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As in the West wealthy Byzantines had been able to buy tax exemptions.
在西方，富有的拜占庭人甚至可以买免税债券。
The Orthodox Church was one of the large land owners by itself and paid no taxes at all.
东正教是富有的大地主之一，它完全不用交税。
The Byzantine small farmers, once the backbone of a Byzantine citizen army
拜占庭的农民曾是拜占庭民兵中流砥柱，
which had fought for its own land and its own culture had basically become serfs tied to their masters' land.
他们为了自己的土地和文化而战，如今也成为了依附于主人的农奴。
Does that sound familiar?
听起来是不是很耳熟？
Since these poor people no longer had any stake in the government they tended to make poor soldiers.
由于穷人在政府中不再有权利利益，他们就变成了穷苦的士兵。
And they often came to prefer rule by the Ottoman Turks who were often comparatively tolerant when compared to the fellow Romaioi.
他们往往还更喜欢奥斯曼土耳其人的统治，因为这些人和他们自己人罗马人比起来相对宽容一些。
Pathetically the Emperor John The V was reduced in 1159 into making a national fundraising tour of Western Europe,
可悲的是，1159年约翰五世不得不向西欧游说，指望为国库筹到一些资金，
which ended with him being thrown into a Venetian debtors prison.
结果却被关进了威尼斯债务监狱。
As time went on the Byzantine Empire fell on even harder times.
随着时间的流逝，拜占庭帝国的处境愈加艰难。
Once more Emperors reached out to the West this time offering the greatest prize by Byzantium could offer,
拜占庭君主又一次向西方求助，向他们献出了拜占庭最贵重的礼物，
submissions to the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome.
即向天主教和罗马教皇臣服。
At the 1439 Council of Florence Emperor John the VIII of Byzantium agreed to merge the Orthodox Church back into the Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope.
1439年佛罗伦萨会议上，拜占庭君主约翰三世同意把东正教并入天主教，共同接受教皇的统领。
