sound and signification will satisfy a Grecian ear. They imply a suveriority and a priority above the simple name of Augustus; and this sacred and primitive title of the Roman prince was degraded to the kinsmen and servants of the Byzantine court. The daughter of Alexius applauds, with fond complacency, this artful gradation of hopes and honors; but the science of words is accessible to the meanest capacity; and this vain dictionary was easily enriched by the pride of his suc To their favorite sons or brothers, they imparted the more lofty appellation of Lord or Despot, which was illustrated with new ornaments, and prerogatives, and placed immediately after the person of the emperor himself. The five titles of, 1. Despot; 2. Sebastocrator; 3. Caesar; 4. Panhypersebastos; and, 5. Protosebastos; were usually confined to the princes of his blood they were the emanations of his majesty; but as they exercised no regular functions, their existence was useless, and their authority precarious.

cessors.

But in every monarchy the substantial powers of government must be divided and exercised by the ministers of the palace and treasury, the fleet and army. The titles alone can differ; and in the revolution of ages, the counts and præfects, the prætor and quæstor, insensibly descended, while their servants rose above their heads to the first honors of the state. 1. In a monarchy, which refers every object to the person of the prince, the care and ceremonies of the palace form the most respectable department. The Curopalata, so illustrious in the age of Justinian, was supplanted by the Protovestiare, whose primitive functions were limited to the custody of the wardrobe. From thence his jurisdiction was extended over the numerous menials of pomp and luxury; and he presided with his silver wand at the public and private audience. 2. In the ancient system of Constantine, the name of Logothete, or accountant, was applied to the receivers of the finances the principal officers were distinguished as the Logothetes of the domain, of the posts, the army, the private

41

Par exstans curis, solo diademate dispar,

Ordine pro rerum vocitatus Cura-Palati,

Jays the African Corippus, (de Laudibus Justini, l. i. 136,) and in the same century (the vith) Cassiodorus represents him, who, virgâ aureâ decoratus, inter numerosa obsequia primus ante pedes regis incederet Variar. vii. 5.) But this great officer, (unknown,) dvεniyvwores, exercis ng no functior., vov di ovdepíav, was cast down by the modern Greeks t the xvth rank, (Codin. c. 5, p. 65.)

45

and public treasure; and the great Logothete, the supreme guardian of the laws and revenues, is compared with the chancellor of the Latin monarchies.42 His discerning eye pervaded the civil administration; and he was assisted, in due subordination, by the eparch or præfect of the city, the first secretary, and the keepers of the privy seal, the archives, and the red or purple ink which was reserved for the sacred signature of the emperor alone." The introductor and interpreter of foreign ambassadors were the great Chiauss" and the Dragoman, two names of Turkish origin, and which are still familiar to the Sublime Porte. 3. From the humble style and service of guards, the Domestics insensibly rose to the station of generals; the military themes of the East and West, the legions of Europe and Asia, were often divided, till the great Domestic was finally invested with the universal and absolute command of the land forces. The Protostrator, in his original functions, was the assistant of the emperor when he mounted on horseback: he gradually became the lieutenant of the great Domestic in the field; and his jurisdiction extended over the stables, the cavalry, and the royal train of hunting and hawking. The Stratopedarch was the great judge of the camp: the Protospathaire commanded the guards; the Constable," the great Eteriarch, and the colyth, were the separate chiefs of the Franks, the Barbarians,

42 Nicetas (in Manuel, 1. vii. c. 1) defines him is ▲ativwv pwovè Καγκελάριον, ὡς δ ̓ Ἕλληνες εἴποιεν Λογοθέτην. Yet the epithet of μέγας was added by the elder Andronicus, (Ducange, tom. i p. 822, 823.)

43 From Leo I. (A. D. 470) the Imperial ink, which is still visible on some original acts, was a mixture of vermilion and cinnabar, or purple. The emperor's guardians, who shared in this prerogative, always marked in green ink the indiction and the month. See the Dictionnaire Diplomatique, (tom. i. p. 511-513) a valuable abridg

ment.

