con ace of Constantine was assigned for the place of the finement. Some alterations in raising the walls, and narrow ing the cells, had been ingeniously contrived to prevent their escape, and aggravate their misery; and the work was incessantly pressed by the daily visits of the tyrant. His guards watched at the gate, and as he stood in the inner court to overlook the architects, without fear or suspicion, he was assaulted and laid breathless on the ground, by two * resolute prisoners of the Palæologian race,30 who were armed with sticks, and animated by despair. On the rumor of revenge and liberty, the captive multitude broke their fetters, fortified their prison, and exposed from the battlements the tyrant's head, presuming on the favor of the people and the clemency of the empress. Anne of Savoy might rejoice in the fall of a haughty and ambitious minister, but while she delayed to resolve or to act, the populace, more especially the mariners, were excited by the widow of the great duke to a sedition, an assault, and a massacre. The prisoners (of whom the far greater part were guiltless or inglorious of the deed) escaped to a neighboring church: they were slaugh tered at the foot of the altar; and in his death the monster was not less bloody and venomous than in his life. Yet his talents alone upheld the cause of the young emperor; and his surviving associates, suspicious of each other, abandoned the conduct of the war, and rejected the fairest terms of accommodation. In the beginning of the dispute, the empress felt, and complained, that she was deceived by the enemies of Cantacuzene: the patriarch was employed to preach against the forgiveness of injuries; and her promise of immortal hatred was sealed by an oath, under the penalty of excommunication.31 But Anne soon learned to hate without a teacher: she beheld the misfortunes of the empire with the indifference of a stranger: her jealousy was exas 930 The two avengers were both Palæologi, who might resent, with royal indignation, the shame of their chains. The tragedy of Apocaucus may deserve a peculiar reference to Cantacuzene (1. iii. c. 86) and Nic. Gregoras, (1. xiv. c. 10.) mpress, the 31 Cantacuzene accuses the patriarch, and spares the empress, mother of his sovereign, (1. iii. 33, 34,) against whon Nic. Gregoras expresses a particular animosity, (I. xiv. 10, 11, xv 5.) It is true that they do not speak exactly of the same time. Lageither row* Nicephorus says four, p. 734. perated by the competition of a rival empress; and on the first symptoms of a more yielding temper, she threatened the patriarch to convene a synod, and degrade him from his office. Their incapacity and discord would have afforded the most decisive advantage; but the civil war was protracted by the weakness of both parties; and the moderation of Cantacuzene has not escaped the reproach of timidity and r.dolence. He successively recovered the provinces and cities; and the realm of his pupil was measured by the walls of Constantinople; but the metropolis alone counterbalanced the rest of the empire; nor could he attempt that important conquest till he had secured in his favor the public voice and a private correspondence. An Italian, of the name of Facciolati,32 had succeeded to the office of great duke: the ships, the guards, and the golden gate, were subject to his command; but his humble ambition was bribed to become the instrument of treachery; and the revolution was accomplished without danger or bloodshed. Destitute of the powers of resistance, or the hope of relief, the inflexible Anne would have still defended the palace, and have smiled to behold the capital in flames, rather than in the possession of a rival. She yielded to the prayers of her friends and enemies; and the treaty was dictated by the conqueror, who professed a loyal and zealous attachment to the son of his benefactor. The marriage of his daughter with John Palæologus was at length consummated: the hereditary right of the pupil was acknowledged; but the sole administration during ten years was vested in the guardian. Two emperors and three empresses were seated on the Byzantine throne; and a general amnesty quieted the apprehensions, and confirmed the property, of the most guilty subjects. The festival of the coronation and nuptials was celebrated with the appearances of concord and magnificence, and both were equally fallacious. During the late troubles, the treasures of the state, and even the furniture of the palace, had been alienated or embezzled; the royal banquet was served in pewter or earthenware; and such was the proud poverty of the times, that the absence of gold and jewels was supplied by the paltry artifices of glass and gilt-leather.33 32 The traitor and treason are revealed by Nic. Gregoras, (1. xv. c. 8 ;) but the name is more discreetly suppressed by his great accomplice, (Cantacuzen. 1. iii c. 9.) mend Nic. Greg L xv 11. There were, however, some ‘rue pearls, but cuzene. I hasten to conclude the personal history of John Canta34 He triumphed and reigned; but his reign and triumph were clouded by the discontent of his own and the adverse faction. His followers might style the general amnesty an act of pardon for his enemies, and of oblivion for his friends: 35 in his cause their estates had been forfeited or plundered; and as they wandered naked and hungry through the streets, they cursed the selfish generosity of a leader, who, on the throne of the empire, might relinquish without merit his private inheritance. The adherents of the empress blushed to hold their lives and fortunes by the precarious favor of a usurper; and the thirst of revenge was concealed by a tender concern for the succession, and even the safety, of her son. They were justly alarmed by a petition of the friends of Cantacuzene, that they might be released from their oath of allegiance to the Palæologi, and