26 JULY 1851, Page 16

BOOKS.

FINLAY'S HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL 'GREECE AND

TREBIZOND.• THE decline of an empire, like the decline of life, is generally con- sidered an unfavourable subject for an author.Energy of IN ill, rapidity of action, raciness of character, and perhaps above all the progress of advancement, are over. The variety of fortune is little more than variety of disgrace ; the very movement towards disso- lution seems dependent upon accidents ; and that serene cheerful- ness which sometimes gilds the evening of individual life 'ne-s-Lr attends a nation. Critics and historians are alike of opinion that epochs of degradation should be comprehensively grasped and rapidly dismissed ; the narrator giving his elaborate efforts to the vigorous and growing life of a young community. Mr. Finlay is of a different opinion. His Greece under the Ro- mans treated less of a nation than of a province, and of a province about which so little had been preserved for the purposes of con- tinuous history, that the author frequently wanted facts for his narrative and authorities for his conclusion. The story of Greece during the two centuries and a half of anarchy and trouble which preceded its subjugation by the Turks after the fall of Con- stantinople, seems at first sight a less capable subject than even its existence when forming part of a mighty empire. Mr. Finlay, however, has produced a work of considerable interest and instruc- tion, though less for itself than for what it suggests.

The fundamental cause of this success is to be traced to the au- thor's mastery of his subject. Greece, especially after its con- quest by the Romans, appears to have been Mr. Finlay's hobby. For the period of which he is now treating, he has carefully studied the original authors directly referring to the subject, as the Byzan- tine historians, and modern writers who have handled it in any way ; he has also read mediwval works which might contain in- cidental notices of his theme ; and he has himself resided in Greece. He is thus familiar not merely with the written authorities, but with the manners and spirit of the people and the features of the country ; both which things are so important for the full under- standing of events.

It is this knowledge and a peculiar mode of treatment which give its great value to the book. A narrative history of Greece in its last decline, with persons and events described at large, would be tedious and profitless. This Mr. Finlay has understood : he has told little more of its direct story than was necessary to his purpose ; and that telling is often bare though he has broken up his narrative into subdivisions. To exhibit the actual causes of the final downfall of Greece—to trace those causes to the social condition of the community, and to estimate the influence of ex- ternal events upon that social condition—is the main feature of Mr. Finlay's book. In the course of it he discusses some subjects which are interesting because they were not elements of social change peculiar to Greece, but refer to Europe at large. He touches characteristics in the decline of Greece which are full of significance and instruction to every people. In depicting the state of the Byzantine Empire in Europe, he exhibits a national con- dition which not only explains the Turkish conquest of the Eastern Empire, but many other conquests, and vividly brings before the mind the picture of a disrupted nationality, which, strange as it seems in the past, has its counterpart at present throughout East- ern Europe, as well as in the Austrian dominions, and possibly in Ireland.

The question of race is the first subject that occupies Mr. Finlay's attention : and he decides that the true Greek race is extinct ; that it was in fact overlaid by a Sclavonian immigration before the rise of the Byzantine (as opposed to the Roman) Empire ; and that the modern Greek is not of pure Hellenic blood. The grounds on which this opinion is maintained are partly inferential and in part only conjectural; but the facts and illustrations by which the opi- nion is supported are curious, and they suggest a picture of the state of Europe during the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Internal decay long preceded external destruction. The accumu- lation of wealth in few hands, the gradual decline of a middle class, the substitution of slave for independent labour in every kind of industry, and the heavy weight of taxation, caused a decrease of population which was partially replaced by an immigration of the barbarian tribes, sometimes gradually and spontaneously, some- times by the active encouragement of government. Mr. Kemble, in his work on the Saxons in England, adduced strong reasons for supposing that extensive settlements of Saxons had taken place in this country before the semi-fabulous invasion of Hengist and Horsa. In like manner, Mr. Finlay shows that Greece, and many other parts of the Roman Empire, were settled by different tribes or races of the barbarians before the great invasions took place. It was a process similar in principle to that by which the Americans "annexed" Texas and other places : the country was occupied before it was invaded. The destruction of the Spanish power in America will probably offer points of resemblance to the downfall of the Roman Empire, widely as they differ in outward circumstances.

