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.

espoused the cause of Palæologus, obtained a promise of his
      sister, and achieved the revolution with two galleys and two
      thousand five hundred auxiliaries. Under the pretence of
      distress, they were admitted into the lesser port; a gate was
      opened, and the Latin shout of, “Long life and victory to the
      emperor, John Palæologus!” was answered by a general rising in
      his favor. A numerous and loyal party yet adhered to the standard
      of Cantacuzene: but he asserts in his history (does he hope for
      belief?) that his tender conscience rejected the assurance of
      conquest; that, in free obedience to the voice of religion and
      philosophy, he descended from the throne and embraced with
      pleasure the monastic habit and profession. 36 So soon as he
      ceased to be a prince, his successor was not unwilling that he
      should be a saint: the remainder of his life was devoted to piety
      and learning; in the cells of Constantinople and Mount Athos, the
      monk Joasaph was respected as the temporal and spiritual father
      of the emperor; and if he issued from his retreat, it was as the
      minister of peace, to subdue the obstinacy, and solicit the
      pardon, of his rebellious son. 37

      34 (return) [ From his return to Constantinople, Cantacuzene
      continues his history and that of the empire, one year beyond the
      abdication of his son Matthew, A.D. 1357, (l. iv. c. l—50, p.
      705—911.) Nicephorus Gregoras ends with the synod of
      Constantinople, in the year 1351, (l. xxii. c. 3, p. 660; the
      rest, to the conclusion of the xxivth book, p. 717, is all
      controversy;) and his fourteen last books are still MSS. in the
      king of France’s library.]

      35 (return) [ The emperor (Cantacuzen. l. iv. c. 1) represents
      his own virtues, and Nic. Gregoras (l. xv. c. 11) the complaints
      of his friends, who suffered by its effects. I have lent them the
      words of our poor cavaliers after the Restoration.]

      36 (return) [ The awkward apology of Cantacuzene, (l. iv. c.
      39—42,) who relates, with visible confusion, his own downfall,
      may be supplied by the less accurate, but more honest, narratives
      of Matthew Villani (l. iv. c. 46, in the Script. Rerum Ital. tom.
      xiv. p. 268) and Ducas, (c 10, 11.)]

      37 (return) [ Cantacuzene, in the year 1375, was honored with a
      letter from the pope, (Fleury, Hist. Ecclés. tom. xx. p. 250.)
      His death is placed by a respectable authority on the 20th of
      November, 1411, (Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 260.) But if he were of
      the age of his companion Andronicus the Younger, he must have
      lived 116 years; a rare instance of longevity, which in so
      illustrious a person would have attracted universal notice.]

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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.

espoused the cause of Palæologus, obtained a promise of his
      sister, and achieved the revolution with two galleys and two
      thousand five hundred auxiliaries. Under the pretence of
      distress, they were admitted into the lesser port; a gate was
      opened, and the Latin shout of, “Long life and victory to the
      emperor, John Palæologus!” was answered by a general rising in
      his favor. A numerous and loyal party yet adhered to the standard
      of Cantacuzene: but he asserts in his history (does he hope for
      belief?) that his tender conscience rejected the assurance of
      conquest; that, in free obedience to the voice of religion and
      philosophy, he descended from the throne and embraced with
      pleasure the monastic habit and profession. 36 So soon as he
      ceased to be a prince, his successor was not unwilling that he
      should be a saint: the remainder of his life was devoted to piety
      and learning; in the cells of Constantinople and Mount Athos, the
      monk Joasaph was respected as the temporal and spiritual father
      of the emperor; and if he issued from his retreat, it was as the
      minister of peace, to subdue the obstinacy, and solicit the
      pardon, of his rebellious son. 37

      34 (return) [ From his return to Constantinople, Cantacuzene
      continues his history and that of the empire, one year beyond the
      abdication of his son Matthew, A.D. 1357, (l. iv. c. l—50, p.
      705—911.) Nicephorus Gregoras ends with the synod of
      Constantinople, in the year 1351, (l. xxii. c. 3, p. 660; the
      rest, to the conclusion of the xxivth book, p. 717, is all
      controversy;) and his fourteen last books are still MSS. in the
      king of France’s library.]

      35 (return) [ The emperor (Cantacuzen. l. iv. c. 1) represents
      his own virtues, and Nic. Gregoras (l. xv. c. 11) the complaints
      of his friends, who suffered by its effects. I have lent them the
      words of our poor cavaliers after the Restoration.]

      36 (return) [ The awkward apology of Cantacuzene, (l. iv. c.
      39—42,) who relates, with visible confusion, his own downfall,
      may be supplied by the less accurate, but more honest, narratives
      of Matthew Villani (l. iv. c. 46, in the Script. Rerum Ital. tom.
      xiv. p. 268) and Ducas, (c 10, 11.)]

      37 (return) [ Cantacuzene, in the year 1375, was honored with a
      letter from the pope, (Fleury, Hist. Ecclés. tom. xx. p. 250.)
      His death is placed by a respectable authority on the 20th of
      November, 1411, (Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 260.) But if he were of
      the age of his companion Andronicus the Younger, he must have
      lived 116 years; a rare instance of longevity, which in so
      illustrious a person would have attracted universal notice.]

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

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