After his return, and the victory of Timour, Manuel reigned many

years in prosperity and peace. As long as the sons of Bajazet

solicited his friendship and spared his dominions, he was

satisfied with the national religion; and his leisure was

employed in composing twenty theological dialogues for its

defence. The appearance of the Byzantine ambassadors at the

council of Constance, 30 announces the restoration of the Turkish

power, as well as of the Latin church: the conquest of the

sultans, Mahomet and Amurath, reconciled the emperor to the

Vatican; and the siege of Constantinople almost tempted him to

acquiesce in the double procession of the Holy Ghost. When Martin

the Fifth ascended without a rival the chair of St. Peter, a

friendly intercourse of letters and embassies was revived between

the East and West. Ambition on one side, and distress on the

other, dictated the same decent language of charity and peace:

the artful Greek expressed a desire of marrying his six sons to

Italian princesses; and the Roman, not less artful, despatched

the daughter of the marquis of Montferrat, with a company of

noble virgins, to soften, by their charms, the obstinacy of the

schismatics. Yet under this mask of zeal, a discerning eye will

perceive that all was hollow and insincere in the court and

church of Constantinople. According to the vicissitudes of danger

and repose, the emperor advanced or retreated; alternately

instructed and disavowed his ministers; and escaped from the

importunate pressure by urging the duty of inquiry, the

obligation of collecting the sense of his patriarchs and bishops,

and the impossibility of convening them at a time when the

Turkish arms were at the gates of his capital. From a review of

the public transactions it will appear that the Greeks insisted

on three successive measures, a succor, a council, and a final

reunion, while the Latins eluded the second, and only promised

the first, as a consequential and voluntary reward of the third.

But we have an opportunity of unfolding the most secret

intentions of Manuel, as he explained them in a private

conversation without artifice or disguise. In his declining age,

the emperor had associated John Palæologus, the second of the

name, and the eldest of his sons, on whom he devolved the

greatest part of the authority and weight of government. One day,

in the presence only of the historian Phranza, 31 his favorite

chamberlain, he opened to his colleague and successor the true

principle of his negotiations with the pope. 32 “Our last

resource,” said Manuel, against the Turks, “is their fear of our

union with the Latins, of the warlike nations of the West, who

may arm for our relief and for their destruction. As often as you

are threatened by the miscreants, present this danger before

their eyes. Propose a council; consult on the means; but ever

delay and avoid the convocation of an assembly, which cannot tend

either to our spiritual or temporal emolument. The Latins are

proud; the Greeks are obstinate; neither party will recede or

retract; and the attempt of a perfect union will confirm the

schism, alienate the churches, and leave us, without hope or

defence, at the mercy of the Barbarians.” Impatient of this

salutary lesson, the royal youth arose from his seat, and

departed in silence; and the wise monarch (continued Phranza)

casting his eyes on me, thus resumed his discourse: “My son deems

himself a great and heroic prince; but, alas! our miserable age

does not afford scope for heroism or greatness. His daring spirit

might have suited the happier times of our ancestors; but the

present state requires not an emperor, but a cautious steward of

the last relics of our fortunes. Well do I remember the lofty

expectations which he built on our alliance with Mustapha; and

much do I fear, that this rash courage will urge the ruin of our

house, and that even religion may precipitate our downfall.” Yet

the experience and authority of Manuel preserved the peace, and

eluded the council; till, in the seventy-eighth year of his age,

and in the habit of a monk, he terminated his career, dividing

his precious movables among his children and the poor, his

physicians and his favorite servants. Of his six sons, 33

Andronicus the Second was invested with the principality of

Thessalonica, and died of a leprosy soon after the sale of that

city to the Venetians and its final conquest by the Turks. Some

fortunate incidents had restored Peloponnesus, or the Morea, to

the empire; and in his more prosperous days, Manuel had fortified

the narrow isthmus of six miles 34 with a stone wall and one

hundred and fifty-three towers. The wall was overthrown by the

first blast of the Ottomans; the fertile peninsula might have

been sufficient for the four younger brothers, Theodore and

Constantine, Demetrius and Thomas; but they wasted in domestic

contests the remains of their strength; and the least successful

of the rivals were reduced to a life of dependence in the

Byzantine palace.

30 (return) [ See Lenfant, Hist. du Concile de Constance, tom.

ii. p. 576; and or the ecclesiastical history of the times, the

Annals of Spondanus the Bibliothèque of Dupin, tom. xii., and

xxist and xxiid volumes of the History, or rather the

Continuation, of Fleury.]

31 (return) [ From his early youth, George Phranza, or Phranzes,

was employed in the service of the state and palace; and Hanckius

(de Script. Byzant. P. i. c. 40) has collected his life from his

own writings. He was no more than four-and-twenty years of age at

the death of Manuel, who recommended him in the strongest terms

to his successor: Imprimis vero hunc Phranzen tibi commendo, qui

ministravit mihi fideliter et diligenter (Phranzes, l. ii. c. i.)

Yet the emperor John was cold, and he preferred the service of

the despots of Peloponnesus.]

32 (return) [ See Phranzes, l. ii. c. 13. While so many

manuscripts of the Greek original are extant in the libraries of

Rome, Milan, the Escurial, &c., it is a matter of shame and

reproach, that we should be reduced to the Latin version, or

abstract, of James Pontanus, (ad calcem Theophylact, Simocattæ:

Ingolstadt, 1604,) so deficient in accuracy and elegance,

(Fabric. Bibliot. Græc. tom. vi. p. 615—620.) * Note: The Greek

text of Phranzes was edited by F. C. Alter Vindobonæ, 1796. It

has been re-edited by Bekker for the new edition of the

Byzantines, Bonn, 1838.—M.]

33 (return) [ See Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 243—248.]

34 (return) [ The exact measure of the Hexamilion, from sea to

sea, was 3800 orgyiæ, or _toises_, of six Greek feet, (Phranzes,

l. i. c. 38,) which would produce a Greek mile, still smaller

than that of 660 French _toises_, which is assigned by D’Anville,

as still in use in Turkey. Five miles are commonly reckoned for

the breadth of the isthmus. See the Travels of Spon, Wheeler and

Chandler.]

The eldest of the sons of Manuel, John Palæologus the Second, was

acknowledged, after his father’s death, as the sole emperor of

the Greeks. He immediately proceeded to repudiate his wife, and

to contract a new marriage with the princess of Trebizond: beauty

was in his eyes the first qualification of an empress; and the

clergy had yielded to his firm assurance, that unless he might be

indulged in a divorce, he would retire to a cloister, and leave

the throne to his brother Constantine. The first, and in truth

the only, victory of Palæologus, was over a Jew, 35 whom, after a

long and learned dispute, he converted to the Christian faith;

and this momentous conquest is carefully recorded in the history

of the times. But he soon resumed the design of uniting the East

and West; and, regardless of his father’s advice, listened, as it

should seem with sincerity, to the proposal of meeting the pope

in a general council beyond the Adriatic. This dangerous project

was encouraged by Martin the Fifth, and coldly entertained by his

successor Eugenius, till, after a tedious negotiation, the

emperor received a summons from the Latin assembly of a new

character, the independent prelates of Basil, who styled

themselves the representatives and judges of the Catholic church.

35 (return) [ The first objection of the Jews is on the death of

Christ: if it were voluntary, Christ was a suicide; which the

emperor parries with a mystery. They then dispute on the

conception of the Virgin, the sense of the prophecies, &c.,

(Phranzes, l. ii. c. 12, a whole chapter.)]

The Roman pontiff had fought and conquered in the cause of

ecclesiastical freedom; but the victorious clergy were soon

exposed to the tyranny of their deliverer; and his sacred

character was invulnerable to those arms which they found so keen

and effectual against the civil magistrate. Their great charter,

the right of election, was annihilated by appeals, evaded by

trusts or commendams, disappointed by reversionary grants, and

superseded by previous and arbitrary reservations. 36 A public

auction was instituted in the court of Rome: the cardinals and

favorites were enriched with the spoils of nations; and every

country might complain that the most important and valuable

benefices were accumulated on the heads of aliens and absentees.