4 The sultan sent a Etaons to Alexius, (Anna Comnena, 1. vi. p. 170. Ducange ad loc.;) and Pachymer often speaks of the uyus -Cavs, (l. vii. c. 1, 1. xii. c. 30, 1. xiii. c. 22.) The Chiaoush basha is Acw at the head of 700 officers, (Rycaut's Ottoman Empire, p. 349, ctavo edition.)

45 Tagerman is the Arabic name of an interpreter, (D'Herbelot, p. 854, 855 ;) πρῶτος τῶν ἑρμηνέων, οὓς κοινῶς ὀνομάζουσι δραγομάνους Bays Codinus, (c. v. No. 70, p. 67.) See Villehardouin, (No. 96,) Bus bequius, (Epist. iv. p. 338,) and Ducange, (Observations sur Villchar doin, and Gloss. Græc. et Latin)

18 Κονόσταυλος, Οι κοντόσταυλος, a corruption from the Latir. Comnen stabuli, or the French Connêtable. In a military sense, it was used by the Greeks in the xith century, at least as early as in France.

and the Varangi, or English, the mercenary strangers, who, n the decay of the national spirit, formed the nerve of the Byzantine armies. 4. The naval powers were under the command of the great Duke; in his absence they obeyed the great Drungaire of the fleet; and, in his place, the Emir, or Admiral, a name of Saracen extraction," but which has been naturalized in all the modern languages of Europe. Of these officers, and of many more whom it would be useless to enu merate, the civil and military hierarchy was framed. Their honors and emoluments, their dress and titles, their mutua salutations and respective preeminence, were balanced with more exquisite labor than would have fixed the constitution of a free people; and the code was almost perfect when this base less fabric, the monument of pride and servitude, was forever buried in the ruins of the empire.

48

The most lofty titles, and the most humble postures, which devotion has applied to the Supreme Being, have been prostituted by flattery and fear to creatures of the same nature with ourselves. The mode of adoration," of falling prostrate or the ground, and kissing the feet of the emperor, was borrowed by Diocletian from Persian servitude; but it was continued and aggravated till the last age of the Greek monarchy. Excepting only on Sundays, when it was waived, from a motive of religious pride, this humiliating reverence was exacted from all who entered the royal presence, from the princes invested with the diadem and purple, and from the ambassadors who represented their independent sovereigns, the caliphs of Asia, Egypt, or Spain, the kings of France and Italy, and the Latin emperors of ancient Rome. In his transactions of business, Liutprand, bishop of Cremona,50 asserted the free spirit of a

47 It was directly borrowed from the Normans. In the xiith century, Giannone reckons the admiral of Sicily among the great officers. 48 This sketch of honors and offices is drawn from George Cordinus Curopalata, who survived the taking of Constantinople by the Turks: his elaborate, though trifling, work (de Officiis Ecclesiæ et Aulæ C. P.) has been illustrated by the notes of Goar, and the three books of Gretser, a learned Jesuit.

49 The respectful salutation of carrying the hand to the mouth, ad os, is the root of the Latin word adoro, adorare. See our learned Selden, (vol. iii. p. 143-145, 942,) in his Titles of Honor. It seems, from the 1st book of Herodotus, to be of Persian origin.

The two embassies of Liutprand to Constantinople, all that he saw or suffered in the Greek capital, are pleasantly described by himself (Hist. 1. vi. c. 1-4, p. 469-471. Legatio ad Nicephorum Phocam, p 479-489.)

