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diff --git a/old/4dfre10.txt b/old/4dfre10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6babecd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4dfre10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28829 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Volume 4: +The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire +by Edward Gibbon + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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Haradda@aol.com and +davidr@inconnect.com are my email addresses for now. Please feel +free to send me your comments and I hope you enjoy this. + +David Reed + + + + + +History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire + +Edward Gibbon, Esq. + +With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman + +Vol. 4 + +1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised) + +Chapter XXXIX: Gothic Kingdom Of Italy. + +Part I. + + Zeno And Anastasius, Emperors Of The East. - Birth, +Education, And First Exploits Of Theodoric The Ostrogoth. - His +Invasion And Conquest Of Italy. - The Gothic Kingdom Of Italy. - +State Of The West. - Military And Civil Government. - The Senator +Boethius. - Last Acts And Death Of Theodoric. + + After the fall of the Roman empire in the West, an interval +of fifty years, till the memorable reign of Justinian, is faintly +marked by the obscure names and imperfect annals of Zeno, +Anastasius, and Justin, who successively ascended to the throne +of Constantinople. During the same period, Italy revived and +flourished under the government of a Gothic king, who might have +deserved a statue among the best and bravest of the ancient +Romans. + + Theodoric the Ostrogoth, the fourteenth in lineal descent of +the royal line of the Amali, ^1 was born in the neighborhood of +Vienna ^2 two years after the death of Attila. ^! A recent +victory had restored the independence of the Ostrogoths; and the +three brothers, Walamir, Theodemir, and Widimir, who ruled that +warlike nation with united counsels, had separately pitched their +habitations in the fertile though desolate province of Pannonia. +The Huns still threatened their revolted subjects, but their +hasty attack was repelled by the single forces of Walamir, and +the news of his victory reached the distant camp of his brother +in the same auspicious moment that the favorite concubine of +Theodemir was delivered of a son and heir. In the eighth year of +his age, Theodoric was reluctantly yielded by his father to the +public interest, as the pledge of an alliance which Leo, emperor +of the East, had consented to purchase by an annual subsidy of +three hundred pounds of gold. The royal hostage was educated at +Constantinople with care and tenderness. His body was formed to +all the exercises of war, his mind was expanded by the habits of +liberal conversation; he frequented the schools of the most +skilful masters; but he disdained or neglected the arts of +Greece, and so ignorant did he always remain of the first +elements of science, that a rude mark was contrived to represent +the signature of the illiterate king of Italy. ^3 As soon as he +had attained the age of eighteen, he was restored to the wishes +of the Ostrogoths, whom the emperor aspired to gain by liberality +and confidence. Walamir had fallen in battle; the youngest of +the brothers, Widimir, had led away into Italy and Gaul an army +of Barbarians, and the whole nation acknowledged for their king +the father of Theodoric. His ferocious subjects admired the +strength and stature of their young prince; ^4 and he soon +convinced them that he had not degenerated from the valor of his +ancestors. At the head of six thousand volunteers, he secretly +left the camp in quest of adventures, descended the Danube as far +as Singidunum, or Belgrade, and soon returned to his father with +the spoils of a Sarmatian king whom he had vanquished and slain. +Such triumphs, however, were productive only of fame, and the +invincible Ostrogoths were reduced to extreme distress by the +want of clothing and food. They unanimously resolved to desert +their Pannonian encampments, and boldly to advance into the warm +and wealthy neighborhood of the Byzantine court, which already +maintained in pride and luxury so many bands of confederate +Goths. After proving, by some acts of hostility, that they could +be dangerous, or at least troublesome, enemies, the Ostrogoths +sold at a high price their reconciliation and fidelity, accepted +a donative of lands and money, and were intrusted with the +defence of the Lower Danube, under the command of Theodoric, who +succeeded after his father's death to the hereditary throne of +the Amali. ^5 + +[Footnote 1: Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 13, 14, p. 629, 630, +edit. Grot.) has drawn the pedigree of Theodoric from Gapt, one +of the Anses or Demigods, who lived about the time of Domitian. +Cassiodorus, the first who celebrates the royal race of the +Amali, (Viriar. viii. 5, ix. 25, x. 2, xi. 1,) reckons the +grandson of Theodoric as the xviith in descent. Peringsciold +(the Swedish commentator of Cochloeus, Vit. Theodoric. p. 271, +&c., Stockholm, 1699) labors to connect this genealogy with the +legends or traditions of his native country. + + Note: Amala was a name of hereditary sanctity and honor +among the Visigoths. It enters into the names of Amalaberga, +Amala suintha, (swinther means strength,) Amalafred, Amalarich. +In the poem of the Nibelungen written three hundred years later, +the Ostrogoths are called the Amilungen. According to Wachter it +means, unstained, from the privative a, and malo a stain. It is +pure Sanscrit, Amala, immaculatus. Schlegel. Indische +Bibliothek, 1. p. 233. - M.] + +[Footnote 2: More correctly on the banks of the Lake Pelso, +(Nieusiedler- see,) near Carnuntum, almost on the same spot where +Marcus Antoninus composed his meditations, (Jornandes, c. 52, p. +659. Severin. Pannonia Illustrata, p. 22. Cellarius, Geograph. +Antiq. (tom. i. p. 350.)] + +[Footnote !: The date of Theodoric's birth is not accurately +determined. We can hardly err, observes Manso, in placing it +between the years 453 and 455, Manso, Geschichte des Ost +Gothischen Reichs, p. 14. - M.] + +[Footnote 3: The four first letters of his name were inscribed on +a gold plate, and when it was fixed on the paper, the king drew +his pen through the intervals (Anonym. Valesian. ad calcem Amm. +Marcellin p. 722.) This authentic fact, with the testimony of +Procopius, or at least of the contemporary Goths, (Gothic. 1. i. +c. 2, p. 311,) far outweighs the vague praises of Ennodius +(Sirmond Opera, tom. i. p. 1596) and Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. +112.) + Note: Le Beau and his Commentator, M. St. Martin, support, +though with no very satisfactory evidence, the opposite opinion. +But Lord Mahon (Life of Belisarius, p. 19) urges the much +stronger argument, the Byzantine education of Theodroic. - M.] +[Footnote 4: Statura est quae resignet proceritate regnantem, +(Ennodius, p. 1614.) The bishop of Pavia (I mean the ecclesiastic +who wished to be a bishop) then proceeds to celebrate the +complexion, eyes, hands, &c, of his sovereign.] +[Footnote 5: The state of the Ostrogoths, and the first years of +Theodoric, are found in Jornandes, (c. 52 - 56, p. 689 - 696) and +Malchus, (Excerpt. Legat. p. 78 - 80,) who erroneously styles him +the son of Walamir.] + A hero, descended from a race of kings, must have despised +the base Isaurian who was invested with the Roman purple, without +any endowment of mind or body, without any advantages of royal +birth, or superior qualifications. After the failure of the +Theodosian life, the choice of Pulcheria and of the senate might +be justified in some measure by the characters of Martin and Leo, +but the latter of these princes confirmed and dishonored his +reign by the perfidious murder of Aspar and his sons, who too +rigorously exacted the debt of gratitude and obedience. The +inheritance of Leo and of the East was peaceably devolved on his +infant grandson, the son of his daughter Ariadne; and her +Isaurian husband, the fortunate Trascalisseus, exchanged that +barbarous sound for the Grecian appellation of Zeno. After the +decease of the elder Leo, he approached with unnatural respect +the throne of his son, humbly received, as a gift, the second +rank in the empire, and soon excited the public suspicion on the +sudden and premature death of his young colleague, whose life +could no longer promote the success of his ambition. But the +palace of Constantinople was ruled by female influence, and +agitated by female passions: and Verina, the widow of Leo, +claiming his empire as her own, pronounced a sentence of +deposition against the worthless and ungrateful servant on whom +she alone had bestowed the sceptre of the East. ^6 As soon as she +sounded a revolt in the ears of Zeno, he fled with precipitation +into the mountains of Isauria, and her brother Basiliscus, +already infamous by his African expedition, ^7 was unanimously +proclaimed by the servile senate. But the reign of the usurper +was short and turbulent. Basiliscus presumed to assassinate the +lover of his sister; he dared to offend the lover of his wife, +the vain and insolent Harmatius, who, in the midst of Asiatic +luxury, affected the dress, the demeanor, and the surname of +Achilles. ^8 By the conspiracy of the malecontents, Zeno was +recalled from exile; the armies, the capital, the person, of +Basiliscus, were betrayed; and his whole family was condemned to +the long agony of cold and hunger by the inhuman conqueror, who +wanted courage to encounter or to forgive his enemies. ^* The +haughty spirit of Verina was still incapable of submission or +repose. She provoked the enmity of a favorite general, embraced +his cause as soon as he was disgraced, created a new emperor in +Syria and Egypt, ^* raised an army of seventy thousand men, and +persisted to the last moment of her life in a fruitless +rebellion, which, according to the fashion of the age, had been +predicted by Christian hermits and Pagan magicians. While the +East was afflicted by the passions of Verina, her daughter +Ariadne was distinguished by the female virtues of mildness and +fidelity; she followed her husband in his exile, and after his +restoration, she implored his clemency in favor of her mother. +On the decease of Zeno, Ariadne, the daughter, the mother, and +the widow of an emperor, gave her hand and the Imperial title to +Anastasius, an aged domestic of the palace, who survived his +elevation above twenty-seven years, and whose character is +attested by the acclamation of the people, "Reign as you have +lived!" ^9 ^! +[Footnote 6: Theophanes (p. 111) inserts a copy of her sacred +letters to the provinces. Such female pretensions would have +astonished the slaves of the first Caesars.] + +[Footnote 7: Vol. iii. p. 504 - 508.] + +[Footnote 8: Suidas, tom. i. p. 332, 333, edit. Kuster.] + +[Footnote *: Joannes Lydus accuses Zeno of timidity, or, rather, +of cowardice; he purchased an ignominious peace from the enemies +of the empire, whom he dared not meet in battle; and employed his +whole time at home in confiscations and executions. Lydus, de +Magist. iii. 45, p. 230. - M.] + +[Footnote *: Named Illus. - M.] + +[Footnote 9: The contemporary histories of Malchus and Candidus +are lost; but some extracts or fragments have been saved by +Photius, (lxxviii. lxxix. p. 100 - 102,) Constantine +Porphyrogenitus, (Excerpt. Leg. p. 78 - 97,) and in various +articles of the Lexicon of Suidas. The Chronicles of Marcellinus +(Imago Historiae) are originals for the reigns of Zeno and +Anastasius; and I must acknowledge, almost for the last time, my +obligations to the large and accurate collections of Tillemont, +(Hist. des Emp. tom. vi. p. 472 - 652).] +[Footnote !: The Panegyric of Procopius of Gaza, (edited by +Villoison in his Anecdota Graeca, and reprinted in the new +edition of the Byzantine historians by Niebuhr, in the same vol. +with Dexippus and Eunapius, viii. p. 488 516,) was unknown to +Gibbon. It is vague and pedantic, and contains few facts. The +same criticism will apply to the poetical panegyric of Priscian +edited from the Ms. of Bobbio by Ang. Mai. Priscian, the gram +marian, Niebuhr argues from this work, must have been born in the +African, not in either of the Asiatic Caesareas. Pref. p. xi. - +M.] + + Whatever fear of affection could bestow, was profusely +lavished by Zeno on the king of the Ostrogoths; the rank of +patrician and consul, the command of the Palatine troops, an +equestrian statue, a treasure in gold and silver of many thousand +pounds, the name of son, and the promise of a rich and honorable +wife. As long as Theodoric condescended to serve, he supported +with courage and fidelity the cause of his benefactor; his rapid +march contributed to the restoration of Zeno; and in the second +revolt, the Walamirs, as they were called, pursued and pressed +the Asiatic rebels, till they left an easy victory to the +Imperial troops. ^10 But the faithful servant was suddenly +converted into a formidable enemy, who spread the flames of war +from Constantinople to the Adriatic; many flourishing cities were +reduced to ashes, and the agriculture of Thrace was almost +extirpated by the wanton cruelty of the Goths, who deprived their +captive peasants of the right hand that guided the plough. ^11 On +such occasions, Theodoric sustained the loud and specious +reproach of disloyalty, of ingratitude, and of insatiate avarice, +which could be only excused by the hard necessity of his +situation. He reigned, not as the monarch, but as the minister of +a ferocious people, whose spirit was unbroken by slavery, and +impatient of real or imaginary insults. Their poverty was +incurable; since the most liberal donatives were soon dissipated +in wasteful luxury, and the most fertile estates became barren in +their hands; they despised, but they envied, the laborious +provincials; and when their subsistence had failed, the +Ostrogoths embraced the familiar resources of war and rapine. It +had been the wish of Theodoric (such at least was his +declaration) to lead a peaceful, obscure, obedient life on the +confines of Scythia, till the Byzantine court, by splendid and +fallacious promises, seduced him to attack a confederate tribe of +Goths, who had been engaged in the party of Basiliscus. He +marched from his station in Maesia, on the solemn assurance that +before he reached Adrianople, he should meet a plentiful convoy +of provisions, and a reenforcement of eight thousand horse and +thirty thousand foot, while the legions of Asia were encamped at +Heraclea to second his operations. These measures were +disappointed by mutual jealousy. As he advanced into Thrace, the +son of Theodemir found an inhospitable solitude, and his Gothic +followers, with a heavy train of horses, of mules, and of wagons, +were betrayed by their guides among the rocks and precipices of +Mount Sondis, where he was assaulted by the arms and invectives +of Theodoric the son of Triarius. From a neighboring height, his +artful rival harangued the camp of the Walamirs, and branded +their leader with the opprobrious names of child, of madman, of +perjured traitor, the enemy of his blood and nation. "Are you +ignorant," exclaimed the son of Triarius, "that it is the +constant policy of the Romans to destroy the Goths by each +other's swords? Are you insensible that the victor in this +unnatural contest will be exposed, and justly exposed, to their +implacable revenge? Where are those warriors, my kinsmen and thy +own, whose widows now lament that their lives were sacrificed to +thy rash ambition? Where is the wealth which thy soldiers +possessed when they were first allured from their native homes to +enlist under thy standard? Each of them was then master of three +or four horses; they now follow thee on foot, like slaves, +through the deserts of Thrace; those men who were tempted by the +hope of measuring gold with a bushel, those brave men who are as +free and as noble as thyself." A language so well suited to the +temper of the Goths excited clamor and discontent; and the son of +Theodemir, apprehensive of being left alone, was compelled to +embrace his brethren, and to imitate the example of Roman +perfidy. ^12 ^* + +[Footnote 10: In ipsis congressionis tuae foribus cessit invasor, +cum profugo per te sceptra redderentur de salute dubitanti. +Ennodius then proceeds (p. 1596, 1597, tom. i. Sirmond.) to +transport his hero (on a flying dragon?) into Aethiopia, beyond +the tropic of Cancer. The evidence of the Valesian Fragment, (p. +717,) Liberatus, (Brev. Eutych. c. 25 p. 118,) and Theophanes, +(p. 112,) is more sober and rational.] + +[Footnote 11: This cruel practice is specially imputed to the +Triarian Goths, less barbarous, as it should seem, than the +Walamirs; but the son of Theodemir is charged with the ruin of +many Roman cities, (Malchus, Excerpt. Leg. p. 95.)] + +[Footnote 12: Jornandes (c. 56, 57, p. 696) displays the services +of Theodoric, confesses his rewards, but dissembles his revolt, +of which such curious details have been preserved by Malchus, +(Excerpt. Legat. p. 78 - 97.) Marcellinus, a domestic of +Justinian, under whose ivth consulship (A.D. 534) he composed his +Chronicle, (Scaliger, Thesaurus Temporum, P. ii, p. 34 - 57,) +betrays his prejudice and passion: in Graeciam debacchantem +...Zenonis munificentia pene pacatus ...beneficiis nunquam +satiatus, &c.] +[Footnote *: Gibbon has omitted much of the complicated intrigues +of the Byzantine court with the two Theodorics. The weak emperor +attempted to play them one against the other, and was himself in +turn insulted, and the empire ravaged, by both. The details of +the successive alliance and revolt, of hostility and of union, +between the two Gothic chieftains, to dictate terms to the +emperor, may be found in Malchus. - M.] + + In every state of his fortune, the prudence and firmness of +Theodoric were equally conspicuous; whether he threatened +Constantinople at the head of the confederate Goths, or retreated +with a faithful band to the mountains and sea-coast of Epirus. +At length the accidental death of the son of Triarius ^13 +destroyed the balance which the Romans had been so anxious to +preserve, the whole nation acknowledged the supremacy of the +Amali, and the Byzantine court subscribed an ignominious and +oppressive treaty. ^14 The senate had already declared, that it +was necessary to choose a party among the Goths, since the public +was unequal to the support of their united forces; a subsidy of +two thousand pounds of gold, with the ample pay of thirteen +thousand men, were required for the least considerable of their +armies; ^15 and the Isaurians, who guarded not the empire but the +emperor, enjoyed, besides the privilege of rapine, an annual +pension of five thousand pounds. The sagacious mind of Theodoric +soon perceived that he was odious to the Romans, and suspected by +the Barbarians: he understood the popular murmur, that his +subjects were exposed in their frozen huts to intolerable +hardships, while their king was dissolved in the luxury of +Greece, and he prevented the painful alternative of encountering +the Goths, as the champion, or of leading them to the field, as +the enemy, of Zeno. Embracing an enterprise worthy of his +courage and ambition, Theodoric addressed the emperor in the +following words: "Although your servant is maintained in +affluence by your liberality, graciously listen to the wishes of +my heart! Italy, the inheritance of your predecessors, and Rome +itself, the head and mistress of the world, now fluctuate under +the violence and oppression of Odoacer the mercenary. Direct me, +with my national troops, to march against the tyrant. If I fall, +you will be relieved from an expensive and troublesome friend: +if, with the divine permission, I succeed, I shall govern in your +name, and to your glory, the Roman senate, and the part of the +republic delivered from slavery by my victorious arms." The +proposal of Theodoric was accepted, and perhaps had been +suggested, by the Byzantine court. But the forms of the +commission, or grant, appear to have been expressed with a +prudent ambiguity, which might be explained by the event; and it +was left doubtful, whether the conqueror of Italy should reign as +the lieutenant, the vassal, or the ally, of the emperor of the +East. ^16 + +[Footnote 13: As he was riding in his own camp, an unruly horse +threw him against the point of a spear which hung before a tent, +or was fixed on a wagon, (Marcellin. in Chron. Evagrius, l. iii. +c. 25.)] + +[Footnote 14: See Malchus (p. 91) and Evagrius, (l. iii. c. 35.)] + +[Footnote 15: Malchus, p. 85. In a single action, which was +decided by the skill and discipline of Sabinian, Theodoric could +lose 5000 men.] +[Footnote 16: Jornandes (c. 57, p. 696, 697) has abridged the +great history of Cassiodorus. See, compare, and reconcile +Procopius, (Gothic. l. i. c. i.,) the Valesian Fragment, (p. +718,) Theophanes, (p. 113,) and Marcellinus, (in Chron.)] + + The reputation both of the leader and of the war diffused a +universal ardor; the Walamirs were multiplied by the Gothic +swarms already engaged in the service, or seated in the +provinces, of the empire; and each bold Barbarian, who had heard +of the wealth and beauty of Italy, was impatient to seek, through +the most perilous adventures, the possession of such enchanting +objects. The march of Theodoric must be considered as the +emigration of an entire people; the wives and children of the +Goths, their aged parents, and most precious effects, were +carefully transported; and some idea may be formed of the heavy +baggage that now followed the camp, by the loss of two thousand +wagons, which had been sustained in a single action in the war of +Epirus. For their subsistence, the Goths depended on the +magazines of corn which was ground in portable mills by the hands +of their women; on the milk and flesh of their flocks and herds; +on the casual produce of the chase, and upon the contributions +which they might impose on all who should presume to dispute the +passage, or to refuse their friendly assistance. Notwithstanding +these precautions, they were exposed to the danger, and almost to +the distress, of famine, in a march of seven hundred miles, which +had been undertaken in the depth of a rigorous winter. Since the +fall of the Roman power, Dacia and Pannonia no longer exhibited +the rich prospect of populous cities, well-cultivated fields, and +convenient highways: the reign of barbarism and desolation was +restored, and the tribes of Bulgarians, Gepidae, and Sarmatians, +who had occupied the vacant province, were prompted by their +native fierceness, or the solicitations of Odoacer, to resist the +progress of his enemy. In many obscure though bloody battles, +Theodoric fought and vanquished; till at length, surmounting +every obstacle by skilful conduct and persevering courage, he +descended from the Julian Alps, and displayed his invincible +banners on the confines of Italy. ^17 + +[Footnote 17: Theodoric's march is supplied and illustrated by +Ennodius, (p. 1598 - 1602,) when the bombast of the oration is +translated into the language of common sense.] + + Odoacer, a rival not unworthy of his arms, had already +occupied the advantageous and well-known post of the River +Sontius, near the ruins of Aquileia, at the head of a powerful +host, whose independent kings ^18 or leaders disdained the duties +of subordination and the prudence of delays. No sooner had +Theodoric gained a short repose and refreshment to his wearied +cavalry, than he boldly attacked the fortifications of the enemy; +the Ostrogoths showed more ardor to acquire, than the mercenaries +to defend, the lands of Italy; and the reward of the first +victory was the possession of the Venetian province as far as the +walls of Verona. In the neighborhood of that city, on the steep +banks of the rapid Adige, he was opposed by a new army, +reenforced in its numbers, and not impaired in its courage: the +contest was more obstinate, but the event was still more +decisive; Odoacer fled to Ravenna, Theodoric advanced to Milan, +and the vanquished troops saluted their conqueror with loud +acclamations of respect and fidelity. But their want either of +constancy or of faith soon exposed him to the most imminent +danger; his vanguard, with several Gothic counts, which had been +rashly intrusted to a deserter, was betrayed and destroyed near +Faenza by his double treachery; Odoacer again appeared master of +the field, and the invader, strongly intrenched in his camp of +Pavia, was reduced to solicit the aid of a kindred nation, the +Visigoths of Gaul. In the course of this History, the most +voracious appetite for war will be abundantly satiated; nor can I +much lament that our dark and imperfect materials do not afford a +more ample narrative of the distress of Italy, and of the fierce +conflict, which was finally decided by