Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/513

 OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 491 many fruitless reproofs, he transferred on another grandson ^ his hopes and affection. The change was announced by the new oath of allegiance to the reigning sovereign and the person whom he should appoint for his successor ; and the acknowledged heir, after a repetition of insults and complaints, was exposed to the indignity of a public trial. Before the sentence, which would probably have condemned him to a dungeon or a cell, the emperor was informed that the palace courts were filled with the armed followers of his grandson ; the judgment was softened to a treaty of reconciliation ; and the triumphant escape of the prince encouraged the ardour of the younger faction. Yet the capital, the clergy, and the senate adhered to the Three civii person, or at least to the government, of the old emperor ; and SiYlwo*^-^'^ it was only in the provinces, by flight, and revolt, and foreign -^Ti! Apru 20 succour, that the malcontents could hope to vindicate their May^^^' cause and subvert his throne. The soul of the enterprise was the great domestic, John Cantacuzene ; the sally from Con- stantinople is the first date of his actions and memorials ; and, if his own pen be most descriptive of his patriotism, an un- friendly historian has not refused to celebrate the zeal and ability which he displayed in the service of the young emperor. That prince escaped from the capital under the pretence of hunting ; erected his standard at Hadrianople ; and, in a few days, assembled fifty thousand horse and foot, whom neither honour nor duty could have armed against the barbarians. Such a force might have saved or commanded the empire ; but their counsels were discordant, their motions were slow and doubtful, and their progress was checked by intrigue and ne- gotiation. The quarrel of the two Andronici was protracted, and suspended, and renewed, during a ruinous period of seven years. In the first treaty the relics of the Greek empire were divided : Constantinople, Thessalonica, and the islands, were left to the elder, while the younger acquired the sovereignty of the greatest part of Thrace, from Philippi to the Byzantine limit. By the second treaty he stipulated the payment of his coronation of troops, his immediate coronation, and an adequate share of the ^dro^ul!^ power and revenue of the state. The third civil war was ter-reb.l^^' minated by the surprise of Constantinople, the final retreat of the old emperor, and the sole reign of his victorious grandson. son. In this project of excluding his grandson Andronicus, Nicephorus Gregoras {I. viii. c. 3 [p. 295-6, ed. Bonn]) agrees with Cantacuzene (1. i. c. i, 2).
 * His destined heir was Michael Catharus, the bastard of Conslantine his second