[Footnote 97: As I am now taking an everlasting farewell of
the Greek empire, I shall briefly mention the great
collection of Byzantine writers whose names and testimonies
have been successively repeated in this work. The Greek
presses of Aldus and the Italians were confined to the
classics of a better age; and the first rude editions of
Procopius, Agathias, Cedrenus, Zonaras, etc., were published
by the learned diligence of the Germans. The whole Byzantine
series (thirty-six volumes in folio) has gradually issued
(A.D. 1648, etc.) from the royal press of the Louvre, with
some collateral aid from Rome and Leipsic; but the Venetian
edition (A.D. 1729), though cheaper and more copious, is not
less inferior in correctness than in magnificence to that of
Paris. The merits of the French editors are various; but the
value of Anna Comnena Cinnamus, Villehardouin, etc., is
enhanced by the historical notes of Charles du Fresne du
Cange. His supplemental works, the Greek Glossary, the
Constantinopolis Christiana, the Familiae Byzantinae,
diffuse a steady light over the darkness of the Lower
Empire.]