of Barbarians from Scythia and Germany over-spread the provinces and
extinguished the empire of ancient Rome. The weakness of Constantinople
was concealed by extent of dominion: her limits were inviolate, or at
least entire; and the kingdom of Justinian was enlarged by the splendid
acquisition of Africa and Italy. But the possession of these new
conquests was transient and precarious; and almost a moiety of the
Eastern empire was torn away by the arms of the Saracens. Syria and
Egypt were oppressed by the Arabian caliphs; and, after the reduction of
Africa, their lieutenants invaded and subdued the Roman province which
had been changed into the Gothic monarchy of Spain. The islands of the
Mediterranean were not inaccessible to their naval powers; and it was
from their extreme stations, the harbors of Crete and the fortresses of
Cilicia, that the faithful or rebel emirs insulted the majesty of the
throne and capital. The remaining provinces, under the obedience of
the emperors, were cast into a new mould; and the jurisdiction of
the presidents, the consulars, and the counts were superseded by the
institution of the _themes_, or military governments, which prevailed
under the successors of Heraclius, and are described by the pen of the
royal author. Of the twenty-nine themes, twelve in Europe and seventeen
in Asia, the origin is obscure, the etymology doubtful or capricious:
the limits were arbitrary and fluctuating; but some particular names,
that sound the most strangely to our ear, were derived from the
character and attributes of the troops that were maintained at the
expense, and for the guard, of the respective divisions. The vanity of
the Greek princes most eagerly grasped the shadow of conquest and the
memory of lost dominion. A new Mesopotamia was created on the western
side of the Euphrates: the appellation and prÊtor of Sicily were
transferred to a narrow slip of Calabria; and a fragment of the duchy of
Beneventum was promoted to the style and title of the theme of Lombardy.
In the decline of the Arabian empire, the successors of Constantine
might indulge their pride in more solid advantages. The victories of
Nicephorus, John Zimisces, and Basil the Second, revived the fame, and
enlarged the boundaries, of the Roman name: the province of Cilicia, the
metropolis of Antioch, the islands of Crete and Cyprus, were restored
to the allegiance of Christ and CÊsar: one third of Italy was annexed to
the throne of Constantinople: the kingdom of Bulgaria was destroyed; and
the last sovereigns of the Macedonian dynasty extended their sway from
the sources of the Tigris to the neighborhood of Rome. In the eleventh
century, the prospect was again clouded by new enemies and new
misfortunes: the relics of Italy were swept away by the Norman
adventures; and almost all the Asiatic branches were dissevered from the
Roman trunk by the Turkish conquerors. After these losses, the
emperors of the Comnenian family continued to reign from the Danube
to Peloponnesus, and from Belgrade to Nice, Trebizond, and the winding
stream of the Meander. The spacious provinces of Thrace, Macedonia,
and Greece, were obedient to their sceptre; the possession of Cyprus,
Rhodes, and Crete, was accompanied by the fifty islands of the ∆gean or
Holy Sea; and the remnant of their empire transcends the measure of the
largest of the European kingdoms.
The same princes might assert, with dignity and truth, that of all the
monarchs of Christendom they possessed the greatest city, the most ample
revenue, the most flourishing and populous state. With the decline and
fall of the empire, the cities of the West had decayed and fallen; nor
could the ruins of Rome, or the mud walls, wooden hovels, and narrow
precincts of Paris and London, prepare the Latin stranger to contemplate
the situation and extent of Constantinople, her stately palaces
and churches, and the arts and luxury of an innumerable people. Her
treasures might attract, but her virgin strength had repelled, and still
promised to repel, the audacious invasion of the Persian and Bulgarian,
the Arab and the Russian. The provinces were less fortunate and
impregnable; and few districts, few cities, could be discovered which
had not been violated by some fierce Barbarian, impatient to despoil,
because he was hopeless to possess. From the age of Justinian the
Eastern empire was sinking below its former level; the powers of
destruction were more active than those of improvement; and the
calamities of war were imbittered by the more permanent evils of
civil and ecclesiastical tyranny. The captive who had escaped from the
Barbarians was often stripped and imprisoned by the ministers of his
sovereign: the Greek superstition relaxed the mind by prayer, and
emaciated the body by fasting; and the multitude of convents and
festivals diverted many hands and many days from the temporal service
of mankind. Yet the subjects of the Byzantine empire were still the most
dexterous and diligent of nations; their country was blessed by nature
with every advantage of soil, climate, and situation; and, in the
support and restoration of the arts, their patient and peaceful temper
was more useful than the warlike spirit and feudal anarchy of Europe.