the abilities, experience, +and valor of the Gothic king. Immediately before the battle of +Verona, he visited the tent of his mother ^19 and sister, and +requested, that on a day, the most illustrious festival of his +life, they would adorn him with the rich garments which they had +worked with their own hands. "Our glory," said he, "is mutual +and inseparable. You are known to the world as the mother of +Theodoric; and it becomes me to prove, that I am the genuine +offspring of those heroes from whom I claim my descent." The wife +or concubine of Theodemir was inspired with the spirit of the +German matrons, who esteemed their sons' honor far above their +safety; and it is reported, that in a desperate action, when +Theodoric himself was hurried along by the torrent of a flying +crowd, she boldly met them at the entrance of the camp, and, by +her generous reproaches, drove them back on the swords of the +enemy. ^20 + +[Footnote 18: Tot reges, &c., (Ennodius, p. 1602.) We must +recollect how much the royal title was multiplied and degraded, +and that the mercenaries of Italy were the fragments of many +tribes and nations.] + +[Footnote 19: See Ennodius, p. 1603, 1604. Since the orator, in +the king's presence, could mention and praise his mother, we may +conclude that the magnanimity of Theodoric was not hurt by the +vulgar reproaches of concubine and bastard. + + Note: Gibbon here assumes that the mother of Theodoric was +the concubine of Theodemir, which he leaves doubtful in the text. +- M.] + +[Footnote 20: This anecdote is related on the modern but +respectable authority of Sigonius, (Op. tom. i. p. 580. De +Occident. Impl. l. xv.:) his words are curious: "Would you +return?" &c. She presented and almost displayed the original +recess. + + Note: The authority of Sigonius would scarcely have weighed +with Gibboa except for an indecent anecdote. I have a +recollection of a similar story in some of the Italian wars. - +M.]] + + From the Alps to the extremity of Calabria, Theodoric +reigned by the right of conquest; the Vandal ambassadors +surrendered the Island of Sicily, as a lawful appendage of his +kingdom; and he was accepted as the deliverer of Rome by the +senate and people, who had shut their gates against the flying +usurper. ^21 Ravenna alone, secure in the fortifications of art +and nature, still sustained a siege of almost three years; and +the daring sallies of Odoacer carried slaughter and dismay into +the Gothic camp. At length, destitute of provisions and hopeless +of relief, that unfortunate monarch yielded to the groans of his +subjects and the clamors of his soldiers. A treaty of peace was +negotiated by the bishop of Ravenna; the Ostrogoths were admitted +into the city, and the hostile kings consented, under the +sanction of an oath, to rule with equal and undivided authority +the provinces of Italy. The event of such an agreement may be +easily foreseen. After some days had been devoted to the +semblance of joy and friendship, Odoacer, in the midst of a +solemn banquet, was stabbed by the hand, or at least by the +command, of his rival. Secret and effectual orders had been +previously despatched; the faithless and rapacious mercenaries, +at the same moment, and without resistance, were universally +massacred; and the royalty of Theodoric was proclaimed by the +Goths, with the tardy, reluctant, ambiguous consent of the +emperor of the East. The design of a conspiracy was imputed, +according to the usual forms, to the prostrate tyrant; but his +innocence, and the guilt of his conqueror, ^22 are sufficiently +proved by the advantageous treaty which force would not sincerely +have granted, nor weakness have rashly infringed. The jealousy +of power, and the mischiefs of discord, may suggest a more decent +apology, and a sentence less rigorous may be pronounced against a +crime which was necessary to introduce into Italy a generation of +public felicity. The living author of this felicity was +audaciously praised in his own presence by sacred and profane +orators; ^23 but history (in his time she was mute and +inglorious) has not left any just representation of the events +which displayed, or of the defects which clouded, the virtues of +Theodoric. ^24 One record of his fame, the volume of public +epistles composed by Cassiodorus in the royal name, is still +extant, and has obtained more implicit credit than it seems to +deserve. ^25 They exhibit the forms, rather than the substance, +of his government; and we should vainly search for the pure and +spontaneous sentiments of the Barbarian amidst the declamation +and learning of a sophist, the wishes of a Roman senator, the +precedents of office, and the vague professions, which, in every +court, and on every occasion, compose the language of discreet +ministers. The reputation of Theodoric may repose with more +confidence on the visible peace and prosperity of a reign of +thirty-three years; the unanimous esteem of his own times, and +the memory of his wisdom and courage, his justice and humanity, +which was deeply impressed on the minds of the Goths and +Italians. + +[Footnote 21: Hist. Miscell. l. xv., a Roman history from Janus +to the ixth century, an Epitome of Eutropius, Paulus Diaconus, +and Theophanes which Muratori has published from a Ms. in the +Ambrosian library, (Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. p. 100.)] +[Footnote 22: Procopius (Gothic. l. i. c. i.) approves himself an +impartial sceptic. Cassiodorus (in Chron.) and Ennodius (p. 1604) +are loyal and credulous, and the testimony of the Valesian +Fragment (p. 718) may justify their belief. Marcellinus spits +the venom of a Greek subject - perjuriis illectus, interfectusque +est, (in Chron.)] + +[Footnote 23: The sonorous and servile oration of Ennodius was +pronounced at Milan or Ravenna in the years 507 or 508, (Sirmond, +tom. i. p. 615.) Two or three years afterwards, the orator was +rewarded with the bishopric of Pavia, which he held till his +death in the year 521. (Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. v. p. 11 - +14. See Saxii Onomasticon, tom. ii. p. 12.)] + +[Footnote 24: Our best materials are occasional hints from +Procopius and the Valesian Fragment, which was discovered by +Sirmond, and is published at the end of Ammianus Marcellinus. +The author's name is unknown, and his style is barbarous; but in +his various facts he exhibits the knowledge, without the +passions, of a contemporary. The president Montesquieu had +formed the plan of a history of Theodoric, which at a distance +might appear a rich and interesting subject.] + +[Footnote 25: The best edition of the Variarum Libri xii. is that +of Joh. Garretius, (Rotomagi, 1679, in Opp. Cassiodor. 2 vols. in +fol.;) but they deserved and required such an editor as the +Marquis Scipio Maffei, who thought of publishing them at Verona. +The Barbara Eleganza (as it is ingeniously named by Tiraboschi) +is never simple, and seldom perspicuous] + The partition of the lands of Italy, of which Theodoric +assigned the third part to his soldiers, is honorably arraigned +as the sole injustice of his life. ^* And even this act may be +fairly justified by the example of Odoacer, the rights of +conquest, the true interest of the Italians, and the sacred duty +of subsisting a whole people, who, on the faith of his promises, +had transported themselves into a distant land. ^26 Under the +reign of Theodoric, and in the happy climate of Italy, the Goths +soon multiplied to a formidable host of two hundred thousand men, +^27 and the whole amount of their families may be computed by the +ordinary addition of women and children. Their invasion of +property, a part of which must have been already vacant, was +disguised by the generous but improper name of hospitality; these +unwelcome guests were irregularly dispersed over the face of +Italy, and the lot of each Barbarian was adequate to his birth +and office, the number of his followers, and the rustic wealth +which he possessed in slaves and cattle. The distinction of noble +and plebeian were acknowledged; ^28 but the lands of every +freeman were exempt from taxes, ^* and he enjoyed the inestimable +privilege of being subject only to the laws of his country. ^29 +Fashion, and even convenience, soon persuaded the conquerors to +assume the more elegant dress of the natives, but they still +persisted in the use of their mother- tongue; and their contempt +for the Latin schools was applauded by Theodoric himself, who +gratified their prejudices, or his own, by declaring, that the +child who had trembled at a rod, would never dare to look upon a +sword. ^30 Distress might sometimes provoke the indigent Roman to +assume the ferocious manners which were insensibly relinquished +by the rich and luxurious Barbarian; ^31 but these mutual +conversions were not encouraged by the policy of a monarch who +perpetuated the separation of the Italians and Goths; reserving +the former for the arts of peace, and the latter for the service +of war. To accomplish this design, he studied to protect his +industrious subjects, and to moderate the violence, without +enervating the valor, of his soldiers, who were maintained for +the public defence. They held their lands and benefices as a +military stipend: at the sound of the trumpet, they were prepared +to march under the conduct of their provincial officers; and the +whole extent of Italy was distributed into the several quarters +of a well- regulated camp. The service of the palace and of the +frontiers was performed by choice or by rotation; and each +extraordinary fatigue was recompensed by an increase of pay and +occasional donatives. Theodoric had convinced his brave +companions, that empire must be acquired and defended by the same +arts. After his example, they strove to excel in the use, not +only of the lance and sword, the instruments of their victories, +but of the missile weapons, which they were too much inclined to +neglect; and the lively image of war was displayed in the daily +exercise and annual reviews of the Gothic cavalry. A firm though +gentle discipline imposed the habits of modesty, obedience, and +temperance; and the Goths were instructed to spare the people, to +reverence the laws, to understand the duties of civil society, +and to disclaim the barbarous license of judicial combat and +private revenge. ^32 + +[Footnote *: Compare Gibbon, ch. xxxvi. vol. iii. p. 459, &c. - +Manso observes that this division was conducted not in a violent +and irregular, but in a legal and orderly, manner. The +Barbarian, who could not show a title of grant from the officers +of Theodoric appointed for the purpose, or a prescriptive right +of thirty years, in case he had obtained the property before the +Ostrogothic conquest, was ejected from the estate. He conceives +that estates too small to bear division paid a third of their +produce. - Geschichte des Os Gothischen Reiches, p. 82. - M.] +[Footnote 26: Procopius, Gothic, l. i. c. i. Variarum, ii. Maffei +(Verona Illustrata, P. i. p. 228) exaggerates the injustice of +the Goths, whom he hated as an Italian noble. The plebeian +Muratori crouches under their oppression.] + +[Footnote 27: Procopius, Goth. l. iii. c. 421. Ennodius +describes (p. 1612, 1613) the military arts and increasing +numbers of the Goths.] +[Footnote 28: When Theodoric gave his sister to the king of the +Vandals she sailed for Africa with a guard of 1000 noble Goths, +each of whom was attended by five armed followers, (Procop. +Vandal. l. i. c. 8.) The Gothic nobility must have been as +numerous as brave.] + +[Footnote *: Manso (p. 100) quotes two passages from Cassiodorus +to show that the Goths were not exempt from the fiscal claims. - +Cassiodor, i. 19, iv. 14 - M.] + +[Footnote 29: See the acknowledgment of Gothic liberty, (Var. v. +30.)] +[Footnote 30: Procopius, Goth. l. i. c. 2. The Roman boys learnt +the language (Var. viii. 21) of the Goths. Their general +ignorance is not destroyed by the exceptions of Amalasuntha, a +female, who might study without shame, or of Theodatus, whose +learning provoked the indignation and contempt of his +countrymen.] + +[Footnote 31: A saying of Theodoric was founded on experience: +"Romanus miser imitatur Gothum; ut utilis (dives) Gothus imitatur +Romanum." (See the Fragment and Notes of Valesius, p. 719.)] +[Footnote 32: The view of the military establishment of the Goths +in Italy is collected from the Epistles of Cassiodorus (Var. i. +24, 40; iii. 3, 24, 48; iv. 13, 14; v. 26, 27; viii. 3, 4, 25.) +They are illustrated by the learned Mascou, (Hist. of the +Germans, l. xi. 40 - 44, Annotation xiv.) + Note: Compare Manso, Geschichte des Ost Gothischen Reiches, +p. 114. - M.] + +Chapter XXXIX: Gothic Kingdom Of Italy. + +Part II. + + Among the Barbarians of the West, the victory of Theodoric +had spread a general alarm. But as soon as it appeared that he +was satisfied with conquest and desirous of peace, terror was +changed into respect, and they submitted to a powerful mediation, +which was uniformly employed for the best purposes of reconciling +their quarrels and civilizing their manners. ^33 The ambassadors +who resorted to Ravenna from the most distant countries of +Europe, admired his wisdom, magnificence, ^34 and courtesy; and +if he sometimes accepted either slaves or arms, white horses or +strange animals, the gift of a sun-dial, a water-clock, or a +musician, admonished even the princes of Gaul of the superior art +and industry of his Italian subjects. His domestic alliances, ^35 +a wife, two daughters, a sister, and a niece, united the family +of Theodoric with the kings of the Franks, the Burgundians, the +Visigoths, the Vandals, and the Thuringians, and contributed to +maintain the harmony, or at least the balance, of the great +republic of the West. ^36 It is difficult in the dark forests of +Germany and Poland to pursue the emigrations of the Heruli, a +fierce people who disdained the use of armor, and who condemned +their widows and aged parents not to survive the loss of their +husbands, or the decay of their strength. ^37 The king of these +savage warriors solicited the friendship of Theodoric, and was +elevated to the rank of his son, according to the barbaric rites +of a military adoption. ^38 From the shores of the Baltic, the +Aestians or Livonians laid their offerings of native amber ^39 at +the feet of a prince, whose fame had excited them to undertake an +unknown and dangerous journey of fifteen hundred miles. With the +country ^40 from whence the Gothic nation derived their origin, +he maintained a frequent and friendly correspondence: the +Italians were clothed in the rich sables ^41 of Sweden; and one +of its sovereigns, after a voluntary or reluctant abdication, +found a hospitable retreat in the palace of Ravenna. He had +reigned over one of the thirteen populous tribes who cultivated a +small portion of the great island or peninsula of Scandinavia, to +which the vague appellation of Thule has been sometimes applied. +That northern region was peopled, or had been explored, as high +as the sixty- eighth degree of latitude, where the natives of the +polar circle enjoy and lose the presence of the sun at each +summer and winter solstice during an equal period of forty days. +^42 The long night of his absence or death was the mournful +season of distress and anxiety, till the messengers, who had been +sent to the mountain tops, descried the first rays of returning +light, and proclaimed to the plain below the festival of his +resurrection. ^43 + +[Footnote 33: See the clearness and vigor of his negotiations in +Ennodius, (p. 1607,) and Cassiodorus, (Var. iii. 1, 2, 3, 4; iv. +13; v. 43, 44,) who gives the different styles of friendship, +counsel expostulation, &c.] +[Footnote 34: Even of his table (Var. vi. 9) and palace, (vii. +5.) The admiration of strangers is represented as the most +rational motive to justify these vain expenses, and to stimulate +the diligence of the officers to whom these provinces were +intrusted.] + +[Footnote 35: See the public and private alliances of the Gothic +monarch, with the Burgundians, (Var. i. 45, 46,) with the Franks, +(ii. 40,) with the Thuringians, (iv. 1,) and with the Vandals, +(v. 1;) each of these epistles affords some curious knowledge of +the policy and manners of the Barbarians.] +[Footnote 36: His political system may be observed in +Cassiodorus, (Var. iv. l ix. l,) Jornandes, (c. 58, p. 698, 699,) +and the Valesian Fragment, (p. 720, 721.) Peace, honorable peace, +was the constant aim of Theodoric.] +[Footnote 37: The curious reader may contemplate the Heruli of +Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 14,) and the patient reader may +plunge into the dark and minute researches of M. de Buat, (Hist. +des Peuples Anciens, tom. ix. p. 348 - 396.) + + Note: Compare Manso, Ost Gothische Reich. Beylage, vi. +Malte- Brun brings them from Scandinavia: their names, the only +remains of their language, are Gothic. "They fought almost +naked, like the Icelandic Berserkirs their bravery was like +madness: few in number, they were mostly of royal blood. What +ferocity, what unrestrained license, sullied their victories! +The Goth respects the church, the priests, the senate; the Heruli +mangle all in a general massacre: there is no pity for age, no +refuge for chastity. Among themselves there is the same +ferocity: the sick and the aged are put to death. at their own +request, during a solemn festival; the widow ends her days by +hanging herself upon the tree which shadows her husband's tomb. +All these circumstances, so striking to a mind familiar with +Scandinavian history, lead us to discover among the Heruli not so +much a nation as a confederacy of princes and nobles, bound by an +oath to live and die together with their arms in their hands. +Their name, sometimes written Heruli or Eruli. sometimes Aeruli, +signified, according to an ancient author, (Isid. Hispal. in +gloss. p. 24, ad calc. Lex. Philolog. Martini, ll,) nobles, and +appears to correspond better with the Scandinavian word iarl or +earl, than with any of those numerous derivations proposed by +etymologists." Malte- Brun, vol. i. p. 400, (edit. 1831.) Of all +the Barbarians who threw themselves on the ruins of the Roman +empire, it is most difficult to trace the origin of the Heruli. +They seem never to have been very powerful as a nation, and +branches of them are found in countries very remote from each +other. In my opinion they belong to the Gothic race, and have a +close affinity with the Scyrri or Hirri. They were, possibly, a +division of that nation. They are often mingled and confounded +with the Alani. Though brave and formidable. they were never +numerous. nor did they found any state. - St. Martin, vol. vi. p. +375. - M. Schafarck considers them descendants of the Hirri. of +which Heruli is a diminutive, - Slawische Alter thinner - M. +1845.] + +[Footnote 38: Variarum, iv. 2. The spirit and forms of this +martial institution are noticed by Cassiodorus; but he seems to +have only translated the sentiments of the Gothic king into the +language of Roman eloquence.] +[Footnote 39: Cassiodorus, who quotes Tacitus to the Aestians, +the unlettered savages of the Baltic, (Var. v. 2,) describes the +amber for which their shores have ever been famous, as the gum of +a tree, hardened by the sun, and purified and wafted by the +waves. When that singular substance is analyzed by the chemists, +it yields a vegetable oil and a mineral acid.] + +[Footnote 40: Scanzia, or Thule, is described by Jornandes (c. 3, +p. 610 - 613) and Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 15.) Neither the +Goth nor the Greek had visited the country: both had conversed +with the natives in their exile at Ravenna or Constantinople.] + +[Footnote 41: Sapherinas pelles. In the time of Jornandes they +inhabited Suethans, the proper Sweden; but that beautiful race of +animals has gradually been driven into the eastern parts of +Siberia. See Buffon, (Hist. Nat. tom. xiii. p. 309 - 313, quarto +edition;) Pennant, (System of Quadrupeds, vol. i. p. 322 - 328;) +Gmelin, (Hist. Gen des. Voyages, tom. xviii. p. 257, 258;) and +Levesque, (Hist. de Russie, tom. v. p. 165, 166, 514, 515.)] +[Footnote 42: In the system or romance of Mr. Bailly, (Lettres +sur les Sciences et sur l'Atlantide, tom. i. p. 249 - 256, tom. +ii. p. 114 - 139,) the phoenix of the Edda, and the annual death +and revival of Adonis and Osiris, are the allegorical symbols of +the absence and return of the sun in the Arctic regions. This +ingenious writer is a worthy disciple of the great Buffon; nor is +it easy for the coldest reason to withstand the magic of their +philosophy.] +[Footnote 43: Says Procopius. At present a rude Manicheism +(generous enough) prevails among the Samoyedes in Greenland and +in Lapland, (Hist. des Voyages, tom. xviii. p. 508, 509, tom. +xix. p. 105, 106, 527, 528;) yet, according to Orotius Samojutae +coelum atque astra adorant, numina haud aliis iniquiora, (de +Rebus Belgicis, l. iv. p. 338, folio edition) a sentence which +Tacitus would not have disowned.] + + The life of Theodoric represents the rare and meritorious +example of a Barbarian, who sheathed his sword in the pride of +victory and the vigor of his age. A reign of three and thirty +years was consecrated to the duties of civil government, and the +hostilities, in which he was sometimes involved, were speedily +terminated by the conduct of his lieutenants, the discipline of +his troops, the arms of his allies, and even by the terror of his +name. He reduced, under a strong and regular government, the +unprofitable countries of Rhaetia, Noricum, Dalmatia, and +Pannonia, from the source of the Danube and the territory of the +Bavarians, ^44 to the petty kingdom erected by the Gepidae on the +ruins of Sirmium. His prudence could not safely intrust the +bulwark of Italy to such feeble and turbulent neighbors; and his +justice might claim the lands which they oppressed, either as a +part of his kingdom, or as the inheritance of his father. The +greatness of a servant, who was named perfidious because he was +successful, awakened the jealousy of the emperor Anastasius; and +a war was kindled on the Dacian frontier, by the protection which +the Gothic king, in the vicissitude of human affairs, had granted +to one of the descendants of Attila. Sabinian, a general +illustrious by his own and father's merit, advanced at the head +of ten thousand Romans; and the provisions and arms, which filled +a long train of wagons, were distributed to the fiercest of the +Bulgarian tribes. But in the fields of Margus, the eastern +powers were defeated by the inferior forces of the Goths and +Huns; the flower and even the hope of the Roman armies was +irretrievably destroyed; and such was the temperance with which +Theodoric had inspired his victorious troops, that, as their +leader had not given the signal of pillage, the rich spoils of +the enemy lay untouched at their feet. ^45 Exasperated by this +disgrace, the Byzantine court despatched two hundred ships and +eight thousand men to plunder the sea-coast of Calabria and +Apulia: they assaulted the ancient city of Tarentum, interrupted +the trade and agriculture of a happy country, and sailed back to +the Hellespont, proud of their piratical victory over a people +whom they still presumed to consider as their Roman brethren. ^46 +Their retreat was possibly hastened by the activity of Theodoric; +Italy was covered by a fleet of a thousand light vessels, ^47 +which he constructed with incredible despatch; and his firm +moderation was soon rewarded by a solid and honorable peace. He +maintained, with a powerful hand, the balance of the West, till +it was at length overthrown by the ambition of Clovis; and +although unable to assist his rash and unfortunate kinsman, the +king of the Visigoths, he saved the remains of his family and +people, and checked the Franks in the midst of their victorious +career. I am not desirous to prolong or repeat ^48 this +narrative of military events, the least interesting of the reign +of Theodoric; and shall be content to add, that the Alemanni were +protected, ^49 that an inroad of the Burgundians was severely +chastised, and that the conquest of Arles and Marseilles opened a +free communication with the Visigoths, who revered him as their +national protector, and as the guardian of his grandchild, the +infant son of Alaric. Under this respectable character, the king +of Italy restored the praetorian praefecture of the Gauls, +reformed some abuses in the civil government of Spain, and +accepted the annual tribute and apparent submission of its +military governor, who wisely refused to trust his person in the +palace of Ravenna. ^50 The Gothic sovereignty was established +from Sicily to the Danube, from Sirmium or Belgrade to the +Atlantic Ocean; and the Greeks themselves have acknowledged that +Theodoric reigned over the fairest portion of the Western empire. +^51 +[Footnote 44: See the Hist. des Peuples Anciens, &c., tom. ix. p. +255 - 273, 396 - 501. The count de Buat was French minister at +the