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 thirty-six years, from 1355 to 1391, witnessed the unmistakable signs of impending downfall, made similar attempts with no better success. He is to be remembered as the first of the emperors who himself went a suppliant to the pope at Rome, begging help against the infidel. After having duly kissed the pontiff's hands and feet, and led his mule by the bridle, he was feasted in the Vatican, but he had to leave it with very little encouragement. Pope Urban V. could not revive the enthusiasm of the age of the Crusades, and the emperor was obliged to return in bitter disappointment. He had to pass through Venice, and here he found himself in a miserably ridiculous plight. On his way to Rome he had borrowed largely from the Venetian bankers and money-lenders, and now, as he was unable to pay, his creditors held his person in pawn. His brother Manuel was generous enough to become his security, and by selling and mortgaging all he possessed, he satisfied their claims, and enabled the emperor to return to his capital, whence during the remainder of his reign he had to look on quietly while his empire was being narrowed down by the conquests of Amurath to the mere precincts of the city.

His son Manuel succeeded him, and reigned from 1391 to 1425. Manuel from boyhood must have been well drilled in lessons of humiliation, as with his father and his brother he had been an attendant in court and camp on the barbarian monarch. At the time of his father's death he was a hostage in the hands of Bajazet, Amurath's son and successor, and was living in his palace at Broussa. Thence he contrived to escape, and hurried to Constan-