The provinces that still adhered to the empire were repeopled and
enriched by the misfortunes of those which were irrecoverably lost.
From the yoke of the caliphs, the Catholics of Syria, Egypt, and Africa
retired to the allegiance of their prince, to the society of their
brethren: the movable wealth, which eludes the search of oppression,
accompanied and alleviated their exile, and Constantinople received
into her bosom the fugitive trade of Alexandria and Tyre. The chiefs
of Armenia and Scythia, who fled from hostile or religious persecution,
were hospitably entertained: their followers were encouraged to build
new cities and to cultivate waste lands; and many spots, both in Europe
and Asia, preserved the name, the manners, or at least the memory, of
these national colonies. Even the tribes of Barbarians, who had seated
themselves in arms on the territory of the empire, were gradually
reclaimed to the laws of the church and state; and as long as they were
separated from the Greeks, their posterity supplied a race of faithful
and obedient soldiers. Did we possess sufficient materials to survey
the twenty-nine themes of the Byzantine monarchy, our curiosity might
be satisfied with a chosen example: it is fortunate enough that the
clearest light should be thrown on the most interesting province,
and the name of Peloponnesus will awaken the attention of the classic
reader.
As early as the eighth century, in the troubled reign of the
Iconoclasts, Greece, and even Peloponnesus, were overrun by some
Sclavonian bands who outstripped the royal standard of Bulgaria. The
strangers of old, Cadmus, and Danaus, and Pelops, had planted in that
fruitful soil the seeds of policy and learning; but the savages of the
north eradicated what yet remained of their sickly and withered roots.
In this irruption, the country and the inhabitants were transformed; the
Grecian blood was contaminated; and the proudest nobles of Peloponnesus
were branded with the names of foreigners and _slaves_. By the diligence
of succeeding princes, the land was in some measure purified from the
Barbarians; and the humble remnant was bound by an oath of obedience,
tribute, and military service, which they often renewed and often
violated. The siege of Patras was formed by a singular concurrence of
the Sclavonians of Peloponnesus and the Saracens of Africa. In their
last distress, a pious fiction of the approach of the prÊtor of
Corinth revived the courage of the citizens. Their sally was bold and
successful; the strangers embarked, the rebels submitted, and the glory
of the day was ascribed to a phantom or a stranger, who fought in the
foremost ranks under the character of St. Andrew the Apostle. The shrine
which contained his relics was decorated with the trophies of victory,
and the captive race was forever devoted to the service and vassalage
of the metropolitan church of Patras. By the revolt of two Sclavonian
tribes, in the neighborhood of Helos and LacedÊmon, the peace of the
peninsula was often disturbed. They sometimes insulted the weakness, and
sometimes resisted the oppression, of the Byzantine government, till at
length the approach of their hostile brethren extorted a golden bull
to define the rites and obligations of the Ezzerites and Milengi, whose
annual tribute was defined at twelve hundred pieces of gold. From
these strangers the Imperial geographer has accurately distinguished a
domestic, and perhaps original, race, who, in some degree, might derive
their blood from the much-injured Helots. The liberality of the Romans,
and especially of Augustus, had enfranchised the maritime cities from
the dominion of Sparta; and the continuance of the same benefit ennobled
them with the title of _Eleuthero_, or Free-Laconians. In the time of
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, they had acquired the name of _Mainotes_,
under which they dishonor the claim of liberty by the inhuman pillage of
all that is shipwrecked on their rocky shores. Their territory, barren
of corn, but fruitful of olives, extended to the Cape of Malea: they
accepted a chief or prince from the Byzantine prÊtor, and a light
tribute of four hundred pieces of gold was the badge of their immunity,
rather than of their dependence. The freemen of Laconia assumed the
character of Romans, and long adhered to the religion of the Greeks.
