Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/514

 492 THE DECLINE AND FALL The reasons of this delay may be found in the characters of the men and of the times. When the heir of the monarchy first pleaded his wrongs and his apprehensions, he was heard with pity and applause ; and his adherents repeated on all sides the inconsistent promise that he would increase the pay of the soldiers and alleviate the burdens of the people. The griev- ances of forty years were mingled in his revolt ; and the rising generation was fatigued by the endless prospect of a reign whose favourites and maxims were of other times. The youth of Andronicus had been without spirit, his age was without rever- ence ; his taxes produced an annual revenue of five hundred thousand pounds ; yet the richest of the sovereigns of Christen- dom was incapable of maintaining three thousand horse and twenty galleys, to resist the destructive progress of the Turks. -^ "How different/' said the younger Andronicus, "is my situa- tion from that of the son of Philip ! Alexander might com- plain that his father would leave him nothing to conquer ; alas ! my grandsire will leave me nothing to lose." But the Greeks were soon admonished that the public disorders could not be healed by a civil war ; and their young favourite was not destined to be the saviour of a falling empire. On the first repulse, his party was broken by his own levity, their intestine discord, and the intrigues of the ancient court, which tempted each malcontent to desert or betray the cause of rebellion. An- dronicus the Younger was touched with remorse, or fatigued with business, or deceived by negotiation ; pleasure rather than power was his aim ; and the licence of maintaining a thousand hounds, a thousand hawks, and a thousand huntsmen, was suffi- cient to sully his fame and disarm his ambition. The elder An- Let US now survey the catastrophe of this busy plot and the cates'the'^^'*'" final situation of the principal actors, i" The age of Andronicus A°S'S!" ' was consumed in civil discord ; and, amidst ^the events of war and treaty, his power and reputation continually decayed, till the fatal night in which the gates of the city and palace were opened without resistance to his grandson. His principal com- mander scorned the repeated warnings of danger ; and retiring '■^ See Nicephorus Gregoras, 1. viii. c. 6. The younger Andronicus complained that in four years and four months a sum of 350,000 byzants of gold was due to him for the expenses of his household (Cantacuzen. 1. i. c. 48). Yet he would have remitted the debt, if he might have been allowed to squeeze the farmers of the revenue. 1*^ I follow the chronology of Nicephorus Gregoras, who is remarkably exact. It is proved that Cantacuzene has mistaken the dates of his own actions, or rather that his text has been corrupted by ignorant transcribers. May 24