LXIII. tion of remainder of his life was devoted to piety and CHAP. learning; in the cells of Conftantinople and mount Athos, the monk Joafaph was refpected as the Abdicatemporal and spiritual father of the emperor; and Cantacuif he issued from his retreat, it was as the minifter of peace, to fubdue the obftinacy, and folicit the pardon, of his rebellious fon 37. 38 zene; A. D. 1355, January. ing the He fharp- concern- mount Thabor, Yet in the cloyster, the mind of Cantacuzene Difpute was still exercised by theological war. ened a controverfial pen against the Mahometans 3; and in every ftate he defended with equal zeal the divine light of Mount Thabor, a memorable queftion which confummates the religious follies of the Greeks. The fakirs of India 3, and the monks of the Oriental church, were alike perfuaded, that in total abstraction of the faculties of the mind and body, the purer spirit may ascend to the enjoyment and vision of the Deity. The opinion and practice of the monafteries of mount Athos will be beft reprefented 40 37 Cantacuzene, in the year 1375, was honoured with a letter from the pope (Fleury, Hift. Ecclef. tom. xx. p. 250.). His death is placed by 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 inftance of longevity, which in fo illuftrious a person would have attracted univerfal notice. 38 His four difcourfes, or books, were printed at Bafil 1543 (Fabric. Bibliot. Græc. tom. vi. p. 473.). He compofed them to fatisfy a profelyte who was affaulted with letters from his friends of Ifpahan. 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. p. 127. 40 Mosheim, Inftitut. Hift. Ecclef. p. 522, 523. Fleury, Hift. Ecclef. Cc z A. D. 1341 1351. LXIII. CHAP. fented in the words of an abbot, who flourished in the eleventh century. "When thou art alone "in thy cell," fays the afcetic teacher, "fhut "thy door, and feat thyfelf in a corner; raise "thy mind above all things vain and tranfitory; "recline thy beard and chin on thy breast; "turn thy eyes and thy thought towards the "middle of thy belly, the region of the navel; "and search the place of the heart, the seat of "the foul. At first, all will be dark and com"fortless; but if you perfevere day and night, 66 you will feel an ineffable joy; and no fooner "has the foul difcovered the place of the heart, "than it is involved in a myftic and etherial light," This light, the production of a diftempered fancy, the creature of an empty ftomach and an empty brain, was adored by the Quietifts as the pure and perfect effence of God himself; and as long as the folly was confined to mount Athos, the fimple folitaries were not inquifitive how the divine effence could be a material substance, or how an immaterial substance could be perceived by the eyes of the body. But in the reign of the younger Andronicus, these monafteries were vifited by Barlaam, a Calabrian monk, who was equally skilled in philo Ecclef. tom. xx. P. 22. 24. 107~114, &c. The former unfolds the caufes with the judgment of a philofopher, the latter transcribes and tranflates with the prejudices of a Catholic prieft. 41 Bafnage (in Canifii Antiq. Lectiones, tom. iv. p. 363-368.) has investigated the character and ftory of Barlaam. The duplicity of his opinions had ́nspired some doubts of the identity of his perfon. See likewife Fabricius (Bibliot. Gigc. tom. x. p. 427432.). fophy LXIII. fophy and theology; who poffeffed the languages CHAP. of the Greeks and Latins; and whofe versatile genius could maintain their opposite creeds, according to the interest of the moment. The indifcretion of an afcetic revealed to the curious traveller the fecrets of mental prayer; and Barlaam embraced the opportunity of ridiculing the Quietists, who placed the foul in the navel; of accufing the monks of mount Athos of heresy and blafphemy. His attack compelled the more learned to renounce or diffemble the fimple devotion of their brethren; and Gregory Palamas introduced a fcholaftic diftinction between the effence and operation of God. His inacceffible effence dwells in the midft of an uncreated and eternal light; and this beatific vifion of the faints had been manifefted to the difciples on mount Thabor, in the transfiguration of