J.C.
Heg. 864.

complained bitterly of this outrage. The po- C. 1459 litical Mahomet II. liftened to his complaints, and fent his vizier against the murderer of the prince and the regent of Athens. Franco perifhed in defending his territory, which was united, without much refiftance, to the Ottoman throne.

The emperor, having paffed fome time at Athens, returned to his capital, where he was called by affairs of importance. The Greek Christians, who were already returned in great numbers, requested he would give them a pa-. triarch, choofing rather to receive a chief of their Church from the hands of the enemy of Christianity, than from the pope. The Mahometan emperor invefted the patriarch, with the ceremony of the paftoral staff and the ring. This cuftom is preserved at this day among the Greeks.

During the winter, the fultan prepared a confiderable armament, with which he intended to make new conquests in Afia, as he had in Europe. These preparations ftill menaced an ufurper. David Comnenus or Comnene was become emperor of Trebizond, having taken both crown and life from its lawful mafter, of whom he was the uncle, the guardian, and the fubject. The city of Trebizond, situated at the eastern extremity of the Black fea, is confiderable by a fine port and its commerce; it had ferved as a re

treat

J.C. 1459 treat to the Comnenes in 1204, when those prinHeg. 864. ces were driven from Conftantinople. They had faved, from the wreck of their empire, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and fome neighbouring territories, and they gave this petty ftate the vain title of empire of Trebizond, which their family preferved for more than two hundred and fifty years, though diminished by the conquefts of the Perfian princes. At length the arms of Mahomet destroyed alfo this remnant of Grecian greatnefs.*

J.C. 1461.
Heg. 865.

The preparations which he had made to fall on Afia, feemed to threaten Ufzum Affan, king

of

*A defcendant of this illuftrious family is ftill living, and there is not a hoafe in Europe which can boast an origin more elevated. This is Demetrius Comnene, a captain of cavalry in the fervice of France. He, whofe ancef.. tors wore the purple, fat on the throne of the Cæfars, commanded the Eaft, and marched furrounded by a numerous guard, confoles himself for the lofs of a fceptre by this motto, which we read around two eagles that form his arms: Fama manet, fortuna periit. Of all this greatnefs, nothing is left him, but the name and honor of his family. Reduced to the ftate of a private gentleman, he has chofen a new country, and devoted himself to its defence. It is fingular to fee at the head of a troop, formed of a small number of soldiers, one of the family of Vespasian, and the descendant of a houfe, which counts eighteen emperors: viz. fix of Conftantinople, ten of Trebizond, and two of Heracleus-pontus; eighteen kings of Colchis, and eight of the nation of Lazi. But grandeurs vanish, titles wear out, empires fall, and thrones become duft: Damnofa quid non imminuit dies? Virtue alone remains. Thofe who wish to fee a more particular acount of this illuftrious family, will find their curiofity fatisfied in a smalį Svo. of about 180 pages, published at Amfterdam in 1784 under the title of Precis biftorique de la Maison Imperiale des Comnènes, où l'on trouve l'origine, les mœurs & les ufages des Maniotes, précédé d'une filiation directe & reconnue par lettres-patentes du Roi, du mbis d'Avril 1782, depuis David, dernier Empereur de Trebifonde, jusqu'à Démétrius Commène, actuellement Capitaine dé Cavalerie en France. TRANSLATOR.

Heg. 865.

empire of

and puts

the ufurper

to death.

of Perfia, whose ancestors had already mangled J.C.1461. the empire of Trebizond. This prince having fent word to Mahomet, that he ought not to turn Mahomet his arms against the Muffulmen, as long as there feizes the were any Chriftians to make war with; the Trebizond Turkish emperor, touched with the reproach, concluded a peace with the Perfian monarch, after the latter's promifing folemnly, not to fuccour the emperor of Trebizond. Immediately the troops made long marches towards that capital; and a fleet, which for a long time had been waiting at fea to receive orders where to proceed, entered the port of Trebizond. David Comnene, who had taken from an infant the throne which he poffeffed, was incapable of defending it against a conqueror. After a siege of thirty days, fearing to be taken by affault, he furrendered his city and all his empire, on the vague promise of a province as an indemnity, and that his daughter should marry the man who had wrested from him his fceptre. The emperor placed garrifons in all the towns, made a folemn entry into the capital, and appointed families to go and repeople Conftantinople; after which he dragged Comnene and his fons after him to his new palace at Conftantinople, where they found fetters instead of the hoped for fovereignty. A short time after, Mahomet pretended to have discovered a fecret intelligence between the unfortunate dethroned emperor and the minifters

of

J.C. 1461. of Ufzum Affan. Under this falfe pretext, he

Heg. 865.

Conqueft of Leibos.

of Mahomet.

put him to an ignominious death, which he had merited by his injustices: eight of his children were executed after him; and the princefs, who was to receive the hand of the fultan, was put among his concubines.

1

Mahomet, whom we have juft feen chastise Cruelties two perfidious men, was at the fame time the moft perfidious of mankind himself. The knaJ.C.1463. very of this prince extended his empire at least Heg. 868. as much as his courage. Since the knights of Rhodes had spread themselves on the borders of the Ottoman empire, this handful of soldiers was more formidable to him, than all the Greeks had been. He thought ferioufly of invading their ifland; but, to render his attack more certain, he refolved to commence with the other islands of the Archipelago, from whence the knights might receive fuccours. The fovereign of Lesbos, called Gattilufio, though a Greek Schifmatic, was the ally of the Order; under pretext of this prince's having given retreat to the Rhodian veffels, which defolated the coaft, Mahomet landed himself in that ifland. The grand mafter had time to throw a confiderable body of knights into Metelin, the capital of the ifle of Lesbos, before Mahomet could begin the fiege. This place was defended by the archbishop, who was a warlike prelate, and a coufin of the fovereign's, who acted as governor. The

prince of Lefbos, overcome with a terror which J.C. 1463. Heg. 868. he did not endeavour to conceal, retired to a castle, the most diftant from the attack, leaving the defence of his territory to those who might be more valiant than himself. Metelin, being well fortified, made a long refiftance. The archbishop and the knights were always at the head of the fallies. At length Mahomet, almost difcouraged, tempted the fidelity of Lucius Gattilufio, the prince's coufin who acted as governor. The vizier Machmout promifed him, from the emperor, the fovereignty of the island, on condition of his never fuffering any knight of Rhodes, or Latin Christian, to enter his ports. This perfidious Greek was dazzled with the luftre of a crown; the emperor's promise, which he saw written and figned with his own hand, left him only the defire of delivering up the city, and the difficulty of putting it in execution. Neither the archbishop nor the knights were to be feduced, confequently it was neceffary to deceive them, for the authority of the governor was not fuch, but that they might have prevented the treason, if they had difcovered it. At length Gattilufio feized the favorable opportunity of opening a gate where the janiffaries were crowding to enter. All the knights determined to cut their way through on the ramparts, rather than furrender, and every one of them perished in the attempt. During the tumult, Gattilufio went to