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.
531 (return) [ Cantacuzene praises their bravery, but imputes
their losses to their ignorance of the seas: they suffered more
by the breakers than by the enemy, vol. iii. p. 224.—M.]
532 (return) [ Cantacuzene says that the Genoese lost
twenty-eight ships with their crews, autandroi; the Venetians and
Catalans sixteen, the Imperials, none Cantacuzene accuses Pisani
of cowardice, in not following up the victory, and destroying the
Genoese. But Pisani’s conduct, and indeed Cantacuzene’s account
of the battle, betray the superiority of the Genoese.—M.]
54 (return) [ The Abbé de Sade (Mémoires sur la Vie de Petrarque,
tom. iii. p. 257—263) translates this letter, which he copied
from a MS. in the king of France’s library. Though a servant of
the duke of Milan, Petrarch pours forth his astonishment and
grief at the defeat and despair of the Genoese in the following
year, (p. 323—332.)]
Chapter LXIV: Moguls, Ottoman Turks.—Part I.
Conquests Of Zingis Khan And The Moguls From China To
Poland.—Escape Of Constantinople And The Greeks.—Origin Of The
Ottoman Turks In Bithynia.—Reigns And Victories Of Othman, Orchan,
Amurath The First, And Bajazet The First.— Foundation And Progress
Of The Turkish Monarchy In Asia And Europe.—Danger Of
Constantinople And The Greek Empire.
From the petty quarrels of a city and her suburbs, from the
cowardice and discord of the falling Greeks, I shall now ascend
to the victorious Turks; whose domestic slavery was ennobled by
martial discipline, religious enthusiasm, and the energy of the
national character. The rise and progress of the Ottomans, the
present sovereigns of Constantinople, are connected with the most
important scenes of modern history; but they are founded on a
previous knowledge of the great eruption of the Moguls 100 and
Tartars; whose rapid conquests may be compared with the primitive
convulsions of nature, which have agitated and altered the
surface of the globe. I have long since asserted my claim to
introduce the nations, the immediate or remote authors of the
fall of the Roman empire; nor can I refuse myself to those
events, which, from their uncommon magnitude, will interest a
philosophic mind in the history of blood. 1
100 (return) [ Mongol seems to approach the nearest to the proper
name of this race. The Chinese call them Mong-kou; the Mondchoux,
their neighbors, Monggo or Monggou. They called themselves also
Beda. This fact seems to have been proved by M. Schmidt against
the French Orientalists. See De Brosset. Note on Le Beau, tom.
xxii p. 402.]
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