Archæologiæ Græcæ, or, The antiquities of Greece by John Potter ...

CHAPTER VII. Of the State of Athens, from Constantine the Great.

TOwards the Declination of the Roman Greatness, the Chief Magistrate of Athens, was call'd by the Name of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, i. e. Duke, but Constantine the Great, besides many other Privileges granted to the City, Honour'd him with the Title of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or Grand-Duke e. Constantius at the Request of Proaeresius, enlarg'd their Dominions, by a Grant of several Ilands in the Archi-pelago.

Under Arcadius and Honorius, Alarick, King of the Goths, made an

Incursion into Greece, Pillag'd and Destroy'd all before him, but as Zosimus reports, was diverted from his Design upon Athens, by a Vi∣sion, wherein the Tutelar Goddess of that City appear'd to him in Ar∣mour, and in the Form of those Statues that are Dedicated to Mi∣nerva the Protectress, and Achilles in the same manner that Homer re∣presents him, when being enrag'd for the Death of Patroclus, he fell with his utmost Fury upon the Trojans (a). But the Writers of those Times make no mention of any such thing, on the contrary they tell us, that Athens pass'd the common Fate of the rest of Greece; and so Claudian reports,

Si tunc his animis acics collata fuisset, Prodita non tantas vidisset Graecia clades, Oppida semoto Pelopeia Marte vigerent; Starent Arcadiae, starent Lacedaemonis arces; Non mare flagrasset geminum flagrante Corintho; Nec fera Cecropias traxissent vincula matres (b).

Had thus th' embattl'd Grecians dar'd t'oppose With Rage and Pow'r Divine their Barbarous Foes, N'ere had their Land of Strength and Help bereft T'insulting Conquerours a Prey been left. The Spartan Land had n'ere such havock seen, It's Splendor n'ere eclips'd, or Pow'r depress'd had been. Arcadian Flocks might graze untainted Food, And free from Plunder Pelops Isle have stood, Corinth's proud Structures n'ere had felt the Flames, Nor griping Chains enslav'd th'Athenian Dames.

Mr. Abell.

And Synesius, who liv'd in the same Age, tells us, there was nothing left in it splendid, or remarkable, nothing to be admired, besides the Famous Names of Ancient Ruins; and that, as in a Sacrifice, when the Body is consum'd, there remains nothing of the Beast, but an empty Skin; so it was in Athens, where all the Stately and Magnifi∣cent Structures were turn'd into ruinous Heaps, and nothing but old decay'd Out-sides left remaining (c).

Theodosius II. is said to have Favour'd the Athenians, upon the Ac∣count of his Queen Eudocia, who was an Athenian by Birth. Iustinian also is reported to have been very Kind to them, but from his Reign, for the space of about Seven-hundred Years, either for want of Histo∣rians in Ages so Rude and Barbarous, or because they liv'd in Peace, and Obscurity, without atchieving, or suffering any thing deserving to be transmitted to Posterity, there is no Account of any thing that passed amongst them, till the Thirteenth Century.

At that time, Nicetas tells us, Athens was in the hands of Baldwin, and was Besieg'd by one of the Generals of Theodorus Lascares, who was

then the Greek Emperour, but he was repuls'd with Loss, and Forc'd to raise the Siege. Not long after, it was Besieg'd by the Mar∣quess Bonifacius, who made himself Master of it (a).

It was afterwards Govern'd by one Delves, of the House of Arragon, and after his Death fell into the hands of Bajazet, Emperour of the Turks (b). Afterwards it was taken by the Spaniards of Catalonia, under the Command of Andronicus Palaeologus the Elder (c). And these are the same, that Chalcocondylas calls 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and reports, they were dispossess'd of it by Reinerius Acciaiolo, a Florentine, who having no le∣gitimate Male-Issue, left it by his last Will and Testament to the State of Venice.

The Venetians were not long Masters of it, being dispossess'd by An∣ny, a Natural Son of Reinerius, who had given him the Sove∣reignty of Thebes and Boeotia; and from this time it continu'd some Years under the Government of the Acciaioli: for Antony was Succee∣ded by one of his Kinsmen, call'd Nerius; Nerius was displac'd by his Brother Antony for his Insufficiency, and Unfitness to Govern, and after Antony's Death, recover'd it again; but leaving only one Son, then an Infant, was Succeeded by his Wife, who for her Folly was ejected by Mahomet, upon the complaint of Francus, the Son of Antony the Se∣cond, who Succeeded her, and having confin'd her some time in Prison, put her to Death, and was upon that score Accus'd by her Son to Maho∣met II, who sent an Army under the Conduct of Omares to Besiege him; Francus upon this made his Application to the Latins, but they refus'd to grant him any Assistance, except he would Engage his Subjects, in all things to Conform to the Romish Superstition, and renounce all those Articles, wherein the Greek Church differs from them; which he not being able to do, was forc'd to Surrender it to the Turks, in the Year of our Lord MCCCCLV (d), and in their hands it continues to this Day.

Notes

• e

  Iulian. Orat. I. Nicephoras Gregoras Hist. Rom. l. VII.
• (a)

  Zosimus l. V.
• (b)

  Claudian. in Ru••sinum. l. II.
• (c)

  Syn••sius Ep. CCXXXV.
• (a)

  Nicetas Choniates in Vita Balduini.
• (b)

  Laonic. Chalcocondylas lib. III.
• (c)

  Niceph. Greg. lib. VII.
• (d)

  Chalcocond. lib. VI & IX.