OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
8i)
might be indulged in a divorce, he would retire chap.
to a cloister, and leave the throne to his brother^_
Constantine. The first, and, in truth, the only,victory of Palaeologus was over a Jew, m whom,after a long and learned dispute, he converted tothe Christian faith; and this momentous con-quest is carefully recorded in the history of thetimes. But he soon resumed the design of unit-ing the East and West; and regardless of hisfather’s advice, listened, as it should seem, withsincerity, to the proposal of meeting the pope ina general council beyond the Adriatic. This '
dangerous project was encouraged by Martinthe fifth, and coldly entertained by his succes-sor Eugeuius, till, after a tedious negociation,the emperor received a summons from a Latin assembly of a new character, the independentprelates of Basil , who styled themselves the re-presentatives and judges of the catholic church.
The Roman pontiff had fought and conquered Comiplionin the cause of ecclesiastical freedom ; but the oftiieLatiavictorious clergy were soon exposed to the ty-ranny of their deliverer; and his sacred charac-ter was invulnerable to those arms which theyfound so keen and effectual against the civil ma-gistrate. Their great charter, the right of elec-tion, was annihilated by appeals, evaded by „trusts or commendams, disappointed by rever-sionary grants, and superseded by previous and