OF THE HOMAN EMPIRE.

derbeg are commonly associated ; m and they areboth entitled to our notice, since their occupa-tion of the Ottoman arms delayed the ruin of theGreek empire. John Castriot, the father ofScan-derbeg, n was the hereditary prince of a smalldistrict of Epirus or Albania , between the moun-tains and the Adriatic sea . Unable to contendwith the sultan’s power, Castriot submitted tothe hard conditions of peace and tribute; he de-livered his four sons as the pledges of his fide-lity; and the Christian youths, after receiving themark of circumcision, were instructed in themahometan religion, and trained in the armsand arts of Turkish policy . 0 The three elderbrothers were confounded in the crowd of slaves;and the poison to which their deaths are ascribedcannot be verified or disproved by any positiveevidence. Yet the suspicion is in a great mea-sure removed by the kind and paternal treat-ment of George Castriot, the fourth brother , who,from his tender youth, displayed the strengthand spirit of a soldier. The successive over-throw of a Tartar and two Persians , who carried

m They are ranked by Sir William Temple , in his pleasing Essay onHeroic Virtue (Works, vol. iii, p. 385), among the seven chiefs whohave deserved, without wearing, a royal crown; Belisarius, Narses ,Gonsalvo of Cordova, William first prince of Orange, Alexander dukeof Parma John Huniades, and George Castriot, or Scanderbeg .

” I could wish for some simple authentic memoirs of a friend ofScanderbeg , which would introduce me to the man, the time, and theplace. In the old and national history of Marinus Barletius, a priest of Scodra (de Vitk, Moribus, et Rebus gestis Georgii Castrioti, &c.libri xiii, p. 367. Argentorat. 1537, in fol.), his gawdy and cumber-some robes are stuck with many false jewels. See likewise Chalco-condyjes, 1. vii, p. 185,1. viii, p. 229.

° His circumcision, education, &c. are marked by Marinus with bre-vity and reluctance (1. i>p 6< 7).

165

CHAP.

LXVII.

Birth andeducationofScanderbig,princeofAlbania,A. n.1404*1413, ice.