Chrift. Yet this diftinction could not efcape the reproach of polytheism; the eternity of the light of Thabor was fiercely denied ; and Barlaam ftill charged the Palamites with holding two eternal fubftances, a visible and an invifible God. From the rage of the monks of mount Athos, who threatened his life, the Calabrian retired to Conftantinople, where his smooth and fpecious manners introduced him to the favour of the great domestic and the emperor. The court and the city were involved in this theological difpute, which flamed amidst the civil war; but the doctrine of Barlaam was difgraced by his flight and apoftacy: the Palamites triumphed; and their adverfary, the patriarch John of Apri, was depofed by the confent CHAP. of the adverse factions of the ftate. In the chaLXIII. Establishment of the Genoefe at Pera or Galata, A. D. 1261 1347. racter of emperor and theologian, Cantacuzene prefided in the fynod of the Greek church, which established, as an article of faith, the uncreated light of mount Thabor; and, after fo many insults, the reason of mankind was flightly wounded by the addition of a single abfurdity. Many rolls of paper or parchment have been blotted; and the impenitent fectaries, who refused to fubfcribe the orthodox creed, were deprived of the honours of Christian burial; but in the next age the question was forgotten; nor can I learn that the axe or the faggot were employed for the extirpation of the Barlaamite herefy 42. For the conclufion of this chapter, I have referved the Genoese war, which fhook the throne of Cantacuzene, and betrayed the debility of the Greek empire. The Genoefe, who, after the recovery of Conftantinople, were feated in the fuburb of Pera or Galata, received that honourable fief from the bounty of the emperor. They were indulged in the use of their laws and magiftrates but they fubmitted to the duties of vasfals and fubjects: the forcible word of liegemen ; 43 42 See Cantacuzene (l. ii. c. 39, 40. l. iv. c. 3. 23, 24, 25.), and Nic. Gregoras (1. xi. c. 10. l. xv. 3. 7, &c.), whose last books, from the xixth to the xxiv'h, are almoft confined to a fubject fo interefting to the authors. Boivin (in Vit. Nic. Gregore), from the unpublished books, and Fabricius (Bibliot. Græc. tom. x. p. 462-473.), or rather Montfauçon, from the MSS. of the Coiflin library, have added fome facts and documents. 43 Pachymer (1. v. c. 1o.) very properly explains Age (ligios) by ds. The use of these words in the Greek and Latin of the feudal times, may be amply understood from the Gloffaries of Ducange (Græc. p. 811, 812. Latin. tom. iv. p. 109-111.). was LXIII. was borrowed from the Latin jurisprudence; and CHAP. their podesta, or chief, before he entered on his office, faluted the emperor with loyal acclamations and vows of fidelity. Genoa fealed a firm alliance with the Greeks; and, in case of a defenfive war, a supply of fifty empty gallies, and a fuccour of fifty gallies completely armed and manned, was promised by the republic to the empire. In the revival of a naval force, it was the aim of Michael Palæologus to deliver himself from a foreign aid; and his vigorous government contained the Genoefe of Galata within those limits which the infolence of wealth and freedom provoked them to exceed. A failor threatened that they should foon be mafters of Conftantinople, and flew the Greek who refented this national affront; and an armed veffel, after refufing to falute the palace, was guilty of fome acts of piracy in the Black Sea. Their countrymen threatened to fupport their caufe; but the long and open village of Galata was inftantly furrounded by the Imperial troops; till, in the moment of the affault, the proftrate Genoefe implored the clemency of their fovereign. The defenceless fituation which fecured their obedience, expofed them to the attack of their Venetian rivals, who, in the reign of the elder Andronicus, prefumed to violate the majefty of the throne. On the approach of their fleets, the Genoefe, with their families and effects, retired into the city: their empty habitations were reduced to afhes; and the feeble prince, who had viewed the deftruction of his fuburb, expreffed his refentment, not by CC 4 arms, |