LXVIII. CHAP. many of the citizens, or even of the monks, were able and willing to bear arms for their country. The lists were intrusted to Phranza *; and, after a dilgent addition, he informed his master, with grief and surprise, that the national defence was reduced to four thousand nine hundred and seventy Romans. Between Constantine and his faithful minister, this comfortless secret was preserved; and a sufficient proportion of shields, cross-bows, and muskets, was distributed from the arsenal to the city-bands. They derived some accession from a body of two thousand strangers, under the command of John Justiniani, a noble Genoese; a liberal donative was advanced to these auxiliaries; and a princely recompence, the isle of Lemnos, was promised to the valour and victory of their chief. A strong chain was drawn across the mouth of the harbour; it was supported by some Greek and Italian vessels of war and merchandise; and the ships of every Christian nation, that successively arrived from Candia and the Black Sea, were detained for the public service. Against the powers of the Ottoman empire, a city of the extent of thirteen, perhaps of sixteen miles, was defended by a scanty garrison of seven or eight thousand soldiers. Europe and Asia were open to the besiegers; but the strength and provisions of the Greeks * Ego, eidem (Imp.) tabellas extribui non absque dolore et mæstitia, mansitque apud nos duos aliis occultus numerus, (Phranza, 1. iii. c. 8.). With some indulgence for national prejudices, we cannot desire a more authentic witness, not only of public facts, but of private counsels. LXVIII. Greeks must sustain a daily decrease; nor could CHAP. they indulge the expectation of any foreign succour or supply. union of the two A. D. 1452. Dec. 12. The primitive Romans would have drawn their False swords in the resolution of death or conquest. The primitive Christians might have embraced each churches, other, and awaited in patience and charity the stroke of martyrdom. But the Greeks of Constantinople were animated only by the spirit of religion, and that spirit was productive only of animosity and discord. Before his death, the Emperor John Palæologus had renounced the unpopular measure of an union with the Latins; nor was the idea revived, till the distress of his brother Constantine imposed a last trial of flattery and dissimulation *. With the demand of temporal aid, his ambassadors were instructed to mingle the assurance of spiritual obedience his neglect of the church was excused by the urgent cares of the state; and his orthodox wishes solicited the presence of a Roman legate. The Vatican had been too often deluded; yet the signs of repentance could not decently be overlooked; a legate was more easily granted than an army; and about six months before the final destruction, the Cardinal Isidore of Russia appeared in that character with a retinue of priests and soldiers. The Emperor saluted him as a friend and father; respectfully listened to his public and private sermons; *In Spondanus, the narrative of the union is not only partial, but imperfect. The Bishop of Pamiers died in 1642, and the history of Ducas, which represents these scenes (c. 35. 37.) with such truth and spirit, was not printed till the year 1.649. LXVIII. CHAP. sermons; and with the most obsequious of the clergy and laymen subscribed the act of union, as it had been ratified in the council of Florence. On the twelfth of December, the two nations, in the church of St Sophia, joined in the communion of sacrifice and prayer; and the names of the two pontiffs were solemnly commemorated; the names of Nicholas the Fifth, the vicar of Christ, and of the patriarch Gregory, who had been driven into exile by a rebellious people. Obsti. fanaticism of the Greeks. But the dress and language of the Latin priest nacy and who officiated at the altar, were an object of scandal; and it was observed with horror, that he consecrated a cake or wafer of unleavened bread, and poured cold water into the cup of the sacrament. A national historian acknowledges with a blush, that none of his countrymen, not the Emperor himself, were sincere in this occasional conformity. Their hasty and unconditional submission was palliated by a promise of future revisal; but the best or the worst of their excuses was the confession of their own perjury. When they were pressed by the reproaches of their honest brethren, "Have patience," they whispered, "have patience till God shall have "delivered the city from the great dragon who "seeks to devour us. You shall then perceive "whether we are truly reconciled with the Azy"mites." But patience is not the attribute of zeal; Phranza, one of the conforming Greeks, acknowledges that the measure was adopted only propter spem auxilii; he affirms with pleasure, that those who refused to perform their devotions in St Sophia, extra culpam et in pace essent, (1. iii. c. 20.). LXVIII. zeal; nor can the arts of a court be adapted to the CHA P. your faith, you will lose your city. Have mercy " on me, O Lord! I protest in thy presence, that I "am innocent of the crime. O miserable Romans! "consider, pause, and repent. At the same mo"ment that you renounce the religion of your fa"thers, by embracing impiety, you submit to a fo"reign servitude." According to the advice of Gennadius, the religious virgins, as pure as angels, and as proud as dæmons, rejected the act of union, and abjured all communion with the present and future associates of the Latins; and their example was applauded and imitated by the greatest part of 111.329,374. 29 *His primitive and secular name was George Scholarius, which he changed for that of Gennadius, either when he be came a monk or a patriarch. His defence, at Florence, of the Bucket's 0.7. same union which he so furiously attacked at Constantinople, has tempted Leo Allatius (Diatrib. de Georgiis, in Fabric. Bibliot. Græc. tom. x. p. 760-786.) to divide him into two men; but Renaudot (p. 343-383.) has restored the identity of his person, and the duplicity of his character. CHAP. of the clergy and people. From the monastery, LXVIII. the devout Greeks dispersed themselves in the ta verns; drank confusion to the slaves of the Pope; |