Page:Destruction of the Greek Empire.djvu/220

186 DESTRUCTION OF THE GREEK EMPIRE manifestly increased the power — not of a regularly con- stituted body like our House of Lords, or the American Senate, but — of an irresponsible body of nobles. In the next place, the dissensions may be attributed to the existing and traditional form of government. It is a commonplace to say that uncontrolled autocracy is the best government if a succession of able men can be assured. The difficulty is that, if the ordinary rules of succession are observed, the successor of a Justinian or a Julius Caesar may be a fool. In Constantinople effective control over the appointment of an emperor was wanting, The senate or council of an absolute ruler, be he called emperor or sultan, is usually weak in proportion to the strength of the ruler, and if, in the customary order of succession, the heir to the throne is unsuited to the office, the ring of creatures, by whatever name it is called, which his predecessor has gathered round him is pretty sure to support the heir, irrespective of his merit or ability. Others acquiesce for the sake of peace, or are drawn to support a pretender. The nobles usually gained strength during the reign of a weak prince, and in the support they gave to rival claimants the empire bled. Democratic government in the modern sense of the term had not yet been born. Sir Henry Maine claims that the modern doctrines of popular government based on democracy are essentially of late English origin. It is certain that nothing like them had existed in the Koman empire, either in the East or West. Any traditions of self-government which the Greeks had retained — a form of self-government which was never upon modern democratic lines — had been entirely overshadowed, not merely by the autocratic govern- ment of the emperors, but by that of the Church. The government was that of an absolute sovereign moderated by irresponsible nobles. Without, however, seeking further to discover the reasons for the internal divisions and the consequent civil wars, their existence and baneful effects are the most manifest,