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LXVI.

Sylvester Syropulus, has composed † a free and CHAP. curious history of the false union . 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 Heraclea 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

H 2

The Christian name of Sylvester is borrowed from the Latin Calendar. In modern Greek, whos, as a diminutive, is added to the end of words; nor can any reasoning of Creyghton, the editor, excuse his changing into Sguropulus (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?

From the conclusion of the history, I should fix the date to the year 1444, four years after the synod, when the great ecclesiarch had abdicated his office, (sectio xii. p. 330-350.). His passions were cooled by time and retirement; and, although Syropulus is often partial, he is never intemperate.

‡ Vera historia unionis non vera inter Græcos et Latinos, (Hage 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 exclu ded from the orthodox collections of the councils.

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CHAP. contend with the Latins in the extent of their spiri tual empire. The precious vases of St Sophia were exposed to the winds and waves, that the patriarch might officiate with becoming splendour; whatever gold the Emperor could procure, was expended in the massy ornaments of his bed and chariot * *; 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 Gulff. After a tedious and troublesome navigation of at Venice, seventy-seven days, this religious squadron cast anA. D. chor 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 honours 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,

His trium

phal entry

1438,

Feb. 9.;

the

* Syropulus (p. 63.) simply expresses his intention: έτω πομποίων εν Ιταλοις μίζας βασιλευς πας εκείνων νομιζολο ; 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 Croesus ex opulenta Lydia.

+ 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 4th section, (p. 67-1co.), and that the historian has the uncommon talent of placing each scene before the reader's eye.

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the adoration, of the Doge and senators. They CHA P. sailed in the Bucentaur, which was accompanied by twelve stately gallies; 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 t. They sighed to behold the spoils and trophies with which it had been decorated after the sack of Constantinople. After an 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, into Ferwhose trappings were embroidered with golden rara, eagles, was led before him; and the canopy was borne over his head by the princes of Este, the

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At the time of the synod, Phranzes was in Peloponnesus; but he received, from the despot Demetrius, a faithful account of the honourable reception of the Emperor and patriarch, both at Venice and Ferrara, (Dux.... sedentem Imperatorem adorat), which are more slightly mentioned by the Latins, (1. ii. c. 14-16.).

The astonishment of a Greek prince and a French ambassador (Memoires de Philippe de Comines, 1. vii. c. 18.) at the sight of Venice, abundantly prove, that in the 15th century, it was the first and most splendid of the Christian cities. For the spoils of Constantinople at Venice, see Syropulus, (P. 87.).

Feb. 28.

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CHAP. sons or kinsmen of Nicholas, marquis of the city, and a sovereign more powerful than himself. Palæologus did not alight till he reached the bottom of the stair-case; the Pope advanced to the door of the apartment; refused his proffered genuflexion; 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 honour in the centre was claimed by the temporal and ecclesiastical chiefs; and it was only by alledging 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 t.

But

*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.).

The Latin vulgar was provoked to laughter at the strange dresses of the Greeks, and especially the length of their gar ments, their sleeves, and their beards; nor was the Emperor distinguished, except by the purple colour, and lis diadem or

tiara

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Council

of the

and Lat

ins at Fer

rara and Florence,

A. D. 1438,

A. D.

1349,

But as soon as festivity and form had given place CHAP. to a more serious treaty, the Greeks were dissatisfied with their journey, with themselves, and withi the Pope. The artful pencil of his emissaries had Greeks 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 appear. ance of the universal synod of Ferrara betrayed his Oct. 8weakness; and the Latins opened the first session with only five archbishops, eighteen bishops, and July 6. 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 favourites and Janizaries, fixed his summer-residence at a pleasant spacious monastery, six miles from Ferrara; forgot, in the pleasures of the chace, the distress of the church and state; and persisted in destroying the game, with out listening to the just complaints of the marquis H 4

;

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 più degna than the Italian, (Vespasiano, n Vit. Eugen. IV. in Murarori, tom. xxv, p. 261.).

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