During their residence at Avignon, the ambition of the popes

subsided in the meaner passions of avarice 37 and luxury: they

rigorously imposed on the clergy the tributes of first-fruits and

tenths; but they freely tolerated the impunity of vice, disorder,

and corruption. These manifold scandals were aggravated by the

great schism of the West, which continued above fifty years. In

the furious conflicts of Rome and Avignon, the vices of the

rivals were mutually exposed; and their precarious situation

degraded their authority, relaxed their discipline, and

multiplied their wants and exactions. To heal the wounds, and

restore the monarchy, of the church, the synods of Pisa and

Constance 38 were successively convened; but these great

assemblies, conscious of their strength, resolved to vindicate

the privileges of the Christian aristocracy. From a personal

sentence against two pontiffs, whom they rejected, and a third,

their acknowledged sovereign, whom they deposed, the fathers of

Constance proceeded to examine the nature and limits of the Roman

supremacy; nor did they separate till they had established the

authority, above the pope, of a general council. It was enacted,

that, for the government and reformation of the church, such

assemblies should be held at regular intervals; and that each

synod, before its dissolution, should appoint the time and place

of the subsequent meeting. By the influence of the court of Rome,

the next convocation at Sienna was easily eluded; but the bold

and vigorous proceedings of the council of Basil 39 had almost

been fatal to the reigning pontiff, Eugenius the Fourth. A just

suspicion of his design prompted the fathers to hasten the

promulgation of their first decree, that the representatives of

the church-militant on earth were invested with a divine and

spiritual jurisdiction over all Christians, without excepting the

pope; and that a general council could not be dissolved,

prorogued, or transferred, unless by their free deliberation and

consent. On the notice that Eugenius had fulminated a bull for

that purpose, they ventured to summon, to admonish, to threaten,

to censure the contumacious successor of St. Peter. After many

delays, to allow time for repentance, they finally declared,

that, unless he submitted within the term of sixty days, he was

suspended from the exercise of all temporal and ecclesiastical

authority. And to mark their jurisdiction over the prince as well

as the priest, they assumed the government of Avignon, annulled

the alienation of the sacred patrimony, and protected Rome from

the imposition of new taxes. Their boldness was justified, not

only by the general opinion of the clergy, but by the support and

power of the first monarchs of Christendom: the emperor Sigismond

declared himself the servant and protector of the synod; Germany

and France adhered to their cause; the duke of Milan was the

enemy of Eugenius; and he was driven from the Vatican by an

insurrection of the Roman people. Rejected at the same time by

temporal and spiritual subjects, submission was his only choice:

by a most humiliating bull, the pope repealed his own acts, and

ratified those of the council; incorporated his legates and

cardinals with that venerable body; and _seemed_ to resign

himself to the decrees of the supreme legislature. Their fame

pervaded the countries of the East: and it was in their presence

that Sigismond received the ambassadors of the Turkish sultan, 40

who laid at his feet twelve large vases, filled with robes of

silk and pieces of gold. The fathers of Basil aspired to the

glory of reducing the Greeks, as well as the Bohemians, within

the pale of the church; and their deputies invited the emperor

and patriarch of Constantinople to unite with an assembly which

possessed the confidence of the Western nations. Palæologus was

not averse to the proposal; and his ambassadors were introduced

with due honors into the Catholic senate. But the choice of the

place appeared to be an insuperable obstacle, since he refused to

pass the Alps, or the sea of Sicily, and positively required that

the synod should be adjourned to some convenient city in Italy,

or at least on the Danube. The other articles of this treaty were

more readily stipulated: it was agreed to defray the travelling

expenses of the emperor, with a train of seven hundred persons,

41 to remit an immediate sum of eight thousand ducats 42 for the

accommodation of the Greek clergy; and in his absence to grant a

supply of ten thousand ducats, with three hundred archers and

some galleys, for the protection of Constantinople. The city of

Avignon advanced the funds for the preliminary expenses; and the

embarkation was prepared at Marseilles with some difficulty and

delay.

36 (return) [ In the treatise delle Materie Beneficiarie of Fra

Paolo, (in the ivth volume of the last, and best, edition of his

works,) the papal system is deeply studied and freely described.

Should Rome and her religion be annihilated, this golden volume

may still survive, a philosophical history, and a salutary

warning.]

37 (return) [ Pope John XXII. (in 1334) left behind him, at

Avignon, eighteen millions of gold florins, and the value of

seven millions more in plate and jewels. See the Chronicle of

John Villani, (l. xi. c. 20, in Muratori’s Collection, tom. xiii.

p. 765,) whose brother received the account from the papal

treasurers. A treasure of six or eight millions sterling in the

xivth century is enormous, and almost incredible.]

38 (return) [ A learned and liberal Protestant, M. Lenfant, has

given a fair history of the councils of Pisa, Constance, and

Basil, in six volumes in quarto; but the last part is the most

hasty and imperfect, except in the account of the troubles of

Bohemia.]

39 (return) [ The original acts or minutes of the council of

Basil are preserved in the public library, in twelve volumes in

folio. Basil was a free city, conveniently situate on the Rhine,

and guarded by the arms of the neighboring and confederate Swiss.

In 1459, the university was founded by Pope Pius II., (Æneas

Sylvius,) who had been secretary to the council. But what is a

council, or a university, to the presses o Froben and the studies

of Erasmus?]

40 (return) [ This Turkish embassy, attested only by Crantzius,

is related with some doubt by the annalist Spondanus, A.D. 1433,

No. 25, tom. i. p. 824.]

41 (return) [ Syropulus, p. 19. In this list, the Greeks appear

to have exceeded the real numbers of the clergy and laity which

afterwards attended the emperor and patriarch, but which are not

clearly specified by the great ecclesiarch. The 75,000 florins

which they asked in this negotiation of the pope, (p. 9,) were

more than they could hope or want.]

42 (return) [ I use indifferently the words _ducat_ and _florin_,

which derive their names, the former from the _dukes_ of Milan,

the latter from the republic of _Florence_. These gold pieces,

the first that were coined in Italy, perhaps in the Latin world,

may be compared in weight and value to one third of the English

guinea.]

In his distress, the friendship of Palæologus was disputed by the

ecclesiastical powers of the West; but the dexterous activity of

a monarch prevailed over the slow debates and inflexible temper

of a republic. The decrees of Basil continually tended to

circumscribe the despotism of the pope, and to erect a supreme

and perpetual tribunal in the church. Eugenius was impatient of

the yoke; and the union of the Greeks might afford a decent

pretence for translating a rebellious synod from the Rhine to the

Po. The independence of the fathers was lost if they passed the

Alps: Savoy or Avignon, to which they acceded with reluctance,

were described at Constantinople as situate far beyond the

pillars of Hercules; 43 the emperor and his clergy were

apprehensive of the dangers of a long navigation; they were

offended by a haughty declaration, that after suppressing the

_new_ heresy of the Bohemians, the council would soon eradicate

the _old_ heresy of the Greeks. 44 On the side of Eugenius, all

was smooth, and yielding, and respectful; and he invited the

Byzantine monarch to heal by his presence the schism of the

Latin, as well as of the Eastern, church. Ferrara, near the coast

of the Adriatic, was proposed for their amicable interview; and

with some indulgence of forgery and theft, a surreptitious decree

was procured, which transferred the synod, with its own consent,

to that Italian city. Nine galleys were equipped for the service

at Venice, and in the Isle of Candia; their diligence anticipated

the slower vessels of Basil: the Roman admiral was commissioned

to burn, sink, and destroy; 45 and these priestly squadrons might

have encountered each other in the same seas where Athens and

Sparta had formerly contended for the preeminence of glory.

Assaulted by the importunity of the factions, who were ready to

fight for the possession of his person, Palæologus hesitated

before he left his palace and country on a perilous experiment.

His father’s advice still dwelt on his memory; and reason must

suggest, that since the Latins were divided among themselves,

they could never unite in a foreign cause. Sigismond dissuaded

the unreasonable adventure; his advice was impartial, since he

adhered to the council; and it was enforced by the strange

belief, that the German Cæsar would nominate a Greek his heir and

successor in the empire of the West. 46 Even the Turkish sultan

was a counsellor whom it might be unsafe to trust, but whom it

was dangerous to offend. Amurath was unskilled in the disputes,

but he was apprehensive of the union, of the Christians. From his

own treasures, he offered to relieve the wants of the Byzantine

court; yet he declared with seeming magnanimity, that

Constantinople should be secure and inviolate, in the absence of

her sovereign. 47 The resolution of Palæologus was decided by the

most splendid gifts and the most specious promises: he wished to

escape for a while from a scene of danger and distress and after

dismissing with an ambiguous answer the messengers of the

council, he declared his intention of embarking in the Roman

galleys. The age of the patriarch Joseph was more susceptible of

fear than of hope; he trembled at the perils of the sea, and

expressed his apprehension, that his feeble voice, with thirty

perhaps of his orthodox brethren, would be oppressed in a foreign

land by the power and numbers of a Latin synod. He yielded to the

royal mandate, to the flattering assurance, that he would be

heard as the oracle of nations, and to the secret wish of

learning from his brother of the West, to deliver the church from

the yoke of kings. 48 The five _cross-bearers_, or dignitaries,

of St. Sophia, were bound to attend his person; and one of these,

the great ecclesiarch or preacher, Sylvester Syropulus, 49 has

composed a free and curious history 50 of the _false_ union. 51

Of the clergy that reluctantly obeyed the summons of the emperor

and the patriarch, submission was the first duty, and patience

the most useful virtue. In a chosen list of twenty bishops, we

discover the metropolitan titles of Heracleæ and Cyzicus, Nice

and Nicomedia, Ephesus and Trebizond, and the personal merit of

Mark and Bessarion who, in the confidence of their learning and

eloquence, were promoted to the episcopal rank. Some monks and

philosophers were named to display the science and sanctity of

the Greek church; and the service of the choir was performed by a

select band of singers and musicians. The patriarchs of

Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, appeared by their genuine or

fictitious deputies; the primate of Russia represented a national

church, and the Greeks might contend with the Latins in the

extent of their spiritual empire. The precious vases of St.

Sophia were exposed to the winds and waves, that the patriarch

might officiate with becoming splendor: whatever gold the emperor

could procure, was expended in the massy ornaments of his bed and

chariot; 52 and while they affected to maintain the prosperity of

their ancient fortune, they quarrelled for the division of

fifteen thousand ducats, the first alms of the Roman pontiff.