court of Bavaria: a liberal curiosity prompted his inquiries +into the antiquities of the country, and that curiosity was the +germ of twelve respectable volumes.] +[Footnote 45: See the Gothic transactions on the Danube and the +Illyricum, in Jornandes, (c. 58, p. 699;) Ennodius, (p. 1607 - +1610;) Marcellmus (in Chron. p. 44, 47, 48;) and Cassiodorus, in +(in Chron and Var. iii. 29 50, iv. 13, vii. 4 24, viii. 9, 10, +11, 21, ix. 8, 9.)] + +[Footnote 46: I cannot forbear transcribing the liberal and +classic style of Count Marcellinus: Romanus comes domesticorum, +et Rusticus comes scholariorum cum centum armatis navibus, +totidemque dromonibus, octo millia militum armatorum secum +ferentibus, ad devastanda Italiae littora processerunt, ut usque +ad Tarentum antiquissimam civitatem aggressi sunt; remensoque +mari in honestam victoriam quam piratico ausu Romani ex Romanis +rapuerunt, Anastasio Caesari reportarunt, (in Chron. p. 48.) See +Variar. i. 16, ii. 38.] +[Footnote 47: See the royal orders and instructions, (Var. iv. +15, v. 16 - 20.) These armed boats should be still smaller than +the thousand vessels of Agamemnon at the siege of Troy. (Manso, +p. 121.)] + +[Footnote 48: Vol. iii. p. 581 - 585.] + +[Footnote 49: Ennodius (p. 1610) and Cassiodorus, in the royal +name, (Var. ii 41,) record his salutary protection of the +Alemanni.] + +[Footnote 50: The Gothic transactions in Gaul and Spain are +represented with some perplexity in Cassiodorus, (Var. iii. 32, +38, 41, 43, 44, v. 39.) Jornandes, (c. 58, p. 698, 699,) and +Procopius, (Goth. l. i. c. 12.) I will neither hear nor reconcile +the long and contradictory arguments of the Abbe Dubos and the +Count de Buat, about the wars of Burgundy.] + +[Footnote 51: Theophanes, p. 113.] + + The union of the Goths and Romans might have fixed for ages +the transient happiness of Italy; and the first of nations, a new +people of free subjects and enlightened soldiers, might have +gradually arisen from the mutual emulation of their respective +virtues. But the sublime merit of guiding or seconding such a +revolution was not reserved for the reign of Theodoric: he wanted +either the genius or the opportunities of a legislator; ^52 and +while he indulged the Goths in the enjoyment of rude liberty, he +servilely copied the institutions, and even the abuses, of the +political system which had been framed by Constantine and his +successors. From a tender regard to the expiring prejudices of +Rome, the Barbarian declined the name, the purple, and the +diadem, of the emperors; but he assumed, under the hereditary +title of king, the whole substance and plenitude of Imperial +prerogative. ^53 His addresses to the eastern throne were +respectful and ambiguous: he celebrated, in pompous style, the +harmony of the two republics, applauded his own government as the +perfect similitude of a sole and undivided empire, and claimed +above the kings of the earth the same preeminence which he +modestly allowed to the person or rank of Anastasius. The +alliance of the East and West was annually declared by the +unanimous choice of two consuls; but it should seem that the +Italian candidate who was named by Theodoric accepted a formal +confirmation from the sovereign of Constantinople. ^54 The Gothic +palace of Ravenna reflected the image of the court of Theodosius +or Valentinian. The Praetorian praefect, the praefect of Rome, +the quaestor, the master of the offices, with the public and +patrimonial treasurers, ^* whose functions are painted in gaudy +colors by the rhetoric of Cassiodorus, still continued to act as +the ministers of state. And the subordinate care of justice and +the revenue was delegated to seven consulars, three correctors, +and five presidents, who governed the fifteen regions of Italy +according to the principles, and even the forms, of Roman +jurisprudence. ^55 The violence of the conquerors was abated or +eluded by the slow artifice of judicial proceedings; the civil +administration, with its honors and emoluments, was confined to +the Italians; and the people still preserved their dress and +language, their laws and customs, their personal freedom, and two +thirds of their landed property. ^! It had been the object of +Augustus to conceal the introduction of monarchy; it was the +policy of Theodoric to disguise the reign of a Barbarian. ^56 If +his subjects were sometimes awakened from this pleasing vision of +a Roman government, they derived more substantial comfort from +the character of a Gothic prince, who had penetration to discern, +and firmness to pursue, his own and the public interest. +Theodoric loved the virtues which he possessed, and the talents +of which he was destitute. Liberius was promoted to the office +of Praetorian praefect for his unshaken fidelity to the +unfortunate cause of Odoacer. The ministers of Theodoric, +Cassiodorus, ^57 and Boethius, have reflected on his reign the +lustre of their genius and learning. More prudent or more +fortunate than his colleague, Cassiodorus preserved his own +esteem without forfeiting the royal favor; and after passing +thirty years in the honors of the world, he was blessed with an +equal term of repose in the devout and studious solitude of +Squillace. ^* + +[Footnote 52: Procopius affirms that no laws whatsoever were +promulgated by Theodoric and the succeeding kings of Italy, +(Goth. l. ii. c. 6.) He must mean in the Gothic language. A +Latin edict of Theodoric is still extant, in one hundred and +fifty-four articles. + + Note: See Manso, 92. Savigny, vol. ii. p. 164, et seq. - M.] + +[Footnote 53: The image of Theodoric is engraved on his coins: +his modest successors were satisfied with adding their own name +to the head of the reigning emperor, (Muratori, Antiquitat. +Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. ii. dissert. xxvii. p. 577 - 579. +Giannone, Istoria Civile di Napoli tom. i. p. 166.)] +[Footnote 54: The alliance of the emperor and the king of Italy +are represented by Cassiodorus (Var. i. l, ii. 1, 2, 3, vi. l) +and Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 6, l. iii. c. 21,) who celebrate +the friendship of Anastasius and Theodoric; but the figurative +style of compliment was interpreted in a very different sense at +Constantinople and Ravenna.] + +[Footnote *: All causes between Roman and Roman were judged by +the old Roman courts. The comes Gothorum judged between Goth and +Goth; between Goths and Romans, (without considering which was +the plaintiff.) the comes Gothorum, with a Roman jurist as his +assessor, making a kind of mixed jurisdiction, but with a natural +predominance to the side of the Goth Savigny, vol. i. p. 290. - +M.] + +[Footnote 55: To the xvii. provinces of the Notitia, Paul +Warnefrid the deacon (De Reb. Longobard. l. ii. c. 14 - 22) has +subjoined an xviiith, the Apennine, (Muratori, Script. Rerum +Italicarum, tom. i. p. 431 - 443.) But of these Sardinia and +Corsica were possessed by the Vandals, and the two Rhaetias, as +well as the Cottian Alps, seem to have been abandoned to a +military government. The state of the four provinces that now +form the kingdom of Naples is labored by Giannone (tom. i. p. +172, 178) with patriotic diligence.] +[Footnote !: Manso enumerates and develops at some length the +following sources of the royal revenue of Theodoric: 1. A domain, +either by succession to that of Odoacer, or a part of the third +of the lands was reserved for the royal patrimony. 1. Regalia, +including mines, unclaimed estates, treasure-trove, and +confiscations. 3. Land tax. 4. Aurarium, like the Chrysargyrum, +a tax on certain branches of trade. 5. Grant of Monopolies. 6. +Siliquaticum, a small tax on the sale of all kinds of +commodities. 7. Portoria, customs Manso, 96, 111. Savigny (i. +285) supposes that in many cases the property remained in the +original owner, who paid his tertia, a third of the produce to +the crown, vol. i. p. 285. - M.] + +[Footnote 56: See the Gothic history of Procopius, (l. i. c. 1, +l. ii. c. 6,) the Epistles of Cassiodorus, (passim, but +especially the vth and vith books, which contain the formulae, or +patents of offices,) and the Civil History of Giannone, (tom. i. +l. ii. iii.) The Gothic counts, which he places in every Italian +city, are annihilated, however, by Maffei, (Verona Illustrata, P. +i. l. viii. p. 227; for those of Syracuse and Naples (Var vi. 22, +23) were special and temporary commissions.] + +[Footnote 57: Two Italians of the name of Cassiodorus, the father +(Var. i. 24, 40) and the son, (ix. 24, 25,) were successively +employed in the administration of Theodoric. The son was born in +the year 479: his various epistles as quaestor, master of the +offices, and Praetorian praefect, extend from 509 to 539, and he +lived as a monk about thirty years, (Tiraboschi Storia della +Letteratura Italiana, tom. iii. p. 7 - 24. Fabricius, Bibliot. +Lat. Med. Aevi, tom. i. p. 357, 358, edit. Mansi.)] + +[Footnote *: Cassiodorus was of an ancient and honorable family; +his grandfather had distinguished himself in the defence of +Sicily against the ravages of Genseric; his father held a high +rank at the court of Valentinian III., enjoyed the friendship of +Aetius, and was one of the ambassadors sent to arrest the +progress of Attila. Cassiodorus himself was first the treasurer +of the private expenditure to Odoacer, afterwards "count of the +sacred largesses." Yielding with the rest of the Romans to the +dominion of Theodoric, he was instrumental in the peaceable +submission of Sicily; was successively governor of his native +provinces of Bruttium and Lucania, quaestor, magister, palatii, +Praetorian praefect, patrician, consul, and private secretary, +and, in fact, first minister of the king. He was five times +Praetorian praefect under different sovereigns, the last time in +the reign of Vitiges. This is the theory of Manso, which is not +unencumbered with difficulties. M. Buat had supposed that it was +the father of Cassiodorus who held the office first named. +Compare Manso, p. 85, &c., and Beylage, vii. It certainly +appears improbable that Cassiodorus should have been count of the +sacred largesses at twenty years old. - M.] + + As the patron of the republic, it was the interest and duty +of the Gothic king to cultivate the affections of the senate ^58 +and people. The nobles of Rome were flattered by sonorous +epithets and formal professions of respect, which had been more +justly applied to the merit and authority of their ancestors. +The people enjoyed, without fear or danger, the three blessings +of a capital, order, plenty, and public amusements. A visible +diminution of their numbers may be found even in the measure of +liberality; ^59 yet Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, poured their +tribute of corn into the granaries of Rome an allowance of bread +and meat was distributed to the indigent citizens; and every +office was deemed honorable which was consecrated to the care of +their health and happiness. The public games, such as the Greek +ambassador might politely applaud, exhibited a faint and feeble +copy of the magnificence of the Caesars: yet the musical, the +gymnastic, and the pantomime arts, had not totally sunk in +oblivion; the wild beasts of Africa still exercised in the +amphitheatre the courage and dexterity of the hunters; and the +indulgent Goth either patiently tolerated or gently restrained +the blue and green factions, whose contests so often filled the +circus with clamor and even with blood. ^60 In the seventh year +of his peaceful reign, Theodoric visited the old capital of the +world; the senate and people advanced in solemn procession to +salute a second Trajan, a new Valentinian; and he nobly supported +that character by the assurance of a just and legal government, +^61 in a discourse which he was not afraid to pronounce in +public, and to inscribe on a tablet of brass. Rome, in this +august ceremony, shot a last ray of declining glory; and a saint, +the spectator of this pompous scene, could only hope, in his +pious fancy, that it was excelled by the celestial splendor of +the new Jerusalem. ^62 During a residence of six months, the +fame, the person, and the courteous demeanor of the Gothic king, +excited the admiration of the Romans, and he contemplated, with +equal curiosity and surprise, the monuments that remained of +their ancient greatness. He imprinted the footsteps of a +conqueror on the Capitoline hill, and frankly confessed that each +day he viewed with fresh wonder the forum of Trajan and his lofty +column. The theatre of Pompey appeared, even in its decay, as a +huge mountain artificially hollowed, and polished, and adorned by +human industry; and he vaguely computed, that a river of gold +must have been drained to erect the colossal amphitheatre of +Titus. ^63 From the mouths of fourteen aqueducts, a pure and +copious stream was diffused into every part of the city; among +these the Claudian water, which arose at the distance of +thirty-eight miles in the Sabine mountains, was conveyed along a +gentle though constant declivity of solid arches, till it +descended on the summit of the Aventine hill. The long and +spacious vaults which had been constructed for the purpose of +common sewers, subsisted, after twelve centuries, in their +pristine strength; and these subterraneous channels have been +preferred to all the visible wonders of Rome. ^64 The Gothic +kings, so injuriously accused of the ruin of antiquity, were +anxious to preserve the monuments of the nation whom they had +subdued. ^65 The royal edicts were framed to prevent the abuses, +the neglect, or the depredations of the citizens themselves; and +a professed architect, the annual sum of two hundred pounds of +gold, twenty-five thousand tiles, and the receipt of customs from +the Lucrine port, were assigned for the ordinary repairs of the +walls and public edifices. A similar care was extended to the +statues of metal or marble of men or animals. The spirit of the +horses, which have given a modern name to the Quirinal, was +applauded by the Barbarians; ^66 the brazen elephants of the Via +sacra were diligently restored; ^67 the famous heifer of Myron +deceived the cattle, as they were driven through the forum of +peace; ^68 and an officer was created to protect those works of +rat, which Theodoric considered as the noblest ornament of his +kingdom. + +[Footnote 58: See his regard for the senate in Cochlaeus, (Vit. +Theod. viii. p. 72 - 80.)] + +[Footnote 59: No more than 120,000 modii, or four thousand +quarters, (Anonym. Valesian. p. 721, and Var. i. 35, vi. 18, xi. +5, 39.)] + +[Footnote 60: See his regard and indulgence for the spectacles of +the circus, the amphitheatre, and the theatre, in the Chronicle +and Epistles of Cassiodorus, (Var. i. 20, 27, 30, 31, 32, iii. +51, iv. 51, illustrated by the xivth Annotation of Mascou's +History), who has contrived to sprinkle the subject with +ostentatious, though agreeable, learning.] + +[Footnote 61: Anonym. Vales. p. 721. Marius Aventicensis in +Chron. In the scale of public and personal merit, the Gothic +conqueror is at least as much above Valentinian, as he may seem +inferior to Trajan.] + +[Footnote 62: Vit. Fulgentii in Baron. Annal. Eccles. A.D. 500, +No. 10.] +[Footnote 63: Cassiodorus describes in his pompous style the +Forum of Trajan (Var. vii. 6,) the theatre of Marcellus, (iv. +51,) and the amphitheatre of Titus, (v. 42;) and his descriptions +are not unworthy of the reader's perusal. According to the modern +prices, the Abbe Barthelemy computes that the brick work and +masonry of the Coliseum would now cost twenty millions of French +livres, (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. +585, 586.) How small a part of that stupendous fabric!] + +[Footnote 64: For the aqueducts and cloacae, see Strabo, (l. v. +p. 360;) Pliny, (Hist. Natur. xxxvi. 24; Cassiodorus, (Var. iii. +30, 31, vi. 6;) Procopius, (Goth. l. i. c. 19;) and Nardini, +(Roma Antica, p. 514 - 522.) How such works could be executed by +a king of Rome, is yet a problem. + Note: See Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 402. These stupendous works +are among the most striking confirmations of Niebuhr's views of +the early Roman history; at least they appear to justify his +strong sentence - "These works and the building of the Capitol +attest with unquestionable evidence that this Rome of the later +kings was the chief city of a great state." - Page 110 - M.] +[Footnote 65: For the Gothic care of the buildings and statues, +see Cassiodorus (Var. i. 21, 25, ii. 34, iv. 30, vii. 6, 13, 15) +and the Valesian Fragment, (p. 721.)] + +[Footnote 66: Var. vii. 15. These horses of Monte Cavallo had +been transported from Alexandria to the baths of Constantine, +(Nardini, p. 188.) Their sculpture is disdained by the Abbe +Dubos, (Reflexions sur la Poesie et sur la Peinture, tom. i. +section 39,) and admired by Winkelman, (Hist. de l'Art, tom. ii. +p. 159.)] + +[Footnote 67: Var. x. 10. They were probably a fragment of some +triumphal car, (Cuper de Elephantis, ii. 10.)] + +[Footnote 68: Procopius (Goth. l. iv. c. 21) relates a foolish +story of Myron's cow, which is celebrated by the false with of +thirty-six Greek epigrams, Antholog. l. iv. p. 302 - 306, edit. +Hen. Steph.; Auson. Epigram. xiii. - lxviii.)] + +Chapter XXXIX: Gothic Kingdom Of Italy. + +Part III. + + After the example of the last emperors, Theodoric preferred +the residence of Ravenna, where he cultivated an orchard with his +own hands. ^69 As often as the peace of his kingdom was +threatened (for it was never invaded) by the Barbarians, he +removed his court to Verona ^70 on the northern frontier, and the +image of his palace, still extant on a coin, represents the +oldest and most authentic model of Gothic architecture. These +two capitals, as well as Pavia, Spoleto, Naples, and the rest of +the Italian cities, acquired under his reign the useful or +splendid decorations of churches, aqueducts, baths, porticos, and +palaces. ^71 But the happiness of the subject was more truly +conspicuous in the busy scene of labor and luxury, in the rapid +increase and bold enjoyment of national wealth. From the shades +of Tibur and Praeneste, the Roman senators still retired in the +winter season to the warm sun, and salubrious springs of Baiae; +and their villas, which advanced on solid moles into the Bay of +Naples, commanded the various prospect of the sky, the earth, and +the water. On the eastern side of the Adriatic, a new Campania +was formed in the fair and fruitful province of Istria, which +communicated with the palace of Ravenna by an easy navigation of +one hundred miles. The rich productions of Lucania and the +adjacent provinces were exchanged at the Marcilian fountain, in a +populous fair annually dedicated to trade, intemperance, and +superstition. In the solitude of Comum, which had once been +animated by the mild genius of Pliny, a transparent basin above +sixty miles in length still reflected the rural seats which +encompassed the margin of the Larian lake; and the gradual ascent +of the hills was covered by a triple plantation of olives, of +vines, and of chestnut trees. ^72 Agriculture revived under the +shadow of peace, and the number of husbandmen was multiplied by +the redemption of captives. ^73 The iron mines of Dalmatia, a +gold mine in Bruttium, were carefully explored, and the Pomptine +marshes, as well as those of Spoleto, were drained and cultivated +by private undertakers, whose distant reward must depend on the +continuance of the public prosperity. ^74 Whenever the seasons +were less propitious, the doubtful precautions of forming +magazines of corn, fixing the price, and prohibiting the +exportation, attested at least the benevolence of the state; but +such was the extraordinary plenty which an industrious people +produced from a grateful soil, that a gallon of wine was +sometimes sold in Italy for less than three farthings, and a +quarter of wheat at about five shillings and sixpence. ^75 A +country possessed of so many valuable objects of exchange soon +attracted the merchants of the world, whose beneficial traffic +was encouraged and protected by the liberal spirit of Theodoric. +The free intercourse of the provinces by land and water was +restored and extended; the city gates were never shut either by +day or by night; and the common saying, that a purse of gold +might be safely left in the fields, was expressive of the +conscious security of the inhabitants. +[Footnote 69: See an epigram of Ennodius (ii. 3, p. 1893, 1894) +on this garden and the royal gardener.] + +[Footnote 70: His affection for that city is proved by the +epithet of "Verona tua,' and the legend of the hero; under the +barbarous name of Dietrich of Bern, (Peringsciold and Cochloeum, +p. 240,) Maffei traces him with knowledge and pleasure in his +native country, (l. ix. p. 230 - 236.)] +[Footnote 71: See Maffei, (Verona Illustrata, Part i. p. 231, +232, 308, &c.) His amputes Gothic architecture, like the +corruption of language, writing &c., not to the Barbarians, but +to the Italians themselves. Compare his sentiments with those of +Tiraboschi, (tom. iii. p. 61.) + + Note: Mr. Hallam (vol. iii. p. 432) observes that "the image +of Theodoric's palace" is represented in Maffei, not from a coin, +but from a seal. Compare D'Agincourt (Storia dell'arte, Italian +Transl., Arcitecttura, Plate xvii. No. 2, and Pittura, Plate +xvi. No. 15,) where there is likewise an engraving from a mosaic +in the church of St. Apollinaris in Ravenna, representing a +building ascribed to Theodoric in that city. Neither of these, +as Mr. Hallam justly observes, in the least approximates to what +is called the Gothic style. They are evidently the degenerate +Roman architecture, and more resemble the early attempts of our +architects to get back from our national Gothic into a classical +Greek style. One of them calls to mind Inigo Jones inner +quadrangle in St. John's College Oxford. Compare Hallam and +D'Agincon vol. i. p. 140 - 145. - M] + +[Footnote 72: The villas, climate, and landscape of Baiae, (Var. +ix. 6; see Cluver Italia Antiq. l. iv. c. 2, p. 1119, &c.,) +Istria, (Var. xii. 22, 26,) and Comum, (Var. xi. 14; compare with +Pliny's two villas, ix. 7,) are agreeably painted in the Epistles +of Cassiodorus.] + +[Footnote 73: In Liguria numerosa agricolarum progenies, +(Ennodius, p. 1678, 1679, 1680.) St. Epiphanius of Pavia redeemed +by prayer or ransom 6000 captives from the Burgundians of Lyons +and Savoy. Such deeds are the best of miracles.] + +[Footnote 74: The political economy of Theodoric (see Anonym. +Vales. p. 721, and Cassiodorus, in Chron.) may be distinctly +traced under the following heads: iron mine, (Var. iii. 23;) gold +mine, (ix. 3;) Pomptine marshes, (ii. 32, 33;) Spoleto, (ii. 21;) +corn, (i. 34, x. 27, 28, xi. 11, 12;) trade, (vi. 7, vii. 9, 23;) +fair of Leucothoe or St. Cyprian in Lucania, (viii. 33;) plenty, +(xii. 4;) the cursus, or public post, (i. 29, ii. 31, iv. 47, v. +5, vi 6, vii. 33;) the Flaminian way, (xii. 18.) + + Note: The inscription commemorative of the draining of the +Pomptine marshes may be found in many works; in Gruter, Inscript. +Ant. Heidelberg, p. 152, No. 8. With variations, in Nicolai De' +bonificamenti delle terre Pontine, p. 103. In Sartorius, in his +prize essay on the reign of Theodoric, and Manse Beylage, xi. - +M.] + +[Footnote 75: LX modii tritici in solidum ipsius tempore fuerunt, +et vinum xxx amphoras in solidum, (Fragment. Vales.) Corn was +distributed from the granaries at xv or xxv modii for a piece of +gold, and the price was still moderate.] + + A difference of religion is always pernicious, and often +fatal, to the harmony of the prince and people: the Gothic +conqueror had been educated in the profession of Arianism, and +Italy was devoutly attached to the Nicene faith. But the +persuasion of Theodoric was not infected by zeal; and he piously +adhered to the heresy of his fathers, without condescending to +balance the subtile arguments of theological metaphysics. +Satisfied with the private toleration of his Arian sectaries, he +justly conceived himself to be the guardian of the public +worship, and his external reverence for a superstition which he +despised, may have nourished in his mind the salutary +indifference of a statesman or philosopher. The Catholics of his +dominions acknowledged, perhaps with reluctance, the peace of the +church; their clergy, according to the degrees of rank or merit, +were honorably entertained in the palace of Theodoric; he +esteemed the living sanctity of Caesarius ^76 and Epiphanius, ^77 +the orthodox bishops of Arles and Pavia; and presented a decent +offering on the tomb of St. Peter, without any scrupulous inquiry +into the creed of the apostle. ^78 His favorite Goths, and even +his mother, were permitted to retain or embrace the Athanasian +faith, and his long reign could not afford the example of an +Italian Catholic, who, either from choice or compulsion, had +deviated into the religion of the conqueror. ^79 The people, and +the Barbarians themselves, were