Propontis. Africa, next invaded, gave itself up again a conquered province: Spain, Sicily, and Afia's beft poffeffions followed; but no diftreffes cured the Greek emperors of exercifing fenfelefs cruelties on their own family: family: Gregory killed his brother Theodofius, only because he thought the people loved him; and they juftly confidered this fratricide more black, as Theodofius was a priest and deacon, and the Emperor had only a week before received the bleffed facrament at his hand. Seeing their fixed diflike, he flew to Sicily, having made momentary peace with the Saracens; and there his chamberlain or page affaffinated him. A fucceffor, Mezentius, chofen by the army, was quickly killed by a new Constantine, called Pogonatus; because, having no beard when he went to Sicily he brought one home with him to Conftantinople; having firft cut off his two brothers' noses, that they might not not be called to fhare that power he was unable to defend, although the ignis gracus ftood him in good ftead, having destroyed thirty thousand Saracens at once in fome great fea engagement. Broke down by foreign loffes, he however refolved to think no more about the popedom, and fignified to Benedict II. fucceffor to Adeodatus, Donus, Agatho and Leo, all exemplary characters; that the election of fupreme bishop at Rome should still stand good, whether or not confirmed by mandate from Conftantinople. This decree contributed to cause, not cure, confufion: the Exarch of Ravenna now chofe one pope, the people another: difgraceful fcenes and fharp debates, called the ninth fchifm, followed; till Conon was inaugurated, and on his death Sergius was forced, with 100 lbs. weight of gold, to buy a juft election, and appeafe Pafchal the petty tyrant of Romagna. This Sergius was the first who ordered the Blessed Virgin's nativity to be kept holy, and added these words to the communion fervice-" Oh "Lamb of God, who takeft away the fins of the world;" keeping by this means Monothelites and Docetes out of the church, and obliging Chriftian people to reflect, that their Redeemer, though perfect God, was perfect man too, of the substance of his mother born in the world, when thus her birth-day was commanded to be held holy. Juftinian Juftinian, fucceffor to Pogonatus, difgraced the purple, not only by cutting off the nofes, and thrusting out the eyes of his opponents, but finally, by having his own face disfigured by Leontius, who afterwards ended his life in a halter, while Juftinian III. not difpofed to hide, as it was hoped, his uglinefs in a monaftery, after death of Tiberius Abfimarus reigned again; till now the birth of Charles Martel at Paris, gives us a glimpfe of nafcent civilization and recovering decorum, towards the year 700. Yet even then was Europe threatened with fresh calamity, the Normans, or Norwegians, burfting in full tides on France, retarded their felicity, and fuggefted to them a new deprecatory fentence, which they added to their litanies, and faid— From plague, peftilence, and fury of the Normans, good Lord de"liver us." With this fad and neceffary petition we will clofe this long chapter; for now Pomponius Lætus leaves us, all is dark and cheerless, and like the embarrafs'd knight in fome old caftle, when his fole lamp is blown out with a fudden wind, we wander over mofsgrown fragments, watching deceitful lights through ivy'd crevices, yet stepping cautiously; for though our last faint glimmering guide is gone, readers will laugh, not pity when we ftumble. CHAP CHAP. XII. A FROM BIRTH OF CHARLES MARTEL, A. D. 700. TO N incomplete hiftory is a poor thing, fays the Jefuit Le Moine, and a complete history, adds he, shall not appear but in that year which shall discover the perpetual motion and the philofopher's ftone. We fay with equal truth, a perfect fummary of events and circumftances fince the Chriftian æra would be, although a useful, no very fplendid or refpectable performance, while an imperfect one is good for little indeed. We promised only Retrospection, and even that grows difficult of performance. Yet a word must be faid concerning language, that first gift of God, created fingle, but afterwards, to punish our misuse, broken into an endless variety. The early fcheme of politicks however, while the fupreme command lodged in a fingle breast, tended in fome measure to fynthetize what had been fuddenly and preternaturally decompofed; and when the fpirit of Omnipotence again defcended 2250 years after, 'tis thought the variety was much diminished, by numbers crouding round one vast metropolis, as Ninivch or Rome. The laft of thefe having fubdued Greece, grew eafily enamoured of the lovely captive, admired the arts and elegant speech of their newly incorporated citizens, and polished their old language by thefe models, till the tongue spoken 150 years before Cicero's time could hardly, in the days of Antonine, be understood