After the necessary preparations, John Palæologus, with a

numerous train, accompanied by his brother Demetrius, and the

most respectable persons of the church and state, embarked in

eight vessels with sails and oars which steered through the

Turkish Straits of Gallipoli to the Archipelago, the Morea, and

the Adriatic Gulf. 53

43 (return) [ At the end of the Latin version of Phranzes, we

read a long Greek epistle or declamation of George of Trebizond,

who advises the emperor to prefer Eugenius and Italy. He treats

with contempt the schismatic assembly of Basil, the Barbarians of

Gaul and Germany, who had conspired to transport the chair of St.

Peter beyond the Alps; oi aqlioi (says he) se kai thn meta sou

sunodon exw tvn 'Hrakleiwn sthlwn kai pera Gadhrwn exaxousi. Was

Constantinople unprovided with a map?]

44 (return) [ Syropulus (p. 26—31) attests his own indignation,

and that of his countrymen; and the Basil deputies, who excused

the rash declaration, could neither deny nor alter an act of the

council.]

45 (return) [ Condolmieri, the pope’s nephew and admiral,

expressly declared, oti orismon eceipara tou Papa ina polemhsh

opou an eurh ta katerga thV Sunodou, kai ei dunhqh, katadush, kai

ajanish. The naval orders of the synod were less peremptory, and,

till the hostile squadrons appeared, both parties tried to

conceal their quarrel from the Greeks.]

46 (return) [ Syropulus mentions the hopes of Palæologus, (p.

36,) and the last advice of Sigismond,(p. 57.) At Corfu, the

Greek emperor was informed of his friend’s death; had he known it

sooner, he would have returned home,(p. 79.)]

47 (return) [ Phranzes himself, though from different motives,

was of the advice of Amurath, (l. ii. c. 13.) Utinam ne synodus

ista unquam fuisset, si tantes offensiones et detrimenta paritura

erat. This Turkish embassy is likewise mentioned by Syropulus,

(p. 58;) and Amurath kept his word. He might threaten, (p. 125,

219,) but he never attacked, the city.]

48 (return) [ The reader will smile at the simplicity with which

he imparted these hopes to his favorites: toiauthn plhrojorian

schsein hlpize kai dia tou Papa eqarrei eleuqervdai thn ekklhsian

apo thV apoteqeishV autou douleiaV para tou basilewV, (p. 92.)

Yet it would have been difficult for him to have practised the

lessons of Gregory VII.]

49 (return) [ The Christian name of Sylvester is borrowed from

the Latin calendar. In modern Greek, pouloV, as a diminutive, is

added to the end of words: nor can any reasoning of Creyghton,

the editor, excuse his changing into S_gur_opulus, (Sguros,

fuscus,) the Syropulus of his own manuscript, whose name is

subscribed with his own hand in the acts of the council of

Florence. Why might not the author be of Syrian extraction?]

50 (return) [ From the conclusion of the history, I should fix

the date to the year 1444, four years after the synod, when great

ecclesiarch had abdicated his office, (section xii. p. 330—350.)

His passions were cooled by time and retirement; and, although

Syropulus is often partial, he is never intemperate.]

51 (return) [ _Vera historia unionis non ver inter Græcos et

Latinos_, (_Haga Comitis_, 1660, in folio,) was first published

with a loose and florid version, by Robert Creyghton, chaplain to

Charles II. in his exile. The zeal of the editor has prefixed a

polemic title, for the beginning of the original is wanting.

Syropulus may be ranked with the best of the Byzantine writers

for the merit of his narration, and even of his style; but he is

excluded from the orthodox collections of the councils.]

52 (return) [ Syropulus (p. 63) simply expresses his intention

in’ outw pompawn en’ 'ItaloiV megaV basileuV par ekeinvn

nomizoito; and the Latin of Creyghton may afford a specimen of

his florid paraphrase. Ut pompâ circumductus noster Imperator

Italiæ populis aliquis deauratus Jupiter crederetur, aut Crsus ex

opulenta Lydia.]

53 (return) [ Although I cannot stop to quote Syropulus for every

fact, I will observe that the navigation of the Greeks from

Constantinople to Venice and Ferrara is contained in the ivth

section, (p. 67—100,) and that the historian has the uncommon

talent of placing each scene before the reader’s eye.]

Chapter LXVI: Union Of The Greek And Latin Churches.—Part III.

After a tedious and troublesome navigation of seventy-seven days,

this religious squadron cast anchor before Venice; and their

reception proclaimed the joy and magnificence of that powerful

republic. In the command of the world, the modest Augustus had

never claimed such honors from his subjects as were paid to his

feeble successor by an independent state. Seated on the poop on a

lofty throne, he received the visit, or, in the Greek style, the

_adoration_ of the doge and senators. 54 They sailed in the

Bucentaur, which was accompanied by twelve stately galleys: the

sea was overspread with innumerable gondolas of pomp and

pleasure; the air resounded with music and acclamations; the

mariners, and even the vessels, were dressed in silk and gold;

and in all the emblems and pageants, the Roman eagles were

blended with the lions of St. Mark. The triumphal procession,

ascending the great canal, passed under the bridge of the Rialto;

and the Eastern strangers gazed with admiration on the palaces,

the churches, and the populousness of a city, that seems to float

on the bosom of the waves. 55 They sighed to behold the spoils

and trophies with which it had been decorated after the sack of

Constantinople. After a hospitable entertainment of fifteen days,

Palæologus pursued his journey by land and water from Venice to

Ferrara; and on this occasion the pride of the Vatican was

tempered by policy to indulge the ancient dignity of the emperor

of the East. He made his entry on a _black_ horse; but a

milk-white steed, whose trappings were embroidered with golden

eagles, was led before him; and the canopy was borne over his

head by the princes of Este, the sons or kinsmen of Nicholas,

marquis of the city, and a sovereign more powerful than himself.

56 Palæologus did not alight till he reached the bottom of the

staircase: the pope advanced to the door of the apartment;

refused his proffered genuflection; and, after a paternal

embrace, conducted the emperor to a seat on his left hand. Nor

would the patriarch descend from his galley, till a ceremony

almost equal, had been stipulated between the bishops of Rome and

Constantinople. The latter was saluted by his brother with a kiss

of union and charity; nor would any of the Greek ecclesiastics

submit to kiss the feet of the Western primate. On the opening of

the synod, the place of honor in the centre was claimed by the

temporal and ecclesiastical chiefs; and it was only by alleging

that his predecessors had not assisted in person at Nice or

Chalcedon, that Eugenius could evade the ancient precedents of

Constantine and Marcian. After much debate, it was agreed that

the right and left sides of the church should be occupied by the

two nations; that the solitary chair of St. Peter should be

raised the first of the Latin line; and that the throne of the

Greek emperor, at the head of his clergy, should be equal and

opposite to the second place, the vacant seat of the emperor of

the West. 57

54 (return) [ At the time of the synod, Phranzes was in

Peloponnesus: but he received from the despot Demetrius a

faithful account of the honorable reception of the emperor and

patriarch both at Venice and Ferrara, (Dux.... sedentem

Imperatorem _adorat_,) which are more slightly mentioned by the

Latins, (l. ii. c. 14, 15, 16.)]

55 (return) [ The astonishment of a Greek prince and a French

ambassador (Mémoires de Philippe de Comines, l. vii. c. 18,) at

the sight of Venice, abundantly proves that in the xvth century

it was the first and most splendid of the Christian cities. For

the spoils of Constantinople at Venice, see Syropulus, (p. 87.)]

56 (return) [ Nicholas III. of Este reigned forty-eight years,

(A.D. 1393—1441,) and was lord of Ferrara, Modena, Reggio, Parma,

Rovigo, and Commachio. See his Life in Muratori, (Antichità

Estense, tom. ii. p. 159—201.)]

57 (return) [ The Latin vulgar was provoked to laughter at the

strange dresses of the Greeks, and especially the length of their

garments, their sleeves, and their beards; nor was the emperor

distinguished, except by the purple color, and his diadem or

tiara, with a jewel on the top, (Hody de Græcis Illustribus, p.

31.) Yet another spectator confesses that the Greek fashion was

piu grave e piu degna than the Italian. (Vespasiano in Vit.

Eugen. IV. in Muratori, tom. xxv. p. 261.)]

But as soon as festivity and form had given place to a more

serious treaty, the Greeks were dissatisfied with their journey,

with themselves, and with the pope. The artful pencil of his

emissaries had painted him in a prosperous state; at the head of

the princes and prelates of Europe, obedient at his voice, to

believe and to arm. The thin appearance of the universal synod of

Ferrara betrayed his weakness: and the Latins opened the first

session with only five archbishops, eighteen bishops, and ten

abbots, the greatest part of whom were the subjects or countrymen

of the Italian pontiff. Except the duke of Burgundy, none of the

potentates of the West condescended to appear in person, or by

their ambassadors; nor was it possible to suppress the judicial

acts of Basil against the dignity and person of Eugenius, which

were finally concluded by a new election. Under these

circumstances, a truce or delay was asked and granted, till

Palæologus could expect from the consent of the Latins some

temporal reward for an unpopular union; and after the first

session, the public proceedings were adjourned above six months.

