors-, and tho
lawful emperor was degraded from the first to the fifth rank
in this college of princes* Yet, in the preservation of his life
and crown, he might still applaud his own fortune and the
clemency of the usurper. The examples of ancient and mod-
ern history would have excused the ambition of Kornanus 5
the powers and the laws of the empire were in his hand ; the
spurious birth of Oonstantine would have justified his exclu-
sion; and the grave or the monastery was open to receive
the son of the concubine. But Lecapenus does not appear
to have possessed either the virtues or the vices of a tyrant*
The spirit and activity of his private life dissolved away in
the sunshine of the throne ; and in his licentious pleasures he

^.D. 045.3 CONSTANTmE VIL 57

forgot the safety both of the republic and of his family. Of
a mild and religious character, he respected the sanctity of
oaths, the innocence of the youth, the memory of his parents,
and the attachment of the people. The studious temper and
retirement of Constantine disarmed the jealousy of power :
his books and music, his pen and his pencil, were a constant
source of amusement ; and if he could improve a scanty al-
lowance by the sale of his pictui^es, if their price was not
enhanced by the name of the artist, he was endowed with a
personal talent which few princes could employ in the hour
of adversity.

The fall of Eomanus was occasioned by his own vices and
those of his children. After the decease of Christopher, his
conBtan- eldest son, the two surviving brothers quarrelled
A.?s&cJ" w *tih eac * x other, and conspired against their father.
Jan. ST. ^ t k e h olir O f noon, when all strangers were reg-
ularly excluded from the palace, they entered his apartment
with an armed force, and conveyed him, in the habit of a
monk, to a small island in the Propontis, which was peopled
by a religioxis community. The rumor of this domestic rev-
olution excited a tumult in the city ; but Porphyrogenitus
alone, the true and lawful emperor, was the object of the pub-
lic care; and the eons of Lecapenus were taught, by tardy ex-
perience., that they had achieved a guilty and perilous enter-
prise for the benefit of their rival. Their sister Helena, the
wife of Oonstantine, revealed, or supposed, their treacherous
design of assassinating her husband at the royal banquet.
His loyal adherents were alarmed, and the two usurpers were
prevented, seized, degraded from the purple, and embarked
for the same island and monastery where their father had
been so lately confined. Old Roman us met them on the
beach with a sarcastic smile, and, after a just reproach of their
folly and ingratitude, presented his imperial colleagues with
an equal share of his water and vegetable diet. In the for-
tieth year of his reign Constantine the Seventh obtained the
possession of the Eastern world, which he ruled, or seemed to
rule, near fifteen years. But he was devoid of that energy of
character which could emerge into a life of action and glory;

58 ROMANUS II. [On, XLVIH

and the studies which had amused and dignified his leisure
were incompatible with the serious duties of a sovereign.
The emperor neglected the practice, to instruct his son Roma-
nus in the theory, of government : while he indulged the hab-
its of intemperance and sloth, he dropped the reins of the ad-
ministration into the hands of Helena Ids wife ; and, in the
shifting scene of her favor and caprice, each minister was re-
gretted iu the promotion of a more worthless successor. Yet
the birth and misfortunes of Constantino had endeared him
to the Greeks ; they excused his failings ; they respected his
learning, his innocence and charity, his love of justice ; and
the ceremony of his funeral was mourned with the unfeigned
tears of his subjects. Tho body, according to ancient custom,
lay in state in the vestibule of the palace ; and the civil and
military officers, the patricians, the senate, and the clergy ap-
proached in due order to adore and kiss the inanimate corpse
of their sovereign. Before the procession moved towards tho
imperial sepulchre, a herald proclaimed this awful admoni-
tion : "Arise, O king of the world, and obey the summons of
the King of kings I"

The death of Oonstantine was imputed to poison ; and his
eon Komanus, who derived that name from his maternal grand-
father, ascended the throne of Constantinople, A
prince who, at the age of twenty, could be suspect-
6< j O f anticipating his inheritance, must have been
already lost in the public esteem ; yet Romanus was rather
weak than wicked; and the largest share of the guilt was
transferred to his wife, Tbeophano, a woman of base origin,
masculine spirit, and flagitious manners- The sense of per-
sonal glory and public happiness, the true pleasures of roy-
alty, were unknown to the son of Constantino ; and, while the
two brothers^ NicephoruB and Leo, triumphed over the Sara-
cens, the hours which the emperor owed to his people were
consumed in strenuous idleness- In the morning he visited
the circus; at noon he feasted the senators; the greater part
of the afternoon he spent in the ^lwwi$twwm>) or tennis-
court, the only theatre of his victories ; from thence he pass-
ed over to the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, hunted and kill**

ili" 63,

A.D.963.] NICEPHORUS PHOCAS. 59

ed four wild-boars of the largest size, and returned to the pal-
ace, proudly content with the labors of the day. In strength
and beauty he was conspicuous above his equals: tall and
straight as a young cypress, his complexion was fair and
florid, his eyes sparkling, his shoulders broad, his nose long
and aquiline. Yet even these perfections were insufficient to
fix the love of Theophano ; and, after a reign of four* years,
she mingled for her husband the same deadly draught which
she had composed for his father.

By his marriage with this impioias woman Romanus the
younger left two sons, Basil the Second and Constantine the
Nicephome Ninth, and two daughters, Theophano* and Anne.
i^jSc&f 8 " The eldest sister was given to Otho the Second,
August c. Emperor of the "West; the younger became the
wife of Wolodomir, great duke and apostle of Russia ; and,
by the marriage of her granddaughter with Henry the First,
King of France, the blood of the Macedonians, and perhaps
of the Arsacides, still flows in the veins of the Bourbon line.
After the death of her husband the empress aspired to reign
in the name of her sons, the elder of whom was five, and the
younger only two years of age; but she soon felt the insta-
bility of a throne which was supported by a female who could
not be esteemed, and two infants who could not be feared*
Theophano looked around for a protector, and threw herself,
into the arms of the bravest soldier ; her heart was capacious ;
but the deformity of the new favorite rendered it more than
probable that interest was the motive and excuse of her love.
JSTicephoras Phocas united, in the popular opinion, the double
merit of a hero and a saint. In the former character his qual-
ifications were genuine and splendid: the descendant of a race
illustrious by their military exploits, he had displayed in ev-
ery station and in every province the courage of a soldier and
the conduct of a chief ; and Nicephorus was crowned with re-
cent laurels from the important conquest of the Isle of Crete.
His religion was of a more ambiguous cast; and his hair-
cloth, his fasts, his pious idiom, and his wish to retire from

' Three years and five months. Leo Diaconus in Niebuhr, Bya. Hist, p. SO, M.

NICEPHOEUS PHOCAS. [Cn. XLVIII,

;ie business of the world, were a convenient mask for las
ark and dangerous ambition. Yet lie imposed on a holy
nitriarch, by whoso Influence, and by a decree of the senate,
le was intrusted, during the minority of the young princes,
vlth the absolute and independent command of the Oriental
irmies. As soon as he had secured the leaders and the troops
ae boldly marched to Constantinople, trampled on his ene-
mies, avowed his correspondence with the empress, and, with-
out degrading her sons, assumed, with the title of Augusta**,
the pre-eminence of rank and the plenitude of power. But
his marriage witli Theophano was refused by the same patri-
arch who had placed the crown on his head : by his second
nuptials he incurred a year of canonical penance ; a bar of
spiritual affinity was opposed to their celebration ;* and BOUIO
evasion and perjury were required to silence the scruples of
the clergy and people. The popularity of the emperor was
lost in the purple : in a reign of six years lio provoked the
hatred of strangers and subjects, and the hypocrisy and ava-
rice of the first Nlcephorus were revived in his successor.
Hypocrisy I shall never justify or palliate ; but I will daro
to observe that the odious vice of avarice is of all others most
hastily arraigned and most xinmercifully condemned. In a
private citizen our judgment seldom expects an accurate scru-
tiny into his fortune and expense ; arid in a steward of the
public treasure frugality is always a virtue, and the increase
of taxes too often an indispensable duty* In the -use of Ins
patrimony the generous temper of Niccphorus had been
proved ; and the revenue was strictly applied to the service
of the State ; each spring the emperor marched in person
against the Saracens ; and every Koman might compute the
employment of his taxes in triumphs, conquests, and the se-
curity of the Eastern barrier, b

Among the wamors who promoted his elevation and served
tinder his standard, a noble and valiant Armenian had da*

* The canonical objection to the marriage was his relation ot^^fatk^r to her
on*. Leo Diao, p, 60* -M.

b He retook Amiouh, and brought home as a trophy the sword of "the most
unholy and impious Mahoraet" Leo Diac, p. 76.~~M,

A,B.d69.] JOHN ZIMISCES. 61

served and obtained the most eminent rewards. The stature
^ ^^ n 2imisces was below the ordinary stand-
ard; a but this diminutive body was endowed with
strength, beauty, and the soul of a hero. By the
$55. a?' jealousy of the emperor's brother he was degraded
from the office of General of the East to that of di-
i*ector of the posts, and his murmurs were chastised with dis-
grace and exile. But Zimisces was ranked among the nu-
merous lovers of the empress: on her intercession he was
permitted to reside at Ohalcedon, in the neighborhood of the
capital : her bounty was repaid in his clandestine and amo-
rous visits to the palace ; and Theophano consented with alac-
rity to the death of an ugly and penurious husband. Some
bold and trusty conspirators were concealed in her most pri-
vate chambers : in tlae darkness of a winter night, Zimisces,
with his principal companions, embarked in a small boat, trav-
ersed the Bosphorus, landed at the palace stairs, and silently
ascended a ladder of ropes, which was cast down by the fe-
male attendants. Neither his own suspicions, nor the warn*
ings of his friends, nor the tardy aid of his brother Leo, nor
the fortress which he had erected in the palace, could protect
Nicephorus from a domestic foe, at whose voice every door
was opened to the assassins; As he slept on a bear-skin on
the ground, he was roused by their noisy intrusion, and thirty
daggers glittered before his eyes. It is doubtful whether
Zimisces imbrued his hands in the blood of his sovereign;
but he enjoyed the inhuman spectacle of revenge,* The
murder was protracted by insult and cntelty ; and as soon aa
the head of Nicephorus was shown from the window, the tu-
mult was hushed, and the Armenian was Emperor of the East.
On the day of his coronation he was stopped on the threshold
of St. Sophia by the intrepid patriarch, who charged his con*

* Zimisces is an Armenian word, and was given to John on account of his short
stature. Leo Diac. p. 92. S.

b According to Leo Diaconus, Zimisces, after ordering the wounded emperor to
be dragged to his feet, and heaping him with insult, to which the miserable man
only replied by invoking the name of the "mother of God," with his own hand
plucked his beard, while his accomplices beat out his teeth with the hilts of their
swords, and then trampling him to the ground, drove his sword into his akulL
Leo* Diac. in Niebuhr, Bya. Hist, L vii. c, 8, p. 88, M.

62 JOHN 2JIM1SCES, [Cii. XLVIIL

science with the deed of treason and blood, and required, as a
sign, of repentance, that he should separate himself from his
more criminal associate. This sally of apostolic zeal was not
offensive to the prince, since he could neither love nor trust
a woman who had repeatedly violated the most sacred obli-
gations ; and Theophano, instead of sharing his imperial fort-
une, was dismissed with ignominy from his bed and pahico.
In their last interview she displayed a frantic and impotent
rage, accused the ingratitude of her lover, assaulted, with
words and blows, her son Basil, as he stood silent and sub-
missive in the presence of a superior colleague, and avowed
her own prostitution in proclaiming the illegitimacy of his
birth.* The public indignation was appeased by her exile and
the punishment of the moaner accomplices : the death of an
unpopular prince was forgiven ; and the guilt of Zimisces was
forgotten in the splendor of his virtues. Perhaps his profu-
sion was less useful to the State than the avarice of Nicepho-
ruB ; but his gentle and generous behavior delighted all who
approached his person ; and it was only in the paths of vic-
tory that ho trod in the footsteps of his predecessor. The
greatest part of his roigti was employed in the camp and the
field: his personal valor and activity were signalized on the
Danube and the Tigris, the ancient boundaries of the Roman
world ; and by his double triumph over the Russians and tho
Saracens, ho deserved tho titles of savior of tho empire and
conqueror of the East In his last return from Syria ho ob-
served that tho most {rnitful lands of his new provinces were
possessed by the eunuchs* "And is it for them,' 1 he exclaim-
ed, with honest indignation, " that we have fought and con-
quered? Is it for them that we shed our blood and exhaust
the treasures of our people ? The eomplaint was re-echoed to
the palace, and the death of Zimisces is strongly marked with
the suspicion of poison.

> This la a mistake : it was the chamberlain Basil, tho son of a Scythian worn-
at). And not her own on, whom Thaophano niaaulteii upon henring W sentence
(I&o Dine* p. $9 ; Cedren* p 664)* Moreover, there IB nothing in the authorities
about her proclaiming the illegitimacy of her ROD, &or 'ndsed any reason to fiup-
he was present, from the account* of Leo IMaconun, Cotfcew** aud
p, 898. &

A.D. 976.] BASIL II. 63

Under this usurpation, or regency, of twelve years, the two
lawful emperors, Basil and Constantine, had silently grown to
Basil it. ^ ie a S of maD -hood. Their tender years had been
atenttnrix. inca P abIe of dominion : the respectful modesty of
T fcD ' 9T6 ,A their attendance and salutation was due to the asre

January 10, , , o

and merit of their guardians : the childless ambi-
tion of those guardians had no temptation to violate their
right of succession : their patrimony was ably and faithfully
administered ; and the premature death of Zimisces was a loss
rather than a benefit to the sons of Romanus, Their want
of experience detained them twelve } 7 ears longer the obscure
and voluntary pupils of a minister who extended his reign by
persuading them to indulge the pleasures of youth, and to dis-
dain the labors of government. In this silken web the weak-
ness of Constantino was forever entangled; but his elder
brother felt the impulse of genius and the desire of action ;
he frowned, and the minister was no more. Basil was the
acknowledged sovereign of Constantinople and the provinces
of Europe ; but Asia was oppressed by two veteran generals,
Fhocas and Soleras, who, alternately friends and enemies, sub-
jects and rebels, maintained their independence, and labored
to emulate the example of successful usurpation. Against
these domestic enemies the son of Romanus first drew his
sword, and they trembled in the presence of a lawful and
high-spirited prince. The first, in the front of battle, was
thrown from his horse by the stroke of poison or an arrow ;
the second, who had been twice loaded with chains,* and
twice invested with, the purple, was desirous of ending in
peace the small remainder of his days. As the aged suppli-
ant approached the throne, with dim eyes and faltering steps,
leaning on his two attendants, the emperor exclaimed, in the
insolence of youth and power, "And is this the man who has
so long been the object of our terror?" After he had con-
firmed his own authority and the peace of the empire, the
trophies of Hicephorus and Zimisces would not suffer their
royal pupil to sleep in the palace. His long and frequent ex-

* Once by the caliph, once by hi rival Phocas, Compare Le Beau, vol. xiv.

64 CONSTANTINE IX. [Cn. XLVII1

peditions against the Saracens were rather glorious than use-
ful to tho empire; but the final destruction of the kingdom
of Bulgaria appears, since the time of Belisariu8,tlio most im-
portant triumph of the Roman arms. Yet, instead of ap-
plauding their victorious prince, his subjects detested the ra-
pacious and rigid avarice of Basil : and, in the imperfect nar-
rative of his exploits, we can only discern tho courage, pa-
tience, and ferociousness of a soldier, A vicious education,
which could not subdue his spirit, had clouded his mind ; ho
was ignorant of every science; and the remembrance of his
learned and feeble grandsire might encourage his real or af-
fected contempt of laws and lawyers, of artists and arts. Of
such a character, in such an age, superstition took a firm and
lasting possession : after the first license of his youth, Basil
the Second devoted his life, in the palace and the camp, to
the penance of a hermit, wore the monastic habit undor hie
robes and armor, observed a vow of continence, and imposed
on his appetites a perpetual abstinence from wine and ileslu
In the sixty-eighth year of his age his martial spirit urged
him to embark in person for a holy war against tho Saracens
of Sicily ; he was prevented by death, aud Basil, su rimmed
the Slayer of the Bulgarians, was dismissed from the world
with the blessings of the clergy and the curses of the people.
cowBUn. After his decease, his brother Constantino enjoyed
A^Jihfe, about three years the power or rathor the pleasures

December. O f r0 y a lf;y - au< J fafe on ]y care ms tJ lo settlement

of the succession. He had enjoyed sixty-six years the title of
Augustus ; and the reign of tho two brothers is the longest
and most obscure of tho Byzantine history.

A lineal succession of five emperors, in a period of one
hundred and sixty years, had attached the loyalty of the
Bmanane in, Greeks to the Macedonian dynasty, which had been
iKoS", thrice respected by the usurpers of thoir power.
K ' ; * lft *' After the death of Constantino tho Ninth, the last
male of the royal race, a new and broken scene presents it-
self, and the accumulated years of twelve emperors do not
equal the spaee of his single reign* His elder brother had
preferred his private chastity to the public interest, and Con*

1034.] BOMANUS HI. MICHAEL IV. 65

atantine himself had only three daughters Eudocia, who took
the veil, and Zoe and Theodora, who were preserved till a
mature age in a state of ignorance and virginity. When, their
marriage was discussed in the council of their dying father,
the cold or pious Theodora refused to give an heir to the em*
pire, but her sister Zoe presented herself a willing victim at
the altar. Komanus Argyrus, a patrician of a graceful per-
son and fair reputation, was chosen for her husband, and,
on his declining that honor, was informed that blindness or
death was the second alternative. The motive of his reluc-
tance was conjugal affection, but his faithful wife sacrificed
her own happiness to his safety and greatness, and her en-
trance into a monastery removed the only bar to the imperial
nuptials. After the decease of Oonstantine the sceptre de-
volved to Eomanus the Third; but his labors at home and
abroad were equally feeble and fruitless; and the mature age,
the forty-eight years of Zoe, were less favorable to the hopes
of pregnancy than to the indulgence of pleasure- Her favor-
ite chamberlain was a handsome Paphlagonian of the name of
Michael, whose first trade had been that of a money-changer;
and Koinanns, either from gratitude or equity, connived at
their criminal intercourse, or accepted a slight assurance of
their innocence. But Zoe soon justified the Roman maxim,
that every adulteress is capable of poisoning her husband ;
and the death of Bomanus was instantly followed by the
scandalous marriage and elevation of Michael the
thiPapfcia-* Fourth* The expectations of Zoe were, however,
.iQ34 disappointed: instead of a vigorous and grateful
P * lover, she had placed in her bed a miserable wretch 5
whose health and reason were impaired by epileptic fits, and
whose conscience was tormented by despair and remorse.
The most skilful physicians of the mind and body were sum-
moned to his aid ; and his hopes were amused by frequent
pilgrimages to the baths and to the tombs of the most pop-
ular saints ; the monks applauded his penance, and, except
restitution (but to whom should he have restored 2), Michael
sought every method of expiating his guilt. While he groan-
ed and prayed in sackcloth and ashes* his brother, the eunuch
V.5

06 MICHAEL V. 2JOE AND THEODORA. [CH.XLVIII.

John> smiled at his remorse, and enjoyed the harvest of a
crime of which himself was the secret and most guilty au-
thor. His administration was only the art of satiating his
avarice* and Zoe became a captive in the palace of her fathers
and in the hands of her slaves. When he perceived the ir-
retrievable decline of his brother's health, he introduced his
nephew, another Michael* who derived his surname of Oa-
laphates from his father's occupation in the careening of ves-
sels : at the command of the eunuch, Zoe adopted for her BOM
the son of a mechanic; and this fictitious heir was invested
with the title and purple of the Oeasars in the presence of the
senate and clergy* So feeble was the character of Zoo, that
she was oppressed by the liberty and power which she reeov-
michaaiv. or d ky *^ death of the Paphlagonian ; and at the
2nfiSn* et *' en< ^ of four days she placed the crown on the hoiid
Dec, 14. * O f ]y[i c i uie i the Fifth, who had protested with tears
and oaths that he should ever reign the first and most obedi-
ent of her subjects* The only act of his short reign was hm
base ingratitude to his benefactors, the eunuch and the em-
press. The disgrace of the former was pleasing to the pub-
lic ; but tho murmurs, and at length the clamors, of Constan-
tinople deplored the exile of Zoo, the daughter of BO many
emperors; her vices were forgotten, and Michael was taught
that thex'e is a period in which the patience of tho tamest
slaves rises into fury and revenge* The citizens of every
degree assembled in a formidable tumult which hinted throe
days; they besieged the palace, forced the gates,, recalled their
2<*nd mother^ Zoo from her prison, Theodora from her
Ittti^SS?* monastery, and condemned tho sort of Oalaphatos

April ttt. f to t j ae J OS8 O f kj s y 6Q or O f l x j s iif 0> p or t j |0 fl^tj

time the Greeks beheld with surprise the two royal sisters
seated on the same throne, presiding in the senate, and giving
audience to the ambassadors of the nations, But this singu-
lar xinion subsisted no more than two months; the. two sov-
ereigns, their tempers, interests, and adherents, were secret-
ly hostile to each other; and AS Theodora was still averse to
marriage, the indefatigable J2oe, at the age of sixty, ennsented,
for the public good, to sustain the embraces of a third hup-

A.IX 104^-1056.] CONSTANTmE X. THEODORA. MICHAEL VL 67

band, and the censures of the Greek Church. His name and
constan- number were Constantine the Tenth, and the epi-
jtonifm- *het of Monomachus, the single combatant, must
5Siw3, k ave been expressive of his valor and victory in
junn. some public or private quarrel.* But his health
was broken by the tortures of the gout, and his dissolute
reign was spent in the alternative of sickness and pleasure
A fair and noble widow had accompanied Constantine in. his
exile to the Isle of Lesbos, and Sclerena gloried in the appel-
lation of his mistress. After his marriage arid elevation she
was invested with the title and pomp of Augusta, and occu-
pied a contiguous apartment in the palace. The lawful con-
sort (such was the delicacy or corruption of Zoe) consented to
this strange and scandalous partition; and the emperor ap-
peared in public between his wife and his concubine. He
survived them both ; but the last measures of Constantine to
change the order of succession were prevented by the more

vigilant friends of Theodora: and after his de-
Theodora. 1 1 .,1 xl 1 ,,

A.i>.io54, cease she resumed, with the general consent, the
possession of her inheritance. In her name, and by
the influence of four eunuchs, the Eastern world was peace-
ably governed about nineteen months ; and as they wished to
prolong their dominion, they persuaded the aged princess to
nominate for her successor Michael the Sixth. The surname
of Stoatiotftowa declares his military profession ; but the crazy
and decrepit veteran could only see with the eyes and exe-
cute with the hands of his ministers. Whilst he
asoOTded the throne, Theodora sunk into the grave
the last of the Macedonian or Basilian dynasty.
I have hastily reviewed and gladly dismiss this shameful and
destructive period of twenty-eight years, in which the Greeks,
degraded below the common level of servitude, were transfer-
red like a herd of cattle by the choice or caprice of two im-
potent females.

From this night of slavery, a ray of freedom, or at least of
spirit, begins to emerge : the Greeks either preserved or re-

* Monomachus was a hereditary name in the family of Constantine, and there-
fore had no reference to the qualities of the individual. IPinlay, vol. i. p. 500. S.

f>8 ISAAC L [CH, XLVII1

vived the use of surnames, which perpetuate the fame of
isaaci hereditary virtue : and we now discern the rise, suc^
SSTilSTr"" cofision, and alliances of the last dynasties of Con-
Aug. si. stantinople and Trobizond. The Comncni^ who up-
hold for awhile the fate of the sinking empire, assumed the
honor of a Roman origin : but the family had been long since
transported from Italy to Asia, Their patrimonial estate was
situate in the district of Gastainona, in the neighborhood of
the Enxino ; and one of their chiefs, who had already entered
the paths of ambition, revisited with affection, perhaps with
regret, the modest though honorable dwelling of his fathers.
The first of thoir line was the illustrious Manuel, who* in the
reign of the second Basil, contributed by war and treaty to
appease the troubles of the East : he left in a tender age two
sons, Isaac and John, whom, with the consciousness of desert,
he bequeathed to the gratitude and favor of his sovereign**
The noble youths were carefully trained in the learning of
the monastery, the arts of the palace, and the exercises of the
camp : and, from the domestic service of the guards, they
were rapidly promoted to the command of provinces and
armies. Their fraternal union doubled the force and reputa-
tion of the Goznnem, and their ancient nobility was illustrated
by the marriage of the two brothers, with a captive princess
of Bulgaria, and the daughter of a Patrician who had obtain-
ed the name of Charon from the number of enemies whom
he had sent to the infernal shades. The soldiers had served
with reluctant loyalty a series of effeminate masters ; the elo-
vation of Michael tho Sixth was a personal insult to the more
deserving generals ; and their discontent was inflamed by the
parsimony of the emperor and the insolence of the eunuchs.
They secretly assembled in the sanctuary of St, Sophia, and
the rotes of the military synod would have been unanimous
.in $#v@r of the old and valiant Oatacalon, if the patriotism or
modesty of the veteran had not suggested the importance of
birth as weH as merit in the choice of & sovereign* Isaac
Comnenus was approved by general consent, and the associ-

* See note a on opposite page,

A..P. 1057. J

GENEALOGY OF THE COMNENL

B 1

Q-

PF$\

B g

rt- B ,

d '

-|S-

V r

_
I

pa _ | _
P

70 ISAAC L [CH.XLVII1

atos separated without delay to moot in tho plains of Phrygia
at the head of their respective squadrons and detachments.
Tho cause of Michael was defended in a single battle by
the mercenaries of the Imperial Guard, who were aliens
to the public interest, and animated only by a principle of
honor and gratitude. After their defeat tho fears of the
emperor solicited a treaty, which was almost accepted by
tho moderation of the Oomnontan, But the former was be*
trayed by his ambassadors, and the latter wsia prevented by
his friends* The solitary Michael submitted to tho voice ol
the people ; tho patriarch annulled their oath of allegiance ;
and, as he shaved the head of the royal monk, congratulated
his btmeiieial exchange of temporal royalty for tho kingdom
of heaven ; an exchange, however, which the priest, on his
own account, would probably have declined. By tho hands
of the same patriarch, Isaac Oomnenus was solemnly crown-
ed ; the sword which ho inscribed on his coins might bo an
offensive symbol if it implied his title by conquest; but this
sword would have been drawn against the foreign and domes-
tic enemies of tho State. Tho decline of Im health and vigor
suspended the operation of active virtue; and tho prospect
of approaching death determined him to interpose some mo-
ments between life and eternity* But instead of leaving the
empire as the marriage portion of his daughter, his reason
and inclination concurred in tho preference of his brother
John, a soldier, a patriot, and the father of five sons, the fufc*
nre pillars of a hereditary succession. His first modest re*
luctance might be tho natural dictates of discretion and ten-
derness, but his obstinate and successful perseverance, how-
ever it may dazzle with tho show of virtue, must be censured
as a criminal desertion of his duty, and a rare offence against
his family and country,* Tho purple which he had refused
was accepted by Constantino Ducas, a friend of tho Oomne*
house, and whose noble birth was adorned with tho expo*

* Gibbon'* statement that Joint refused tlia Impend crown In taken from Ni

inlay remarks (vol. ii. p, 15) that thin rtppmr* to
e, since ScjUtsse* expveaaty declares that Jgauc

vwuruwu mttirouuTOixu w*i*v wit

cephorus Bryennlui ; but Mr, Finlny remarks (vol. ii. p, 15) that thin rtpi^nre to be
merely a flouHgh of ftuwdly prid

hi* brother. a

A.I>. 1059, 1067.] CONSTAOTINE XI. EUDOCIA, 71

rience and reputation of civil policy. In the monastic habit
Isaac recovered his health, and survived two years his volun-
tary abdication. At the command of his abbot, he observed
the rule of St. Basil, and executed the most servile offices of
the convent : but his latent vanity was gratified by the fre-
quent and respectful visits of the reigning monarch, who re-
vered in his person the character of a benefactor and a saint.
If Cons tan tine the Eleventh were indeed the subject most
worthy of empire, we must pity the debasement of the age
Constantino an< l nation in which he was chosen. In the labor
A.i).?o^ s " f puerile declamations he sought, without obtain-
DCC. as. j^g^ t j ie crown o f eloquence, more precious in his
opinion than that of Home ; and in the subordinate functions
of a judge he forgot the duties of a sovereign and a warrior.
Far from imitating the patriotic indifference of the authors
of his greatness, Ducas was anxious only to secure, at the ex-
pense of the republic, the power and prosperity of his chil-
dren. His three sons, Michael the Seventh, Andronicus the
First, and Oonstantine the Twelfth, were Invested in a tender
age with the equal title of Augustus; and the succession was
speedily opened by their father's death, His wid-
? leer, ow, Eudocia, was intrusted with the administration ;
May ' but experience had taught the jealousy of the dy-

ing monarch to protect his sons from the danger of her sec-
ond nuptials ; and her solemn engagement, attested by the
principal senators, was deposited in the hands of the patri-
arch- Before the end of seven months, the wants of Eudocia
or those of the State called aloud for the male virtues of a
soldier ; and her heart had already chosen Romanus Diog-
enes, whom she raised from the scaffold to the throne. The
discovery of a treasonable attempt had exposed him to the se-
verity of the laws : his beauty and valor absolved him in the
eyes of the empress ; and Romanus, from a rnild exile, was re-
called on the second day to the command of the Oriental ar-
mies. Her royal choice was yet unknown to the public ; and
the promise which would have betrayed her falsehood and
levity was stolen by a dexterous emissary from the ambition
of the patriarch* Xiphilin at first alleged the sanctity of

72 KOMANUS III. CONSTANTINE XII. [CH.XLVIII.

oaths and the sacred nature of a trust ; but a whisper that
his brother was the future emperor relaxed his scruples, and
forced him to confess that the public safety was the supreme
law. He resigned the Important paper ; and when his hopes
i m. wel> confounded by the nomination of Roman us,
* h& could no longer regain his security, retract his
declarations, nor oppose the second nuptials of the
empress* Yet a murmur was heard in the palace; and the
barbarian guards had raised their battle-axes in the cause of
the House of Ducas, till the young princes were soothed by
the tears of their mother and the solemn assurances of the
fidelity of their guardian, who filled the imperial station with
dignity and honor- Hereafter I shall relate his valiant but
unsuccessful efforts to resist the progress of the Turks* His
defeat and captivity inflicted a deadly wound on the Byzan-
tine monarchy of the East ; and after lie was released from
the chains of the sultan t he vainly Bought his wife and his
subjects* His wife had been thrust into a monastery, and
the subjects of Komanus had embraced the rigid maxim of
the civil law, that a prisoner in the hands of the enemy is de-
prived, as by the stroke of death, of all the public and private
rights of a citizen* In the general consternation
the Ctesar John asserted the indofoaHiblo right of
his three nephews: Constantinople listened to his
" ion", voice ; and the Turkish captive was proclaimed iu
AngMt. t j ae ca pj ta ] y an $ received on the frontier, as an en-
emy of the republic* Komanus was not more fortunate in do*
mestie than in foreign war : the loss of two battles compelled
him to yield, on the assurance of fair and honorable treat-
ment; but his enemies were devoid of faith or humanity;
and, after the cruel extinction of his sight, his wounds were
10ft to bleed and corrupt, till in a few days he was relieved
from a state of misery* Under the triple reign of the House
of : -3>ttGa the two younger brothers were reduced to the vain
honors of the purple ; but the eldest, the pusillanimous Mi*
chael, was incapable of sustaining the lioman sceptre; and
hte ftaraame of Ptwqpwacta denotes the reproach which he
shared with an avaricious favorite, who enhanced the price

A.D.1078.] NICEPHOEUS in. 73

and diminished the measure of wheat. In the school of Psel*
IUB, and after the example of his mother, the son of Eudocia
made some proficiency in philosophy and rhetoric; but his
character was degraded rather than ennobled by the virtues
of a monk and the learning of a sophist. Strong in the con-
tempt of their sovereign and their own esteem, two generals,
at the head of the European and Asiatic legions, assumed the
purple at Adrianople and Nice. Their revolt was in the same
month ; they bore the same name ,of Nicephorus ; but the
two candidates were distinguished by the surnames of Bryen-
nius and Botaniates : the former in the maturity of wisdom
and courage, the latter conspicuous only by the memory of
his past exploits- While Botaniates advanced with cautious
and dilatory steps, his active competitor stood in arms before
the gates of Constantinople. The name of Bryennius was
illustrious ; his cause was popular ; but his licentious troops
could not be restrained from burning and pillaging a suburb ;
and the people, who would have hailed the rebel, rejected and
repulsed the incendiary of his country. This change of the
public opinion was favorable to Botaniates, who at length,
with an army of Turks, approached the shores of Ohalcedon.
A formal invitation, in the name of the patriarch, the synod,
and the senate, was circulated through the streets of Constan*
tinople; and the general assembly, in the dome of St. Sophia,
debated, with order and calmness, on the choice of their sov-
ereign. The guards of Michael would have dispersed this un-
armed multitude j but the feeble emperor, applauding his own
moderation and clemency, resigned the ensigns of royalty, and
was rewarded with the monastic habit, and the title of Arch-
bishop of Ephesus. He left a son, a Oonstantine, born and
educated in the purple ; and a daughter of the House of Du-
cas illustrated the blood and confirmed the succession of the
Oomnenian dynasty.

Joiip. Oomnenus, the brother of the Emperor Isaac, survived
in peace and dignity his generous refxisal of the sceptre. By
his wife Anne, a, woman of masculine spirit and policy, he left
eight children : the three daughters multiplied the Oomneniau
alliances with the noblest of the Greeks: of the five sons,

T4: NICEPHORTJS IIL

bffanncT was stopped by a promaturo death; Isaac and Alex*
. . ius restored the imperial greatness of their house,

Nteepho- t t , . / .,,. fo . . .* a t j.i

run ni. which was cnioyed without toil or danger by the

liottmtotoa. t , , A -i . i -J?. i

nVhak. y un & er brethren, Adrian and JNicephorus.

Alexius, the third and most illustrious of the
brothers, was endowed by nature with the choicest gifts both
of mind and body : they were cultivated by a liberal educa-
tion, and exercised in the school of obedience and adversity.
The youth was dismissed from the perils of the Turkish war
by the paternal care of the Emperor Komanus ; but the moth-
er of the Oomneni, with her aspiring race, was accused of trea-
son, and banished, by the sons of Pucas, to an island in the
Propontis. The two brothers soon emerged into favor and
action, fought by each other's side against the rebels and bar-
barians, and adhered to the Emperor Michael, till ho was de-
sorted by the world and by himself. In his first interview
with Botaniatea, " Prince,'* said Alexius, with a noble frank-
ness, ** my duty rendered me your enemy ; the decrees of God
and of the people have made me your subject. Judge of my
future loyalty by my past opposition*" The successor of Mi-
chael entertained him with esteem and confidence : his valor
was employed against three rebels, who disturbed the peaco
of the empire, or at least of the emperors. Ursel, Bryontuus>
and Basilacius were formidable by their numerous forces and
military fame: they wore successively vanquished in tine field,
and led in chains to the foot of the throne ; and whatever
treatment they might receive from a timid and eruol court,
they applauded the clemency as well as the courage of their
conqueror. But the loyalty of the Qomnoni was soon taint-
ed by fear and suspicion; nor is it easy to settle between a
subject and a despot the debt of gratitude which the former
ii tempted to claim by a revolt;* and the latter to discharge by
an executioner* The refusal of Alexius to march against a
fourth rebel, the husband of his sister, destroyed the merit or
memory of his past services : the favorites of Botaniates pro*
yoked the ambition which they apprehended and accused ;
and the retreat of the two brothers might be justified by the
defence of their life or liberty* The women of the family

AJX 10810 ALEXIUS L 75

were deposited in a sanctuary, respected by tyrants : the men,
mounted on horseback, sallied from the city, and erected the
standard of civil war. The soldiers who had been gradually
assembled in the capital and the neighborhood were devoted
to the cause of a victorious and injured leader: the ties of
common interest and domestic alliance secured the attach-
ment of the House of Ducas ; and the generous dispute of
the Oomneni was terminated by the decisive resolution of
Isaac, who was the first to invest his younger brother with the
name and ensigns of royalty. They returned to Constantino-
ple, to threaten rather than besiege that impregnable fortress ;
but the fidelity of the guards was corrupted ; a gate was sur-
prised, and the fleet was occupied by the active courage of
George Palceologus, who fought against his father, without
foreseeing that he labored for his posterity. Alexius ascend-
ed the throne ; and his aged competitor disappeared in a mon-
astery. An army of various nations was gratified with the
pillage of the city ; but the public disorders were expiated by
the tears and fasts of the Oomneni, who submitted to every
penance compatible with the possession of the empire.

The life of the Emperor Alexius has been delineated by a
favorite daughter, who was inspired by a tender regard for
Alexius i k* s P^son and a laudable zeal to perpetuate his
A^i^gj 08 " virtues. Conscious of the just suspicion of her
April i. readers, the Princess Anna Comnena repeatedly
protests that, besides her personal knowledge, she had search-
ed the discourse and writings of the most respectable veter-
ans : that, after an interval of thirty years, forgotten by and
forgetful of the world, her mournful solitude was inaccessible
to hope and fear; and that truth, the naked, perfect truth,
was more dear and sacred than the memory of her parent.
Yet, instead of the simplicity of style and narrative which
wins our belief, an elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science
betrays in every page the vanity of a female author. The
genuine character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation
of virtues ; and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apolo-
gy awakens our jealousy, to question the veracity of the his*
torian and the merit of the hero. We cannot, however, refuse

76 ALEXIUS L [CH.XLVIIt

hor judicious and important remark, that the disorders of tho
times wore the misfortune and tho glory of Alexius ; and that
very calamity which can afflict a declining empire was ac-
cumulated on his reign by the justice of Heaven and the vices
of his predecessors. In the East, the victorious Turks had
spread, from Persia to the Hellespont, the reign of tho Koran
and tho Crescent : tho West was invaded by the adventurous
valor t>f tho Normans; and, in tho moments of peace, tho
Danube poured forth new swarms, who had gained in tho
science of war, what they had lost in tho ferociousness* of
manners. Tho &ea was not loss hostile than the land; and
while the frontiers were assaulted by an open enemy, tho pal-
ace was distracted with Bocret treason and conspiracy. On a
sudden tho banner of the Cross was displayed by the Latins ;
Europe was precipitated on Asia; and Constantinople had
almost been swept away by this impetuous deluge, In the
tempest, Alexius steered the imperial vessel with dexterity
and courage* At the head of his armies ho was bold in ac-
tion, skilful in stratagem, patient of fatigue, ready to improve
bis advantages, and rising from his defeats with inexhaustible
vigor, Tho discipline of tho camp waa revived, and a new
generation of men and soldiers was created by the example
and tho precepts of their leader. In his intercourse with tho
Latins, Alexius was patient and artful : his discerning eye
pervaded the new system of an unknown world ; and I shall
hereafter describe the superior policy with which he balanced
the interests and passions of the champions of the first <sru-
sada In a long reign of thirty-seven years he subdued and
pardoned the envy of his equals: the laws of public and pri-
vate order were restored : the art of wealth and science were
cultivated: the limits of the empire were enlarged in Europe
and Asia ; and the Comneniau sceptre was transmitted to his
children of the third and fourth generation* Yet the diffi-
culties of the times betrayed some defects in his character,
and have exposed his memory to some just or ungenerous re-
proach. The reader may possibly smile at the lavish praise
which his daughter so often bestows on a flying hero $ the
or prudence of his situation might be mistaken foi

, 1118.] JOHN. 77

a want of personal courage ; and his political arts are brand-
ed by the Latins with the names of deceit and dissimulation.
The increase of the male and female branches of his family
adorned the throne and secured the succession ; but their
princely luxury and pride offended the Patricians, exhausted
the revenue, and insulted the misery of the people. Anna is
a faithful witness that his happiness was destroyed, and his
health was broken, by the cares of a public life : the patience
of Constantinople was fatigued by the length and severity of
his reign ; and before Alexius expired, he had lost the love
and reverence of his subjects. The clergy could not forgive
his application of the sacred riches to the defence of the
State; but they applauded his theological learning and ar-
dent zeal for the orthodox faith, which he defended with Ms
tongue, his pen, and his sword. His character was degraded
by the superstition of the Greeks; and the same inconsistent
principle of human nature enjoined the emperor to found a
hospital for the poor and infirm, and to direct the execution
of a heretic, who was burned alive in the Square of St.- Sophia.
Even the sincerity of his moral and religious virtues was sus-
pected by the persons who had passed their lives in his famil-
iar confidence. In his last hours, when he was pressed by
his wife Irene to alter the succession, he raised his head, and
breathed a pious ejaculation on the vanity of this world. The
indignant reply of the empress may be inscribed as an epitaph
on his tomb, " You die, as you have lived A HYPOOBITE 1"

It was the wish of Irene to supplant the eldest of her sur-
viving sons in favor of her daughter the Princess Anna,
whose philosophy would not have refused the

John, or i , < ' T -r> , ^ i _e T

eaio-Jo- weight of a diadem. But the order of male sue-
A.i>.nis, cession was asserted by the friends of their conn."
Aug.i& t ^_ t ^ e lawful heir drew the royal signet from
the finger of his insensible or conscious father, and the empire
obeyed the master of the palace. Anna Oomnena was stimu-
lated by ambition and revenge to conspire against the life of
her brother, and, when the design was prevented by the fears
or scruples of her husband, she passionately exclaimed that
nature had mistaken the two -sexes,: and had endowed Bryea*

78 JOHN* [OH. XLVIEL

mus with the soul of a woman. The two sons of Alexius,
John and Isaac, maintained the fraternal concord, the heredi-
tary virtue of their race, and the younger brother was con-
tent with the title of &fia#towat0r 9 vrhi<Ai approached the dig-
nity without sharing the power of the emperor. In the same
person, the claims of primogeniture and merit wore fortunate-
ly united ; his swarthy complexion, harsh features, and dhnin-
titivo stature had suggested the ironical surname of Gulo-Jo*
haunes, or John the Handsome., which his grateful subjects
more seriously applied to the beauties of his mind. After
tho discovery of her treason, the life and fortune of Anna
were justly forfeited to tho laws. Her life was spared by tho
clemency of the emperor; but he visited the ponvp and treas-
ures of her palace, and bestowed the rich confiscation on tho
most deserving of his friends. That respectable friend, Ax-
uohj a slave of Turkish extraction^ presumed to decline the
gift and to intercede for the criminal: his generous master
applauded and imitated tho virtue of his favorite, and tho re-
proach or complaint of an injured brother was the only chas-
tisement of the guilty prmeeas. After this example of clem-
ency, tho remainder of his reign was never disturbed by con-
spiracy or rebellion: feared by his nobles, beloved by his peo-
ple, John was never reduced to the painful necessity of pun-
ishing, or even of pardoning, his personal enemies. During
his government of twenty-five years, the penalty of death was
abolished in tho Boman empire, a law of mercy most delight-
ful to the humane theorist, but of which the practice* in a
large and vicious community, is seldom consistent with the
public safety* Severe to himself, indulgent to others, chaste,
frugal, abstemious, tho philosophic Marcus would not have
disdained the artless virtues of his successor* derived from his
heart, and not borrowed from the schools. He despised and
moderated the stately magnificence of the Byzantine court, so
oppressive to the people, so contemptible to the yo of reason*
Under such a prince innocence had nothing' to fear, and merit
had everything to hope ; and, without assuming the tyrannic
office of a censor^ he introduced a gradual though visible ref*
ormation in the public and private manners of Oonatantiw>

<u>. 1143-3 MANUEL. 7&

pie. The only defect of this accomplished character was the
frailty of noble minds the love of arms and military glory
Yet the frequent expeditions of John the Handsome may be
justified, at least in their principle, by the necessity of repel-
ling the Turks from the Hellespont and the Bosphorus. The
Sultan of Iconium was confined to his capital, the barbarians
were driven to the mountains, and the maritime provinces of
Asia enjoyed the transient blessings of their deliverance.
From Constantinople to Antioch and Aleppo, he repeatedly
marched at the head of a victorious army ; and in the sieges
and battles of this holy war, his Latin allies were astonished
by the superior spirit and prowess of a Greek. As he began
to indulge the ambitious hope of restoring the ancient limits
of the empire, as he revolved in his mind the Euphrates and
Tigris, the dominion of Syria, and the conquest of Jerusalem,
the thread of his life and of the public felicity was broken by
a singular accident. He hunted the wild -boar in the valley
of Anaziarbus, and had fixed his javelin in the body of the
furious animal ; but in the struggle a poisoned arrow dropped
from his quiver, and a slight wound in his hand, which pro-
duced a mortification, was fatal to the best and greatest of the
Oomnenian princes.