By the zeal of the emperor Basil, they were baptized in the faith of
Christ: but the altars of Venus and Neptune had been crowned by these
rustic votaries five hundred years after they were proscribed in the
Roman world. In the theme of Peloponnesus, forty cities were still
numbered, and the declining state of Sparta, Argos, and Corinth, may be
suspended in the tenth century, at an equal distance, perhaps, between
their antique splendor and their present desolation. The duty of
military service, either in person or by substitute, was imposed on the
lands or benefices of the province; a sum of five pieces of gold was
assessed on each of the substantial tenants; and the same capitation was
shared among several heads of inferior value. On the proclamation of
an Italian war, the Peloponnesians excused themselves by a voluntary
oblation of one hundred pounds of gold, (four thousand pounds sterling,)
and a thousand horses with their arms and trappings. The churches
and monasteries furnished their contingent; a sacrilegious profit was
extorted from the sale of ecclesiastical honors; and the indigent bishop
of Leucadia was made responsible for a pension of one hundred pieces of
gold.
But the wealth of the province, and the trust of the revenue, were
founded on the fair and plentiful produce of trade and manufacturers;
and some symptoms of liberal policy may be traced in a law which exempts
from all personal taxes the mariners of Peloponnesus, and the workmen
in parchment and purple. This denomination may be fairly applied or
extended to the manufacturers of linen, woollen, and more especially of
silk: the two former of which had flourished in Greece since the days
of Homer; and the last was introduced perhaps as early as the reign
of Justinian. These arts, which were exercised at Corinth, Thebes,
and Argos, afforded food and occupation to a numerous people: the
men, women, and children were distributed according to their age and
strength; and, if many of these were domestic slaves, their masters, who
directed the work and enjoyed the profit, were of a free and honorable
condition. The gifts which a rich and generous matron of Peloponnesus
presented to the emperor Basil, her adopted son, were doubtless
fabricated in the Grecian looms. Danielis bestowed a carpet of fine
wool, of a pattern which imitated the spots of a peacock's tail, of a
magnitude to overspread the floor of a new church, erected in the triple
name of Christ, of Michael the archangel, and of the prophet Elijah.
She gave six hundred pieces of silk and linen, of various use and
denomination: the silk was painted with the Tyrian dye, and adorned by
the labors of the needle; and the linen was so exquisitely fine, that an
entire piece might be rolled in the hollow of a cane. In his description
of the Greek manufactures, an historian of Sicily discriminates their
price, according to the weight and quality of the silk, the closeness
of the texture, the beauty of the colors, and the taste and materials of
the embroidery. A single, or even a double or treble thread was thought
sufficient for ordinary sale; but the union of six threads composed
a piece of stronger and more costly workmanship. Among the colors,
he celebrates, with affectation of eloquence, the fiery blaze of the
scarlet, and the softer lustre of the green. The embroidery was raised
either in silk or gold: the more simple ornament of stripes or circles
was surpassed by the nicer imitation of flowers: the vestments that were
fabricated for the palace or the altar often glittered with precious
stones; and the figures were delineated in strings of Oriental pearls.
Till the twelfth century, Greece alone, of all the countries of
Christendom, was possessed of the insect who is taught by nature, and of
the workmen who are instructed by art, to prepare this elegant luxury.
But the secret had been stolen by the dexterity and diligence of the
Arabs: the caliphs of the East and West scorned to borrow from the
unbelievers their furniture and apparel; and two cities of Spain,
Almeria and Lisbon, were famous for the manufacture, the use, and,
perhaps, the exportation, of silk. It was first introduced into Sicily
by the Normans; and this emigration of trade distinguishes the victory
of Roger from the uniform and fruitless hostilities of every age. After
the sack of Corinth, Athens, and Thebes, his lieutenant embarked with a
captive train of weavers and artificers of both sexes, a trophy glorious
to their master, and disgraceful to the Greek emperor. The king of
Sicily was not insensible of the value of the present; and, in the
restitution of the prisoners, he excepted only the male and female
manufacturers of Thebes and Corinth, who labor, says the Byzantine
historian, under a barbarous lord, like the old Eretrians in the service
of Darius. A stately edifice, in the palace of Palermo, was erected for
the use of this industrious colony; and the art was propagated by their
children and disciples to satisfy the increasing demand of the western
world. The decay of the looms of Sicily may be ascribed to the troubles
of the island, and the competition of the Italian cities. In the year
thirteen hundred and fourteen, Lucca alone, among her sister republics,
enjoyed the lucrative monopoly. A domestic revolution dispersed
the manufacturers to Florence, Bologna, Venice, Milan, and even the
countries beyond the Alps; and thirteen years after this event the
statutes of Modena enjoin the planting of mulberry-trees, and regulate
the duties on raw silk. The northern climates are less propitious to
the education of the silkworm; but the industry of France and England is
supplied and enriched by the productions of Italy and China.