The emperor, with a chosen band of his favorites and

_Janizaries_, fixed his summer residence at a pleasant, spacious

monastery, six miles from Ferrara; forgot, in the pleasures of

the chase, the distress of the church and state; and persisted in

destroying the game, without listening to the just complaints of

the marquis or the husbandman. 58 In the mean while, his

unfortunate Greeks were exposed to all the miseries of exile and

poverty; for the support of each stranger, a monthly allowance

was assigned of three or four gold florins; and although the

entire sum did not amount to seven hundred florins, a long arrear

was repeatedly incurred by the indigence or policy of the Roman

court. 59 They sighed for a speedy deliverance, but their escape

was prevented by a triple chain: a passport from their superiors

was required at the gates of Ferrara; the government of Venice

had engaged to arrest and send back the fugitives; and inevitable

punishment awaited them at Constantinople; excommunication,

fines, and a sentence, which did not respect the sacerdotal

dignity, that they should be stripped naked and publicly whipped.

60 It was only by the alternative of hunger or dispute that the

Greeks could be persuaded to open the first conference; and they

yielded with extreme reluctance to attend from Ferrara to

Florence the rear of a flying synod. This new translation was

urged by inevitable necessity: the city was visited by the

plague; the fidelity of the marquis might be suspected; the

mercenary troops of the duke of Milan were at the gates; and as

they occupied Romagna, it was not without difficulty and danger

that the pope, the emperor, and the bishops, explored their way

through the unfrequented paths of the Apennine. 61

58 (return) [ For the emperor’s hunting, see Syropulus, (p. 143,

144, 191.) The pope had sent him eleven miserable hacks; but he

bought a strong and swift horse that came from Russia. The name

of _Janizaries_ may surprise; but the name, rather than the

institution, had passed from the Ottoman, to the Byzantine,

court, and is often used in the last age of the empire.]

59 (return) [ The Greeks obtained, with much difficulty, that

instead of provisions, money should be distributed, four florins

_per_ month to the persons of honorable rank, and three florins

to their servants, with an addition of thirty more to the

emperor, twenty-five to the patriarch, and twenty to the prince,

or despot, Demetrius. The payment of the first month amounted to

691 florins, a sum which will not allow us to reckon above 200

Greeks of every condition. (Syropulus, p. 104, 105.) On the 20th

October, 1438, there was an arrear of four months; in April,

1439, of three; and of five and a half in July, at the time of

the union, (p. 172, 225, 271.)]

60 (return) [ Syropulus (p. 141, 142, 204, 221) deplores the

imprisonment of the Greeks, and the tyranny of the emperor and

patriarch.]

61 (return) [ The wars of Italy are most clearly represented in

the xiiith vol. of the Annals of Muratori. The schismatic Greek,

Syropulus, (p. 145,) appears to have exaggerated the fear and

disorder of the pope in his retreat from Ferrara to Florence,

which is proved by the acts to have been somewhat more decent and

deliberate.]

Yet all these obstacles were surmounted by time and policy. The

violence of the fathers of Basil rather promoted than injured the

cause of Eugenius; the nations of Europe abhorred the schism, and

disowned the election, of Felix the Fifth, who was successively a

duke of Savoy, a hermit, and a pope; and the great princes were

gradually reclaimed by his competitor to a favorable neutrality

and a firm attachment. The legates, with some respectable

members, deserted to the Roman army, which insensibly rose in

numbers and reputation; the council of Basil was reduced to

thirty-nine bishops, and three hundred of the inferior clergy; 62

while the Latins of Florence could produce the subscriptions of

the pope himself, eight cardinals, two patriarchs, eight

archbishops, fifty two bishops, and forty-five abbots, or chiefs

of religious orders. After the labor of nine months, and the

debates of twenty-five sessions, they attained the advantage and

glory of the reunion of the Greeks. Four principal questions had

been agitated between the two churches; _1._ The use of

unleavened bread in the communion of Christ’s body. _2._ The

nature of purgatory. _3._ The supremacy of the pope. And, _4._

The single or double procession of the Holy Ghost. The cause of

either nation was managed by ten theological champions: the

Latins were supported by the inexhaustible eloquence of Cardinal

Julian; and Mark of Ephesus and Bessarion of Nice were the bold

and able leaders of the Greek forces. We may bestow some praise

on the progress of human reason, by observing that the first of

these questions was now treated as an immaterial rite, which

might innocently vary with the fashion of the age and country.

With regard to the second, both parties were agreed in the belief

of an intermediate state of purgation for the venial sins of the

faithful; and whether their souls were purified by elemental fire

was a doubtful point, which in a few years might be conveniently

settled on the spot by the disputants. The claims of supremacy

appeared of a more weighty and substantial kind; yet by the

Orientals the Roman bishop had ever been respected as the first

of the five patriarchs; nor did they scruple to admit, that his

jurisdiction should be exercised agreeably to the holy canons; a

vague allowance, which might be defined or eluded by occasional

convenience. The procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father

alone, or from the Father and the Son, was an article of faith

which had sunk much deeper into the minds of men; and in the

sessions of Ferrara and Florence, the Latin addition of

_filioque_ was subdivided into two questions, whether it were

legal, and whether it were orthodox. Perhaps it may not be

necessary to boast on this subject of my own impartial

indifference; but I must think that the Greeks were strongly

supported by the prohibition of the council of Chalcedon, against

adding any article whatsoever to the creed of Nice, or rather of

Constantinople. 63 In earthly affairs, it is not easy to conceive

how an assembly equal of legislators can bind their successors

invested with powers equal to their own. But the dictates of

inspiration must be true and unchangeable; nor should a private

bishop, or a provincial synod, have presumed to innovate against

the judgment of the Catholic church. On the substance of the

doctrine, the controversy was equal and endless: reason is

confounded by the procession of a deity: the gospel, which lay on

the altar, was silent; the various texts of the fathers might be

corrupted by fraud or entangled by sophistry; and the Greeks were

ignorant of the characters and writings of the Latin saints. 64

Of this at least we may be sure, that neither side could be

convinced by the arguments of their opponents. Prejudice may be

enlightened by reason, and a superficial glance may be rectified

by a clear and more perfect view of an object adapted to our

faculties. But the bishops and monks had been taught from their

infancy to repeat a form of mysterious words: their national and

personal honor depended on the repetition of the same sounds; and

their narrow minds were hardened and inflamed by the acrimony of

a public dispute.

62 (return) [ Syropulus is pleased to reckon seven hundred

prelates in the council of Basil. The error is manifest, and

perhaps voluntary. That extravagant number could not be supplied

by _all_ the ecclesiastics of every degree who were present at

the council, nor by _all_ the absent bishops of the West, who,

expressly or tacitly, might adhere to its decrees.]

63 (return) [ The Greeks, who disliked the union, were unwilling

to sally from this strong fortress, (p. 178, 193, 195, 202, of

Syropulus.) The shame of the Latins was aggravated by their

producing an old MS. of the second council of Nice, with

_filioque_ in the Nicene creed. A palpable forgery! (p. 173.)]

64 (return) [ 'WV egw (said an eminent Greek) otan eiV naon

eiselqw Datinwn ou proskunv tina tvn ekeise agiwn, epei oude

gnwrizw tina, (Syropulus, p. 109.) See the perplexity of the

Greeks, (p. 217, 218, 252, 253, 273.)]

While they were most in a cloud of dust and darkness, the Pope

and emperor were desirous of a seeming union, which could alone

accomplish the purposes of their interview; and the obstinacy of

public dispute was softened by the arts of private and personal

negotiation. The patriarch Joseph had sunk under the weight of

age and infirmities; his dying voice breathed the counsels of

charity and concord, and his vacant benefice might tempt the

hopes of the ambitious clergy. The ready and active obedience of

the archbishops of Russia and Nice, of Isidore and Bessarion, was

prompted and recompensed by their speedy promotion to the dignity

of cardinals. Bessarion, in the first debates, had stood forth

the most strenuous and eloquent champion of the Greek church; and

if the apostate, the bastard, was reprobated by his country, 65

he appears in ecclesiastical story a rare example of a patriot

who was recommended to court favor by loud opposition and

well-timed compliance. With the aid of his two spiritual

coadjutors, the emperor applied his arguments to the general

situation and personal characters of the bishops, and each was

successively moved by authority and example. Their revenues were

in the hands of the Turks, their persons in those of the Latins:

an episcopal treasure, three robes and forty ducats, was soon

exhausted: 66 the hopes of their return still depended on the

ships of Venice and the alms of Rome; and such was their

indigence, that their arrears, the payment of a debt, would be

accepted as a favor, and might operate as a bribe. 67 The danger

and relief of Constantinople might excuse some prudent and pious

dissimulation; and it was insinuated, that the obstinate heretics

who should resist the consent of the East and West would be

abandoned in a hostile land to the revenge or justice of the

Roman pontiff. 68 In the first private assembly of the Greeks,

the formulary of union was approved by twenty-four, and rejected

by twelve, members; but the five _cross-bearers_ of St. Sophia,

who aspired to represent the patriarch, were disqualified by

ancient discipline; and their right of voting was transferred to

the obsequious train of monks, grammarians, and profane laymen.

The will of the monarch produced a false and servile unanimity,

and no more than two patriots had courage to speak their own

sentiments and those of their country. Demetrius, the emperor’s

brother, retired to Venice, that he might not be witness of the

union; and Mark of Ephesus, mistaking perhaps his pride for his

conscience, disclaimed all communion with the Latin heretics, and

avowed himself the champion and confessor of the orthodox creed.