A premature death had swept away the two eldest sons of
John the Handsome; of the two survivors, Isaac and Manuel,
his judgment or affection preferred the younger ;
aftd the choice of their dying prince was ratified
by the soldiers, who had applauded the valor of his
favorite in the Turkish war. The faithful Axuch hastened
to the capital, secured the person of Isaac in honorable con-
finement, and purchased, with a gift of two hundred pounds
of silver, the leading ecclesiastics of St. Sophia, who possessed
a decisive voice in the consecration of an emperor. With his
veteran and affectionate troops, Manuel soon visited Constan-
tinople ; his brother acquiesced in the title of Sebastocrator ;
his subjects admired the lofty stature and martial graces of
their new sovereign, and listened with credulity to the flatter-
ing promise that he Wended the wisdom of age with the ac-
tivity and vigor of youth. By the experience of his govern

80 MANUEL. [Cn.

inent they were taught that he emulated the spirit and shared
the talents of his father, whose social virtues were buried in
the grave. A reign of thirty-seven years is filled by a per-
petual though various warfare against the Turks, the Chris-
tians, and the hordes of the wilderness beyond the Danube.
The arms of Manuel were exercised on Mount Taurus, in the
plains of Hungary, on the coast of Italy and Egypt, and on
the seas of Sicily and Greece : the influence of his negotia-
tions extended from Jerusalem to Rome and Russia ; and the
[Byzantine monarchy for awhile became an object of respect
or terror to the powers of Asia and Europe. Educated in the
silk and purple of the East, Manuel possessed the iron tem-
per of a soldier, which cannot easily be paralleled, except in.
the lives of Richard the First of England, and of Charles the
Twelfth of Sweden. Such was his strength and exercise in.
arms, that Raymond, surnamed the Hercules of Antioch, was
incapable of wielding the lance and buckler of the Greek
emperor. In a famous tournament he entered the lists on a
fiery courser, and overturned in his first career two of the
stoutest of the Italian knights. The first in the charge, the
last in the retreat, his friends and his enemies alike trem-
bled, the former for his safety, and the latter for their own.
After posting an ambuscade in a wood, he rode forward in
search of some perilous adventure, accompanied only by his
brother and the faithful Axuch, who refused to desert their
sovereign. Eighteen horsemen, after a short combat, fled be-
fore them: but the numbers of the enemy increased; the
march of the reinforcement was tardy and fearful, and Man-
uel, without receiving a wound, cut his way through a squad-
ron of five hundred Turks. In a battle against the Hunga-
rians, impatient of the slowness of his troops, he snatched a
standard from the head of the column, and was the first, al-
most alone, who passed a bridge that separated him from the
enemy. In the same country, after transporting his army
beyond the Save, he sent back the boats with an order, under
pain of death, to their commander, that he should leave him
to conquer or die on that hostile land. In the siege of Gorf a,
tewing after him & captive galley, the emperor stood aloft ott

AJ>.1143.] MANUEL. 81

the poop, opposing against the volleys of darts and stones a
large buckler and a flowing sail ; nor could he have escaped
inevitable death, had not the Sicilian admiral enjoined his
archers to respect the person of a hero. In one day he is
said to have slain above forty of the barbarians with his own
hand ; he returned to the camp, dragging along four Turkish
prisoners, whom he had tied to the rings of his saddle: he
was ever the foremost to provoke or to accept a single com-
bat ; and the gig<mtie champions who encountered his arm
were transpierced by the lance, or cut asunder by the sword,
of the invincible Manuel. The story of his exploits, which
appear as a model or a copy of the romances of chivalry, may
induce a reasonable suspicion of the veracity of the Greeks :
I will not, to vindicate their credit, endanger my own ; yet I
may observe that, in the long series of their annals, Manuel is
the only prince who has been the subject of similar exaggera-
tion. With the valor of a soldier he did not unite the skill
or prudence of a general: his victories were not productive
of any permanent or useful conquest; and his Turkish lau-
rels were blasted in his last unfortunate campaign, in which
he lost his army in the mountains of Pisidia, and owed his de-
liverance to the generosity of the sultan. But the most sin-
gular feature in the character of Manuel is the contrast and
vicissitude of labor and sloth, of hardiness and effeminacy.
In war he seemed ignorant of peace, in peace he appeared
incapable of war. In the field he slept in the sun or in the
snow, tired in the longest inarches the strength of his men
and horses, and shared with a smile the abstinence or diet of
the camp. No sooner did he return to Constantinople, than
he resigned himself to the arts and pleasures of a life of lux-
ury: the expense of his dress, his table, and his palace sur-
passed the measure of his predecessors, and whole summer
days were idly wasted in the delicious isles of the Propontis,
in the incestuous love of his niece Theodora. The double
cost of a warlike and dissolute prince exhausted the revenue
and multiplied the taxes ; and Manuel, in the distress of his
last Turkish camp, endured a bitter reproach from the mouth
of a desperate soldier. As he quenched his thirst, he coin-
Y, 6

82 ALEXIUS IL CHARACTER OF AKDROmCUS. [On. XLVIII.

plained that the water of a fountain was mingled with Chris-
tian blood. " It is not the first time," exclaimed a voice from
the crowd, " that you have drank, O emperor, the blood of
your Christian subjects." Manuel Comnenus was twice mar-
ried to the virtuous Bertha or Irene of Germany, and to the
beauteous Maria, a French or Latin princess of Antioch. The
only daughter of his first wife was destined for Bela, a Hun-
garian prince, who was educated at Constantinople under the
name of Alexius ; and the consummation of their nuptials
might have transferred the Roman sceptre to a race of free
and warlike barbarians. But as soon as Maria of Antioch
had given a son and heir to the empire, the presumptive
rights of Bela were abolished, and he was deprived of his
promised bride ; but the Hungarian prince resumed his name
and the kingdom of his fathers, and displayed such virtues as
might excite the regret and envy of the Greeks. The son
of Maria was named Alexius ; and at the age of ten years he
ascended the Byzantine throne, after his father's decease had
closed the glories of the Comnenian line.

The fraternal concord of the two sons of the great Alexius
had been sometimes clouded by an opposition of interest and
passion. By ambition, Isaac the Sebastocrator was excited
to flight and rebellion, from whence he was reclaimed by the
firmness and clemency of John the Handsome. The errors
of Isaac, the father of the emperors of Trebizond,
were short and venial; but John, the elder of his
sons, renounced forever his religion- Provoked by

and first ad- n . . i * * it

ventures of a real or imaginary insult of his uncle, he escaped
from the Roman to the Turkish camp : his apos-
tasy was rewarded with the sultan's, daughter, the title of
Chelebi, or noble, and the inheritance of a princely estate ;
and*in the fifteenth century, Mahomet the Second boasted of
his imperial descent from the Comnenian family. Androni-
cus, younger brother of John, son of Isaac, and grandson of
Alexius Oomnenus, is one of the most conspicuous characters
of the age; and his genuine adventures might form the sub-
ject of a very singular romance. To justify the choice of
t&ree ladies of royal birth, it is incumbent on me to observe

A.r>. 1180.] ADVENTURES OF ANDRONICUS, 83

that their fortunate lover was cast in the best proportions of
strength and beauty ; and that the want of the softer graces
was supplied by a manly countenance, a lofty stature, athletic
muscles, and the air and deportment of a soldier. The pres-
ervation, in his old age, of health and vigor, was the reward
of temperance and exercise. A piece of bread and a draught
of water was often his sole and evening repast; and if he
tasted of a wild-boar or a stag, which he had roasted with hi&
own hands, it was the well-earned fruit of a laborious chase.
Dexterous in arms, he was ignorant of fear : his persuasive
eloquence could bend to every situation and character of life :
his style, though not his practice, was fashioned by the exam-
ple of St. Paul ; and, in every deed of mischief, he had a heart
to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute. In his
youth, after the death of the Emperor John, he followed the
retreat of the Koman army ; but, in the march through Asia
Minor, design or accident tempted him to wander in the
mountains: the hunter was encompassed by the Turkish
huntsmen, and he remained some time a reluctant or will-
ing captive in the power of the sultan. His virtues and vices
recommended him to the favor of his cousin ; he shared the
perils and the pleasures of Manuel; and while the emperor
lived in public incest with his niece Theodora, the affections
of her sister Eudocia were seduced and enjoyed by Androni-
cus. Above the decencies of her sex and rank, she gloried in
the name of his concubine ; and both the palace and the camp
could witness that she slept, or watched, in the arms of her
lover. She accompanied him to his military command of Ci-
licia, the first scene of his valor and imprudence. He pressed,
with active ardor, the siege of Mopsuestia: the day was em-
ployed in the boldest attacks; but the night was wasted in
song and dance ; and a band of Greek comedians formed the
choicest part of his 'retinue. Andronicus was surprised by
the sally of a vigilant foe ; but while his troops fled in disor-
der, his invincible lance transpierced the thickest ranks of the
Armenians. On his return to the imperial camp in Macedo-
nia, he was received by Manuel with public smiles and a pri-
vate reproof ; but the duchies of ISTaissus, Braniseba, and Gas-

84: ADVENTURES OF ANDRONICUS. [Cn. XLVIII.

toria were tlie reward or consolation of the unsuccessful gen-
eral. Eudocia still attended his motions : at midnight their
tent was suddenly attacked by her angry brothers, impatient
to expiate her infamy in his blood: his daring spirit refused
her advice, and the disguise of a female habit ; and, boldly
starting from his couch, he drew his sword, and cut his way
through the numerous assassins. It was here that he first be-
trayed his ingratitude and treachery : he engaged in a trea-
sonable correspondence with the King of Hungary and the
German emperor ; approached the royal tent at a suspicious
hour with a drawn sword, and, under the mask of a Latin
soldier, avowed an intention of revenge against a mortal foe ;
and imprudently praised the fleetness of his horse as an in-
strument of flight and safety. The monarch dissembled his
suspicions ; but, after the close, of the campaign, Andronicus
was arrested and strictly confined in. a tower of the palace of
Constantinople.

In this prison he was left above twelve years; the most
painful restraint, from which the thirst of action and pleas-
ure perpetually urged him to escape. Alone and pensive, he
perceived some broken bricks in a corner of the chamber, and
gradually widened the passage till he had explored a dark and
forgotten recess. Into this hole he conveyed himself and the
remains of his provisions, replacing the bricks in their former
position, and erasing with care the footsteps of his retreat*
At the hour of the customary visit, his guards were amazed
by the silence and solitude of the prison, and reported, with
ahame and fear, his incomprehensible flight. The gates of
the palace and city were instantly shut: the strictest orders
were despatched into the provinces for the recovery of the
fugitive; and MB wife, on the suspicion, of a pious act, was
basely imprisoned in the same tower. At the dead of night
she beheld a spectre: she recognized her husband; they
shared their provisions, and a soix was the fruit of these sto-
len interviews, which alleviated the tediousness of their con-
fijiemaat, J& t^ie custody of a woman the vigilance of the
keepars was, ipsetusibly relaxed, and the captive had accom-
plished hi& real e$$&pe> when he WES discovered, brought bacfe

A.r>. 1180.] ADVENTURES OF ANDKONICUS. 85

to Constantinople, and loaded with a double chain. At length
he found the moment and the means of his deliverance. A
boy, his domestic servant, intoxicated the guards, and obtained
in wax the impression of the keys. By the diligence of his
friends a similar key, with a bundle of ropes, was introduced
into the prison in the bottom of a hogshead. Andronicus em-
ployed, with industry and courage, the instruments of his safe-
ty, unlocked the doors, descended from the tower, concealed
himself all day among the bushes, and scaled in the night the
garden wall of the palace. A boat was stationed for his re-
ception ; he visited his own house, embraced his children, cast
away his chain, mounted a fleet horse, and directed his rapid
course towards the banks of the Danube. At Anchialus, in
Thrace, an intrepid friend supplied him with horses and mon-
ey: he passed the river, traversed with speed the desert of
Moldavia and the Carpathian hills, and had almost reached the
town of Halicz, in the Polish Eussia, when he was intercept-
ed by a party of Wallachians, who resolved to convey their
important captive to Constantinople. His presence of mind
again extricated him from, this danger. Under the pretence
of sickness he dismounted in the night, and was allowed to
step aside from the troop : he planted in the ground his long
.staff, clothed it with his cap and upper garment, and, steal-
ing ittto the wood, left a phantom to amuse for some time
the eyes of the Wallachians. From Halicz he was honorably
conducted to Eiow, the residence of the great duke : the sub-
tle Greek soon obtained the esteem and confidence of Iero~
slaus; his character could assume the manners of every cli-
mate, and the barbarians applauded his strength and courage
in the chase of the elks and bears of the forest. In this north-
ern region he deserved the forgiveness of Manuel, who solic-
ited the Russian prince to join his arms in the invasion of
Hungary. The influence of Andronicus achieved this im-
portant service : his private treaty was signed with a promise
of fidelity on one side and of oblivion on the other, and he
inarched, at tbs head of the Russian cavalry, from the Borys-
thenes to the Danube, In his resentment Manuel had ever
sympathized with the martial and dissolute Character of his

86 ABVENTUBES OP AKDftONICUS. [Cn. XLVIII

cousin, and his free pardon was sealed in the assault of Zem.
lin, in which he was second, and second only, to the valor of
the emperor.

No sooner was the exile restored to freedom and his coun-
try than his ambition revived, at first to his own, and at length
to the public misfortune. A daughter of Manuel was a fee-
ble bar to the succession of the more deserving males of the
Oomnenian blood: her future marriage with the Prince of
Hungary was repugnant to the hopes or prejudices of the
princes and nobles. But when an oath of allegiance was re-
quired to the presumptive heir, Andronicus alone asserted tho
honor of the Roman name, declined the unlawful engage-
ment, and boldly protested against the adoption of a stranger*
His patriotism was offensive to the emperor; but he spoke
the sentiments of the people, and was removed from the roy-
al presence by an honorable banishment, a second command
of the Cilician frontier, with the absolute disposal of the rev-
enues of Cyprus. In this station the Armenians again exer-
cised his courage and exposed his negligence ; and the same
rebel, who baffled all his operations, was unhorsed, and almost
slain by the vigor of his lance. But Andronicus soon discov-
ered a more easy and pleading conquest, the beautiful Philip-
pa, sister of the Empress Maria, and daughter of Raymond of
Poitou, the Latin prince of Autioch. For her sake ho desert-
ed his station, and wasted the summer in balls and tourna*
ments: to his love she sacrificed her innocence, her reputa-
tion, and the offer of an advantageous marriage* But the re-
sentment of Manuel for this domestic affront interrupted hia
pleasures: Andronicus left the indiscreet princess to weep
and to repent; and, with a band of desperate adventurers, un-
dertook the pilgrimage of Jerusalem* His birth, his martial
ranown, and professions of zeal announced him as the ehara-
piop of the Cross: he soon captivated both the clergy and
t&e Mug, and the Greek prince was invested with the lordship
of Beuytn^on the coast of Phoenicia, In his neighborhood
reside4 a ;yojig ^u4 handsome queen, of his own nation and

ghter of the Emperor Alexis, and wid-
of Jerusalem. She vaulted

A..IX 1180.] ADVENTURES OP ANDRONICUS. 87

and loved her kinsman. Theodora was the third victim of
his amorous seduction, and her shame was more public and
scandalous than that of her predecessors. The emperor still
thirsted for revenge, and his subjects and allies of the Syrian
frontier were repeatedly pressed to seize the person and put
out the eyes of the fugitive. In Palestine he was no longer
safe ; but the tender Theodora revealed his danger, and ac-
companied his flight. The Queen of Jerusalem was exposed
to the East, his obsequious concubine, and two illegitimate
children were the living monuments of her weakness. Da-
mascus was his first refuge, and, in the characters of the great
Noureddin and his servant Saladin, the superstitious Greek
might learn to revere the virtues of the Mussulmans. As the
friend of IsToureddin he visited, most probably, Bagdad and
the courts of Persia, and, after a long circuit round the Cas-
pian Sea and the mountains of Georgia, he finally settled
among the Turks of Asia Minor, the hereditary enemies of
his country. The Sultan of Oolouia afforded an hospitable
retreat to Andronicus, his mistress, and his band of outlaws:
the debt of gratitude was paid by frequent inroads in the Ro-
man province of Trebizond, and he seldom returned without
an ample harvest of spoil and of Christian captives. In the
story of his adventures he was fond of comparing himself to
David, who escaped, by a long exile, the snares of the wicked*
But the royal prophet (he presumed to add) was content to
lurk on the borders of Judaea, to slay an Amalekite, and to
threaten, in his miserable state, the life of the avaricious ]STa-
bal. The excursions of the Comneman prince had a wider
range, and he had spread over the Eastern world the glory of
his name and religion. By a sentence of the Greek Church,
the licentious rover had been separated from the faithful ;
but even this excommunication may prove that he never ab-
jured the profession of Christianity.

His vigilance had eluded or repelled the open and secret
persecution of the ernperor; but he was at length ensnared
by the captivity of his female companion. The Governor *of
Trebizond succeeded in his attempt to surprise the person of
Theodora: the Queen of Jerusalem and her two children

88 ADVENTURES OP ANDRONICUS.

were sent to Constantinople, and their loss embittered the
tedious solitude of banishment. The fugitive implored and
obtained a final pardon, with leave to throw himself at the
feet of his sovereign, who was satisfied with the submission
of this haughty spirit. Prostrate on the ground, he deplored
with tears and groans the guilt of his past rebellion; nor
would he presume to arise, unless some faithful subject would
drag him to the foot of the throne by an iron chain with which
lie had secretly encircled his neck. This extraordinary pen-
ance excited the wonder and pity of the assembly : his sins
were forgiven by the Church and State; but the just sus-
picion of Manuel fixed his residence at a distance from the
court, at Oenoe, a town of Pontus, surrounded with rich vine-
yards, and situate on the coast of the Euxine. The death of
Manuel and the disorders of the minority soon opened the
fairest field to his ambition. The emperor was a boy of
twelve or fourteen years of age, without vigoz*, or wisdom, or
experience : his mother, the Empress Mary, abandoned her
person and government to a favorite of the Oornnenian name ;
and his sister, another Mary, whose husband, an Italian, was
decorated with the title of Caesar, excited a conspiracy, atxd
at length an insurrection, against her odious step -mother*
The provinces were forgotten, the capital was in flames, and
a century of peace and order was overthrown in the vice and
weakness of a few months. A civil war was kindled in Con-
stantinople ; the two factions fought a bloody battle in the
square of the palace, and the rebels sustained a regular siege
in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. The patriarch labored with
honest zeal to heal the wounds of the republic, the most re-
spectable patriots called aloud for a guardian and avenger,
and every tongue repeated the praise of the talents and even
the virtues of Audronicus.' In his retirement he affected to
r&volve the solemn duties of his oath : a If the safety or honor
<$ the imperial family be threatened,! will reveal and oppose
the TOsehief to the utmost of my power/' His correspond-*
ence -vfitfe the patriarch and Patricians was seasoned with
f rom the Psalms of David and the Epistles of
; sad te^ patiently waited till he was called; to

1180,] ADVENTUEES OF ANDBONICUS, 89

Hverance by the voice of his country* In his march from
Oenoe to Constantinople, his slender train insensibly swelled
to a crowd and an army ; his professions of religion and loy-
alty were mistaken for the language of his heart ; and the
simplicity of a foreign dress, which showed to advantage his
majestic stature, displayed a lively image of his poverty and
exile. All opposition sunk before him ; he reached the straits
of the Thracian Bosphorus ; the Byzantine navy sailed from
the harbor to receive and transport the savior of the empire:
the torrent was loud and irresistible, and the insects who had
basked in the sunshine of royal favor disappeared at the blast
of the storm. It was the first care of Andronicus to occupy
the palace, to salute the emperor, to confine his mother, to
punish her minister, and to restore the public order and tran-
quillity. He then visited the sepulchre of Manuel : the spec-
tators were ordered to stand aloof, but, as he bowed in the
attitude of prayer, they heard, or thought they heard, a mur-
mur of triumph and revenge : " I no longer fear thee, my
old enemy, who hast driven me a vagabond to every climate
of the earth. Thou art safely deposited under a sevenfold
dome, from whence thou canst never arise till the signal of
ifche last trumpet. It is now my turn, and speedily will I
ftrample oa thy ashes and thy posterity*" From his subse-
quent tyranny "fore may impute such feelings to the man and
the moment ; bW ?it is toot extremely probable that he gave an
articulate souod t his secret thoughts. In the first months
of his admin istratioi hia designs ware veil&d by a Mr sera-
blarice of hypocrisy, wihich conldi delude only the ayes of the
multitude : the coronation of Alexius was performed with due
solemnity, and his perfidious guardian, holding in his hand?
the body and blood of Christ, most fervently declared that he
lived, and was ready to die, for the service of his beloved pu-
piL But his numerous adherents were instructed to maintain
that the sinking empire must perish in the hands of a child ;
tbftt theiBopaans could only be saved by a veteran prince,
bold in mns* skilful in policy, and taught to reign by the long
experience of fortune and mankind ; and that it was the duty
# every @iti#en to force the reluctant modesty of Androtucus

90 AHDRONICUS I. [CH.XLVHL

to undertake the burden of the public care. The young em-
peror was himself constrained to join his voice to the general
acclamation, and to solicit the association of a colleague, who
instantly degraded him from the supreme rank, secluded his
person, and verified the rash declaration of the patriarch, that
Alexius might be considered as dead so soon as he was com-
mitted to the custody of his guaixiian. But his death was
preceded by the imprisonment and execution of his mother.
After blackening her reputation and inflaming against her the
passions of the multitude, the tyrant accused and tried the em-
press for a treasonable correspondence with the King of Hun-
gary. His own son, a youth of honor and humanity, avowed
his abhorrence of this flagitious act, and three of the judges
had the merit of preferring their conscience to their safety ;
but the obsequious tribunal, without requiring any proof or
hearing any defence, condemned the widow of Manuel, and
her unfortunate son subscribed the sentence of her death.
Maria was strangled, her corpse was buried in the sea, and
her memory was wounded by the insult most offensive to fe-
male vanity, a false and ugly representation of her beauteous
form. The fate of her eon was not long deferred : he was
strangled with a bowstring, and the tyrant, insensible to pity
or remorse, after surveying the body of the innocent youth,
struck it rudely with his foot. " Thy father," he cried, " was
a Jvftwve) thy mother a whore, and thyself &fool!"

The Eoman sceptre, the reward of his crimes, was held by
Androxricus about three years and a half as the guardian or
Andronicusi. sovereign of the empire- His government exhib-
Sii8B, us * * te( l a singular contrast of vice and virtue. When
October. j ie listened to his passions, he was the scourge ;
when he consulted his reason, the father of his people. Itx
the exercise of private justice he was equitable and rigorous ;
a shameful and pernicious venality was abolished, and tho
offices were filled with the most deserving candidates by a
prince who had sense to choose and severity to punish* Ho
prohibited the inhuman practice of pillaging the goods and
persons of shipwrecked mariners ; the provinces, so long tho
ol .oppression or neglect, revived in prosperity and

A.D.1183.] ANDRONIOUS L 91

plenty ; and millions applauded the distant blessings of Ms
reign, while he was cursed by the witnesses of his daily cruel-
ties. The ancient proverb, that blood-thirsty is the man who
returns from banishment to power, had been applied, with too
much truth, to Marine and Tiberius, and was now verified for
the third time in the life of Androtiicus, His memory was
stored with a black list of the enemies and rivals who had
traduced his merit, opposed his greatness, or insulted his mis-
fortunes ; and the only comfort of his exile was the sacred
hope and promise of revenge. The necessary extinction of
the young emperor and his mother imposed the fatal obliga-
tion, of extirpating the friends who hated, and might punish,
the assassin ; and the repetition of murder rendered him less
willing and less able to forgive.* A horrid narrative of the
victims whom he sacrificed by poison or the sword, by the
sea or the flames, would be less expressive of his cruelty than
the appellation of the Halcyon-days, which was applied to a
rare and bloodless week of repose: the tyrant strove to trans-
fer on the laws and the judges some portion of his guilt; but
the mask was fallen, and his subjects could no longer mis-
take the true author of their calamities. The noblest of the
Greeks, more especially those who, by descent or alliance,
might dispute the Comnenian inheritance, escaped from the
monster's den r Nice or Prusa, Sicily or Cyprus, were their
places of refuge; and as their flight was already criminal,
they aggravated their offence by an open revolt and the im-
perial title* ISTet An dronicciB resisted the daggers and swords
of his most formidable enemies M Moe and Prusa were re-
duced and chastised; the Sicilians wera content with the sack
of Thessalonica ; and the distance of Cyprus was not more
propitious to the rebel than to the tyrant. His throne was

* Faliraerayer (Geschichte des Kaiserthums von Trapestrat, p. 29, 33) has high-
ly drawn the character of Andronictis. In his view the extermination of the By-
zantine factions and dissolute nobility was part of a deep-laid and splendid plan
for, the regeneration of the empire. It was necessary for the wise and benevolent
schemes of the father of his people to lop off those limbs which were infected with
irremediable pestilence

" and with rreeeseity.
The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish, deeds 11"

Still the fall of Andronicus was a fatal blow to the Byzantine empire. M.

92 ANBJBONICUS I* [Cn. XLVItt

subverted by a rival without merit, and a people without
arms. Isaac Angehis, a descendant in the female line from
the great Alexius, was marked as a victim by the prudence or
superstition of the emperor.* In a moment of despair Ange-
lus defended his life and liberty, slew the executioner, and
fled to the Church of St. Sophia. The sanctuary was insensi-
bly filled with a curious and mournful crowd, who, in his fate,
prognosticated their own. But their lamentations were soon
turned to curses, and their curses to threats : they dared to
ask, " Why do we fear ? why do we obey ? We are many,
and he is one ; our patience is the only bond of our slavery."
With the dawn of day the city burst into a general sedition,
the prisons were thrown open, the coldest and most servile
were roused to the defence of their country, and Isaac, the
second of the name, was raised from the sanctuary to the
throne. Unconscious of his danger, the tyrant was absent
withdrawn from the toils of state, in the delicious islands of
the Propontis. He had contracted an indecent marriage with
Alice, or Agnes, daughter of Lewis the Seventh of France,
and relict of the unfortunate Alexius ; and his society, more
suitable to his temper than to his age, was composed of a
young wife and a favorite concubine. On the first alarm
he rushed to Constantinople, impatient for the blood of the
guilty ; but he was astonished by the silence of the palace,
the tamult of the city, and the general desertion of mankind.
Andronicus proclaimed a free pardon to his subjects; they
neither desired nor would grant forgiveness : he offered to re-
sign the crown to his son Manuel ; bat the virtues of the son
could not expiate his father's crimes. The sea was still open,
for his retreat ; but the news of the revolution had flown
along the coast; when fear had ceased, obedience was no
more; the imperial galley was pursued and taken by an armed
briga&tine, and the tyrant was dr&gged to the presence of
I$aac Attgelus, loaded with fetters, and a long chain round his
neck. His eloquence and the tears of his female companions

* According to Nketas (p. 444), Andronicus despised the imbecile Isaac too
much to fear him : he was arrested by the officious zeal of Stephen, the instrument
of the emperor^ cruelties. M,

A.D. 1185; 1204.] ISAAC II. 93

pleaded in vain for his lif e ; but, instead of the decencies of a
legal execution, the new monarch abandoned the criminal to
the numerous sufferers whom he had deprived of a father, a
husband, or a friend. His teeth and hair, an eye and a hand,
were torn from him, as a poor compensation for their loss ;
and a short respite was allowed, that he might feel the bitter-
ness of death. Astride on a camel, without any danger of a
rescue, he was carried through the city, and the basest of the
populace rejoiced to trample on the fallen majesty of their
prince. After a thousand blows and outrages, Andronicus
was hung by the feet between two pillars that supported the
statues of a wolf and a sow; and every hand that could reach
the public enemy inflicted on his body some mark of ingen-
ious or brutal cruelty, till two friendly or furious Italians,
plunging their swords into his body, released him from all
human punishment. In this long and painful agony, " Lord
have mercy upon me 1" and " Why will you bruise a broken
reed?" were the only words that escaped from his mouth.
Our hatred for the tyrant is lost in pity for the man ; nor can
we blame his pusillanimous resignation, since a Greek Chris-
tian was no longer master of his life.

I have been tempted to expiate on the extraordinary char-
acter and adventures of Andronicus; but I shall here termi-
laftacn. nate the series of the Greek emperors since the
fSHi^;- time of GEfer$cliti& The branches that sprang from
sept. 12. t j ;xe Oomn email trarnk had insensibly withered, and
the male line was continued; onjy m the posterity of Andron-
icus himself, who, in the pmblic c^nfumon, usurped the sov-
ereignty of Trebizond, so obscure in history, and so famous
In romance. A private citizen of Philadelphia, Constantino
Angelus, had emerged to wealth and honors by his marriage
with the daughter of the Emperor Alexius. His son An-
dronicus is conspicuous only by his cowardice. His grand-
son Isaac punished and succeeded the tyrant; but he was de-
A*i>.;i804 throned by his own vices and the ambition of his'
AprU is, brother ; and their discord introduced the Latins to
the conquest of Constantinople, the first great period in the
fall of the Eastern empire.

94 THE BYZANTINE EMPEKORS. [CH,XLVHL

If we compute the number and duration of the reigns, it
will be found that a period of six hundred years is filled by
sixty emperors, including in the Augustan list some female
sovereigns, and deducting some usurpers who were never ac-
knowledged in the capital, and some princes who did not live
to possess their inheritance- The average proportion will al-
low ten years for each emperor far below the chronological
rule of Sir Isaac Newton, who, from the experience of more
recent and regular monarchies, has defined about eighteen or
twenty years as the term of an ordinary reign. The Byzan-
tine empire was most tranquil and prosperous when it could
acquiesce in hereditary succession : five dynasties, the Herac-
lian, Isaurian, Anxorian, Basilian, and Oomnenian fatnilies, en-
joyed and transmitted the royal patrimony during their re-
spective series of five, four, three, six, and four generations;
several princes number the years of their reign with those
of their infancy; and Oonstantine the Seventh and his two
grandsons occupy the space of an entire century. But in the
intervals of the Byzantine dynasties the succession is rapid
and broken, and the name of a successful candidate is speedi-
ly erased by a more fortunate competitor- Many were the
paths that led to the summit of royalty : the fabric of rebel-
lion was overthrown by the stroke of conspiracy, or under-
mined by the silent arts of intrigue : the favorites of the sol-
diers or people, of the senate or clergy, of the women and eu-
nuchs, were alternately clothed with the purple : the means
of their elevation were base, and their end was often con-
temptible or tragic. A being of the nature of man, endowed
with the same faculties, but with a longer measure of exist-
ence, would cast down a smile of pity and contempt on the
crimes and follies of human ambition, so eager, in a narrow
span, to grasp at a precarious and short-lived enjoyment* It
is thus that the experience of history exalts and enlarges the
Horizon of our intellectual view* In a composition of some
days, in. a perusal of some hours, six hundred years have roll-
ed away, and the duration of a life or reign is contracted to a
fleeting moment; the grave is ever beside the throne; the
success of a criminal is almost instantly followed by the loss

A.D. 1204.] THE BYZANTIBTE EMPEKORS. 95

of his prize ; and our immortal reason survives and disdains
the sixty phantoms of kings who have passed before our eyes,
and faintly dwell on our remembrance. The observation,
that in every age and climate ambition has prevailed with
the same commanding energy, may abate the surprise of a
philosopher; but while he condemns the vanity, he may
search the motive of this universal desire to obtain and hold
the sceptre of dominion* To the greater part of the Byzan-
tine series we cannot reasonably ascribe the love of fame and
of mankind. The virtue alone of John Coinnenus was be-
neficent and pure : the most illustrious of the princes who
precede or follow that respectable name have trod with some
dexterity and vigor the crooked and bloody paths of a selfish
policy: in scrutinizing the imperfect characters of Leo the
Isanrian, Basil the First, and Alexius Coinnenus, of Theoph-
ilus, the second Basil, and Manuel Comnenus, our esteem and
censure are almost equally balanced; and the remainder of
the imperial crowd could only desire and expect to be forgot-
ten by posterity. Was personal happiness the aim and object
of their ambition ? I shall not descant on the vulgar topics
of the misery of kings ; but I may surely observe that their
condition, of all others, is the most pregnant with fear, and
the least susceptible of hope. For these opposite passions a
larger scope was allowed in the revolutions of antiquity than
in the smooth and solid temper of the modern world, which
cannot easily repeat either the triumph of Alexander or the
fall of Darius, But the peculiar infelicity of the Byzantine
princes exposed them to domestic perils, without affording
any lively promise of foreign conquest. From the pinnacle
of greatness Andronicus was precipitated by a death more
cruel and shameful than that of the vilest malefactor; but
the most glorious of his predecessors had much more to dread
from their subjects than to hope from their enemies. The
army was licentious without spirit, the nation turbulent with-
out freedom : the barbarians of the East and West pressed on
the monarchy, and the loss of the provinces was terminated
by the final servitude of the capital.

The entire series of Roman emperors, from the first of the

9C THE BYZAKTItfE EMPEKOftS. [On. XLVI11

Caesars to the last of the Conetantines, extends above fifteen
hundred years : and the term of dominion, unbroken by for-
eign conquest, surpasses the measure of the ancient monarch-
ies the Assyrians or Medes, the successors of Cyrus, or those
of Alexander*

INTRODUCTION OF IMAGES.

CHAPTER XLIX.

Introduction, Worship, and Persecution of Images. Revolt of Italy and Borneo
Temporal Dominion of the Popes. Conquest of Italy by the Franks. Es-
tablishment of Images. Character and Coronation of Charlemagne. Restora-
tion and Decay of the Roman Empire in the West Independence of Italy.
Constitution of the Germanic Body.

IN the connection of the Church and State I have consid-
ered the former as subservient only, and relative, to the lat-
ter ; a salutary maxim, if in fact as well as in nar-

Introduction , . ., , , ^ i T i mi , i

of images rative it had ever been held sacred. The oriental
Christian philosophy of the Gnostics, the dark abyss of pre-

Chnrcli. \ *

destination and grace, and the strange transforma-
tion of the Eucharist from the sign to the substance of Christ^
body/ 1 have purposely abandoned to the curiosity of specu-
lative divines. But I have reviewed with diligence and pleas-
tire the objects of ecclesiastical history by which the decline
and fall of the Roman empire were materially affected, the
propagation of Christianity, the constitution of the Catholic
Church, the ruin of paganism^ and the sects that arose from
the mysterious controversies concerning the Trinity and in-
carnation. At the head of this class we may justly rank
the worship of images^so fiercely disputed in the eighth and
ninth centuries ; since a question of popular superstition pro*
dnced the revolt of Italy, the temporal power of the popes,
and the restoration of the Roman empire in the West.

The primitive Christians were possessed with an uncon-
querable repugnance to the use and abuse of images; and
this aversion may be ascribed to their descent from the Jews,
and their enmity to the Greeks. The Mosaic law had severe-

1 The learned Selden has given the history of tran substantiation in a compre-
hensive and pithy sentence: "This opinion is only rhetoric turned into logic. 9 '
(His Works, vol. iii, p, 2073, in his Table-Talk.)

V. 7

98 INTRODUCTION AND WORSHIP OF IMAGES [On. XLI3L

ly proscribed all representations of the Deity ; and that pre*
cept was firmly established in the principles and practice of
the chosen people. The wit of the Christian apologists was
pointed against the foolish idolaters who bowed before the
workmanship of their own hands ; the images of brass and
marble, which, had tJiey been endowed with sense and mo-
tion, should have started rather from the pedestal to adore
the creative powers of the artist. 3 Perhaps some recent arid
Imperfect converts of the Gnostic tribe might crown the stat-
ues of Christ and St. Paul with the profane honors which
they paid to those of Aristotle and Pythagoras ; 3 but' the pub-
lic religion of the Catholics was uniformly simple and spirit-
ual ; and the first notice of the use of pictures is in the cen-
sure of the Council of Illiberis, three hundred years after the
Christian era. Under the successors of Constantino, in the
peace and luxury of the triumphant Church, the more pru-
dent bishops condescended to indulge a visible superstition
for the benefit of the multitude ; and after the nun of pagan-
ism they were no longer restrained by the apprehension of an
odious parallel. The first introduction of a symbolic worship
was in the veneration of the cross and of relics. The saints
and martyrs, whose intercession was implored, were seated on
the right hand of God ; but the gracious and often supernat-
ural favors which, in the popular belief, wore showered round
their tomb, conveyed an unquestionable sanction of the de-
vout pilgrims who visited, and touched, and kissed theae life-
less remains, the memorials of their merits and sufferings- 4
But a memorial more interesting than the skull or the sandals
of a departed worthy is the faithful copy of his person and

* "Nee intelligunt homines ineptissimi, quOd si sentire simulacra, et mover!
possent, [ultro] adoratura hominem fuissent & quo sunt expolita" (Divlri. Insti*
tut* 1 it. c. 2). Lactantius is the last, as well as the mo tit eloquent, of tho Latin
apologists. Their raillery of idols attacks not only the object, but the form and
matter.

8 Seelrenseus, Epiphanius, and Augustine (Basnage, Hist. desEgliscs Rform<es,
torn. ii. p. 1313). This Gnostic practice has a singular affinity with tha private
worship of Alexander Severus (Lampridius, c. 29 ; Lardner, Heathen Testimonies,

* See this History, voL ii. jv 488, 623 ; iiL 266

CiLXLIX.] IN THE CHKISTIAN CIIUBCIL 99

features, delineated by the arts of painting or sculpture. In
every age such copies, so congenial to human feelings, have
been cherished by the zeal of private friendship or public es-
teem : the images of the Roman emperors were adored with
civil and almost religious honors: a reverence less ostenta-
tious, but more sincere, was applied to the statues of sages
and patriots ; and these profane virtues, these splendid sins,
disappeared in the presence of the holy men who had died
Their for their celestial and everlasting country. At first

worship. t j ie experiment was made with caution and scruple ;
and the venerable pictures were discreetly allowed to instruct
the ignorant, to awaken the cold, and to gratify the prejudices
of the heathen proselytes. By a slow though inevitable pro-
gression, the honors of the original were transferred to the
copy : the devout Christian prayed before the image of a
saint; and the pagan rites of genuflexion, luminaries, and in-
cense again stole into the Catholic Church. The scruples of
reason or piety were silenced by the strong evidence of vi-
sions and miracles; and the pictures which speak, and move,
and bleed must be endowed with a divine energy, and may
be considez'ed as the proper objects of religious adoration.
The most audacious pencil might tremble in the rash attempt
of defining by forms and colors the infinite Spirit, the eternal
Father, who pervades and sustains the universe/ But the su-
perstitious mind was more easily reconciled to paint and to
worship the angels, and, above all, the Son of God, under the
humau shape which on earth they have condescended to as-
sume. The second person of the Trinity had been clothed
with a real and mortal body ; but that body had ascended
into heaven : and had not some similitude been presented to
the eyes of his disciples, the spiritual worship of Christ might

yctp rb 0ioj> air\ovv vTrapxovKal oX^Trrov pop<pai run gat
, o{5re Kvjptf icai v\cuc rtjv virtpovvtov jwee 7rpoavapx ov

(Concilium Nicenum, ii. in Collect. Labb. torn. viiL p. 1025, edit.
Venet.) ** II seroit peut-Stre k-propos de ne point souffrir d'images de la Tri-
ttit^ ou de la Divinlt^; les dfenseurs les plus zelfe des images ayant candamn^
cejles-ci, et T e Concile de Trente ne parlant que des images de J^sus-^Jhrist et de*
Saints " (Dupin > Bibliotb. Socle's, torn. vL p.

100 THE IMAGE OF EDESSA, fCn. XLIXL,

have been obliterated by the visible relics and representations
of the saints. A similar indulgence was requisite and pro-
pitious for the Virgin Mary : the place of her burial was un-
known ; and the assumption of her soul and body into heaven
was adopted by the credulity of the Greeks and Latins, The
use, and even the worship, of images was firmly established
before the end of the sixth century : they were fondly cher
ished by the warm imagination of the Greeks and Asiatics:
the Pantheon and Vatican were adorned with the emblems of
a new superstition ; but this semblance of idolatry was more
coldly entertained by the rude barbarians and the Avian cler-
gy of the West. The bolder forms of sculpture, in brass or
marble, which peopled the temples of antiquity, were offen-
sive to the fancy or conscience of the Christian Greeks ; and
a smooth surface of colors has ever been esteemed a more de-
cent and harmless mode of imitation/

The merit and effect of a copy depends on its resemblance
with the original ; but the primitive Christians were ignorant
me image o: f the genuine features of the son of God, his motli-
o* Edeasa, er? an( ^ ^ B a p OS tl e s : the statue of Christ at Paneas,
in Palestine/ was more probably that of some temporal sav-
ior; the Gnostics and their profane monuments were repro-
bated, and the fancy of the Christian artists could only be
guided by the clandestine imitation of some heathen model*
In this distress a bold and dexterous invention assured at

'* This general history of images is drawn from the twenty-second book of the
Hist* des Elglises Kdformdes of Basnago, torn. ii. p. 1310-18&7. He was a Prot-
estant, bat of a manly spirit ; and on this head the Protestants are so notoriously
in the right, that they can venture to be impartial. See the perplexity of poor
Eriar Pagi, Critica, torn, L p. 42,

f After removing some rubbish of miracle and inconsistency, it may be allowed
that, as late as the year 300, Paneas in Palestine was decorated with a bronze
statue* representing a grave personage wrapped in a cloak, with a grateful or sup-
pliant female kneeling before him, and that an inscription rf S&rrjpi, r$ t-ittp-ytry
was perhaps inscribed on the pedestal* By the Christian* this group was fool-
ishly explained of their founder and the poor woman whom he had cured of tha
bloody flux (Buseb. vii. IS ; Philofttorg. vii. 8, etc.). M, de Beausobre more rea-
sonably conjectures the philosopher Apottonias, or the Emperor Vespasian; in
the latter supposition the female is a city, a province, or perhaps the Queen Ber*
nice (Blblioth^que Germanique, torn. xiii. p,

CH.XLIX.] THE IMAGE OF EDESSA. 101

once the likeness of the image and the innocence of the wor-
ship. A new superstructure of fable was raised on the popu-
lar basis of a Syrian legend on the correspondence of Christ
and Abgarus, so famous in the days of Eusebius, so reluctantly
deserted by our modern advocates/ The Bishop of Csesarea 8
records the epistle/ but he most strangely forgets the picture
of Christ 10 the perfect impression of his face on a linen, with
which he gratified the faith of the royal stranger who had in-
voked his healing power, and offered the strong city of Edes-
sa to protect him against the malice of the Jews. The igno-
rance of the primitive Church is explained by the long im-
prisonment of the image in a niche of the wall, from whence,
after an oblivion of five hundred years, it was released by
some prudent bishop, and seasonably presented to the devo-
tion of the times. Its first and most glorious exploit was the
deliverance of the city from the arms of Chosrpes !KTushirvan ;
and it was soon revered as a pledge of the divine promise that
Edessa should never be taken by a foreign enemy. It is true,
indeed, that the text of Procopius ascribes the double deliv-
erance of Edessa to the wealth and valor of her citizens, who

8 Euseb, Hist. EccMs. 1. i. c. 13, The learned Assemannus has brought up the
collateral aid of three Syrians, St. Ephrern, Joswi Stylit.es, and James, Bishop of
Sarug; but I do not find any notice of the Syriac original or the archives of Edes-
sa (Biblioth. Orient, torn, i. p. 318, 420, 654} ; their vague belief is probably de-
rived from the Greeks.