Chapter LIII: Fate Of The Eastern Empire.--Part II.
I must repeat the complaint that the vague and scanty memorials of the
times will not afford any just estimate of the taxes, the revenue, and
the resources of the Greek empire. From every province of Europe and
Asia the rivulets of gold and silver discharged into the Imperial
reservoir a copious and perennial stream. The separation of the branches
from the trunk increased the relative magnitude of Constantinople; and
the maxims of despotism contracted the state to the capital, the capital
to the palace, and the palace to the royal person. A Jewish traveller,
who visited the East in the twelfth century, is lost in his admiration
of the Byzantine riches. "It is here," says Benjamin of Tudela, "in
the queen of cities, that the tributes of the Greek empire are annually
deposited and the lofty towers are filled with precious magazines of
silk, purple, and gold. It is said, that Constantinople pays each day
to her sovereign twenty thousand pieces of gold; which are levied on the
shops, taverns, and markets, on the merchants of Persia and Egypt, of
Russia and Hungary, of Italy and Spain, who frequent the capital by sea
and land." In all pecuniary matters, the authority of a Jew is doubtless
respectable; but as the three hundred and sixty-five days would produce
a yearly income exceeding seven millions sterling, I am tempted to
retrench at least the numerous festivals of the Greek calendar. The mass
of treasure that was saved by Theodora and Basil the Second will suggest
a splendid, though indefinite, idea of their supplies and resources. The
mother of Michael, before she retired to a cloister, attempted to check
or expose the prodigality of her ungrateful son, by a free and faithful
account of the wealth which he inherited; one hundred and nine thousand
pounds of gold, and three hundred thousand of silver, the fruits of her
own economy and that of her deceased husband. The avarice of Basil is
not less renowned than his valor and fortune: his victorious armies were
paid and rewarded without breaking into the mass of two hundred thousand
pounds of gold, (about eight millions sterling,) which he had buried in
the subterraneous vaults of the palace. Such accumulation of treasure
is rejected by the theory and practice of modern policy; and we are more
apt to compute the national riches by the use and abuse of the public
credit. Yet the maxims of antiquity are still embraced by a monarch
formidable to his enemies; by a republic respectable to her allies; and
both have attained their respective ends of military power and domestic
tranquillity.
Whatever might be consumed for the present wants, or reserved for the
future use, of the state, the first and most sacred demand was for the
pomp and pleasure of the emperor, and his discretion only could define
the measure of his private expense. The princes of Constantinople were
far removed from the simplicity of nature; yet, with the revolving
seasons, they were led by taste or fashion to withdraw to a purer air,
from the smoke and tumult of the capital. They enjoyed, or affected to
enjoy, the rustic festival of the vintage: their leisure was amused by
the exercise of the chase and the calmer occupation of fishing, and in
the summer heats, they were shaded from the sun, and refreshed by the
cooling breezes from the sea. The coasts and islands of Asia and Europe
were covered with their magnificent villas; but, instead of the modest
art which secretly strives to hide itself and to decorate the scenery of
nature, the marble structure of their gardens served only to expose
the riches of the lord, and the labors of the architect. The successive
casualties of inheritance and forfeiture had rendered the sovereign
proprietor of many stately houses in the city and suburbs, of which
twelve were appropriated to the ministers of state; but the great
palace, the centre of the Imperial residence, was fixed during eleven
centuries to the same position, between the hippodrome, the cathedral
of St. Sophia, and the gardens, which descended by many a terrace to the
shores of the Propontis. The primitive edifice of the first Constantine
was a copy, or rival, of ancient Rome; the gradual improvements of his
successors aspired to emulate the wonders of the old world, and in the
tenth century, the Byzantine palace excited the admiration, at least
of the Latins, by an unquestionable preÎminence of strength, size, and
magnificence. But the toil and treasure of so many ages had produced
a vast and irregular pile: each separate building was marked with the
character of the times and of the founder; and the want of space
might excuse the reigning monarch, who demolished, perhaps with secret
