Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/489

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 467 urged him to secure his throne by one of those imperfect crimes so familiar to the modern Greeks. The loss of sight incapaci- tated the young prince for the active business of the world : instead of the brutal violence of tearing out his eyes, the visual nerve was destroyed by the intense glare of a red-hot bason, ^^ and John Lascaris was removed to a distant castle, where he spent many years in privacy and oblivion. Such cool and deliberate guilt may seem incompatible with remorse ; but, if Michael could trust the mercy of Heaven, he was not inacces- sible to the reproaches and vengeance of mankind, which he had provoked by cruelty and treason. His cruelty imposed on a servile court the duties of applause or silence ; but the clergy had a right to speak in the name of their invisible master ; and their holy legions were led by a prelate, whose character was above the temptations of hope or fear. After a short abdication of his dignity, Arsenius ^^ had consented to ascend the ecclesi- astical throne of Constantinople, and to preside in the restora- tion of the church. His pious simplicity was long deceived by the arts of Palaeologus ; and his patience and submission might soothe the usurper, and protect the safety of the young prince. On the ncAvs of his inhuman treatment, the patriarch unsheathed the spiritual sword ; and superstition, on this occasion, was en- listed in the cause of humanity and justice. In a synod of bishops, who were stimulated by the example of his zeal, the patriarch pronounced a sentence of excommunication ; though u excommum- his prudence still repeated the name of Michael in the public patriajch^^ prayers. The eastern prelates had not adopted the dangerous a^*'jS2'.i268 maxims of ancient Rome ; nor did they presume to enforce their censures, by deposing princes, or absolving nations from their oaths of allegiance. But the Christian who had been separated from God and the church became an object of horror ; and, in a turbulent and fanatic capibil that horror might arm the hand of an assassin or inflame a sedition of the people. ^^This milder invention for extinguishing the sight was tried by the philosopher Democritus on himself, when he sought to withdraw his mind from the visible world : a foolish story! The word abacinare, in Latin and Italian, has furnished Ducange (Gloss. Latin.) with an opportunity to review the various modes of blinding ; the more violent were, scooping, burning with an iron or hot vinegar, and binding the head with a strong cord till the eyes burst from their sockets. Ingenious tyrants ! •*^ See the first retreat and restoration of Arsenius, in Pachymer (1. ii. c. 15, 1. iii. c. I, 2), and Nicephorus Gregoras (1. iii. c. i, 1. iv. c. i). Posterity justly accused the (i<j,e,eia and /.aflu/xia of Arsenius, the virtues of an hermit, the vices of a minister (1. xii. c. 2).