LXVII.

CHAP. not a law of forgiveness; and he requested with his dying breath, that none of the adherents of Rome might attend his obfequies or pray for his

Zeal of

tals and

Ruffians.

foul.

The fchifm was not confined to the narrow the Orien- limits of the Byzantine empire. Secure under the Mamaluke fceptre, the three patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerufalem, affembled a numerous fynod; difowned their reprefentatives at Ferrara and Florence; condemned the creed and council of the Latins; and threatened the emperor of Conftantinople with the cenfures of the Eastern church. Of the fectaries of the Greek communion, the Ruffians were the most powerful, ignorant, and fuperftitious. Their pri mate, the cardinal Ifidore, haftened from Florence to Mofcow, to reduce the independent nation under the Roman yoke. But the Ruffian bishops had been educated at mount Athos; and the prince and people embraced the theology of their priests. They were fcandalifed by the title, the pomp, the Latin crofs of the legate, the friend of those impious men who fhaved their beards, and performed the divine office with gloves on their hands and rings on their fingers: Ifidore was condemned by a fynod; his perfon was imprisoned in a monaftery; and it was with extreme difficulty,

7 Ifidore was metropolitan of Kiow, but the Greeks subject to Poland have removed that fee from the ruins of Kiow to Lemberg, or Leopold (Herbestein, in Ramufio, tom. ii. p. 127.). On the other hand, the Ruffians transferred their fpiritual obedience to the archbishop, who became, in 1588, the patriarch, of Moscow (Levefque, Hift. de Ruffie, tom. iii. p. 188. 190. from a Greek MS. at Turin, Iter et labores Archiepifcopi Arfenii).

that

#

LXVII.

that the cardinal could efcape from the hands of CHAP. a fierce and fanatic people, The Ruffians refufed a paffage to the miffionaries of Rome who afpired to convert the Pagans beyond the Tanais '; and their refufal was juftified by the maxim, that the guilt of idolatry is lefs damnable than that of fchifm. Thé errors of the Bohemians were excufed by their abhorrence for the pope; and a deputation of the Greek clergy folicited the friendfhip of thofe fanguinary enthufiafts". While Eugenius triumphed in the union and orthodoxy of the Greeks, his party was contracted to the walls, or rather to the palace, of Conftantinople. The zeal of Palæologus had been excited by intereft; it was foon cooled by oppofition: an attempt to violate the national belief might endanger his life and crown; nor could the pious rebels be deftitute of foreign and domeftic aid. The fword of

+

The curione narrative of Levefque (Hift, de Ruffie, tom. ii. p. 242-247.) is extracted from the patriarchal archives. The fcenes of Ferrara and Florence are defcribed by ignorance and paffion; but the Ruffians are credible in the account of their own prejudices,

9 The Shamanism, the ancient religion of the Samanæans and Gymnofophifts, has been driven by the more popular Bramins from India into the northern deferts; the naked philofophers were compelled to wrap themselves in fur; but they infenfibly funk into wizards and phyficians. The Mordvans and Tcheremiffes in the European Ruffia adhere to this religion, which is formed on the earthly model of one king or God, his minifters or angels, and the rebellious fpirits who oppose his government. As these tribes of the Volga have no images, they might more jußily retort on the Latin miffionaries the name of idolaters (Levesque, Hift. des Peuples foumis à la Domination des Ruffes, tom. i. p. 194237.423-460.).

10 Spondanus, Annal. Ecclef. tom. ii. A. D. 1451, No 13. The Epiftle of the Greeks, with a Latin verfion, is extant in the college library at Prague.

LXVII.

CHAP. his brother Demetrius, who in Italy had maintained a prudent and popular filence, was half unfheathed in the caufe of religion; and Amurath, the Turkish fultan, was difpleafed and alarmed by the feeming friendship of the Greeks and Latins.

Reign and

of Amurath II. A. D.

142IT1451, Eebruary

9.