69 In the treaty between the two nations, several forms of

consent were proposed, such as might satisfy the Latins, without

dishonoring the Greeks; and they weighed the scruples of words

and syllables, till the theological balance trembled with a

slight preponderance in favor of the Vatican. It was agreed (I

must entreat the attention of the reader) that the Holy Ghost

proceeds from the Father _and_ the Son, as from one principle and

one substance; that he proceeds _by_ the Son, being of the same

nature and substance, and that he proceeds from the Father _and_

the Son, by one _spiration_ and production. It is less difficult

to understand the articles of the preliminary treaty; that the

pope should defray all the expenses of the Greeks in their return

home; that he should annually maintain two galleys and three

hundred soldiers for the defence of Constantinople: that all the

ships which transported pilgrims to Jerusalem should be obliged

to touch at that port; that as often as they were required, the

pope should furnish ten galleys for a year, or twenty for six

months; and that he should powerfully solicit the princes of

Europe, if the emperor had occasion for land forces.

65 (return) [ See the polite altercation of Marc and Bessarion in

Syropulus, (p. 257,) who never dissembles the vices of his own

party, and fairly praises the virtues of the Latins.]

66 (return) [ For the poverty of the Greek bishops, see a

remarkable passage of Ducas, (c. 31.) One had possessed, for his

whole property, three old gowns, &c. By teaching one-and-twenty

years in his monastery, Bessarion himself had collected forty

gold florins; but of these, the archbishop had expended

twenty-eight in his voyage from Peloponnesus, and the remainder

at Constantinople, (Syropulus, p. 127.)]

67 (return) [ Syropulus denies that the Greeks received any money

before they had subscribed the art of union, (p. 283:) yet he

relates some suspicious circumstances; and their bribery and

corruption are positively affirmed by the historian Ducas.]

68 (return) [ The Greeks most piteously express their own fears

of exile and perpetual slavery, (Syropul. p. 196;) and they were

strongly moved by the emperor’s threats, (p. 260.)]

69 (return) [ I had forgot another popular and orthodox

protester: a favorite bound, who usually lay quiet on the

foot-cloth of the emperor’s throne but who barked most furiously

while the act of union was reading without being silenced by the

soothing or the lashes of the royal attendants, (Syropul. p. 265,

266.)]

The same year, and almost the same day, were marked by the

deposition of Eugenius at Basil; and, at Florence, by his reunion

of the Greeks and Latins. In the former synod, (which he styled

indeed an assembly of dæmons,) the pope was branded with the

guilt of simony, perjury, tyranny, heresy, and schism; 70 and

declared to be incorrigible in his vices, unworthy of any title,

and incapable of holding any ecclesiastical office. In the

latter, he was revered as the true and holy vicar of Christ, who,

after a separation of six hundred years, had reconciled the

Catholics of the East and West in one fold, and under one

shepherd. The act of union was subscribed by the pope, the

emperor, and the principal members of both churches; even by

those who, like Syropulus, 71 had been deprived of the right of

voting. Two copies might have sufficed for the East and West; but

Eugenius was not satisfied, unless four authentic and similar

transcripts were signed and attested as the monuments of his

victory. 72 On a memorable day, the sixth of July, the successors

of St. Peter and Constantine ascended their thrones the two

nations assembled in the cathedral of Florence; their

representatives, Cardinal Julian and Bessarion archbishop of

Nice, appeared in the pulpit, and, after reading in their

respective tongues the act of union, they mutually embraced, in

the name and the presence of their applauding brethren. The pope

and his ministers then officiated according to the Roman liturgy;

the creed was chanted with the addition of _filioque_; the

acquiescence of the Greeks was poorly excused by their ignorance

of the harmonious, but inarticulate sounds; 73 and the more

scrupulous Latins refused any public celebration of the Byzantine

rite. Yet the emperor and his clergy were not totally unmindful

of national honor. The treaty was ratified by their consent: it

was tacitly agreed that no innovation should be attempted in

their creed or ceremonies: they spared, and secretly respected,

the generous firmness of Mark of Ephesus; and, on the decease of

the patriarch, they refused to elect his successor, except in the

cathedral of St. Sophia. In the distribution of public and

private rewards, the liberal pontiff exceeded their hopes and his

promises: the Greeks, with less pomp and pride, returned by the

same road of Ferrara and Venice; and their reception at

Constantinople was such as will be described in the following

chapter. 74 The success of the first trial encouraged Eugenius to

repeat the same edifying scenes; and the deputies of the

Armenians, the Maronites, the Jacobites of Syria and Egypt, the

Nestorians and the Æthiopians, were successively introduced, to

kiss the feet of the Roman pontiff, and to announce the obedience

and the orthodoxy of the East. These Oriental embassies, unknown

in the countries which they presumed to represent, 75 diffused

over the West the fame of Eugenius; and a clamor was artfully

propagated against the remnant of a schism in Switzerland and

Savoy, which alone impeded the harmony of the Christian world.

The vigor of opposition was succeeded by the lassitude of

despair: the council of Basil was silently dissolved; and Felix,

renouncing the tiara, again withdrew to the devout or delicious

hermitage of Ripaille. 76 A general peace was secured by mutual

acts of oblivion and indemnity: all ideas of reformation

subsided; the popes continued to exercise and abuse their

ecclesiastical despotism; nor has Rome been since disturbed by

the mischiefs of a contested election. 77

70 (return) [ From the original Lives of the Popes, in Muratori’s

Collection, (tom. iii. p. ii. tom. xxv.,) the manners of Eugenius

IV. appear to have been decent, and even exemplary. His

situation, exposed to the world and to his enemies, was a

restraint, and is a pledge.]

71 (return) [ Syropulus, rather than subscribe, would have

assisted, as the least evil, at the ceremony of the union. He was

compelled to do both; and the great ecclesiarch poorly excuses

his submission to the emperor, (p. 290—292.)]

72 (return) [ None of these original acts of union can at present

be produced. Of the ten MSS. that are preserved, (five at Rome,

and the remainder at Florence, Bologna, Venice, Paris, and

London,) nine have been examined by an accurate critic, (M. de

Brequigny,) who condemns them for the variety and imperfections

of the Greek signatures. Yet several of these may be esteemed as

authentic copies, which were subscribed at Florence, before (26th

of August, 1439) the final separation of the pope and emperor,

(Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xliii. p.

287—311.)]

73 (return) [ Hmin de wV ashmoi edokoun jwnai, (Syropul. p.

297.)]

74 (return) [ In their return, the Greeks conversed at Bologna

with the ambassadors of England: and after some questions and

answers, these impartial strangers laughed at the pretended union

of Florence, (Syropul. p. 307.)]

75 (return) [ So nugatory, or rather so fabulous, are these

reunions of the Nestorians, Jacobites, &c., that I have turned

over, without success, the Bibliotheca Orientalis of Assemannus,

a faithful slave of the Vatican.]

76 (return) [ Ripaille is situate near Thonon in Savoy, on the

southern side of the Lake of Geneva. It is now a Carthusian

abbey; and Mr. Addison (Travels into Italy, vol. ii. p. 147, 148,

of Baskerville’s edition of his works) has celebrated the place

and the founder. Æneas Sylvius, and the fathers of Basil, applaud

the austere life of the ducal hermit; but the French and Italian

proverbs most unluckily attest the popular opinion of his

luxury.]

77 (return) [ In this account of the councils of Basil, Ferrara,

and Florence, I have consulted the original acts, which fill the

xviith and xviiith tome of the edition of Venice, and are closed

by the perspicuous, though partial, history of Augustin

Patricius, an Italian of the xvth century. They are digested and

abridged by Dupin, (Bibliothèque Ecclés. tom. xii.,) and the

continuator of Fleury, (tom. xxii.;) and the respect of the

Gallican church for the adverse parties confines their members to

an awkward moderation.]

The journeys of three emperors were unavailing for their

temporal, or perhaps their spiritual, salvation; but they were

productive of a beneficial consequence—the revival of the Greek

learning in Italy, from whence it was propagated to the last

nations of the West and North. In their lowest servitude and

depression, the subjects of the Byzantine throne were still

possessed of a golden key that could unlock the treasures of

antiquity; of a musical and prolific language, that gives a soul

to the objects of sense, and a body to the abstractions of

philosophy. Since the barriers of the monarchy, and even of the

capital, had been trampled under foot, the various Barbarians had

doubtless corrupted the form and substance of the national

dialect; and ample glossaries have been composed, to interpret a

multitude of words, of Arabic, Turkish, Sclavonian, Latin, or

French origin. 78 But a purer idiom was spoken in the court and

taught in the college; and the flourishing state of the language

is described, and perhaps embellished, by a learned Italian, 79

who, by a long residence and noble marriage, 80 was naturalized

at Constantinople about thirty years before the Turkish conquest.

“The vulgar speech,” says Philelphus, 81 “has been depraved by

the people, and infected by the multitude of strangers and

merchants, who every day flock to the city and mingle with the

inhabitants. It is from the disciples of such a school that the

Latin language received the versions of Aristotle and Plato; so

obscure in sense, and in spirit so poor. But the Greeks who have

escaped the contagion, are those whom _we_ follow; and they alone

are worthy of our imitation. In familiar discourse, they still

speak the tongue of Aristophanes and Euripides, of the historians

and philosophers of Athens; and the style of their writings is

still more elaborate and correct. The persons who, by their birth

and offices, are attached to the Byzantine court, are those who

maintain, with the least alloy, the ancient standard of elegance

and purity; and the native graces of language most conspicuously

shine among the noble matrons, who are excluded from all

intercourse with foreigners. With foreigners do I say? They live

retired and sequestered from the eyes of their fellow-citizens.