without a comment; witness the columna roftrata fet up to commemorate the deeds of Duilius in the fecond Punic war, with an infcription puzzling common obfervers, of which bifhop Walton gave a copy and explanation not very long ago; but as the Romans took a tincture of the Greek expreffion into theirs, fo they bestowed in return, corruption to that tongue tongue which Ariftotle taught, and Xenophon adorned; till at last, mixing with various nations, and fuffering barbarians to break in upon them from unknown, unintelligible regions, the Latin language funk into decay; le and lo came in as abbreviations of ille and illo, giving the modern caft to fpeech that daily grew more and more crouded with articles, whilft us being cut away from the ends of proper names by Apocope, Theodoric ftood for Theodoricus, &c. giving them a Ghaelic termination. Abbreviating words is ftill a mark of illiterate groffness in Italy, where Tufcans tell how a foreigner obferved that bread was called pane at Florence, at Milan pan, at Turin pa, at Brescia p only : I fall, fays he, lofe my bread entirely if I go further northward, we drop a letter almost every stage. But we return to the cighth century, when Greek, by the tranflation as we term it of Rome to Conftantinople for fo many years, began to lofe her fuperiority, and fink into vulgar ufe; while the bad Latin lately introduced, became the court language, and the law language, and kept the command where it did not deferve the dominion. Thus like a pure ftream turned through a reedy pool stagnant and mantling, a portion of the polluted mafs remained, vulgarizing that currency of flowing speech that had charmed Tully's car, and excited Virgil's emulation: till Crufius, in the true fpirit of a scholar, faid that it would even pity a man's heart to fee poor Athens, once fo renowned for eloquence and learning, become the very head quarters of barbarous and corrupt philology. Crufius indeed, lived not till the fixteenth century, and we have now the eighth under reviewal, when Greek was ftill a living language to the Arabs. The accounts of their caliph's treasury and household were kept in Greek then; the library of Saxe Gotha shows many rarities of this kind, and proves, from Reinefius's collection of valuable MSS. that in the year 758, Homer and Pindar were tranflated by the ftudious Ishmaelites, while Frankis fpeche is calt Romance, fo fai clercs et men of France. Till knowledge, like a well-pieced ftatue of antiquity was once more broken again, not in the old places merely, but many other parts till then uninjured. Fragments were however here in and and there picked up; Morienus, a hermit near Jerufalem, wrote on the tranfmutation of metals; Boerhaave fays it was tranflated into Latin about the year 1182. Some few devotional tracts poorly written, perpetuate the name of an old Saxon monk or two; and fome romances, to the reading of which Damafcius, who lived under the last Juftinian, had given mankind a taste by his four books of Incredibilities; for fo fuch things were called, till towards the period we are treating of, they acquired the name romant, perhaps from having been compofed in the court dialect of the original metropolis, ruined as 'twas; in contradistinction to the Walloon or Gaulish dialect. We are told of a synod fuppreffing fome of thefe romances very early, as being too loosely written they were the compofition of fome bishop of Tricca, who was informed that he must either burn his book publickly, or renounce his church dignities; like a true author, he preferred the last.* That fome derive the word from romanfero, I invent or find, in old Spanish; (whence troubadours or finders) few are ignorant; but fcholars must inform us whether that word was early enough incorporated into Caftilian diction for fuch an etymology to be poffible. On my epitome indeed, scholars will scarcely be induced to look: 'tis from their labours that I light my little twist of swift-confuming candle to guide fuch only as have just curiofity enough to wifh, and just time enough to try for a glimpse of Retrospection. That glimpse discovers Cracow in Poland starting up early in this 8th century, and named after Cracus, a noble Pole, chofen king by the people, because he alone was found able to destroy a wild beaft which, living in a cave (still shown to travellers) burst out at call of hunger from time to time, and did incredible mifchief; till this bold leader conquered him by ftratagem, ftuffing the fkin of a dead calf with fome poisoned force meat, which the monster greedily devouring, died. This seems a relapfe into the old state of fabulous anti *This fear poffeffing the mind of Caftañeda, who lived in 1547, he made him a book of asbestos for fear of the inquifition: it contained an account of his travels to eaft India. Grouchy tranflated it from Portugeze to French, but it was little worth that trouble. quity; |