* The evidence for these epistles is stated and rejected by the candid Xardner
(Heathen Testimonies, vol. i. p. 297-309). Among the herd of bigots who are
forcibly driven from this convenient but untenable post, I am ashamed with the
Grabes, Caves, Tillemonts, etc., to discover Mr. Addkon, an English gentleman
(his Works, vol. i. p. 528, Baskerville's edition) ; but his superficial tract on the
Christian religion owes its credit to his name, his style, and the interested applause
of our clergy.

10 From the silence of James of Sarug (Asseman. Biblioth. Orient, p. 289, 318),
and the testimony of Evagrius (Hist. Eeclds. 1. iv. c. 27), I conclude that this fa-
ble was invented between the years 521 and 594 most probably after the siege
of Edftssa in 540 (Asseman. torn. i. p* 416 ; Procopius, Be Bell. Persic. 1. ii. [c.
12, torn. i. p. 208 seq., edit, Bonn]). It is the swovd and bnckler of Gregory IL
(in Episfc. i. ad Leon, Isaur. Concil. torn. viii. p. 656, 657), of John Damascenus
(Opera, torn. i. p. 281, edit. Lequien [De Fide Orthod. 1. iv. c. 16]), and of the
second Nicene Council (Actio v. p. 1030). The most perfect edition may be found
in Cedreaag (Compend. p. 175-178 [edit. Par. ; torn. i. p. 308-314, edit, Bonn]).

102 COPIES OF THE IMAGE OF EDESSA. [CH.XLIX

purchased the absence and repelled the assaults of the Persian
monarch. He was ignorant, the profane historian, of the tes-
timony which he is compelled to deliver in the ecclesiastical
page of Evagrius, that the Palladium was exposed on the
rampart, and that the water which had been sprinkled on the
holy face, instead of quenching, added new fuel to the flames
of the besieged. After this important service the image of
Edessa was preserved with respect and gratitude ; and if the
Armenians rejected the legend, the more credulous Greeks
adored the similitude, which was not the work of any mortal
pencil, bat the immediate creation of the divine original.
The style and sentiments of a Byzantine hymn will declare
how far their worship was removed from the grossest idola-
try. "Hpw can we with mortal eyes contemplate this image,
whose celestial splendor the host of heaven presumes not to
behold? HE who dwells in heaven condescends this day to
visit us by his venerable image; HE who is seated on tho
cherubim visits us this day by a picture, which the Father
has delineated with his immaculate hand, which he has form-
ed in an ineffable manner, and which we sanctify by adoring
it with fear and love." Before the end of the sixth century
these images, made without hands (in Greek it is a singlo
word 11 ), were propagated in the camps and cities
p es ' of the Eastern empire j 19 they were the objects of
worship, and the instruments of miracles ; and in the hour of
danger or tumult their venerable presence could revive the
hope, rekindle the courage, or repress the fury of the Komat*

11 *AxiCK>7rofro, See Ducange, in Gloss. Graac, et Lat, The subject is treat-
ed with equal learning and bigotry by the Jesuit Gretser (Syntagma de Iraagim-
has nan Manft factis, ad calcem Oodini de Offtciis, p. 289-330), the nss, or rather
the fox, of Ingoldstadt (see the Scaligerana) ; with equal reason and wit by tho
Protestant Beansobre, In the ironical controversy which he has spread through
many volumes of the Bibliothfeque Gemanique (torn* xviii. p. 1-50; xx. p, 27~
68; xxv. p, 1-36,* xxviL p, 85-118; xxviii. p. 1-88; xxxl p. 113-148 * xxxll
p. 75-107; xxxiv. p. 67-96),

w Theophylact. Simocatta (1. ii. c. 8, p* 84 [edit. Par. ; p. 70, edit Bonn] ; L iil
c, 1, p, 68 [p. 114, edit. Bonn]) celebrates the StavtiptRbv &tca<rpa, which he- styles
; yet it was no more than a copy, since he nddn, tipxirvirof y<l/di
(of Edessa) dptycnci&ouo't 'jPw/iaio* Yi %i;rov. See Pagi, torn, ti A.D* 680)

CH.XL1X.J OPPOSITION TO IMAGE WORSHIP. 103

legions. Of these pictures the far greater part, the tran-
scripts of a human pencil, could only pretend to a secondary
likeness and improper title ; but there were some of higher
descent, who derived their resemblance from an immediate
contact with the original, endowed for that purpose with a
miraculous and prolific virtue. The most ambitious aspired
from a filial to a fraternal relation with the image of Edessa ;
and such is the veronica of Rome, or Spain, or Jerusalem,
which Christ in his agony and bloody sweat applied to his
face, and delivered to a holy matron. The fruitful precedent
was speedily transferred to the Virgin Mary and the saints
and martyrs. In the Church of Diospolis, in Palestine, the
features of the Mother of God 13 were deeply inscribed in a
marble column : the East and West have been decorated by
the pencil of St Luke ; and the Evangelist, who was perhaps
a physician, has been forced to exercise the occupation of a
painter, so profane and odious in the eyes of the primitive
Christians. The Olympian Jove, created by the muse of Ho-
mer and the chisel of Phidias, might inspire a philosophic
mind with momentary devotion; but these Catholic images
were faintly and flatly delineated by monkish artists in the
last degeneracy of taste and genius. 14

The worship of images had stolen into the Church by in-
sensible degrees, and each petty step was pleasing to the su-
perstitious mind, as productive of comfort and in-

Oppositlcm r ^ . * , f ' ,, , _e .1. * TI_

to image nocent of sin. But in the beginning of the eighth
wm * p " century, in the full magnitude of the abuse, the
in ore timorous Greeks were awakened by an apprehension
that, under the mask of Christianity, they had restored the
religion of their fathers: they heard, with grief and impa-
tience, the name of idolaters the incessant charge of the

18 See, in the genuine or supposed works of John Damascenus, two passages on
the Virgin and St. Luke, which have not been noticed by Gretser, nor consequent-
ly by Beausobre (Opera Job. Damascen. torn. I. p. 618, 631 [Adv. Constantinom
Cabal, c, 6 ; Epist ad Theophilum Imp. c, 4]),

14 "Your scandalous figures stand quite out from the canvas : they are as ba<i
as a group of statues !" It was thus that the ignorance and bigotry of a Greet
priest applauded the pictures of Titian, which he had ordered, and refused t
accept.

104: OPPOSITION TO IMAGE WORSHIP.

Jews and Mahometans," who derived from the Law and the
Koran an immortal hatred to graven images and all relative
worship. The servitude of the Jews might curb their zeal
and depreciate their authority; but the triumphant Mussul-
mans, who reigned at Damascus, and threatened Constantino-
ple, cast into the scale of reproach the accumulated weight of
truth and victory. The cities of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt
had been fortified with the images of Christ, his mother, and
his saints; and each city presumed on the hope or promise
of miraculous defence. In a rapid conquest of ten years the
Arabs subdued those cities and these images; and, in their
opinion, the Lord of Hosts pronounced a decisive judgment
between the adoration and contempt of these mute and inan-
imate idols.* For awhile Edessa had braved the Persian as-
saults; but the chosen city, the spouse of Christ, was involved
in the common ruin ; and his divine resemblance became tho
slave and trophy of the infidels. After a servitude of three
hundred years, the Palladium was yielded to the devotion of
Constantinople, for a ransom of twelve thousand pounds of
silver, the redemption of two hundred Mussulmans, and a
perpetual trace for the territory of Edessa. 1 * In this season
of distress and dismay the eloquence of the monks was exer-
cised in the defence of images; and they attempted to prove
that the sin and schism of the greatest part of the Orientals
had forfeited the favor and annihilated the virtue of these
precious symbols. But they were now opposed by the mnr-

* 5 By Cedronus, Zonaras, Glycas, and Manasses the origin of the Iconoclasts is
imputed to the Caliph Ys&id and two Jews, who promised the empire to Leo ; and
the reproaches of these hostile sectaries are turned into an absurd conspiracy for
restoring the purity of the Christian worship (see Spanheim, Hist Iraag, c. }

! Sep ISlmacin (Hist. Saracen, p. 267), Abulpharagius (Dyc^st. p, 201 )> and
Atmlfeda (Annal. Moslem, p. 264), and the criticisms of Fagi (torn* iii. A*D. 1)44)*
Tbe prudent Franciscan refuses to determine whether the image of Edesaa now
reposes at Rome or Genoa; hut its repose is inglorious, and this ancient object of
worship ia no longer famous or fashionable,

* Yezid, ninth caliph of the race of the Ommiadee, caused all the images in
Syria to be destroyed about the year 719 ; hence the orthodox reproached the ec
tarians with following the example of the Saracens and the Jews* Fragm. Mon,
Johan. JeroaylTm. Script, Byzant. voL xvi. p. 235 ; Hist, des Be>wb* ItaL par fit
Sfemondi, vol. i. p. 126, 0,

OH. XLIX.] OPPOSITION TO IMAGE WORSHIP. 105

murs of many simple or rational Christians, who appealed to
the evidence of texts, of facts, and of the primitive times, and
secretly desired the reformation of the Church. As the wor-
ship of images had never been established by any general or
positive law, its progress in the Eastern empire had been re-
tarded, or accelerated, by the differences of men and manners,
the local degrees of refinement, and the personal characters of
the bishops. The splendid devotion was fondly cherished by
the levity of the capital and the inventive genius of the By-
zantine clergy ; while the rude and remote districts of Asia
were strangers to this innovation of sacred luxury. Many
large congregations of Gnostics and Arians maintained, after
their conversion, the simple worship which had preceded their
separation ; and the Armenians, the most warlike subjects of
Kome, were not reconciled, in the twelfth century, to the
sight of images. 17 These various denominations of men af-
forded a fund of prejudice and aversion, of small account in
the villages of Anatolia or Thrace, but which, in the fortune
of a soldier, a prelate, or a eunuch, might be often Connected
with the powers of the Church and State.

Of such adventurers the most fortunate was the Emperor
Leo the Third, 18 who, from the mountains of Isauria, ascend-
ed the throne of the East. He was ignorant of sacred and

r&v

(Nicetas, 1. ii. p. 258 [edit. Par. ; p, 527, edit. Bonn])* The Armenian churches
are still content with the Cross (Missions du Levant, torn. iii. p. 148); bat surely
the superstitious Greek is unjust to the superstition of the Germans of the twelfth,
century.

18 Our original but not impartial monuments of the Iconoclasts must be drawn
from the Acts of the Councils, torn, viii. and ix. Collect. Labbe*, edit. Venet., and
the historical writings of Theophanes, Nicephorus, Manasses, Cedrenus, Zonaras,
etc. Of the modem Catholics, Baronius, Pagi, Natalis Alexander (Hist. Eccles.
Seculnm viii. and ix.), and Maimbourg (Hist, dea Iconoclastes), have treated the
subject with learning, passion, and credulity. The Protestant labors of Frederick
, (Historia Jmaginum restituta) and James Basnage (Hist, des Eglisea
torn* ii, 1. xxiii. p. 1339-1385) are cast into the Iconoclast scale. With
thin mutual aid and opposite tendency it is easy for us to poise the balance with
philosophic indifference.*

* Compare Sehloaser, Geschiehte der bilderstii rmender Kaiseiv Prankfurir-am.
Main, 1811? a book of research and impartiality, M.

106 THE ICONOCLASTS. [CH, XLIX,

profane letters; but his education, his reason, perhaps his
intercourse with the Jews and Arabs, had inspired
iconoclast, the martial peasant with a hatred of images ; and
fluccesm)^ it was held to be the duty of a prince to impose
on his subjects the dictates of his own conscience.
But in the outset of an unsettled reign, during ten years of
toil and danger, Leo submitted to the meanness of hypocrisy,
bowed before the idols which he despised, and satisfied the
Roman pontiff with the annual professions of his orthodoxy
and zeal. In the reformation of religion his first steps were
moderate and cautious: he assembled a great council of sen-
ators and bishops, and enacted, with their consent, that all the
images should be removed from the sanctuary and altar to a
proper height in the churches, where they might be visible to
the eyes, and inaccessible to the superstition, of the people.
But it was impossible on either side to check the rapid though
adverse impulse of veneration and abhorrence: in their lofty
position the sacred images still edified their votaries and re-
proached the tyrant. He was himself provoked by resistance
and invective ; and his own party accused him of an imper-
fect discharge of his duty, and urged for his imitation the
example of the Jewish king, who had broken without scru-
ple the brazen serpent of the Temple. By a second edict he
proscribed the existence as well as the use of religious pict-
xires ; the churches of Constantinople and the provinces were
cleansed from idolatry ; the images of Christ, the Virgin, and
the saints were demolished, or a smooth surface of plaster was
spread over the walls of the edifice. The sect of the Icono-
clasts was supported by the zeal and despotism of six emper-
ors, and the East and West were involved in a noisy conflict
of one hundred and twenty years. It was the design of Leo
the Isaurian to pronounce the condemnation of images as an
article of faith, and by the authority of a general council : but
the convocation of such an assembly was reserved for his son
Oonstantine ;**' and though it is stigmatized by triumphant

Some flowers of rhetoric are StfvoJoi/ Trap&vQuov ical <20eov, and the bishops
fjwLrai6q>pQ0Lv. By Damascenes it is styled dtevpog teal afc/croc (Opera, torn. L
p. 628 [Adv. Constant. Cabal* o. 16]). Spanheim's Apology for the Synod of Con-

A.D.754.J SYNOD OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 107

bigotry as a meeting of fools and atheists, their own partial
and mutilated acts betray many symptoms of reason and piety,
Their synod The debates and decrees of many provincial syn-
tinopi 1 e 8t;an " ods introduced the summons of the general council
A.D.764. which met in the suburbs of Constantinople, and
was composed of the respectable number of three hundred
and thirty -eight bishops of Europe and Anatolia; for the
patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria were the slaves of the
caliph, and the Roman pontiff had withdrawn the churches
of Italy and the West from the communion of the Greeks.
This Byzantine synod assumed the rank and powers of the
seventh general council ; yet even this title was a recognition
of the six preceding assemblies, which had laboriously built
the structure of the Catholic faith. After a serious delibera-
tion of six months, the three hundred and thirty-eight bish-
ops pronounced and subscribed a unanimous decree, that all
visible symbols of Christ, except in the Eucharist, were either
blasphemous or heretical; that image-worship was a corrup-
tion of Christianity and a renewal of paganism ; that all such
monuments of idolatry should be broken or erased; and that
those who should refuse to deliver the objects of their private
superstition were guilty of disobedience to the authority of
the Church, and of the emperor. In their loud and loyal ac-
clamations they celebrated the merits of their temporal re-
deemer; and to his zeal and justice they intrusted the execu-
tion of their spiritual censures. At Constantinople, as in the
former councils, the will of the prince was the rule of episco-
pal faith ; but on this occasion I am inclined to suspect that a
large majority of the prelates sacrificed their secret conscience
to the temptations of hope and fear. In the long
Their creed, o SU p ers tition the Christians had wandered

far away from the simplicity of the Gospel : nor was it easy
for them to discern the clue, and tread back the mazes of the
labyrinth. The worship of images was inseparably blended,

stantinople (p. 171, etc.) is worked up with truth and ingenuity, from such materi-
als as he could find in the Nicene Acts (p. 1046, etc.). The witty John of Da-
mascus converts &iruric6irQVc into liricricorovc ; makes them jcoiXtofovXovc, slaves of
their belly, etc* Opera, torn, i p. 306.

108 PERSECUTION OF IMAGES A1STD MONKS. [On.

at least to a pious fancy, with the Cross, the Virgin, the saints
and their relics; the holy ground was involved in a cloud of
miracles and visions; and the nerves of the mind, curiosity
and scepticism, were henumbed by the habits of obedience
and belief, Oonstantine himself is accused of indulging a
royal license to doubt, or deny, or deride the mysteries of the
Catholics,* but they were deeply inscribed in the public and
private creed of his bishops ; and the boldest Iconoclast might
assault with a secret horror the monuments of popular devo-
tion, which were consecrated to the honor of his celestial pa-
trons. In the reformation of the sixteenth century freedom
and knowledge had expanded all the faculties of man: the
thirst of innovation superseded the reverence of antiquity ;
and the vigor of Europe could disdain those phantoms which
terrified the sickly and servile weakness of the Greeks.

The scandal of an abstract heresy can be only proclaimed

to the people by the blast of the ecclesiastical trumpet ; but

the most ignorant can perceive, the most torpid

cutio p of the must feel, the profanation and downfall of their

visible deities. The first hostilities of Leo were
*"*' " * directed against a lofty Christ on the vestibule, and
above the gate, of the palace. A ladder had been planted for
the assault, but it was furiously shaken by a crowd of zealots
and women : they beheld, with pious transport, the ministers
of sacrilege tumbling from on high and dashed against the
pavement ; and the honors of the ancient martyrs were pros-
tituted to these criminals, who justly suffered for murder and
rebellion. 3 * The execution of the imperial edicts was resisted
by frequent tumults in Constantinople and the provinces;
the person of Leo was endangered, his officers were massacred,
and the popular enthusiasm was quelled by the strongest t ef*

^ He is accused of proscribing the title of saint ; styling the Virgin, Mother of
Cffieri&f comparing her after her Delivery to an empty purse; of Annnism, Nes*
tmarataPOt eta la his defence, Spanheintx (c* iv. p, 207) is somewhat embarnuuvd
between ihe interest of a Protestant and the duty of an orthodox divine.

Sl ^fee hdy&onfesfor Theophanes approves the principle of their rebellion,
KivovfjLtvoi%r)\ci>(p* 889), Gregory II, (in Bpi$t, i. ad Imp* Leon, ConcML-totti,'
p. 661,664) applauds the zeal of the Byzantine women who killed the imperial
officers.

A.I>. 726-775.] PERSECUTION OF IMAGES AND MONKS. 109

forts of the civil and military power. Of the Archipelago,, or
Holy Sea, the numerous islands were filled with images and
monks : their votaries abjured, without scruple, the enemy of
Christ, his mother, and the saints ; they armed a fleet of boats
and galleys, displayed their consecrated banners, and boldly
steered for the harbor of Constantinople, to place on the
throne a new favorite of God and the people. They depend-
ed on the succor of a miracle : but their miracles were inef-
ficient against the Greek ftre; and after the defeat and con-
flagration of their fleet, the naked islands were abandoned to
the clemency or justice of the conqueror. The son of Leo,
in the first year of his reign, had undertaken an expedition
against the Saracens : during his absence the capital, the pal-
ace, and the purple were occupied by his kinsman Artavasdes,
the ambitious champion of the orthodox faith. The worship
of images was triumphantly restored : the patriarch renounced
his dissimulation, or dissembled his sentiments; and the right-
eous claim of the usurper was acknowledged, both in the new
and in ancient Rome. Constantine flew for refuge to his par
ternal mountains ; but he descended at the head of the bold
and affectionate Isaurians ; and his final victory confounded
the arms and predictions of the fanatics. His long reign was
distracted with clamor, sedition, conspiracy, and mutual ha-
tred and sangfriHary revenge : the persecution of images was
the motive or pretence of his adversaries ; and, if they missed
a temporal diadem, they were rewarded by the Greeks with
the crown of martyrdom- In every act of open and clandes-
tine treason the emperor felt the unforgiving enmity of the
monks, the faithful slaves of the superstition to which they
owed their riches and influence. They prayed, they preach-
ed, they absolved, they inflamed, they conspired ; the solitude
of Palestine poured forth a torrent of invective ; and the pen
of St. John Damascenus, M the last of the Greek f athers, de-

M John, or Mansur, was a liable Christian of Damascus, who held a considera-
ble office in the service of the caliph. His zeal in the cause of images exposed
him to the resentment and treachery of the Greek emperor ; and, on the suspicion
of a treasonable correspondence, he was deprived of his right hand, which was
miraculously restored by the Virgin. After this deliverance he resigned his office,

110 PERSECUTION OF IMAGES AND MONKS. [Cn.

voted the tyrant's head, both in this world and the next. asa I
am not at leisure to examine how far the monks provoked,
nor how much they have exaggerated, their real and pretend-
ed sufferings, nor how many lost their lives or limbs, their
eyes or their beards, by the cruelty of the emperor. b From
the chastisement of individuals he proceeded to the abolition
of the "order ; and, as it was wealthy and useless, his resent-
ment might be stimulated by avarice, and justified by patriot-
ism. The formidable name and mission of the Dragon his
visitor-general, excited the terror and abhorrence of the black
nation : the religious communities were dissolved, the build-
ings were converted into magazines or barracks ; the lands,
movables, and cattle were confiscated ; and our modern prec-
edents will support the charge, that much wanton or mali-
cious havoc was exercised against the relics, and even the
books, of the monasteries. v With the habit and profession of
monks, the public and private worship of images was rigor-
ously proscribed ; and it should seem that a solemn abjura-
tion of idolatry was exacted from the subjects, or at least from
the clergy, of the Eastern empire***

distributed his wealth, and buried himself in the monastery of St. Sabas, between
Jerusalem and the Bead Sea* The legend is famous ; but his learned editor. Fa-
ther Leqnien, has unluckily proved that St. John Damascenus was already a monk
before the Iconoclast dispute (Opera, torn, i, Vit. St. Joan* Damascen. p. 10-18,
et Notas ad loc.).

38 After sending Leo to the devil, he introduces his heir rd ptapbv aftrov ylv-
vqfMct, teal rjjc xaictaG ctvrov K\ripQv6fJLQ Iv &7r\< ytvoptvoz (Opera Daraascon. torn.
t p 625 [Adv. Constan. Cabal, c. 20])- If the authenticity of this piece bo sus-
picious, we are sure that in other works, no longer extant, Damascenus bestowed
on Constantino the titles of viov Ma>a/x0, Xpicrro/<t<%oi/, purdyiov (torn. i. p. BOG),

94 In the narrative of this persecution from Theophanes and Cedrenus, Span-
heim (p. 235-288) ia happy to compare the Draco of Leo with the dragoons
cone*} of Louis XIV., and highly solaces himself with this controversial pun*

** Hpyf>a/*/4a ydjo t^eire^t jeard Trfieray 3ap%l#p r*)v #71*6 rijj? X&p
*r<vfac ^TTOyjtxihpat ical 6/twvai rov AQ&Hjecu r^v irpo&Ktiwjvtv r&v <r7rrwv tMvuv
(Damascen. Op. torn* i. p. 625 [Adv. Constant. Cabal, c. 21]). This oath and sub*
acription I do not remember to have seen in any modem compilation*

* The patriarch Anastasius, an Iconoclast tinder Leo, an image-worshipper tin-
der Artavasdes, was scourged, led through the streets on an ass, with his face to
the tail ; and, reinvested in his dignity, became again the obsequious minister of
ConBtantine in his Iconoclastic persecutions. See Schlosser, p. 211. M.

b Compare Schlosser, p. 228-284. M.

A.D. 726-775.3 STATE OF ITALY.

The patient East abjured with reluctance her sacred im-
ages ; they were fondly cherished, and vigorously defended,
* * *T. i by the independent zeal of the Italians. In ecele-

ottito 01 Atiftiy* . m _ _^ i ,

siastical rank and jurisdiction the Patriarch of Con-
stantinople and the Pope of Home were nearly equal. But
the Greek prelate was a domestic slave under the eye of his
master, at whpse nod he alternately passed from the convent
to the throne, and from the throne to the convent. A dis-
tant and dangerous station, amidst the barbarians of the West,
excited the spirit and freedom of the Latin bishops. Their
popular election endeared them to the Komans: the public
and private indigence was relieved by their ample revenue;
and the weakness or neglect of the emperors compelled them
to consult, both in peace and war, the temporal safety of the
city. In the school of adversity the priest insensibly imbibed
the virtues and the ambition of a prince; the same character
was assumed, the same policy was adopted, by the Italian, the
Greek, or the Syrian, who ascended the chair of St. Peter;
and, after the loss of her legions and provinces, the genius
and fortune of the popes again restored the supremacy of
Rome. It is agreed that in the eighth century their domin-
ion was founded on rebellion, and that the rebellion was pro-
duced, and justified, by the heresy of the Iconoclasts ; but the
conduct of the second and third, Gregory in this memorable
contest is variously interpreted by the wishes of their friends
aiid enemies. The Byzantine writers unanimously declare
that, after a fruitless admonition, they pronounced the sepa-
ration of the East and West, and deprived the sacrilegious
tyrant of the revenue and sovereignty of Italy. Their excom-
munication is still more clearly expressed by the Greeks, who
beheld the accomplishment of the papal triumphs ; and, as
they are more strongly attached to their religion than to their
Country, they praise, instead of blaming, the zeal and ortho-
doxy of these apostolical men. 36 The modern champions of

99 Kai rfiv 'Pwfjtrjv criv ird<ry {YgQ *IroXi rfjQ pcurtXEiac abrov dvftmjtr^ says
Theophanes (Chronograph, p. 343 [torn. i. p. 630, edit. Bonn]). For this Gregory
is styled by Cedrenus &vfip <broerrpXiicd (p. 450). Zonaras specifies the thunder,

112 STATE OF JTAiT. [Cn.XLIX,

Rome are eager to accept the praise and the precedent : this
great and glorious example of the deposition of royal heretics
is celebrated by the cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine ; 3T and
if they are asked why the same thunders were not hurled
against the Neros and Julians of antiquity ? they reply, that
the weakness of the primitive Church was the sole cause of
her patient loyalty. 28 On this occasion the effects of love and
hatred are the same ; and the zealous Protestants, who seek
to kindle the indignation and to alarm the fears of princes
and magistrates, expatiate on the insolence and treason of the
two Gregories against their lawful sovereign. 30 They arc do*
fended only by the moderate Catholics, for the most part of
the Gallican Church, 30 who respect the saint without approv-
ing the sin. These common advocates of the crown and the
mitre circumscribe the truth of facts by the rule of equity,
Scripture, and tradition, and appeal to the evidence of the
Latins, 81 and the lives 35 * and epistles of the popes themselves.

<iv<z0e/iart trvvo$uc$ (torn. ii. 1. xv. [c. 4] p. 104, 105). It may bo observed that
the Greeks are apt to confound the times and actions of two Gregoriea,

27 See Baronius, Annul. Bccles. A.D.730Nos. 4,5: "Dignumexemplaml" Bel-
larmin. de Romano Pontifice, 1. v. c. 8 1 "Mulctavit enrn parte imperil*" Sigo-
tiius, De Kegno Italise, 1, iii. Opera, torn, ii. p. 1 GO. Yet such is the change of
Italy, that Sigonius is corrected by the editor of Milan, Philippus Argelatus, a Bo*
lognese, and subject of the pope.

98 **Quod si Christian! olim non deposuerunt Neronem aut Julianum, id (bit
quia deerant vires temporales Christianis " (honest Bellarmine, De Bom. Pont.
1, v, c. 7). Cardinal Perron adds a distinction more honorable to the first Chris*
tians, but not more satisfactory to modern princes the treason of heretics an<t
apostates, who break their oath, belie their coin, and renounce their allegiance to
Christ and his vicar (Perroniana, p. 80).

** Take, as a specimen, the cautious Basnage (Hist, de 1'Eglise, p. 1350, 1351)
and the vehement Spanheim (Hist. Tmagimim), who, with a hundred more, tread
in the footsteps of the centuriators of Magdeburg.

* See Launoy (Opera, torn, v. pars ii. (Epist, vii. 7, p. 456-474), Natalia Atacw*
dor (Hi*t. Nov. Testament!, secnL viit disuert i p, 92-96), Pagi (Critica torn, iii,
$.215, 16), and Giannone (Istoria Civile di NTapoli, torn, i, p, 317-820), a disci*
pie of ^e (MUcan school. In the field of controversy I always pity the modei>
*te p^ty,%h6 stand on the open middle-ground exposed to the fire of both sides.

* l Tbejp appeal to Paul Waraefrid, or Diaoonus (De Gestis Langobard, L vi. c.
49, p 500, 507, in Script. Ital. Muratori,tom. u pars I), and the nominal Anasta-
iua (De Tit Po^ torn, iiu pars L j Sregorius IL, p. 154 ; Gregoriu*

* -See noie on following p*g.

A,r.727.] EPISTLES OF GREGOKY II. TO THE EMPEROR LEO, 113

Two original epistles, from Gregory the Second to the Em-
peror Leo, are still extant ; 8S and if they cannot be praised as
the most P erf ect models of eloquence and logic,
^^ exhibit the portrait, or at least the mask, of
*ke fr mnc * er ^ *^ e P a P a l monarchy. " During ten
pure and fortunate years," says Gregory to the em-
peror, " we have tasted the annual comfort of your royal let-
ters, subscribed in purple ink -with your own hand, the sacred
pledges of your attachment to the orthodox creed of our fa-
thers. How deplorable is the change ! how tremendous the
scandal! You now accuse the Catholics of idolatry; and, by
the accusation, you betray your own impiety and ignorance.
To this ignorance we are compelled to adapt the grossness of
our style and arguments : the first elements of holy letters
are sufficient for your confusion ; and were you to enter a
grammar-school, and avow yourself the enemy of onr worship,
the simple and pious children would be provoked to cast their
hornbooks at your head." After this decent salutation the
pope attempts the usual distinction between the idols of an-
tiquity and the Christian images. The former were the fan-
ciful representations of phantoms or demons, at a time when
the true God had not manifested his person in any visible
likeness. The latter are the genuine forms of Christ, his

in., p. 1&8; 2?achana$,p. 161; Stephanas III., p. 165; Paulus, p.172; Stephiu
nus IV., p. I74-; Hadrianus, p. 179; Jleo III., p. 195). Yet I may remark tibiat
the ttue Atiastasius (Hfst. Ecclea. p. 134, edit. Reg.) and the Historia Micella
(1. xxi, p. 151, in ttfra. i. Script; Ital.), both of the ninth century, translate and ap-
prove the Greek text of Tli eophanes.

32 With some minute difference, the most learned critics, Lucas Holstenius,
Schelestrate, Ciampini, Bianchini, Mttratori (Prolegomena ad torn, ihv pars i.), are
agreed that the Liber Pontificalia was composed and continued hy the apostolical
librarians and notaries of the eighth and ninth centuries, and that the last and
smallest part is the work of Anastasius, whose name it bears. The style is barbar-
ous, the narrative partial, the details are trifling; yet it must be read as a curious
and authentic record of the times. The epistles of the popes are dispersed in the
volumes of Councils.

8a The two epistles of Gregory II. have been preserved in the Acts of the Ni-
cene Council (torn. via. p. 651-674:). They are without a date, which is various-
ly fixed by Baronius in the year 726, by Muratori (Annali d'ltalia, torn. vi.
p. 120) in 729, and by Pagi in 730. Such is the force of prejudice, that some
Papists have praised the good sense and moderation of these letters.

V 8

114: EPISTLES OF GBEGORY IL [Ca. XLJX

mother, and his saints, who had approved, by a crowd of mir-
acles, the innocence and merit of this relative worship. He
must indeed have trusted to the ignorance of Leo, since he
could assert the perpetual use of images from the apostolic
age, and their venei*able presence in the six synods of the
Catholic Church* A more specious argument is drawn from
present possession and recent practice: the harmony of the
Christian world supersedes the demand of a general council ;
and Gregory frankly confesses that such assemblies cau only
be useful under the reign of an orthodox prince. To the im-
pudent and inhuman Leo, more guilty than a heretic, he rec-
ommends peace, silence, and implicit obedience to his spirit-
ual guides of Constantinople and Rome. The limits of civil
and ecclesiastical powers are defined by the pontiff. To the
former he appropriates the body ; to the latter, the soul : the
sword of justice is in the hands of the magistrate : the more
formidable weapon of excommunication is intrusted to the
clergy ; and in the exercise of their divine commission a zeal-
ous son will not spare his offending father : the successor of
St. Peter may lawfully chastise the kings of the earth. " You
assault us, O tyrant ! with a carnal and military hand ; un-
armed and naked, we can only implore the Christ, the prince
of the heavenly host, that he will send unto you a devil for
the destruction of your body and the salvation of your souL
You declare, with foolish arrogance, *I will despatch my or-
ders to Kome : I will break in pieces the image of St. Peter ;
and Gregory, like his predecessor Martin, shall be transport-
ed in chains and in exile to the foot of the imperial throne.'
Would to God that I might be permitted to tread in the foot-
steps of the holy Martin 1 but may the fate of Oonstans serve
as a warning to the persecutors of the Church! After his
just condemnation by the bishops of Sicily, the tyrant was
cut off, in the fulness of his sins, by a domestic servant: the
saint is still adored by the nations of Scythia, among whom
he ended his banishment and his life. But it is our duty to
live for the edification and support of the faithful people;
are W$ mduced to risk our safety on the event of a oom-
as you are of defending your Roman sub*

AJ>. 727.] TO THE EMPEEOR LEO. 115

jects, the maritime situation of the city may perhaps expose
it to your depredation ; but we can remove to the distance of
four-and-twenty stadia** to the first fortress of the Lombards,
and then you may pursue the winds. Are you ignorant
that the popes are the bond of union, the mediators of peace
between the East and West? The eyes of the nations are
fixed on our humility ; and they revere, as a God upon earth,
the apostle St. Peter, whose image you threaten to destroy* 3 *
The remote and interior kingdoms of the "West present their
homage to Christ and his vicegerent ; and we now prepare to
visit one of their most powerful monarchs who desires to re-
ceive from our hands the sacrament of baptism. 86 The bar-
barians have submitted to the yoke of the Gospel, while you
alone are deaf to the voice of the shepherd- These pious bar-
barians are kindled into rage: they thirst to avenge the per-
secution of the East Abandon your rash and fatal enter-
prise ; reflect, tremble, and repent. If you persist, we are in-
nocent of the blood that will be spilled in the contest; may
it fall on your own head !"

The first assault of Leo against the images of Constanti-
nople had been witnessed by a crowd of strangers from Italy
and the West, who related with grief and indignation the sac-
rilege of the emperor. But on the reception of his proserip-
tive edict they trembled for their domestic deities; the im-

rlcrcra/oa <rrafta V7ro#a>p#<rei o '

tiwayG SivKov T&^Q avEpave (Epist. i p. 664). This proximity of the
Lombards is hard of digestion, Camillo Pellegrini (Dissert, iv. Be Ducat A Bene-
venti, in the Script. ItaL torn. v. p. 172, 173) forcibly reckons the twenty-fourth
stadia, not from Rome, but from the limits of the Roman duchy, to the first for-
tress, perhaps Sora, of the Lombards. I rather believe that Gregory, with the
pedantry of the age, employs stadia for miles, without much inquiry into the gen-
uine measure.

95 "(V at Tracrat /3a<ri\iai rfje u<rea>c wff Qtbv Myetov expvtft.

86 'Afl-d rrj$ fowrspov Svffevg rov Xeyo/wVov SJeirrerov (p. 665). The pope ap-
pears to have imposed on the ignorance of the Greeks : he lived and died in the
Lateran, and in his time all the kingdoms of the West had embraced Christian-
ity. May not this unknown SepUtus have some reference to the chief of the
Saxon htptarchy, to Ina, King of Wessex, who, in the pontificate of Gregory the
Second, visited Borne for the purpose, not of baptism, but of pilgrimage (Pagi,
. 689, No. 2 ; A.B. 726, No. 15)?

116 REVOLT OF ITALY. CCH.3OJX

ages of Christ and the Virgin, of the angels, martyrs, and
saints, were abolished in all the churches of Italy ;
of itniy. and a strong alternative was proposed to the Roman
. ,c c. r0 y a j f a vor as the price of his compli-

ance, degradation and exile as the penalty of his disobedience.
Neither zeal nor policy allowed him to hesitate; and the
haughty strain in which Gregory addressed the emperor dis-
plays his confidence in the truth of his doctrine or the pow-
ers of resistance. Without depending on prayers or mira-
cles, he boldly armed against the public enemy, and his pas-
toral letters admonished the Italians of their danger and their
duty, 87 At this signal, Ravenna, Venice, and the cities of the
Exarchate and Pentapolis adhered to the cause of religion ;
their military force by sea and land consisted, for the most
part, of the natives ; and the spirit of patriotism and sseal was
transfused into the mercenary strangers. The Italians swore
to live and die in the defence of the pope and the holy im-
ages ; the Roman people were devoted to their father, and
oven the Lombards were ambitious to share the merit and ad-
vantage of this holy war. The most treasonable act, but the
most obvious revenge, was the destruction of the statues of
Leo himself : the most effectual and pleasing measure of re*
bellion was the withholding the tribute of Italy, and dopriv^
ing him of a power which he had recently abused by the im-
position of a new capitation, 88 A form of administration was
preserved by the election of magistrates and governors ; and
so high was the public indignation, that the Italians were pro-

87 I shall transcribe the important and decisive passage of the Liber Pontifica-
lia. " Bespieiens ergo plus vir profanam principle jussionem, jam contra Impera-
torem quasi contra, host em ee armavit, renuena hseresim ejus, scribens ubique so
cavere Chris tianos, eo quod orta fttisaet impietas talis, Igitw permoti omnes
Pen tapo lenses, atque Venetiarura exercitus contra Imperatoris jussionem restite-
runt ; dicentes se nunqnam in ejusdera pomificis condescendere necem, sed pro
%us in&gia defensione viriliter decertare" (p, 156),

** ** A census, or capitation,*' says Anastasius (p, 156) i ** A most cruel tax, nfl-
known to the Saracens themselves," exclaims the zealous Maimbourg (Hist des
Iconoclastes, L i.), and Theophanos (p. 344 [torn. i. p. 681, edit. Bonn]), who talks
of Pharaoh's numbering the male children of Israel. This mode of nutation was
familiar to the Samoaus ; and, rnost unluckily for the historian, ft was Imposed a
tor yea* a afterwaris iu iVance by his patron Ix)uis XIV.

AJ0.728.] REVOLT OF ITALY. 117

pared to create an orthodox emperor, and to conduct him
with a fleet and army to the palace of Constantinople. In
that palace the Eornan bishops, the second and third Greg-
ory, were condemned as the authors of the revolt, and every
attempt was made, either by fraud or force, to seize their per-
sons and to strike at their lives. The city was repeatedly
visited or assaulted by captains of the guards, and dukes and
exarchs of high dignity or secret trust ; they landed with for-
eign troops, they obtained some domestic aid, and the super-
stition of Naples may blush that her fathers were attached to
the cause of heresy- But these clandestine or open attacks
were repelled by the courage and vigilance of the Romans ;
the Greeks were overthrown and massacred, their leaders suf-
fered an ignominious death, and the popes, however inclined
to mercy, refused to intercede for these guilty victims. At
Ravenna," the several quarters of the city had long exercised
a bloody and hereditary feud; in religious controversy they
found a new aliment of faction: but the votaries of images
were superior in numbers or spirit, and the exarch, who at-
tempted to stem the torrent, lost his life in a popular sedition.
To punish this flagitious deed and restore his dominion in
Italy, the emperor sent a fleet and army into the Adriatic
Gulf. After suffering from the winds and waves much loss
and delpy, the Greeks made their descent in the neighbor-
hood of B$y$nna: they threatened to depopulate the guilty
capital, and to ijnitate, perhaps to surpass, the example of Jus-
tinian the Second, who had chastised a former rebellion by
the choice and execution of fifty of the principal inhabitants;
The women and clergy, in sackcloth and ashes, lay prostrate
in prayer; the men were in arms for the defence of their
country ; the common danger had united the factions, and
the event of a battle was preferred to the slow miseries of a
siege- In a hard-fought day, as the two armies alternately

89 See the laber Pontificalia of Agnellus (in the Scriptores Kerum Italieanim of
Muratori, torn, ii pars i*)> whose deeper shade of barbarism marks the difference
between Borne and Bavenna. Yet we are indebted to him for some curious and
domestic facts the quarters and factions of Bavenna (p. 154), the revenge of Jus-
tinian IL (p. 160, 161), the defeat of the Greeks (p. 170, 171), etc.

118 BEVOLT OF ITALY. [On. XL1X

yielded and advanced, a phantom was seen, a voice was hoard,
and Ilavenna was victorious by the assurance of victory. The
strangers retreated to their ships, but the populous sea-coast
poured forth a multitude of boats ; the waters of the Po were
so deeply infected with blood, that during six years the pub-
lic prejudice abstained from the fish of the river; and the
institution of an annual feast perpetuated the worship of im-
ages and the abhorrence of the Greek tyrant. Amidst the
triumph of the Catholic arms, the Roman pontiff convened a
synod of ninety-three bishops against the heresy of the Icon-
oclasts- With their consent, he pronounced a general excom-
munication against all who by word or deed should attack the
tradition of the fathers and the images of the saints : in this
sentence the ernperor was tacitly involved, 40 but the vote of
a last and hopeless remonstrance may seem to imply that the
anathema was yet suspended over his guilty head- No soon-
er had they confirmed their own safety, the worship of im-
ages, and the freedom of Rome and Italy, than the popes ap-
pear to have relaxed of their severity, and to have spared the
relics of the Byzantine dominion. Their moderate counsels
delayed and prevented the election of a new emperor, and
they exhorted the Italians not to separate from the body of
the Roman monarchy- The exarch was permitted to reside
within the walls of Ravenna, a captive rather than a master;
and till the imperial coronation of Charlemagne, the govern-
ment of Rome and Italy was exercised in the name of the
successors of Con stan tine/ 1

40 Yet Leo was undoubtedly comprised in the "si quis * * * imaginum sacra*
rum * * * destructor * * * extiterit, sit extorris a corpora D N. Jeau Chriati vel
totius ecclesisB unitate." The canonists may decide whether the guilt or the name
constitutes the excommunication; and the decision is of the last importance to
their safety, since, according to the oracle (Gratian, Caus, acxiii, q, 5, c. 47, apud
Spanhfiim, Hist. Imug. p. 112), "Homicidas non esae qul excommemicatoa truci*
dant,"

41 "Oompescuit tale consilium Fontife;R> sperans conversionem prindpis" (An*,
aatas. p- 156)* M Bed ae desisterent ab aroore et flde B, J. admonebat*' (p. 157),
The pops* style Leo and Constantine Copronymus "Imperatorea et Domini,"
with the strange epithet of Piismni. A famous mosaic of the Lateran (A.D. 798)
represents O&rfot, who drivers the keys to St Peter and the banner to Gotistaa-
tine V, (Muraloii, Aimali d*Ital}a, tarn, vi p, 837.)

A.IX 728.] REPUBLIC OF ROME* 119

The liberty of Rome, which had been oppressed by the
arms and arts of Augustus, was rescued, after seven hundred
Republic an d fifty years of servitude, from the persecution
of fiome. O f eo? t j ie l saur i an- By ti ie Osesars the triumphs

of the consuls had been annihilated : in the decline and fall
of the empire, the god Terminus, the sacred boundary, had
insensibly receded from the ocean, the Rhine, the Danube,
and the Euphrates; and Rome was reduced to her ancient
territory from "Viterbo to Terracina, and from Narni to the
mouth of the Tiber/ 3 When the kings were banished, the
republic reposed on the firm basis which had been founded
by their wisdom and virtue. Their perpetual jurisdiction was
divided between two annual magistrates : the senate contin-
ued to exercise the powers of administration and counsel;
and the legislative authority was distributed in the assemblies
of the people by a well-proportioned scale of property and
service. Ignorant of the arts of luxury, the primitive Ro-
mans had improved the science of government and war; the
will of the community was absolute : the rights of individ-
uals were sacred : one hundred and thirty thousand citizens
were armed for defence or conquest ; and a band of robbers
and outlaws was moulded into a nation, deserving of free-
dom and ambitious of glory." When the sovereignty of the
Greek emperors was extinguished, the ruins of Rome present-
ed the pad image of depopulation and decay : her slavery was
a habit, her liberty an accident; the effect of superstition,
and ihe object of her own amazement and terror* The last
vestige of the substance, or even the forms, of the consti-
tution, was obliterated from the practice and memory of the
Romans; and they were devoid of knowledge, or virtue,
again to build the fabric of a commonwealth. Their scanty

42 I have traced the Roman duchy according to the maps, and the maps accord-
ing to the excellent dissertation of Father Beretti (I>e Chorographia Italise Medii
J32vi, sect. xx. p. 216-232). Yet I must nicely observe that Viterbo is of Lom-
bard foundation (p. 211), and that Terracina was usurped by the Greeks.