Seldom are they seen in the streets; and when they leave their

houses, it is in the dusk of evening, on visits to the churches

and their nearest kindred. On these occasions, they are on

horseback, covered with a veil, and encompassed by their parents,

their husbands, or their servants.” 82

78 (return) [ In the first attempt, Meursius collected 3600

Græco-barbarous words, to which, in a second edition, he

subjoined 1800 more; yet what plenteous gleanings did he leave to

Portius, Ducange, Fabrotti, the Bollandists, &c.! (Fabric.

Bibliot. Græc. tom. x. p. 101, &c.) _Some_ Persic words may be

found in Xenophon, and some Latin ones in Plutarch; and such is

the inevitable effect of war and commerce; but the form and

substance of the language were not affected by this slight

alloy.]

79 (return) [ The life of Francis Philelphus, a sophist, proud,

restless, and rapacious, has been diligently composed by Lancelot

(Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, tom. x. p. 691—751)

(Istoria della Letteratura Italiana, tom. vii. p. 282—294,) for

the most part from his own letters. His elaborate writings, and

those of his contemporaries, are forgotten; but their familiar

epistles still describe the men and the times.]

80 (return) [ He married, and had perhaps debauched, the daughter

of John, and the granddaughter of Manuel Chrysoloras. She was

young, beautiful, and wealthy; and her noble family was allied to

the Dorias of Genoa and the emperors of Constantinople.]

81 (return) [ Græci quibus lingua depravata non sit.... ita

loquuntur vulgo hâc etiam tempestate ut Aristophanes comicus, aut

Euripides tragicus, ut oratores omnes, ut historiographi, ut

philosophi.... litterati autem homines et doctius et

emendatius.... Nam viri aulici veterem sermonis dignitatem atque

elegantiam retinebant in primisque ipsæ nobiles mulieres; quibus

cum nullum esset omnino cum viris peregrinis commercium, merus

ille ac purus Græcorum sermo servabatur intactus, (Philelph.

Epist. ad ann. 1451, apud Hodium, p. 188, 189.) He observes in

another passage, uxor illa mea Theodora locutione erat admodum

moderatâ et suavi et maxime Atticâ.]

82 (return) [ Philelphus, absurdly enough, derives this Greek or

Oriental jealousy from the manners of ancient Rome.]

Among the Greeks a numerous and opulent clergy was dedicated to

the service of religion: their monks and bishops have ever been

distinguished by the gravity and austerity of their manners; nor

were they diverted, like the Latin priests, by the pursuits and

pleasures of a secular, and even military, life. After a large

deduction for the time and talent that were lost in the devotion,

the laziness, and the discord, of the church and cloister, the

more inquisitive and ambitious minds would explore the sacred and

profane erudition of their native language. The ecclesiastics

presided over the education of youth; the schools of philosophy

and eloquence were perpetuated till the fall of the empire; and

it may be affirmed, that more books and more knowledge were

included within the walls of Constantinople, than could be

dispersed over the extensive countries of the West. 83 But an

important distinction has been already noticed: the Greeks were

stationary or retrograde, while the Latins were advancing with a

rapid and progressive motion. The nations were excited by the

spirit of independence and emulation; and even the little world

of the Italian states contained more people and industry than the

decreasing circle of the Byzantine empire. In Europe, the lower

ranks of society were relieved from the yoke of feudal servitude;

and freedom is the first step to curiosity and knowledge. The

use, however rude and corrupt, of the Latin tongue had been

preserved by superstition; the universities, from Bologna to

Oxford, 84 were peopled with thousands of scholars; and their

misguided ardor might be directed to more liberal and manly

studies. In the resurrection of science, Italy was the first that

cast away her shroud; and the eloquent Petrarch, by his lessons

and his example, may justly be applauded as the first harbinger

of day. A purer style of composition, a more generous and

rational strain of sentiment, flowed from the study and imitation

of the writers of ancient Rome; and the disciples of Cicero and

Virgil approached, with reverence and love, the sanctuary of

their Grecian masters. In the sack of Constantinople, the French,

and even the Venetians, had despised and destroyed the works of

Lysippus and Homer: the monuments of art may be annihilated by a

single blow; but the immortal mind is renewed and multiplied by

the copies of the pen; and such copies it was the ambition of

Petrarch and his friends to possess and understand. The arms of

the Turks undoubtedly pressed the flight of the Muses; yet we may

tremble at the thought, that Greece might have been overwhelmed,

with her schools and libraries, before Europe had emerged from

the deluge of barbarism; that the seeds of science might have

been scattered by the winds, before the Italian soil was prepared

for their cultivation.

83 (return) [ See the state of learning in the xiiith and xivth

centuries, in the learned and judicious Mosheim, (Instit. Hist.

Ecclés. p. 434—440, 490—494.)]

84 (return) [ At the end of the xvth century, there existed in

Europe about fifty universities, and of these the foundation of

ten or twelve is prior to the year 1300. They were crowded in

proportion to their scarcity. Bologna contained 10,000 students,

chiefly of the civil law. In the year 1357 the number at Oxford

had decreased from 30,000 to 6000 scholars, (Henry’s History of

Great Britain, vol. iv. p. 478.) Yet even this decrease is much

superior to the present list of the members of the university.]

Chapter LXVI: Union Of The Greek And Latin Churches.—Part IV.

The most learned Italians of the fifteenth century have confessed

and applauded the restoration of Greek literature, after a long

oblivion of many hundred years. 85 Yet in that country, and

beyond the Alps, some names are quoted; some profound scholars,

who in the darker ages were honorably distinguished by their

knowledge of the Greek tongue; and national vanity has been loud

in the praise of such rare examples of erudition. Without

scrutinizing the merit of individuals, truth must observe, that

their science is without a cause, and without an effect; that it

was easy for them to satisfy themselves and their more ignorant

contemporaries; and that the idiom, which they had so

marvellously acquired was transcribed in few manuscripts, and was

not taught in any university of the West. In a corner of Italy,

it faintly existed as the popular, or at least as the

ecclesiastical dialect. 86 The first impression of the Doric and

Ionic colonies has never been completely erased: the Calabrian

churches were long attached to the throne of Constantinople: and

the monks of St. Basil pursued their studies in Mount Athos and

the schools of the East. Calabria was the native country of

Barlaam, who has already appeared as a sectary and an ambassador;

and Barlaam was the first who revived, beyond the Alps, the

memory, or at least the writings, of Homer. 87 He is described,

by Petrarch and Boccace, 88 as a man of diminutive stature,

though truly great in the measure of learning and genius; of a

piercing discernment, though of a slow and painful elocution. For

many ages (as they affirm) Greece had not produced his equal in

the knowledge of history, grammar, and philosophy; and his merit

was celebrated in the attestations of the princes and doctors of

Constantinople. One of these attestations is still extant; and

the emperor Cantacuzene, the protector of his adversaries, is

forced to allow, that Euclid, Aristotle, and Plato, were familiar

to that profound and subtle logician. 89 In the court of Avignon,

he formed an intimate connection with Petrarch, 90 the first of

the Latin scholars; and the desire of mutual instruction was the

principle of their literary commerce. The Tuscan applied himself

with eager curiosity and assiduous diligence to the study of the

Greek language; and in a laborious struggle with the dryness and

difficulty of the first rudiments, he began to reach the sense,

and to feel the spirit, of poets and philosophers, whose minds

were congenial to his own. But he was soon deprived of the

society and lessons of this useful assistant: Barlaam

relinquished his fruitless embassy; and, on his return to Greece,

he rashly provoked the swarms of fanatic monks, by attempting to

substitute the light of reason to that of their navel. After a

separation of three years, the two friends again met in the court

of Naples: but the generous pupil renounced the fairest occasion

of improvement; and by his recommendation Barlaam was finally

settled in a small bishopric of his native Calabria. 91 The

manifold avocations of Petrarch, love and friendship, his various

correspondence and frequent journeys, the Roman laurel, and his

elaborate compositions in prose and verse, in Latin and Italian,

diverted him from a foreign idiom; and as he advanced in life,

the attainment of the Greek language was the object of his wishes

rather than of his hopes. When he was about fifty years of age, a

Byzantine ambassador, his friend, and a master of both tongues,

presented him with a copy of Homer; and the answer of Petrarch is

at one expressive of his eloquence, gratitude, and regret. After

celebrating the generosity of the donor, and the value of a gift

more precious in his estimation than gold or rubies, he thus

proceeds: “Your present of the genuine and original text of the

divine poet, the fountain of all inventions, is worthy of

yourself and of me: you have fulfilled your promise, and

satisfied my desires. Yet your liberality is still imperfect:

with Homer you should have given me yourself; a guide, who could

lead me into the fields of light, and disclose to my wondering

eyes the spacious miracles of the Iliad and Odyssey. But, alas!