Frank and the dignity of his master Otho. Yet his sincerity cannot disguise the abasement of his first audience. When he approached the throne, the birds of the golden tree began to warble their notes, which were accompanied by the roar ings of the two lions of gold. With his two companions Liutprand was compelled to bow and to fall prostrate; and thrice to touch the ground with his forehead. He arose, but in the short interval, the throne had been hoisted from the floor to the ceiling, the Imperial figure appeared in new and more gorgeous apparel, and the interview was concluded in haughty and majestic silence. In this honest and curious narrative, the Bishop of Cremona represents the ceremonies of the Byzantine court, which are still practised in the Sublime Porte, and which were preserved in the last age by the dukes of Muscovy or Russia. After a long journey by sea and land, from Venice to Constantinople, the ambassador halted at the golden gate, till he was conducted by the formal officers to the hospitable palace prepared for his reception; but this palace was a prison, and his jealous keepers prohibited all social intercourse either with strangers or natives. At his first audience, he offered the gifts of his master, slaves, and golden vases, and costly armor. The ostentatious payment of the officers and troops displayed before his eyes the riches of the empire: he was entertained at a royal banquet," in which the ambassadors of the nations were marshalled by the esteem or contempt of the Greeks: from his own table, the emperor, as the most signal favor, sent the plates which he had tasted; and his favorites were dismissed with a robe of honor." In the morning and evening of each day, his civil and military servants attended their duty in the palace; their labors were repaid by the sight, perhaps by the smile, of their lord; his commands were signified by a nod or a sign: but all earthly greatness stood silent and submissive in his presence. In his regular or extraordinary processions through

61

Among the amusements of the feast, a boy balanced, on his forehead, a pike, or pole, twenty-four feet long, with a cross bar of two cubits a little below the top. Two boys, naked, though cinctured, (campestrati,) together, and singly, climbed, stood, played, descended, &c., ita me stupidum reddidit: utrum mirabilius nescio, (p. 479.) At Another repast a homily of Chrysostom on the Acts of the Apostles was read elatâ voce non Latine, (p. 483.)

Gala is not improbably derived from Cala, or Caloat, in Arabic a robe of honor, (Reiske, ot. in Ceremon. p. 84.)

the capital, he unveiled his person to the public view the rites of policy were connected with those of religion, and h visits to the principal churches were regulated by the festivais of the Greek calendar. On the eve of these processions, the gracious or devout intention of the monarch was proclaimed by the heralds. The streets were cleared and purified; the pavement was strewed with flowers; the most precious furniture, the gold and silver plate, and silken hangings, were displayed from the windows and balconies, and a severe discipline restrained and silenced the tumult of the populace. The march was opened by the military officers at the head of their troops: they were followed in long order by the magistrates and ministers of the civil goverument: the person of the emperor was guarded by his eunuchs and domestics, and at the church door he was solemnly received by the patriarch and his clergy. The task of applause was not abandoned to the rude and spontaneous voices of the crowd. The most convenient stations were occupied by the bands of the blue and green factions of the circus; and their furious conflicts, which had shaken the capital, were insensibly sunk to an emulation of servitude. From either side they echoed in responsive melody the praises of the emperor; their poets and musicians directed the choir, and long life 53 and victory were the burden of every song. The same acclamations were performed at the audience, the banquet, and the church; and as an evidence of boundless sway, they were repeated in the Latin," Gothic, Persian, French, and even English language," by the mercenaries who sustained the real or fictitious character of those nations. By the pen of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, this science of form and flattery has been reduced into a pompous and trifling volume," which the vanity of suc

53

Πολυχρονίζειν is explained by εὐφημίζειν, (Codin. c. 7. Ducange, Gloss. Græc. tom. i. p. 1199.)

54 Κωνσέρβετ Δέους ἡμπέριουμ βέστρουμ βίκτορ σῆς σέμπερ - βήβητε Δόμηνι μπεράτορες, ἢν μούλτος ἄννος, (Ceremon. c. 75, p. 215.) The want of the Latin V obliged the Greeks to employ their ß; nor do they regard quantity. Till he recollected the true language, these strange sentences might puzzle a professor.

55 Βάραγγοι κατὰ τὴν πάτριαν καὶ οἶτοι αὐτῶν γλῶσσαν, ἤγουν Ίνκλι vorì, TOÀνxpovíčovat, (Codin. p. 90.) I wish he had preserved tha words, however corrupt, of their English acclamation.

6 For all these ceremonies, see the professed work of Constantine Porphyrogenitus with the notes, or rather dissertations, of his Geran editors. I eich and Reiske. For the rank of standing courtiers