danger of Constantinople. From an humble ori- c HA P. gin, the Ottomans arose, the scourge and terror of XLVIII. Christendom. Constantinople was besieged and taken by Mahomet II. and his triumph annihilates the remnant, the image, the title of the Roman empire in the East. The schism of the Greeks will be connected with their last calamities, and the restoration of learning in the Western world. I shall return from the captivity of the new, to the ruins of ancient ROME; and the venerable name, the interesting theme, will shed a ray of glory on the conclusion of my labours. Second of Heia THE emperor Heraclius had punished a tyrant marriage and ascended his throne; and the memory of his and death reign is perpetuated by the transient conquest, and clius. irreparable loss, of the Eastern provinces. After the death of Eudocia, his first wife, he disobeyed the patriarch, and violated the laws, by his second marriage with his niece Martina; and the superstition of the Greeks beheld the judgment of heaven in the diseases of the father and the deformity of his offspring. But the opinion of an illegitimate birth is sufficient to distract the choice, and loosen the obedience of the people: The ambition of Martina was quickened by maternal love, and perhaps by the envy of a step-mother; and the aged, husband was too feeble to withstand the arts of conjugal allurements. Constantine, his eldest son, enjoyed in a mature age the title of Augustus; but the weakness of his constitution required a colleague A.D. 638, A. D. 639, CHA P. league and a' guardian, and he yielded with secret XLVIII. reluctance to the partition of the empire. The senate was summoned to the palace to ratify or attest the association of Heracleonas, the son of Martina; the imposition of the diadem was consecrated by the prayer and blessing of the patriarch; the senators and patricians adored the majesty of the great emperor and the partners of his reign; and as soon as the doors were thrown open, they were hailed by the tumultuary but important voice of the soldiers. After an interval of five months, January. the pompous ceremonies which formed the essence of the Byzantine state were celebrated in the cathedral and hippodrome: The concord of the royal brothers was affectedly displayed, by the younger leaning on the arm of the elder; and the name of Martina was mingled in the reluctant or venal acclamations of the people. Heraclius A. D. 641, survived this association about two years; his last testimony declared his two sons the equal heirs of the Eastern empire, and commanded them to honour his widow Martina as their mother and their sovereign. Feb. 11. Constan tine III. A. D. 641, When Martina first appeared on the throne with the name and attributes of royalty, she was checkFebruary. ed by a firm, though respectful opposition; and the dying embers of freedom were kindled by the breath of superstitious prejudice. “We reve"rence," exclaimed the voice of a citizen, "we "reverence the mother of our princes; but to "those princes alone our obedience is due; and Constantine, the elder emperor, is of an age to sustain, in his own hands, the weight of the sceptre. 66 66 66 66 sceptre. Your sex is excluded by nature from CHA P. "the toils of government. How could you com- XLVIII. 66 bat, how could you answer, the Barbarians, who, "with hostile or friendly intentions, may approach "the royal city? May heaven avert from the Ro 66 66 onas, man republic this national disgrace, which would provoke the patience of the slaves of Persia.' Martina descended from the throne with indignation, and sought a refuge in the female apartment of the palace. The reign of Constantine III. lasted only one hundred and three days: He expired in the thirtieth year of his age, and, although his life had been a long malady, a belief was entertained that poison had been the means, and his cruel step-mother the author, of his untimely fate. Martina reaped, indeed, the harvest of his Heracledeath, and assumed the government in the name A. D. 641, of the surviving emperor; but the incestuous May 25. widow of Heraclius was universally abhorred; the jealousy of the people was awakened, and the two orphans, whom Constantine had left, became the objects of the public care. It was in vain that the son of Martina, who was no more than fifteen years of age, was taught to declare himself the guardian of his nephews, one of whom he had presented at the baptismal font: It was in vain that he swore on the wood of the true Cross, to defend them against all their enemies. On his deathbed, the late emperor dispatched a trusty servant to arm the troops and provinces of the East in the defence of his helpless children: The eloquence and liberality of Valentin had been successful, and from his camp of Chalcedon, he boldly demanded the CHA P. the punishment of the assassins, and the restoration XLVIII. of the lawful heir. The licence of the soldiers, who devoured the grapes, and drank the wine of their Asiatic vineyards, provoked the citizens of Constantinople against the domestic authors of their calamities, and the dome of St Sophia re-echoed, not with prayers and hymns, but with the clamours and imprecations of an enraged multitude. At their imperious command, Heracleonas appeared in the pulpit with the eldest of the royal orphans; Constans alone was saluted as emperor of the Romans, and a crown of gold, which had been taken from the tomb of Heraclius, was placed on his head, with the solemn benediction of the patriarch. But in the tumult of joy and indignation, the church was pillaged, the sanctuary was polluted by a promiscuous crowd of Jews and Barbarians; and the Monothelite Pyrrhus, a creature of the empress, after dropping a protestation on the altar, escaped by a prudent flight from the zeal of the Catholics. A more serious and bloody task was reserved for the senate, who derived a temporary strength from the consent of the soldiers and people. The spirit of Roman freedom revived the ancient and awful examples of the judgment of tyrants, and the Imperial culprits were deposed and condemned as the authors of the death of Constantine. But the severity of the conscript fathers was stained by the indiscriminate punishment of and Hera- the innocent and the guilty: Martina and HeraA. D. 641, cleonas were sentenced to the amputation, the Septem- former of her tongue, the latter of his nose; and after this cruel execution, they consumed the remainder Punishment of Martina cleonas, ber. mainder of their days in exile and oblivion. The CHA P. Greeks who were capable of reflection might find XLVIII. some consolation for their servitude, by observing the abuse of power when it was lodged for a moment in the hands of an aristocracy. 66 II. A. D. We shall imagine ourselves transported five Constans hundred years backwards to the age of the Anto- 641, Sepnines, if we listen to the oration which Constans tember. II. pronounced in the twelfth year of his age before the Byzantine senate. After returning his thanks for the just punishment of the assassins who had intercepted the fairest hopes of his father's reign, By the divine providence," said the young emperor, and by your righteous decree, "Martina and her incestuous progeny have been "cast headlong from the throne. Your majesty " and wisdom have prevented the Roman state "from degenerating into lawless tyranny. I there"fore exhort and beseech you to stand forth as the "counsellors and judges of their common safety." The senators were gratified by the respectful address and liberal donative of their sovereign; but these servile Greeks were unworthy and regardless of freedom; and in his mind, the lesson of an hour was quickly erazed by the prejudices of the age, and the habits of despotism. He retained only a jealous fear lest the senate or people should one day invade the right of primogeniture, and seat his brother Theodosiu on an equal throne. By the imposition of holy orders, the grandson of Heraclius was disqualified for the purple; but this ceremony, which seemed to profane the sacraments of |