For it was not merely decreased numbers and the occupation of districts by alien races that produced the downfall of the Roman power. The poor were oppressed, deprived of arms, and hostile to the rich ; the wealthy were, if not personally timorous, timorous as a class—fearful for their property or their profits—unwilling to

• The Flistory of Greece, from its Conquest by the Crusaders to its Conquest by the Turks; and of the Empire of Trebizond, 1204-1481. By George Finlay, Ho- norary Member of the RoyalSociety of Literature. Published by Blackwood and Sons. give up their comforts or pursuits—postponing evil as long as possible, and submitting to-it at last, rather than run any risk in resisting it. Besides these moral and economical evils, material means were neglected : the fortresses were allowed to fall into decay ; the forces reduced in number, their discipline neglected. The later Romans and the Byzantines were regular "peace" people. Defeat, no doubt, was the final means of their destruc- tion, just as disease of some sort at last produces death ; but a de- feat was merely an incident in the drama. The greatest blow to the Byzantine Empire, Mr. Finlay considers, was the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders; and they succeeded from the neglected state of the army and navy.

"This conquest of Constantinople effected greater changes in the condition of the Greek race than any event that had occurred since the conquest of Greece by the Romans. It put an end to the reign of Roman law and civil order in the East; and to it we must trace all the subsequent evils and de- gradatiens of the Byzantine Empire, the orthodox Church, and the Greek natim. Yet society only avenged its own wrongs. The calamities of the Greeks were caused more by the vices of the Byzantine government, and by the corruption of the Greek people, than by the superior valour and military skill of the Crusaders. The lesson is worthy of attentive study by all wealthy and highly civilized nations, who neglect moral education and military dis- cipline as national institutions. No state, even though its civil organization be excellent, its administration of justice impartial, and its political system popular, can escape the danger of a like fate, unless skill, discipline, and experience in military and naval tactics watch constantly over its wealth. Except men use the means which God has placed in their hands with pru- dence for their own defence, there can be no safety for any state, as long as kings and emperors employ themselves incessantly in drilling troops, and diverting men's minds from honest industry to ambitious projects of war.

"Universal peacemakers in the present state of society should inquire where lies the savour of truth in the Satanic observation of Voltaire that the God of justice is always on the side of powerful armies. Divine Voltaire, has ordained that order and science, united with a feeling of moral respon- sibility, give men additional force by increasing their powers of action and endurance. Military organization has hitherto combined these qualities more completely than education has been able to infuse them into civil society. The self-respect of the individual soldier has prevented his falling so low, with reference to the military masses, as the citizen falls in the mass of man- kind. Discipline and tactics have concentrated power in a higher degree than laws and education; consequently, until the political constitution of society educates the feeling of moral responsibility in the citizen as perfectly as in the soldier, and renders him as amenable to moral and political disci- pline as the soldier is to military, the destructive classes will look down on the productive. But when the maximum of civil education and discipline is obtained in the local communities of free governments, then the God of jus- tice will invariably be found on the side of the citizen armed in defence of political order."

The dismemberment of the Empire by the Frank conquest gave rise to a variety of smaller states or feudal sovereignties in Europe, and in Asia to the Empire of Trebizond. These existed after the downfall of the Latin power, and some survived the capture of Constantinople itself. They were altogether seven in number, but those which belonged to Greece proper were the Dukedom of Athens, a Frank principality in the Morea, accompanied or suc- ceeded by a Byzantine province, and the Dukedom of Naxos or the Archipelago. The history of each of the states is separately narrated, and told as clearly and with as much of interest as the subject admits. The events, however, are of slender moment in themselves, and derive their importance from their bearing upon the state of the Eastern world at the time. The real attraction, if not the value, arises occasionally from descriptions of battles and character, chiefly from pictures of the social and economi- cal condition of the age. The following account of the differ- ence in the opinions of the Greeks and the Western nations is from an exposition of the various causes that induced the Crusa- ders to iegard the Byzantine Empire with an evil eye, and eventu- ally impelled them against it.