48 On the extent, population, etc., of the Roman kingdom, the reader may peruse
with pleasure the Disccurs Pr&ivdnaire to the Rgpublique Romaine of M. de
Beaufort (torn, i,) who will not be accused of too much credulity for the early
ages of Rome-

120 REPUBLIC OF KOME. [OH. XLIX

remnant, the offspring of slaves and strangers, was despicable
in the eyes of the victorious barbarians. As often as the
Franks or Lombards expressed their most bitter contempt of
a foe, they called him a Roman ; "and in this name," says the
Bishop Liutprand, " we include whatever is base, whatever is
cowardly, whatever is perfidious, the extremes of avarice and
luxury, and every vice that can prostitute the dignity of hu-
man nature." 4 ** By the necessity of their situation, the in-
habitants of Koine were cast into the rough model of a re-
publican government : they were compelled to elect some
judges in peace and some leaders in war: the nobles assem-
bled to deliberate, and their resolves could not be executed
without the union and consent of the multitude. The style
of the Roman senate and people was revived/ 5 but the spirit
was fled; and their new independence was disgraced by the
tumultuous conflict of licentiousness and oppression, The
want of laws could only be supplied by the influence of re-
ligion, and their foreign and domestic counsels were moder-
ated by the authority of the bishop. His alms, his sermons,
his correspondence with the kings and prelates of the West,
his recent services, their gratitiide and oath, accustomed the
Romans to consider him as the first magistrate or prince of
the city. The Christian humility of the popes was not of-
fended by the name of Dom/inm, or Lord ; and their face

44 "Quos (Romano$) nos, Longobardi scilicet, Saxones, Franci* Lothatingf,
Joarii, Suevi, Burguiidiones, tanto dedignaraur ut inimieos noatron commoti, nil
aliiul contumeliarurn nisi 'Romano, dicamua : hoc solo, id eot Koniatiornm nomine,
quiequid ignobilitatiB, quicquid timidiUtis, quicquid avaritiae, quicquid luxurie^
quicquid mendacii, immo quicquid vitioruni est comprehendentes " (Lintprand, in
Legat. Script* Ital. torn. ii. pars i. p. 481). For the sins of Cato or Tully, Minos
might have imposed as a fit penance the daily perusal of this barbarous passage.

4 * u Pipino regi Francoruto [et Patricio Romanorum] omnis senattis utque unl-
rersa popull generalitas a Deo servatce Komanee uvbis" (Codex Caroliii. epist. 86
itt Script. Ital. torn. iii. pars ii, p. 160)* The names of sen at u a and senator were
never totally extinct (Dissert. Chorograph. p. 2X6, 217) ; but ia the Middle Ages
they signified little more than nobiles, optimates, etc* (Ducange, Gloss,

* Tet this eo^fMp&elkws sentence, quoted by Boberfcson (Charles V nofe 2) aa
welt as Gibboti^a^ allied by the angry bishop to the Bymritim Eomaacx% whom,
indeed, he admits to be the genuine descendants of Komulus. M.

>. 730-752.] ROME ATTACKED BY THE LOMBARDS. 121

and inscription are still apparent on the most ancient coins. 4 *
Their temporal dominion is now confirmed by the reverence
of a thousand years ; and their noblest title is the free choice
of a people whom they had redeemed from slavery.

In the quarrels of ancient Greece, the holy people of Elis
enjoyed a perpetual peace, under the protection of Jupiter,
Rome at- an( l i^ the exercise of the Olympic games. 47 Hap-
Lombar b /s. the PJ would it have been for the Romans if a similar
A.P. -rao-TOB. p r i v ii e g e had guarded the patrimony of St. Peter
from the calamities of war ; if the Christians who visited the
holy threshold would have sheathed their swords in the pres-
ence of the apostle and his successor. But this mystic circle
could have been traced only by the wand of a legislator and a
sage : this pacific system was incompatible with the zeal and
ambition of the popes : the Eomans were not addicted, like
the inhabitants of Elis, to the innocent and placid labors of
agriculture; and the barbarians of Italy, though softened by
the climate, were far below the Grecian states in the institu-
tions of public and private life. A memorable example of
repentance and piety was exhibited by Liutprand, King of
the Lombards. In arms, at the gate of the Vatican, the con-
queror listened to the voice of Gregory the Second/ 8 with*

4 * See, Muratori, Antiquit, Italics Medii J3Evi torn. ii. Dissertat. xxvii. p. 548.
On one of these coins ttfe read Hadvianus Papa (A.D. 772) ; on the reverse^ Viet.
DDNlfc wittt the word CONQB* which tire Pere Joubert (Science des Mdailles,
t&m, il p. 45} Bsxplains by' (7C^8tantinopoE Officfna 2? (secunda)**

47 See West's Dissertation on the Qlymnic Games (Pindar, voL ii. p, 32-36,
edition in 12mo) and the judicsiotis reflections of Polybias (torn, i 1. iv, Jc. 73]
p. 466, edit. Gronor.).

48 The speech of Gregory to the Lombard is finely composed by Sigonins (De

* The letters COKOB, which frequently appear on the Byzantine coins, and
which have given lise to much dispute, have been satisfactorily explained by Pin-
der and Friedlander, "Die Miinzen Justinians, mit sechs Kupfertafeln, n Berlin,
184:3. That the letters CON should be separated from OB, and that they signify
Constantinople, seems clear from the epigraphs AQ*DOB T TESOB, and TROB> which
indicate respectively the towns of Aquileia, Thessalonica, and Treves. The above-
mentioned writers suppose that OB are the Greek numerals, and that they conse-
quently indicate the number 72. In the time of Augustus 40 gold coins (aurei or
eolidi) were equal to a pound; but as these coins were gradually struck lighter
and lighter, it was at length enacted by Valentinian I., in A. D. 367, that thence-
forth 72 solidi should be coined out of a pound of gold $ and accordingly we find
OONOB for the first time on the coins of tfote *mpeixnv S.

122 ROME ATTACKED BY THE LOMBARDS, LCa. XUX.

drew his troops, resigned his conquests, respectfully visitecj
the Church of St. Peter, and, after performing his devotions,
offered his sword and dagger, his cuirass and mantle, his silver
cross and his crown of gold, on the tomb of the apostle. But
this religious fervor was the illusion, perhaps the artifice, of
the moment ; the sense of interest is strong and lasting ; the
love of arms and rapine was congenial to the Lombards; and
both the prince and people were irresistibly tempted by the
disorders of Italy, the nakedness of Rome, and the unwarlike
profession of her new chief. On the first edicts of the em-
peror, they declared themselves the champions of the holy
images : Liutprand invaded the province of Eomagna, which
had already assumed that distinctive appellation ; the Catho-
lics of the Exarchate yielded without reluctance to his civil
and military power; and a foreign enemy was introduced
for the first time into the impregnable fortress of Ravenna.
That city and fortress were speedily recovered by the active
diligence and maritime forces of the Venetians ; and those
faithful subjects obeyed the exhortation of Gregory himself,
in separating the personal guilt of Leo from the general catxso
of the Roman empire/ 1 * The Greeks were less mindful of
the service than the Lombards of the injury : the two nations,
hostile in their faith, were reconciled in a dangerous and un-
natural alliance : the king and the exarch marched to the con-
quest of Spoleto and Rome ; the storm evaporated without
effect, but the policy of Liutprand alarmed Italy with a vexa-
tious alternative of hostility and truce. His successor Astol-
phus declared himself the equal enemy of the emperor and
the pope : Ravenna was subdued by force or treache*y, 60 and

Begno Ita!ise> L iii. Opera, torn. ii. p. 178), who imitates the license aiw* the spirit
of Ballast of Livy.

* The Venetian historians, John Sagormnus (Chron, Venet. p, 1&) and the
clogs Andrew Dandolo (Scriptorea Ben XtaL torn, xil p. 185)* have preserved this
epistle of Gregory. The loss and recovery of Bavenna are mentioned by Paulas
Diaconas (De Gest. Lanp;obard. L vi, c, 49, 54, in Script* XtaL torn. i. pars i.
pi 50ft r 'B08)i [but our chronologiats, Fagi, Maratori, eta, cannot ascertain the date
or circumstances.

50 The option wiU depend on the various readings of the MBS. of Anataflius
or decer$*#rat ^3<SK%t ItaL torn* iii pars i p,

A.D. 754.] HEE DELIVERANCE BY PEPIN. 123

this final conquest extinguished the series of the exarchs, who
had reigned with a subordinate power since the time of Jus-
tinian and the ruin of the Gothic kingdom. Rome was sum-
moned to acknowledge the victorious Lombard as her lawful
sovereign ; the annual tribute of a piece of gold was fixed as
the ransom of each citizen, and the sword of destruction was
uasheathed to exact the penalty of her disobedience. The
Romans hesitated ; they entreated ; they complained ; and the
threatening barbarians were checked by arms and negotia-
tions, till the popes had engaged the friendship of an ally and
avenger beyond the Alps. 61

In his distress the first a Gregory had implored the aid of
the hero of the age, of Charles Martel, who governed the
Herdeiiv- French monarchy with the humble title of mayor
pp n in! by or duke ; and who, by his signal victory over the
A.*. 754, Saracens, had saved his country, and perhaps Eu-
rope, from the Mahometan yoke. The ambassadors of the
pope were received by Charles with decent reverence; but
the greatness of his occupations, and the shortness of his life,
prevented his interference in the affairs of Italy, except by a
friendly and ineffectual mediation. His son Pepin, the heir
of his power and virtues, assumed the office of champion of
the Roman Church ; and the zeal of the French prince appears
to have been prompted by the love of glory and religion* But
the danger was on the banks of the Tiber, the succor on those
of the Seine ; and our sympathy is cold to the relation of dis-
tant misery. Amidst the tears of the city, Stephen the Third
embraced the generous resolution of visiting in person the
courts of Loinbardy and France, to deprecate the injustice of
his enemy, or to excite the pity and indignation of his friend.

51 The Codex Carolinus Is a collection of the epistles of the popes to Charles
Martel (whom they style Subregulus), Pepin, and Charlemagne, as far as the year
791 9 when it was formed by the last of these princes. His original and authentic
MS. (BibliothecBB Cubicularis) is now in the imperial library of Vienna, and has
been published by 3Jambecius and Muratori (Script. Herum Ital. torn. iii. pars iL
p. 75, etc.)-

* Gregory the First had been dead aboye a pentury ; read Gregory the Third*

DELIVERANCE OF ROME BY PEPIN. [Ca. XLIX-

After soothing the public despair by litanies and orations, he
undertook this laborious journey with the ambassadors of the
French monarch and the Greek emperor. The king of the
Lombards was inexorable; but his threats could not silence
the complaints, nor retard the speed, of the Horn an pontiff,
who traversed the Pennine Alps, reposed in the Abbey of
St. Maurice, and hastened to grasp the right hand of his pro-
tector; a hand which was never lifted in. vain, cither in war
or friendship. Stephen was entertained as the visible suc-
cessor of the apostle; at the next assembly, the field of March
or of May, his injuries were exposed to a devout and warlike
nation, and he repassed the Alps, not as a suppliant, but as a
conqueror, at the head of a French army, which was led by
the king in person. The Lombards, after a weak resistance,
obtained an ignominious peace, and swore to restore the pos-
sessions, and to respect the sanctity, of the Roman Church.
But no sooner was Astolphus delivered from the presence of
the French arms, than he forgot his promise and resented his
disgrace, Rome was again encompassed by his arms; and
Stephen, apprehensive of fatiguing the zeal of his Transalpine
allies, enforced his complaint and request by an eloquent let-
ter in the name and person of St. Peter himself/ 11 The apos-
tle assures his adoptive sons, the king, the clergy, and the no-
bles of France, that, dead in the flesh, he is still alive in the
spirit ; that they now hear, and must obey, the voice of the
founder and guardian of the Roman Church ; that the "Virgin,
the angels, the saints, and the martyrs, and all the host of heav-
en, unanimously urge the request, and will confess the obliga-
tion ; that riches, victory, and paradise will crown their pious
enterprise, and that eternal damnation will be the penalty of
their neglect, if they suffer his tomb, his temple, and his peo-
ple to fall into the hands of the perfidious Lombards, The
second expedition of Pepin was not less rapid and fortunate

** See thte roost extraordinary letter in the Codex Carolinufl, epint, itL p. 98.
The enemies of the popes have charged them with fraud arid blasphemy ; yat they
sorely meant to persuade rather than deceive. This introduction of the dead,
or-of iTniBortalff, ^as femiliar to the ancient orators, though It is executed on this
occasion in the rude fashion of the age.

A.D.774,] CONQUEST OF LOMBARDY BY CHARLEMAGNE. 125

than the first : St. Peter was satisfied, Home was again saved,
and Astolphus was taught the lessons of justice and sincerity
by the scourge of a foreign master. After this double chas-
tisement, the Lombards languished about twenty years in a
state of languor and decay. But their minds were not yet
humbled to their condition ; and instead of affecting the pa-
cific virtues of the feeble, they peevishly harassed the Ro-
mans with a repetition of claims, evasions, and inroads, which
they undertook without reflection and terminated without
glory- On either side, their expiring monarchy was pressed
by the zeal and prudence of Pope Adrian the First, the gen-
ius, the fortune, and greatness of Charlemagne, the son of Pe-
pin ; these heroes of the Church and State were united in
public and domestic friendship, and, while they trampled on
the prostrate, they varnished their proceedings with the fairest
colors of equity and moderation. 53 The passes of the Alps
and the walls of Pavia were the only defence of the Lom-
bards; the former were surprised, the latter were invested, by
the son of Pepin ; and after a blockade of two years,* Deside-
rius, the last of their native princes, surrendered his

Conquest of , .. . , ., , -n- -, n i * *

irorabardy sceptre and his capital. Under the dominion of a
mague? *" foreign king, but in the possession of their nation-
al laws, the Lombards became the brethren, rather
than the subjects, of the Franks; who derived their blood,
and manners, and language from the same Germanic origin/*
The mutual obligations of the popes and the Carlovingian
family form the important link of ancient and modern, of
civil and ecclesiastical, history. In the conquest of Italy, the

- ' - ' ' r - " ' ' i i 'i. i..- . ' i . ii ' -i in.

* 3 Except in the divorce of the daughter of Desiderius, whom Charlemagne re-
pudiated "sine aliquo crimine." Pope Stephen IV. had most furiously opposed
the alliance of a noble Frank " cum perfidfc, horrida, nee dicendft, foetentissim&
nationeIx>ngobardorum M to whom he imputes the first stain of leprosy (Cod. Car-
olin. epist, 45, p. 178, 1 79). Another reason against the marriage was the exist-
ence of a first wife (Muratori, Annali d'ltalia, torn. vL p. 232,233, 236, 237). But
Charlemagne indulged himself in the freedom of polygamy or concubinage.

w See the Annali dltalia of Muratori, torn, vi, and the three first Dissertations
of his Antiquitates Italic Medii J5EM, torn. i. \

* Of fifteen months. James, Life of Charlemagne, p. 187.

126 PEPIN AND CHAKLEMAGNE. [On. XLIX.

champions of the Roman Church obtained a favorable occa-
Pepin and sion, a specious title, the wishes of the people, the
mwtkfegB prayers and intrigues of the clergy. But the
A^tf 7e^768, niost essential gifts of the popes to the Oarlovin-
76S - gian race were the dignities of King of France 55 and

of Patrician of Rome. I. Under the sacerdotal monarchy of
St. Peter, the nations began to resume the practice of socking,
on the banks of the Tiber, their kings, their laws, and the or-
acles of their fate. The Franks were perplexed between the
name and substance of their government. All the powers of
royalty were exercised by Pepin, mayor of the palace ; and
nothing, except the regal title, was wanting to his ambition.
His enemies were crushed by his valor ; his friends were mul-
tiplied by his liberality; his father had been the savior of
Christendom; and the claims of personal merit were repeat-
ed and ennobled in a descent of four generations. The name
and image of royalty was still preserved in the last descend-
ant of Clovis, the feeble Ohilderic ; but his obsolete right could
only be used as an instrument of sedition : the nation was de-
sirous of restoring the simplicity of the constitution ; and Pc-
pin, a subject and a prince, was ambitious to ascertain his own
rank and the fortune of his family. The mayor and the no-
bles were bound, by an oath of fidelity, to the royal phantom :
the blood of Olovis was pure and sacred in their cyos ; and
their common ambassadors addressed the Roman pontiff to
dispel their scruples or to absolve their promise. Tho in-
terest of Pope Zachary, the successor of the two Gregories,
prompted him to decide, and to decide in their favor : he pro-
nounced that the nation might lawfully unite, in the same
person, the title and authority of king ; and that the unfort-
unate Ohilderic, a victim of the public safety, should be de~

55 Besides tho common historians) three French critics, Laimoy (Opera, torn,
v para I!- I vft. epist.9, p 477-487), Pagi (Critioa, A,X>, 75 1, No. 1-6, A,a>. 7&*,
Ho, 1-10), and Natalia Alexander (Hist; Novi Testament!, dlssert&t, ii, p. 96-
107), 4we* treated this subject of the deposition of Ghilderic with learning and at-
tention, bat with a strong bias to save the independence of the crown. Yet they
are hard pressed by the texts which they produce of Eginhard, Theophanes, and
the old annala, Lftnreshamenses, Fuldenses, Loisielaui.

A,D. 751-768.] PEPIN AND CHARLEMAGNE. 127

graded, shaved, and confined in a monastery for the remain-
der of his days. An answer so agreeable to their wishes was
accepted by the Pranks, as the opinion of a casuist, the sen-
tence of a judge, or the oracle of a prophet: the Merovingian
race disappeared from the earth ; and Pepin was exalted on a
buckler by the suffrage of a free people, accustomed to obey
his laws and to march under his standard. His coronation
was twice performed, with the sanction of the popes, by their
most faithful servant St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany,
and by the grateful hands of Stephen the Third, who, in the
monastery of St. Deny s, placed the diadem on the head of
his benefactor. The royal unction of the kings of Israel was
dexterously applied : 66 the successor of St. Peter assumed the
character of a divine ambassador: a German chieftain was
transformed into the Lord's anointed; and this Jewish rite
has been diffused and maintained by the superstition and van-
ity of modern Europe. The Pranks were absolved from their
ancient oath; but a dire anathema was thundered against
them and their posterity, if they should dare to renew the
same freedom of choice, or to elect a king, except in the holy
and meritorious race of the Carlovingian princes. Without
apprehending the future danger, these princes gloried in
their present security: the secretary of Charlemagne affirms
that the French sceptre was transferred by the authority
of the popes; 67 and, in their boldest enterprises, they insist,
with confidence on this signal and successful act of temporal
jurisdiction.

II. In the change of manners and language the patricians

* a Not absolutely for the first time- On a less conspicuous theatre it had been
used, in the sixth and seventh centuries, by the provincial bishops of Britain and
Spain. The royal unction of Constantinople was borrowed from the Latins in the
last age of the empire. Constantine Manasses mentions that CK Charlemagne as
a foreign, Jewish, incomprehensible ceremony. See Selden's Titles of Honor, in
his Works, voL iii. part i. p. 234-249.

& See Eginhard, in Vzt& Caroli Magni, c. i. p. 9 T etc. ; c. iii. p. 24 [edit,
Schminck]. Childeric was deposed jussti, the Carloyingians were established
auGtoritate^ Pontificis RomanL Launoy, etc., pretend that these strong words
are susceptible of a very soft interpretation. Be it soj yet Eginhard understood
the world, the court, and the Latin language.

128 PATRICIANS OF EOME. [Cir.XLDC

of Home 68 were far removed from the senate of Romulus, or
Patricians *& palace of Oonstantine from the free nobles of
or Rome. ^e republic, or the fictitious parents of the emper-
or. After the recovery of Italy and Africa by the arms of
Justinian, the importance and danger of those remote prov-
inces required the presence of a supreme magistrate ; he was
indifferently styled the exarch or the patrician ; and these
governors of Ravenna, who fill their place in the chronology
of princes, extended their jurisdiction over the Roman city,
Since the revolt of Italy and the loss of the Exarchate, the
distress of the Romans had exacted some sacrifice of their in-
dependence. Yet, even in tins act> they exercised the right
of disposing of themselves ; and the decrees of the senate and
people successively invested Charles Martel arid his posterity
with the honors of Patrician of Rome, The leaders of a pow-
erful nation would have disdained a servile title and subor-
dinate office ; but the reign of the Greek emperors was sus-
pended ; and, in the vacancy of the empire, they derived a
more glorious commission from the pope and the republic*
The Roman ambassadors presented these patricians with the
keys of the shrine of St. Peter, as a pledge and symbol of sov-
ereignty ; with a holy banner, which it was their right and
duty to unfurl in the defence of the Church and city. * In
the time of Charles Martel and of Pepin, the interposition of
the Lombard kingdom covered the freedom, while it threat-
ened the safety, of Rome ; and the patriciate represented only
the title, the service, the alliance, of these distant protectors.
The power and policy of Charlemagne annihilated an enemy

69 For the title and powers of patrician of Home, see Ducange (Gloss. Latin,
torn. T. p, 149-151), Pagi (Crltioa, A.X>. 740, Ho, 6-11), Muratort (Annall d'ltaBa,
tow. vl;p>B08^829), and 8t, Marc (Abrege' Chronologlque de ITtalie, torn. I p. 879-
33$), Of these the Franciscan Pagi it -the most disposed to make the patrician a
Jtafteoirrtt of the Cbureh, rather than of the empire,

w The papal advocates can soften the symbolic meaning of the banner and the
key* ; bat the style of ad regnum dimistmus, or direxlmus (Codex Carolim eplat.l,
torn. Hi. pop* iLp, 76), eem* to allow of no palliation or escape, lu the MS. of
t&e Vienna library, they read, instead of regnwn, rogum, prayer or request (see
Ducaage) < and the royalty of Charles Martel is subverted by thii Important cor*
rection (Catalan!, io his Critical Pre&ces, Aunali d'ltalia, torn. xvil. p. 95-99).

A.1X 751-768.] PATRICIANS OF ROME, 129

and imposed a master. In his first visit to the capital he was
received with all the honors which had formerly been paid to
the exarch, the representative of the emperor ; and these hon-
ors obtained some new decorations from the joy and gratitude
of Pope Adrian the First/ No sooner was he informed of
the sadden approach of the monarch, than he despatched the
magistrates and nobles of Rome to meet him, with the ban-
*ner, about thirty miles from the city. At the distance of
one mile the Flaminian Way was lined with the schools, or
national communities, of Greeks, Lombards, Saxons, etc. : the
Koman youth was under arms ; and the children of a more
tender age, with palms and olive-branches in their hands,
chanted the praises of their great deliverer. At the aspect
of the holy crosses and ensigns of the saints, he dismounted
from his horse, led the procession of his nobles to the Vati-
can, and, as he ascended the stairs, devoutly kissed each step
of the threshold of the apostles. In the portico, Adrian ex-
pected him at the head of his clergy : they embraced, as
friends and equals; but in their march to the altar, the king
or patrician assumed the right hand of the pope. Nor was
the Frank content with these vain and empty demonstrations
of respect. In the twenty-six years that elapsed between the
conquest of Lombardy and his imperial coronation, Borne,
which had Men delivered by the sword, was subject, as his
own, to the sceptre of Charlemagne. The people swore al-
legiance to his person and family: in his name mon^j was
coined and justice was Administered ; and the election of the
popes was examined ^nd confirmed by his authority. Except
an original and self-inherent claim of sovereignty, there was
not any prerogative remaining which the title of emperor
could add to the patrician of Rome.* 1

60 In the authentic narrative of this reception, the Liber Pontificalis observes
** Obviam illi ejns sanctitas dirigens venerabiles [verierandas] cruees, id est signa ;
gicut mos est ad exarchum, aut patricium suscipiendum, earn cunt ingenti honore
. Buscipi fecit " (torn. iii. pars i. p. 185).

ei Paulas Diaconus, who wrote before the empire of Charlemagne, describes
Home as his subject city "Vestrse civitates" (ad Porapeium ITestnm), "smis
addidit sceptris " (Be Metensis Ecelesise Episcopis). Some Carlovingian medals,
struck at Borne, have engaged Le Blanc to write an elaborate, though partial, dii-

130 DONATIONS TO THE POPES. [Cn. XLIX.

The gratitude of tlie Carlovingians was adequate to these
obligations, and their names are consecrated as the saviors
Donations of an< l benefactors of the Koman Church. Her aii-

cient patrimony of farms and houses was trans-
to the popes, formed by their bounty into the temporal domin-
ion of cities and provinces ; and the donation of the Exar-
chate was the first-fruits of the conquests of Pepin." Astol-
plms, with a sigh, relinquished his prey ; the keys and the
hostages of the principal cities were delivered to the French
ambassador ; and, in his master's name, he presented them be-
fore the tomb of St Peter. The ample measure of the Ex-
archate" might comprise all the provinces of Italy which had
obeyed the emperor and his vicegerent; but its strict and
proper limits were included in the territories of Bavenna, Bo-
logna, and Ferrara : its inseparable dependency was the Pen-
tapolis, which stretched along the Adriatic from Rimini to
Ancona, and advanced into the midland country as far as the
ridges of the Apennine. In this transaction the ambition
and avarice of the popes has been severely condemned. Per-
haps the humility of a Christian priest should have rejected
an earthly kingdom, which it was not easy for him to govern
without renouncing the virtues of his profession. Perhaps a
faithful subject, or even a generous enemy, would have been
less impatient to divide the spoils of the barbarian; and if
the emperor had intrusted Stephen to solicit in his name the
restitution of the Exarchate, I will not absolve the pope from
the reproach of treachery and falsehood. But in the rigid
interpretation of the laws, every one may accept, without in-

sertation on. their authority at Rome, both as patricians and emperors (Amster-
dam, 1G92, in 4to)*

6 * Mosheim (Institution Hist, Eccles- p. 263) weighs this donation with fair and

^deliberate prudence. The original act has never been produced; hut the Liber

Pcmiiftcalis represents (p. 171), and the Codex Oarolinus supposes, this ample gift,

Both are contemporary records; and the latter is the more authentic, since it has

been preserved, not in the Papal, but the Imperial, library.

64 Between tbe exorbitant claims, and narrow concessions, of interest and prej-
udice, from which even Muratori (Antiqnitat. torn. i. p. 63-68) is not exempt, I
have been gaicted^ in the limits of the Exarchate and Pentapolis, by the Dissert**
tio ChorografMe* Italic Medii Mvi, torn, x. p. 160-180.

A.i>. 751-768.] DONATIONS TO THE POPES. 131

jury, whatever his benefactor can bestow without injustice.
The Greek emperor had abdicated or forfeited his right to
the Exarchate ; and the sword of Astolphus was broken by
the stronger sword of the Carlovingian. It was not in the
cause of the Iconoclast that Pepin had exposed his person and
army in a double expedition beyond the Alps : he possessed,
and might lawfully alienate, his conquests r and to the impor-
tunities of the Greeks he piously replied that no human con-
sideration should tempt him to resume the gift which he had
conferred on the Roman pontiff for the remission of his sins
and the salvation of his soul. The splendid donation was
granted in supreme and absolute dominion, and the world be-
held for the first time a Christian bishop invested with the
prerogatives of a temporal prince- the choice of magistrates,
the exercise of justice, the imposition of taxes, and the wealth
of the palace of Eavenna. In the dissolution of the Lombard
kingdom the inhabitants of the duchy of Spoleto" sought a
refuge from the storm, shaved their heads after the Roman
fashion, declared themselves the servants and subjects of St.
Peter, and completed, by this voluntary surrender, the pres-
ent circle of the ecclesiastical state. That mysterious circle
was enlarged to an indefinite extent by the verbal or written
donation of Charlemagne, 06 who, in the first transports of his
victory, despoiled himself and the Greek emperor of the cit-
ies and islands which had formerly ben annexed to the Ex-
archate, But in the cooler moments of absence and reflec-
tion he viewed with an eye of jealousy and envy the recent
greatness of his ecclesiastical ally. The execution of his own

64 " Spoletini deprecati sunt, ut eos in serritio B. Petri reciperet et more Ro-
manovum tonsurari faceret " (Anastasius, p. 185). Yet it may be a question wheth-
er they gave their own persons or their country.

66 The policy and donations of Charlemagne are carefully examined by St.
Marc (Abrg, torn. i. p. 390-408), who has well studied the Codex Carolinus.
I believe, with htm, that they were only verbal. The most ancient act of dona-
tion that pretends to be extant is that of the Emperor Lewis the Pious (Sigonius,
.De Begno Italic, 1, iv. Opera, torn, it p. 267-270). Its authenticity, or at least
its integrity, are much questioned (Pagi, A.r>, 817, No. 7, etc. ; Muratori, Annali,
torn. vL p. 482, etc. ; Dissertat. Chorographica, p. 33, 34); but I see no reasona-
ble objection to these princes so freely disposing of what was not their own.

132 FORGERY OF DONATION OF CONSTANTINE. [On. XLIX.

and his father's promises was respectfully eluded : the king
of the Franks and Lombards asserted the inalienable rights
of the empire ; and, in his life and death, Kavenna, 06 as well
as Rome, was numbered in the list of his metropolitan cities.
The sovereignty of the Exarchate melted away in the hands
of the popes ; they found in the archbishops of Ravenna a
dangerous and domestic rival: 67 the nobles and people dis-
dained the yoke of a priest ; and in the disorders of the times
they could only retain the memory of an ancient claim, which,
in a more prosperous age, they have revived and realized.

Fraud is the resource of weakness and cunning; and the
strong, though ignorant, barbarian was often entangled in the
of ne ^ * sacerdotal policy. The Vatican and Lateran
were a;a arsenal and manufacture which, according
stantine. to fo G occas i O n, have produced or concealed a va-
rious collection of false or genuine, of corrupt or suspicious
acts, as they tended to promote the interest of the Roman
Church. Before the end of the eighth century some apostol-
ical scribe, perhaps the notorious Isidore, composed the decre-
tals and the donation of Oonstantine, the two magic pillars
of the spiritual and temporal monarchy of the popes. This
memorable donation was introduced to the world by an epis-
tle of Adrian the First, who exhorts Charlemagne to imitate
the liberality and revive the name of the great Constantine/ 9
According to the legend, the first of the Christian emper
ors was healed of the leprosy, and purified in the waters of

66 Charlemagne solicited and obtained from the proprietor, Adrian L, the mo-
saics of the palace of Ravenna, for the decoration of Aix-la-Chapelle (Cod, Garo-
lin. epist. 67, p. 223).

67 The popes often complain of the usurpations of I^eo of Ravenna (Codex.
Carolin. epist. 51, 52, 53, p. 200-205). ^ Si corpus St. Andreas germani St. Petri
hie humasset, iiequaquam nos Earn an i pontifices sic subjugassent " (Agnellus, la-
ber Pomificalis, in Scriptores Remm Ital, torn. ii. pars. i. p. 107).

fV* Piissimo Constantino magno, per ejus largitatem & R, Ecclesia elevata et
exaltata es^et potestatemin hisHespems partibus largiri dignatus est. * * * Quia
ecce; jftpf!|s Cbiistantinus his temporibus,"etc f (Codex Carolin, epiet. 40, in torn.
liLpartlii |h Ifll). Pagl (Critica, A.B. 824, No, 16) ascribes them to an impostot
of t^e ^gh|Jtj^iir|ciry^w the name of St. Isidore ; his bumble title of

JPtccater wp-%drai^y^ bat aptly, turned into Mercator} Ms merchandise was in
deed pr03t&hj% ;jw$t# |w sheets of paper were sold for much wealth an<i power.

. 751-768.] FOKGEEY OF CONSTANTINE'S DONATION, 133

baptism, by St. Silvester, the Roman bishop; and never was
physician more gloriously recompensed. His royal proselyte
withdrew from the seat and patrimony of St. Peter j declared
his resolution of founding a new capital in the East; and re-
signed to the popes the free and perpetual sovereignty 'of
Rome, Italy, and the provinces of the West/ 9 This fiction
was productive of the most beneficial effects. The Greek
princes were convicted of the guilt of usurpation; and the
revolt of Gregory was the claim of his lawful inheritance.
The popes were delivered from their debt of gratitude ; and
the nominal gifts of the Carlo vingians were no more than
the just and irrevocable restitution of a scanty portion of the
ecclesiastical state. The sovereignty of Rome no longer de-
pended on the choice of a fickle people ; and the successors
of St. Peter and Constantine were invested with the purple
and prerogatives of the Csesars. So deep was the ignorance
and credulity of the times that the most absurd of fables was
received with equal reverence in Greece and in France, and is
still enrolled among the decrees of the canon law. 70 The em-
perors and the Romans were incapable of discerning a forg-
ery that subverted their rights and freedom; and the only
opposition proceeded from a Sabine monastery, which in the
beginning of the twelfth century disputed the truth and va-
lidity of the donation of Constantine. 71 In the revival of let-

f * ; $abr^cias p$bp#$b. Q$$& $bm v vi p. 4-^7) Juts .eiramerated ttesev^ral editions
of this Act, in Greek and [Latin. The copy which Lauren tiua Valla recites and
refutes appears to, fee tafcen either ftQm*t|tei^rio;us!A^B of k ISkester or from
Gratian's Decree, to which, according to him aud otker%it has been surreptitious-
ly tacked. I

TO In the year 1059 it was believed (was it believed ?) by Pope Leo IX., Cardi-
nal Peter Damianus, etc. Muratori places (AnnaH d'ltalia, torn. ix. p. 23, 24) the
fictitious donations of Lewis the Pious, the Othos, etc., Be Donatione Constantini.
See a Dissertation of Natalia Alexander, seculum iv. dies. 25, p, 335-350.

11 See a large account of the controversy (A,B. 1105), which arose from a pri-
vate lawsuit, in the Chronicon Farsense (Script. Bernm Italicarum, torn. ii. pars ii
p. 637, etc.)* a copious extract from the archives of that Benedictine abbey. They
were formerly accessible to curious foreigners (Le Blanc and Mabillon), and would
have enriched the first volume of the Historia Moiiastica Italise of Qtiirini. But
they are now* imprisoned (Miiratori, Scriptores R. I. torn. ii. pars ii. p. 269) by the
timid policy of the court of Rome ; and the future cardinal yielded to the voice of
Authority and the whispers of ambition (Quirini, Comment, pars ii. p. 123-13$).

134 FOKGEEY OP CONSTANTINE'S DONATION. [Cn. XLIX.

ters and liberty tliis fictitious deed was transpierced by the
pen of Laurentius Valla, the pen of an eloquent critic and a
Roman patriot. 72 His contemporaries of the fifteenth centu-
ry were astonished at his sacrilegious boldness ; yet such is
the silent and irresistible progress of reason, that before the
end of the next age the fable was rejected by the contempt
of historians 7 * and poets, 74 and the tacit or modest censure of
the advocates of the Eoman Church. 7 " The popes themselves
have indulged a smile at the credulity of the vulgar j 70 but
a false and obsolete title still sanctifies their reign ; and by
the same fortune which has attended the decretals and the
Sibylline oracles, the edifice has subsisted after the founda-
tions have been undermined.

While the popes established in Italy their freedom and
dominion, the images, the first cause of their revolt, were re-
stored in the Eastern empire. 77 Under the reign of Oonstan-

** I have read in the collection of Schardius (De Potestate Imperial! Ecclesi-
astic*, p. 734-780) this animated discourse, which was composed by the author
A.D. 1440, six years after the flight of Pope Eugenius IV. It is a most vehement
party pamphlet; Valla justifies and animates the revolt of the Romans, and would
even approve the use of a dagger against their sacerdotal tyrant. Such a critic
might expect the persecution of the clergy ; yet he made his peace, and is buried
in the Lateran (Bayle, Dictionnaire Critique, VAI.LA; Vossius, De Historic^ Lu-
tinis, p. 680).

w See Guicciardini, a servant of the popes, in that long and valuable digression,
which has resumed its place in the last edition, correctly published from the au-
thor's MS., and printed in four volumes in quarto, under the name of Friburgo,
1775 (Istoria d'ltalia, torn. i. p. 386-395).

^ The Paladin Astolpho found it in the moon, among the things that were lost
upon earth (Orlando Furioso, xxxiv. SO).

**Di vari fiori ad un gran monte passa,
Ch* ebbe gi& buono odore, or puzza forte :
Questo era il dono (se per6. dir lece)
Che Costantino al boon Silvestro fece. w

Yet this incomparable poem has been approved by a bull of Leo X

v* See Baroniug, A.D, 324, No, 117-123; A.D. 1191, Wo. 51, etc. The cardinal
wishes to suppose that Rome was offered by Constantme, and refused by Silvester.
The act of donation he considers, strangely enough, as a forgery of the Greeks.

"-Baroning n'en dit gueres centre; encore en a-t-il trop dit, et Ton vouloit
sans moi (Cardinal du Perron), qui renapgchai, censurer cette partie de son his-
toire. J'en devisai tut jour avec le Pape, et il ne me re*pondit autre chose * che
volete ? I Canonici la tejngono,' il le disoit en riant " (Perroniana, p. 77).

w The remaiiuBg history of images, from Irene to Theodora, is collected tat

A.1X 780.] EESTOEATION OF IMAGES IN THE EAST. 135

tine the Fifth, the union of civil and ecclesiastical power had
Restoration overthrown the tree, without extirpating the root,
IheZlt by n of superstition. The idols, for such they were now
i^ne. mpress held, were secretly cherished by the order and the
A .D.i8o,etc. gex most prone to devotion ; and the fond alliance
of the monks and females obtained a final victory over the rea-
son and authority of man. Leo the Fourth maintained with
less rigor the religion of his father and grandfather ; but his
wife, the fair and ambitious Irene, had imbibed the zeal of
the Athenians, the heirs of the idolatry, rather than the phi-
losophy, of their ancestors. During the life of her husband
these sentiments were inflamed by danger and dissimulation,
and she could only labor to protect and promote some favor-
ite monks whom she drew from their caverns and seated
on the metropolitan thrones of the East. But as soon as she
reigned in her own name and that of her son, Irene more se-
riously undertook the ruin of the Iconoclasts ; and the first
step of her future persecution was a general edict for lib-
erty of conscience. In the restoration of the monks a thou-
sand images were exposed to the public veneration ; a thou-
sand legends were invented of their sufferings and miracles.
By the opportunities of death or removal the episcopal seats
were judiciously filled ; the most eager competitors for earth-
ly or celestial favor anticipated and flattered the judgment
of their sovereign ; and the promotion of her secretary Tara-
sius gave Irene the Patriarch of Constantinople and the com-
mand of ihe Oriental Church. But the decrees of a general
council could only be repealed by a similar assembly : 78 the

the Catholics by Baronius and Pagi (A.D. 780-840), Ifatalis Alexander (Hist.
IsT. T. seculum viii, ; Panoplia adversus Hsereticos, p. 118-178), and Dupin (Bi-
blioth. Eccles. torn. vL p. 136-154) ; for the Protestants, by Spanheim (Hist. Imag.
p. 05-639), Basnage (Hist, de I'Eglise, torn. i. p. 556-572 ; torn. ii. p. 1362-1385),
and Mosheim (Institnt. Hist. Eccles. secul. viii. et ix.)- The Protestants, except
Mosheim, are soured with controversy ; but the Catholics, except Dupin, are in-
flamed by the fury and superstition of the monks; and even Le Bean (Hist, da
Bas Empire), a gentleman and a scholar, is infected by th odious contagion,

78 See the Acts, in Greek and Latin, of the second Council of Nice, with a num-
ber of relative pieces, in the eighth volume of the Councils, p. 645-1600. A faith-
ful version, with some critical notes, would provoke, in different readers, a sigh 6?
$ smile.

136 SECOND COUNCIL OF NICE. [Cn. XLIS.

Iconoclasts whom site convened were bold in possession, and
averse to debate; and the feeble voice of the bishops was re-
echoed by the more formidable clamor of the soldiers and
people of Constantinople. The delay and intrigues of a
seventh gen- JQ&*> t^ 6 separation of the disaffected troops, and
lec l ond 3 Sf ilj the choice of Kice for a second orthodox synod,
SSrar, sept, removed these obstacles; and the episcopal con-
24-6ct.23. science was again, after the Greek fashion, in the
hands of the prince. No more than eighteen days were al-
lowed for the consummation of this important work : the
Iconoclasts appeared, not as judges, but as criminals or peni-
tents : the scene was decorated by the legates of Pope Adrian
and the Eastern patriarchs ; 79 the decrees were framed by the
President Tarasius, and ratified by the acclamations and sub-
scriptions. of three hundred and fifty bishops. They unani-
mously pronounced that the worship of images is agreeable
to Scripture and reason, to the fathers and councils of the
Church : but they hesitate whether that worship be relative
or direct; whether the Godhead and the figure of Christ be
entitled to the same mode of adoration. Of this second Ni-
cene Council the acts are still extant ; a curious monument of
superstition and ignorance, of falsehood and folly. I shall
only notice the judgment of the bishops^ on the comparative
merit of image -worship and morality. A monk had con-
cluded a truce with the demon of fornication, on condition
of interrupting his daily prayers to a picture that hung in
his cell. His scruples prompted him to consult the abbot*
" Rather than abstain from adoring Christ and his Mother in
their holy images, it would be better for you," replied the
casuist, " to enter every brothel and visit every prostitute in
the city* 5 ' 80 For the honor of orthodoxy, at least the ortho-

pope's legates were casual messengers, two priests without any special
o^.and who were disavowed on their return. Some vagabond monks
were peisu^i^ by the Catholics to represent the Oriental patriarchs. This curi-
ous ane^^fe, revealed by Theodore Sfudites QEpist i. 88, in Sinaond. Opp. torn.

$ f$ leafoXwrtf* li* r? 9n$Xtt ravry

KtptW jjp&v K^L S&V

ttlag atrov pttrpw It/ g efaw. these visits could not be innocent,

JLD,842<] FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OP IMAGES. 137

doxy of the Roman Church, it is somewhat unfortunate that
Final estab- ^ ie tw <> princes who convened the two councils of

Nice are both stained with the blood of their sons.

Tll e second of these assemblies was approved and
A.D.842. rigorously executed by the despotism of Irene,, and
she refused her adversaries the toleration which at first she
had granted to her friends. During the five succeeding
reigns, a period of thirty-eight years, the contest was main-
tained with unabated rage and various success between the
worshippers and the breakers of the images ; but I am not
Inclined to pursue with minute diligence the repetition of the
same events. N icephorus allowed a general liberty of speech
and practice ; and the only virtue of his reign is accused by
the monks as the cause of his temporal and eternal perdition.
Superstition and weakness formed the character of Michael
the First, but the saints and images were incapable of sup-
porting their votary on the throne. In the purple, Leo the
Fifth asserted the name and religion of an Armenian ; and
the idols, with their seditious adherents, were condemned to a
second exile. Their applause would have sanctified the mur-
der of an impious tyrant, but his assassin and successor, the
second Michael, was tainted from his birth with the Phrygian
heresies: he attempted to mediate between the contending
parties ; and the intractable spirit of the Catholics insensibly
cast him into the opposite soale. His moderation was guard-
ed by timidity ; but his son Theophilus, alike ignorant of fear
and pity, was the last and mpst cruel of the Iconoclasts. The
enthusiasm of the, times ran strongly Against them ; and the
emperors, who stemmed the torrent, were exasperated and
punished by the public hatred. After the death of Theophi-
lus the final victory of the images was achieved by a second
female, his widow Theodora, whom he left the guardian of
the empire. Her measures were bold and decisive. The fic-
tion of a tardy repentance absolved the fame and the soul of
Her deceased husband ; the sentence of the Iconoclast patri-
arch was commuted from the loss of his eyes to a whipping

iropveiae (the demon of fornication) &roXe/m & a&ruv * * * iv jwgt cftv &$
c&T<j* <r$6fya, etc, Actio iv. p. 901 j Actio v. p. 1031.

