as successfully bestowed by the kings of
Sicily. Conquered in turn by the French and Catalans, Athens at length
became the capital of a state that extended over Thebes, Argos, Corinth,
Delphi, and a part of Thessaly, and was ruled by the family of Accaioli,
plebeians of Florence (1384-1456). The last duke of this dynasty was
strangled by Mahomet II., who educated his sons in the discipline of the
seraglio.

During the reign of John Palaeologus, son of Andronicus the Younger,
which began in 1355, the eastern empire was nearly subverted by the
Genoese. On the return of the legitimate sovereign to Constantinople,
the Genoese, who had established their factories and industries in the
suburb of Galata, or Pera, were allowed to remain. During the civil wars
the Genoese forces took advantage of the disunion of the Greeks, and by
the skilful use of their power exacted a treaty by which they were
granted a monopoly of trade, and almost a right of dominions. The Roman
Empire (I smile in transcribing the name) might soon have sunk into a
province of Genoa if the ambition of the republic had not been checked
by the ruin of her freedom and naval power. Yet the spirit of commerce
survived that of conquest; and the colony of Pera still awed the capital
and navigated the Euxine till it was involved by the Turks in the final
servitude of Constantinople itself.

_III.--End of the Roman World_

Only three more sovereigns ruled the remnants of the Roman world after
the reign of John Palaeologus, but the final downfall of the empire was
delayed above fifty years by a series of events that had sapped the
strength of the Mahometan empire. The rise and triumph of the Moguls and
Tartars under their emperors, descendants of Zingis Khan, had shaken the
globe from China to Poland and Greece (1206-1304). The sultans were
overthrown, and in the general disorder of the Mahometan world a veteran
and adventurous army, which included many Turkoman hordes, was dissolved
into factions who, under various chiefs, lived a life of rapine and
plunder. Some of these engaged in the service of Aladin (1219-1236),
Sultan of Iconium, and among these were the obscure fathers of the
Ottoman line.

Orchan ruled from 1326 to 1360, achieved the conquest of Bithynia, and
first led the Turks into Europe, and in 1353 established himself in the
Chersonesus, and occupied Gallipoli, the key of the Hellespont. Orchan
was succeeded by Amurath I. (1389-1403). Bajazet car