The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · ¶181

The protovestiare, or great chamberlain, Phranza sailed from Constantinople as the minister of a bridegroom; and the relics of wealth and luxury were applied to his pompous appearance. His numerous retinue consisted of nobles and guards, of physicians and monks: he was attended by a band of music; and the term of his costly embassy was protracted above two years. On his arrival in Georgia or Iberia, the natives from the towns and villages flocked around the strangers; and such was their simplicity, that they were delighted with the effects, without understanding the cause, of musical harmony. Among the crowd was an old man, above a hundred years of age, who had formerly been carried away a captive by the Barbarians, and who amused his hearers with a tale of the wonders of India, from whence he had returned to Portugal by an unknown sea. From this hospitable land, Phranza proceeded to…

Edward Gibbon · Project Gutenberg #736 (Milman edition) — public domain
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