138 RELUCTANCE OF THE FRANKS. Cn. XLEK.

of two hundred lashes: the bishops trembled, the monks
shouted, and the festival of orthodoxy preserves the annual
memory of the triumph of the images. A single question
yet remained, whether they are endowed with any proper and
inherent sanctity ; it was agitated by the Greeks of the elev-
enth century ; 81 and as this opinion has the strongest recom-
mendation of absurdity, I am surprised that it was not more
explicitly decided in the affirmative. In the "West, Pope
Adrian the First accepted and announced the decrees of the
Nicene assembly, which is now revered by the Catholics as
the seventh in rank of the general councils. Kome and Italy
were docile to the voice of their father ; but the greatest part
of the Latin Christians were far behind in the race
of e the Brants of superstition. The churches' of France, Ger-

andofCharle- r . _ , ^ J , , n ,,

magne, many, England, and Spam steered a middle course
*"** ' e * between the adoration and the destruction of im-
ages, which they admitted into their temples, not as objects of
worship, but as lively and useful memorials of faith and his-
tory. An angry book of controversy was composed and pub-
lished in the name of Charlemagne: 8 * under his authority a
synod of three hundred bishops was assembled at Frankfort ; 8a
they blamed the fury of the Iconoclasts, but they pronounced
a more severe censure against the superstition of the Greeks,
and the decrees of their pretended council, which was long
despised by the barbarians of the West. 84 Among them the

81 See an account of this controversy in the Alexias of Anna Comnena (1. v.
p. 129 [edit. Par. ; c. 2, p. 229, edit. Bonn]) and Mosheim (Institut. Hist Eccles*
p. 371. 372).

85 The labri Carolini (Spanheim, p. 443-559), composed in the palace or winter-
quarters of Charlemagne, at Worms, A.I>. 790, and sent by Engebert to Pope
Adrian L, who answered them by a "grandis et verbosa epistola" (Concil* tom.
yiii. p. 1553). The Carolines propose 120 objections against the Nicene synod,
and such words as these are the flowers of their rhetoric: "Peraentiam * * * priscae
Gentilitatis obsoletum errorem * * * argumenta insanissima et absurdissirna * * *
derisione dignas nsaiiias," etc., etc.

** The assemblies of Charlemagne were politic*a as well as ecclesiastical,* and
the three hundred members (Nat, Alexander, sect, viii. p. 53) who sat and voted
at Frankfort must include not only the bishops, but the abbots, and even the prin-
cipal laymen,

u " Qui supra sanctissima patres nostri (episcopi et sacerdotes) omnimodis servi*

A,ix 774-800,] SEPARATION FEOM THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 139

worship of images advanced with a silent and insensible prog-
ress ; but a large atonement is made for their hesitation and
delay by the gross idolatry of the ages which precede the
reformation, and of the countries, both in Europe and Amer-
ica, which are still immersed in the gloom of superstition.

It was after the Nicene synod, and under the reign of the
pious Irene, that the popes consummated the separation of
jftnai separa- Kome a *id Italy, by the translation of the empire
p^effrom to the less orthodox Charlemagne. They were
emp?r?. tem compelled to choose between the rival nations : re-
A.p.T74-soo, ]jgi OIL was no t fas sole motive of their choice; and
while they dissembled the failings of their friends, they be-
held, with reluctance and suspicion, the Catholic virtues of
their foes. The difference of language and manners had per-
petuated the enmity of the two capitals ; and they were alien-
ated from each other by the hostile opposition of seventy
years. In that schism the Romans had tasted of freedom,
and the popes of sovereignty: their submission would have
exposed them to the revenge of a jealous tyrant; and the
revolution of Italy had betrayed the impotence, as well as the
tyranny, of the Byzantine court. The Greek emperors had
restored the images, but they had not restored the Calabrian
estates 8 * and the Illyrian diocese, 8 * which the Iconoclasts had
torn away from the successors of St. Peter; and Pope Adrian

tiiim et adorationem Imaginum renuerafces contempsenint f atgue consentientes con-
denanaverunt V (Conezh torn. ix.pt, HH j Canon ii. JFranckfurd). A polemic mast
be hard-hearted Indeed who does no* pity thje epbm of Baronius, Pagi, Alexander,
Maimbourg, etc., to elude this unlucky senteflca

85 Theophanes (p, 348 [torn. L p. 681, edit, Bonn]) specifies those of Sicily and
Calabria, which yielded an annual rent of three talents and a half of gold (perhaps
.7000 sterling). Liutprnnd more pompously enumerates the patrimonies of the
Roman Church in Greece, Judaea, Persia, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Egypt, and
Libya, which were detained by the injustice of the Greek emperor (Legat. ad ETi-
cephorum, in Script. Berum Italicarum, torn. ii. pars i. p. 481).

86 The great diocese of the Eastern Illyricura, with Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily
(Thomassin, Discipline de FEglise, torn. i. p. 145). By the confession of the Greeks,
the Patriarch of Constantinople had detached from Borne the metropolitans
of Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Nicopolis, and Patr (Luc. Holsten. Geograph,
Sacra, p, 22) ; and his spiritual conquests extended to Naples and Amalft (Gian*
none, Istoria Civile di NapoH, torn, L p. 517-524 ; Pagi, A*P. 730> No- 11),

140 SEPARATION FROM THE EASTERN EMPIEE. [CH.XLIX.

threatens them with a sentence of excommunication unless
they speedily abjure this practical heresy. 87 The Greeks
were now orthodox ; but their religion might be tainted by
the breath of the reigning monarch : the Franks were now
contumacious ; but a discerning eye might discern their ap-
proaching conversion, from the use, to the adoration, of im-
ages. The name of Charlemagne was stained by the polemic
acrimony of his scribes ; but the conqueror himself conform-
ed, with the temper of a statesman, to the various practice of
France and Italy. In his four pilgrimages or visits to the
Vatican he embraced the popes in the communion of friend-
ship and piety ; knelt before the tomb, and consequently be-
fore the image, of the apostle ; and joined, without scruple, in
all the prayers and processions of the Roman liturgy. "Would
prudence or gratitude allow the pontiffs to renounce their
benef actor ? Had they a right to alienate his gift of the Ex-
archate? Had they power to abolish his government of
Home ? The title of patrician was below the merit and great-
ness of Charlemagne; and it was only by reviving the West-
ern empire that they could pay their obligations or secure
their establishment. By this decisive measure they would
finally eradicate the claims of the Greeks : from the debase-
ment of a provincial town, the majesty of Rome would be re-
stored ; the Latin Christians would be united, under a supreme
head, in their ancient metropolis ; and the conquerors of the
West would receive their crown from the successors of St.
Peter. The Roman Church would acquire a zealous and re-
spectable advocate ; and, under the shadow of the Carlo via-
gian power, the bishop might exercise, with honor and safe-
ty, the government of the city. 88

61 " In hoc ostenditur, quia ex uno capitulo ab errore reversis, in altis duobus,
in eodem " (was it the same ?) " permaneant errore * * * de dioceai S, R. E- sou de
patrimomis iterum increpautes commonemus, at si ea restituere noluerit hereticum
euro pro foiytt&modi errore perseverantia decernemus " (Bpist. Hadrian. Papas ad
Garolum Magnum, in Concil. torn. viii. p. 1598) ; to which he adds a reason most
directly opposite to his conduct, that he preferred the salvation of souls and rule
of ftith to t&0 goods of this transitoiy world.

fl ^ ^fonfta^fei considers the emperors as no more than the advocates of the
Church (advocatus et defeasor S. K E. See Ducange, Gloss. Lat. torn. L p. 97).

*.. 800.] COEONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE.

Before the ruin of paganism in Rome the competition for
a wealthy bishopric had often been productive of tumult and
coronation bloodshed. The people were less numerous, but
ma^fat the times were more savage, the prize more impor-
ISSaof tant,and the chair of St. Peter was fiercely disputed
I?p. soo? 1 " by the leading ecclesiastics who aspired to the rank
Dec*2& of Qovereig^ The reign of Adrian the First 89 sur-

passes the measure of past or succeeding ages ;* the walls of
Eome, the sacred patrimony, the ruin of the Lombards, and
the friendship of Charlemagne, were the trophies of his fame :
he secretly edified the throne of his successors, and displayed
in a narrow space the virtues of a great prince. His memory
was revered; but in the next election, a priest of the Lateran,
Leo the Third, was preferred to the nephew and the favorite
of Adrian, whom he had promoted to the first dignities of the
Church. Their acquiescence or repentance disguised, above
four years, the blackest intention of revenge, till the day of a
procession, when a furious band of conspirators dispersed the
unarmed multitude, and assaulted with blows and wounds the
sacred person of the pope. But their enterprise on his life
or liberty was disappointed, perhaps by their own confusion
and remorse. Leo was left for dead on the ground: on his
revival from the swoon, the efiect of his loss of blood, he re-
covered his speech and sight; and this natural event was im-
proved to the miraculous restoration of his eyes and tongue,

His antagonist Muratori reduces 1&e popes to be no more than the exarchs of the
emperor. In the more equitable view of Mosheim (Institut. Hist.Ecdes. p. 264,
265), they held Borne under the empire as the most honorable species of fief or
benefice fi *Premuntur noctecaliginosai"

89 His merits and hopes are summed np in an epitaph of thirty-eight verses, of
which Charlemagne declares himself the author (ConciL torn. viii. p* 520).

<c Post patrem lacrymans Carolus hsec carmina scripsL
Tu mihi dulcis amor, te modo plango pater * * *
Nomina jungo simul titulis, clarissime, nostra
Adrianus, Carolus, rex ego, tuque pater."

The poetry might be supplied by Alcuin j bnt the tears, the most glorious taabufc^
can only belong to Charlemagne.

90 Every new pope is admonished -" Sancte Pater, non videbis annos P^tri,*
twenty-five years. On the whole series the average is about eight years a short

an ambitious cardinal*

142 CORONATION OF CHAKLEMAGNE. [C

of which he had been deprived, twice deprived, by the knife
of the assassins. 91 From his prison he escaped to the Vati-
can : the Duke of Spoleto hastened to his rescue, Charlemagne
sympathized in his injury, and in his camp of Paderborn in
Westphalia, accepted, or solicited, a visit from the Koman pon-
tiff. Leo repassed the Alps with a commission of counts and
bishops, the guards of his safety and the judges of his inno-
cence ; and it was not without reluctance that the conqueror
of the Saxons delayed till the ensuing year the personal dis-
charge of this pious office. In his fourth and last pilgrimage
he was received at Rome with the due honors of king and
patrician : Leo was permitted to purge himself by oath of the
crimes imputed to his charge : his enemies were silenced, and
the sacrilegious attempt against his life was punished by
the mild and insufficient penalty of exile. On the festival of
Christmas, the last year of the eighth century, Charlemagne
appeared in the Church of St. Peter ; and, to gratify the van-
ity of Borne, he had exchanged the simple dress of his coun-
try for the habit of a Patrician. 03 After the celebration of
the holy mysteries, Leo suddenly placed a precious crown on
his head, 08 and the dome resounded with the acclamations of
the people, " Long life and victory to Charles, the most pious
Augustus, crowned by God the great and pacific emperor of

M The assurance of Anastasius (torn. iii. pars i. p. 197, 198) is supported by
the credulity of some French annalists ; but Egiuhard, and other writers of the
same age, are more natural and sincere. "Unas el oculue paululum eat l&sus,"
says John, the Deacon of Naples ( Vit. Episcop* NapoL in Scriptores Muratori,
torn. 1. pars ii. p. 312). Theodolphus, a contemporary bishop of Orleans, observes
with prudence (1. iii. carm, 3) :

"Keddira sunt? mirum est: minim est auferre nequisse.
Est tamen in dubio, hinc mirer an inde magis,"

** Twice, at the request of Adrian and Xeo, he appeared at Home : " Longfi,
tunica et chlamyde amictus, et calqeamentis quoque Romano more formatis."
Eginhard (c. xxiii. p. 109-113) describes, like Suetonius, the simplicity of his
dress, so popular in the nation, that, when Charles the Bald returned to France
in a foreign habit, the patriotic dogs barked at t&e apostate (Gaillard, Vie de
<3ftat|imitgBe* totri.fr. p. 109).

^ w See An^stasiiis (p. 109) and Eginhard (c. aptviii, p- 124-128). The unction
tt ;1 pefcii0^ed ^ T&e^toerf (p. 399 [torn, i. p. 733, edit. Bonn]), the oath by
!&^n$us h (rib^1^^^ and the pope's adoration, "More antsiqtwnwm

principum," by the Annales Bertkuam (Script. Murator. torn* ii. pars ii. p. 606).

A..D. 768-814.] HIS REIGN AOT) CHARACTER

the Romans!" The head and "body of Charlemagne were
consecrated by the royal unction: after the example of the
Caesars, he was saluted or adored by the pontiff : his corona-
tion oath represents a promise to maintain the faith and priv-
ileges of the Church; and the first-fruits were paid in his
rich offerings to the shrine of the apostle. In his familiar
conversation the emperor protested his ignorance of the in*
tentions of Leo, which he would have disappointed by his ab-
sence on that memorable day. But the preparations of the
ceremony must have disclosed the secret ; and the journey of
Charlemagne reveals his knowledge and expectation : he had
acknowledged that the imperial title was the object of his
ambition, and a Roman synod had pronounced that it was
the only adequate reward of his merit and services. 94

The appellation of great has been often bestowed, and

sometimes deserved, but CHAELEMAGUJE is the only prince in

whose favor the title has been indissolubly blended

chSSster with the name. That name, with the addition of

magus. savnt. is inserted in the Roman calendar; and the

A.i>. T68-S14. ' i / T ', j -.1 j.i '

saint, by a rare felicity, is crowned with the praises
of the historians and philosophers of an enlightened age."
His real merit is doubtless enhanced by the barbarism of the
nation and the times from which he emerged: but the wp-
jpwr&nt magnitude of an object is likewise enlarged by an
unequal comparison ; and the ruins of Palmyra derive a cas-
ual splendor from the nakedness of the surrounding desert.

94 This great event of the translation or restoration of the empire is related and
discussed by ETatalte Alexander (seci& ix. dissert. 1 p. S90~397), Pagi (torn. nL
p. 418), Muratori (Annali dltalia, torn* vi. p f 339-352), Sigonius (Be Regno Jta-
liflBy 1. iv. Opp. torn. ii. p, 247-251), Spanheim (De fictd, Translatione Imperil), Gi-
annone (torn. i. p. 395-405), St. Marc (Abrege' Chronologique, torn, i p, 438-450),
Qaillard (Hist, de Charlemagne, torn, ii. p. 386-446). Almost all these moderns
have some religious or national bias.

^ By Mably (Observations sur THistoire de France), Voltaire (Histoire Gtf-
nerale), Robertson (History of Charles V.)^nd Montesquieu (Esprit des ohs
L xxxi. .c. IS), In the year 1782 M. Gaillard published his Histoire de Charle-
magne (in 4 volt;, in 12 mo), which I have freely and profitably used. The au-
thor is a man of sense and humanity, and his work is labored with indnstry and
elegance. But I have likewise examined the original monuments of the reijpis
tf Pepin and Charlemagne, in the fifth volume of the Historians of Franc* ;

144: REIGN AND CHAEACTER [Cn. XLEK,

Without injustice to his fame, I may discern some blemishes
in the sanctity and greatness of the restorer of the Western
empire. Of his moral virtues, chastity is not the most con-
spicuous :* e but the public happiness could not be materially
injured by his nine wives or concubines, the various indul-
gence of meaner or more transient amours, the multitude of
his bastards whom he bestowed on the Church, and the long
celibacy and licentious manners of his daughters, 1 " whom the
father was suspected of loving with too fond a passion. 8 - I
shall be scarcely permitted to accuse the ambition of a con-
queror ; but in a day of equal retribution, the sons of his
brother Oarloman, the Merovingian princes of Aquitain, and
the four thousand five hundred Saxons who were beheaded
on the same spot, would have something to allege against the
justice and humanity of Charlemagne. His treatment of the
vanquished Saxons 88 was an abuse of the right of conquest ;
his laws were not less sanguinary than his arms, and, in the
discussion, of his motives, whatever is subtracted from bigotry
must be imputed to temper. The sedentary reader is amazed
by his incessant activity of mind and body ; and his subjects
and enemies were not less astonished at his sudden presence
at the moment when they believed him at the most distant
extremity of the empire; neither peace nor war, nor summer

w The vision of Weltin, composed by a monk eleven years after the death of
Charlemagne, shows him in purgatory, with a vulture, who is perpetually gnawing
the guilty member, while the rest of his body, the emblem of his virtues, is sound
and perfect (see Gaillard, torn. ii. p. 317-360).

9T The marriage of Eginhard with Imma, daughter of Charlemagne, is, in my
opinion, sufficiently refuted by tbeprobrum andsuspzcio that sullied these fair dam*
sete, without excepting his own wife (c. xix. p. 98-100, cwna Notis Schmincke).
The husband must have been too strong for the historian*

a * Besides the massacres and transmigrations, the pain of death was pronounced
againfit the following crimes: 1. The refusal of baplism, 2. The false pretence
of baptipnx 8. A relapse to idolatry. 4, The tnjftrdep of a priest or bishop. & .
Human Bftcrtfices. 6, Eating meat in Lent, But every crime might be expiated
by baptism or penance (Gaillard, torn. ii. p. 241-247) j and the Christian Saxons
becasiB tha friends and equals of the Franks (Struv. Corpus Hist. Germanic*,

i Mr, Ballam justly observes, "seems to have oirigfc
In a mismterp&re^d passac -of Ezinhard. " Hallam'* Middle A*es, vat i

ROLAND, PALA DIN OF CHARLEMANGE, Page 145
calls for succor at the battle of Roncesvalles
Gibbon's Rome, Vol. V. Painting.by Ix>ms Guesnet

L. D. 768-814.3 OF CHARLEMAGNE. 143

nor winter, were a season of repose; and our fancy cannot
easily reconcile the annals of his reign with the geography
of his expeditions. 4 But this activity was a national, rather
than a personal virtue : the vagrant life of a Frank was spent
in the chase, in pilgrimage, in military adventures; and the
journeys of Charlemagne were distinguished only by a more
numerous train and a more important purpose. His military
renown must be tried by the scrutiny of his troops, his ene-
mies, and his actions. Alexander conquered with the arms
of Philip, but the two heroes who preceded Charlemagne be-
queathed him their name, their examples, and the companions
of their victories. At the head of his veteran and superior
armies he oppressed the savage or degenerate nations, who
were incapable of confederating for their common safety;
nor did he ever encounter an equal antagonist in numbers, in
discipline, or in arms. The science of war has been lost and
revived with the arts of peace; but his campaigns are not il-
lustrated by any siege or battle of singular difficulty and suc-
cess ; and he might behold with envy the Saracen trophies of
his grandfather. After his Spanish expedition his rear-guard
was defeated in the Pyrenean mountains ; and the soldiers,
whose situation was irretrievable, and whose valor was use-
less, might accuse, with their last breath, the want of skill or
caution of their general. 9 * I touch with reverence the laws
of Charlemagne, so highly applauded by a respectable judge.

99 In this action th famous Rutland, Eolando, Orlando, was slain : "Cum Com*
pluribas aliis." See the truth in Ifeinliard (c. 9, p. 51-56), and the fiable in an
ingenious Supplement of M. Gaillard (torn, ill p. 474). The Spaniards are too
proud of a victory which history ascribes to the Gascons,* and romance to the
Saracens. ' .

* M. Guizot (Cours d'Histoire Moderae, p, 270, 273) has compiled the follow-
ing statement of Charlemagne's military campaigns :

1 against the Aquitanians. 1 against the Bavarians.

the Saxons. 4 " the Slaves beyond the Elbe.

the [Lombards. 5 ** the Saracens in Italy,

bs in Spain. 3 ** the Danes*

iringians, 2 " the Greeks*
aT Avars: ; "

18
5

68 totaL^-J

^ In faot, it was a sudden onset of the Gascons^ assisted by the Basque moun-
taineers, aM possiblf a fowr Navarrese,-^M. ,

14:6 EEIGST AOT> CHARACTER [On. XLEL

They compose not a system, but a series, of occasional and
minute edicts, for the correction of abuses, the reformation of
manners, the economy of his farms, the care of his poultry,
and even the sale of his eggs. He wished to improve the
laws and the character of the Franks; and his attempts, how*
ever feeble and imperfect, are deserving of praise : the invet-
erate evils of the times were suspended or mollified by his
government; 100 but in his institutions I can seldom discover
the general views and the immortal spirit of a legislator, who
survives himself for the benefit of posterity. The union arid
stability of his empire depended on the life of a single man :
he imitated the dangerous practice of dividing his kingdoms
among his sons; aad, after his numerous diets, the whole
constitution was left to fluctuate between the disorders of an-
archy and despotism. His esteem for the piety and knowl-
edge of the clergy tempted him to intrust that aspiring order
with temporal dominion and civil jurisdiction ; and his son
Lewis, when he was stripped and degraded by the bishops,
might accuse, in some measure, the imprudence of his father.
His laws enforced the imposition of tithes, because the de-
mons had proclaimed in the air that the default of payment
had been the cause of the last scarcity. 101 The literary merits
of Charlemagne are attested by the foundation of schools, the
introduction of arts, the works which were published in his
name, and his familiar connection with the subjects and stran-
gers whom he invited to his court to educate both the prince
and people. His own studies were tardy, laborious, and im-
perfect ; if he spoke Latin and understood Greek, he derived
the rudiments of knowledge from conversation, rather than
from books ; and, in his mature age, the emperor strove to ao

100 -Yet Schmidt, from the best authorities, represents the interior disorders and
oppression of his reign (Hist, des Altoands, torn. ii.p.45-49),

101 . "Omnis homo ex sad. proprietate legitimam decimam ad ecclesiam conferat*
Experiments enim didicimus, in anno, quo ilia valida fames irrepsit, ebullire va-
cuas annonas k daamonibus d&voratas, et voces e&probrationis auditas." Such is
the decree and assertion of the great Council of Frankfort (Canon xxv. torn, ix-
p. 105) Both Selden (Hist, of Tithes ; Works, vol. iii. part ii. p. 1146) and
^pntes^ateu (E^rit des JLoix, L xxxi. ch. T2) represent Charlemagne as tltel ftm
author of titlies. Such obligations have country gentlemen to 3*is memory J

. 768-814.] OF CHAKLEMAGNE.

quire the practice of writing, which, every peasant now learns
in his infancy. 104 The grammar and logic, the music and as-
tronomy, of the times were only cultivated as the handmaids
of superstition ; but the curiosity of the human mind must
ultimately tend to its improvement, and the encouragement
of learning reflects the purest and most pleasing lustre on the
character of Charlemagne. 108 The dignity of his person, 104 the
length of his reign, the prosperity of his arms, the vigor of
his government, and the reverence of distant nations, distin-
guish him from the royal crowd ; and Europe dates a new era
from his restoration of the Western empire-

That empire was not unworthy of its title, 108 and some of
the fairest kingdoms of Europe were the patrimony or con-
quest of a prince who reigned at the same time in France,
Spain, Italy, Germany, and Hungary. 108 I. The Roman prov-

103 Eginhard (c. 25, p. 119) clearly affirms, " Tentabat et scribere * * * sed pa-
rum prosper* successit labor prseposteras et sero incboatas." The moderns have
perverted and corrected this obvious meaning, and tbe title of M. Gaillard's Dis-
sertation (torn, iii, p. 247-260) betrays bis partiality.*

103 See Gaillard, torn. iii. p, 138-176, and Schmidt, torn. iL p. 121-12$.

104 M. Gaillard (torn. iiL p. 372) fixes the true stature of Charlemagne (see a
Dissertation of Marquard Freher ad calcem Eginhard. p. 220, etc.) at five feet
nine inches of French, about six feet one inch and & fourth English, measure.
The romance-writers have increased it to eight feet, and the giant was endowed
with matchless strength and appetite : at a single stroke of his good sword Joy.
euse, he cut asunder a horseman and his horse ; at a single repast, he devoured a
goose, two fowls, a quarter of mutton, etc.

105 See the concise, but correct and original, work of D'knvilie (Stats formers
en Europe apres la Chute de TEmpiije Btwoialn m Occident^ lEtefig, 1771, in 4to),
whose map includes the empire of CKarlemagBe? ; fke different parts are illustrated
by Valesius (Nbtitia Galliarum) for France, Beretti (Pissertatio Chorographica)
for Italy, De Marca (Marca Hispanica) for Spain. For the middle geography of
Germany I confess myself poor and destitute.

106 After a brief relation of his wars and conquests (Vit Carol c. &~14) 7 Egin-
hard recapitulates, in a few words (c. 15), the countries subject to his empire.
Struvius (Corpus Hist. German, p. 118-149) has inserted in his Notes the texts
0f the old Chronicles* '

* Tibia p0in$ has been contested ; but Mr. HaUam and Monsieur Sismondi con-
CUT wftfr . ; QiJbib6n; ^0 Wlddle Ages, vol. iii, p. 287, 1 Oth edit. ; Histoire des Frap-
9ais, ton) f IS. p. 318. The sensible obaervations of the latter are quoted in ihe
Quarterly ReVieW, vol. $Mn. p. 451. Fleury, I may add, quotes from MabiHbn
a remarkable ? evidrice that Ohariemagtfe *'* Iiad a mark to himself, like an iionest
plain-dealing man*"

14:8 EXTENT OF THE [On. XLIX

ince of Gaul had been transformed into the name and men-
Extent of arcj ky of FjEtANOE : but, in the decay of the Merc-
ies empire vingian line, its limits were contracted by the inde-
pendence of the Britons and the revolt of Ag%dtain.
Charlemagne pursued and confined the Britons on the shores
of the ocean ; and that ferocious tribe, whose origin and lan-
guage are so different from the French, was chastised by the
imposition of tribute, hostages, and peace. After a long and
evasive contest, the rebellion of the dutes of Aquitain was
punished by the forfeiture of their province, their liberty, and
their lives. Harsh and rigorous would have been such treat-
ment of ambitious governors, who had too faithfully copied
the mayors of the palace. But a recent discovery 107 has
proved that these unhappy princes were the last and lawful
heirs of the blood and sceptre of Olovis, a younger branch,
from the brother of Dagobert, of the Merovingian house*
Their ancient kingdom was reduced to the duchy of Gas-
cogne, to the counties of Fesenzac and Armagnac, at the foot
of the Pyrenees : their race was propagated till the beginning
of the sixteenth century, and, after surviving their Oarlovin-
gian tyrants, they were reserved to feel the injustice or the
favors of a third dynasty. By the reunion of Aquitain,
France was enlarged to its present boundaries, with the addi-
- tions of the Netherlands and Spain, as far as the

Rhine. II. The Saracens had been expelled from
France by the grandfather and father of Charlemagne; but
they still possessed the greatest part of SPABST, from the rock
of Gibraltar to the Pyrenees. Amidst their civil divisions,
an Arabian emir of Saragossa implored his protection in the
Diet of Paderborn. Charlemagne, undertook the expedition,
.the :^tpir, aad^ Without distinction, of faith, impartially
fee Distance of the Christians, and rewarded the

Qf a charter granted to the monastery of Alaon (A.E>. 846) by Charles the
wb&ii deduces this royal pedigree. I doikbt whether some subsequent links
of the ninth and tenth centuries are equally firm ; yet the whole is approved and
defended by M- Gaillard (torn. ii. p. 60-81, 203-r306), who affirms that the
of ;Monts<juioa (npt of the President de Montesquieu) is descerwledi im t}ie
male Hue, from Clotaire and Clovis an innocent pretension!

A,D. 768-814.] EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 149

obedience and service of the Mahometans. In his absence
he instituted the Spanish march* which extended from the
Pyrenees to the river Ebro : Barcelona was the residence of
the French governor ; he possessed the counties of So'UsiUon
and Catalonia, and the infant kingdoms of JVwvarre and Ar-
ragon were subject to his jurisdiction. III. As king of the
Lombards arid patrician of Home, he reigned over the great-
Italy est part of lTALT > m a tract of a thousand miles from
the Alps to the borders of Calabria. The duchy
of JSeneventum, a Lombard fief, had spread, at the expense of
the Greeks, over the modern kingdom of Naples. But Arre-
chis, the reigning duke, refused to be included in the slavery
of his country, assumed the independent title of prince, and
opposed his sword to the Carlo vingian monarchy. His de-
fence was firm, his submission was not inglorious, and the em
peror was content with an easy tribute, the demolition of his
fortresses, and the acknowledgment, on his coins, of a supreme
lord. The artful flattery of his son Grimoald added the ap-
pellation of father, but he asserted his dignity with prudence,
and Beneventum insensibly escaped from the French yoke. 11 *
IT. Charlemagne was the first who united GER-
MANY under the same sceptre. The name of Ori-
ental France is preserved in the circle of FrcwiGonia ; and
the people of Hesse and Thurmgia were recently incorpo-
rated with the victors by the conformity of religion, and gov-
ernment. The AUrrwtnni, BO formidable to the Romans, were
the faithful vassals and confederates ^of the Franks, and their
country was inscribed within the modern limits of Alsace,
jSwabia, and Switzerland. The BmcpritmS) with a similar in-
dulgence of their laws and mannera, were legs patient of a
master: the repeated treasons of Tdsillo justified the aboli-

108 Th$ governors or counts of th$ Spanish march revolted from Charles the
Simple about the year 900; and a poor pittance, the Rousillon, has been recov-
ered in jl|t3 by the kings of France (Longuerue, Description de la France, torn. L
p. 220-222). Yet the Rousillon contains 188,900 subjects, and annually pays
2, 600,000 livres (We^er, Administration des Finances, torn. i. p- 278, 279} ; mom
people, perhaps, and dpuhtjess mor,e Baoney r ifcin the march of Charlemagne.

"' Sctu&udt, IlMtt^ fles AJfeaai^si torn, ii, p, 200, etc.

no Ree Giannon^, torn, t j$ 74^ QJfa ani the A;nnals of MuratorL

150 THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. [On. XLIX,

tion of their hereditary dukes, and their power was shared
among the counts who judged and guarded that important
frontier. But the north of Germany, from the Rhine and
beyond the Elbe, was still hostile and pagan ; nor was it till
after a war of thirty-three years that the Saxons bowed under
the yoke of Christ and of Charlemagne. The idols and their
votaries were extirpated ; the foundation of eight bishoprics
of Munster, Osnaburg, Paderborn, and Minden ; of Bremen,
Yerden, Hildesheim, and Halberstadt define, on either side
of the "Weser, the bounds of ancient Saxony : these episcopal
seats were the first schools and cities of that savage land, and
the religion and humanity of the children atoned, in some de-
gree, for the massacre of the parents. Beyond the Elbe, the
$lavi, or Sclavonians, of similar manners and various denomi-
nations, overspread the modern dominions of Prussia, Poland,
and Bohemia, and some transient marks of obedience have
tempted the French historian to extend the empire to the
Baltic and the Vistula. The conquest or conversion of those
countries is of a more recent age, but the first union
of JSohemia with the Germanic body may be justly
ascribed to the arms of Charlemagne, V. He retaliated on
the Avars, or Huns of Pannonia, the same calamities which
they had inflicted on the nations* Their rings, the wooden
fortifications which encircled their districts and villages, were
broken, down by the triple effort of a French army that was
poured into their country by land and water, through the
Carpathian mountains arid along the plain of the Danube.
After a bloody conflict of eight years, the loss of some French
generals was avenged by the slaughter of the most noble
Huns: the relics of the nation submitted : the royal residence
of the chagan was left desolate and unknown ; and the treas-
ury, the rapitte of two hundred and fifty years, enriched the
notorious troop% or decorated, ih$ churches, of Italy and
GauL 111 After the reduction of Pannonia, the empire of

in *< Quot praelia in eo gesta ! quantum sanguinls etfusum sit ! Testator vacua
omni habitatione Pannonia, et locus in quo regia Cagani fait'ita <le$ertus, ut tie
vestigium quidem humanse habitations appareat. Tota in hoc bello Htuanorum

. 768-814.] HIS NEIGHBORS AND ENEMIES. 151

Charlemagne was bounded only by the conflux of the Dan-
ube with the Theiss and the Save : the provinces of Istria,
Libnrnia, and Dalmatia were an easy though unprofitable ac-
cession ; and it was an effect of his moderation that he left
the maritime cities under the real or nominal sovereignty of
the Greeks. But these distant possessions added more to the
reputation than to the power of the Latin emperor ; nor did
he risk any ecclesiastical foundations to reclaim the barba-
rians from their vagrant life and idolatrous worship. Some
canals of communication between the rivers, the Sa6ne and
the Meuse, the Rhine and the Danube, were faintly attempt-
ed. 112 Their execution would have vivified the empire; and
more cost and labor were often wasted in the structure of a
cathedral.*

If we retrace the outlines of this geographical picture, it
will be seen that the empire of the Franks extended, between

Htenel h-

ewmiea ^ a * ^ etween *^ e Berth and south, from the duchy
of Beneventum to the river Eyder, the perpetual
boundary of Germany and Denmark. The personal and po-
litical importance of Charlemagne was magnified by the dis-
tress and division of the rest of Europe. The islands of Great
Britain and Ireland were disputed by a crowd of princes of
Saxon or Scottish origin; and, after the loss of Spain, the
Christian and Gothic kingdom of Alphonso the Chaste was
confined to the narrow range of the Asturian mountains,
These petty sovereigns revered the power or virtue of the
Carlo vingian monarch, implored the* honor and support of his

flobilitas pen it, tota gloria dec idit, omnis pecunia et congest! ex longo tempore
thesauri direpti sun t." Eginhard, c. 13.

112 The junction of the Bhine and Danube was undertaken only for the service
of the Pannonian war (Gaillard,Vie de Charlemagne, torn. ii. p. 312-315). The
canal, which would have been only two leagues in length, and of which some traces
are still extant in Swabia, was interrupted by excessive rains, military avocations,
and superstitions fears (Schsepflin, Hist. 4e TAcadmie des Inscriptions, torn. xviiL
Moiimini fluvJorum, etc., Jungendorum, p. 50-62).

* I should doubt this in the lime of Oharlemagne, even if the term ** expended *
were substituted for "wasted." M.

152 NEIGHBOKS, ENEMIES, AND [On. XLEL

alliance, and styled him their common parent, the sole and
supreme Emperor of the West/ 13 He maintained a more
equal intercourse with the Caliph Harun al Kashid, 114 whose
dominion stretched from Africa to India, and accepted from
his ambassadors a tent, a water -clock, an elephant, and the
keys of the Holy Sepulchre. It is not easy to conceive the
private friendship of a Frank and an Arab, who were stran-
gers to each other's person, and language, and religion : but
their public correspondence was founded on vanity, and their
remote situation left no room for a competition of interest.
Two thirds of the Western empire of Rome were subject to
Charlemagne, and the deficiency was amply supplied by his
command of the inaccessible or invincible nations of Ger-
many. But in the choice of his enemies a wp may be reason-
ably surprised that he so often preferred the poverty of the
north to the riches of the south. The three-and-thirty cam-
paigns laboriously consumed in the woods and morasses of
Germany would have sufficed to assert the amplitude of his
title by the expulsion of the Greeks from Italy and the Sar-
acens from Spain. The weakness of the Greeks would have
insured an easy victory: and the holy crusade against the
Saracens would have been prompted by glory and revenge,
and loudly justified by religion and policy. Perhaps, in his
expeditious beyond the Rhine and the Elbe, he aspired to
save Ms monarchy from the fate of the Roman empire, to dis-

118 See Eginhard, c. 16 ; and Gaillard, torn, ii. p. 361-885, who mentions, with
a loose reference, the intercourse of Charlemagne and Egbert, the emperor's gift
of his own sword, and the modest answer of his Saxon disciple* The anecdote,
if genuine, would have adorned our English histories.

114 The correspondence is mentioned only in the French annals, and the Ori-
entals are ignorant of the caliph's friendship for the Christian dog& polite ap-
pellation, which Harun bestows on the emperor of the Greeks.

* Had he the choice? M. Cruizot has eloquently described the position of
Charlemagne towards the Saxons : " H y fit face par la conqute ; la guerre d&
feii si ve prit la forme offensive: il transporta lajutte sur le territoire des peuples
qui voulaient envahir le sien : il travailla & asservir lea races e*trangeres, et extirper
lea croyances ennemies. De 14 sa mode de gouvernement et la fondation de son
empire ; la guerre offensive et la conqufite voulaient cette vaste et redoutable
unite'." Compare observations iu the Quarterly Review, vol. xlviii.. and Jamaa'a

JL.D. 814-887.] SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 153

arm the enemies of civilized society, and to eradicate the seed
of future emigrations. But it has been wisely observed, that,
in a light of precaution, all conquest must be ineffectual, un-
less it co^d be universal, since the increasing circle must be
involved in a larger sphere of hostility* 116 The subjugation
of Germany withdrew the veil which had so long concealed
the continent or islands of Scandinavia from the knowledge
of Europe, and awakened the torpid courage of their barbar-
ous natives. The fiercest of the Saxon idolaters escaped from
the Christian tyrant to their brethren of the North; the
Ocean and Mediterranean were covered with their piratical
fleets ; and Charlemagne beheld with a sigh the destructive
progress of the Normans, who, in less than seventy years, pre-
cipitated the fall of his race and monarchy.

Had the pope and the Komans revived the primitive con-
stitution, the titles of emperor and Augustus were conferred
HIS sue- OB Charlemagne for the term of his life ; and his
A?r!si4-88T successors^ on each vacancy, must have ascended
iii T in y: *^ e throne by a formal or tacit election. But the
^rmariy; association of his son Lewis the Pious asserts the
Prance. independent right of monarchy and conquest, and
the emperor seems on this occasion to have foreseen and pre-
vented tbe latent claims of the clergy. The royal youth was
commanded to take the crown from the altar, and
with his -own hands to place it on his head, as a
gift which he held from Crod, his father, and the nation/ 15
The same ceremony was repeated, though with less energy, in
the subsequent association of Lothaire and Lewis the Second'
the Carlovingian sceptre was transmitted from father to son
in a lineal descent of four generations; and the ambition of

us Qaillard, torn. ii. p. 361-365, 471-476, 492. I have borrowed his judicious
remarks on Charlemagne's plan of conquest, and the judicious distinction of his
enemies of the first and the second enceinte (torn- ii, p. 184, 509, etc.)-

4 16 Thegan, the biographer of Lewis, relates this coronation j and Baronius has
hopestjy transcribe^ it (A.D. 813, No. 13, etc.; see Gaillard, torn. ii. p. 506, 507,
50S), howsoever adverse to the claims of the popes, for the series of the Carlo-
virigians, see the historians of France, Italy, and Germany ; Pfeffel, Schmidt, Vel-
ly, Muratori, and even Voifaire, whose pictures are sometimes just* and always
pleasing.

154. DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE. [CH, XLIX,

the popes was reduced to the empty honor of crowning and
anointing these hereditary princes, who were already invested
Lewis the w ^ ^ ie ^ r P ower an( l dominions. The pio^ Lewis

survived his brothers* and embraced the whole em-

j. ^ 814. 94.Q

pire of Charlemagne ; but the nations and the no-
bles, his bishops and his children, quickly discerned that this
mighty mass was no longer inspired by the same soul ; arid
the foundations were undermined to the centre, while the ex-
ternal surface was yet fair and entire. After a war, or battle,
which consumed one hundred thousand Franks, the empire
was divided by treaty between his three sons : who had vio-
Lothairei. lated every filial and fraternal duty. % The king-
A.J>. 840-856. doms O f Germany and France were forever sepa-
rated; the provinces of Gaul, between the Bhone and the
Alps, the Mouse and the Rhine* were assigned, with Italy, to
the imperial dignity of Lothaire. In the partition of his
Lewis IL share, Lorraine and Aries, two recent and transitory
A,I>. seo-875. kingdoms, were bestowed on the yoixnger children ;
and Lewis the Second, his eldest son, was content with the
realm of Italy, the proper and sufficient patrimony of a Ro-
man emperor. On his death, without any male issue, the
vacant throne was disputed by his uncles and cousins, and
the popes most dexterously seized the occasion of judging the
claims and merits of the candidates, and of bestowing on the
most obsequious, or most liberal, the imperial office of advo-
cate of the Roman Church. The dregs of the Oarlovingian
race no longer exhibited any symptoms of virtue or power,
and the ridiculous epithets of the 5a&#, the $tamm&r&r y thejfotf,
and the simple, distinguished the tame and uniform featares
of a crowd of kings alike deserving of oblivion. By the fail-
ure of the collateral branches the whole inheritance devolved
to Charles the Fat, the last emperor of his family : his insan-
ity authorized the desertion of Germany, Italy, g,nd France :

Division of ^ e was ^ 6 P ose( * * n a diet, and solicited his daily
the^u-e. bread from the rebels by whose contempt his life
'; ^/\^,ati<J liberty had been spared. According to the

the governors, the bishops, and the
, the: fragments of the falling empire; and some

A.D. 9C3.] OTHO L RESTORES THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 155

preference was shown to the female or illegitimate blood of
Charlemagne. Of the greater part, the title and possession
were alike doubtful, and the merit was adequate to the con-
tracted scale of their dominions. Those who could appear
with an army at the gates of Rome were crowned emperors
in the Vatican ; but their modesty was more frequently sat-
isfied with the appellation of kings of Italy : and the whole
term of seventy-four years may be deemed a vacancy, from
the abdication of Charles the Fat to the establishment of
Otho the First.

Otho 117 was of the noble race of the dukes of Saxony ; and
if he truly descended from Witikind, the adversary and pros-
_ , elyte of Charlemagne, the posterity of a vanquish-

Otno, King ? - i i T .

of German^ ed people was exalted to reign over their conquer-
appropriates ors. His father, Henry the Fowler, was elected*

tli6 TV'ftfitfim / s ... 7

empire. by the suffrage of the nation, to. save and institute
the kingdom of Germany. Its limits 118 were en-
larged on every side by his son, the first and greatest of the
Othos. A portion of Gaul, to the west of the Rhine, along
the banks of the Meuse and the Moselle, was assigned to the
Germans, by whose blood and language it has been tinged
since the time of Csesar and Tacitus. Between the Rhine,
the Rhone, and the Alps, the successors of Otho acquired a
vain supremacy over the broken kingdoms of Burgundy and
Aries. In the North, Christianity was propagated by the
sword of Otho, the conqueror and apostle of the Slavic na-
tions of the Elbe and Oder : the marches of Brandenburg and
Sleswick were fortified with German colonies ; and the King

117 He was the son of Otho, the son of Ludolph, in whose favor the duchy of
Saxony had been instituted, A.D. 858. Kaotgerus, the biographer of a 3t : Brnno
(Biblioth. Bunavianae Catalog, torn. iii. vol. ii. p. 67^), gives a splendid character
of his family: "Atavorura atavi usque ad hominum memoriara oranes nobilissi-
mi ; nullus in eornm stirpe ignotus, nullus degener facile reperitur " (apud Struvi-
ujp, Corp. IjpBst, German, p. 216). Yet Qundling (in Henrieo Aucupe) is not sat-
isfied of hia descent from \Vitikind.

nfi See the treatise pf Coinringins (D^ JMbas Impeiii Oermanici, Francxrfart.
1680, in 4to.); he reject$ the extravagant and Improper scale of the Roman and
Caiioviiigian empires, and discusses with te>deration the rights of Germany, kef
vassals, and her neighbors, ...'.;. :

156 TRANSACTIONS OF THE TWO EMPIRES.

of Denmark, the dukes of Poland and Bohemia, confessed
themselves his tributary vassals. At the head of a victorious
army he passed the Alps, subdued the kingdom of Italy, de-
livered the pope, and forever fixed the imperial crown in the
name and nation of Germany. From that memorable era
two maxims of public jurisprudence were introduced by force
and ratified by time. I. That the prince, who was elected in
the German diet, acquired from that instant the subject king*
doms of Italy and Rome. II. But that he might not legally
assume the titles of emperor and Augustus till he had re-
ceived the crown from the hands of the Koman pontiff/ 1 *

The imperial dignity of Charlemagne was announced to the
East by the alteration of his style ; and instead of saluting
Transactions hie fathers, the Greek emperors, he presumed to
S^udEatf. a ^P* *^ e m re equal and familiar appellation of
ern empires, brother. 130 Perhaps in his connection with Irene
he aspired to the name of husband : his embassy to Constan-
tinople spoke the language of peace and friendship, and might
conceal a treaty of marriage with that ambitious princess, who
had renounced the most sacred duties of a mother- The nat-
ure, the duration, the probable consequences of such a union
between two distant and dissonant empires, it is impossible
to conjecture ; but the unanimous silence of the Latins may
teach us to suspect that the report was invented by the ene-
mies of Irene, to charge her with the guilt of betraying the
Church, and State to the strangers of the "West/ 91 The
French ambassadors were the spectators, and had nearly been,

119 The power of custom forces me to number Conrad I. and Henry L, the JTowl-
er, in the list of emperors, a title which was never assumed by those kings of
Germany. The Italians, Muratori, for instance, are more scrupulous and correct,
and only reckon the princes who have been crowned at Borne.