"Sultan Murad or Amurath, lived forty-nine, and reigned thirty years, fix months, and eight days. He was a juft and valiant prince, of a great foul, patient of labours, learned, merci "ful, religious, charitable; a lover and en"courager of the ftudious, and of all who excelled in any art or fcience; a good emperor,

and a great general. No man obtained more "or greater victories than Amurath; Belgrade "alone withstood his attacks. Under his reign, "the foldier was ever victorious, the citizen rich and fecure. If he fubdued any country,

t

his firft care was to build mofchs and ca"ravanferas, hofpitals, and colleges. Every year he gave a thousand pieces of gold to the fons of the prophet; and fent two thoufand "five hundred to the religious perfons of Mecca, Medina, and Jerufalem "." This portrait is tranfcribed from the hiftorian of the Othman empire; but the applaufe of a fervile and fuperftitious people has been lavifhed on the worst of tyrants; and the virtues of a fultan are often the vices most useful to himself, or moft agreeable to

See Cantemir, Hiftory of the Othman Empire, p. 94. Murad, or Morad, may be more correct: but I have preferred the popular name, to that obfcure diligence which is rarely fuccessful in tranflating an Oriental, into the Roman, alphabet.

- his

LXVII.

his fubjects. A nation ignorant of the equal be- CHA P. nefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty of a defpot will affume the character of justice; his profufion, of liberality; his obftinacy, of firmness. If the most reasonable excufe be rejected, few acts of obedience will be found impoffible; and guilt muft tremble, where innocence cannot always be fecure. The tranquillity of the people, and the difcipline of the troops, were beft maintained by perpetual action in the field; war was the trade of the Janizaries and thofe who furvived the peril, and divided the fpoil, applauded the generous ambition of their fovereign. To propagate the true religion, was the duty of a faithful Mufulman : the unbelievers were his enemies, and thofe of the prophet; and, in the hands of the Turks, the fcymetar was the only inftrument of converfion. Under these circumstances, however, the justice and moderation of Amurath are attefted by his conduct, and acknowledged by the Christians themselves; who confider a profperous reign and a peaceful death as the reward of his fingular merits. In the vigour of his age and military power, he feldom engaged in a war till he was justified by a previous and adequate provocation: the victorious fultan was difarmed by fubmiffion; and in the obfervance of treaties, his word was inviolate and facred "2. The Hungarians were commonly the aggreffors; he was provoked by the

:

12

12 See Chalcondyles (1. vii. p. 186. 198.) Ducas (c. 33.), and Marinus Barletius (in Vit. Scanderbeg, p. 145, 146.). In his good faith towards the garrifon of Sfetigrade, he was a leffon and example to his fon Mahomet.

LXVII.

*་

CHAP. revolt of Scanderbeg; and the perfidious Caramanian was twice vanquished, and twice pardoned, by the Ottoman monarch. Before he invaded the Morea, Thebes had been furprised by the defpot in the conqueft of Theffalonica, the grandfon of Bajazet might difpute the recent purchase of the Venetians; and after the first fiege of Conftantinople, the fultan was never tempted, by the distress, the absence, or the injuries of Palæologus, to extinguish the dying light of the Byzantine empire.

His double

abdication,

A. D. 14421444.

But the most striking feature in the life and character of Amurath, is the double abdication of the Turkish throne; and, were not his motives debased by an alloy of fuperftition, we must praise the royal philofopher, who at the age of forty could difcern the vanity of human greatness. Refigning the fceptre to his fon, he retired to the pleasant refidence of Magnefia; but he retired to the fociety of faints and hermits. It was not till. the fourth century of the Hegira, that the religion of Mahomet had been corrupted by an inftitution fo adverse to his genius; but in the age of the crufades, the various orders of Dervishes were multiplied by the example of the Chriftian, and even the Latin, monks . The lord of nations fubmitted to faft, and pray, and turn round in

14

13 Voltaire (Effai fur l'Hiftoire Generale, c, 89. p. 283, (284,) admires le Philofophe Turc; would he have beftowed the fame praise on a Christian prince for retiring to a monaftery? In his way, Voltaire was a bigot, an intolerant bigot.

14 See the articles Dervische, Fakir, Naffer, Robbaniat, in d’Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orientale. Yet the fubject is superficially treated from the Persian and Arabian writers. It is among the Turks that thefe orders have principally flourished.

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