Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/388

 366 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAPTER LX Schism of the Greeks and Latins — State of Constantinople — Revolt of the Bulgarians — Isaac Angelus dethroned by his brother Alexius — Origin of the Fourth Crusade — Alliance of the French and Ve- 7ietians with the son of Isaac — Their naval expedition to Con- stantinople — The two Sieges, and final Conquest of the City by the Latins Schism of the The restoration of the Western empire by Charlemagne was jj Greeki speedily followed by the separation of the Greek and Latin 1 churches. 1 A religious and national animosity still divides the two largest communions of the Christian world ; and the schism of Constantinople, by alienating her most useful allies and provoking her most dangerous enemies, has precipitated the decline and fall of the Roman empire in the East. Their aver- In the coursc of the present history the aversion of the Latins' * Greeks for the Latins has been often visible and conspicuous. It was originally derived from the disdain of servitude, inflamed, after the time of Constantine, by the pride of equality or do- minion, and finally exasperated by the preference which their rebellious subjects had given to the alliance of the Franks. In every age the Greeks were proud of their superiority in profane and religious knowledge ; they had first received the light of Christianity ; they had pronounced the decrees of the seven general councils ; they alone possessed the language of Scripture and philosophy ; nor should the barbarians, immersed in the darkness of the West,'^ presume to argue on the high and 1 In the successive centuries, from the ixth to the xviiith, Mosheim traces the schism of the Greeks, with learning, clearness, and impartiality : the Jilioque (Institut. Hist. Eccles. p. 277) ; Leo III. p. 303 ; Photius, p. 307, 308 ; Michael Cerularius, P- 370. 371. &c. [The relation between the eastern and western churches is traced by M. Duchesne in his essay L'6glise grecque et le schisme grec, in Eglises s6par6es, p. 163 sqq.^ 2'Ai/6pes 6u<TO'tPec5 xal aTroTpoTratoi, avSpe'; ix (TKOTOv; avaSvvTe^, Trjj yap 'Kcrvepiov fioCpai vTrripxov yevvrnxaTa {Phot. Epist. p. 47, edit. Montacut). The Oriental patri- arch continues to apply the images of thunder, earthquake, hail, wild-boar, prae- cursors of Antichrist, &c. &c.