120 "Invidiara tamen suscepti nominis (G. P. ittaperatoribus super h6e indignan-
tibus) magna tulit patientid., vicitque eorum contumaciam * * * mittendo ad eos
erebras legationes, et in epistolis fratres eos appellando." Eginhard, c. 28, p. 128.
Perhaps it was on their account that, like Augustus, he affected some reluctance
to receive the empire.

speaka of t&e coronation aod unction of Charles, K&pw\QG
|tom. ip; 733, edit. Boaa]), and of his treaty of t&aMage
edit*; BotmJ), 'which is unknown to the liatifts, Gail-
lard relates his transactions with the Greek empire (torn, ii. p. 4=6-468).

AJ>. 962.] TEANSACTIONS OF THE TWO EMPIRES. 157

the victims, of the conspiracy of DSTicephorus, and the national
hatred. Constantinople was exasperated by the treason and
sacrilege of ancient Rome : a proverb, " That the Franks
were good friends and bad neighbors/' was in every one's
mouth; but it was dangerous to provoke a neighbor who
might be tempted to reiterate, in the Church of St. Sophia,
the ceremony of his imperial coronation. After a tedious
journey of circuit and delay, the ambassadors of Nicephoras
found him in his camp, on the banks of the river Sala ; and
Charlemagne affected to confound their vanity by displaying,
in a Franconian village, the pomp, or at least the pride, of
the Byzantine palace. 122 The Greeks were successively led
through four halls of audience : in the first they were ready
to fall prostrate before a splendid personage in a chair of
state, till he informed them that he was only a servant, the
constable, or master of the horse, of the emperor. The same
mistake and the same answer were repeated in the apartments
of the count palatine, the steward, and the chamberlain ; and
their impatience was gradually heightened, till the doors of
the presence-chamber were thrown open, and they beheld the
genuine monarch on his throne, enriched with the foreign
luxury which he despised, and encircled with the love and
reverence of his victorious chiefs. A treaty of peace and al-
liance was concluded between the two empires, and the limits
of the East and West were defined by the right of present
possession. But the Greeks 133 soon forgot this humiliating
equality, or remembered it ordy to hate the barbarians by
whom it was extorted; During the short union of virtue and
power, they respectfully saluted the wtgwt Charlemagne with
the acclamations of 'bcbsUeibs, and emperor of the Romans. As
soon as these qualities were separated in the person of his

122 Gaillard very properly observes that this pageant was a farce suitable to
children only ; but that it was indeed represented in the presence, and for the
benefit, of children, of a larger growth.

19i C^pptrcj^injtbLe original texts collected by Pagi (torn. iii. A.I>. 812, 3Sfo. 7;
A.IX 824: r> iyp^Q, etc.), the contrast of Charlemagne and his son: to the former,
the amfewssii^qrs of MScStael (who were indeed disavowed), " More sno, id estliri-
gu& GWBC& laudes citeerunti imperatorepci emm etr BacriXs'a appellantes;" to thelaV
tar, ^Vocato imperatori JPra^eww," etc* ,

158 AUTHORITY OF THE EMPERORS [Cn. XLIX,

pious son, the Byzantine letters were inscribed, " To the king,
or, as he styles himself, the emperor, of the Franks and Lom-
bards." When both power and virtue were extinct, they de-
spoiled Lewis the Second of his hereditary title, and, with the
barbarous appellation of rex or reya, degraded him among
the crowd of Latin princes. His reply 134 is expressive of his
weakness : he proves, with some learning, that both in sacred
and profane history the name of king is synonymous with
the Greek word basileus : if, at Constantinople, it were as-
sumed in a more exclusive and imperial sense, he claims from
ids ancestors, and from the pope, a just participation of the
honors of the Roman purple. The same controversy was re-
vived in the reign of the Othos; and their ambassador de-
scribes in lively colors the insolence of the Byzantine court. 135
The Greeks affected to despise the poverty and ignorance
of the Franks and Saxons ; and in their last decline refused
to prostitute to the kings of Germany the title of Roman
emperors.

These emperors, in the election of the popes, continued to
exercise the powers which had been assumed by the Gothic
Authority an d Grecian princes ; and the importance of this
ofs^n the* 61 " prerogative increased with the temporal estate and
SSpSSi?* ' spiritual jurisdiction of the Roman Church. In
A.. sofooea t ] ie Christian aristocracy the principal members of
the clergy still formed a senate to assist the administration,
and to supply the vacancy, of the bishop. Rome was divided
into twenty-eight parishes, and each parish was governed by
a cardinal-priest, or presbyter a title which, however com-
mon and modest in its origin, has aspired to emulate the pur-
ple of kings. Their number was enlarged by the associa-

184 See the epistle, in Paralipomena, of the anonymous writer of Salerno (Script.
Ital tOBa.il pars ii, p, 248-264, c, 93-107), whom Baronias (A.B. 871, No. 51-71)
mistook for Erchempert, when he transcribed it in his Annals.

m " Ipse enim vos, non twjperatorem, id eat BacriXea suft linguft, sed ob Indigna-
tion em Pi}ya> id eat reg&n nostrft vocabat " (Liutprand, in Legat. in Script* Ital.
torn. ii. pars i. p. 479). The pope had exhorted Nicephorus, emperor of the Greeks,
to make peace with Qtho, the august emperor of the Romans: " Qu inecriptio
secundum Grsecos peccatoria ^[peceatrix] et tem^raria * * * imperatorem toqnfimt,
universahm Romanorvm 9 Auffttftum } magnum, solum, Nioephornm n (ib, p. 480).

A.D. 800-1060.] IN THE ELECTIONS OF THE POPES* 159

ticm of the seven deacons of the most considerable hospitals,
the seven palatine judges of the Lateran, and some dignita-
ries of the Church. This ecclesiastical senate was directed by
the seven cardinal-bishops of the Roman province, who were
less occupied in the suburb dioceses of Ostia, Porto, Yelitrge,
Tusculum, Prseneste, Tibur, and the Sabines, than by their
weekly service in the Lateran, and their superior share in the
honors and authority of the apostolic see. On the death of
the pope these bishops recommended a successor to the suf-
frage of the College of Cardinals/ 36 and their choice was rati-
fied or rejected by the applause or clamor of the Roman peo-
ple. But the election was imperfect; nor could the pontiff
be legally consecrated till the emperor, the advocate of the
Church, had graciously signified his approbation and consent.
t The royal commissioner examined on the spot the form and
freedom of the proceedings ; nor was it till after a previous
scrutiny into the qualifications of the candidates that lie ac-
cepted an oath of fidelity, and confirmed the donations which
had successively enriched the patrimony of St. Peter- In the
frequent schisms the rival claims were submitted to the sen-
tence of the emperor ; and in a synod of bishops he presumed
to judge, to condemn, and to punish the crimes of a guilty
pontiff. Otho the First imposed a treaty on the senate and
people, who engaged to prefer the candidate most acceptable
to his majesty : WT his successors anticipated or prevented their
choice : they bestowed the Soman benefice, lite the bishoprics
of Cologne or Bamberg, on their chancellors or preceptors ;

136 The origin and progress of the tide of cardinal may be found in Thomassin
(Discipline de 1'Eglise, torn, i, p. 1261-1298), Muratori (Antiquitat, Italias Medii
JEvi, torn. vi. Dissert. Ixi. p, 169-182), and Mosheim (Institut. Hist Eccles. p. 345-
347), who accurate!}' remarks the forms and changes of the election. The cardi-
nal-bishops, so highly exalted by Peter Damianus r are sunk to a level with the rest
of the sacred college.

m "Firmiter jurantes, nunquam se papam electuros aut ordinaturos, prseter
consensqm et electionem Othonis et filii sui " (Liutprand, 1, vL c. 6, p. 472). This
important concession may either supply or confirm the decree of the clergy and
people of Borne, so fiercely rejected by Baroniusv Pagi, and Mnratori (A.D. 964),
and so well defended and. explained by Stu Marc (Abre'ge', torn, ii. p. 808-816; torn,
iv. p. 1167-1185). Consult that historical critic, and the Annals of Maratoir^ for
the election and confirmation of each pope.

1 60 DISORDERS. [CH. XLIX,

and whatever might be the merit of a Frank or Saxon, his
name sufficiently attests the interposition of foreign power.
These acts of prerogative were most speciously excused by
the vices of a popular election. The competitor who had
been excluded by the cardinals appealed to the passions or
avarice of the multitude ; the "Vatican and the Lateran were
stained with blood ; and the most powerful senators, the mar-
quises of Tuscany and the counts of Tusculnin, held the apos-
tolic see in a long and disgraceful servitude. The
Roman pontiffs of the ninth and tenth centuries
were insulted, imprisoned, and murdered by their tyrants;
and such was their indigence, after the loss and usurpation
of the ecclesiastical patrimonies, that they could neither sup-
port the state of a prince, nor exercise the charity of a
priest." 8 The influence of two sister prostitutes, Marozla and
Theodora, was founded on their wealth and beauty, their po-
litical and amorous intrigues: the most strenuous of their
lovers were rewarded with the Roman mitre, and their reign 10 *
may have suggested to the darker ages 180 the fable 181 of a fe-

158 The oppression and vices of the Roman Church in the tenth century are
strongly painted in the history and legation of Liutprand (see p. 440, 450, 471-
476, 479, etc.) 5 and it is whimsical enough to observe Muratori tampering the in-
vectives of Baronius against the popes. But these popes had been chosen, not
by the cardinals, but by lay-patrons.

ia ihe time of Pope Joan (papissa Joanna") is placed somewhat earlier than
Theodora or Marossia; and the two years of her imaginary reign are forcibly in-
serted between Leo IV. and Benedict III. But the contemporary Anastasius In-
dmolubly links the death of Leo and the elevation of Benedict (illico, mox, p. 247) \
and the accurate chronology of Pagi, Muratori, and Leibnitz: fixes both evente to
the year 857-

130 <ph advocates for Pope Joan produce one hundred and fifty witnesses,, or
rather echoes, of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. They bear
testimony against themselves and the legend, by multiplying the prdof that so cu-
rious a story ?nws* have been repeated by writers of every description to whom it
was known. On those of the ninth and tenth centuries the recent event would
vHve flashed with a double force* Would Photius have spared snch a reproach ?
have missed such scandal ? It is scarcely worth while to discuss
of Martfaus Polotros, Sigebeirt of Gemblours, or even Mat-i-
i fte & WQ&t palpable forgery i the passage of Pope Joa-n vvfoitfh has
been. Ms*el i^.$A4 M$$fa and 6ditans of the Boman Anastaaitis.

* As ,/(i&4 it dfes^v^ that name 5 bfct I would ticrt pfO^

A.D. 800-1060.] DISORDERS. 161

male pope. 1 " The bastard sou, the grandson, and the great-
grandson of Marozia, a rare genealogy, were seated in the chair
of St. Peter ; and it was at the age of nineteen years that the
second of these became the head of the Latin Church.* His
youth and manhood were of a suitable complexion ; and the
nations of pilgrims could bear testimony to the charges that
were urged against him in a Kornan synod, and in the presence
of Otho the Great. As John XII. had renounced the dress
and decencies of his profession, the soldier may not perhaps
be dishonored by the wine which he drank, the blood that he
spilled, the flames that he kindled, or the licentious pursuits
of gaming and hunting. His open simony might be the eon-
sequence of distress ; and his blasphemous invocation of Ju-
piter and Venus, if it be true, could not possibly be serious.
But we read, with some surprise, that the worthy grandson of
Marozia lived in public adultery with the matrons of Rome:
that the Lateran palace was turned into a school for prostitu-
tion; and that his rapes of virgins and widows had deterred
the female pilgrims from visiting the tomb of St. Peter, lest,
in the devout act, they should be violated by his successor^ 13 *

Suppose a famous French chevalier of our own times to have been bom in Italy,
and educated in the Church, instead of the army : her merit or fortune might hare
raised her to ft. Peter's chair f her amours would have been natural; her delivery
in the streets unlucky, but not improbable.

1S * Till the Reformation the tale was repeated and believed without oflence:
and; Joan's female statue long occupied; her place among the popes in the Cathe-
dral of Sienna, (Pagi, Cntfca, torn. iii. j>, j524-j26). She has been annihilated by
two learned Protestants, Blondel and B&yle (fiictipnnaire Critique, PAPESSE, Po-
LONTJS, BLONDEL) : but their brethren were scandalized by this equitable and gen-
erous criticism. Spanheim and ILenfant attempt to save this poor engine of con-
troversy ; and even Moshoim condescends to cherish some doubt and suspicion
(p. 289).

m " Lateran ense palatiura * * * prostibulum meretricum * * * Testis omnium
gentium, praeterquam Eomanorum, absentia mulierum, qusa sanctorum apostolo-
rum limina orandi gratia timent visere, cum nonnullas ante dies paucos, hunc

as
er

* John XX was the son of her husband Albedc, not of her lover v Pope Sergii
III., as Muratori has distinctly proved, Ann. ad ann, 911, torn. v. p. 268. H^*
grandson Octavian, otherwise called Jpha XII.^ was pope; but a great-grandnon
cannot be discovered in ttnjr of the %uccee&ing popes ; nor does our historian hhn-
self, in his^ subseo^fent nai^atio% seem to knoiv of one. Hobhouse, Illustratioas
* ^Tiilde Harold, p. <)&< Mi i *.

T+ 11

162 AUTHORITY OF THE EMPERORS IN ROME, [Cn.XLIX

The Protestants have dwelt with malicious pleasure on these
characters of antichrist ; but to a philosophic eye the vices of
the clergy are far less dangerous than their virtues. After a
Reformation l n g series of scandal the apostolic see was refonn-
the church.** e< i an d exalted by the austerity and zeal of Gregory
A,D. 1073, etc. yjj That am bitious monk devoted his life to the
execution of two projects. I. To fix in the College of Cardi-
nals the freedom and independence of election, and forever
to abolish the right or usurpation of the emperors and the
Boman people- IL To bestow and resume the Western em-
pire as a fief or benefice 134 of the Church, and to extend his
temporal dominion over the kings and kingdoms of the earth.
After a contest of fifty years the first of these designs was
accomplished by the firm support of the ecclesiastical order,
whose liberty was connected with that of their chief. But
the second attempt, though it was crowned with some partial
and apparent success, has been vigorously resisted by the sec-
ular power, and finally extinguished by the improvement of
human reason.

In the revival of the empire of Borne neither the bishop
nor the people could bestow on Charlemagne or Otho the
provinces which were lost, as they had been won
by the chance of arms. But the Romans were free

ome " to choose a master for themselves ; and the powers
which had been delegated to the Patrician were irrevocably
granted to the French and Saxon emperors of the West- The
broken records of the times 185 preserve some remembrance of
their palace, their mint, their tribunal, their edicts, and the

audierint coojugatas, viduas, virgines yi oppressisse " (TDiufcprand, Hist. 1. vi. a 6
p. 471. See the whole affair of John XII. p. 471-476).

m A new example of the mischief of equivocation i$ the benqficium (Ducange,
torn, i p. 617, etc-X which the pope conferred on the Emperor Frederic L, since
the Latin word may dignify either a legal fief, or a simple favor, an obligation (we
want the word bienfaify (See Schmidt, Hist* des Allemanda, torn. iii. p. 898-408.
< Pfefifel, Abr^gtf Chronologique, torn, i, p. 229, 296, 817, S24, 420, 480, 500, 505,
509, etc.)

135 For the history of the emperors in Home and Italy, see Sigonius, Be Begna
Irnliffi, Opp. torn, ii., with the Notes of Saxius, and the Annals of Muratori, wha
might refer more distinctly to the authors of his great collection* ,

A.D. 932.] REVOLT OF ALBEBIC. 163

sword of justice, which, as late as the thirteenth century, was
derived from Caesar to the prefect of the city. 138 Between
the arts of the popes and the violence of the people this su-
premacy was crushed and annihilated. Content with the ti-
tles of emperor and Augustus, the successors of Charlemagne
neglected to assert this local jurisdiction. In the hour of
prosperity their ambition was diverted by more alluring ob-
jects; and in the decay and division of the empire they
were oppressed by the defence of their hereditary provinces.
Amidst the ruins of Italy the famous Marozia invited one of
the usurpers to assume the character of her third husband ;
and Hugh, King of Burgundy, was introduced by her faction
into the Mole of Hadrian or Castle of St. Angelo, which com-
mands the principal bridge and entrance of Home. Her son
Revolt of ky the first marriage, Alberic, was compelled to at-
f^osa: tend at the nuptial banquet; but his reluctant and
ungraceful service was chastised with a blow by
his new father. The blow was productive of a revolution.
" Romans," exclaimed the youth, " once you were the masters
of the world, and these Burgundians the most abject of your
slaves. They now reign, these voracious and brutal savages,
and my injury is the commencement of your servitude." 1 * 7
The alarm-bell rang to arms in every quarter of the city: the
Burgandians retreated with haste and shame; Marozia was
imprisoned by her victorious son ; and his brother, Pope John
XL, was reduced to the exercise of his spiritual functions.
"With the title of prince, Alberic possessed above twenty years
the government of Home; and he is said to have gratified the
popular prejudice by restoring the office, or at least the title,
of consuls and tribunes. His son and heir Octavian assumed,
with the pontificate, the name of John XII. : like his prede-

136 See the Dissertation of Le Blanc at the end of his treatise Des Mqnnoyes de
France, in Which he produces some Roman coins of the French emperors.

m "Bbmanornni aliquando sevvi, scilicet Burgundiones, Romania impereat?
* * * Romanes urbis digmtas ad tantam est stultitiam ducta, ut meretricum etiam
imperio pareat?" (Liutprand, 1. iii. c. 12^ p. 460.) Sigonras (L vi p. 400} posi-
tively affirms the renovation of fe c/qnsutship ; bafc in the old writers Alberieas it
more frequently styled princeps Romanonipv

164: REVOLT OF JOHN XII. AND OF CRESCENTIUS. [Cn. SX.IX

cessor, he was provoked by the Lombard princes to seek a
deliverer for the Church and Republic ; and the services of

A.D. 774-1250.] THE KINGDOM OF ITALY. 165

separating his troops, was besieged three days, without food,
in his palace, and a disgraceful escape saved him from the jus-
tice or fury of the Romans. The senator Ptolemy was the
leader of the people, and the widow of Crescentius enjoyed
the pleasure or the fame of revenging her husband by a poi-
son which she administered to her imperial lover. It was the
design of Otho the Third to abandon the ruder countries of
the North,. to erect his throne in Italy, and to revive the in-
stitutions of the Koman monarchy. But his successors only
once in their lives appeared on the banks of the Tiber to re*
ceive their crown in the Vatican. 140 Their absence was con-
temptible, their presence odious and formidable. They de-
scended from the Alps at the head of their barbarians, who
were strangers and enemies to the country ; and their tran-
sient visit was a scene of tumult and bloodshed. 1 * 1 A faint
remembrance of their ancestors still tormented the Romans;
and they beheld with pious indignation the succession of Sax-
ons, Franks, Swabians, and Bohemians who usurped the pur-
ple and prerogatives of the Caesars.

There is nothing, perhaps, more adverse to nature and rea-
son than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign na-
tions in opposition to their inclination and interest.

The kingdom . f* , . * . ,

of Italy, A torrent of barbarians may pass over the earth,
but an extensive empire must be supported by a
refined system of policy and oppression : in the centre an ab-
solute power, prompt in action and rich in resources : a swift
aind easy communication with the extreme parts: fortifications
to check the first effort of rebellion : a regular admimsf ration
to protect and punish ; and a well-disciplined army to inspire
fear, without provoking discontent and despair. Far differ-
ent was the situation of the German Caesars, who were ambi-

140 The coronation of the emperor, and some original ceremonies of the tenth
century, are preserved in the Panegyric on Berengarius (Script. ItaL torn* ii. pars L
p. 405^4 H), illustrated by the Notes of Hadrian Valesius and Leibnitz. Sigoniua
has related the whole process of the Roman expedition, in good Latin, bat with
some errors of time and fact (L vii. p. 441-446).

141 In a qii^rrel at the c^rppa|ipp qf Conrad IJ. Mizratori takes leave to observe*.
" Doyeano ben essere allora indisciplinati, barbari, e bestiali i Tedeschl" Annal
torn. vni. p. 868*

166 STATE OF ITALY. [Cn. XLIX,

tious to enslave the kingdom of Italy. Their patrimonial
estates were stretched along the Rhine, or scattered in the
provinces ; but this ample domain was alienated by the im-
prudence or distress of successive princes; and their revenue,
from minute and vexatious prerogative, was scarcely suffi-
cient for the maintenance of their household. Their troops
were formed by the legal or voluntary service of their feu-
dal vassals, who passed the Alps with reluctance, assumed the
license of rapine and disorder, and capriciously deserted be-
fore the end of the campaign. Whole armies were swept
away by the pestilential influence of the climate: the surviv-
ors brought back the bones of their princes and nobles; 148
and the effects of their own intemperance were often im-
puted to the treachery and malice of the Italians, who re-
joiced at least in the calamities of the barbarians. This ir-
regular tyranny might contend on equal terms with the petty
tyrants of Italy; nor can the people, or the reader, be much
interested in the event of the quarrel. But in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries the Lombards rekindled the flame of
industry and freedom, and the generous example was at
length imitated by the republics of Tuscany. a In the Italian
.cities a municipal government had never been totally abol-
ished ; and their first privileges were granted by the favor
and policy of the emperors, who were desirous of erecting a
Plebeian barrier against the independence of the nobles.
But their rapid progress, the daily extension of their power
and pretensions, were founded on the numbers and spirit of
these rising communities. 148 Each city filled the measure of

M * After boiling away the flesh* The caldrons for that purpose were a nec-
essary piece of travelling furniture; and a German, who was using it for his
brother, promised it to a friend, after it should have been employed for himself
(Schmidt, torn. iii. p. 428, 424), The same author observes that the wholo Baxon
Hue was extinguished in Italy (torn. ii. p. 440).

14a Otho, Bishop of IVisingen, has left an important passage on the Italian
dties (1- & c- 13, in Script. ItaL torn, vi p. 707-710) : and the rise, progress, and

* Compare Sisznondi, Histoire des Rtfpubliques Italiennesv Hattam's Middle
Ages. KatHpMy Gesqhichte der Hohetistauffen. Savigny, Geschiehte de* R&
mischeH Rechts, voi- iii, p. 19, with the authors quoted. M.

A.D. 1152-1190.] FREDERIC L 167

her diocese or district: the jurisdiction of the counts and
bishops, of the marquises and counts, was banished from the
land ; and the proudest nobles -were persuaded or compelled
to desert their solitary castles, and to embrace the more hon-
orable character of freemen and magistrates. The legislative
authority was inherent in the general assembly; but the
executive powers were intrusted to three consuls, annually
chosen from the three orders of captains, valvassors and
commons, into which the republic was divided. Under the
protection of equal law the labors of agriculture and com-
merce were gradually revived ; but the martial spirit of the
Lombards was nourished by the presence of danger; and as
often as the bell was rung or the standard 14 " erected, the
gates of the city poured forth a numerous and intrepid band,
whose zeal in their own cause was soon guided by the use
and discipline of arms. At the foot of these popular ram-
parts the pride of the Osesars was overthrown ; and the invin-
cible genius of liberty pi-e vailed over the two Frederics, the
greatest princes of the Middle Age: the first, superior, per-
haps, in military prowess; the second, who undoubtedly ex-
celled in the softer accomplishments of peace and learning.

Ambitious of restoring the splendor of the purple, Frederic

the First invaded the republics of Lombardy with the arts of

a statesman, the valor of a soldier, and the cruelty

the First. of a tyrant. The recent discovery of the Pandects

A,D. 1452-1190. J , , t/i i J ,

had renewed a science most favorable to despotism;
and his venal advocates proclaimed the emperor the absolute
master of the lives and properties of his subjects* His royal
prerogatives, in a lees odious sense, were acknowledged in
the Diet of Roncaglia, and the revenue of Italy was fixed at

government of these republics are perfectly illustrated by Muratori (Atitiqtiitat.
Ital. Medii JEvi, torn j iv. dissert. xlY.-HL p. 1^676 ; AnnaL tonK yML ix. ac.>

144 Por these titles, see -Selden (Titles of Hoiier, yol/iii. part 1 p. 488), Dncange
(Gloss, Xatfo, torn, ii. p, 140$ torn. vL p. 776)^ aaad Sfe. Marc (Abrege Chronolo-
gique, torn. iL p. 719)< j -

146 rp] ie Bombards lave^tedTatid T&&$ Ifcfc; c&fvcivm> a standard planted on a
car or wagon, dra% MM ^W ^<^'j^M^^to^ it p/194, 195 j
? ~' ' " -

168 FREDERIC IL [CH.XLIX,

thirty thousand pounds of silver, 14 ' which were multiplied to
an indefinite demand by the rapine of the fiscal officers. The
obstinate cities were reduced by the terror or the force of his
arms ; his captives were delivered to the executioner, or shot
from his military engines; and after the siege and surren-
der of Milan the buildings of that stately capital were razed to
the ground, three hundred hostages were sent into Germany,
aud the inhabitants <were dispersed in four villages, under
the yoke of the inflexible conqueror. 147 But Milan soon rose
from her ashes ; and the league of Lombardy was cemented
by distress : their cause was espoused by Yenice, Pope Alex-
ander the Third, and the Greek emperor : the fabric of op-
pression was overturned in. a day j and in the treaty of Con-
stance, Frederic subscribed, with some reservations, the free-
dom of four-and-twenty cities. His grandson contended with
Frea ri the ^eir v *g or an( ^ maturity; but Frederic the Sec-
second. ond 148 was endowed with some pei'sonal and pecul-

A.B. 1198-1260. . TT . , . j j .. ^

lar advantages. His birth and education recom-
mended him to the Italians ; and in the implacable discord of
the two factions the Ghibellines were attached to the emper-
or, while the Guelphs displayed the banner of liberty and the
Church. The court of Borne had slumbered when his father
Henry the Sixth was permitted to unite with the empire the
kingdoms of Naples and Sicily j and from these hereditary
realms the son derived an ample and ready supply of troops
and treasure. Yet Frederic the Second was finally oppressed
by the arms of the Lombards and the thunders of the Vati-
can : his kingdom was given to a stranger, and the last of his
family was beheaded at Naples on a public scaffold. During

* Gunjther Ligurinus, L viii. 684 et seq, apud Schmidt, torn, iii. p. 399.

147 " Solus imperator faciem suam finnavit ut petram" (Burcard. de Bxcidio
Mediolani, Script. Ital. torn. vi. p. 917). This volume of Muratori contains the
originals of the history of Frederic the First, which must be compared with due
regard to the circumstances and prejudices of each German or Lombard writer.*

148 For the history of Frederic II. and the House of Swabia at Naples, see
Giannone, Istoria Civile, torn. ii. 1. xiv.-xbc.

Vb^ Eanmer has traced the fortunes of the Swabian house In one of the
ablest Hatonca]; works of modern times, He may be compared with the spirited
and independent Sismondi.M.

A.IX 814-1250.] INDEPENDENCE OF GEBMAN PEINCES. 169

sixty years no emperor appeared in Italy, and the name was
remembered only by the ignominious sale of the last relics of
sovereignty.

The barbarian conquerors of the West were pleased to dec-
orate their chief with the title of emperor; but it was not
inaepen- their design to invest him with the despotism of
^n c ce8of be Constantine and Justinian. The persons of the
&ermany. Germans were free, their conquests were their
1380, etc. own, and their national character was animated by
a spirit which scorned the servile jurisprudence of the new or
the ancient Home. It would have been a vain and dangerous
attempt to impose a monarch on the armed freemen, who
were impatient of a magistrate; on the bold, who refused to
obey; on the powerful, who aspired to command. The em-
pire of Charlemagne and Otho was distributed among the
dukes of the nations or provinces, the counts of the smaller
districts, and the margraves of the marches or frontiers, who
all united the civil and military authority as it had been del-
egated to the lieutenants of the first Caesars. The Roman
governors, who for the most part were soldiers of fortune, se-
duced their mercenary legions, assumed the imperial purple,
and either failed or succeeded in their revolt, without wound-
ing the power and unity of government. If the dukes, mar-
graves, and counts of Germany were less audacious in their
claims, the consequences of their success were more lasting
and pernicious to the' State. Instead of aiming at the su-
preme rank, they silently laber&d to '; establish and appropriate
their provincial independence/ .Their amlititen was Seconded
by the weight of their estates andrv^afe, hm- mutual exam-
ple and support^ the cominom interest of the subordinate no-
bility, the ck&ng of princes and [families^ the minorities of
Otho the Third and Henry the Fourth, the ambition of the
popes, and *he vdm/jmram* ddr the fugitive crowns of Italy
aiDkd Bom.* Aft tto -i^U^b'iitibM ; -<>i6' '^%al and territorial juris-
diction wi^r^ "gated &^&F > txscttfMd < $y$ * tha ;_ commanders of the
piwiam a^d death,

i^i^g^^i^A 'li^!!^*^ an

omy. Wha*^^?l^M^ ty? /violence was

170 INDEPENDENCE OF GERMAN PEINCES. [Cn. XLIX,

favor or distress, was granted as the price of a doubtful vote
or a voluntary service; whatever had been granted to one
could not without injury be denied to his successor or equal ;
and every act of local or temporary possession was insensibly
moulded into the constitution of the Germanic kingdom. In
every province the visible presence of the duke or count was
interposed between the throne and the nobles ; the subjects
of the law became the vassals of a private chief; and the
standard which he received from his sovereign was often
raised against him in the field. The temporal power of the
clergy was cherished and exalted by the superstition or policy
of the Carlovingian and Saxon dynasties, who blindly depend-
ed on their moderation and fidelity; and the bishoprics of
Germany were made equal in extent and privilege, superior
in wealth and population, to the most ample states of the mil-
itary order. As long as the emperors retained the preroga-
tive of bestowing on every vacancy these ecclesiastic and sec-
ular benefices, their cause was maintained by the gratitude or
ambition of their friends and favorites. But in the quarrel
of the investitures they were deprived of their influence over
the episcopal chapters ; the freedom of election was restored,
and the sovereign was reduced, by a solemn mockery, to his
first pra/yw$) the recommendation, once in his roign, to a sin-
gle prebend in each church. The secular governors, instead
of being recalled at the will of a superior, could be degraded
only by the sentence of their peers. In the first age of the
monarchy the appointment of the son to the duchy or county
of Ms father was solicited as a favor; it was gradually obtain-
ed as a custom, and extorted as a right : the lineal succession
was often extended to the collateral or female branches ; the
states of the empire (their popular, and at length their legal,
appellation) were divided and alienated by testament and sale;
and all idea of a public trust was lost in that of a private and
inheritance. The emperor could not even be en-
by the casualties of forfeiture and extinction: within
the tenm of < year he was obliged to dispose of the vacant
fief; and m the choice of the candidate it wad his duty to
consult either the general or the provincial diet.

A,D, 1250,] GERMANIC COKOTITUTIOff. 171

After the death of Frederic the Second, Germany was lef 1
a monster with a hundred heads. A crowd of princes and
The Ger- prelates disputed the ruins of the empire : the lords
Simtio C n. B " of innumerable castles were less prone to obey than
A.D.1250. fo i m itate their superiors; and, according to the
measure of their strength, their incessant hostilities received
the names of conquest or robbery. Such anarchy was the in-
evitable consequence of the laws and manners of Europe ; and
the kingdoms of France and Italy were shivered into frag-
ments by the violence of the same tempest. But the Italian
cities and the French vassals were divided and destroyed,
while the union of the Germans has produced, under the name
of an empire, a great system of a federative republic. In the
frequent and at last the perpetual institution of diets, a na-
tional spirit was kept alive, and the powers of a common leg-
islature are still exercised by the three branches or colleges of
the electors, the princes, and the free and imperial cities of
Germany. I. Seven of the most powerful feudatories were
permitted to assume, with a distinguished name and rank, the
exclusive privilege of choosing the Roman emperor; and these
electors were the King of Bohemia, the Duke of Saxony,ihe
Margrave of Brandenburg, the Count Palatine of the Rhine,
and the three archbishops of Mentz, of Troves, and of Co-
logne. II. The college of princes and prelates purged them-
selves of a promiscuous multitude : they reduced to four rep-
resentative votes the long series of independent counts, and
excluded the nobles or equestrian order, sixty tbomsand of
whom, as in the Polish diets, had appeared on horseback in
the field of election. III. The pride of birth and dominion,
of the sword and the mitre, wisely adopted th^cQinmons as
the third branch of the legislature, and, in the progress of so-
ciety they were introduced about the same era into the na-
tional assemblies of France, England, and eeimany. The
Hanseatic League commanded the trade and navigation of the
north ; the confederate of: thr PII^ wmred the j>eace and

in1^^

haalfeeea Bdegra^ *P ft^i^^^ pokey, and their

172 WEAKNESS AND POVERTY OF CHARLES IV. [On. XLIX.

tive still invalidates the acts of the two superior colleges of
electors and princes. 149

It is ia the fourteenth century that we may view in the
strongest light the state and contrast of the Koman empire of
weakness Germany, which no longer held, except on the bor-
S? theGtr~ y <* er s of tlae Rhine and Danube, a single province of
ohaiSa^v. ^ Trajan or Constantine. Their unworthy successors
A. D. mi-ma were the counts of Hapsburg, of Nassau, of Lux-
emburg, and of Schwartzeiiburg : the Emperor Henry the
Seventh procured for his son the crown of Bohemia, and
his grandson Charles the Fourth was born among a people
strange and barbarous in the estimation of the Germans them-
selves. 160 After the excommunication of .Lewis of Bavaria, he
received the gift or promise of the vacant empire from the
Roman pontiffs, who, in the exile and captivity of Avignon,
affected the dominion of the earth. The death of his com-
petitors united the electoral college, and Charles was unani-
mously saluted King of the Romans, and future emperor ; a
title which in the same age was prostituted to the Oeesars of

149 In the immense labyrinth of the/w* publicwn of Germany, I must either
quote one writer or a thousand 5 and I had rather trust to one faithful guide than
transcribe, on credit, a multitude of names and passages. That guide is M. Pfef-
fel, the author of the best legal and constitutional history that I know of any coun-
try (Nouvel Abrgge" Chronologique de VHistoire et du Droit Public d'Allemagne;
Paris, 1776, 2 vols. in 4to). His learning and judgment have discerned the most
interesting facts ; his simple brevity comprises them in a narrow space ; his chron-
ological order distributes thorn under the proper dates ; and an elaborate index
collects them under their respective heads. To this work, in a less perfect state,
Dr. Bobertson was gratefully indebted for that masterly sketch which traces even
the modern changes of the Germanic body. The Corpus Historic Germanics of
gtruvius has been likewise consulted, the more usefully, as that huge compilation
is fortified in every page with the original texts. a

" Yet, personally, Charles IV. must not be considered as a barbarian. After
his education at Paris, he recovered the use of the Bohemian, his native idiom ;
and the emperor conversed and wrote with equal facility in French, Latin, Italian,
and German (Strtmus, p. 615, 616). Petrarch always represents him as a polite

prince*

" ' ' '

and/progress of the Hanseatic League, consult the authoritative
^Gtoi%dfat6' > dev Hanseatischen Bundes, 8 Theile, GSttmgen.
1802 M V^y^^ by Lappenberg, Hamburg,, 1880. The odglnm

Han sea tic League comprehended Cologne, and many of the great cities in thfl
Netherlands and on the Rhine. M.

*.!>. 1355, 1356.] HIS OSTENTATION 173

Germany and Greece. The German emperor was no more
than the elective and impotent magistrate of an aristocracy of
princes, who had not left him a village that he might call his
own. His best prerogative was the right of presiding and
proposing in the national senate, which was convened at his
summons ; and his native kingdom of Bohemia, less opulent
than the adjacent city of Nuremberg, was the firmest seat of
gg^ kis power and the richest source of his revenue.
*"* . The army with which he passed the Alps consisted

of three hundred horse. In the Cathedral of St. Ambrose,
Charles was crowned with the iron crown, which tradition as-
cribed to the Lombard monarchy; but be was admitted only
with a peaceful train ; the gates of the city were shut upon
him ; and the King of Italy was held a captive by the arms
of the Yisconti, whom he confirmed in the sovereignty of Mi-
lan* In the Vatican he was again crowned with the golden
crown of the empire; but, in obedience to a secret treaty,
the Roman emperor immediately withdrew, without reposing
a single night within the walls of Rome. The eloquent
Petrarch, 1 " whose fancy revived the visionary glories of the
Capitol, deplores and upbraids the ignominious flight of the
Bohemian; and even his contemporaries could observe that
the sole exercise of his authority was in the lucrative sale of
privileges and titles. The gold of Italy secured the election
of his son j but such was the shameful poverty of the Roman
emperor, that his person was arrested by a butcher in the
streets of Worms, and was detained in the public inn as a
pledge or hostage for the payment of his expenses.

From this humiliating scfene let us tarn to the apparent
majesty of the same Charles in the diets of the empire. The
golden bul^ which fixes the Germanic constitu-
tet5on s . ten " tion, is promulgated in the style of a sovereign and
A.j>.i8S6, legislator. A hundred >prinees bowed before his
throne, and exalted their own dignity by the voluntary hon-

Besides tiie efr^^ of Ckai*es;IY. is

patafcddfclfo^ surfo Tie

trarqua,tom.ifi. |>. 376-400, by tbe Abb deSade, whose prolixity haa
blamed fegr any reader

174 OSTENTATION OF CHARLES IV. [CH. XLIX

ore which they yielded to their chief or minister* At the
royal banquet the hereditary great officers, the seven electors,
who in rank and title were equal to kings, performed their
solemn and domestic service of the palace. The seals of the
triple kingdom were borne in state by the archbishops of
Mentz, Cologne, and Tr&ves, the perpetual archchancellors of
Germany, Italy, and Aries. The great marshal, on horseback,
exercised his function with a silver measure of oats, which he
emptied on the ground, and immediately dismounted to regu-
late the order of the guests. The great steward, the Count
Palatine of the Rhine, placed the dishes on the table. The
great chamberlain, the Margrave of Brandenburg,, presented,
after the repast, the golden ewer and basin, to wash. The
King of Bohemia, as great cup-bearer, was represented by the
emperor's brother, the Duke of Luxemburg and Brabant ; and
the procession was closed by the great huntsmen, who intro-
duced a boar and a stag, with a loud chorus of horns and
hounds. 1M Nor was the supremacy of the emperor confined
to Germany alone : the hereditary nxmarchs of Europe con-
fessed the pre-eminence of his rank and dignity ; he was the
first of the Christian princes, the temporal head of the great
republic of the West : us to his person the title of majesty was
long appropriated; and he disputed with the pope the sub*
lime prerogative of creating kings and assembling councils.
The oracle of the civil law, the learned Bartolus, was a pen-
sioner of Charles the Fourth ; and his school resounded with
the doctrine that the Roman emperor was the rightful sov-
ereign of the earth, from the rising to the setting sun. The
contrary opinion was condemned, not as an error, but as a
heresy, since even the Gospel had pronounced, "And there
went forth a decree from Csesar Augustus, that all the world
should be taxed." 154
If we annihilate the interval of time and space between

1H See the whole ceremony in Struvius, p. 629*

*** The rejpttWic of Europe, with the pope and emperor at its head, waa never
represented with more dignity than in the Council of Constance. See Lenfant 7 *
history of that assembly.

184 Gravina, Orfgmes Juris Civilis, p. 108.

CHARLES IV. AND AUGUSTUS. 1.75

Augustus and Charles, strong and striking will be the contrast
contrast of between the two Caesars : the Bohemian, who con-
ana^iiodcTsty ceaied his weakness under the mask of ostentation,
of Augustus. an( j t j ie [Roman, who disguised his strength under
the semblance of modesty. At the head of his victorious le-
gions, in his reign over the sea and land, from the Kile and
Euphrates to the Atlantic Ocean, Augustus professed himself
the servant of the State and the equal of his fellow-citizens*
The conqueror of Rome and her provinces assumed the pop-
ular and legal form of a censor, a consul, and a tribune. His
will was the law of mankind, but in the declaration of his
laws he borrowed the voice of the senate and people ; and,
from their decrees, their master accepted and renewed his
temporary commission to administer the republic. In his
dress, his domestics, 16 * his titles, in all the offices of social life,
Augustus maintained the character of a private Roman j and
his most artful flatterers respected the secret of his absolute
and perpetual monarchy.

155 Six thousand urns have been discovered of the slaves and freedmen of Au-
gustus and Xivia. So minute was the division of office, that one slave was appoint-
ed to weigh the wool which was spun by the empress's maids, another for the care
of her lap dog, etc. (Camera Sepolchrale, etc., bj Bianchmi. Extract of his work,
in the Bibliotheque Italique, torn. iv. p, 175. His Eloge,by Fontenelle, tom.vL
p. 356.) But these servants were of tha 9<une rank, and possibly not more numer-
ous than those of Pollio or Leiitalos. They only prove the general riches of the
city.

176 DESCRIPTION OF ABABIA.

CHAPTER L.

Description of Arabia and its Inhabitants. Birth, Character, and Doctrine of
Mahomet. He Preaches at Mecca. Flies to Mediim. Propagates his Relig-
ion by the Sword. Voluntary or reluctant Submission of the Arabs. His
Death and Successors. The Claims and Fortunes of Ali and his Descendants.

pursuing above six hundred years the fleeting Cse-
sars of Constantinople and Germany, I now descend, in the
reign of Heracllus, on the eastern borders of the Greek mon-
archy. "While the State was exhausted by the Persian war,
and the Church was distracted by the Nestorian and Monoph-
ysite sects, Mahomet, with the sword in one hand and the
Koran in the other, erected his throne on the ruins of Chris-
tianity and of Rome. The genius of the Arabian prophet,
the manners of his nation, and the spirit of his religion, in-
volve the causes of the decline and fall of the Eastern em-
pire ; and our eyes are curiously intent on one of the most
memorable revolutions which have impressed a new and last-
ing character on the nations of the globe/

In the vacant space between Persia, Syria, Egypt, and JEthi-
opia, the Arabian peninsula 9 may be conceived as a triangle of

1 As in this and the following chapter I shall display much Arabic learning, I
niust profess my total ignorance of the Oriental tongues, and my gratitude to the
learned interpreters, who have transfused their science into the Latin, French, and
English languages. Their collections, versions, and histories I shall occasionally
notice.