edified by the pomp and order of +religious worship; the magistrates were instructed to defend the +just immunities of ecclesiastical persons and possessions; the +bishops held their synods, the metropolitans exercised their +jurisdiction, and the privileges of sanctuary were maintained or +moderated according to the spirit of the Roman jurisprudence. ^80 +With the protection, Theodoric assumed the legal supremacy, of +the church; and his firm administration restored or extended some +useful prerogatives which had been neglected by the feeble +emperors of the West. He was not ignorant of the dignity and +importance of the Roman pontiff, to whom the venerable name of +Pope was now appropriated. The peace or the revolt of Italy +might depend on the character of a wealthy and popular bishop, +who claimed such ample dominion both in heaven and earth; who had +been declared in a numerous synod to be pure from all sin, and +exempt from all judgment. ^81 When the chair of St. Peter was +disputed by Symmachus and Laurence, they appeared at his summons +before the tribunal of an Arian monarch, and he confirmed the +election of the most worthy or the most obsequious candidate. At +the end of his life, in a moment of jealousy and resentment, he +prevented the choice of the Romans, by nominating a pope in the +palace of Ravenna. The danger and furious contests of a schism +were mildly restrained, and the last decree of the senate was +enacted to extinguish, if it were possible, the scandalous +venality of the papal elections. ^82 + +[Footnote 76: See the life of St. Caesarius in Baronius, (A.D. +508, No. 12, 13, 14.) The king presented him with 300 gold +solidi, and a discus of silver of the weight of sixty pounds.] + +[Footnote 77: Ennodius in Vit. St. Epiphanii, in Sirmond, Op. +tom. i. p. 1672 - 1690. Theodoric bestowed some important favors +on this bishop, whom he used as a counsellor in peace and war.] + +[Footnote 78: Devotissimus ac si Catholicus, (Anonym. Vales. p. +720;) yet his offering was no more than two silver candlesticks +(cerostrata) of the weight of seventy pounds, far inferior to the +gold and gems of Constantinople and France, (Anastasius in Vit. +Pont. in Hormisda, p. 34, edit. Paris.)] +[Footnote 79: The tolerating system of his reign (Ennodius, p. +1612. Anonym. Vales. p. 719. Procop. Goth. l. i. c. 1, l. ii. +c. 6) may be studied in the Epistles of Cassiodorous, under the +following heads: bishops, (Var. i. 9, vii. 15, 24, xi. 23;) +immunities, (i. 26, ii. 29, 30;) church lands (iv. 17, 20;) +sanctuaries, (ii. 11, iii. 47;) church plate, (xii. 20;) +discipline, (iv. 44;) which prove, at the same time, that he was +the head of the church as well as of the state. + + Note: He recommended the same toleration to the emperor +Justin. - M.] +[Footnote 80: We may reject a foolish tale of his beheading a +Catholic deacon who turned Arian, (Theodor. Lector. No. 17.) Why +is Theodoric surnamed After? From Vafer? (Vales. ad loc.) A +light conjecture.] + +[Footnote 81: Ennodius, p. 1621, 1622, 1636, 1638. His libel was +approved and registered (synodaliter) by a Roman council, +(Baronius, A.D. 503, No. 6, Franciscus Pagi in Breviar. Pont. +Rom. tom. i. p. 242.)] + +[Footnote 82: See Cassiodorus, (Var. viii. 15, ix. 15, 16,) +Anastasius, (in Symmacho, p. 31,) and the xviith Annotation of +Mascou. Baronius, Pagi, and most of the Catholic doctors, +confess, with an angry growl, this Gothic usurpation.] + + I have descanted with pleasure on the fortunate condition of +Italy; but our fancy must not hastily conceive that the golden +age of the poets, a race of men without vice or misery, was +realized under the Gothic conquest. The fair prospect was +sometimes overcast with clouds; the wisdom of Theodoric might be +deceived, his power might be resisted and the declining age of +the monarch was sullied with popular hatred and patrician blood. +In the first insolence of victory, he had been tempted to deprive +the whole party of Odoacer of the civil and even the natural +rights of society; ^83 a tax unseasonably imposed after the +calamities of war, would have crushed the rising agriculture of +Liguria; a rigid preemption of corn, which was intended for the +public relief, must have aggravated the distress of Campania. +These dangerous projects were defeated by the virtue and +eloquence of Epiphanius and Boethius, who, in the presence of +Theodoric himself, successfully pleaded the cause of the people: +^84 but if the royal ear was open to the voice of truth, a saint +and a philosopher are not always to be found at the ear of kings. + +The privileges of rank, or office, or favor, were too frequently +abused by Italian fraud and Gothic violence, and the avarice of +the king's nephew was publicly exposed, at first by the +usurpation, and afterwards by the restitution of the estates +which he had unjustly extorted from his Tuscan neighbors. Two +hundred thousand Barbarians, formidable even to their master, +were seated in the heart of Italy; they indignantly supported the +restraints of peace and discipline; the disorders of their march +were always felt and sometimes compensated; and where it was +dangerous to punish, it might be prudent to dissemble, the +sallies of their native fierceness. When the indulgence of +Theodoric had remitted two thirds of the Ligurian tribute, he +condescended to explain the difficulties of his situation, and to +lament the heavy though inevitable burdens which he imposed on +his subjects for their own defence. ^85 These ungrateful subjects +could never be cordially reconciled to the origin, the religion, +or even the virtues of the Gothic conqueror; past calamities were +forgotten, and the sense or suspicion of injuries was rendered +still more exquisite by the present felicity of the times. + +[Footnote 83: He disabled them - alicentia testandi; and all +Italy mourned - lamentabili justitio. I wish to believe, that +these penalties were enacted against the rebels who had violated +their oath of allegiance; but the testimony of Ennodius (p. 1675 +- 1678) is the more weighty, as he lived and died under the reign +of Theodoric.] + +[Footnote 84: Ennodius, in Vit. Epiphan. p. 1589, 1690. Boethius +de Consolatione Philosphiae, l. i. pros. iv. p. 45, 46, 47. +Respect, but weigh the passions of the saint and the senator; and +fortify and alleviate their complaints by the various hints of +Cassiodorus, (ii. 8, iv. 36, viii. 5.)] +[Footnote 85: Immanium expensarum pondus ...pro ipsorum salute, +&c.; yet these are no more than words.] + + Even the religious toleration which Theodoric had the glory +of introducing into the Christian world, was painful and +offensive to the orthodox zeal of the Italians. They respected +the armed heresy of the Goths; but their pious rage was safely +pointed against the rich and defenceless Jews, who had formed +their establishments at Naples, Rome, Ravenna, Milan, and Genoa, +for the benefit of trade, and under the sanction of the laws. ^86 +Their persons were insulted, their effects were pillaged, and +their synagogues were burned by the mad populace of Ravenna and +Rome, inflamed, as it should seem, by the most frivolous or +extravagant pretences. The government which could neglect, would +have deserved such an outrage. A legal inquiry was instantly +directed; and as the authors of the tumult had escaped in the +crowd, the whole community was condemned to repair the damage; +and the obstinate bigots, who refused their contributions, were +whipped through the streets by the hand of the executioner. ^* +This simple act of justice exasperated the discontent of the +Catholics, who applauded the merit and patience of these holy +confessors. Three hundred pulpits deplored the persecution of the +church; and if the chapel of St. Stephen at Verona was demolished +by the command of Theodoric, it is probable that some miracle +hostile to his name and dignity had been performed on that sacred +theatre. At the close of a glorious life, the king of Italy +discovered that he had excited the hatred of a people whose +happiness he had so assiduously labored to promote; and his mind +was soured by indignation, jealousy, and the bitterness of +unrequited love. The Gothic conqueror condescended to disarm the +unwarlike natives of Italy, interdicting all weapons of offence, +and excepting only a small knife for domestic use. The deliverer +of Rome was accused of conspiring with the vilest informers +against the lives of senators whom he suspected of a secret and +treasonable correspondence with the Byzantine court. ^87 After +the death of Anastasius, the diadem had been placed on the head +of a feeble old man; but the powers of government were assumed by +his nephew Justinian, who already meditated the extirpation of +heresy, and the conquest of Italy and Africa. A rigorous law, +which was published at Constantinople, to reduce the Arians by +the dread of punishment within the pale of the church, awakened +the just resentment of Theodoric, who claimed for his distressed +brethren of the East the same indulgence which he had so long +granted to the Catholics of his dominions. ^! At his stern +command, the Roman pontiff, with four illustrious senators, +embarked on an embassy, of which he must have alike dreaded the +failure or the success. The singular veneration shown to the +first pope who had visited Constantinople was punished as a crime +by his jealous monarch; the artful or peremptory refusal of the +Byzantine court might excuse an equal, and would provoke a +larger, measure of retaliation; and a mandate was prepared in +Italy, to prohibit, after a stated day, the exercise of the +Catholic worship. By the bigotry of his subjects and enemies, +the most tolerant of princes was driven to the brink of +persecution; and the life of Theodoric was too long, since he +lived to condemn the virtue of Boethius and Symmachus. ^88 +[Footnote 86: The Jews were settled at Naples, (Procopius, Goth. +l. i. c. 8,) at Genoa, (Var. ii. 28, iv. 33,) Milan, (v. 37,) +Rome, (iv. 43.) See likewise Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, tom. viii. +c. 7, p. 254.] + +[Footnote *: See History of the Jews vol. iii. p. 217. - M.] +[Footnote 87: Rex avidus communis exitii, &c., (Boethius, l. i. +p. 59:) rex colum Romanis tendebat, (Anonym. Vales. p. 723.) +These are hard words: they speak the passions of the Italians and +those (I fear) of Theodoric himself.] +[Footnote !: Gibbon should not have omitted the golden words of +Theodoric in a letter which he addressed to Justin: That to +pretend to a dominion over the conscience is to usurp the +prerogative of God; that by the nature of things the power of +sovereigns is confined to external government; that they have no +right of punishment but over those who disturb the public peace, +of which they are the guardians; that the most dangerous heresy +is that of a sovereign who separates from himself a part of his +subjects because they believe not according to his belief. +Compare Le Beau, vol viii. p. 68. - M] +[Footnote 88: I have labored to extract a rational narrative from +the dark, concise, and various hints of the Valesian Fragment, +(p. 722, 723, 724,) Theophanes, (p. 145,) Anastasius, (in +Johanne, p. 35,) and the Hist Miscella, (p. 103, edit. Muratori.) +A gentle pressure and paraphrase of their words is no violence. +Consult likewise Muratori (Annali d' Italia, tom. iv. p. 471 - +478,) with the Annals and Breviary (tom. i. p. 259 - 263) of the +two Pagis, the uncle and the nephew.] + + The senator Boethius ^89 is the last of the Romans whom Cato +or Tully could have acknowledged for their countryman. As a +wealthy orphan, he inherited the patrimony and honors of the +Anician family, a name ambitiously assumed by the kings and +emperors of the age; and the appellation of Manlius asserted his +genuine or fabulous descent from a race of consuls and dictators, +who had repulsed the Gauls from the Capitol, and sacrificed their +sons to the discipline of the republic. In the youth of Boethius +the studies of Rome were not totally abandoned; a Virgil ^90 is +now extant, corrected by the hand of a consul; and the professors +of grammar, rhetoric, and jurisprudence, were maintained in their +privileges and pensions by the liberality of the Goths. But the +erudition of the Latin language was insufficient to satiate his +ardent curiosity: and Boethius is said to have employed eighteen +laborious years in the schools of Athens, ^91 which were +supported by the zeal, the learning, and the diligence of Proclus +and his disciples. The reason and piety of their Roman pupil +were fortunately saved from the contagion of mystery and magic, +which polluted the groves of the academy; but he imbibed the +spirit, and imitated the method, of his dead and living masters, +who attempted to reconcile the strong and subtile sense of +Aristotle with the devout contemplation and sublime fancy of +Plato. After his return to Rome, and his marriage with the +daughter of his friend, the patrician Symmachus, Boethius still +continued, in a palace of ivory and marble, to prosecute the same +studies. ^92 The church was edified by his profound defence of +the orthodox creed against the Arian, the Eutychian, and the +Nestorian heresies; and the Catholic unity was explained or +exposed in a formal treatise by the indifference of three +distinct though consubstantial persons. For the benefit of his +Latin readers, his genius submitted to teach the first elements +of the arts and sciences of Greece. The geometry of Euclid, the +music of Pythagoras, the arithmetic of Nicomachus, the mechanics +of Archimedes, the astronomy of Ptolemy, the theology of Plato, +and the logic of Aristotle, with the commentary of Porphyry, were +translated and illustrated by the indefatigable pen of the Roman +senator. And he alone was esteemed capable of describing the +wonders of art, a sun-dial, a water-clock, or a sphere which +represented the motions of the planets. From these abstruse +speculations, Boethius stooped, or, to speak more truly, he rose +to the social duties of public and private life: the indigent +were relieved by his liberality; and his eloquence, which +flattery might compare to the voice of Demosthenes or Cicero, was +uniformly exerted in the cause of innocence and humanity. Such +conspicuous merit was felt and rewarded by a discerning prince: +the dignity of Boethius was adorned with the titles of consul and +patrician, and his talents were usefully employed in the +important station of master of the offices. Notwithstanding the +equal claims of the East and West, his two sons were created, in +their tender youth, the consuls of the same year. ^93 On the +memorable day of their inauguration, they proceeded in solemn +pomp from their palace to the forum amidst the applause of the +senate and people; and their joyful father, the true consul of +Rome, after pronouncing an oration in the praise of his royal +benefactor, distributed a triumphal largess in the games of the +circus. Prosperous in his fame and fortunes, in his public honors +and private alliances, in the cultivation of science and the +consciousness of virtue, Boethius might have been styled happy, +if that precarious epithet could be safely applied before the +last term of the life of man. + +[Footnote 89: Le Clerc has composed a critical and philosophical +life of Anicius Manlius Severinus Boetius, (Bibliot. Choisie, +tom. xvi. p. 168 - 275;) and both Tiraboschi (tom. iii.) and +Fabricius (Bibliot Latin.) may be usefully consulted. The date +of his birth may be placed about the year 470, and his death in +524, in a premature old age, (Consol. Phil. Metrica. i. p. 5.)] + +[Footnote 90: For the age and value of this Ms., now in the +Medicean library at Florence, see the Cenotaphia Pisana (p. 430 - +447) of Cardinal Noris.] +[Footnote 91: The Athenian studies of Boethius are doubtful, +(Baronius, A.D. 510, No. 3, from a spurious tract, De Disciplina +Scholarum,) and the term of eighteen years is doubtless too long: +but the simple fact of a visit to Athens is justified by much +internal evidence, (Brucker, Hist. Crit. Philosoph. tom. iii. p. +524 - 527,) and by an expression (though vague and ambiguous) of +his friend Cassiodorus, (Var. i. 45,) "longe positas Athenas +intrioisti."] +[Footnote 92: Bibliothecae comptos ebore ac vitro ^* parietes, +&c., (Consol. Phil. l. i. pros. v. p. 74.) The Epistles of +Ennodius (vi. 6, vii. 13, viii. 1 31, 37, 40) and Cassiodorus +(Var. i. 39, iv. 6, ix. 21) afford many proofs of the high +reputation which he enjoyed in his own times. It is true, that +the bishop of Pavia wanted to purchase of him an old house at +Milan, and praise might be tendered and accepted in part of +payment. + + Note: Gibbon translated vitro, marble; under the impression, +no doubt that glass was unknown. - M.] + +[Footnote 93: Pagi, Muratori, &c., are agreed that Boethius +himself was consul in the year 510, his two sons in 522, and in +487, perhaps, his father. A desire of ascribing the last of these +consulships to the philosopher had perplexed the chronology of +his life. In his honors, alliances, children, he celebrates his +own felicity - his past felicity, (p. 109 110)] + A philosopher, liberal of his wealth and parsimonious of his +time, might be insensible to the common allurements of ambition, +the thirst of gold and employment. And some credit may be due to +the asseveration of Boethius, that he had reluctantly obeyed the +divine Plato, who enjoins every virtuous citizen to rescue the +state from the usurpation of vice and ignorance. For the +integrity of his public conduct he appeals to the memory of his +country. His authority had restrained the pride and oppression of +the royal officers, and his eloquence had delivered Paulianus +from the dogs of the palace. He had always pitied, and often +relieved, the distress of the provincials, whose fortunes were +exhausted by public and private rapine; and Boethius alone had +courage to oppose the tyranny of the Barbarians, elated by +conquest, excited by avarice, and, as he complains, encouraged by +impunity. In these honorable contests his spirit soared above +the consideration of danger, and perhaps of prudence; and we may +learn from the example of Cato, that a character of pure and +inflexible virtue is the most apt to be misled by prejudice, to +be heated by enthusiasm, and to confound private enmities with +public justice. The disciple of Plato might exaggerate the +infirmities of nature, and the imperfections of society; and the +mildest form of a Gothic kingdom, even the weight of allegiance +and gratitude, must be insupportable to the free spirit of a +Roman patriot. But the favor and fidelity of Boethius declined +in just proportion with the public happiness; and an unworthy +colleague was imposed to divide and control the power of the +master of the offices. In the last gloomy season of Theodoric, +he indignantly felt that he was a slave; but as his master had +only power over his life, he stood without arms and without fear +against the face of an angry Barbarian, who had been provoked to +believe that the safety of the senate was incompatible with his +own. The senator Albinus was accused and already convicted on +the presumption of hoping, as it was said, the liberty of Rome. +"If Albinus be criminal," exclaimed the orator, "the senate and +myself are all guilty of the same crime. If we are innocent, +Albinus is equally entitled to the protection of the laws." These +laws might not have punished the simple and barren wish of an +unattainable blessing; but they would have shown less indulgence +to the rash confession of Boethius, that, had he known of a +conspiracy, the tyrant never should. ^94 The advocate of Albinus +was soon involved in the danger and perhaps the guilt of his +client; their signature (which they denied as a forgery) was +affixed to the original address, inviting the emperor to deliver +Italy from the Goths; and three witnesses of honorable rank, +perhaps of infamous reputation, attested the treasonable designs +of the Roman patrician. ^95 Yet his innocence must be presumed, +since he was deprived by Theodoric of the means of justification, +and rigorously confined in the tower of Pavia, while the senate, +at the distance of five hundred miles, pronounced a sentence of +confiscation and death against the most illustrious of its +members. At the command of the Barbarians, the occult science of +a philosopher was stigmatized with the names of sacrilege and +magic. ^96 A devout and dutiful attachment to the senate was +condemned as criminal by the trembling voices of the senators +themselves; and their ingratitude deserved the wish or prediction +of Boethius, that, after him, none should be found guilty of the +same offence. ^97 + +[Footnote 94: Si ego scissem tu nescisses. Beothius adopts this +answer (l. i. pros. 4, p. 53) of Julius Canus, whose philosophic +death is described by Seneca, (De Tranquillitate Animi, c. 14.)] + +[Footnote 95: The characters of his two delators, Basilius (Var. +ii. 10, 11, iv. 22) and Opilio, (v. 41, viii. 16,) are +illustrated, not much to their honor, in the Epistles of +Cassiodorus, which likewise mention Decoratus, (v. 31,) the +worthless colleague of Beothius, (l. iii. pros. 4, p. 193.)] +[Footnote 96: A severe inquiry was instituted into the crime of +magic, (Var. iv 22, 23, ix. 18;) and it was believed that many +necromancers had escaped by making their jailers mad: for mad I +should read drunk.] + +[Footnote 97: Boethius had composed his own Apology, (p. 53,) +perhaps more interesting than his Consolation. We must be +content with the general view of his honors, principles, +persecution, &c., (l. i. pros. 4, p. 42 - 62,) which may be +compared with the short and weighty words of the Valesian +Fragment, (p. 723.) An anonymous writer (Sinner, Catalog. Mss. +Bibliot. Bern. tom. i. p. 287) charges him home with honorable +and patriotic treason.] + While Boethius, oppressed with fetters, expected each moment +the sentence or the stroke of death, he composed, in the tower of +Pavia, the Consolation of Philosophy; a golden volume not +unworthy of the leisure of Plato or Tully, but which claims +incomparable merit from the barbarism of the times and the +situation of the author. The celestial guide, whom he had so +long invoked at Rome and Athens, now condescended to illumine his +dungeon, to revive his courage, and to pour into his wounds her +salutary balm. She taught him to compare his long prosperity and +his recent distress, and to conceive new hopes from the +inconstancy of fortune. Reason had informed him of the +precarious condition of her gifts; experience had satisfied him +of their real value; he had enjoyed them without guilt; he might +resign them without a sigh, and calmly disdain the impotent +malice of his enemies, who had left him happiness, since they had +left him virtue. From the earth, Boethius ascended to heaven in +search of the Supreme Good; explored the metaphysical labyrinth +of chance and destiny, of prescience and free will, of time and +eternity; and generously attempted to reconcile the perfect +attributes of the Deity with the apparent disorders of his moral +and physical government. Such topics of consolation so obvious, +so vague, or so abstruse, are ineffectual to subdue the feelings +of human nature. Yet the sense of misfortune may be diverted by +the labor of thought; and the sage who could artfully combine in +the same work the various riches of philosophy, poetry, and +eloquence, must already have possessed the intrepid calmness +which he affected to seek. Suspense, the worst of evils, was at +length determined by the ministers of death, who executed, and +perhaps exceeded, the inhuman mandate of Theodoric. A strong +cord was fastened round the head of Boethius, and forcibly +tightened, till his eyes almost started from their sockets; and +some mercy may be discovered in the milder torture of beating him +with clubs till he expired. ^98 But his genius survived to +diffuse a ray of knowledge over the darkest ages of the Latin +world; the writings of the philosopher were translated by the +most glorious of the English kings, ^99 and the third emperor of +the name of Otho removed to a more honorable tomb the bones of a +Catholic saint, who, from his Arian persecutors, had acquired the +honors of martyrdom, and the fame of miracles. ^100 In the last +hours of Boethius, he derived some comfort from the safety of his +two sons, of his wife, and of his father-in-law, the venerable +Symmachus. But the grief of Symmachus was indiscreet, and +perhaps disrespectful: he had presumed to lament, he might dare +to revenge, the death of an injured friend. He was dragged in +chains from Rome to the palace of Ravenna; and the suspicions of +Theodoric could only be appeased by the blood of an innocent and +aged senator. ^101 + +[Footnote 98: He was executed in Agro Calventiano, (Calvenzano, +between Marignano and Pavia,) Anonym. Vales. p. 723, by order of +Eusebius, count of Ticinum or Pavia. This place of confinement +is styled the baptistery, an