Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/490

 468 THE DECLINE AND FALL Palaeologus felt his danger, confessed his guilt, and deprecated his judge : the act was irretrievable ; the prize was obtained ; and the most rigorous penance, which he solicited, would have raised the sinner to the reputation of a saint. The unrelenting patriarch refused to announce any means of atonement or any hopes of mercy ; and condescended only to pronounce that, for so great a crime, great indeed must be the satisfaction. " Do you require/' said Michael, " that I should abdicate the empire ? '' And at these words he offered, or seemed to offer, the sword of state. Arsenius eagerly grasped this pledge of sovereignty ; but, when he perceived that the emperor was unwilling to purchase absolution at so dear a rate, he indignantly escaped to his cell, and left the royal sinner kneeling and weeping before the door.32 Schism of the The danger and scandal of this excommunication subsisted AD. 1266 1312 abovc three years, till the popular clamour was assuaged by time and repentance ; till the brethren of Arsenius condemned his inflexible spirit, so repugnant to the unbounded forgiveness of the gospel. The emperor had artfully insinuated that, if he were still rejected at home, he might seek, in the Roman pontiffj a more indulgent judge ; but it was far more easy and effectual to find or to place that judge at the head of the Byzantine church. Arsenius was involved in a vague rumour of conspiracy and disaffection ; some irregular steps in his ordina- tion and government were liable to censure ; a synod deposed him from the episcopal office ; and he was transported under a guard of soldiers to a small island of the Propontis. Before his exile, he sullenly requested that a strict account might be taken of the treasures of the church ; boasted that his whole riches, three pieces of gold, had been earned by transcribing the Psalms ; continued to assert the freedom of his mind ; and denied, with his last breath, the pardon which was implored by the royal sinner.**^ After some delay, Gregory, bishop of Hadrianople, was translated to the Byzantine throne ; but his authority was found insufficient to support the absolution of the emperor ; and Joseph, a reverend monk, was substituted to that important function. This edifying scene was represented ^The crime and excommunication of Michael are fairly told by Pachymer (1. iii. c. lo, 14, 19, &c.), and Gregoras (1. iv. c. 4). His confession and penance restored their freedom. 2^ Pachymer relates the exile of Arsenius (1. v. c. 1-16); he was one of the commissaries who visited him in the desert island. The last testament of the unforgiving patriarch is still extant (Dupin, Bibliothfeque Eccl^siastique. torn. x. P- 95)-