"The Franks and Byzantine Greeks were in conditions of society too dis- similar for them to associate familiarly, without forming erroneous estimates of their respective characters. Political order and civil law were in the opi- nion of the Greeks the true bonds of society : the right of the individual to redress his own wrongs with his sword, was among the Franks the most valuable privilege of existence. The authority of the central government, in the well-organized administration of the Byzantine empire, reduced the greatest nobles to the rank of abject slaves in the opinion of the feudal barons ; while the right of every private gentleman to decide questions of police and municipal law by an appeal to his sword, was a monstrous absur- dity in the eyes of the Greeks, and rendered society among the Western na- tions little better than an assemblage of bandits. The conduct of the clergy did nothing to promote Christian charity. The contempt of the learned members of the Eastern Church for the ignorance of their Latin brethren, was changed into abhorrence when they beheld men calling themselveslish- ops galloping about the streets of Constantinople in coats of mail. The Latin priesthood, on the other hand, despised both the pastors and the flocks, when they saw medhoping by echolastic phrases to influence the conduct of sol- diers ; and they condemned the Christianity which suffered its priests to submit to the authority of the civil magistrate in the servile spirit of the Greek clergy. In addition to this discordance in the elements of society, it is cunusing to find the Greeks and Franks mutually accusing one another of precisely the same faults and vices. Both accuse their rivals of falsehood and treachery ; and Anna Comnena remarks, with some warmth, that the Franks and Nor- mans were the greatest babblers in the world: perhaps she was right, though our vanity induces us to smile at such an accusation made by a Greek."

Chaucer and Shakspere have made us familiar with the title of "Duke of Athens," and excited something like ridicule at its mis- application. In Chaucer's time the fame of the Dukedom was con- siderable, and deserved. This is the picture, glowing and probably favourable, of the Frank duchy.

• "It is usual to :suppose that Athens was a miserable and decayed town during the whole period of the middle ages, and that Attica then offered the &erne barren, treeless, and unimpromble aspect, which it now doesas an Euro- ropean kingdom. Sikh, howevei, was not the case. The social civilization of the inhabitants, and their ample command of the necessaries and many of the luxuries of life, werein those days as much superior to the condition of the.citizens of Paris and London as they are now inferior. When Walter de Brienne succeeded to the duchy, it occupied a much higher position in the scale of European states than is at present occupied by the kingdom of Greece. TheSpanialluntaner, who was well acquainted with all the rich countries around the Mediterranean, then the most flourishing portion of the globe, and who was familiar with the most magnificent courts of Europe, says that the Dukes of Athens were among the greatest princes who did not possess the title of king. He has left us a description of the court of Atkins,which gives us a high idea of its magnificence ; and he declares that the nobles of the duchy then spoke as good French as the Parisians themselves. The city was large and wealthy, the country thickly covered with villages, of which the ruins may still be traced in spots affording no indications of Hellenic sitee. Aqueducts and cisterns then gave fertility to land now unproductive; olive, almond, and fig trees, were intermingled with vineyards, and orchards cover- ed ground now reduced by the want of irrigation to yield only scanty pas- turage to the flocks of nomade shepherds. The valonia, the cotton, the silk, and the leather of Attica, then supplied native manufactories, and the surplus commanded a high price in the European markets. The trade of Athens was considerable ; and the luxury of the Athenian ducal court was celebrated in all the regions of the West where chivalry flourished. "Nor was the position of the Greek subjects of the Dukes at this period one of severe oppression. Civilization had penetrated deeper into the social relations of men in Greece than in the rest of Europe; and its effects were displayed in the existence of a middle class, living in ease, and by the decay of slavery and serfdom. Though the Greeks of Athens were a conquered race, the terms of capitulation granted by Otho de la Roche secured to them all the privileges as individual citizens which they had enjoyed under the Byzantine government, with much greater freedom from financial oppression. The feudal conquerors of Greece soon perceived that it was greatly for their interest to respect the terms of the capitulations concluded with their Greek subjects, and to gain their good-will. Each grand feudatory soon became- aware that the Greeks from their wealth and numbers might be rendered useful allies in opposing the exorbitant pretensions of their own immediate vassals and military followers, and in restraining the avarice of the Latin clergy, the ambition of the Pope, or the pretensions of the Emperor of Ro- mania. The peculiar condition of the Greek landed proprietors, who were in some degree both capitalists and merchants, taught their princes the neces- sity of alleviating the natural severity of the feudal system, and modifying the contempt it inculcated for the industrious and unwarlike classes of so- ciety. The high value of some of the productions of Greece before the dis- covery of America and the route to India by the Gape of Good Hope, placed the landed proprietors on the coasts of Greece, and particularly those of Attica and liceotia, in the receipt of considerable money-revenues. They were thus enabled to pay to their Dukes an amount of taxation which many monarchs in Western Europe were unable to extract from numerous cities and burghs, whose trade depended on slow and expensive land-communica- tions, and from cultivators without capital, who raised little but corn and hay..