9 The geographers of Arabia may be divided into three classes : 1. The Greeks
and Latins, whose progressive knowledge may be traced in Agatharchides (Oe
Mari Rubro, in Hudson, Geograph. Minor, torn. L), Diodoras Sicnlus (torn. 5. 1. ii,
fc-ttHEtt] p. 159-167; I in. [a U seq.] p. 211-216, edit. Wesseling), Strabo
(L >cvL p, 1*12-4114? [p. 767-769, edit. Casaub.], from BJratosthenes, p. 1122-11&2
[T7&-788, edit. Gasaiib,]j from Artemidorus), Dionysius (Periegesis, v. 927-069),
Pliny (Hist. Katun T^ 12 j vi 82), and Ptolemy (Descript et Tabulae Urbiura, in
Hudson, torn. iii). 2 The Arabic writers, who have treated the subject with the

CH. L.] DESCRIPTION OF ARABIA-

spacious but irregular dimensions. From the northern point
Description of Beles, 8 on the Euphrates, a line of fifteen hundred
of Arabia. miles j s terminated by the Straits of Babelman-
deb and the land of frankincense. About half this length
may be allowed for the middle breadth, from east to west,
from Bassora to Suez, from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea/
The sides of the triangle are gradually enlarged, and the
southern basis presents a front of a thousand miles to the
Indian Ocean. The entire surface of the peninsula exceeds
in a fourfold proportion that of Germany or France; but the
far greater part has been justly stigmatized with the epithets

zeal of patriotism or devotion : the extracts of Pocock (Specimen Hist. Arabum,
p. 125-128) frora the Geography of the Sherif al Edrissi, render us still more dis-
satisfied with the version or abridgment (p. 24-27, 44-56, 108, etc., 119, etc.)
which the Maronites have published under the absurd title of Geographia Sfubien-
sis (Paris, 1619) ; but the Latin and French translators, Greaves (in Hudson,
torn, iii.) and Galland (Voyage de la Palestine par La Roque, p. 265-346), have
opened to us the Arabia of Abulfeda, the most copious and correct account of the
peninsula, which may be enriched, however, from the Bibliothfcque Orientale of
D'Herbelot, p. 120, et alibi passim. 3. The -European travellers, among whom
Shaw (p. 438-455) and Niebuhr (Description, 1773; Voyages, torn. i. 1776) de-
serve an honorable distinction : Busching (Geographic par Berenger, torn. vilL
p. 416-510) has compiled with judgment ; and D'Anville's Maps (Orbis Veteribus
Notus, and 1" Partie de 1'Asie) should lie before the reader, with his Geographic
Ancienne, torn. ii. p. 208-231.*

* Abnlfed. Descript. Arabia*,, p. 1 ; D'Anville, 1'Euphrate et le TSgre, p, 19, 20.
It was la this place, the paradise or garden of a satrap, that Xenophon and the
passed ishe Euphrates Anabasis, I L c. 10 [c. 4, 10] p. 29, edit.

''' ' '

. . . ..... j .

Beland has prove&Witfc much jsupei^uons learning: i. That our Red Sea (the
Arabian Gulf) is no mc>re than a part of the' M are Jfobrum, the 'EpvQpa SaXavan]
of the ancients, which was extended t the indefinite sp^ce of the Indian Ocean.
2* That the synonymous words 2p0po, ai&i&if/, allude to the color of the blacks
or negroes (Dissert. MiscelL torn, t p. 59-117).

* Of modern travellers may be mentioned the adventurer who called himself
All Bey : hut, abovb all, the intelligent, the enterprising, the accurate Burckhardt.

The best works on the ancient geography and ante-Mahometan history of Ara-
bia .are ^*Tlie Historical Geography of Arabia," by the Rev. Charles Forster, 2
vols; Svo,* London, 1844, and "Essai sur 1'Histoire des Arabes avant Tlslamisme,
pendant 1'^poque de Mahomet, et jusqu% la reduction de toutes les tribus sous la
loi Musulroane," by A. P. Gaussin de Perceval, Professeur d'Arabe au College
Boyal de France, 3 vols. Svo, Paris, 1847-1848. Of the latter work there is an

le ^aecoum in the Calcutta Beview^o. xli &,

V. 12

ITS DESCRIPTION OF ABABIA. [Cn.L.

of the stowy and the sandy. Even the wilds of Tartary are
decked, by the hand of nature, with lofty trees and loxuri-
The eon and ant herbage; and the lonesome traveller derives a
climate. sort o f com f or t and society from the presence of
vegetable life. But in the dreary waste of Arabia a bound-
less level of sand is intersected by sharp and naked moun-
tains ; and the face of the desert, without shade or shelter, is
scorched by the direct and intense rays of a tropical sun. In-
stead of refreshing breezes, the winds, particularly from the
southwest, diffuse a noxious and even deadly vapor ; the hil-
locks of sand which they alternately raise and scatter are com-
pared to the billows of the ocean, and whole caravans, wholo
armies, have been lost and buried in the whirlwind- The
common benefits of water are an object of desire and contest;
and such is the scarcity of wood, that some art is requisite to
preserve and propagate the element of fire. Arabia is desti-
tute of navigable rivers, which fertilize the soil, and convey
its produce to the adjacent regions: the torrents that fall
from the hills are imbibed by the thirsty earth : the rare and
hardy plants, the tamarind or the acacia, that strike their roots
into the clefts of the rocks, are nourished by the dews of the
night : a scanty supply of rain is collected in cisterns and aq-
ueducts: the wells and springs are the secret treasure of the
desert ; and the pilgrim of Mecca, 5 after many a dry and sul-
try march, is disgusted by the taste of the waters which have
rolled over a bed of sulphur or salt. Such is the general and
genuine picture of the climate of Arabia. The experience of
evil enhances the value of any local or partial enjoyments* A
shady grove, a green pasture, a stream of fresh water, are suf-
ficient to attract a colony of sedentary Arabs to the fortunate
spots which can afford food and refreshment to themselves
and their cattle, and which encourage their industry in the
cultivation of the palm-tree and the vine. The high lands
that border on the Indian Ocean are distinguished by their
superior plenty of wood and water: the air is more temper-

* In the thirty days, or stations, between Cairo and Mecca, there nra fifteen des-
titute of good water, See the route t?f the Hackees, in Shfrw'a Travels, p* 477*

CH.X.] DESCRIPTION OF ARABIA. 179

ate, the fruits are more delicious, the animals and the human
race more numerous : the fertility of the soil invites and re-
wards the toil of the husbandman ; and the peculiar gifts of
frankincense 8 and coffee have attracted in different ages the
merchants of the world. If it be compared with the rest of
the peninsula, this sequestered region may truly deserve the
appellation of the happy ; and the splendid coloring of fancy
and fiction has been suggested by contrast and countenanced
by distance. It was for this earthly paradise that nature
had reserved her choicest favors and her most curious work-
manship : the incompatible blessings of luxury and innocence
were ascribed to the natives : the soil was impregnated with
gold 7 and gems, and both the land and sea were taught to ex-

DivMonof k** 6 *^ e 0< ^ ors ^ ar <>matic sweets. This division
the sandy, of the $<mdy, the stony* and the happy so familiar

tne stony, . ., ^ . . _ _ _ _ _ *.*/'

to *^ e ^" ree ^ s an( * Latins, is unknown to the Ara-
bians themselves ; and it is singular enough, that a
country whose language and inhabitants have ever been the
same should scarcely retain a vestige of its ancient geogra-
phy. The maritime districts of Bahrein and Oman are op-
posite to the realm of Persia* The kingdom of Yemen dis-
plays the limits, or at least the situation, of Arabia Felix : the
name of Neged is extended over the inland space; and the

6 The aromatics, especially the ihus^ or frankincense, of Arabia, occupy tha
twelfth hook of Pliny. Oar great poet (Paradise Lost, L iv.? introduces, in a
simile, the spicy odors that are blown by the northeast wind from the Sabsean

coast 2 ' ''.. .'' ' ' '

Many a league,
Pleas'd with the grateful scent, old Ocean smiles.

(Plin. Hist. Katnr. adL 42.)

7 Agatharchides affirms that lumps of pure gold were found from the size of an
alive to that of a nut ; that iron was twice, and silver ten times, the value of gold
(De Mari Buhro, p/60 [Hudson, Geogr. M., torn. i.]). These real or imaginary
treasures are vanished ; and no gold-mines are at present known in Arabia (Nie-
tmhr, Description, p. 124).*

m A brilliant passage in the geographical poem of Dionysins Periegetes embod-
ies the notions of the ancients on the wealth and fertility of Yemen. Greek my-
, and the traditions of the * * gorgeous east," of India as well as Arabia, are
, together hi indiscriminate splendor. Compare on the southern coast **
, the recent travels of Lieut. Wellsted.M.

180 THE BEDOUINS. [CH.X*

"birth of Mahomet has illustrated the province of Jlejaz* along
the coast of the Bed Sea. 8

The measure of population is regulated by the means of
subsistence ; and the inhabitants of this vast peninsula might
^ e outnumbered by the subjects of a fertile and in-
dustrious province. Along the shores of the Per-
ArabB " sian Gulf, of the ocean, and even of the Red Sea,

the Ichtliyophagif or fish-eaters, continued to wander in quest
of their precarious food. In this primitive and abject state,
which ill deserves the name of society, the human brute, with-
out arts or laws, almost without sense or language, is poorly
distinguished from the rest of the animal creation. Gen-
erations and ages might roll away in silent oblivion, and the
helpless savage was restrained from multiplying his race by
the wants and pursuits which confined his existence to the
narrow margin of the sea-coast. But in an early period of
antiquity the great body of the Arabs had emerged from this
scene of misery ; and as the naked wilderness could not main-
tain a people of hunters, they rose at once to the more secure
and plentiful condition of the pastoral life. The same life is
uniformly pursued by the roving tribes of the desert ; and in
the portrait of the modern Bedouins we may trace the feat-
tires of their ancestors, 10 who, in the age of Moses or Mahomet,-

8 Consult, peruse, and study the Specimen Historic Arabum of Pocock (Oxon.
1660, in 4to), The thirty pages of text and version are extracted from the Dy-
nasties of Gregory Abulpharagins, which Pocock afterwards translated (Qxon.
1663, in 4to): the three hundred and fifty-height notes form a classic and original
work on the Arabian antiquities.

9 Arrian remarks the Ichthyophagl of the coast of Hejaz (Periplus Maris Ery-
thrai, p. 12) and beyond Aden (p. 15 [Hudson, Geogr. M., t. i.]). It seems proba-
ble that the shores of the Bed Sea (in the largest sense) were occupied by these
savages in the time, perhaps, of Cyrus ; but I can hardly believe that any cannibals
were left among the savages in the reign of Justinian (Procop. de Bell, Persic. L L
c. 19 [t 1 p. 100, edit. Bonn]).

la See the Specimen Historic Arabura of Pococfr, p. 2, 5, 86, etc. The journey

; * Hejaz means the ** barrier " or " frontier," as lying between the southern and
northern merchants, or, in other words, between Arabia Felix and Arabia Petreea,
It is a mountainous district, and includes Medina as well as Mecca. It occupies
the space between Neged (Najd) and the Ked Sea. Sprenger, Life
med, p. 14 ; C. de Perceval, Esgai, etc., vol. i. p. 3. S.

CH. L.] THE HORSE THE CAMEL. 181

dwelt tinder similar tents, and conducted their horses, and
camels, and sheep to the same springs and the same pastures*
Our toil is lessened, and our wealth is increased, by our do-
minion, over the useful animals ; and the Arabian shepherd
had acquired the absolute possession of a faithful friend and
a laborious slave." Arabia, in the opinion of the naturalist,
The horse * s ^ e genuine and original country of the horse;
the climate most propitious, not indeed to the size,
but to the spirit and swiftness, of that generous animal. The
merit of the Barb, the Spanish, and the English breed is de-
rived from a mixture of Arabian blood : 12 the Bedouins pre-
serve with superstitious care the honors and the memory of
the purest race : the males are sold at a high price, but the
females are seldom alienated; and the Jbirth"^of : ar^obl64oal
was esteemed among the tribes as a subject of joy and mutual
congratulation. These horses afe^clueated in the tents, among
the children of the Arabs, with a tender familiarity, which
trains them in the habits of gentleness and attachment. They
are accustomed only to walk and to gallop : their sensations
are not blunted by the incessant abuse of the spur and the
whip: their powers are reserved for the moments of flight
and pursuit : but no sooner do they feel the touch of the hand
or the stir r up ,. than they dart away with the swiftness of the
wind; and if their friend be dismounted in the rapid career,
they instantly stop tillhe has recovered his seat. In the sands
of Africa and Arabia the casmel is a sacred and precious gift.

of M. d' Arvieux, in 1664, to the camp of the emir of Mount Carmel ("Voyage de
la Palestine, Amsterdam, 1718) exhibits a pleasing and original picture of the life
of the Bedouins, which may be illustrated from Mebuhr (Description de Y Arable,
p. 327-344) and Volney (torn. i. p. 343-385X the last and most judicious of our
Syrian travellers.

11 Bead (it is no unpleasing task) the incomparable articles of the Horse and
the Camel, In the Natural History of M- de Buffon,

ia !For the Arabian horses, see D'Arvieux (p. 159-173) and Kiebuhr (p. 142-
: <A| the ^ end of the thirteenth century the horses of Neged were esteemed
tfcosej firemen strong and serviceable, those of Hejaz mos* noble,
of lkirp%>the^^^ andvlast class* tfere generally despised as having
muofr bod and toq little Spirit <D*Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient, p. 339) i t&eir
strength was requisite to bear the weight of the knight and his armor. ,':

182 CITIES OF ARABIA. [On. I*

That strong and patient beast of burden can perform, with*
out eating or drinking, a journey of several days;
and a reservoir of fresh water is preserved in a
large bag, a fifth stomach of the animal, whose body is im-
printed with the marks of servitude : the larger breed is ca-
pable of transporting a weight of a thousand pounds; and the
dromedary, of a lighter and more active frame, outstrips the
fleetest courser in the race. Alive or dead, almost every part
of the camel is serviceable to man : her milk is plentiful and
nutritious : the young and tender flesh has the taste of veal : 19
a valuable salt is extracted from the urine : the dung supplies
the deficiency of fuel; and the long hair, which falls each
year and is renewed, is coarsely manufactured into the gar-
ments, the furniture, and the tents of the Bedouins. In the
rainy seasons they consume the rare and insufficient herbage
of the desert : during the heats of summer and the scarcity
of winter they remove their encampments to the sea-coast,
the hills of Yemen, or the neighborhood of the Euphrates,
and have often extorted the dangerous license of visiting the
banks of the Nile and the villages of Syria and Palestine.
The life of a wandering Arab is a life of danger and distress ;
and though sometimes, by rapine or exchange, he may appro-
priate the fruits of industry, a private citizen in Europe is
in the possession of more solid and pleasing luxury than the
proudest emir who marches in the field at the head of ten
thousand horse.

Yet an essential difference may be found between the
hordes of Scythia and the Arabian tribes; since many of
cities of *^ ie latter were collected into towns, and employed
Arabia. j n ^ ] a t ors o f trade and agriculture. A part of
their time and industry was still devoted to the management
of their cattle : they mingled, in peace and war, with their
brethren of the desert ; and the Bedouins derived from their

13 "Qui carnibus camelornm veaci solent ocHi tenacea stint," was the opinion
of an Arabian physician (Pocock, Specimen, p. 88), Mahomet himself who was
fond of milk, prefers the cow, and does not even mention the camel ; but the diet
of Mecca and Medina was a)wdjr more luxurious (Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, torn.
iiip. 404}.

crriES OF ABABIA. 182

useful intercourse some supply of their wants, and some rudi-
ments of art and knowledge. Among the forty-two cities of
Arabia, 14 enumerated by Abulfeda, the most ancient and pop-
ulous were situate in the happy Yemen : the towers of Saa-
na," and the marvellous reservoir of Merab, 16 were construct-
ed by the kings of the Homerites ; but their profane lustre
was eclipsed by the prophetic glories of MEDINA" and MECCA/*

14 Yet Marcian of Heraclea (in Periplo, p. 16, in torn. i. Hudson, Minor Geo-
graph.) reckons one hundred and sixty-four towns in Arabia Felix. The size of
the towns might be small, the faith of the writer might be large.

15 It is compared by Abulfeda (in Hudson, torn. in. p. 54) to Damascus, and
is still the residence of the Imam of Yemen (Voyages de Niebuhr, torn. L p. 331-
342). Saana is twenty-four parasangs from Dafar (Abulfeda, p. 51) and sixty-
eight from Aden (p. 53).

16 Pocock, Specimen, p. 57 ; Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 52. Mariaba, or Merab,
six miles in circumference, was destroyed by the legions of Augnstus (Plin. Hist.
Nat. vi. 32), and had not revived in the fourteenth century (Abulfed. Descript
Arab. p. 58).*

17 The name of city, Medina, was appropriated, tear Igoxajv, to Yatreb (th<a
latvippa of the Greeks), the seat of the prophet. The distances from Medina are
reckoned by Abulfeda in stations, or days' journey of a caravan (p. 15) : to Bah-
rein, fifteen; to Bassora, eighteen ; to Cufah, twenty; to Damascus or Pales-
tine, twenty ; to Cairo, twenty-five ; to Mecca, ten ; from Mecca to Saana (p. 52)
or Aden, thirty ; to Cairo, thirty-one days, or 412 hours (Shaw's Travels, p. 477);
which, according to the estimate of D'Anville (Mesures Itineraires, p. 99), allows
about twenty-five English miles for a day's journey. From the land of frankin-
cense (Hadramant, in Yemen, between Aden and Cape JT&riasch) to Gaza, in
Syria, Pliny (Hist. Nat. am, 32) computes sixty-five mansions of camels. These
measures may assist fancy and elucidate fects.

18 Oar notions of Mecca must be drawn from the Arabians (D'Herbelot, Biblio-
thfeque Orientale, P- 368-B71 ; Pococfc, Specimen, p. 105-128; Abulfeda, p. 11-
40). As no unbeliever is permitted to enter tne ciiy, our travellers are silent ; and
the short hints of Thevenot (Voyages du IJevant, part i p. 490) are taken from
the suspicious mouth of an African renegade. Some Persians counted 6000 houses
(Chardin, torn. ir. p. 167). b

a It is doubtful whether the Romans ever reached Mariaba. See editor's note,
vol. i. p. 217. S-

The town never recovered the inundation which took place from the bursting
of a large reservoir of water an event of great importance in the Arabian annals,
and discussed at considerable length by modern Orien taliste, M,

b Even in the time of Gibbon, Mecca had not been so inaccessible to Europeans.
It bad been visited by Ludovico Barthema, and by one Joseph Pitts of Exeter,
who was taken prisoner by the Moors, and forcibly converted to MahometaiDsm.
Bis volume is a curious though plain account of his sufferings and travels. Smo*
that time Mecca has been entered, and the ceremonies witnessed, by Dr. Seetzen/

MECCA, [CH.L.

near the Red Sea, and at the distance from each other of two
hundred and seventy miles. The last of these holy places
was known to the Greeks under the name of Maeo-
Mcccfu raba ; and the termination of the word is expres-

sive of Its greatness, which has not indeed, in the most flour-
ishing period, exceeded the size and populousness of Mar-
seilles.* Some latent motive, perhaps of superstition, muat
have impelled the founders in the choice of a most unprom-
ising situation* They erected their habitations of mud or
stone in a plain about two miles long and one mile broad, at
the foot of three barren mountains : the soil is a rock ; the
water even of the holy well of Zemzem is bitter or brackish ; b
the pastures are remote from the city ; and grapes are trans-
ported above seventy miles from the gardens of Tayef. The
fame and spirit of the Koreishites, who reigned in Mecca,
were conspicuous among the Arabian tribes; but their un-
grateful soil refused the labors of agriculture, and their posi-
tion was favorable to the enterprises of trade. By the sea-
port of Gedda, at the distance only of forty miles,
they maintained an easy correspondence with. Abys-
sinia; and that Christian kingdom afforded the first refuge
to the disciples of Mahomet. The treasures of Africa were
conveyed over the peninsula to Gerrha or Katif, in the prov-
ince of Bahrein, a city built, as it is said, of rock-salt, by the
Chaldsean exiles; 19 and from thence, with the native pearls of
the Persian Gulf, they were floated on rafts to the mouth of
the Euphrates. Mecca is placed almost at an equal distance,

19 Strabo, L xvi. p. 1110 [p. 766, edit Casaub.]. See one of these salt-houses
near Basaora, in D'Herbelot, Biblloth. Orient, p. 6.

whose papers were imfortunately lost ; by the Spaniard who called himself All
Bey; and, lastly, by B*jEckJ*ar<it whose description leaves nothing wanting to sat-
isfy the curiosity. M.

* Mr. Forster i4entifies the Greek name with the Arabic M*chcorab, "the war-
like city, " or "the city of the Harb/' Geogr, of Arabia, vol. i p. 265.~8,

b Burckhardt, however, observes : "The water is heavy in its taste, and some-
times in its color resembles milk, but it is perfectly sweet, and differs very innch
from that of the bracki&h wells dispersed over the town." (Travels in Arabia,
p. 144.) Elsewhere he says : * It seems probable that the town of Mecca owed
its origin to this well ; for many miles round no sweet water is found, BOJT is there ,
in ^ny part of tfce country 30 qopioaa a supply " (Ibid, p* li$>-H8L -

CH. L,] INDEPENDENCE OF THE ARABS. 185

a month's journey, between Yemen on the right and Syria on
the left hand. The former was the winter, the latter the
summer, station of her caravans ; and their seasonable arrival
relieved the ships of India from the tedious and troublesome
navigation of the Red Sea. In the markets of Saana and
Merab, in the harbors of Oman and Aden, the camels of the
Koreishites were laden with a precious cargo of aromatics; a
supply of corn and manufactures was purchased in the fairs
of Bostra and Damascus; the lucrative exchange diffused
plenty and riches in the streets of Mecca; and the noblest of
her sons united the love of arms with the profession of mer-
chandise. 30

The perpetual independence of the Arabs has been the

theme of praise among strangers and natives; and the arts

of controversy transform this singular event into a

National in- , f , . - _ _ . -

dependence prophecy and a miracle in favor of the posterity of

of the Arabs, T i ai o j_? J.T' . -Ti 11-

IsmaeL Some exceptions, that can neither be dis-
sembled nor eluded, render, this mode of reasoning as indis-
creet as it is superfluous ; the kingdom of Yemen has been
successively subdued by the Abyssinians, the Persians, the
sultans of Egypt, 51 * and the Turks :** the holy cities of Mecca
and Medina have repeatedly bowed under a Scythian ty-

40 "Mirum cUctfl ex innumeris popuKs pars sequa in commerces ant in latro-
ciniis <lgit " (Flin. Hist. Nat- vi. 32). See Sale's Koran, Sftra. cvL p, 503; Po-
cock, Specim&vp. 2 ; P'HerbeJot?, BibUoth; Orient, p. 861 ; Prideaux's lafe of
Mshoiset, p> 5 ; Gagnier, Tie de Jd^oiBefc, torn. L p. 72, 120, 126, etc*

31 A nameless doctor (Universal Hist. vol. ^x. octavo edition} has formally dem-
onstrated the truth of Christianity by the independence of the Arabs, A critic,
besides the exceptions of fact, aught dispute the meaning of the text (Gren, xvL
12), the extent of the application, and the foandation of tibe pedigree.*

22 It was subdued, JL.D. 1173, by a brother of the great Saladin, who founded a
dynasty of Cards or Ayoubites (Guignes, Hist, des Huns, torn. L p. ^25 j D^Herbe-
lot,p. 477).

23 By the lieutenant of Soliman T. (*.*>. 1538) and SeHm II. (1568). See Cante-
mir's Hist, of the Othman Umpke, p. 201, 221. The pasha, woo resided at Saana,
commanded twenty-one beys; but no revenue was ever remitted to the Porte
(Marsigli, Stato Militare dell' Imperio Ottomanno, p, 124), and the Turks were ex-
pelled about the year 1630 (Niebuhr, p. 167, 168).

7 ) ^ .| *t "i' j- .' ;) r . :' ' \ ""''''. '" ' " ' ' ' ' ' . ' ' '

a See note 3 to chap, xki* The last point is probably the least contestable of
the three, M, . , . , ' ^ ^.:- j > ...... ... .

186 THE ARABS: [Cn.L,

rant ; and the Boinan province of Arabia 34 embraced the pe-
culiar wilderness in which Ismael and his sons must have
pitched their tents in the face of their brethren. Yet these
exceptions are temporary or local ; the body of the nation has
escaped the yoke of the most powerful monarchies; the arms
of Sesostris and Cyrus, of Pompey and Trajan, could never
achieve the conquest of Arabia ; the present sovereign of the
Turks" may exercise a shadow of jurisdiction, but his pride
is reduced to solicit the friendship of a people whom it is
dangerous to provoke and fruitless to attack. The obvious
causes of their freedom are inscribed on the character and
country of the Arabs. Many ages before Mahomet, 35 their
intrepid valor had been severely felt by their neighbors in
offensive and defensive war. The patient and active virtues
of a soldier are insensibly nursed in the habits and discipline
of a pastoral life. The care of the sheep and camels is aban-
doned to the women of the tribe j but the martial youth, un-
der the banner of the emir, is ever on horseback, and in the
field, to practise the exercise of the bow, the javelin, and the

24 Of the Roman province, under the name of Arabia and the third Palestine,
the principal cities were Bostra and Petra, which dated their era from the year
105, when they were subdued by Palma, a lieutenant of Trajan (Dion Cassias,
1. Ixviii. [c, 14]). a Petra was the capital of the Nabathseans, whose name is de-
rived from the eldest of the sons of Ismael (Gen. xxv. 12, etc., with the Commen-
taries of Jerom, JJe Clerc, and Calmet). b Justinian relinquished a palm country
of ten days' journey to the south of JElah (Proeop. de BelL Persic. 1. i. c. 19 [t. i
p. 101, edit. Bonn]), and the Romans maintained a centurion and a custom-house
(Arrian in Periplo Mans Erythrsei, p. II, in Hudson, torn, i.) at a place (\&VKII
tt^ii?, Pagus Albus, Hawara) in the territory of Medina (D'Anville, Mdmoire sur
TEgypte, p. 243). These real possessions, and some naval inroads of Trajan (Pe-
ripl. p. 14, 15), are magnified by history and medals into the Roman conquest of
Arabia.

* 6 Niebuhr (Description de 1'Arabie, p. 302, 303, 329-331) affords the most re-
cent and authentic intelligence of the Turkish empire in Arabia."

* 6 Diodorus Siculus (torn, ii, I. xix. [c. 94] p, 390-393, edit. Wesseling) has
clearly exposed the freedom of the Nabathaean Arabs, who resisted the arms of
and his son.

a ie^n6te, vol. L p. 223.^8.

* On the ruins of Petra, see the Travels of Messrs. Irby and Mangles, and of
liaborde. M*

c ' Kiebahr'g r nottwithstaiading the multitude of later travellers, maintains its
ground as the classical work on Arabia. M.

On. L.] TPIEJE NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE. 187

scimeter. The long memory of their independence is the
firmest pledge of its perpetuity, and succeeding generations
are animated to prove their descent and to maintain their in-
heritance. Their domestic feuds are suspended on the ap-
proach of a common enemy ; and in their last hostilities
against the Turks, the caravan of Mecca was attacked and
pillaged by fourscore thousand of the confederates. When
they advance to battle, the hope of victory is in the front; in
the rear, the assurance of a retreat. Their horses and camels,
who in eight or ten days can perform a march of four or five
hundred miles, disappear before the conqueror; the secret
waters of the desert elude his search; and his victorioua
troops are consumed with thirst, hunger, and fatigue in the
pursuit of an invisible foe, who scorns his efforts, and safely
reposes in the heart of the burning solitude. The arms and
deserts of the Bedouins are not only the safeguards of their
own freedom, but the barriers also of the happy Arabia, whose
inhabitants, remote from war, are enervated by the luxury of
the soil and climate. The legions of Augustus melted away
in disease and lassitude ; 37 and it is only by a naval power
that the reduction of Yemen has been successfully attempted.
When Mahomet erected his holy standard, 28 that kingdom
was a province of the Persian empire; yet seven princes of
the Homerites still reigned in the mountains; and the vice-
gerent of Ohosroes was tempted to forget his distant country
ajad hia unfortunate master. The historians of the age of
Justinian represent the state of the independent Arabs, who
were divided by interest or affebtioii in tlie Idng quarrel of
the East : the tribe of Gra&acm was aJlo^ecT to encamp on the

57 Strabo, 1- xvi. p. 1127-1129 [p. 781 seq. edit Casaub. J ; Plin. Hist. Natur. vi.
32. JElias Gallns landed near Medina, and marched near a thousand miles into
the part of Yemen between Mareb and the ocean. The " Non ante devictis Sa-
bffifle regibus" (Od. i. 29) and the "Intacti Arabum thesauri" (Od. iii. 24) of
Horace attest the virgin purity of Arabia.

58 See the imperfect history of Yemen in Pocock, Specimen, p. 55-66; of Hira,
p. 66-77; of Gassan, p. 76-78 j as far as it could be known or preserved in the
time of ignorance.* ; _____

* Compare the Hist. Yemanse, published by Johannsen at Bonn, 1828, particti*
larly the translator's preface. M.

188 THE ARABS:

Syrian territory : the princes of Hira were permitted to form
a city about forty miles to the southward of the ruins of Baby-
lon. Their service in the field was speedy and vigorous ; but
their friendship was venal, their faith inconstant, their enmity
capricious: it was an easier task to excite than to disarm these
roving barbarians ; and, in the familiar intercourse of war,
they learned to see and to despise the splendid weakness both
of Rome and of Persia. From Mecca to the Euphrates, the
Arabian tribes 39 were confounded by the Greeks and Latins
under the general appellation of SARACEsrs, 30 a name which
every Christian mouth has been taught to pronounce with
terror and abhorrence.

The slaves of domestic tyranny may vainly exult in their
national independence : but the Arab is personally free ; and
Their do- he enjoys', in some degree, the benefits of society,
35? aiS 86 " without forfeiting the prerogatives of nature. In
character. 6V ery tribe, superstition, or gratitude, or fortune has
exalted a particular family above the heads of their equals.
The dignities of sheik and emir invariably descend in this
chosen race ; but the order of succession is loose and preca-

The SapaKTjvtJcd 0uXa, pvptadfG ravra, icat rb TrXsIorov a&rQv

are described by Menander (Excerpt. Legation, p. 149 [edit. Par. ;
p. 375, edit. Bonn. J), Procopius (De Bell. Persic. L i. c. 17, 19 ; 1. ii, c. 10), and
in the most lively colors by Ammianus Marcellinus (L xiv. c. 4), who had spoken
of them as early as the reign of Marcus.

80 The name which, used by Ptolemy and Pliny in a more confined, by Ammi-
anus and Procopius in a larger, sense, has heen derived, ridiculously, from Sarah,
the wife of Abraham, obscurely from the village of Saraka (jttrd rodg Na&mu-
m/cv Stephan. de Urbibus [s. v. Sapo/ccc]), more plausibly from the Arabic words,
which signify a thievish character, or Oriental situation (Hottinger, Hist. Orient-
al. 1. i. c. L p. 7, 8 ; Pocock, Specimen, p. 88-35 ; Asseman, Biblioth. Orient, torn-
iv. p. 567). Tefc the last and most popular of these etymologies is refuted by
Ptolemy (Arabia, p. 2, 18, in Hudson, torn, iii.), who expressly remarks the west-
ern and southern position of the Saracens, then an obscure tribe on the borders of
JSgypt* The appellation cannot, therefore, allude to any national character ; and,
fiance it was imposed by strangers, it must he found, not in the Arabic, but in a;
foreign language. 1 _ ' _

i* Pr. Clarke (Travels,, voL ii p. 491), after expressing contemptuous pity for
Gibbon's ignorance, derives the word fronv'Zaro, Zaara, Sara, the Desert, whence
Saraceni, the children of the Desert. De MaHea adopts the derivation 'from Sar-
qbbe&Y Hia$- desf Ara^f, vol. i, p. 86 ; St. Martin from Scharkioun* or Bhar-
0, 6

CH. L.] THEIE DOMESTIC FREEDOM A2TO CHABACTEE. 189

rious ; and the most worthy or aged of the noble kinsmen are
preferred to the simple though important office of composing
disputes by their advice, and guiding valor by their example.
Even a female of sense and spirit has been permitted to com-
mand the countrymen of Zenobia. 81 The momentary junc-
tion of several tribes produces an army : their more lasting
union constitutes a nation : and the supreme chief, the emir
of emirs, whose banner is displayed at their head, may de-
serve, in the eyes of strangers, the honors of the kingly name.
If the Arabian princes abuse their power, they are quickly
punished by the desertion of their subjects, who had been ac-
customed to a mild and parental jurisdiction. Their spirit is
free, their steps are unconfined, the desert is open, and the
tribes and families are held together by a mutual and volun-
tary compact. The softer natives of Yemen supported the
pomp and majesty of a monarch; but if he could not leave
his palace without endangering his life, 39 the active powers
of government must have been devolved on his nobles and
magistrates. The cities of Mecca and Medina present, in the
heart of Asia, the form, or rather the substance, of a com-
monwealth. The grandfather of Mahomet, and his lineal an-
cestors, appear in foreign and domestic transactions as the
princes of their country; but they reigned, like Pericles at
Athens, or the Medici at Florence, by the opinion of their
wisdom aad integrity ; their influence was divided- with tbbir
patritrtonyi; ;and the smptm was transferred from the uncles
of the prophet to a youngsar bran efc of the tril^e of Koreish*
On solemn Occasions, they camveried fche assembly of the peo-
ple; and, since mankind must be either compelled or per-
suaded to obey, the use and reputation of oratory among the

81 "Saraceni * * * mulieres aiunt in eos regnare" (Expositio totius Mundi,
p. 3, iii Hudson, torn, iii.)- The reign of Mavia is famous in ecclesiastical story.
Pocock, Specimen, p. 69, 83.

** -Etc rSw fiaattXsiwv p$ I&X0W is the report of Agatharchldes (De Mari
bro, p. 63, 64, in Hudson, torn. L), Diodorus Siculus (torn. I- 1. iu\ c. 47, p.
and Strabo (L xvi. p. 1124 [p. 778, edit. Casaub.]). But I much suspect that
this is one of the popular tales, or extraordinary accidents, which the credulity of
travellers so often transforms into a fact, a custom, and a law.

190 THE ARABS : [On. L.

ancient Arabs is the clearest evidence of public freedom. 81
But their simple freedom was of a very different cast from
the nice and artificial machinery of the Greek and Roman re-
publics, in which each member possessed an undivided share
of the civil and political rights of the community. In the
more simple state of the Arabs, the nation is free, because
each of her sons disdains a base submission to the will of a
master. His breast is fortified with the austere virtues of
courage, patience, and sobriety ; the love of independence
prompts him to exercise the habits of self-command ; and the
fear of dishonor guards him from the meaner apprehension
of pain, of danger, and of death. The gravity and firmness
of the mind is conspicuous in his outward demeanor : his
speech is slow, weighty, and concise ; he is seldom provoked
to laughter; his only gesture is that of stroking his beard,
the venerable symbol of manhood ; and the sense of his own
importance teaches him to accost his equals without levity,
and his superiors without awe. 34 The liberty of the Saracens
survived their conquests : the first caliphs indulged the bold
and familiar language of their subjects: they ascended the
pulpit to persuade and edify the congregation; nor was it
before the seat of empire was removed to the Tigris that the
Abbassides adopted the proud and pompous ceremonial of
the Persian and Byzantine courts.

In the study of nations and men we may observe the
crvii wars causes tit*t render them hostile or friendly to each
and private other, that tend to narrow or enlarge, to mollify

revenge. * rm '

or exasperate, the social character* The separa-
tion of the Arabs from the rest of mankind has accustomed

33 "Nbn gloriabantur antiquitus Arabes, nisi gladio, hospite, et etoquenticl" (Se-
phadius apud Pocock, Specimen, p. 161, 162). This gift of speech they shared
only Atfiih the Persians j and the sententious Arabs would probably have disdain*
ed tbe simple and sublime logic of Demosthenes,

u I must remind the reader that D'Arvieux, D'Herbelot, and Niebuhr repre-
sffcf MJ(te&fefafc lively colors the manners and government of the Arabs, which
:ajrfe IP tj^Vf&t > bj? nteay mradeEtal passages in the Life of Mahomet.

pinions romance of Antar, the most vivid and authentic
picture of Arabian manners. M,

THEIR CIVIL WAES AND PRIVATE REVENGE. 191

them to confound the ideas of stranger and enemy ; and the
poverty of the land has introduced a maxim of jurisprudence
which they believe and practise to the present hour. They
pretend that, in the division of the earth, the rich and fertile
climates were assigned to the other branches of the human
family ; and that the posterity of the outlaw Ismael might
recover, by fraud or force, the portion of inheritance of which
he had been unjustly deprived. According to the remark of
Pliny, the Arabian tribes are equally addicted to theft and
merchandise: the caravans that traverse the desert are ran-
somed or pillaged; and their neighbors, since the remote
times of Job and Sesostris, 85 have been the victims of their
rapacious spirit If a Bedouin discovers from afar a soli-
tary traveller, he rides furiously against him, crying, with a
loud voice, "Undress thyself; thy aunt (my wife) is without
a garment/' A ready submission entitles him to mercy ; re-
sistance will provoke the aggressor, and his own blood most
expiate the blood which he presumes to shed in legitimate
defence- A single robber, or a few associates, are branded
with their genuine name ; but the exploits of a numerous
band assume the character of lawful and honorable war.
The temper of a people thus armed against mankind was
doubly inflamed by the domestic license of rapine, murder,
and revenge. In the constitution of Europe, the right of
peace and wa*r is now oomfined to a small, and the actual ex-
ercfee to a much smaller^ list of a?espeetable potentates; hist
each Arab, with impunity ?and miown^ might |>oinirJos jav-
elin against the life of his couaiferymanj The union of the
nation consisted only in a vague resemblance of language
and manners ; and in each community the jurisdiction of the
magistrate was mute and impotent. Of the time of igno-

85 Observe the first chapter of Job, and the long wall of 1500 stadia -which Se-
sostris built from Felusium to Heliopolis (Diodor. Sicul. torn. i. 1, i. [c. 57] p. C7).
Under the name of Hycsos, the shepherd kings, they had formerly subdued Egypt
(Marsham, Canon* Chron. p. 98-163, etc.).*

* This origin of the Hyesos, though probable, is by no means so certain ; tfiere
is some reason for supposing them Scythians. -M,,

192 THE ARABS: tCH,I*

ranee winch pieceded Mahomet, seventeen hundred battles 38
are recorded by tradition : hostility was embittered with the
rancor of civil faction ; and the recital, in prose or verse, of
an obsolete feud was sufficient to rekindle the same passions
among the descendants of the hostile tribes. In private life
every man, at least every family, was the judge and avenger
of its own cause. The nice sensibility .of honor, which weighs
the insult rather than the injury, sheds its deadly venom on
the quarrels of the Arabs: the honor of their women, and
of their fieards, is most easily wounded; an indecent action, a
contemptuous word, can be expiated only by the blood of the
offender ; and such is their patient inveteracy, that they ex-
pect whole months and years the opportunity of revenge. A
fine or compensation for murder is familiar to the barbarians
of every age : but in Arabia the kinsmen of the dead are at
liberty to accept the atonement, or to exercise with their own
hands the law of retaliation. The refined malice of the Ar-
abs refuses even the head of the murderer, substitutes an in-
nocent to the guilty person, and transfers the penalty to the
best and most considerable of the raco by whom they have
been injured. If he falls by their hands, they are exposed in
their turn to the danger of reprisals ; the interest and princi-
pal of the bloody debt are accumulated : the individuals of
either family lead a life of malice and suspicion, and fifty
years may sometimes elapse before the account of vengeance
be finally settled, 87 This sanguinary spirit, ignorant of pity
or forgiveness, has been moderated, however, by the maxims
of honor, which require in every private encounter some de-
cent equality of age and strength, of numbers and
weapons. An annual festival of two, perhaps of
four, months, was observed by the Arabs before the time of

** Or, according to another account, 1200 (D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientate,
p, 75): the two historians who wrote of the Ay am al Arab, the battles of the Ar-
abs, lived in the ninth and tenth century. The famous war of Dalies and Gabruh
tiWotteftsioBed by two horses, lasted forty years, and ended in a proverb (Pocock,
Specimen, p 48).

w The modem theory and practice of the Arabs in the revenge of murder are
^ 26-31). The haraher features

may be traced Im the Koran, c,2, p. 20, c. 17, p. 230, with Sale's Observations*

CH,L.] THEIR SOCIAL, QUALIFICATIONS AND VIRTUES. 193

Mahomet, during which their swords were religiously sheath-
ed both in foreign and domestic hostility; and this partial
truce is more strongly expressive of the habits of anarchy and
warfare. 38

But the spirit of rapine and revenge was attempered by
the milder influence of trade and literature- The solitary
Their social P eninsula is encompassed by the most civilized na-
qualifications tions of the ancient world : the merchant is the

&UQ. VirtD 68.

friend of mankind ; and the annual caravans im-
ported the first seeds of knowledge and politeness into the
cities and even the camps of the desert. Whatever may
be the pedigree of the Arabs, their language is derived from
the same original stock with the Hebrew, the Syriac, and
the Chaldsean tongues ; the independence of the tribes was
narked by their peculiar dialects ; 3J> but each, after their own,
allowed a just preference to the pure and perspicuous idiom
of Mecca. In Arabia, as well as in Greece, the perfection
of language outstripped the refinement of manners; and her
* peech could diversify the fourscore names of honey, the
*vo hundred of a serpent, the five hundred of a lion, the
thousand of a sword, at a time when this copious dictionary
was intrusted to the memory of an illiterate people. The
monuments of the Homerites were inscribed with an obsolete
and mysterious character; but the Gufic letters, the grouod-
wort of the present alphabet, were invented on the banks of
the .Euphrates; and the recent invention was taught at Me6-
ca by a stranger who settled in that city after the birth f

38 Pr&jopius (De BelL Persic. Li. c. 1 6) places the two holy months about the
cummer solstice. The Arabians consecrate four months of the year the first,
seventh, eleventh, and twelfth ; and pretend that, in a long series of ages, the trace
was infringed only four or six times (Sale's Preliminary Discourse, p. 147-150, and
Notes on the ninth chapter of the Koran, p. 164, etc. ; Casiri, Biblioth. Hispanp-
Arabica, torn, ii, p. 20, 21).

a9 Arrian, in the second century, remarks (in Periplo Marls' Erythrsei, p. 12
[Hudson, Geog. M., t. 1]) the partial or total difference of the dialects of t&e
Arabs. Their language and letters are copiously treated by Pococfc (Specifiaeia,
p. 150-154), Casiri (Biblioth, Hispano-Arabica, torn, i. p. 1, 8% 292 ; tom.ii p. %&*
etc.), and Niebuhr (Bescription de V Arable, p. 72-86). I pass slightly ;
fond of repeat ' Swords like a parrot.

V. 13

194: THE ARABS : [Cn. L.

Mahomet. The arts of grammar, of metre, and of rhetoric
were unknown to the freeborn eloquence of the Arabians;
but their penetration was sharp, their fancy Ixixuriant, their
wit strong and sententious, 40 and their more elaborate compo-
sitions were addressed with energy and effect to the minds of
their hearers. The genius and merit of a rising poet was eel-
Love of ebrated by the applause of his own and the kindred
poetry. tribes. A solemn banquet was prepared, and a

chorus of women, striking their tymbals, and displaying the
pomp of their nuptials, sung in the presence of their sons and
husbands the felicity of their native tribe that a champion
had now appeared to vindicate their rights that a herald had
raised his voice to immortalize their renown. The distant or
hostile tribes resorted to an annual fair, which was abolish-
ed by the fanaticism of the first Moslems a national assem-
bly that must have contributed to refine and harmonize the
barbarians. Thirty days were employed in the exchange, riot
only of corn and wine, but of eloquence and poetry. The
prize was disputed by the generous emulation of the bards;
the victorious performance was deposited in the archives of
princes and emirs ; and we may read in our own language the
seven original poems which were inscribed in letters of gold,
and suspended in the Temple of Mecca. 41 The Arabian poets
were the historians and moralists of the age ; and if they sym-
pathized with the prejudices, they inspired and crowned the
virtues, of their countrymen. The indissoluble union of gen-
erosity and valor was the darling theme of their song; and

40 A familiar tale in Voltaire's Zadig(le Chien et le Cheval) is related to prove
the natural sagacity of the Arabs (D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient, p. 120, 121 ;
Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, torn. i. p. 37-46) ; but D'Arvieux, or rather La Boque
(Voyage de Palestine, p. 92), denies the boasted superiority of the Bedouins. The
one hundred and sixty-nine sentences of Ali (translated by Ockley, London, 1718)
afford & juut and favorable specimen of Arabian wit.*

41 Pocock (Specimen, p. 158-1 61) and Casiri (Biblioth.Hispano-Arabica,tom.i>
p. 4, 84, etc., 119 j tora.ii. p. 17, etc.) speak of the Arabian poets before Ma-
homet: the seven poems of the Caaba have been published in English by Sir Wil-
liam Jones; but Ms honorable mission to India has deprived us of his own notes,
fer more Inten^sMmg uhan the obscure and obsolete text.

-r **;-. < j.4 * ji".;fj t ; .*** - - .''.... ..... ' .

Compare the Arable Proverbs translated by Burckhardt, London, ISSO.-^-M.