Homer is dumb, or I am deaf; nor is it in my power to enjoy the

beauty which I possess. I have seated him by the side of Plato,

the prince of poets near the prince of philosophers; and I glory

in the sight of my illustrious guests. Of their immortal

writings, whatever had been translated into the Latin idiom, I

had already acquired; but, if there be no profit, there is some

pleasure, in beholding these venerable Greeks in their proper and

national habit. I am delighted with the aspect of Homer; and as

often as I embrace the silent volume, I exclaim with a sigh,

Illustrious bard! with what pleasure should I listen to thy song,

if my sense of hearing were not obstructed and lost by the death

of one friend, and in the much-lamented absence of another. Nor

do I yet despair; and the example of Cato suggests some comfort

and hope, since it was in the last period of age that he attained

the knowledge of the Greek letters.” 92

85 (return) [ Of those writers who professedly treat of the

restoration of the Greek learning in Italy, the two principal are

Hodius, Dr. Humphrey Hody, (de Græcis Illustribus, Linguæ Græcæ

Literarumque humaniorum Instauratoribus; Londini, 1742, in large

octavo,) and Tiraboschi, (Istoria della Letteratura Italiana,

tom. v. p. 364—377, tom. vii. p. 112—143.) The Oxford professor

is a laborious scholar, but the librarian of Modena enjoys the

superiority of a modern and national historian.]

86 (return) [ In Calabria quæ olim magna Græcia dicebatur,

coloniis Græcis repleta, remansit quædam linguæ veteris,

cognitio, (Hodius, p. 2.) If it were eradicated by the Romans, it

was revived and perpetuated by the monks of St. Basil, who

possessed seven convents at Rossano alone, (Giannone, Istoria di

Napoli, tom. i. p. 520.)]

87 (return) [ Ii Barbari (says Petrarch, the French and Germans)

vix, non dicam libros sed nomen Homeri audiverunt. Perhaps, in

that respect, the xiiith century was less happy than the age of

Charlemagne.]

88 (return) [ See the character of Barlaam, in Boccace de

Genealog. Deorum, l. xv. c. 6.]

89 (return) [ Cantacuzen. l. ii. c. 36.]

90 (return) [ For the connection of Petrarch and Barlaam, and the

two interviews at Avignon in 1339, and at Naples in 1342, see the

excellent Mémoires sur la Vie de Pétrarque, tom. i. p. 406—410,

tom. ii. p. 74—77.]

91 (return) [ The bishopric to which Barlaam retired, was the old

Locri, in the middle ages. Scta. Cyriaca, and by corruption

Hieracium, Gerace, (Dissert. Chorographica Italiæ Medii Ævi, p.

312.) The dives opum of the Norman times soon lapsed into

poverty, since even the church was poor: yet the town still

contains 3000 inhabitants, (Swinburne, p. 340.)]

92 (return) [ I will transcribe a passage from this epistle of

Petrarch, (Famil. ix. 2;) Donasti Homerum non in alienum sermonem

violento alveâ?? derivatum, sed ex ipsis Græci eloquii scatebris,

et qualis divino illi profluxit ingenio.... Sine tuâ voce Homerus

tuus apud me mutus, immo vero ego apud illum surdus sum. Gaudeo

tamen vel adspectû solo, ac sæpe illum amplexus atque suspirans

dico, O magne vir, &c.]

The prize which eluded the efforts of Petrarch, was obtained by

the fortune and industry of his friend Boccace, 93 the father of

the Tuscan prose. That popular writer, who derives his reputation

from the Decameron, a hundred novels of pleasantry and love, may

aspire to the more serious praise of restoring in Italy the study

of the Greek language. In the year one thousand three hundred and

sixty, a disciple of Barlaam, whose name was Leo, or Leontius

Pilatus, was detained in his way to Avignon by the advice and

hospitality of Boccace, who lodged the stranger in his house,

prevailed on the republic of Florence to allow him an annual

stipend, and devoted his leisure to the first Greek professor,

who taught that language in the Western countries of Europe. The

appearance of Leo might disgust the most eager disciple, he was

clothed in the mantle of a philosopher, or a mendicant; his

countenance was hideous; his face was overshadowed with black

hair; his beard long and uncombed; his deportment rustic; his

temper gloomy and inconstant; nor could he grace his discourse

with the ornaments, or even the perspicuity, of Latin elocution.

But his mind was stored with a treasure of Greek learning:

history and fable, philosophy and grammar, were alike at his

command; and he read the poems of Homer in the schools of

Florence. It was from his explanation that Boccace composed 931

and transcribed a literal prose version of the Iliad and Odyssey,

which satisfied the thirst of his friend Petrarch, and which,

perhaps, in the succeeding century, was clandestinely used by

Laurentius Valla, the Latin interpreter. It was from his

narratives that the same Boccace collected the materials for his

treatise on the genealogy of the heathen gods, a work, in that

age, of stupendous erudition, and which he ostentatiously

sprinkled with Greek characters and passages, to excite the

wonder and applause of his more ignorant readers. 94 The first

steps of learning are slow and laborious; no more than ten

votaries of Homer could be enumerated in all Italy; and neither

Rome, nor Venice, nor Naples, could add a single name to this

studious catalogue. But their numbers would have multiplied,

their progress would have been accelerated, if the inconstant

Leo, at the end of three years, had not relinquished an honorable

and beneficial station. In his passage, Petrarch entertained him

at Padua a short time: he enjoyed the scholar, but was justly

offended with the gloomy and unsocial temper of the man.

Discontented with the world and with himself, Leo depreciated his

present enjoyments, while absent persons and objects were dear to

his imagination. In Italy he was a Thessalian, in Greece a native

of Calabria: in the company of the Latins he disdained their

language, religion, and manners: no sooner was he landed at

Constantinople, than he again sighed for the wealth of Venice and

the elegance of Florence. His Italian friends were deaf to his

importunity: he depended on their curiosity and indulgence, and

embarked on a second voyage; but on his entrance into the

Adriatic, the ship was assailed by a tempest, and the unfortunate

teacher, who like Ulysses had fastened himself to the mast, was

struck dead by a flash of lightning. The humane Petrarch dropped

a tear on his disaster; but he was most anxious to learn whether

some copy of Euripides or Sophocles might not be saved from the

hands of the mariners. 95

93 (return) [ For the life and writings of Boccace, who was born

in 1313, and died in 1375, Fabricius (Bibliot. Latin. Medii Ævi,

tom. i. p. 248, &c.) and Tiraboschi (tom. v. p. 83, 439—451) may

be consulted. The editions, versions, imitations of his novels,

are innumerable. Yet he was ashamed to communicate that trifling,

and perhaps scandalous, work to Petrarch, his respectable friend,

in whose letters and memoirs he conspicuously appears.]

931 (return) [ This translation of Homer was by Pilatus, not by

Boccacio. See Hallam, Hist. of Lit. vol. i. p. 132.—M.]

94 (return) [ Boccace indulges an honest vanity: Ostentationis

causâ Græca carmina adscripsi.... jure utor meo; meum est hoc

decus, mea gloria scilicet inter Etruscos Græcis uti carminibus.

Nonne ego fui qui Leontium Pilatum, &c., (de Genealogia Deorum,

l. xv. c. 7, a work which, though now forgotten, has run through

thirteen or fourteen editions.)]

95 (return) [ Leontius, or Leo Pilatus, is sufficiently made

known by Hody, (p. 2—11,) and the abbé de Sade, (Vie de

Pétrarque, tom. iii. p. 625—634, 670—673,) who has very happily

caught the lively and dramatic manner of his original.]

But the faint rudiments of Greek learning, which Petrarch had

encouraged and Boccace had planted, soon withered and expired.

The succeeding generation was content for a while with the

improvement of Latin eloquence; nor was it before the end of the

fourteenth century that a new and perpetual flame was rekindled

in Italy. 96 Previous to his own journey the emperor Manuel

despatched his envoys and orators to implore the compassion of

the Western princes. Of these envoys, the most conspicuous, or

the most learned, was Manuel Chrysoloras, 97 of noble birth, and

whose Roman ancestors are supposed to have migrated with the

great Constantine. After visiting the courts of France and

England, where he obtained some contributions and more promises,

the envoy was invited to assume the office of a professor; and

Florence had again the honor of this second invitation. By his

knowledge, not only of the Greek, but of the Latin tongue,

Chrysoloras deserved the stipend, and surpassed the expectation,

of the republic. His school was frequented by a crowd of

disciples of every rank and age; and one of these, in a general

history, has described his motives and his success. “At that

time,” says Leonard Aretin, 98 “I was a student of the civil law;

but my soul was inflamed with the love of letters; and I bestowed

some application on the sciences of logic and rhetoric. On the

arrival of Manuel, I hesitated whether I should desert my legal

studies, or relinquish this golden opportunity; and thus, in the

ardor of youth, I communed with my own mind—Wilt thou be wanting

to thyself and thy fortune? Wilt thou refuse to be introduced to

a familiar converse with Homer, Plato, and Demosthenes; with

those poets, philosophers, and orators, of whom such wonders are

related, and who are celebrated by every age as the great masters

of human science? Of professors and scholars in civil law, a

sufficient supply will always be found in our universities; but a

teacher, and such a teacher, of the Greek language, if he once be

suffered to escape, may never afterwards be retrieved. Convinced

by these reasons, I gave myself to Chrysoloras; and so strong was

my passion, that the lessons which I had imbibed in the day were

the constant object of my nightly dreams.” 99 At the same time

and place, the Latin classics were explained by John of Ravenna,

the domestic pupil of Petrarch; 100 the Italians, who illustrated

their age and country, were formed in this double school; and

Florence became the fruitful seminary of Greek and Roman

erudition. 101 The presence of the emperor recalled Chrysoloras

from the college to the court; but he afterwards taught at Pavia

and Rome with equal industry and applause. The remainder of his

life, about fifteen years, was divided between Italy and

Constantinople, between embassies and lessons. In the noble

office of enlightening a foreign nation, the grammarian was not

unmindful of a more sacred duty to his prince and country; and

Emanuel Chrysoloras died at Constance on a public mission from

the emperor to the council.