The account of slavery in Athens is curious in its particulars and just in its general remarks.

"A few documents have been preserved which prove the existence both of domestic and rural slavery in Athens, down to the latest period of the ducal government. A letter of Pope Innocent III, to the Archbishop of Pa- tras, in the year 1209, shows that the soil was very generally cultivated by serfs throughout Greece at the, time of the Frank conquest. A charter of the titular Latin Emperor Robert, in 1358, mentions the loss of slaves as one of the greatest misfortunes to which landed proprietors could be exposed. In the will of Nerio L Duke of Athens, there is a clause conferring liberty on a slave named Maria Rendi, and declaring that all her property whether move- able or immoveable must be given up to her. This clause affords conclusive proof of the existence both of domestic and rural servitude; for the idea of a domestic slave possessing innuoveable property indicates that the legal position of rural serfs had modified the condition of domestic slaves. There is still a more decisive proof of the generality of domestic slavery in an act of donation of a female slave, by Francesca Countess of Cephalonia, daughter' of Nerio I., to her cousin Nerio, by which she gives him one of her female slaves or serfs from the despotat of Arta, in absolute property, with full power to sell or emancipate her. The last official act re ating to slavery during the government of the Frank Dukes is dated in 1437. It mentions numerous personal services as due by serfs in Attica, corresponding to those to which the villeins were subjected in Western Europe; and it liberates a slave of Duke Antonio, named Gregorios Chamaches, and his posterity, from the servitudes of transporting agricultural produce to the city., of transport- ing new wine from the vats, of collecting and making offerings of oil and olives, and from all other obligations of rural servitude, making him as free as a Frank.

"Even rural slavery did not become completely extinct in Greece until the country was conquered by the Turks. The fact is, that in no country where it prevailed has rural slavery ceased until the price of the productions raised by slave-labour has fallen so low as to leave no profit to the slave- owner. When some change in the condition of the population admits of land being let for a greater share of the produce than can be reserved by the proprietor while cultivating it with the labour of his slaves, then it will be impossible to perpetuate slavery ; but it will prove nearly as impossible to- abolish it in auy society where the labour of the slave gives fertility to the soil and wealth to the slave-owner, in circumstances when, on the other hand, land not cultivated by slaves can find no tenants willing to pay a cor- responding profit to the landowner. History affords its testimony that neither the doctrines of Christianity, nor the sentiments of humanity, have ever yet succeeded in extinguishing slavery where the soil could be cultivated with profit by slave-labour. No Christian community of slaveholders has yet voluntarily abolished slavery. Philanthropy is the late production of an ad- vanced state of civilization, qpemting on society when free from external danger, removed from the necessity of its members rendering personal mili- tary service, and where the majority remain ignorant of the sufferings of actual warfare."