satisfaction, the works of his predecessors. The economy of the emperor
Theophilus allowed a more free and ample scope for his domestic luxury
and splendor. A favorite ambassador, who had astonished the Abbassides
themselves by his pride and liberality, presented on his return the
model of a palace, which the caliph of Bagdad had recently constructed
on the banks of the Tigris. The model was instantly copied and
surpassed: the new buildings of Theophilus were accompanied with
gardens, and with five churches, one of which was conspicuous for size
and beauty: it was crowned with three domes, the roof of gilt brass
reposed on columns of Italian marble, and the walls were incrusted with
marbles of various colors. In the face of the church, a semicircular
portico, of the figure and name of the Greek _sigma_, was supported by
fifteen columns of Phrygian marble, and the subterraneous vaults were of
a similar construction. The square before the sigma was decorated with
a fountain, and the margin of the basin was lined and encompassed with
plates of silver. In the beginning of each season, the basin, instead
of water, was replenished with the most exquisite fruits, which were
abandoned to the populace for the entertainment of the prince. He
enjoyed this tumultuous spectacle from a throne resplendent with gold
and gems, which was raised by a marble staircase to the height of a
lofty terrace. Below the throne were seated the officers of his guards,
the magistrates, the chiefs of the factions of the circus; the inferior
steps were occupied by the people, and the place below was covered with
troops of dancers, singers, and pantomimes. The square was surrounded
by the hall of justice, the arsenal, and the various offices of business
and pleasure; and the _purple_ chamber was named from the annual
distribution of robes of scarlet and purple by the hand of the empress
herself. The long series of the apartments was adapted to the seasons,
and decorated with marble and porphyry, with painting, sculpture, and
mosaics, with a profusion of gold, silver, and precious stones. His
fanciful magnificence employed the skill and patience of such artists
as the times could afford: but the taste of Athens would have despised
their frivolous and costly labors; a golden tree, with its leaves and
branches, which sheltered a multitude of birds warbling their artificial
notes, and two lions of massy gold, and of natural size, who looked and
roared like their brethren of the forest. The successors of Theophilus,
of the Basilian and Comnenian dynasties, were not less ambitious of
leaving some memorial of their residence; and the portion of the palace
most splendid and august was dignified with the title of the golden
_triclinium_. With becoming modesty, the rich and noble Greeks aspired
to imitate their sovereign, and when they passed through the streets on
horseback, in their robes of silk and embroidery, they were mistaken by
the children for kings. A matron of Peloponnesus, who had cherished the
infant fortunes of Basil the Macedonian, was excited by tenderness or
vanity to visit the greatness of her adopted son. In a journey of
five hundred miles from Patras to Constantinople, her age or indolence
declined the fatigue of a horse or carriage: the soft litter or bed of
Danielis was transported on the shoulders of ten robust slaves; and
as they were relieved at easy distances, a band of three hundred were
selected for the performance of this service. She was entertained in the
Byzantine palace with filial reverence, and the honors of a queen; and
whatever might be the origin of her wealth, her gifts were not unworthy
of the regal dignity. I have already described the fine and curious
manufactures of Peloponnesus, of linen, silk, and woollen; but the most
acceptable of her presents consisted in three hundred beautiful youths,
of whom one hundred were eunuchs; "for she was not ignorant," says
the historian, "that the air of the palace is more congenial to such
insects, than a shepherd's dairy to the flies of the summer." During her
lifetime, she bestowed the greater part of her estates in Peloponnesus,
and her testament instituted Leo, the son of Basil, her universal heir.
After the payment of the legacies, fourscore villas or farms were added
to the Imperial domain; and three thousand slaves of Danielis were
enfranchised by their new lord, and transplanted as a colony to the
Italian coast. From this example of a private matron, we may estimate
the wealth and magnificence of the emperors. Yet our enjoyments are
confined by a narrow circle; and, whatsoever may be its value, the
luxury of life is possessed with more innocence and safety by the master
of his own, than by the steward of the public, fortune.