LXII. Michael Palæologus emperor, A. D. 1260, Jan. 1. CHAP. with a flight diadem in the train of his guardian, who alone received the Imperial crown from the hands of the patriarch. It was not without extreme reluctance that Arfenius abandoned the cause of his pupil; but the Varangians brandished their battle-axes; a fign of affent was extorted from the trembling youth; and fome voices were heard, that the life of a child fhould no longer impede the fettlement of the nation. A full harvest of honours and employments was diftributed among his friends by the grateful Palæologus. In his own family he created a defpot and two febaftocrators; Alexius Strategopulus was decorated with the title of Cæfar; and that veteran commander foon repaid the obligation, by restoring Conftantinople to the Greek emperor. Recovery of Conftantinople, 18 It was in the second year of his reign, while he refided in the palace and gardens of Nymphæum near Smyrna, that the firft meffenger arrived at the dead of night and the ftupendous July 25. intelligence was imparted to Michael, after he had A. D. 1261, been gently waked by the tender precaution of his fifter Eulogia. The man was unknown or obfcure; he produced no letters from the victorious Cæfar; nor could it eafily be credited after the defeat of Vataces and the recent failure of Palæologus himself, that the capital had been furprifed 18 The fite of Nymphæum is not clearly defined in ancient or modern geography. But from the last hours of Vataces (Acropolita, c. 52.), it is evident the palace and gardens of his fav urite refidence were in the neighbourhood of Smyrna. Nymphæum might be loosely placed in Lydia (Gregoras, 1. vi. 6.). by LXII. by a detachment of eight hundred foldiers. As an CHAP. hostage, the doubtful author was confined, with the affurance of death or an ample recompenfe; and the court was left fome hours in the anxiety of hope and fear, till the meffengers of Alexius arrived with the authentic intelligence, and difplayed the trophies of the conqueft, the fword and fceptre ", the bufkins and bonnet 20, of the ufurper Baldwin, which he had dropt in his precipitate flight. A general affembly of the bishops, fenators, and nobles, was immediately convened, and never perhaps was an event received with more heartfelt and univerfal joy. In a studied oration, the new fovereign of Conftantinople congratulated his own and the public fortune. "There was a time," faid he, "a far diftant "time, when the Roman empire extended to the "Adriatic, the Tigris, and the confines of Æthi"opia. After the lofs of the provinces, our ca"pital itself, in these last and calamitous days, has been wrefted from our hands by the Bar"barians of the Weft. From the lowest ebb, the "tide of profperity has again returned in our "favour; but our profperity was that of fugi<tives and exiles; and when we were asked, "which was the country of the Romans, we 19 This fceptre, the emblem of justice and power, was a long staff, such as was used by the heroes in Homer. By the latter Greeks it was named Dicanice, and the Imperial fceptre was diftinguished as ufual by the red or purple colour. 20 Acropolita affirms (c. 87.), that this bonnet was after the French fashion; but from the ruby at the point or fummit, Ducange (Hift. de C. P. 1. v. c. 28, 29.) believes that it was the high-crowned hat of the Greeks. Could Acropolita mistake the drefs of his own court? LXII. emperor, A. D. 1261, CHAP." indicated with a blush the climate of the globe "and the quarter of the heavens. The divineProvidence has now reftored to our arms the city of Conftantine, the facred feat of religion "and empire; and it will depend on our valour and conduct to render this important acquifi"tion the pledge and omen of future victories." Return of So eager was the impatience of the prince and the Greek people, that Michael made his triumphal entry into Conftantinople only twenty days after the Aug. 14. expulfion of the Latins. The golden gate was thrown open at his approach; the devout conqueror difmounted from his horse; and a miraculous image of Mary the Conductress was borne before him, that the divine Virgin in perfon might appear to conduct him to the temple of her fon, the cathedral of St. Sophia. But after the first transport of devotion and pride, he fighed at the dreary profpect of folitude and ruin. The palace was defiled with smoke and dirt, and the grofs intemperance of the Franks; whole ftreets had been confumed by fire, or were decayed by the injuries of time; the facred and prophane edifices were ftripped of their ornaments; and, as if they were conscious of their approaching exile, the industry of the Latins had been confined to the work of pillage and deftruction.. Trade had expired under the preffure of anarchy and distress; and the numbers of inhabitants had decreased with the opulence of the city. It was the first care of the Greek monarch to reinstate the nobles in the palaces of their fathers; and the houses or the ground which they occupied were restored to the LXII. the families that could exhibit a legal right of CHAP. inheritance. But the far greater part was extinct or loft; the vacant property had devolved to the lord; he repeopled Conftantinople by a liberal invitation to the provinces; and the brave volunteers were feated in the capital which had been recovered by their arms. The French barons and the principal families had retired with their emperor; but the patient and humble crowd of Latins was attached to the country, and indifferent to the change of masters. Inftead of banifhing the factories of the Pifans, Venetians, and Genoefe, the prudent conqueror accepted their oaths of allegiance, encouraged their induftry, confirmed their privileges, and allowed them to live under the jurifdiction of their proper magiftrates. Of thefe nations, the Pifans and Venetians preferved their refpective quarters in the city; but the fervices and power of the Genoefe deferved at the fame time the gratitude and the jealousy of the Greeks. Their independent colony was first planted at the fea-port town of Heraclea in Thrace. They were fpeedily recalled and fettled in the exclufive poffeffion of the fuburb of Galata, an advantageous poft, in which they revived the commerce, and infulted the majesty, of the Byzantine empire". The recovery of Conftantinople was celebrated Palæoloas the æra of a new empire: the conqueror, and bagus blinds 21 See Pachymer (1. 2. c. 28-33.), Acropolita (c. 88.), Nicephorus Gregoras (1. iv. 7.), and for the treatment of the fubject Latins, Ducange (1. v. c. 30, 31.). LXII. young emperor, A. D. 1261, Dec. 25. CHAP. alone, and by the right of the fword, renewed his coronation in the church of St. Sophia; nishes the and the name and honours of John Lafcaris, his pupil and lawful fovereign, were infenfibly abolished. But his claims ftill lived in the minds of the people ;" and the royal youth muft fpeedily attain the years of manhood and ambition. By fear or confcience, Palæologus was restrained from dipping his hands in innocent and royal blood; but the anxiety of an ufurper and a parent urged him to fecure his throne, by one of those imperfect crimes fo familiar to the modern Greeks. The lofs of fight incapacitated the young prince for the active business of the world: instead of the brutal violence of tearing out his eyes, the visual nerve was destroyed by the intense glare of a red-hot bason 22, and John Lafcaris was removed to a distant castle, where he spent many years in privacy and oblivion. Such cool and deliberate guilt may seem incompatible with remorfe; but if Michael could truft the mercy of heaven, he was not inacceffible to the reproaches and vengeance of mankind, which he had provoked by cruelty and treafon. His cruelty impofed on a fervile court the duties of applause or filence; but the clergy had a right to 22 This milder invention for extinguishing the fight, was tried by the philofopher Democritus on himself, when he fought to withdraw his mind from the vifible world: a foolish story! The word abacinare, in Latin and Italian, has furnished Ducange (Gloff. Latin.) with an opportunity to review the various modes of blinding: the more violent were scooping, burning with an iron, or hot vinegar, and binding the head with a strong cord till the eyes burft from their fockets. Ingenious tyrants! speak |