OH. L.] THEIR SOCIAL QUALIFICATIONS AND 7ERTUE& 195

when they pointed their keenest satire against a despicable
race, they affirmed, in the bitterness of reproach, that the men
Examples of knew not tiow to give, nor the women to deny. 41
generosity, r^ ^^ i losp i ta i ity ^ieh was p rac ti se d by Abra-
ham, and celebrated by Homer, is still renewed in the camps
of the Arabs. The ferocious Bedouins, the terror of the des-
ert, embrace, without inquiry or hesitation, the stranger who
dares to confide in their honor and to enter their tent. His
treatment is kind and respectful : he shares the wealth or the
poverty of his host ; and, after a needful repose, he is dismiss-
ed on his way with thanks, with blessings, and perhaps with,
gifts. The heart and hand are more largely expanded by the
wants of a brother or a friend j but the heroic acts that could
deserve the public applause must have surpassed the narrow
measure of discretion and experience. A dispute had arisen,
who among the citizens of Mecca was entitled to the prize of
generosity; and a successive application was made to the
three who were deemed most worthy of the trial. Abdallah,
the son of Abbas, had undertaken a distant journey, and his
foot was in the stirrup, when he heard the voice of a suppli-
ant, "O son of the uncle of the apostle of God, I am a trav-
eller, and in distress!" He instantly dismounted to present
the pilgrim with his camel, her rich caparison, and a purse of
four thousand pieces of gold, excepting only the sword, either
for its intrinsic value, or as the gift of an honored kins-
man. The servant of Eais informed the second suppliant
that his master waa asleep : but he immediately added, "Here
is a purse of seven thousand pieces of gold (it is all we have
in the house), and here is an order that will entitle you to a
camel and a slave ;" the master, as soon as he awoke, praised
and enfranchised his faithful steward, with a gentle reproof^
that by respecting his slumbers he had stinted his bounty.
The third of these heroes, the blind Arabah, at the hour of
prayer, was supporting his steps on the shoulders of two
slaves. "Alas!" he replied, "my coffers are empty! but
these you may sell; if you refuse, I renounce them." At

42 Sale's Preliminary Discourse* p. 29, 30,

196 THE ABABS: [CH.L.

tiese words, pusMng away the youths, lie groped along the
wall with his staff. The character of Hatem is the perfect
model of Arabian virtue: 43 he was brave and liberal, an elo-
quent poet, and a successful robber: forty camels were roast-
ed at his hospitable feasts ; and at the prayer of a suppliant
enemy he restored both the captives and the spoil. The free-
dom of his countrymen disdained the laws of justice ; they
proudly indulged the spontaneous impulse of pity and be-
nevolence.

The religion of the Arabs, 44 as well as of the Indians, con-
sisted in the worship of the sun, the moon, and the fixed stars ;
Ancient a primitive and specious mode of superstition. The
idolatry. bright luminaries of the sky display the visible im-
age of a Deity : their number and distance convey to a philo-
sophic, or even a vulgar, eye the idea of boundless space : the
character of eternity is marked on these solid globes, that seem
incapable of corruption or decay : the regularity of their mo-
tions may be ascribed to a principle of reason or instinct ; and
their real or imaginary influence encourages the vain belief
that the earth and its inhabitants are the object of their pe-
culiar care. The science of astronomy was cultivated at Baby-
lon ; but the school of the Arabs was a clear firmament and
a naked plain. In their nocturnal marches they steered by
the guidance of the stars; their names, and order, and daily
station were familiar to the curiosity and devotion of the
Bedouin; and he was taught by experience to divide in twen-

4 * D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient p* 468 ; Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tons. iii.
p. 118 ; Caab and Hesnus (Pocock, Specimen, p. 43, 46, 48) were likewise con-
spicuous for their liberality; and the latter is elegantly praised by an Arabian
poet: "Videbis earn cum, accesseris exul tan tern, ac si dares illi quod ab illo
petisl"*

4* Whatever can now be known of the idolatry of the ancient Arabians may
be found in Pocock CSpecimen, p, 89-1.36, 163, 164), His profound erudition is
mpre* .cfearly and concisely interpreted by Sale (Preliminary Discourse, p. 14-24);
and Askenmnni (Biblioth, Orient, torn. iv. p. 580-590) has added some valuable

, . .

* See the translation of the amusing Persian romance of Hatim Tai, by I>un

Works published by the Oriental Translation Fund.

OH. I*.] THEIE BELIGION. 197

ty-eiglit parts the zodiac of the moon, and to bless the constel-
lations who refreshed with salutary rains the thirst of the des-
ert. The reign of the heavenly orbs could not be extended
beyond the visible sphere; and some metaphysical powers
were necessary to sustain the transmigration of souls and the
resurrection of bodies : a camel was left to perish on the
grave, that he might serve his master in another life ; and
the invocation of departed spirits implies that they were still
endowed with consciousness and power. I am ignorant, and
I am careless, of the blind mythology of the barbarians of
the local deities, of the stars, the air, and the earth, of their
sex or titles, their attributes or subordination. Each tribe,
each family, each independent warrior, created and changed
the rites and the object of his fantastic worship; but the na-
tion, in every age, has bowed to the religion as well as to the
Thecaab language of Mecca. The genuine antiquity of the
or Temple CAABA ascends beyond the Christian era: In de-

Of JU.6CC&*

scribing the coast of the Red Sea the Greek histo-
rian Diodorus 46 has remarked, between the Thamudites and
the Sabaeans, a famous temple, whose superior sanctity was
revered by all the Arabians ; the linen or silken veil, which is
annually renewed by the Turkish emperor, was first offered
by a pious king of the Homerites, who reigned seven hun-
dred years before the time of Mahomet. 4 " A tent or a cavern

45 'lepbv &.yi&TQ.TQv Idpvrai nft&fiBVQv virb iraarrwv *Apa<xtv ireptrrorfpov

dor, Sieul, torn. i. 1. iii. [c. 43] p. 211). The character and position are so correctly
apposite, that I am surprised how this curious passage should have been read with-
out notice or application. Yet this famous temple had been overlooked by Aga-
tharchides (De Mari Tfcnbro, p. 58, in Hudson, torn. L), whom Diodorus copies In
the rest of the description. Was the Sicilian more knowing than the Egyptian ?
Or was the Caaba built between the years of Rome 50 and 746, the dates of their
respective histories ? (Dodwell, in Dissert, ad torn. L Hudson, p. 72 ; Fabrieius,
Biblioth. Grsec. torn. ii. p. 770).*

46 Pocock, Specimen, p. 60, 61. Prom the death of Mahomet we ascend to 68,

* Mr. Forster (Geography of Arabia, voL ii. p.. 118 et seq.) has raised an objec-
tion, as I think, fatal to this hypothesis of Gibbon. The temple, situated in the
country of the Banizomeneis, was not between the Thamudites and the Saba^nn,
but higher up than the coast inhabited by the former. Mr. Forster would place
it as far north as Moilah. I am not quite satisfied that this will agree with tha
whole description of Diodorus. M. 1843.

198 THE ARABS: [Cn.L.

might suffice for the worship of the savages, but an edifice of
stone and clay has been erected in its place ; and the art and
power of the monarchs of the East have been confined to the
simplicity of the original model, 47 A spacious portico en-
closes the quadrangle of the Caaba a square chapel twenty-
four cubits long, twenty-three broad, and twenty-seven high :
a door and a window admit the light ; the double roof is sup-
ported by three pillars of wood ; a spout (now of gold) dis-
charges the rain-water, and the well Zeinzem is protected by
a dome from accidental pollution. The tribe of Koreish, by
fraud or force, had acquired the custody of the Caaba : the
sacerdotal office devolved through four lineal descents to the
grandfather of Mahomet ; and the family of the Hashemites,
from whence he sprung, was the most respectable and sacred
in the eyes of their country. 48 The precincts of Mecca en-
joyed the rights of sanctuary ; and in the last month of each
year the city and the temple were crowded with a long train
of pilgrims, who presented their vows and offerings in the
house of God. The same rites which are now accomplished
by the faithful Mussulman were invented and practised by
the superstition of the idolaters. At an awful distance they
cast away their garments : seven times with hasty steps they
encircled the Caaba, and kissed the black stone : seven times
* they visited and adored the adjacent mountains ; seven times
they threw stones into the valley of Mina : and the pilgrim-
age was achieved, as at the present hour, by a sacrifice of

from his birth to 129, years before the Christian era. The veil or curtain, which
is now of silk and gold, was no more than a piece of Egyptian linen (Abulfeda, m
Vit. Mohammed, c, 6, p. 14 [edit. Gagnier, Oxon. 1723]),

4 * The original plan of the Caaba (which is servilely copied in Sale> the Univer-
sal History, etc.) was a Turkish draught, which Reland (De Religione Mohamme-
dicft, p. 113-123) has corrected and explained from the best authorities, Per the
description and legend of the Caaba, consult Pocock (Specimen, p. 115-122), tho
Bibtiothfeque Orientale of D'Herbelot (Caaba, Jffagtar, Zemzem, etc.), and Sale
(Preliminary Discourse, p. 114-122)*

48 Cosa [Kussai], the fifth ancestor of Mahomet, must have usurped the Caaba
.Mx 4@ \ but the story is differently told by Jannabi (Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet,
torn* i, p, 65-69) and by Abulfeda (in Vit. Moham. c. 6, p, 13>*

* See note, p. 204. S.

CH. L.] THEIR RELIGION, 199

sheep and camels, and the burial of their hair and nails in the
consecrated ground. Each tribe either found or introduced in
the Caaba their domestic worship : the temple was adorned,
or defiled, with three hundred and sisty idols of men, eagles,
lions, and antelopes ; and most conspicuous was the statue of
Hebal, of red agate, holding in his hand seven arrows without
heads or feathers, the instruments and symbols of profane div-
ination. But this statue was a monument of Syrian arts : the
devotion of the ruder ages was content with a pillar or a tab-
let ; and the rocks of the desert were hewn into gods or al-
tars in imitation of the black stone 40 of Mecca, which is deeply
tainted with the reproach of an idolatrous origin. From Ja-
sacrifices P an * P^ru the use of sacrifice has universally pre-
and rites. vailed ; and the votary has expressed his gratitude
or fear by destroying or consuming, in honor of the gods, the
dearest and most precious of their gifts. The life of a man 60
is the most precious oblation to deprecate a public calamity:
the altars of Phoenicia and Egypt, of Home and Carthage,
have been polluted with human gore : the cruel practice was
long preserved among the Arabs; in the third century a boy
was annually sacrificed by the tribe of the Dumatians; 61 and
a royal captive was piously slaughtered by the prince of the

49 In the second century, Maximus of Tyre attributes to the Arabs the worship
of a stone 'ApaGtot <rlovffi ftlv 9 Svriva 8t OVK o?o, rd Sk cEyoXfm p] d$ay \i8oc
ijv TtTpfytovoQ (Dissert* viii. torn. i. p. 142, edit. Eeisfce) \ and the reproach is fari-
ously re-echoed by the Christians (Clemens Alex, in Protreptico, p. 40 [edit. Oxotu
1715]; Arnobius contra Gentes, L'vLp.246 [fc i- p. 196* edit. Lngd. B, 1651])
Yet these stones were no other than the fiairuXa of Syria and Greece, so renowned
in sacred and profane antiquity (Euseb. Prs&p. Evangel. L L p* 37 ; Marsham, Ca-
non. Chron. p. 54-56).

60 The two horrid subjects of 'AvSpoQwia and TlcufioQviria are accurately dis-
cussed by the learned Sir John Marsham (Canon. Chron. p. 76-78, 301 -304).
Smichoniatho derives the Phoenician sacrifices from the example of Chronus ; but
we are ignorant whether Chronus lived before or after Abraham, or, indeed, wheth-
er he lived at all.

51 Kar 4n;c tisaerrov ircuda IQvov^ is the reproach of Porphyry ; but he likewise
imputes to the Romans the same barbarous custom, which, A.U.C. 657, had been
finally abolished. Dumaetba, Daumat al Gendal, is noticed by Ptolemy (Tftbal^,
p. 37, Arabia, p. 9-29) and Abtilfeda (p. 57} ; and may be found in J>*Anirife%
maps, in the mid-desert between Chaibar and Tadmor. :

200 THE ARABS: THEIE EELIGIOK

Saracens, ike ally and soldier of the Emperor Justinian. 63 A
parent who drags his son to the altar exhibits the most pain-
ful and sublime effort of fanaticism : the deed or the inten-
tion was sanctified by the example of saints and heroes ; and
the father of Mahomet himself was devoted by a rash vow,
and hardly ransomed for the equivalent of a hundred camels.
In the time of ignorance the Arabs, like the Jews and Egyp-
tians, abstained from the taste of swine's flesh ; M they circum-
cised 54 their children at the age of puberty: the same cus-
toms, without the censure or the precept of the Koran, have
been silently transmitted to their posterity and proselytes.
It has been sagaciously conjectured that the artful legislator
indulged the stubborn prejudices of his countrymen. It is
more simple to believe that he adhered to the habits and
opinions of his youth, without foreseeing that a practice con-
genial to the climate of Mecca might become useless or in-
convenient on the banks of the Danube or the Volga.

Arabia was free : the adjacent kingdoms were shaken by
the storms of conquest and tyranny, and the persecuted sects
fled to the happy land where they might profess what they
thought, and practise what they professed. The religions of

Procopius (De Bell. Persico, L iL c. 28), Evagrius (L vi. c. 21), and Pocock
(Specimen, p. 72, 86) attest the human sacrifices of the Arabs in the sixth century.
The danger and escape of Abdallah is a tradition rather than a fact (Gagnier, Vie
de Mahomet, torn. L p. 82-84).*

B3 "Suillis carnibus abstinent,** says Solinus (Polyhistor. c. 33), who copies
Pliny (1. viii. c. 78) in the strange supposition that hogs cannot live in Arabia.
The Egyptians were actuated by a natural and superstitious horror for that un-
clean beast (Marsham, Canon, p. 205). The old Arabians likewise practised,
post coitum, the rite of ablution (Herodot. 1. L c. 189), which is sanctified by the
Mahometan law (Reland, p. 75, etc. ; Chardin, or rather the Mollah of Shah Ab-
bus, torn. iv. p. 71, etc.).

w The Mahometan doctors are not fond of the subject; yet they hold circum-
cision necessary to salvation, and even pretend that Mahomet was miraculously
born without a foreskin (Pocock, Specimen, p. 819, 820; Sale's Preliminary Dis-
course,^. 106, 107>

' the Calcutta Review (ETo. xliii. p. 15) maintains that the sacri-

fliaBEmT! beings in Arabia was only incidental, and in the case of violent and
m*ate ;*' wham ft is alleged to have beea done uniformly and on principlei
the authority seems doubtful & J *>"**

CH.L.J THE SABIANS IN AEABIA. 201

the Sabians and Magians, of the Jews and Christians, were
disseminated from the Persian Gulf to the Red

IntroGUC* fu -j-

tionofthe Sea. In a remote period of antiquity Sabianism
was diffused over Asia by the science of the Chal-
dseans 65 and the arms of the Assyrians. From the observa-
tions of two thousand years the priests and astronomers of
Babylon 56 deduced the eternal laws of nature and providence.
They adored the seven gods, or angels, who directed the course
of the seven planets, and shed their irresistible influence on
the earth. The attributes of the seven planets, with the
twelve signs of the zodiac, and the twenty-four constellations
of the northern and southern hemisphere, were represented
by images and talismans ; the seven days of the week were
dedicated to their respective deities; the Sabians prayed
thrice each day ; and the temple of the moon at Haran was
the term of their pilgrimage. &r But the flexible genius of
their faith was always ready either to teach or to learn : in
the tradition of the creation, the deluge, and the patriarchs,
they held a singular agreement with their Jewish captives ;
they appealed to the secret books of Adam, Seth, and Enoch ;
and a slight infusion of the Gospel has transformed the last
remnant of the Polytheists into the Christians of St. John, in.
the territory of Bassora. 59 The altars of Babylon were over-

5B Diodoros Sicukzs (torn. i. 1. ii. [c. 29 seq.] p. 14-2-145) has cast on their re-
ligion the carions but superficial glance of a Greek. Their astronomy would be
far more valuable; they had looted through the telescope of reason, since they
could doubt whe^ier tlhte son were in the number of the planets or of the fixed
stars. ^

56 Simplicias (who qnotes Porphyry), de Ckelo, L iL com. xlvi. p. 123, Jin. 18,
aputl Mtirsharn, Canon/Chron. p. 474, who doubts the fact, because it is adverse
to his systems. The earliest date of the Chalda&an observations is the year 2234
before Christ. After the conquest of Babylon by Alexander, they were commu-
nicated, at the request of Aristotle, to the astronomer Hipparchus. What a mo-
ment in the annals of science !

w Pocock (Specimen, p. 138-146), Hottinger (Hist. Orient p. 162-203), Hyde
(De Religione Vet. Peraarum, p. 124, 128, etc.), B'Herbelot (Sabi, p. 725, 726),
and Sale (Preliminary Discourse, p. 14, 15), rather excite than gratify our curios-
ity; and the last of these writers confounds Sabianism with the primitive reB|ipa
of the Arabs. ,. , . > ' ,

M D'Anville (ITEuphrate et le Tigre, p. 130-147) will fix the posifeog of thesa

202 THE MAGIANS, JEWS, AND CHRISTIANS* [CH.L,.

turned by the Magians ; but the injuries of the Sabians were
revenged by the sword of Alexander : Persia groan-

Thc Magians. -,, .-,-, i % i

ed above five hundred years under a loreign yoke ;
and the purest disciples of Zoroaster escaped from the conta-
gion of idolatry, and breathed with their adversaries the free-
dom of the desert. 60 Seven hundred years before the death
of Mahomet the Jews were settled in Arabia ; and
a far greater multitude was expelled from the Holy
Land in the wars of Titus and Hadrian. The industrious ex-
iles aspired to liberty and power : they erected synagogues in
the cities, and castles in the wilderness ; and their Gentile con-
verts were confounded with the children of Israel, whom they
resembled in the outward mark of circumcision. The Chris-
The Chris- ^ an missionaries were still more active and success-
tians. f u j : t j ie Catholics asserted their universal reign ;

the sects whom they oppressed successively retired beyond
the limits of the Roman empire ; the Marcionites and Man-
ichaeans dispersed their fcmtastie opinions and apocryphal
gospels ; the churches of Yemen, and the princes of Hira and
Gassan, were instructed in a purer creed by the Jacobite and
Nestorian bishops. 00 The liberty of choice was presented to
the tribes : each Arab was free to elect or to compose his pri-
vate religion ; and the rude superstition of his house was min-
gled with the sublime theology of saints and philosophers. A
fundamental article of faith was inculcated by the consent of

ambiguous Christians ; Assemannus (Biblioth. Oriental, torn, iv. p, 607-614) may
explain their tenets. But it is a slippery task to ascertain the creed of an igno-
rant people, afraid and ashamed to disclose their secret traditions.*

Dd The Magi were fixed in the province of Bahrein (Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet,
torn. iii. p. 114), and mingled with the old Arabians (Pocock, Specimen, p. 146-
150).

60 The state of the Jews and Christians in Arabia is described by Pococfc from
Sbsarestani, etc. (Specimen, p. 60, 134, etc*), Hottinger (Hist. Orient, p. 212-288),
ITHerbelot (Biblioth. Orient, p. 474 - 476), Basnage (Hist, des Juifs, torn. viL
p, 185; torn. viii. p. 280), and Sale (Preliminary Discourse, p. 22, etc., 33, etc.).

* Tbe Cod$x NasiHeus, their sacred book, has been published by Norberg, whose
jrgparches qgntain, almost all that is known of this singular people. But their
origin is almost as obscure as ever : if ancient, their creed has been so corrupted
with mysticism and Mahometanism. that its native lineaments are very indis-

-' ' ' ' ' ' ' : " ' ' '

A.D. 569-609.] BIETH AND EDUCATION OF MAHOMET. 203

the learned strangers ; the existence of one supreme God, who
is exalted above the powers of heaven and earth, but who has
often revealed himself to mankind by the ministry of his an-
gels and prophets, and whose grace or justice has interrupted,
by seasonable miracles, the order of nature. The most ration-
al of the Arabs acknowledged his power, though they neglect-
ed his worship ; 61 and it was habit rather than conviction that
still attached them to the relics of idolatry. The Jews and
Christians were the people of the Book; the Bible was al-
ready translated into the Arabic language, 63 and the volume
of the Old Testament was accepted by the concord of these
implacable enemies. In the story of the Hebrew patriarchs
the Arabs were pleased to discover the fathers of their nation.
They applauded the birth and promises of Ismael ; revered
the faith and virtue of Abraham ; traced his pedigree and
their own to the creation of the first man, and imbibed with
equal credulity the prodigies of the holy test, and the dreams
and traditions of the Jewish rabbles.

The base and plebeian origin of Mahomet is an unskilful
Birth and calumny of the Christians," who exalt instead of
S? ISSSSiet. degrading the merit of their adversary. His de-
A.B. 569-600. scen t from Ismael was a national privilege or fable;
but if the first steps of the pedigree 64 are dark and doubtful,

61 In their offerings it was a maxim to defraud God for the profit of the idol-
not a more potent, but a more irritable, patron (Pocock, Specimen, p* 108, 109).

* 2 Oar versions now extant, whether Jewish or Christian, appear more recent
than the Koran; but the existence of a prior translation may be fairly inferred
1.. From the perpetual practice of the synagogue, of expounding the Hebrew les-
son by a paraphrase in the vulgar tongue of the country. 2. Prom the analogy
of the Armenian, Persian, JEthiopic versions, expressly quoted by the fathers of
the fifth century, who assert that the Scriptures were translated into all the bar-
baric languages (Walton, Prolegomena ad Biblia Polyglot, p. 34, 93-97 ; Simon,
Hist. Critique du V. et du K Testament, torn. i. p. 180, 181, 282-280, 293, 305,
306; torn. iv. .p. 206).

63 "In eo conveniunt omnes, ut plebeio vilique genere ortum," etc, (Hottinger,
Hist. Orient, p. 136). Yet Theophanes, the most ancient of the Greeks, and the
father of many a lie, confesses that Mahomet was of the race of Ismael, 1* ptac
ytvtxwTdrrjG </>v\% (Chronograph, p. 277 [edit- Par; torn. i. p. 512, edit BonBj.

64 Abulfeda (in Tit. Mohammed, ev l r 2) and Gagnier (Vie de Mahomefc, f*. 25-*-
97) describe the popular and approved genealogy of the prophet. At Mecca, j

204: BIETH A]H> EDUCATION OF MAHOMET. [Cn.L,

he could produce many generations of pure and genuine no*
bility : he sprung from the tribe of Koreish* and the family
of Eastern, the most illustrious of the Arabs, the princes of
Mecca, and the hereditary guardians of the Gaaba. b The
grandfather of Mahomet was Abdol Motalleb, the son of Ha-
shem, a wealthy and generous citizen, who relieved the dis-
tress of famine with the supplies of commerce. Mecca, which
had been fed by the liberality of the father, was saved by the
courage of the son. The kingdom of Yemen was subject to
the Christian princes of Abyssinia : their vassal Abrahah was
provoked by an insult to avenge the honor of the cross ; and
the holy city was invested by a train of elephants and an
army of Africans. A treaty was proposed ; and, in the first
audience, the grandfather of Mahomet demanded the restitu-
tion of his cattle. "And why," said Abrahah, "do you not
rather implore my clemency in favor of your temple, which 1
have threatened to destroy ?" " Because," replied the intrep-
id chief, "the cattle is my own: the Caaba belongs to the
gods, and they will defend their house from injury and sacri-

would not dispute its authenticity: at Lausanne, I will venture to observe I.
That, from Ismael to Mahomet, a period of 2500 years, they reckon thirty, instead
of seventy-five, generations. 2* Tliat the modern Bedouins are ignorant of their
history, and careless of their pedigree (Voyage de D'Arvieux, p. 100, 103). c

* According to the usually received tradition, Koreish was originally an epithet
conferred upon Pihr (horn about A.JD. 200), who was the ancestor, at the distance
of eight generations, of the famous Kussai mentioned in the next note. Sprenger,
however, maintains that the tribe of Koreish was first formed by Kussai, and that
the members of the new tribe called themselves the children of Fihr as a symbol
of unity. He regards Fihr as a mythical personage. See Caussin de Perceval,
vol. i. p. 42 ; Calcutta Review, No. xli p. 42 ; Sprenger, Life of Mohammed, p. 42.
S.

b Kussai (born about A.D. 400), great-grandfather of Abdol Motalleb, and con-
sequently fifth in the ascending line from Mahomet, obtained supreme power at
Mecca* His office and privileges were to supply the numerous pilgrims with
food and fresh water, the latter a rare article at Mecca : to conduct the business
of the temple; and to preside in the senate or council. His revenues were a
tenth of all merchandise brought to Mecca. After the death of Kussai these of-
fiees became divided among his descendants ; and, though the branch from which
BfeEomet ?$rang belonged to the reigning line, yet his family, especially after tha
dcaili t^ ife^KraM&^her^ had, but Httle to do with the actual government of Mec-
ca^ . * '-tyffilj&^IU&i P- ^ * 2 - & ' '

* ^bd BiolSor^^ddaE Mahometans only reckon back the ancestry of the prophet,
for twenty generations, to A&W*, Weil, Mohammed de? Prophet, p. L M.

' ''

A.l>. 569-609.] DEIJVEKANCE OF MECCA. 205

lege." The want of provisions, or the valor of the Koreish,
compelled the Abyssinians to a disgraceful retreat : their dis-
comfiture has been adorned with a miraculous flight of birds,
who showered down stones on the heads of the infidels ; and
the deliverance was long commemorated by the era of the ele-
Deiiverauce phant. 66 The glory of Abdol Motalleb was crown-
of Mecca. e( j w ith domestic happiness ; his life was prolonged
to the age of one hundred and ten years ; a and he became the
father of six daughters and thirteen sons. Bis best beloved
Abdallah was the most beautiful and modest of the Arabian
youth ; and in the first night, when he consummated his mar-
riage with Amina, b of the noble race of the Zahrites, two hun-
dred virgins are said to have expired of jealousy and despair.
Mahomet, or more properly Mohammed, the only son of Ab-
dallah and Amina, was born at Mecca, four years after the
death of Justinian, and two months after the defeat of the

65 The seed of this history, or fable, is contained in the one hundred and fifth
chapter of the Koran ; and Gagnier (in Prs&fet. ad Vit. Moham. p. 18, etc.) has
translated the historical narrative of Abulfeda, which may be illustrated from
D'Herbelot (Biblioth. Orientale, p. 12) and Pocock (Specimen, p. 64). Prideaux
(Life of Mahomet, p. 48) calls it a lie of the coinage of Mahomet j bat Sale (Ko-
ran, p. 501-503), who is half a Mussulman, attacks the inconsistent faith of the
Doctor for believing the miracles of the Delphic Apollo. Maracci (Alcoran, torn.
i. part iL p* 14 ; torn. ii. p. 823) ascribes the miracle to the devil, and extorts from
the Mahometans the confession that God would not have defended against the
Christians the idols of the Caaba**

* Weil sets him down at about eighty-two at his death, Mohammed, p. 28. S.

b Amina was of Jewish birth. YOU Hammer, Gteschichte der Assass. p. 10.-
J/L Von Hammer gives no authority for this important fact* which seems hardly
to agree with Sprenger's account that she was a Koreishite, and the daughter of
Wahb, an elder of the Zohrah family. S.

c Mohammed means " praised," the name given to him by his grandfather on
account of the favorable omen attending his birth. When Amina had given birth
to the prophet, she sent for bis grandfather, and related to him that she had seen
in a dream a light proceeding from her body, which illuminated the palaces of
Bostra. Sprenger, p. 76. We learn from Burckhardt that among the Arabs a
name is given to the infant immediately on its birth. The name is derived from,
some trifling accident, or from, some object which had struck the fancy of the
mother or any of the women present at the child's birth. Notes on the Bedonias,
vol. i, p. 97. S.

d The apparent miracle was nothing else but the small-pox, which broke out in
the army of Abrahah. Sprenger, Life of Mohammed, p. 35, who quotes Waki-di ;
Weil, Mohammed, p. 10. This seems to have been the first appearance of th*
small-pox in Arabia, Beiske* OpuscuU Medica ex monumentis Arabom, Hftfoy

206 MAHOMET. tCH. I*

Abyssinians, 86 whose victory would have introduced into the
Caaba the religion of the Christians. In his early infancy 81 he
was deprived of his father, his mother, and his grandfather;
his uncles were strong and numerous ; and, in the division of
the inheritance, the orphan's share was reduced to five camels
and an ./Ethiopian maid-servant. b At home and abroad, in

66 The safest eras of Abulfeda (in Vit. c. i. p. 2), of Alexander, or the Greeks,
882, of Bocht Naser, or Nabonassar, 1316, equally lead us to the year 569. The
old Arabian calendar is too dark and uncertain to support the Benedictines (Art
de verifier les Dates, p. 15), who, from the day of the month and week, deduce a
new mode of calculation, and remove the birth of Mahomet to the year of Christ
570, the 10th of November. Yet this date would agree with the year 882 of the
Greeks, which is assigned by Elmacin (Hist. Saracen, p. 5) and Abulpharagius
(Dynast, p. 101 ; and Errata, Pocock's version). While we refine our chronol-
ogy, it is possible that the illiterate prophet was ignorant of his own age,

* The father of Mahomet died two months before his birth ; and to the ill state
of health which the shock of this premature bereavement entailed on his widow,
Sprenger attributes the sickly and nervous temperament of Mahomet. His moth-
er died in his seventh year (p. 79) ; his grandfather two years later. S.

b Sprenger, however (p. 81), ascribes his poverty not to the injustice of his uncles,
who, on the contrary, were anxious to bring him forward, but to his own inactivi-
ty and unfitness for "the ordinary duties of life. He had the same patrimony with
which his father began life, viz., a house, five camels, a flock of sheep, and a female
slave ; yet he was reduced to the necessity of pasturing sheep, an occupation con-
sidered by the Arabs as peculiarly humiliating. Compare Weil, p. 33. The latter
author adds that Mahomet afterwards entered into the linen trade in partnership
with a man named Sa'ib. S.

c "All authorities agree that Mohammed was born on a Monday, in the first
half of Raby' I. ; but they differ on the year and on the date of the month. Most
traditions say that he died at an age of sixty-three years. If this is correct, he
was born in 571.* There are, however, good traditions in Bokhtfri, Moslim, and
Tirmidzy, according to which he attained an age of sixty-five years, which would
place his birth in 569. With reference to the date, his birthday is celebrated on
the 1 2th of Raby' I. by the Mussulmans, and for this day are almost all traditions.
This was a Thursday in 571, and a Tuesday in 569 ; and, supposing the new moon
of Raby' I. was seen one day sooner than expected, it was a Monday in 609. A
tradition of Abu* Ma'aharis for the 2d of Raby' L, which was a Monday in 571 ;
but Abu" Ma'shar was a mathematician, and his account may possibly be a calcu-
lation, and not a tradition. There are also traditions for the first Monday, and for
the tenth day of the month." (Sprenger, p. 75,)

In reference, however, to this subject, it is important to observe that Caussin de
;Preeval has brought forward reasons for believing that the Meccan year was orig-
ina% a lunar one, and continued so till the beginning of the fifth century, when,
in imitation of the Jews, it was turned, by the intercalation of a month at the close
of ervery third year, into a lum-solar period. (C. de Perceval, Essai, etc.. vol. i.
-.jk, 4t; a^iajrnal Antique, April, 1843, p. 842.) Hence it follows that all calcula-
tions ;op; to; the end of Mahomet's life must be made in lum-solar years, and npt
.j tauar jr^^^olviBg a yearly difference of ten days. Hence, also, we can ex-

* This is the year which Weil decides upon*

A,D. 569-609.] HIS MAREIAGE. 207

peace and war, Abu Taleb, the most respectable of his uncles,
was the guide and guardian of his youth ; in his twenty-fifth
year he entered into the service of Cadijah, a rich and noble
widow of Mecca, who soon rewarded his fidelity with the gift
of her hand and fortune. The marriage contract, in the sim-
ple style of antiquity, recites the mutual love of IMahomet and
Cadijah ; describes him as the most accomplished of the tribe
of Koreish ; and stipulates a dowry of twelve ounces of gold
and twenty camels, which was supplied by the liberality of his
uncle. 67 By this alliance the son of Abdallah was restored
to the station of his ancestors ; and the judicious matron was
content with his domestic virtues, till, in the fortieth year of
his age, 68 he assumed the title of a prophet, and proclaimed
the religion of the Koran.

According to the tradition of his companions, Mahomet"
was distinguished by the beauty of his person, an outward
gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it
has been refused. Before he spoke, the orator engaged on

67 I copy the honorable testimony of Abu Taleb to his family and nephew.
" Laus Deo, qui nos a stirpe Abraham! et semine Ismaelis constitnit, et nobis re*
gionem sacram dedit, et nos jadices hominibas statuit. POTTO Mohammed filius
Abdollahi nepotis mei (nepos meus) quo cum [non] ex sequo librabitur e Koraishi-
dis quispiam cui nou prseponderaturus est bonitate, et excellent!^ et intellect^, et
gloria, et acumine, etsi opum inops fuerit (et certe opes umbra transiens sunt et
depositum quod reddi debet), desiderio Chadijse filise Chowailedi tenetur, et ilia
vicissim ipsius, qnicquid autem dotis vice petieritis, ego in me suscipiam " (Pocock,
Specimen, e septim^ parte libri Ebn Hainduni [p. 171]).

98 The private life of Mahomet, from his birth to his mission, is preserved by
Abulfeda (in Vik c. 3-7), and the Arabian writers of genuine or apocryphal note,
who are alleged by Hbttinger (Hist. Orient, p. 204-211), Maracci (torn, i, p. 10-
14), and Gagnier (Vie de Mahomet, torn. i. p. 97-184).

69 Abulfeda, in Vit. c. 65, 66 ; Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, torn. iiL p. 272-289 ;
the best traditions of the person and conversation of the prophet are derived from
Ayesha, Ali, and Abu Horaira (Gagnier, torn, ii, p. 267; Ockley's Hist, of the Sar-
acens, vol. ii. p. 149), sumamed the Father of a Cat, who died in the year 59 of
the Hegira. .

plain, certain discrepancies in Mahomet's life, some historians calculating by the
luni-solar year in force in the period under narration, others adjusting such peri-
ods by the application of the lunar year subsequently adopted. Thus some make
their prophet to have lived sixty-three or sixty-three and a half years, others aixty-
five the one possibly being loni-solar, the other lunar years, See Gakmlta
, No. adL p. 49.- S.

20 QUALIFICATIONS OF MAHOMET. [CH,L,

his side the affections of a public or private audience. They
applauded his commanding presence, his majes-

ualiflca- rr & *

. . . , . ., .

tic aspect, his piercing eye, his gracious smile, nis
pr P e flowing beard, his countenance that painted every
sensation of the soul, and his gestures that enforced each ex-
pression of the tongue.* In the familiar offices of life he scru-
pulously adhered to the grave and ceremonious politeness of
his country: his respectful attention to the rich and powerful
was dignified by his condescension and affability to the poor-
est citizens of Mecca : the frankness of his manner concealed
the artifice of his views ; and the habits of courtesy were im-
puted to personal friendship or universal benevolence. His
memory was capacious and retentive ; his wit easy and social;
his imagination sublime ; his judgment clear, rapid, and de-
cisive. He possessed the courage both of thought and ac-
tion ; and, although his designs might gradually expand with
his success, the first idea which he entertained of his divine
mission bears the stamp of an original and superior genius.

* To the general characteristics of Mahomet's person here recorded hy Gibbon,
it may not be uninteresting to add the more particular traits derived from the re-
searches of modern orientalists. "Mohammed," says Dr. Sprenger, "was of
middling size, had broad shoulders, a wide chest, and large bones, and he was
fleshy but not stout. The immoderate size of his head was partly disguised by
the long locks of hair, which in slight curls came nearly down to the lobes of his
ears. His oval face, though tawny, was rather fair for an Arab, but neither pale
nor high colored. The forehead was broad, and his fine and long, but narrow,
eyebrows were separated by a vein, which you could see throbbing if lie was an-
gry. Under long eyelashes sparkled bloodshot black eyes through wide-slit eye-
lids. His nose was large, prominent, and slightly hooked, and the tip of it seem-
ed to be turned up, but was not so in reality. The mouth was wide, and he had
a good set of teeth, and the fore-teeth were asunder, His beard rose from the
cheek-bones and came down to the collar-bone ; he clipped his mustaches, but did
not shave them. He stooped, and was slightly humpbacked* His gait was care-
less, and he walked fast but heavily, as if he were ascending a hill;* and if he
looked back, he turned his whole body. The mildness of his countenance gained
him the confidence of every one; but he could not look straight into a man's
face; he turned his eyes usually outwards. On his back he had a round, fleshy
tumor of the size of a pigeon's egg; its furrowed surface was covered with hair,
and Its base WAS surrounded by black moles. This was considered as the seal of
his prophetic mission, at least during the latter part of his career, by his followers,
who were so devout that they found a cure for their ailings in drinking the water

in which he had bathed ; and it must have been very refreshing, for he perspired
]H0$ijMte japd ty& sfcin exhaled a strong smell." Life of Mohammed, p. 84.

' '

In other particulars, differs in this .- "His hand* ana
*- ^ ^, Wtt$ fio ^^ ^ t ^ j po j, ^ t ^

AJX 569-609.] QUALIFICATIONS OF MAHOMET. 209

The son of Abdallah was educated in the bosom of the no-
blest race, in the use of the purest dialect of Arabia ; a and
the fluency of his speech was corrected and enhanced by the
practice of discreet and seasonable silence. With these pow-
ers of eloquence, Mahomet was an illiterate barbarian: hie
youth had never been instructed in the arts of reading and
writing; 70 the common ignorance exempted him from shame
or reproach, but he was reduced to a narrow circle of exist-
ence, and deprived of those faithful mirrors which reflect to

70 Those who believe that Mahomet could read or write are incapable of read-
ing what is written, with another pen, in the Suras, or chapters of the Koran, vii.
xxix. xcvi. These texts, and the tradition of the Sonna, are admitted, without
doubt, by Abulfeda (in Vit. c. 7), Gagnier (Not. ad Abulfed. p. 15), Pocock (Speci-
men, p. 151), Reland (De Religione Mohammedica, p. 236), and Sale (Prelimina-
ry Discourse, p. 42). Mr. White, almost alone, denies the ignorance, to accuse
the imposture, of the prophet. His arguments are far from satisfactory. Two
short trading journeys to the fairs of Syria were surely not sufficient to infuse a
science so rare among the citizens of Mecca ; it was not in the cool, deliberate
act of a treaty that Mahomet would have dropped the mask ; nor can any con-
clusion be drawn from the words of disease and delirium. The lettered youth,
before he aspired to the prophetic character, must have often exercised, In private
life, the arts of reading and writing; and his first converts, of his own family,
would have been the first to detect and upbraid his scandalous hypocrisy (White's
Sermons, p. 203, 204, Notes, p. xxxvi.-xxxviii.). b

* Namely, both as being a Koreishite, and as having been suckled five years m
the desert by his foster-mother Hnlymah, of the tribe of Banu Sad, which spoke
the purest dialect. Sprenger, p. 77. S.

b Modem orientalists are inclined to answer the question whether Mahomet
3ould read and write in the affirmative. The point hinges upon the critical inter-
pretation of certain passages of the Koran, and upon the authority of traditions.
The ninety-sixth Sura, adduced by Gibbon in support of his view, is interpreted by
Silvestre de Sacy as an argument on the opposite side (Mtn. de TAcad. des In-
*er. L. p. 95), and his opinion is supported by Well (p. 46, note 50}. Moslem au-
thors are at variance OB the subject. Almost all the modern writers, and many
af the old, deny the ability of their prophet to read and write ; but good author,
3specially of the Shiite sect, admit that he could read, though they describe him
is an unskilful penman. The former class of writers support their opinion by
perverting the texts of the Koran which bear upon the subject. " Several in-
stances," says Dr. Sprenger, " in which Mohammed did read and write, are re-
corded by Bokhari, Nasay, and others; It is, however, certain that he wished
io appear ignorant in order to raise the elegance of the composition of the Koran
into a miracle" (p. 102). The same wish would doubtless influence the views of
the more orthodox Mussulman commentators. It may be further remarked that
reading and writing were far from being so rare among the citizens of Mecca in
the time of Mahomet as Gibbon represents (Sprenger, p. 37). Nor on a general
new does it appear probable that a work like the Koran, containing frequ^nfc ;,&.
^rences to the Scriptures and other books, shatild have been composed by. "an il-
literate barbar!euEL"---S. ; > j *

TT ~iA ''-' '' ' ' ''.'

210 QUALIFICATIONS OF MAHOMET. [CH. L.

our mind the niinds of sages and heroes. Yet the book of
nature and of man was open to his view ; and some fancy has
been indulged in the political and philosophical observations
which are ascribed to the Arabian traveller He compares
the nations and the religions of the earth ; discovers the weak-
ness of the Persian and Roman monarchies; beholds with pity
and indignation the degeneracy of the times ; and resolves to
unite under one God and one king the invincible spirit and
primitive virtues of the Arabs. Our more accurate inquiry
will suggest that, instead of visiting the courts, the camps, the
temples of the East, the two journeys of Mahomet into Syria
were confined to the fairs of Bostra and Damascus ; that he
was only thirteen years of age when he accompanied the car-
avan of his uncle ; and that his duty compelled him to return
as soon as he had disposed of the merchandise of Cadijah.
In these hasty and superficial excursions the eye of genius
might discern some objects invisible to his grosser compan-
ions ; some seeds of knowledge might be cast upon a fruitful
soil; but his ignorance of the Syriac language must have
checked his curiosity; and I cannot perceive in the life or
writings of Mahomet that his prospect was far extended be-
yond the limits of the Arabian world. From every region of
that solitary world the pilgrims of Mecca were annually as-
sembled by the calls of devotion and commerce: in the free
concourse of multitudes, a simple citizen, in his native tongue,
might study the political state and character of the tribes, the
theory and practice of the Jews and Christians. Some useful
strangers might be tempted, or forced, to implore the rights
of hospitality ; and the enemies of Mahomet have named the
Jew, the Persian, and the Syrian monk, whom they accuse of
lending their secret aid to the composition of the Koran. n

t 1 The Count de Boulainvilliers (Vie de Mahomet, p. 202-228) leads his Ara-
bian pupil, like the Telemachus of Fen^ion, or the Cyrus of Kamsay. His jour-
ney to the court of Persia is probably a fiction, nor can I trace the origin of his
exclamattop, "Leg G-recs sontpourtant des homines." The two Syrian journeys
are ifTie^sd by almost all the Arabian writers, both Mahometans and Christians
(^agn^

f w I ana no* at teastire^ pursue the fables or conjectures which name the straw,
gar* accused or suspected by the infidels of Mecca (Koran, eh. 16, p* 223 ch. 35,

>. 569-609.] THE DOCTRINE OF ONE GOD. 211

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the
school of genius ; and the uniformity of a work denotes the
hand of a single artist. From his earliest youth Mahomet
was addicted to religious contemplation ; each year, during
the month of Ramadan, he withdrew from the world and
from the arms of Cadijah : in the cave of Hera, three miles
from Mecca, 73 he consulted the spirit of fraud or enthusiasm,
whose abode is not in the heavens, but in the mind of the
prophet. The faith which, under the name of Islam* he
preached to his family and nation, is compounded of an eter-
nal truth, and a necessary fiction, THAT THEBE is ONLY OJSTE

GOD, AND THAT MAHOMET IS THE APOSTLE OF GoD.

It is the boast of the Jewish apologists, that, while the
learned nations of antiquity were deluded by the fables of
polytheism, their simple ancestors of Palestine pre-
served the knowledge and worship of the true God*
The moral attributes of Jehovah may not easily be reconciled
with the standard of human virtue: his metaphysical quali-
ties are darkly expressed; but each page of the Pentateuch
and the Prophets is an evidence of his power : the unity of
his name is inscribed on the first table of the law; and his
sanctuary was never defiled by any visible image of