edifice and name peculiar to +cathedrals. It is claimed by the perpetual tradition of the +church of Pavia. The tower of Boethius subsisted till the year +1584, and the draught is yet preserved, (Tiraboschi, tom. iii. p. +47, 48.)] + +[Footnote 99: See the Biographia Britannica, Alfred, tom. i. p. +80, 2d edition. The work is still more honorable if performed +under the learned eye of Alfred by his foreign and domestic +doctors. For the reputation of Boethius in the middle ages, +consult Brucker, (Hist. Crit. Philosoph. tom. iii. p. 565, 566.)] + +[Footnote 100: The inscription on his new tomb was composed by +the preceptor of Otho III., the learned Pope Silvester II., who, +like Boethius himself, was styled a magician by the ignorance of +the times. The Catholic martyr had carried his head in his hands +a considerable way, Baronius, A.D. 526, No. 17, 18;) and yet on a +similar tale, a lady of my acquaintance once observed, "La +distance n'y fait rien; il n'y a que lo remier pas qui coute." + Note: Madame du Deffand. This witticism referred to the +miracle of St. Denis. - G.] + +[Footnote 101: Boethius applauds the virtues of his +father-in-law, (l. i. pros. 4, p. 59, l. ii. pros. 4, p. 118.) +Procopius, (Goth. l. i. c. i.,) the Valesian Fragment, (p. 724,) +and the Historia Miscella, (l. xv. p. 105,) agree in praising the +superior innocence or sanctity of Symmachus; and in the +estimation of the legend, the guilt of his murder is equal to the +imprisonment of a pope.] + + Humanity will be disposed to encourage any report which +testifies the jurisdiction of conscience and the remorse of +kings; and philosophy is not ignorant that the most horrid +spectres are sometimes created by the powers of a disordered +fancy, and the weakness of a distempered body. After a life of +virtue and glory, Theodoric was now descending with shame and +guilt into the grave; his mind was humbled by the contrast of the +past, and justly alarmed by the invisible terrors of futurity. +One evening, as it is related, when the head of a large fish was +served on the royal table, ^102 he suddenly exclaimed, that he +beheld the angry countenance of Symmachus, his eyes glaring fury +and revenge, and his mouth armed with long sharp teeth, which +threatened to devour him. The monarch instantly retired to his +chamber, and, as he lay, trembling with aguish cold, under a +weight of bed-clothes, he expressed, in broken murmurs to his +physician Elpidius, his deep repentance for the murders of +Boethius and Symmachus. ^103 His malady increased, and after a +dysentery which continued three days, he expired in the palace of +Ravenna, in the thirty-third, or, if we compute from the invasion +of Italy, in the thirty-seventh year of his reign. Conscious of +his approaching end, he divided his treasures and provinces +between his two grandsons, and fixed the Rhone as their common +boundary. ^104 Amalaric was restored to the throne of Spain. +Italy, with all the conquests of the Ostrogoths, was bequeathed +to Athalaric; whose age did not exceed ten years, but who was +cherished as the last male offspring of the line of Amali, by the +short-lived marriage of his mother Amalasuntha with a royal +fugitive of the same blood. ^105 In the presence of the dying +monarch, the Gothic chiefs and Italian magistrates mutually +engaged their faith and loyalty to the young prince, and to his +guardian mother; and received, in the same awful moment, his last +salutary advice, to maintain the laws, to love the senate and +people of Rome, and to cultivate with decent reverence the +friendship of the emperor. ^106 The monument of Theodoric was +erected by his daughter Amalasuntha, in a conspicuous situation, +which commanded the city of Ravenna, the harbor, and the adjacent +coast. A chapel of a circular form, thirty feet in diameter, is +crowned by a dome of one entire piece of granite: from the centre +of the dome four columns arose, which supported, in a vase of +porphyry, the remains of the Gothic king, surrounded by the +brazen statues of the twelve apostles. ^107 His spirit, after +some previous expiation, might have been permitted to mingle with +the benefactors of mankind, if an Italian hermit had not been +witness, in a vision, to the damnation of Theodoric, ^108 whose +soul was plunged, by the ministers of divine vengeance, into the +volcano of Lipari, one of the flaming mouths of the infernal +world. ^109 + +[Footnote 102: In the fanciful eloquence of Cassiodorus, the +variety of sea and river fish are an evidence of extensive +dominion; and those of the Rhine, of Sicily, and of the Danube, +were served on the table of Theodoric, (Var. xii. 14.) The +monstrous turbot of Domitian (Juvenal Satir. iii. 39) had been +caught on the shores of the Adriatic.] + +[Footnote 103: Procopius, Goth. l. i. c. 1. But he might have +informed us, whether he had received this curious anecdote from +common report or from the mouth of the royal physician.] + +[Footnote 104: Procopius, Goth. l. i. c. 1, 2, 12, 13. This +partition had been directed by Theodoric, though it was not +executed till after his death, Regni hereditatem superstes +reliquit, (Isidor. Chron. p. 721, edit. Grot.)] +[Footnote 105: Berimund, the third in descent from Hermanric, +king of the Ostrogoths, had retired into Spain, where he lived +and died in obscurity, (Jornandes, c. 33, p. 202, edit. +Muratori.) See the discovery, nuptials, and death of his grandson +Eutharic, (c. 58, p. 220.) His Roman games might render him +popular, (Cassiodor. in Chron.,) but Eutharic was asper in +religione, (Anonym. Vales. p. 723.)] + +[Footnote 106: See the counsels of Theodoric, and the professions +of his successor, in Procopius, (Goth. l. i. c. 1, 2,) Jornandes, +(c. 59, p. 220, 221,) and Cassiodorus, (Var. viii. 1 - 7.) These +epistles are the triumph of his ministerial eloquence.] + +[Footnote 107: Anonym. Vales. p. 724. Agnellus de Vitis. Pont. +Raven. in Muratori Script. Rerum Ital. tom. ii. P. i. p. 67. +Alberti Descrittione d' Italia, p. 311. + + Note: The Mausoleum of Theodoric, now Sante Maria della +Rotonda, is engraved in D'Agincourt, Histoire de l'Art, p xviii. +of the Architectural Prints. - M] + +[Footnote 108: This legend is related by Gregory I., (Dialog. iv. +36,) and approved by Baronius, (A.D. 526, No. 28;) and both the +pope and cardinal are grave doctors, sufficient to establish a +probable opinion.] +[Footnote 109: Theodoric himself, or rather Cassiodorus, had +described in tragic strains the volcanos of Lipari (Cluver. +Sicilia, p. 406 - 410) and Vesuvius, (v 50.)] + +Chapter XL: Reign Of Justinian. + +Part I. + + Elevation Of Justin The Elder. - Reign Of Justinian. - I. +The Empress Theodora. - II. Factions Of The Circus, And Sedition +Of Constantinople. - III. Trade And Manufacture Of Silk. - IV. +Finances And Taxes. - V. Edifices Of Justinian. - Church Of St. +Sophia. - Fortifications And Frontiers Of The Eastern Empire. - +Abolition Of The Schools Of Athens, And The Consulship Of Rome. + + The emperor Justinian was born ^1 near the ruins of Sardica, +(the modern Sophia,) of an obscure race ^2 of Barbarians, ^3 the +inhabitants of a wild and desolate country, to which the names of +Dardania, of Dacia, and of Bulgaria, have been successively +applied. His elevation was prepared by the adventurous spirit of +his uncle Justin, who, with two other peasants of the same +village, deserted, for the profession of arms, the more useful +employment of husbandmen or shepherds. ^4 On foot, with a scanty +provision of biscuit in their knapsacks, the three youths +followed the high road of Constantinople, and were soon enrolled, +for their strength and stature, among the guards of the emperor +Leo. Under the two succeeding reigns, the fortunate peasant +emerged to wealth and honors; and his escape from some dangers +which threatened his life was afterwards ascribed to the guardian +angel who watches over the fate of kings. His long and laudable +service in the Isaurian and Persian wars would not have preserved +from oblivion the name of Justin; yet they might warrant the +military promotion, which in the course of fifty years he +gradually obtained; the rank of tribune, of count, and of +general; the dignity of senator, and the command of the guards, +who obeyed him as their chief, at the important crisis when the +emperor Anastasius was removed from the world. The powerful +kinsmen whom he had raised and enriched were excluded from the +throne; and the eunuch Amantius, who reigned in the palace, had +secretly resolved to fix the diadem on the head of the most +obsequious of his creatures. A liberal donative, to conciliate +the suffrage of the guards, was intrusted for that purpose in the +hands of their commander. But these weighty arguments were +treacherously employed by Justin in his own favor; and as no +competitor presumed to appear, the Dacian peasant was invested +with the purple by the unanimous consent of the soldiers, who +knew him to be brave and gentle, of the clergy and people, who +believed him to be orthodox, and of the provincials, who yielded +a blind and implicit submission to the will of the capital. The +elder Justin, as he is distinguished from another emperor of the +same family and name, ascended the Byzantine throne at the age of +sixty-eight years; and, had he been left to his own guidance, +every moment of a nine years' reign must have exposed to his +subjects the impropriety of their choice. His ignorance was +similar to that of Theodoric; and it is remarkable that in an age +not destitute of learning, two contemporary monarchs had never +been instructed in the knowledge of the alphabet. ^* But the +genius of Justin was far inferior to that of the Gothic king: the +experience of a soldier had not qualified him for the government +of an empire; and though personally brave, the consciousness of +his own weakness was naturally attended with doubt, distrust, and +political apprehension. But the official business of the state +was diligently and faithfully transacted by the quaestor Proclus; +^5 and the aged emperor adopted the talents and ambition of his +nephew Justinian, an aspiring youth, whom his uncle had drawn +from the rustic solitude of Dacia, and educated at +Constantinople, as the heir of his private fortune, and at length +of the Eastern empire. + +[Footnote 1: There is some difficulty in the date of his birth +(Ludewig in Vit. Justiniani, p. 125;) none in the place - the +district Bederiana - the village Tauresium, which he afterwards +decorated with his name and splendor, (D'Anville, Hist. de +l'Acad. &c., tom. xxxi. p. 287 - 292.)] +[Footnote 2: The names of these Dardanian peasants are Gothic, +and almost English: Justinian is a translation of uprauda, +(upright;) his father Sabatius (in Graeco-barbarous language +stipes) was styled in his village Istock, (Stock;) his mother +Bigleniza was softened into Vigilantia.] +[Footnote 3: Ludewig (p. 127 - 135) attempts to justify the +Anician name of Justinian and Theodora, and to connect them with +a family from which the house of Austria has been derived.] + +[Footnote 4: See the anecdotes of Procopius, (c. 6,) with the +notes of N. Alemannus. The satirist would not have sunk, in the +vague and decent appellation of Zonaras. Yet why are those names +disgraceful? - and what German baron would not be proud to +descend from the Eumaeus of the Odyssey! + Note: It is whimsical enough that, in our own days, we +should have, even in jest, a claimant to lineal descent from the +godlike swineherd not in the person of a German baron, but in +that of a professor of the Ionian University. Constantine +Koliades, or some malicious wit under this name, has written a +tall folio to prove Ulysses to be Homer, and himself the +descendant, the heir (?), of the Eumaeus of the Odyssey. - M] + +[Footnote *: St. Martin questions the fact in both cases. The +ignorance of Justin rests on the secret history of Procopius, +vol. viii. p. 8. St. Martin's notes on Le Beau. - M] + +[Footnote 5: His virtues are praised by Procopius, (Persic. l. i. +c. 11.) The quaestor Proclus was the friend of Justinian, and the +enemy of every other adoption.] + + Since the eunuch Amantius had been defrauded of his money, +it became necessary to deprive him of his life. The task was +easily accomplished by the charge of a real or fictitious +conspiracy; and the judges were informed, as an accumulation of +guilt, that he was secretly addicted to the Manichaean heresy. ^6 +Amantius lost his head; three of his companions, the first +domestics of the palace, were punished either with death or +exile; and their unfortunate candidate for the purple was cast +into a deep dungeon, overwhelmed with stones, and ignominiously +thrown, without burial, into the sea. The ruin of Vitalian was a +work of more difficulty and danger. That Gothic chief had +rendered himself popular by the civil war which he boldly waged +against Anastasius for the defence of the orthodox faith, and +after the conclusion of an advantageous treaty, he still remained +in the neighborhood of Constantinople at the head of a formidable +and victorious army of Barbarians. By the frail security of +oaths, he was tempted to relinquish this advantageous situation, +and to trust his person within the walls of a city, whose +inhabitants, particularly the blue faction, were artfully +incensed against him by the remembrance even of his pious +hostilities. The emperor and his nephew embraced him as the +faithful and worthy champion of the church and state; and +gratefully adorned their favorite with the titles of consul and +general; but in the seventh month of his consulship, Vitalian was +stabbed with seventeen wounds at the royal banquet; ^7 and +Justinian, who inherited the spoil, was accused as the assassin +of a spiritual brother, to whom he had recently pledged his faith +in the participation of the Christian mysteries. ^8 After the +fall of his rival, he was promoted, without any claim of military +service, to the office of master-general of the Eastern armies, +whom it was his duty to lead into the field against the public +enemy. But, in the pursuit of fame, Justinian might have lost +his present dominion over the age and weakness of his uncle; and +instead of acquiring by Scythian or Persian trophies the applause +of his countrymen, ^9 the prudent warrior solicited their favor +in the churches, the circus, and the senate, of Constantinople. +The Catholics were attached to the nephew of Justin, who, between +the Nestorian and Eutychian heresies, trod the narrow path of +inflexible and intolerant orthodoxy. ^10 In the first days of the +new reign, he prompted and gratified the popular enthusiasm +against the memory of the deceased emperor. After a schism of +thirty-four years, he reconciled the proud and angry spirit of +the Roman pontiff, and spread among the Latins a favorable report +of his pious respect for the apostolic see. The thrones of the +East were filled with Catholic bishops, devoted to his interest, +the clergy and the monks were gained by his liberality, and the +people were taught to pray for their future sovereign, the hope +and pillar of the true religion. The magnificence of Justinian +was displayed in the superior pomp of his public spectacles, an +object not less sacred and important in the eyes of the multitude +than the creed of Nice or Chalcedon: the expense of his +consulship was esteemed at two hundred and twenty-eight thousand +pieces of gold; twenty lions, and thirty leopards, were produced +at the same time in the amphitheatre, and a numerous train of +horses, with their rich trappings, was bestowed as an +extraordinary gift on the victorious charioteers of the circus. +While he indulged the people of Constantinople, and received the +addresses of foreign kings, the nephew of Justin assiduously +cultivated the friendship of the senate. That venerable name +seemed to qualify its members to declare the sense of the nation, +and to regulate the succession of the Imperial throne: the feeble +Anastasius had permitted the vigor of government to degenerate +into the form or substance of an aristocracy; and the military +officers who had obtained the senatorial rank were followed by +their domestic guards, a band of veterans, whose arms or +acclamations might fix in a tumultuous moment the diadem of the +East. The treasures of the state were lavished to procure the +voices of the senators, and their unanimous wish, that he would +be pleased to adopt Justinian for his colleague, was communicated +to the emperor. But this request, which too clearly admonished +him of his approaching end, was unwelcome to the jealous temper +of an aged monarch, desirous to retain the power which he was +incapable of exercising; and Justin, holding his purple with both +his hands, advised them to prefer, since an election was so +profitable, some older candidate. Not withstanding this +reproach, the senate proceeded to decorate Justinian with the +royal epithet of nobilissimus; and their decree was ratified by +the affection or the fears of his uncle. After some time the +languor of mind and body, to which he was reduced by an incurable +wound in his thigh, indispensably required the aid of a guardian. +He summoned the patriarch and senators; and in their presence +solemnly placed the diadem on the head of his nephew, who was +conducted from the palace to the circus, and saluted by the loud +and joyful applause of the people. The life of Justin was +prolonged about four months; but from the instant of this +ceremony, he was considered as dead to the empire, which +acknowledged Justinian, in the forty-fifth year of his age, for +the lawful sovereign of the East. ^11 + +[Footnote 6: Manichaean signifies Eutychian. Hear the furious +acclamations of Constantinople and Tyre, the former no more than +six days after the decease of Anastasius. They produced, the +latter applauded, the eunuch's death, (Baronius, A.D. 518, P. ii. +No. 15. Fleury, Hist Eccles. tom. vii. p. 200, 205, from the +Councils, tom. v. p. 182, 207.)] + +[Footnote 7: His power, character, and intentions, are perfectly +explained by the court de Buat, (tom. ix. p. 54 - 81.) He was +great-grandson of Aspar, hereditary prince in the Lesser Scythia, +and count of the Gothic foederati of Thrace. The Bessi, whom he +could influence, are the minor Goths of Jornandes, (c. 51.)] + +[Footnote 8: Justiniani patricii factione dicitur interfectus +fuisse, (Victor Tu nunensis, Chron. in Thesaur. Temp. Scaliger, +P. ii. p. 7.) Procopius (Anecdot. c. 7) styles him a tyrant, but +acknowledges something which is well explained by Alemannus.] + +[Footnote 9: In his earliest youth (plane adolescens) he had +passed some time as a hostage with Theodoric. For this curious +fact, Alemannus (ad Procop. Anecdot. c. 9, p. 34, of the first +edition) quotes a Ms. history of Justinian, by his preceptor +Theophilus. Ludewig (p. 143) wishes to make him a soldier.] +[Footnote 10: The ecclesiastical history of Justinian will be +shown hereafter. See Baronius, A.D. 518 - 521, and the copious +article Justinianas in the index to the viith volume of his +Annals.] + +[Footnote 11: The reign of the elder Justin may be found in the +three Chronicles of Marcellinus, Victor, and John Malala, (tom. +ii. p. 130 - 150,) the last of whom (in spite of Hody, Prolegom. +No. 14, 39, edit. Oxon.) lived soon after Justinian, (Jortin's +Remarks, &c., vol. iv p. 383:) in the Ecclesiastical History of +Evagrius, (l. iv. c. 1, 2, 3, 9,) and the Excerpta of Theodorus +Lector, (No. 37,) and in Cedrenus, (p. 362 - 366,) and Zonaras, +(l. xiv. p. 58 - 61,) who may pass for an original. + + Note: Dindorf, in his preface to the new edition of Malala, +p. vi., concurs with this opinion of Gibbon, which was also that +of Reiske, as to the age of the chronicler. - M.] + + From his elevation to his death, Justinian governed the +Roman empire thirty-eight years, seven months, and thirteen days. + +The events of his reign, which excite our curious attention by +their number, variety, and importance, are diligently related by +the secretary of Belisarius, a rhetorician, whom eloquence had +promoted to the rank of senator and praefect of Constantinople. +According to the vicissitudes of courage or servitude, of favor +or disgrace, Procopius ^12 successively composed the history, the +panegyric, and the satire of his own times. The eight books of +the Persian, Vandalic, and Gothic wars, ^13 which are continued +in the five books of Agathias, deserve our esteem as a laborious +and successful imitation of the Attic, or at least of the +Asiatic, writers of ancient Greece. His facts are collected from +the personal experience and free conversation of a soldier, a +statesman, and a traveller; his style continually aspires, and +often attains, to the merit of strength and elegance; his +reflections, more especially in the speeches, which he too +frequently inserts, contain a rich fund of political knowledge; +and the historian, excited by the generous ambition of pleasing +and instructing posterity, appears to disdain the prejudices of +the people, and the flattery of courts. The writings of +Procopius ^14 were read and applauded by his contemporaries: ^15 +but, although he respectfully laid them at the foot of the +throne, the pride of Justinian must have been wounded by the +praise of a hero, who perpetually eclipses the glory of his +inactive sovereign. The conscious dignity of independence was +subdued by the hopes and fears of a slave; and the secretary of +Belisarius labored for pardon and reward in the six books of the +Imperial edifices. He had dexterously chosen a subject of +apparent splendor, in which he could loudly celebrate the genius, +the magnificence, and the piety of a prince, who, both as a +conqueror and legislator, had surpassed the puerile virtues of +Themistocles and Cyrus. ^16 Disappointment might urge the +flatterer to secret revenge; and the first glance of favor might +again tempt him to suspend and suppress a libel, ^17 in which the +Roman Cyrus is degraded into an odious and contemptible tyrant, +in which both the emperor and his consort Theodora are seriously +represented as two daemons, who had assumed a human form for the +destruction of mankind. ^18 Such base inconsistency must +doubtless sully the reputation, and detract from the credit, of +Procopius: yet, after the venom of his malignity has been +suffered to exhale, the residue of the anecdotes, even the most +disgraceful facts, some of which had been tenderly hinted in his +public history, are established by their internal evidence, or +the authentic monuments of the times. ^19 ^* From these various +materials, I shall now proceed to describe the reign of +Justinian, which will deserve and occupy an ample space. The +present chapter will explain the elevation and character of +Theodora, the factions of the circus, and the peaceful +administration of the sovereign of the East. In the three +succeeding chapters, I shall relate the wars of Justinian, which +achieved the conquest of Africa and Italy; and I shall follow the +victories of Belisarius and Narses, without disguising the vanity +of their triumphs, or the hostile virtue of the Persian and +Gothic heroes. The series of this and the following volume will +embrace the jurisprudence and theology of the emperor; the +controversies and sects which still divide the Oriental church; +the reformation of the Roman law which is obeyed or respected by +the nations of modern Europe. +[Footnote 12: See the characters of Procopius and Agathias in La +Mothe le Vayer, (tom. viii. p. 144 - 174,) Vossius, (de +Historicis Graecis, l. ii. c. 22,) and Fabricius, (Bibliot. +Graec. l. v. c. 5, tom. vi. p. 248 - 278.) Their religion, an +honorable problem, betrays occasional conformity, with a secret +attachment to Paganism and Philosophy.] + +[Footnote 13: In the seven first books, two Persic, two Vandalic, +and three Gothic, Procopius has borrowed from Appian the division +of provinces and wars: the viiith book, though it bears the name +of Gothic, is a miscellaneous and general supplement down to the +spring of the year 553, from whence it is continued by Agathias +till 559, (Pagi, Critica, A.D. 579, No. 5.)] +[Footnote 14: The literary fate of Procopius has been somewhat +unlucky. + 1. His book de Bello Gothico were stolen by Leonard Aretin, +and published (Fulginii, 1470, Venet. 