96 (return) [ Dr. Hody (p. 54) is angry with Leonard Aretin,

Guarinus, Paulus Jovius, &c., for affirming, that the Greek

letters were restored in Italy _post septingentos annos_; as if,

says he, they had flourished till the end of the viith century.

These writers most probably reckoned from the last period of the

exarchate; and the presence of the Greek magistrates and troops

at Ravenna and Rome must have preserved, in some degree, the use

of their native tongue.]

97 (return) [ See the article of Emanuel, or Manuel Chrysoloras,

in Hody (p 12—54) and Tiraboschi, (tom. vii. p. 113—118.) The

precise date of his arrival floats between the years 1390 and

1400, and is only confined by the reign of Boniface IX.]

98 (return) [ The name of _Aretinus_ has been assumed by five or

six natives of _Arezzo_ in Tuscany, of whom the most famous and

the most worthless lived in the xvith century. Leonardus Brunus

Aretinus, the disciple of Chrysoloras, was a linguist, an orator,

and an historian, the secretary of four successive popes, and the

chancellor of the republic of Florence, where he died A.D. 1444,

at the age of seventy-five, (Fabric. Bibliot. Medii Ævi, tom. i.

p. 190 &c. Tiraboschi, tom. vii. p. 33—38.)]

99 (return) [ See the passage in Aretin. Commentario Rerum suo

Tempore in Italia gestarum, apud Hodium, p. 28—30.]

100 (return) [ In this domestic discipline, Petrarch, who loved

the youth, often complains of the eager curiosity, restless

temper, and proud feelings, which announce the genius and glory

of a riper age, (Mémoires sur Pétrarque, tom. iii. p. 700—709.)]

101 (return) [ Hinc Græcæ Latinæque scholæ exortæ sunt, Guarino

Philelpho, Leonardo Aretino, Caroloque, ac plerisque aliis

tanquam ex equo Trojano prodeuntibus, quorum emulatione multa

ingenia deinceps ad laudem excitata sunt, (Platina in Bonifacio

IX.) Another Italian writer adds the names of Paulus Petrus

Vergerius, Omnibonus Vincentius, Poggius, Franciscus Barbarus,

&c. But I question whether a rigid chronology would allow

Chrysoloras _all_ these eminent scholars, (Hodius, p. 25—27,

&c.)]

After his example, the restoration of the Greek letters in Italy

was prosecuted by a series of emigrants, who were destitute of

fortune, and endowed with learning, or at least with language.

From the terror or oppression of the Turkish arms, the natives of

Thessalonica and Constantinople escaped to a land of freedom,

curiosity, and wealth. The synod introduced into Florence the

lights of the Greek church, and the oracles of the Platonic

philosophy; and the fugitives who adhered to the union, had the

double merit of renouncing their country, not only for the

Christian, but for the catholic cause. A patriot, who sacrifices

his party and conscience to the allurements of favor, may be

possessed, however, of the private and social virtues: he no

longer hears the reproachful epithets of slave and apostate; and

the consideration which he acquires among his new associates will

restore in his own eyes the dignity of his character. The prudent

conformity of Bessarion was rewarded with the Roman purple: he

fixed his residence in Italy; and the Greek cardinal, the titular

patriarch of Constantinople, was respected as the chief and

protector of his nation: 102 his abilities were exercised in the

legations of Bologna, Venice, Germany, and France; and his

election to the chair of St. Peter floated for a moment on the

uncertain breath of a conclave. 103 His ecclesiastical honors

diffused a splendor and preeminence over his literary merit and

service: his palace was a school; as often as the cardinal

visited the Vatican, he was attended by a learned train of both

nations; 104 of men applauded by themselves and the public; and

whose writings, now overspread with dust, were popular and useful

in their own times. I shall not attempt to enumerate the

restorers of Grecian literature in the fifteenth century; and it

may be sufficient to mention with gratitude the names of Theodore

Gaza, of George of Trebizond, of John Argyropulus, and Demetrius

Chalcocondyles, who taught their native language in the schools

of Florence and Rome. Their labors were not inferior to those of

Bessarion, whose purple they revered, and whose fortune was the

secret object of their envy. But the lives of these grammarians

were humble and obscure: they had declined the lucrative paths of

the church; their dress and manners secluded them from the

commerce of the world; and since they were confined to the merit,

they might be content with the rewards, of learning. From this

character, Janus Lascaris 105 will deserve an exception. His

eloquence, politeness, and Imperial descent, recommended him to

the French monarch; and in the same cities he was alternately

employed to teach and to negotiate. Duty and interest prompted

them to cultivate the study of the Latin language; and the most

successful attained the faculty of writing and speaking with

fluency and elegance in a foreign idiom. But they ever retained

the inveterate vanity of their country: their praise, or at least

their esteem, was reserved for the national writers, to whom they

owed their fame and subsistence; and they sometimes betrayed

their contempt in licentious criticism or satire on Virgil’s

poetry, and the oratory of Tully. 106 The superiority of these

masters arose from the familiar use of a living language; and

their first disciples were incapable of discerning how far they

had degenerated from the knowledge, and even the practice of

their ancestors. A vicious pronunciation, 107 which they

introduced, was banished from the schools by the reason of the

succeeding age. Of the power of the Greek accents they were

ignorant; and those musical notes, which, from an Attic tongue,

and to an Attic ear, must have been the secret soul of harmony,

were to their eyes, as to our own, no more than minute and

unmeaning marks, in prose superfluous and troublesome in verse.

The art of grammar they truly possessed; the valuable fragments

of Apollonius and Herodian were transfused into their lessons;

and their treatises of syntax and etymology, though devoid of

philosophic spirit, are still useful to the Greek student. In the

shipwreck of the Byzantine libraries, each fugitive seized a

fragment of treasure, a copy of some author, who without his

industry might have perished: the transcripts were multiplied by

an assiduous, and sometimes an elegant pen; and the text was

corrected and explained by their own comments, or those of the

elder scholiasts. The sense, though not the spirit, of the Greek

classics, was interpreted to the Latin world: the beauties of

style evaporate in a version; but the judgment of Theodore Gaza

selected the more solid works of Aristotle and Theophrastus, and

their natural histories of animals and plants opened a rich fund

of genuine and experimental science.

102 (return) [ See in Hody the article of Bessarion, (p.

136—177.) Theodore Gaza, George of Trebizond, and the rest of the

Greeks whom I have named or omitted, are inserted in their proper

chapters of his learned work. See likewise Tiraboschi, in the 1st

and 2d parts of the vith tome.]

103 (return) [ The cardinals knocked at his door, but his

conclavist refused to interrupt the studies of Bessarion:

“Nicholas,” said he, “thy respect has cost thee a hat, and me the

tiara.” * Note: Roscoe (Life of Lorenzo de Medici, vol. i. p. 75)

considers that Hody has refuted this “idle tale.”—M.]

104 (return) [ Such as George of Trebizond, Theodore Gaza,

Argyropulus, Andronicus of Thessalonica, Philelphus, Poggius,

Blondus, Nicholas Perrot, Valla, Campanus, Platina, &c. Viri

(says Hody, with the pious zeal of a scholar) (nullo ævo

perituri, p. 156.)]

105 (return) [ He was born before the taking of Constantinople,

but his honorable life was stretched far into the xvith century,

(A.D. 1535.) Leo X. and Francis I. were his noblest patrons,

under whose auspices he founded the Greek colleges of Rome and

Paris, (Hody, p. 247—275.) He left posterity in France; but the

counts de Vintimille, and their numerous branches, derive the

name of Lascaris from a doubtful marriage in the xiiith century

with the daughter of a Greek emperor (Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p.

224—230.)]

106 (return) [ Two of his epigrams against Virgil, and three

against Tully, are preserved and refuted by Franciscus Floridus,

who can find no better names than Græculus ineptus et impudens,

(Hody, p. 274.) In our own times, an English critic has accused

the Æneid of containing multa languida, nugatoria, spiritû et

majestate carminis heroici defecta; many such verses as he, the

said Jeremiah Markland, would have been ashamed of owning,

(præfat. ad Statii Sylvas, p. 21, 22.)]

107 (return) [ Emanuel Chrysoloras, and his colleagues, are

accused of ignorance, envy, or avarice, (Sylloge, &c., tom. ii.

p. 235.) The modern Greeks pronounce the b as a V consonant, and

confound three vowels, (h i u,) and several diphthongs. Such was

the vulgar pronunciation which the stern Gardiner maintained by

penal statutes in the university of Cambridge: but the

monosyllable bh represented to an Attic ear the bleating of

sheep, and a bellwether is better evidence than a bishop or a

chancellor. The treatises of those scholars, particularly

Erasmus, who asserted a more classical pronunciation, are

collected in the Sylloge of Havercamp, (2 vols. in octavo, Lugd.

Bat. 1736, 1740:) but it is difficult to paint sounds by words:

and in their reference to modern use, they can be understood only

by their respective countrymen. We may observe, that our peculiar

pronunciation of the O, th, is approved by Erasmus, (tom. ii. p.

130.)]