OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

sessed, however, of the private and social vir- chap.tues: he no longer hears the reproachful epi- LXVIthets of slave and apostate; and the consider-ation which he acquires among his new associ-ates, will restore in his own eyes the dignity ofhis character. The prudent conformity of Bes- Cardinalsarion was rewarded with the Roman purple: ® essai ' ion »he fixed his residence in Italy , and the Greekcardinal, the titular patriarch of Constantinople ,was respected as the chief and protector of hisnation : 1 his abilities were exercised in the lega-tions of Bologna, Venice, Germany , and France ;and his election to the chair of St. Peter floatedfor a moment on the uncertain breath of a con-clave . 1 His ecclesiastical honours diffused asplendour and pre-eminence over his literarymerit and service: his palace was a school; asoften as the cardinal visited the Vatican , he wasattended by a learned train of both nations;” ofmen applauded by themselves and the public;and whose writings, now overspread with dust,were popular and useful in their own times. Ishall not attempt to enumerate the restorers ofGrecian literature in the fifteenth century; andit may be sufficient to mention with gratitude

k See in Hody the article of Bessarion (p. 136-177). Theodore Gaza , George ofTrebizond, and the rest of the Greeks whom I harenamed or omitted, are inserted iu their proper chapters of his learnedwork. See likewise Tiraboschi, in the first and second parts of thesixth tome.

1 The cardinals knocked at his door, but his conclavist refused tointerrupt the studies of Bessarion : “ Nicholas,” said he, u thy respect“ has cost thee an hat, and me the tiara.”

m Such as George ofTrebizond, Theodore Gaza , Argyropulus An-dronicus of Thessalonica , Philelphus, Poggius, Blondus,Nicholas Per-rot, Valla, Campanus, Platina, &c. 'Yin (says Hody with the piouareal of a scholar) nullo aevo perituri (p 156).