1471, apud Janson. +Mattaire, Annal Typograph. tom. i. edit. posterior, p. 290, 304, +279, 299,) in his own name, (see Vossius de Hist. Lat. l. iii. c. +5, and the feeble defence of the Venice Giornale de Letterati, +tom. xix. p. 207.) + + 2. His works were mutilated by the first Latin translators, +Christopher Persona, (Giornale, tom. xix. p. 340 - 348,) and +Raphael de Volaterra, (Huet, de Claris Interpretibus, p. 166,) +who did not even consult the Ms. of the Vatican library, of which +they were praefects, (Aleman. in Praefat Anecdot.) + 3. The Greek text was not printed till 1607, by Hoeschelius +of Augsburg, (Dictionnaire de Bayle, tom. ii. p. 782.) + + 4. The Paris edition was imperfectly executed by Claude +Maltret, a Jesuit of Toulouse, (in 1663,) far distant from the +Louvre press and the Vatican Ms., from which, however, he +obtained some supplements. His promised commentaries, &c., have +never appeared. The Agathias of Leyden (1594) has been wisely +reprinted by the Paris editor, with the Latin version of +Bonaventura Vulcanius, a learned interpreter, (Huet, p. 176.) + + Note: Procopius forms a part of the new Byzantine collection +under the superintendence of Dindorf. - M.] + +[Footnote 15: Agathias in Praefat. p. 7, 8, l. iv. p. 137. +Evagrius, l. iv. c. 12. See likewise Photius, cod. lxiii. p. +65.] + +[Footnote 16: Says, he, Praefat. ad l. de Edificiis is no more +than a pun! In these five books, Procopius affects a Christian +as well as a courtly style.] +[Footnote 17: Procopius discloses himself, (Praefat. ad Anecdot. +c. 1, 2, 5,) and the anecdotes are reckoned as the ninth book by +Suidas, (tom. iii. p. 186, edit. Kuster.) The silence of Evagrius +is a poor objection. Baronius (A.D. 548, No. 24) regrets the +loss of this secret history: it was then in the Vatican library, +in his own custody, and was first published sixteen years after +his death, with the learned, but partial notes of Nicholas +Alemannus, (Lugd. 1623.)] + +[Footnote 18: Justinian an ass - the perfect likeness of Domitian +- Anecdot. c. 8. - Theodora's lovers driven from her bed by rival +daemons - her marriage foretold with a great daemon - a monk saw +the prince of the daemons, instead of Justinian, on the throne - +the servants who watched beheld a face without features, a body +walking without a head, &c., &c. Procopius declares his own and +his friends' belief in these diabolical stories, (c. 12.)] +[Footnote 19: Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur et la +Decadence des Romains, c. xx.) gives credit to these anecdotes, +as connected, 1. with the weakness of the empire, and, 2. with +the instability of Justinian's laws.] +[Footnote *: The Anecdota of Procopius, compared with the former +works of the same author, appear to me the basest and most +disgraceful work in literature. The wars, which he has described +in the former volumes as glorious or necessary, are become +unprofitable and wanton massacres; the buildings which he +celebrated, as raised to the immortal honor of the great emperor, +and his admirable queen, either as magnificent embellishments of +the city, or useful fortifications for the defence of the +frontier, are become works of vain prodigality and useless +ostentation. I doubt whether Gibbon has made sufficient +allowance for the "malignity" of the Anecdota; at all events, the +extreme and disgusting profligacy of Theodora's early life rests +entirely on this viratent libel - M.] + + I. In the exercise of supreme power, the first act of +Justinian was to divide it with the woman whom he loved, the +famous Theodora, ^20 whose strange elevation cannot be applauded +as the triumph of female virtue. Under the reign of Anastasius, +the care of the wild beasts maintained by the green faction at +Constantinople was intrusted to Acacius, a native of the Isle of +Cyprus, who, from his employment, was surnamed the master of the +bears. This honorable office was given after his death to +another candidate, notwithstanding the diligence of his widow, +who had already provided a husband and a successor. Acacius had +left three daughters, Comito, ^21 Theodora, and Anastasia, the +eldest of whom did not then exceed the age of seven years. On a +solemn festival, these helpless orphans were sent by their +distressed and indignant mother, in the garb of suppliants, into +the midst of the theatre: the green faction received them with +contempt, the blues with compassion; and this difference, which +sunk deep into the mind of Theodora, was felt long afterwards in +the administration of the empire. As they improved in age and +beauty, the three sisters were successively devoted to the public +and private pleasures of the Byzantine people: and Theodora, +after following Comito on the stage, in the dress of a slave, +with a stool on her head, was at length permitted to exercise her +independent talents. She neither danced, nor sung, nor played on +the flute; her skill was confined to the pantomime arts; she +excelled in buffoon characters, and as often as the comedian +swelled her cheeks, and complained with a ridiculous tone and +gesture of the blows that were inflicted, the whole theatre of +Constantinople resounded with laughter and applause. The beauty +of Theodora ^22 was the subject of more flattering praise, and +the source of more exquisite delight. Her features were delicate +and regular; her complexion, though somewhat pale, was tinged +with a natural color; every sensation was instantly expressed by +the vivacity of her eyes; her easy motions displayed the graces +of a small but elegant figure; and either love or adulation might +proclaim, that painting and poetry were incapable of delineating +the matchless excellence of her form. But this form was degraded +by the facility with which it was exposed to the public eye, and +prostituted to licentious desire. Her venal charms were +abandoned to a promiscuous crowd of citizens and strangers of +every rank, and of every profession: the fortunate lover who had +been promised a night of enjoyment, was often driven from her bed +by a stronger or more wealthy favorite; and when she passed +through the streets, her presence was avoided by all who wished +to escape either the scandal or the temptation. The satirical +historian has not blushed ^23 to describe the naked scenes which +Theodora was not ashamed to exhibit in the theatre. ^24 After +exhausting the arts of sensual pleasure, ^25 she most +ungratefully murmured against the parsimony of Nature; ^26 but +her murmurs, her pleasures, and her arts, must be veiled in the +obscurity of a learned language. After reigning for some time, +the delight and contempt of the capital, she condescended to +accompany Ecebolus, a native of Tyre, who had obtained the +government of the African Pentapolis. But this union was frail +and transient; Ecebolus soon rejected an expensive or faithless +concubine; she was reduced at Alexandria to extreme distress; and +in her laborious return to Constantinople, every city of the East +admired and enjoyed the fair Cyprian, whose merit appeared to +justify her descent from the peculiar island of Venus. The vague +commerce of Theodora, and the most detestable precautions, +preserved her from the danger which she feared; yet once, and +once only, she became a mother. The infant was saved and +educated in Arabia, by his father, who imparted to him on his +death-bed, that he was the son of an empress. Filled with +ambitious hopes, the unsuspecting youth immediately hastened to +the palace of Constantinople, and was admitted to the presence of +his mother. As he was never more seen, even after the decease of +Theodora, she deserves the foul imputation of extinguishing with +his life a secret so offensive to her Imperial virtue. + +[Footnote 20: For the life and manners of the empress Theodora +see the Anecdotes; more especially c. 1 - 5, 9, 10 - 15, 16, 17, +with the learned notes of Alemannus - a reference which is always +implied.] +[Footnote 21: Comito was afterwards married to Sittas, duke of +Armenia, the father, perhaps, at least she might be the mother, +of the empress Sophia. Two nephews of Theodora may be the sons of +Anastasia, (Aleman. p. 30, 31.)] +[Footnote 22: Her statute was raised at Constantinople, on a +porphyry column. See Procopius, (de Edif. l. i. c. 11,) who gives +her portrait in the Anecdotes, (c. 10.) Aleman. (p. 47) produces +one from a Mosaic at Ravenna, loaded with pearls and jewels, and +yet handsome.] + +[Footnote 23: A fragment of the Anecdotes, (c. 9,) somewhat too +naked, was suppressed by Alemannus, though extant in the Vatican +Ms.; nor has the defect been supplied in the Paris or Venice +editions. La Mothe le Vayer (tom. viii. p. 155) gave the first +hint of this curious and genuine passage, (Jortin's Remarks, vol. +iv. p. 366,) which he had received from Rome, and it has been +since published in the Menagiana (tom. iii. p. 254 - 259) with a +Latin version.] + +[Footnote 24: After the mention of a narrow girdle, (as none +could appear stark naked in the theatre,) Procopius thus +proceeds. I have heard that a learned prelate, now deceased, was +fond of quoting this passage in conversation.] + +[Footnote 25: Theodora surpassed the Crispa of Ausonius, (Epigram +lxxi.,) who imitated the capitalis luxus of the females of Nola. +See Quintilian Institut. viii. 6, and Torrentius ad Horat. +Sermon. l. i. sat. 2, v. 101. At a memorable supper, thirty +slaves waited round the table ten young men feasted with +Theodora. Her charity was universal. + +Et lassata viris, necdum satiata, recessit.] + +[Footnote 26: She wished for a fourth altar, on which she might +pour libations to the god of love.] + +[Footnote *: Gibbon should have remembered the axiom which he +quotes in another piece, scelera ostendi oportet dum puniantur +abscondi flagitia. - M.] + In the most abject state of her fortune, and reputation, +some vision, either of sleep or of fancy, had whispered to +Theodora the pleasing assurance that she was destined to become +the spouse of a potent monarch. Conscious of her approaching +greatness, she returned from Paphlagonia to Constantinople; +assumed, like a skilful actress, a more decent character; +relieved her poverty by the laudable industry of spinning wool; +and affected a life of chastity and solitude in a small house, +which she afterwards changed into a magnificent temple. ^27 Her +beauty, assisted by art or accident, soon attracted, captivated, +and fixed, the patrician Justinian, who already reigned with +absolute sway under the name of his uncle. Perhaps she contrived +to enhance the value of a gift which she had so often lavished on +the meanest of mankind; perhaps she inflamed, at first by modest +delays, and at last by sensual allurements, the desires of a +lover, who, from nature or devotion, was addicted to long vigils +and abstemious diet. When his first transports had subsided, she +still maintained the same ascendant over his mind, by the more +solid merit of temper and understanding. Justinian delighted to +ennoble and enrich the object of his affection; the treasures of +the East were poured at her feet, and the nephew of Justin was +determined, perhaps by religious scruples, to bestow on his +concubine the sacred and legal character of a wife. But the laws +of Rome expressly prohibited the marriage of a senator with any +female who had been dishonored by a servile origin or theatrical +profession: the empress Lupicina, or Euphemia, a Barbarian of +rustic manners, but of irreproachable virtue, refused to accept a +prostitute for her niece; and even Vigilantia, the superstitious +mother of Justinian, though she acknowledged the wit and beauty +of Theodora, was seriously apprehensive, lest the levity and +arrogance of that artful paramour might corrupt the piety and +happiness of her son. These obstacles were removed by the +inflexible constancy of Justinian. He patiently expected the +death of the empress; he despised the tears of his mother, who +soon sunk under the weight of her affliction; and a law was +promulgated in the name of the emperor Justin, which abolished +the rigid jurisprudence of antiquity. A glorious repentance (the +words of the edict) was left open for the unhappy females who had +prostituted their persons on the theatre, and they were permitted +to contract a legal union with the most illustrious of the +Romans. ^28 This indulgence was speedily followed by the solemn +nuptials of Justinian and Theodora; her dignity was gradually +exalted with that of her lover, and, as soon as Justin had +invested his nephew with the purple, the patriarch of +Constantinople placed the diadem on the heads of the emperor and +empress of the East. But the usual honors which the severity of +Roman manners had allowed to the wives of princes, could not +satisfy either the ambition of Theodora or the fondness of +Justinian. He seated her on the throne as an equal and +independent colleague in the sovereignty of the empire, and an +oath of allegiance was imposed on the governors of the provinces +in the joint names of Justinian and Theodora. ^29 The Eastern +world fell prostrate before the genius and fortune of the +daughter of Acacius. The prostitute who, in the presence of +innumerable spectators, had polluted the theatre of +Constantinople, was adored as a queen in the same city, by grave +magistrates, orthodox bishops, victorious generals, and captive +monarchs. ^30 +[Footnote 27: Anonym. de Antiquitat. C. P. l. iii. 132, in +Banduri Imperium Orient. tom. i. p. 48. Ludewig (p. 154) argues +sensibly that Theodora would not have immortalized a brothel: but +I apply this fact to her second and chaster residence at +Constantinople.] + +[Footnote 28: See the old law in Justinian's Code, (l. v. tit. v. +leg. 7, tit. xxvii. leg. 1,) under the years 336 and 454. The +new edict (about the year 521 or 522, Aleman. p. 38, 96) very +awkwardly repeals no more than the clause of mulieres scenicoe, +libertinae, tabernariae. See the novels 89 and 117, and a Greek +rescript from Justinian to the bishops, (Aleman. p. 41.)] +[Footnote 29: I swear by the Father, &c., by the Virgin Mary, by +the four Gospels, quae in manibus teneo, and by the Holy +Archangels Michael and Gabriel, puram conscientiam germanumque +servitium me servaturum, sacratissimis DDNN. Justiniano et +Theodorae conjugi ejus, (Novell. viii. tit. 3.) Would the oath +have been binding in favor of the widow? Communes tituli et +triumphi, &c., (Aleman. p. 47, 48.)] + +[Footnote 30: "Let greatness own her, and she's mean no more," +&c. Without Warburton's critical telescope, I should never have +seen, in this general picture of triumphant vice, any personal +allusion to Theodora.] + + +Chapter XL: Reign Of Justinian. + +Part II. + + Those who believe that the female mind is totally depraved +by the loss of chastity, will eagerly listen to all the +invectives of private envy, or popular resentment which have +dissembled the virtues of Theodora, exaggerated her vices, and +condemned with rigor the venal or voluntary sins of the youthful +harlot. From a motive of shame, or contempt, she often declined +the servile homage of the multitude, escaped from the odious +light of the capital, and passed the greatest part of the year in +the palaces and gardens which were pleasantly seated on the +sea-coast of the Propontis and the Bosphorus. Her private hours +were devoted to the prudent as well as grateful care of her +beauty, the luxury of the bath and table, and the long slumber of +the evening and the morning. Her secret apartments were occupied +by the favorite women and eunuchs, whose interests and passions +she indulged at the expense of justice; the most illustrious +person ages of the state were crowded into a dark and sultry +antechamber, and when at last, after tedious attendance, they +were admitted to kiss the feet of Theodora, they experienced, as +her humor might suggest, the silent arrogance of an empress, or +the capricious levity of a comedian. Her rapacious avarice to +accumulate an immense treasure, may be excused by the +apprehension of her husband's death, which could leave no +alternative between ruin and the throne; and fear as well as +ambition might exasperate Theodora against two generals, who, +during the malady of the emperor, had rashly declared that they +were not disposed to acquiesce in the choice of the capital. But +the reproach of cruelty, so repugnant even to her softer vices, +has left an indelible stain on the memory of Theodora. Her +numerous spies observed, and zealously reported, every action, or +word, or look, injurious to their royal mistress. Whomsoever they +accused were cast into her peculiar prisons, ^31 inaccessible to +the inquiries of justice; and it was rumored, that the torture of +the rack, or scourge, had been inflicted in the presence of the +female tyrant, insensible to the voice of prayer or of pity. ^32 +Some of these unhappy victims perished in deep, unwholesome +dungeons, while others were permitted, after the loss of their +limbs, their reason, or their fortunes, to appear in the world, +the living monuments of her vengeance, which was commonly +extended to the children of those whom she had suspected or +injured. The senator or bishop, whose death or exile Theodora +had pronounced, was delivered to a trusty messenger, and his +diligence was quickened by a menace from her own mouth. "If you +fail in the execution of my commands, I swear by Him who liveth +forever, that your skin shall be flayed from your body." ^33 + +[Footnote 31: Her prisons, a labyrinth, a Tartarus, (Anecdot. c. +4,) were under the palace. Darkness is propitious to cruelty, +but it is likewise favorable to calumny and fiction.] + +[Footnote 32: A more jocular whipping was inflicted on +Saturninus, for presuming to say that his wife, a favorite of the +empress, had not been found. (Anecdot. c. 17.)] + +[Footnote 33: Per viventem in saecula excoriari te faciam. +Anastasius de Vitis Pont. Roman. in Vigilio, p. 40.] + + If the creed of Theodora had not been tainted with heresy, +her exemplary devotion might have atoned, in the opinion of her +contemporaries, for pride, avarice, and cruelty. But, if she +employed her influence to assuage the intolerant fury of the +emperor, the present age will allow some merit to her religion, +and much indulgence to her speculative errors. ^34 The name of +Theodora was introduced, with equal honor, in all the pious and +charitable foundations of Justinian; and the most benevolent +institution of his reign may be ascribed to the sympathy of the +empress for her less fortunate sisters, who had been seduced or +compelled to embrace the trade of prostitution. A palace, on the +Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, was converted into a stately and +spacious monastery, and a liberal maintenance was assigned to +five hundred women, who had been collected from the streets and +brothels of Constantinople. In this safe and holy retreat, they +were devoted to perpetual confinement; and the despair of some, +who threw themselves headlong into the sea, was lost in the +gratitude of the penitents, who had been delivered from sin and +misery by their generous benefactress. ^35 The prudence of +Theodora is celebrated by Justinian himself; and his laws are +attributed to the sage counsels of his most reverend wife whom he +had received as the gift of the Deity. ^36 Her courage was +displayed amidst the tumult of the people and the terrors of the +court. Her chastity, from the moment of her union with +Justinian, is founded on the silence of her implacable enemies; +and although the daughter of Acacius might be satiated with love, +yet some applause is due to the firmness of a mind which could +sacrifice pleasure and habit to the stronger sense either of duty +or interest. The wishes and prayers of Theodora could never +obtain the blessing of a lawful son, and she buried an infant +daughter, the sole offspring of her marriage. ^37 Notwithstanding +this disappointment, her dominion was permanent and absolute; she +preserved, by art or merit, the affections of Justinian; and +their seeming dissensions were always fatal to the courtiers who +believed them to be sincere. Perhaps her health had been +impaired by the licentiousness of her youth; but it was always +delicate, and she was directed by her physicians to use the +Pythian warm baths. In this journey, the empress was followed by +the Praetorian praefect, the great treasurer, several counts and +patricians, and a splendid train of four thousand attendants: the +highways were repaired at her approach; a palace was erected for +her reception; and as she passed through Bithynia, she +distributed liberal alms to the churches, the monasteries, and +the hospitals, that they might implore Heaven for the restoration +of her health. ^38 At length, in the twenty-fourth year of her +marriage, and the twenty-second of her reign, she was consumed by +a cancer; ^39 and the irreparable loss was deplored by her +husband, who, in the room of a theatrical prostitute, might have +selected the purest and most noble virgin of the East. ^40 + +[Footnote 34: Ludewig, p. 161 - 166. I give him credit for the +charitable attempt, although he hath not much charity in his +temper.] +[Footnote 35: Compare the anecdotes (c. 17) with the Edifices (l. +i. c. 9) - how differently may the same fact be stated! John +Malala (tom. ii. p. 174, 175) observes, that on this, or a +similar occasion, she released and clothed the girls whom she had +purchased from the stews at five aurei apiece.] +[Footnote 36: Novel. viii. 1. An allusion to Theodora. Her +enemies read the name Daemonodora, (Aleman. p. 66.)] + +[Footnote 37: St. Sabas refused to pray for a son of Theodora, +lest he should prove a heretic worse than Anastasius himself, +(Cyril in Vit. St. Sabae, apud Aleman. p. 70, 109.)] + +[Footnote 38: See John Malala, tom. ii. p. 174. Theophanes, p. +158. Procopius de Edific. l. v. c. 3.] + +[Footnote 39: Theodora Chalcedonensis synodi inimica canceris +plaga toto corpore perfusa vitam prodigiose finivit, (Victor +Tununensis in Chron.) On such occasions, an orthodox mind is +steeled against pity. Alemannus (p. 12, 13) understands of +Theophanes as civil language, which does not imply either piety +or repentance; yet two years after her death, St. Theodora is +celebrated by Paul Silentiarius, (in proem. v. 58 - 62.)] + +[Footnote 40: As she persecuted the popes, and rejected a +council, Baronius exhausts the names of Eve, Dalila, Herodias, +&c.; after which he has recourse to his infernal dictionary: +civis inferni - alumna daemonum - satanico agitata spiritu - +oestro percita diabolico, &c., &c., (A.D. 548, No. 24.)] + II. A material difference may be observed in the games of +antiquity: the most eminent of the Greeks were actors, the Romans +were merely spectators. The Olympic stadium was open to wealth, +merit, and ambition; and if the candidates could depend on their +personal skill and activity, they might pursue the footsteps of +Diomede and Menelaus, and conduct their own horses in the rapid +career. ^41 Ten, twenty, forty chariots were allowed to start at +the same instant; a crown of leaves was the reward of the victor; +and his fame, with that of his family and country, was chanted in +lyric strains more durable than monuments of brass and marble. +But a senator, or even a citizen, conscious of his dignity, would +have blushed to expose his person, or his horses, in the circus +of Rome. The games were exhibited at the expense of the +republic, the magistrates, or the emperors: but the reins were +abandoned to servile hands; and if the profits of a favorite +charioteer sometimes exceeded those of an advocate, they must be +considered as the effects of popular extravagance, and the high +wages of a disgraceful profession. The race, in its first +institution, was a simple contest of two chariots, whose drivers +were distinguished by white and red liveries: two additional +colors, a light green, and a caerulean blue, were afterwards +introduced; and as the races were repeated twenty-five times, one +hundred chariots contributed in the same day to the pomp of the +circus. The four factions soon acquired a legal establishment, +and a mysterious origin, and their fanciful colors were derived +from the various appearances of nature in the four seasons of the +year; the red dogstar of summer, the snows of winter, the deep +shades of autumn, and the cheerful verdure of the spring. ^42 +Another interpretation preferred the elements to the seasons, and +the struggle of the green and blue was supposed to represent the +conflict of the earth and sea. Their respective victories +announced either a plentiful harvest or a prosperous navigation, +and the hostility of the husbandmen and mariners was somewhat +less absurd than the blind ardor of the Roman people, who devoted +their lives and fortunes to the color which they had espoused. +Such folly was disdained and indulged by the wisest princes; but +the names of Caligula, Nero, Vitellius, Verus, Commodus, +Caracalla, and Elagabalus, were enrolled in the blue or green +factions of the circus; they frequented their stables, applauded +their favorites, chastised their antagonists, and deserved the +esteem of the populace, by the natural or affected imitation of +their manners. The bloody and tumultuous contest continued to +disturb the public festivity, till the last age of the spectacles +of Rome; and Theodoric, from a motive of justice or affection, +interposed his authority to protect the greens against the +violence of a consul and a patrician, who were passionately +addicted to the blue faction of the circus. ^43 + +[Footnote 41: Read and feel the xxiid book of the Iliad, a living +picture of manners, passions, and the whole form and spirit of +the chariot race West's Dissertation on the Olympic Games (sect. +xii. - xvii.) affords much curious and authentic information.] + +[Footnote 42: The four colors, albati, russati, prasini, veneti, +represent the four seasons, according to Cassiodorus, (Var. iii. +51,) who lavishes much wit and eloquence on this theatrical +mystery. Of these colors, the three first may be fairly +translated white, red, and green. Venetus is explained by +coeruleus, a word various and vague: it is properly the sky +reflected in the sea; but custom and convenience may allow blue +as an equivalent, (Robert. Stephan. sub voce. Spence's +Polymetis, p. 228.)] + +[Footnote 43: See Onuphrius Panvinius de Ludis Circensibus, l. i. +c. 10, 11; the xviith Annotation on Mascou's History of the +Germans; and Aleman ad c. vii.] + + Constantinople adopted the follies, though not the virtues, +of ancient Rome; and the same factions which had agitated the +circus, raged with redoubled fury in the hippodrome. Under the +reign of Anastasius, this popular frenzy was inflamed by +religious zeal; and the greens, who had treacherously concealed +stones and daggers under baskets of fruit, massacred, at a solemn +festival, three thousand of their blue adversaries. ^44 From this +capital, the pestilence was diffused into the provinces and +cities of the East, and the sportive distinction of two colors +produced two strong and irreconcilable factions, which shook the +foundations of a feeble government. ^45 The popular dissensions, +founded on the most serious interest, or holy pretence, have +scarcely equalled the obstinacy of this wanton discord, which +invaded the peace of families, divided friends and brothers, and +tempted the female sex, though seldom seen in the circus, to +espouse the inclinations of their lovers, or to contradict the +wishes of their husbands. Every law, either human or divine, was +trampled under foot, and as long as the party was successful, its +deluded followers appeared careless of private distress or public +calamity. The license, without the freedom, of democracy, was +revived at Antioch and Constantinople, and the support of a +faction became necessary to every candidate for civil or +ecclesiastical honors. A secret attachment to the family or sect +of Anastasius was imputed to the greens; the blues were zealously +devoted to the cause of orthodoxy and Justinian, ^46 and their +grateful patron protected, above five years, the disorders of a +faction, whose seasonable tumults overawed the palace, the +senate, and the capitals of the East. Insolent with royal favor, +the blues affected to strike terror by a peculiar and Barbaric +dress, the long hair of the Huns, their close sleeves and ample +garments, a lofty step, and a sonorous voice. In the day they +concealed their two-edged poniards, but in the night they boldly +assembled in arms, and in numerous bands, prepared for every act +of violence and rapine. Their adversaries of the green faction, +or even inoffensive citizens, were stripped and often murdered by +these nocturnal robbers, and it became dangerous to wear any gold +buttons or girdles, or to appear at a late hour in the streets of +a peaceful capital. A daring spirit, rising with impunity, +proceeded to violate the safeguard of private houses; and fire +was employed to facilitate the attack, or to conceal the crimes +of these factious rioters. No place was safe or sacred from their +depredations; to gratify either avarice or revenge, they +profusely spilt the blood of the innocent; churches and altars +were polluted by atrocious murders; and it was the boast of the +assassins, that their dexterity could always inflict a mortal +wound with a single stroke of their dagger. The dissolute youth +of Constantinople adopted the blue livery of disorder; the laws +were silent, and the bonds of society were relaxed: creditors +were compelled to resign their obligations; judges to reverse +their sentence; masters to enfranchise their slaves; fathers to +supply the extravagance of their children; noble matrons were +prostituted to the lust of their servants; beautiful boys were +torn from the arms of their parents; and wives, unless they +preferred a voluntary death, were ravished in the presence of +their husbands. ^47 The despair of the greens, who were +persecuted by their enemies, and deserted by the magistrates, +assumed the privilege of defence, perhaps of retaliation; but +those who survived the combat were dragged to execution, and the +unhappy fugitives, escaping to woods and caverns, preyed without +mercy on the society from whence they were expelled. Those +ministers of justice who had courage to punish the crimes, and to +brave the resentment, of the blues, became the victims of their +indiscreet zeal; a praefect of Constantinople fled for refuge to +the holy sepulchre, a count of the East was ignominiously +whipped, and a governor of Cilicia was hanged, by the order of +Theodora, on the tomb of two assassins whom he had condemned for +the murder of his groom, and a daring attack upon his own life. +^48 An aspiring candidate may be tempted to build his greatness +on the public confusion, but it is the interest as well as duty +of a sovereign to maintain the authority of the laws. The first +edict of Justinian, which was often repeated, and sometimes +executed, announced his firm resolution to support the innocent, +and to chastise the guilty, of every denomination and color. Yet +the balance of justice was still inclined in favor of the blue +faction, by the secret affection, the habits, and the fears of +the emperor; his equity, after an apparent struggle, submitted, +without reluctance, to the implacable passions of Theodora, and +the empress never forgot, or forgave, the injuries of the +comedian. At the accession of the younger Justin, the +proclamation of equal and rigorous justice indirectly condemned +the partiality of the former reign. "Ye blues, Justinian is no +more! ye greens, he is still alive!" ^49 +[Footnote 44: Marcellin. in Chron. p. 47. Instead of the vulgar +word venata he uses the more exquisite terms of coerulea and +coerealis. Baronius (A.D. 501, No. 4, 5, 6) is satisfied that +the blues were orthodox; but Tillemont is angry at the +supposition, and will not allow any martyrs in a playhouse, +(Hist. des Emp. tom. vi. p. 554.)] + +[Footnote 45: See Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 24.) In describing +the vices of the factions and of the government, the public, is +not more favorable than the secret, historian. Aleman. (p. 26) +has quoted a fine passage from Gregory Nazianzen, which proves +the inveteracy of the evil.] + +[Footnote 46: The partiality of Justinian for the blues (Anecdot. +c. 7) is attested by Evagrius, (Hist. Eccles. l. iv. c. 32,) John +Malala, (tom ii p. 138, 139,) especially for Antioch; and +Theophanes, (p. 142.)] +[Footnote 47: A wife, (says Procopius,) who was seized and almost +ravished by a blue-coat, threw herself into the Bosphorus. The +bishops of the second Syria (Aleman. p. 26) deplore a similar +suicide, the guilt or glory of female chastity, and name the +heroine.] + +[Footnote 48: The doubtful credit of Procopius (Anecdot. c. 17) +is supported by the less partial Evagrius, who confirms the fact, +and specifies the names. The tragic fate of the praefect of +Constantinople is related by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 139.)] + +[Footnote 49: See John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 147;) yet he owns +that Justinian was attached to the blues. The seeming discord of +the emperor and Theodora is, perhaps, viewed with too much +jealousy and refinement by Procopius, (Anecdot. c. 10.) See +Aleman. Praefat. p. 6.] + + A sedition, which almost laid Constantinople in ashes, was +excited by the mutual hatred and momentary reconciliation of the +two factions. In the fifth year of his reign, Justinian +celebrated the festival of the ides of January; the games were +incessantly disturbed by the clamorous discontent of the greens: +till the twenty-second race, the emperor maintained his silent +gravity; at length, yielding to his impatience, he condescended +to hold, in abrupt sentences, and by the voice of a crier, the +most singular dialogue ^50 that ever passed between a prince and +his subjects. Their first complaints were respectful and modest; +they accused the subordinate ministers of oppression, and +proclaimed their wishes for the long life and victory of the +emperor. "Be patient and attentive, ye insolent railers!" +exclaimed Justinian; "be mute, ye Jews, Samaritans, and +Manichaeans!" The greens still attempted to awaken his +compassion. "We are poor, we are innocent, we are injured, we +dare not pass through the streets: a general persecution is +exercised against our name and color. Let us die, O emperor! but +let us die by your command, and for your service!" But the +repetition of partial and passionate invectives degraded, in +their eyes, the majesty of the purple; they renounced allegiance +to the prince who refused justice to his people; lamented that +the father of Justinian had been born; and branded his son with +the opprobrious names of a homicide, an ass, and a perjured +tyrant. "Do you despise your lives?" cried the indignant +monarch: the blues rose with fury from their seats; their hostile +clamors thundered in the hippodrome; and their adversaries, +deserting the unequal contest spread terror and despair through +the streets of Constantinople. At this dangerous moment, seven +notorious assassins of both factions, who had been condemned by +the praefect, were carried round the city, and afterwards +transported to the place of execution in the suburb of Pera. +Four were immediately beheaded; a fifth was hanged: but when the +same punishment was inflicted on the remaining two, the rope +broke, they fell alive to the ground, the populace applauded +their escape, and the monks of St. Conon, issuing from the +neighboring convent, conveyed them in a boat to the sanctuary of +the church. ^51 As one of these criminals was of the blue, and +the other of the green livery, the two factions were equally +provoked by the cruelty of their oppressor, or the ingratitude of +their patron; and a short truce was concluded till they had +delivered their prisoners and satisfied their revenge. The +palace of the praefect, who withstood the seditious torrent, was +instantly burnt, his officers and guards were massacred, the +prisons were forced open, and freedom was restored to those who +could only use it for the public destruction. A military force, +which had been despatched to the aid of the civil magistrate, was +fiercely encountered by an armed multitude, whose numbers and +boldness continually increased; and the Heruli, the wildest +Barbarians in the service of the empire, overturned the priests +and their relics, which, from a pious motive, had been rashly +interposed to separate the bloody conflict. The tumult was +exasperated by this sacrilege, the people fought with enthusiasm +in the cause of God; the women, from the roofs and windows, +showered stones on the heads of the soldiers, who darted fire +brands against the houses; and the various flames, which had been +kindled by the hands of citizens and strangers, spread without +control over the face of the city. The conflagration involved +the cathedral of St. Sophia, the baths of Zeuxippus, a part of +the palace, from the first entrance to the altar of Mars, and the +long portico from the palace to the forum of Constantine: a large +hospital, with the sick patients, was consumed; many churches and +stately edifices were destroyed and an immense treasure of gold +and silver was either melted or lost. From such scenes of horror +and distress, the wise and wealthy citizens escaped over the +Bosphorus to the Asiatic side; and during five days +Constantinople was abandoned to the factions, whose watchword, +Nika, vanquish! has given a name to this memorable sedition. ^52 + +[Footnote 50: This dialogue, which Theophanes has preserved, +exhibits the popular language, as well as the manners, of +Constantinople, in the vith century. Their Greek is mingled with +many strange and barbarous words, for which Ducange cannot always +find a meaning or etymology.] + +[Footnote 51: See this church and monastery in Ducange, C. P. +Christiana, l. iv p 182.] + +[Footnote 52: The history of the Nika sedition is extracted from +Marcellinus, (in Chron.,) Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 26,) John +Malala, (tom. ii. p. 213 - 218,) Chron. Paschal., (p. 336 - 340,) +Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 154 - 158) and Zonaras, (l. xiv. p. +61 - 63.)] + + As long as the factions were divided, the triumphant blues, +and desponding greens, appeared to behold with the same +indifference the disorders of the state. They agreed to censure +the corrupt management of justice and the finance; and the two +responsible ministers, the artful Tribonian, and the rapacious +John of Cappadocia, were loudly arraigned as the authors of the +public misery. The peaceful murmurs of the people would have +been disregarded: they were heard with respect when the city was +in flames; the quaestor, and the praefect, were instantly +removed, and their offices were filled by two senators of +blameless integrity. After this popular concession, Justinian +proceeded to the hippodrome to confess his own errors, and to +accept the repentance of his grateful subjects; but they +distrusted his assurances, though solemnly pronounced in the +presence of the holy Gospels; and the emperor, alarmed by their +distrust, retreated with precipitation to the strong fortress of +the palace. The obstinacy of the tumult was now imputed to a +secret and ambitious conspiracy, and a suspicion was entertained, +that the insurgents, more especially the green faction, had been +supplied with arms and money by Hypatius and Pompey, two +patricians, who could neither forget with honor, nor remember +with safety, that they were the nephews of the emperor +Anastasius. Capriciously trusted, disgraced, and pardoned, by +the jealous levity of the monarch, they had appeared as loyal +servants before the throne; and, during five days of the tumult, +they were detained as important hostages; till at length, the +fears of Justinian prevailing over his prudence, he viewed the +two brothers in the light of spies, perhaps of assassins, and +sternly commanded them to depart from the palace. After a +fruitless representation, that obedience might lead to +involuntary treason, they retired to their houses, and in the +morning of the sixth day, Hypatius was surrounded and seized by +the people, who, regardless of his virtuous resistance, and the +tears of his wife, transported their favorite to the forum of +Constantine, and instead of a diadem, placed a rich collar on his +head. If the usurper, who afterwards pleaded the merit of his +delay, had complied with the advice of his senate, and urged the +fury of the multitude, their first irresistible effort might have +oppressed or expelled his trembling competitor. The Byzantine +palace enjoyed a free communication with the sea; vessels lay +ready at the garden stairs; and a secret resolution was already +formed, to convey the emperor with his family and treasures to a +safe retreat, at some distance from the capital. + + Justinian was lost, if the prostitute whom he raised from +the theatre had not renounced the timidity, as well as the +virtues, of her sex. In the midst of a council, where Belisarius +was present, Theodora alone displayed the spirit of a hero; and +she alone, without apprehending his future hatred, could save the +emperor from the imminent danger, and his unworthy fears. "If +flight," said the consort of Justinian, "were the only means of +safety, yet I should disdain to fly. Death is the condition of +our birth; but they who have reigned should never survive the +loss of dignity and dominion. I implore Heaven, that I may never +be seen, not a day, without my diadem and purple; that I may no +longer behold the light, when I cease to be saluted with the name +of queen. If you resolve, O Caesar! to fly, you have treasures; +behold the sea, you have ships; but tremble lest the desire of +life should expose you to wretched exile and ignominious death. +For my own part, I adhere to the maxim of antiquity, that the +throne is a glorious sepulchre." The firmness of a woman restored +the courage to deliberate and act, and courage soon discovers the +resources of the most desperate situation. It was an easy and a +decisive measure to revive the animosity of the factions; the +blues were astonished at their own guilt and folly, that a +trifling injury should provoke them to conspire with their +implacable enemies against a gracious and liberal benefactor; +they again proclaimed the majesty of Justinian; and the greens, +with their upstart emperor, were left alone in the hippodrome. +The fidelity of the guards was doubtful; but the military force +of Justinian consisted in three thousand veterans, who had been +trained to valor and discipline in the Persian and Illyrian wars. + +Under the command of Belisarius and Mundus, they silently marched +in two divisions from the palace, forced their obscure way +through narrow passages, expiring flames, and falling edifices, +and burst open at the same moment the two opposite gates of the +hippodrome. In this narrow space, the disorderly and affrighted +crowd was incapable of resisting on either side a firm and +regular attack; the blues signalized the fury of their +repentance; and it is computed, that above thirty thousand +persons were slain in the merciless and promiscuous carnage of +the day. Hypatius was dragged from his throne, and conducted, +with his brother Pompey, to the feet of the emperor: they +implored his clemency; but their crime was manifest, their +innocence uncertain, and Justinian had been too much terrified to +forgive. The next morning the two nephews of Anastasius, with +eighteen illustrious accomplices, of patrician or consular rank, +were privately executed by the soldiers; their bodies were thrown +into the sea, their palaces razed, and their fortunes +confiscated. The hippodrome itself was condemned, during several +years, to a mournful silence: with the restoration of the games, +the same disorders revived; and the blue and green factions +continued to afflict the reign of Justinian, and to disturb the +tranquility of the Eastern empire. ^53 + +[Footnote 53: Marcellinus says in general terms, innumeris +populis in circotrucidatis. Procopius numbers 30,000 victims: +and the 35,000 of Theophanes are swelled to 40,000 by the more +recent Zonaras. Such is the usual progress of exaggeration.] + + III. That empire, after Rome was barbarous, still embraced +the nations whom she had conquered beyond the Adriatic, and as +far as the frontiers of Aethiopia and Persia. Justinian reigned +over sixty-four provinces, and nine hundred and thirty-five +cities; ^54 his dominions were blessed by nature with the +advantages of soil, situation, and climate: and the improvements +of human art had been perpetually diffused along the coast of the +Mediterranean and the banks of the Nile from ancient Troy to the +Egyptian Thebes. Abraham ^55 had been relieved by the well-known +plenty of Egypt; the same country, a small and populous tract, +was still capable of exporting, each year, two hundred and sixty +thousand quarters of wheat for the use of Constantinople; ^56 and +the capital of Justinian was supplied with the manufactures of +Sidon, fifteen centuries after they had been celebrated in the +poems of Homer. ^57 The annual powers of vegetation, instead of +being exhausted by two thousand harvests, were renewed and +invigorated by skilful husbandry, rich manure, and seasonable +repose. The breed of domestic animals was infinitely multiplied. +Plantations, buildings, and the instruments of labor and luxury, +which are more durable than the term of human life, were +accumulated by the care of successive generations. Tradition +preserved, and experience simplified, the humble practice of the +arts: society was enriched by the division of labor and the +facility of exchange; and every Roman was lodged, clothed, and +subsisted, by the industry of a thousand hands. The invention of +the loom and distaff has been piously ascribed to the gods. In +every age, a variety of animal and vegetable productions, hair, +skins, wool, flax, cotton, and at length silk, have been +skilfully manufactured to hide or adorn the human body; they were +stained with an infusion of permanent colors; and the pencil was +successfully employed to improve the labors of the loom. In the +choice of those colors ^58 which imitate the beauties of nature, +the freedom of taste and fashion was indulged; but the deep +purple ^59 which the Phoenicians extracted from a shell-fish, was +restrained to the sacred person and palace of the emperor; and +the penalties of treason were denounced against the ambitious +subjects who dared to usurp the prerogative of the throne. ^60 + +[Footnote 54: Hierocles, a contemporary of Justinian, composed +his (Itineraria, p. 631,) review of the eastern provinces and +cities, before the year 535, (Wesseling, in Praefat. and Not. ad +p. 623, &c.)] +[Footnote 55: See the Book of Genesis (xii. 10) and the +administration of Joseph. The annals of the Greeks and Hebrews +agree in the early arts and plenty of Egypt: but this antiquity +supposes a long series of improvement; and Warburton, who is +almost stifled by the Hebrew calls aloud for the Samaritan, +Chronology, (Divine Legation, vol. iii. p. 29, &c.) + + Note: The recent extraordinary discoveries in Egyptian +antiquities strongly confirm the high notion of the early +Egyptian civilization, and imperatively demand a longer period +for their development. As to the common Hebrew chronology, as far +as such a subject is capable of demonstration, it appears to me +to have been framed, with a particular view, by the Jews of +Tiberias. It was not the chronology of the Samaritans, not that +of the LXX., not that of Josephus, not that of St. Paul. - M.] + +[Footnote 56: Eight millions of Roman modii, besides a +contribution of 80,000 aurei for the expenses of water-carriage, +from which the subject was graciously excused. See the 13th +Edict of Justinian: the numbers are checked and verified by the +agreement of the Greek and Latin texts.] +[Footnote 57: Homer's Iliad, vi. 289. These veils, were the work +of the Sidonian women. But this passage is more honorable to the +manufactures than to the navigation of Phoenicia, from whence +they had been imported to Troy in Phrygian bottoms.] + +[Footnote 58: See in Ovid (de Arte Amandi, iii. 269, &c.) a +poetical list of twelve colors borrowed from flowers, the +elements, &c. But it is almost impossible to discriminate by +words all the nice and various shades both of art and nature.] + +[Footnote 59: By the discovery of cochineal, &c., we far surpass +the colors of antiquity. Their royal purple had a strong smell, +and a dark cast as deep as bull's blood - obscuritas rubens, +(says Cassiodorus, Var. 1, 2,) nigredo saguinea. The president +Goguet (Origine des Loix et des Arts, part ii. l. ii. c. 2, p. +184 - 215) will amuse and satisfy the reader. I doubt whether +his book, especially in England, is as well known as it deserves +to be.] +[Footnote 60: Historical proofs of this jealousy have been +occasionally introduced, and many more might have been added; but +the arbitrary acts of despotism were justified by the sober and +general declarations of law, (Codex Theodosian. l. x. tit. 21, +leg. 3. Codex Justinian. l. xi. tit. 8, leg. 5.) An inglorious +permission, and necessary restriction, was applied to the mince, +the female dancers, (Cod. Theodos. l. xv. tit. 7, leg. 11.)] + +Chapter XL: Reign Of Justinian. + +Part III. + + I need not explain that silk ^61 is originally spun from the +bowels of a caterpillar, and that it composes the golden tomb, +from whence a worm emerges in the form of a butterfly. Till the +reign of Justinian, the silk- worm who feed on the leaves of the +white mulberry-tree were confined to China; those of the pine, +the oak, and the ash, were common in the forests both of Asia and +Europe; but as their education is more difficult, and their +produce more uncertain, they were generally neglected, except in +the little island of Ceos, near the coast of Attica. A thin gauze +was procured from their webs, and this Cean manufacture, the +invention of a woman, for female use, was long admired both in +the East and at Rome. Whatever suspicions may be raised by the +garments of the Medes and Assyrians, Virgil is the most ancient +writer, who expressly mentions the soft wool which was combed +from the trees of the Seres or Chinese; ^62 and this natural +error, less marvellous than the truth, was slowly corrected by +the knowledge of a valuable insect, the first artificer of the +luxury of nations. That rare and elegant luxury was censured, in +the reign of Tiberius, by the gravest of