XLVIII. IV. the nian, A. D. 1034, April 11. Roman maxim, that every adultrefs is capable CHAP. of poisoning her husband; and the death of Romanus was inftantly followed by the fcandalous marriage and elevation of Michael the fourth. The Michael expectations of Zoe were however disappointed: Paphlagoinstead of a vigorous and grateful lover, fhe had placed in her bed, a miferable wretch, whofe health and reason were impaired by epileptic fits, and whose conscience was tormented by defpair and remorfe. The most skilful physicians of the mind and body were fummoned to his aid; and his hopes were amused by frequent pilgrimages to the baths, and to the tombs of the most popular faints; the monks applauded his penance, and, except reftitution, (but to whom fhould he have reftored?) Michael fought every method of expiating his guilt. While he groaned and prayed in fackcloth and ashes, his brother, the ennuch John, smiled at his remorfe, and enjoyed the harvest of a crime of which himself was the fecret and most guilty author, His administration was only the art of fatiating his avarice, and Zoe became a captive in the palace of her fathers and in the hands of her flaves. When he perceived the irretrievable decline of his brother's health, he introduced his nephew, another Michael, who derived his furname of Calaphates from his father's occu pation in the careening of veffels at the command of the eunuch, Zoe adopted for her fon, the son of a mechanic; and this fictitious heir was invested with the title and purple of the Cæfars, in the presence of the fenate and clergy. So feeble was the character of Zoe, that he was op. Ꭺ XLVIII. Michael V. 1041, Dec. 14. CHA? preffed by the liberty and power which fhe recover ed by the death of the Paphlagonian; and at the end of four days, fhe placed the crown on the head of Michael the fifth, who had protested, with tears and oaths, that he fhould ever reign the firft and moft, obedient of her fubjects. The only act of his fhort reign, was his bafe ingratitude to his benefactors, the eunuch and the emprefs. The difgrace of the former was pleasing to the public; but the murmurs, and at length the clamours, of Conftantinople deplored the exile of Zoe, the daughter of fo many emperors; her vices were forgotten, and Michael was taught, that there is a period in which the patience of the tamest flaves rifes into fury and revenge. The citizens of every degree affembled in a formidable tumult which lafted three days; they befieged the palace, forced the gates, recalled their mothers, Zoe from her prifon, Theodora from her monastery, and condemned the fon of Calaphates to the lofs of his eyes or of his life. For the first time, the Greeks beheld with surprise the two royal fifters feated on the fame throne, prefiding in the fenate, and giving audience to the ambaffadors of the nations. But this fingular union fubfifted no more than two months; the two fovereigns, their tempers, interefts, and adherents, were secretly hoftile to each other; and as Theodora was ftill adverfe to marriage, the indefatigable Zoe, at the age of fixty, confented, for the public good, to fuftain the embraces of a third husband, and the cenfures of the Greek church. His name and number were Conftantine the tenth, and the epithet of Monomachus, the Zoe and 1042, Conftan tine X. Monmoachus. ར fingle XLVIII. A. D. 1042, fingle combatant, must have been expreffive of his C ́HAP. valour and victory in fome public or private quarrel. But his health was broken by the tortures of the gout, and his diffolute reign was spent in the June 11. alternative of fickness and pleasure. A fair and noble widow had accompanied Conftantine in his exile to the isle of Lefbos, and Sclerena gloried in the appellation of his mistress. After his marriage and elevation, he was invefted with the title and pomp of Augufta, and occupied a contiguous apartment in the palace. The lawful confort (fuch was the delicacy or corruption of Zoe) confented to this ftrange and fcandalous partition; and the emperor appeared in public between his wife and his concubine. He furvived them both; but the last measures of Conftantine to change the order of fucceffion were prevented by the more vigilant friends of Theodora; and after his decease, she Theodora, resumed, with the general confent, the poffeffion of her inheritance. In her name, and by the in- Nov. 30. fluence of four eunuchs, the Eastern world was peaceably governed about nineteen months; and as they wished to prolong their dominion, they perfuaded the aged princefs to nominate for her fucceffor Michael the fixth. The furname of Stratioticus declares his military profeffion; but the crazy and decrepit veteran could only fee with the eyes, and execute with the hands, of his minifters. Whilft he ascended the throne, Theodora funk into the grave; the laft of the Macedonian or Bafilian dynasty. I have hastily reviewed, and gladly difmifs, this fhameful and. deftructive period of twenty A. D. 1054, Michael VI. Stra tioticus, A. D. 1056, Auguft 22. XLVIII. CHAP. twenty-eight years, in which the Greeks, degraded below the common level of fervitude, were tranf ferred like a herd of cattle by the choice or caprice of two impotent females. Ifaac I. Comne 2057, August 31. From this night of flavery, a ray of freedom, nus, A. D. or at least of spirit, begins to emerge: the Greeks either preserved or revived the use of furnames, which perpetuate the fame of hereditary virtue; and we now difcern the rife, fucceffion, and alliances of the laft dynasties of Conftantinople and Trebizond. The Comneni, who upheld for a while the fate of the finking empire, affumed the honour of a Roman origin: but the family had been long fince transported from Italy to Afia. Their patrimonial state was fituate in the diftrict of Caftamona in the neighbourhood of the Euxine; and one of their chiefs, who had already entered the paths of ambition, revifited with affection, perhaps with regret, the modeft though honourable dwelling of his fathers. The first of their line was the illuftrious Manuel, who in the reign of the fecond Bafil, contributed by war and treaty to ap pease the troubles of the East: he left in a tender age, two fons, Ifaac and John, whom, with the consciousness of defert, he bequeathed to the gratitude and favour of his fovereign, The noble youths were carefully trained in the learning of the monaftery, the arts of the palace, and the exercifes of the camp,: and from the domeftic fervice of the guards, they were rapidly promoted to the command of provinces and armies. Their fraternal union doubled the force and reputation of the Comneni, and their ancient nobility was illuftrated by XLVIII. by the marriage of the two brothers, with a captive CHAP. princess of Bulgaria, and the daughter of a patrician, who had obtained the name of Charon from the number of enemies whom he had sent to the infernal fhades. The foldiers had ferved with reluctant loyalty a series of effeminate masters; the elevation of Michael the fixth was a perfonal infult to the more deferving generals; and their difcontent was inflamed by the parfimony of the emperor and the infolence of the eunuchs. They fecretly affembled in the fanctuary of St. Sophia, and the yotes of the military fynod would have been unanimous in favour of the old and valiant Catacalon, if the patriotism or modesty of the veteran had not fuggefted the importance of birth as well as merit in the choice of a sovereign. Ifaac Com, nenus was approved by general confent, and the afsociates separated without delay to meet in the plains of Phrygia at the head of their respective fquadrons and detachments. The caufe of Michael was defended in a single battle by the mercenaries of the Imperial guard, who were aliens to the public interest, and animated only by a principle of honour and gratitude. After their defeat, the fears of the emperor folicited a treaty, which was almost accepted by the moderation of the Com nenial. But the former was betrayed by his am baffadors, and the latter was prevented by his friends. The folitary Michael fubmitted to the voice of the people; the patriarch annulled their oath of allegiance; and as he fhaved the head of the royal monk, congratulated his beneficial exchange of temporal royalty for the kingdom of heaven: |