History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

Name: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6
Author: Gibbon, Edward

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

receive the fiery globe, the pledge of my innocence.” The
      archbishop started; the emperor smiled; and the absolution or
      pardon of Michael was approved by new rewards and new services.
      II. In the succeeding reign, as he held the government of Nice,
      he was secretly informed, that the mind of the absent prince was
      poisoned with jealousy; and that death, or blindness, would be
      his final reward. Instead of awaiting the return and sentence of
      Theodore, the constable, with some followers, escaped from the
      city and the empire; and though he was plundered by the Turkmans
      of the desert, he found a hospitable refuge in the court of the
      sultan. In the ambiguous state of an exile, Michael reconciled
      the duties of gratitude and loyalty: drawing his sword against
      the Tartars; admonishing the garrisons of the Roman limit; and
      promoting, by his influence, the restoration of peace, in which
      his pardon and recall were honorably included. III. While he
      guarded the West against the despot of Epirus, Michael was again
      suspected and condemned in the palace; and such was his loyalty
      or weakness, that he submitted to be led in chains above six
      hundred miles from Durazzo to Nice. The civility of the messenger
      alleviated his disgrace; the emperor’s sickness dispelled his
      danger; and the last breath of Theodore, which recommended his
      infant son, at once acknowledged the innocence and the power of
      Palæologus.

      11 (return) [ The pedigree of Palæologus is explained by Ducange,
      (Famil. Byzant. p. 230, &c.:) the events of his private life are
      related by Pachymer (l. i. c. 7—12) and Gregoras (l. ii. 8, l.
      iii. 2, 4, l. iv. 1) with visible favor to the father of the
      reigning dynasty.]

      12 (return) [ Acropolita (c. 50) relates the circumstances of
      this curious adventure, which seem to have escaped the more
      recent writers.]

      13 (return) [ Pachymer, (l. i. c. 12,) who speaks with proper
      contempt of this barbarous trial, affirms, that he had seen in
      his youth many person who had sustained, without injury, the
      fiery ordeal. As a Greek, he is credulous; but the ingenuity of
      the Greeks might furnish some remedies of art or fraud against
      their own superstition, or that of their tyrant.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6Gibbon, Edward

History

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

receive the fiery globe, the pledge of my innocence.” The
      archbishop started; the emperor smiled; and the absolution or
      pardon of Michael was approved by new rewards and new services.
      II. In the succeeding reign, as he held the government of Nice,
      he was secretly informed, that the mind of the absent prince was
      poisoned with jealousy; and that death, or blindness, would be
      his final reward. Instead of awaiting the return and sentence of
      Theodore, the constable, with some followers, escaped from the
      city and the empire; and though he was plundered by the Turkmans
      of the desert, he found a hospitable refuge in the court of the
      sultan. In the ambiguous state of an exile, Michael reconciled
      the duties of gratitude and loyalty: drawing his sword against
      the Tartars; admonishing the garrisons of the Roman limit; and
      promoting, by his influence, the restoration of peace, in which
      his pardon and recall were honorably included. III. While he
      guarded the West against the despot of Epirus, Michael was again
      suspected and condemned in the palace; and such was his loyalty
      or weakness, that he submitted to be led in chains above six
      hundred miles from Durazzo to Nice. The civility of the messenger
      alleviated his disgrace; the emperor’s sickness dispelled his
      danger; and the last breath of Theodore, which recommended his
      infant son, at once acknowledged the innocence and the power of
      Palæologus.

      11 (return) [ The pedigree of Palæologus is explained by Ducange,
      (Famil. Byzant. p. 230, &c.:) the events of his private life are
      related by Pachymer (l. i. c. 7—12) and Gregoras (l. ii. 8, l.
      iii. 2, 4, l. iv. 1) with visible favor to the father of the
      reigning dynasty.]

      12 (return) [ Acropolita (c. 50) relates the circumstances of
      this curious adventure, which seem to have escaped the more
      recent writers.]

      13 (return) [ Pachymer, (l. i. c. 12,) who speaks with proper
      contempt of this barbarous trial, affirms, that he had seen in
      his youth many person who had sustained, without injury, the
      fiery ordeal. As a Greek, he is credulous; but the ingenuity of
      the Greeks might furnish some remedies of art or fraud against
      their own superstition, or that of their tyrant.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

No reviews yet