intrusted with the defence of some cautionary towns; a measure supported with argument and eloquence; and which was rejected (says the Imbiperial historian)" by my sublime, and almost incredible virtue." bHis repose was disturbed by the sound of plots and seditions 7 and he trembled lest the lawful prince should be stolen away baby some foreign or domestic enemy, who would inscribe his name and his wrongs in the banners of rebellion. As the son of Andronicus advanced in the years of manhood, he began to feel and to act for himself; and his rising ambition was rather stimulated than checked by the imitation of his father's vices. If we may trust his own professions, Cantacuzene labored with honest industry to correct these sordid and sensual appetites, and to raise the mind of the young prince to a level with his fortune. In the Servian expedition, the two emperors showed themselves in cordial harmony to the troops and provinces; very thinly sprinkled. The rest of the stones had only navrodan χροιάν πρὸς τὸ διαυγές σε 2udor 34 From his return to Constantinople, Catacuzene continues his history and that of the empire, one year beyond the abdication of his son Matthew, A. D. 1357, (1. iv. c. 1–50, p. 705–911.) Nicephorus Gregoras ends with the synod of Constantinople, in the year 1351, (l. xxii. c. 3, p. 660; the rest, to the conclusion of the xxivth book, p. 717, is all controversy;) and his fourteen last books are still MSS. in the king of France's library. 35 The emperor (Cantacuzen. 1. iv. c. 1) represents his own virtues, and Nic. Gregoras (1. xv. c. 11) the complaints of his friends, who suffered by its effects. I have lent them the words of our poor cava. liers after the Restoration. and the younger colleague was initiated by the elder in the mysteries of war and government. After the conclusion of the peace, Palæologus was left at Thessalonica, a royal residence, and a frontier station, to secure by his absence the peace of Constantinople, and to withdraw his youth from the temptations of a luxurious capital. But the distance weakened the powers of control, and the son of Andronicus was surrounded with artful or unthinking companions, who taught him to hate his guardian, to deplore his exile, and to vindi cate his rights. A private treaty with the cral or despot of Servia was soon followed by an open revolt; and Cantacuzene, on the throne of the elder Andronicus, defended the cause of age and prerogative, which in his youth he had so vigorously attacked. At his request the empress-mother undertook the voyage of Thessalonica, and the office of mediation she returned without success; and unless Anne of Savoy was instructed by adversity, we may doubt the sincer ity, or at least the fervor, of her zeal. While the regent grasped the sceptre with a firm and vigorous hand, she had been instructed to declare, that the ten years of his legal administration would soon elapse; and that, after a full trial of the vanity of the world, the emperor Cantacuzene sighed for the repose of a cloister, and was ambitious only of a heavenly crown. Had these sentiments been genuine, his voluntary abdication would have restored, the peace of the empire, and his conscience would have been relieved by ano act of justice. Palæologus alone was responsible for his future government; and whatever might be his vices, they were surely less formidable than the calamities of a civil war, in which the Barbarians and infidels were again invited to as assist the Greeks in their mutual destruction. By the arms of the Turks, who now struck a deep and everlasting root in Europe, Cantacuzene ene prevailed in the third contest in which he had been involved; and the young emperor, driven driven from the sea and land, was compelled to take shelter among the Latins of the Isle of Tenedos. His insolence and obstinacy provoked. the victor to a step which must render the quarrel irrecon cilable; and association of iation of his son Matthew, whom he purple, established the succession in the family of the Cantacuzeni. But Constantinople was still at tached to the blood of her ancient princes; and this last injury accelerated the restoration of the rightful heir. A noble Genoose espoused the cause of Palæologus, obtained a promise invested the as 1 of his sister, and acnieved the revolution with two galleys and Yet in the cloister, the mind of Cantacuzene was still exercised by theological war. He sharpened a controversial pen against the Jews and Mahometans; 38 and in every state he defended with equal zeal the divine light of Mount Thabor, a memorable question which consummates the religious follies of the Greeks. The fakirs of India,39 and the monks of the Oriental church, were alike persuaded, that in total abstrac The awkward apology of Catacuzene, (1. iv. c. 39-42,) who relates, with visible confusion, his own downfall, may be supplied by the less accurate, but more honest, narratives of Matthew Villani (l. iv. c. 46, in the Script. Rerum. Ital. tom. xiv. p. 268) and Ducas, (c. 10, 11.) 2 A 37 Cantacuzene, in the year 1375, was honored with a letter from the pope, (Fleury, Hist. Ecclés. tom. xx. p. 250.) His death is placed by a respectable authority on the 20th of November, 1411, (Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 260.) But if he were of the age of his companion Andronicus the Younger, he must have lived 116 years; a rare instance of longevity, which in so illustrious a person would have attracted universal notice. 38 His four discourses, or books, were printed at Basil, 1543, (Fabric. Bibliot. Græc. tom. vi. p. 473.) He composed them to satisfy a proseiyte who was assaulted with letters from his friends of Ispahan. Cantacuzene had read the Koran: but I understand from Maracci, that he adopts the vulgar prejudices and fables against Mahomet and his religion. 39 See the Voyages de Bernier, tom. i. 17 p. €127. |