70

CHAP

LXVI.

His returntoConstan-tinople,

A. D. 1370.

Visitofthe

emperor

Manuel

THE DECLINE AND FALL

severely reproved by the piety of his brother Ma-nuel, who instantly sold or mortgaged all thathe possessed, embarked for Venice, relieved hisfather, and pledged his own freedom to be re-sponsible for the debt. On his return to Con-stantinople the parent and king distinguished bistwo sons with suitable rewards; but the faithand manners of the slothful Palaeologus had notbeen improved by his Roman pilgrimage; andhis apostacy or conversion, devoid of any spiri-tual or temporal effects, was speedily forgottenby the Greeks and Latins.®

Thirty years after the return of Palaeologus ,his son and successor, Manuel, from a similarmotive, but on a larger scale, again visited thecountries of the West. In a preceding chapterI have related his treaty with Bajazet, the vio-lation of that treaty, the siege or blockade ofConstantinople, and the French succour underthe command of the gallant Boucicault . p Byhis ambassadors, Manuel had solicited the Latin powers ; but it was thought that the presence ofa distressed monarch would draw tears and sup-plies from the hardest barbarians ^ and the mar-shal who advised the journey, prepared the re-ception of the Byzantine prince. The land wasoccupied by the Turks; but the navigation ofVenice was safe and open ; Italy received him

0 His return in 1370, and the coronation of Manuel, Sept. 25, 1373(Ducange , Fam. Byzant, p. 241), leaves some intermediate era for theconspiracy and punishment of Andronicns.

p Memoires de Boucicanlt, p. i, c. 35, 36.

’ His journey into the west of Europe is slightly, and I believe re-luctantly noticed by Chalcondyles (1. ii, c. 44-60) and Ducas, c. 14).