the Romans; and Pliny, +in affected though forcible language, has condemned the thirst of +gain, which explores the last confines of the earth, for the +pernicious purpose of exposing to the public eye naked draperies +and transparent matrons. ^63 ^* A dress which showed the turn of +the limbs, and color of the skin, might gratify vanity, or +provoke desire; the silks which had been closely woven in China +were sometimes unravelled by the Phoenician women, and the +precious materials were multiplied by a looser texture, and the +intermixture of linen threads. ^64 Two hundred years after the +age of Pliny, the use of pure, or even of mixed silks, was +confined to the female sex, till the opulent citizens of Rome and +the provinces were insensibly familiarized with the example of +Elagabalus, the first who, by this effeminate habit, had sullied +the dignity of an emperor and a man. Aurelian complained, that a +pound of silk was sold at Rome for twelve ounces of gold; but the +supply increased with the demand, and the price diminished with +the supply. If accident or monopoly sometimes raised the value +even above the standard of Aurelian, the manufacturers of Tyre +and Berytus were sometimes compelled, by the operation of the +same causes, to content themselves with a ninth part of that +extravagant rate. ^65 A law was thought necessary to discriminate +the dress of comedians from that of senators; and of the silk +exported from its native country the far greater part was +consumed by the subjects of Justinian. They were still more +intimately acquainted with a shell-fish of the Mediterranean, +surnamed the silk-worm of the sea: the fine wool or hair by which +the mother-of-pearl affixes itself to the rock is now +manufactured for curiosity rather than use; and a robe obtained +from the same singular materials was the gift of the Roman +emperor to the satraps of Armenia. ^66 + +[Footnote 61: In the history of insects (far more wonderful than +Ovid's Metamorphoses) the silk-worm holds a conspicuous place. +The bombyx of the Isle of Ceos, as described by Pliny, (Hist. +Natur. xi. 26, 27, with the notes of the two learned Jesuits, +Hardouin and Brotier,) may be illustrated by a similar species in +China, (Memoires sur les Chinois, tom. ii. p. 575 - 598;) but our +silk-worm, as well as the white mulberry-tree, were unknown to +Theophrastus and Pliny.] + +[Footnote 62: Georgic. ii. 121. Serica quando venerint in usum +planissime non acio: suspicor tamen in Julii Caesaris aevo, nam +ante non invenio, says Justus Lipsius, (Excursus i. ad Tacit. +Annal. ii. 32.) See Dion Cassius, (l. xliii. p. 358, edit. +Reimar,) and Pausanius, (l. vi. p. 519,) the first who describes, +however strangely, the Seric insect.] + +[Footnote 63: Tam longinquo orbe petitur, ut in publico matrona +transluceat ...ut denudet foeminas vestis, (Plin. vi. 20, xi. +21.) Varro and Publius Syrus had already played on the Toga +vitrea, ventus texilis, and nebula linen, (Horat. Sermon. i. 2, +101, with the notes of Torrentius and Dacier.)] +[Footnote *: Gibbon must have written transparent draperies and +naked matrons. Through sometimes affected, he is never +inaccurate. - M.] + +[Footnote 64: On the texture, colors, names, and use of the silk, +half silk, and liuen garments of antiquity, see the profound, +diffuse, and obscure researches of the great Salmasius, (in Hist. +August. p. 127, 309, 310, 339, 341, 342, 344, 388 - 391, 395, +513,) who was ignorant of the most common trades of Dijon or +Leyden.] + +[Footnote 65: Flavius Vopiscus in Aurelian. c. 45, in Hist. +August. p. 224. See Salmasius ad Hist. Aug. p. 392, and Plinian. +Exercitat. in Solinum, p. 694, 695. The Anecdotes of Procopius +(c. 25) state a partial and imperfect rate of the price of silk +in the time of Justinian.] + +[Footnote 66: Procopius de Edit. l. iii. c. 1. These pinnes de +mer are found near Smyrna, Sicily, Corsica, and Minorca; and a +pair of gloves of their silk was presented to Pope Benedict XIV.] + + A valuable merchandise of small bulk is capable of defraying +the expense of land-carriage; and the caravans traversed the +whole latitude of Asia in two hundred and forty-three days from +the Chinese Ocean to the sea-coast of Syria. Silk was immediately +delivered to the Romans by the Persian merchants, ^67 who +frequented the fairs of Armenia and Nisibis; but this trade, +which in the intervals of truce was oppressed by avarice and +jealousy, was totally interrupted by the long wars of the rival +monarchies. The great king might proudly number Sogdiana, and +even Serica, among the provinces of his empire; but his real +dominion was bounded by the Oxus and his useful intercourse with +the Sogdoites, beyond the river, depended on the pleasure of +their conquerors, the white Huns, and the Turks, who successively +reigned over that industrious people. Yet the most savage +dominion has not extirpated the seeds of agriculture and +commerce, in a region which is celebrated as one of the four +gardens of Asia; the cities of Samarcand and Bochara are +advantageously seated for the exchange of its various +productions; and their merchants purchased from the Chinese, ^68 +the raw or manufactured silk which they transported into Persia +for the use of the Roman empire. In the vain capital of China, +the Sogdian caravans were entertained as the suppliant embassies +of tributary kingdoms, and if they returned in safety, the bold +adventure was rewarded with exorbitant gain. But the difficult +and perilous march from Samarcand to the first town of Shensi, +could not be performed in less than sixty, eighty, or one hundred +days: as soon as they had passed the Jaxartes they entered the +desert; and the wandering hordes, unless they are restrained by +armies and garrisons, have always considered the citizen and the +traveller as the objects of lawful rapine. To escape the Tartar +robbers, and the tyrants of Persia, the silk caravans explored a +more southern road; they traversed the mountains of Thibet, +descended the streams of the Ganges or the Indus, and patiently +expected, in the ports of Guzerat and Malabar, the annual fleets +of the West. ^69 But the dangers of the desert were found less +intolerable than toil, hunger, and the loss of time; the attempt +was seldom renewed, and the only European who has passed that +unfrequented way, applauds his own diligence, that, in nine +months after his departure from Pekin, he reached the mouth of +the Indus. The ocean, however, was open to the free +communication of mankind. From the great river to the tropic of +Cancer, the provinces of China were subdued and civilized by the +emperors of the North; they were filled about the time of the +Christian aera with cities and men, mulberry- trees and their +precious inhabitants; and if the Chinese, with the knowledge of +the compass, had possessed the genius of the Greeks or +Phoenicians, they might have spread their discoveries over the +southern hemisphere. I am not qualified to examine, and I am not +disposed to believe, their distant voyages to the Persian Gulf, +or the Cape of Good Hope; but their ancestors might equal the +labors and success of the present race, and the sphere of their +navigation might extend from the Isles of Japan to the Straits of +Malacca, the pillars, if we may apply that name, of an Oriental +Hercules. ^70 Without losing sight of land, they might sail along +the coast to the extreme promontory of Achin, which is annually +visited by ten or twelve ships laden with the productions, the +manufactures, and even the artificers of China; the Island of +Sumatra and the opposite peninsula are faintly delineated ^71 as +the regions of gold and silver; and the trading cities named in +the geography of Ptolemy may indicate, that this wealth was not +solely derived from the mines. The direct interval between +Sumatra and Ceylon is about three hundred leagues: the Chinese +and Indian navigators were conducted by the flight of birds and +periodical winds; and the ocean might be securely traversed in +square-built ships, which, instead of iron, were sewed together +with the strong thread of the cocoanut. Ceylon, Serendib, or +Taprobana, was divided between two hostile princes; one of whom +possessed the mountains, the elephants, and the luminous +carbuncle, and the other enjoyed the more solid riches of +domestic industry, foreign trade, and the capacious harbor of +Trinquemale, which received and dismissed the fleets of the East +and West. In this hospitable isle, at an equal distance (as it +was computed) from their respective countries, the silk merchants +of China, who had collected in their voyages aloes, cloves, +nutmeg, and sandal wood, maintained a free and beneficial +commerce with the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf. The subjects +of the great king exalted, without a rival, his power and +magnificence: and the Roman, who confounded their vanity by +comparing his paltry coin with a gold medal of the emperor +Anastasius, had sailed to Ceylon, in an Aethiopian ship, as a +simple passenger. ^72 +[Footnote 67: Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 20, l. ii. c. 25; +Gothic. l. iv. c. 17. Menander in Excerpt. Legat. p. 107. Of +the Parthian or Persian empire, Isidore of Charax (in Stathmis +Parthicis, p. 7, 8, in Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom. ii.) has +marked the roads, and Ammianus Marcellinus (l. xxiii. c. 6, p. +400) has enumerated the provinces. + + Note: See St. Martin, Mem. sur l'Armenie, vol. ii. p. 41. - +M.] +[Footnote 68: The blind admiration of the Jesuits confounds the +different periods of the Chinese history. They are more +critically distinguished by M. de Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. +i. part i. in the Tables, part ii. in the Geography. Memoires de +l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxxii. xxxvi. xlii. xliii.,) +who discovers the gradual progress of the truth of the annals and +the extent of the monarchy, till the Christian aera. He has +searched, with a curious eye, the connections of the Chinese with +the nations of the West; but these connections are slight, +casual, and obscure; nor did the Romans entertain a suspicion +that the Seres or Sinae possessed an empire not inferior to their +own. + + Note: An abstract of the various opinions of the learned +modern writers, Gosselin, Mannert, Lelewel, Malte-Brun, Heeren, +and La Treille, on the Serica and the Thinae of the ancients, may +be found in the new edition of Malte-Brun, vol. vi. p. 368, 382. +- M.] + +[Footnote 69: The roads from China to Persia and Hindostan may be +investigated in the relations of Hackluyt and Thevenot, the +ambassadors of Sharokh, Anthony Jenkinson, the Pere Greuber, &c. +See likewise Hanway's Travels, vol. i. p. 345 - 357. A +communication through Thibet has been lately explored by the +English sovereigns of Bengal.] + +[Footnote 70: For the Chinese navigation to Malacca and Achin, +perhaps to Ceylon, see Renaudot, (on the two Mahometan +Travellers, p. 8 - 11, 13 - 17, 141 - 157;) Dampier, (vol. ii. p. +136;) the Hist. Philosophique des deux Indes, (tom. i. p. 98,) +and Hist. Generale des Voyages, (tom. vi. p. 201.)] +[Footnote 71: The knowledge, or rather ignorance, of Strabo, +Pliny, Ptolemy, Arrian, Marcian, &c., of the countries eastward +of Cape Comorin, is finely illustrated by D'Anville, (Antiquite +Geographique de l'Inde, especially p. 161 - 198.) Our geography +of India is improved by commerce and conquest; and has been +illustrated by the excellent maps and memoirs of Major Rennel. +If he extends the sphere of his inquiries with the same critical +knowledge and sagacity, he will succeed, and may surpass, the +first of modern geographers.] +[Footnote 72: The Taprobane of Pliny, (vi. 24,) Solinus, (c. 53,) +and Salmas. Plinianae Exercitat., (p. 781, 782,) and most of the +ancients, who often confound the islands of Ceylon and Sumatra, +is more clearly described by Cosmas Indicopleustes; yet even the +Christian topographer has exaggerated its dimensions. His +information on the Indian and Chinese trade is rare and curious, +(l. ii. p. 138, l. xi. p. 337, 338, edit. Montfaucon.)] + As silk became of indispensable use, the emperor Justinian +saw with concern that the Persians had occupied by land and sea +the monopoly of this important supply, and that the wealth of his +subjects was continually drained by a nation of enemies and +idolaters. An active government would have restored the trade of +Egypt and the navigation of the Red Sea, which had decayed with +the prosperity of the empire; and the Roman vessels might have +sailed, for the purchase of silk, to the ports of Ceylon, of +Malacca, or even of China. Justinian embraced a more humble +expedient, and solicited the aid of his Christian allies, the +Aethiopians of Abyssinia, who had recently acquired the arts of +navigation, the spirit of trade, and the seaport of Adulis, ^73 +^* still decorated with the trophies of a Grecian conqueror. +Along the African coast, they penetrated to the equator in search +of gold, emeralds, and aromatics; but they wisely declined an +unequal competition, in which they must be always prevented by +the vicinity of the Persians to the markets of India; and the +emperor submitted to the disappointment, till his wishes were +gratified by an unexpected event. The gospel had been preached +to the Indians: a bishop already governed the Christians of St. +Thomas on the pepper-coast of Malabar; a church was planted in +Ceylon, and the missionaries pursued the footsteps of commerce to +the extremities of Asia. ^74 Two Persian monks had long resided +in China, perhaps in the royal city of Nankin, the seat of a +monarch addicted to foreign superstitions, and who actually +received an embassy from the Isle of Ceylon. Amidst their pious +occupations, they viewed with a curious eye the common dress of +the Chinese, the manufactures of silk, and the myriads of +silk-worms, whose education (either on trees or in houses) had +once been considered as the labor of queens. ^75 They soon +discovered that it was impracticable to transport the short-lived +insect, but that in the eggs a numerous progeny might be +preserved and multiplied in a distant climate. Religion or +interest had more power over the Persian monks than the love of +their country: after a long journey, they arrived at +Constantinople, imparted their project to the emperor, and were +liberally encouraged by the gifts and promises of Justinian. To +the historians of that prince, a campaign at the foot of Mount +Caucasus has seemed more deserving of a minute relation than the +labors of these missionaries of commerce, who again entered +China, deceived a jealous people by concealing the eggs of the +silk-worm in a hollow cane, and returned in triumph with the +spoils of the East. Under their direction, the eggs were hatched +at the proper season by the artificial heat of dung; the worms +were fed with mulberry leaves; they lived and labored in a +foreign climate; a sufficient number of butterflies was saved to +propagate the race, and trees were planted to supply the +nourishment of the rising generations. Experience and reflection +corrected the errors of a new attempt, and the Sogdoite +ambassadors acknowledged, in the succeeding reign, that the +Romans were not inferior to the natives of China in the education +of the insects, and the manufactures of silk, ^76 in which both +China and Constantinople have been surpassed by the industry of +modern Europe. I am not insensible of the benefits of elegant +luxury; yet I reflect with some pain, that if the importers of +silk had introduced the art of printing, already practised by the +Chinese, the comedies of Menander and the entire decads of Livy +would have been perpetuated in the editions of the sixth century. + +A larger view of the globe might at least have promoted the +improvement of speculative science, but the Christian geography +was forcibly extracted from texts of Scripture, and the study of +nature was the surest symptom of an unbelieving mind. The +orthodox faith confined the habitable world to one temperate +zone, and represented the earth as an oblong surface, four +hundred days' journey in length, two hundred in breadth, +encompassed by the ocean, and covered by the solid crystal of the +firmament. ^77 + +[Footnote 73: See Procopius, Persic. (l. ii. c. 20.) Cosmas +affords some interesting knowledge of the port and inscription of +Adulis, (Topograph. Christ. l. ii. p. 138, 140 - 143,) and of the +trade of the Axumites along the African coast of Barbaria or +Zingi, (p. 138, 139,) and as far as Taprobane, (l. xi. p. 339.)] + +[Footnote *: Mr. Salt obtained information of considerable ruins +of an ancient town near Zulla, called Azoole, which answers to +the position of Adulis. Mr. Salt was prevented by illness, Mr. +Stuart, whom he sent, by the jealousy of the natives, from +investigating these ruins: of their existence there seems no +doubt. Salt's 2d Journey, p. 452. - M.] + +[Footnote 74: See the Christian missions in India, in Cosmas, (l. +iii. p. 178, 179, l. xi. p. 337,) and consult Asseman. Bibliot. +Orient. (tom. iv. p. 413 - 548.)] + +[Footnote 75: The invention, manufacture, and general use of silk +in China, may be seen in Duhalde, (Description Generale de la +Chine, tom. ii. p. 165, 205 - 223.) The province of Chekian is +the most renowned both for quantity and quality.] + +[Footnote 76: Procopius, (l. viii. Gothic. iv. c. 17. Theophanes +Byzant. apud Phot. Cod. lxxxiv. p. 38. Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiv. +p. 69. Pagi (tom. ii. p. 602) assigns to the year 552 this +memorable importation. Menander (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 107) +mentions the admiration of the Sogdoites; and Theophylact +Simocatta (l. vii. c. 9) darkly represents the two rival kingdoms +in (China) the country of silk.] + +[Footnote 77: Cosmas, surnamed Indicopleustes, or the Indian +navigator, performed his voyage about the year 522, and composed +at Alexandria, between 535, and 547, Christian Topography, +(Montfaucon, Praefat. c. i.,) in which he refutes the impious +opinion, that the earth is a globe; and Photius had read this +work, (Cod. xxxvi. p. 9, 10,) which displays the prejudices of a +monk, with the knowledge of a merchant; the most valuable part +has been given in French and in Greek by Melchisedec Thevenot, +(Relations Curieuses, part i.,) and the whole is since published +in a splendid edition by Pere Montfaucon, (Nova Collectio Patrum, +Paris, 1707, 2 vols. in fol., tom. ii. p. 113 - 346.) But the +editor, a theologian, might blush at not discovering the +Nestorian heresy of Cosmas, which has been detected by La Croz +(Christianisme des Indes, tom. i. p. 40 - 56.)] + + IV. The subjects of Justinian were dissatisfied with the +times, and with the government. Europe was overrun by the +Barbarians, and Asia by the monks: the poverty of the West +discouraged the trade and manufactures of the East: the produce +of labor was consumed by the unprofitable servants of the church, +the state, and the army; and a rapid decrease was felt in the +fixed and circulating capitals which constitute the national +wealth. The public distress had been alleviated by the economy +of Anastasius, and that prudent emperor accumulated an immense +treasure, while he delivered his people from the most odious or +oppressive taxes. ^* Their gratitude universally applauded the +abolition of the gold of affliction, a personal tribute on the +industry of the poor, ^78 but more intolerable, as it should +seem, in the form than in the substance, since the flourishing +city of Edessa paid only one hundred and forty pounds of gold, +which was collected in four years from ten thousand artificers. +^79 Yet such was the parsimony which supported this liberal +disposition, that, in a reign of twenty-seven years, Anastasius +saved, from his annual revenue, the enormous sum of thirteen +millions sterling, or three hundred and twenty thousand pounds of +gold. ^80 His example was neglected, and his treasure was abused, +by the nephew of Justin. The riches of Justinian were speedily +exhausted by alms and buildings, by ambitious wars, and +ignominious treaties. His revenues were found inadequate to his +expenses. Every art was tried to extort from the people the gold +and silver which he scattered with a lavish hand from Persia to +France: ^81 his reign was marked by the vicissitudes or rather by +the combat, of rapaciousness and avarice, of splendor and +poverty; he lived with the reputation of hidden treasures, ^82 +and bequeathed to his successor the payment of his debts. ^83 +Such a character has been justly accused by the voice of the +people and of posterity: but public discontent is credulous; +private malice is bold; and a lover of truth will peruse with a +suspicious eye the instructive anecdotes of Procopius. The +secret historian represents only the vices of Justinian, and +those vices are darkened by his malevolent pencil. Ambiguous +actions are imputed to the worst motives; error is confounded +with guilt, accident with design, and laws with abuses; the +partial injustice of a moment is dexterously applied as the +general maxim of a reign of thirty-two years; the emperor alone +is made responsible for the faults of his officers, the disorders +of the times, and the corruption of his subjects; and even the +calamities of nature, plagues, earthquakes, and inundations, are +imputed to the prince of the daemons, who had mischievously +assumed the form of Justinian. ^84 + +[Footnote *: See the character of Anastasius in Joannes Lydus de +Magistratibus, iii. c. 45, 46, p. 230 - 232. His economy is +there said to have degenerated into parsimony. He is accused of +having taken away the levying of taxes and payment of the troops +from the municipal authorities, (the decurionate) in the Eastern +cities, and intrusted it to an extortionate officer named Mannus. + +But he admits that the imperial revenue was enormously increased +by this measure. A statue of iron had been erected to Anastasius +in the Hippodrome, on which appeared one morning this pasquinade. + + This epigram is also found in the Anthology. Jacobs, vol. +iv. p. 114 with some better readings. + +This iron statue meetly do we place To thee, world-wasting king, +than brass more base; For all the death, the penury, famine, woe, +That from thy wide-destroying avarice flow, This fell Charybdis, +Scylla, near to thee, This fierce devouring Anastasius, see; And +tremble, Scylla! on thee, too, his greed, Coining thy brazen +deity, may feed. + + But Lydus, with no uncommon inconsistency in such writers, +proceeds to paint the character of Anastasius as endowed with +almost every virtue, not excepting the utmost liberality. He was +only prevented by death from relieving his subjects altogether +from the capitation tax, which he greatly diminished. - M.] + +[Footnote 78: Evagrius (l. ii. c. 39, 40) is minute and grateful, +but angry with Zosimus for calumniating the great Constantine. +In collecting all the bonds and records of the tax, the humanity +of Anastasius was diligent and artful: fathers were sometimes +compelled to prostitute their daughters, (Zosim. Hist. l. ii. c. +38, p. 165, 166, Lipsiae, 1784.) Timotheus of Gaza chose such an +event for the subject of a tragedy, (Suidas, tom. iii. p. 475,) +which contributed to the abolition of the tax, (Cedrenus, p. 35,) +- a happy instance (if it be true) of the use of the theatre.] + +[Footnote 79: See Josua Stylites, in the Bibliotheca Orientalis +of Asseman, (tom. p. 268.) This capitation tax is slightly +mentioned in the Chronicle of Edessa.] + +[Footnote 80: Procopius (Anecdot. c. 19) fixes this sum from the +report of the treasurers themselves. Tiberias had vicies ter +millies; but far different was his empire from that of +Anastasius.] + +[Footnote 81: Evagrius, (l. iv. c. 30,) in the next generation, +was moderate and well informed; and Zonaras, (l. xiv. c. 61,) in +the xiith century, had read with care, and thought without +prejudice; yet their colors are almost as black as those of the +anecdotes.] + +[Footnote 82: Procopius (Anecdot. c. 30) relates the idle +conjectures of the times. The death of Justinian, says the +secret historian, will expose his wealth or poverty.] + +[Footnote 83: See Corippus de Laudibus Justini Aug. l. ii. 260, +&c., 384, &c +"Plurima sunt vivo nimium neglecta parenti, Unde tot exhaustus +contraxit debita fiscus." + +Centenaries of gold were brought by strong men into the +Hippodrome, +"Debita persolvit, genitoris cauta recepit."] + +[Footnote 84: The Anecdotes (c. 11 - 14, 18, 20 - 30) supply many +facts and more complaints. + + Note: The work of Lydus de Magistratibus (published by Hase +at Paris, 1812, and reprinted in the new edition of the Byzantine +Historians,) was written during the reign of Justinian. This +work of Lydus throws no great light on the earlier history of the +Roman magistracy, but gives some curious details of the changes +and retrenchments in the offices of state, which took place at +this time. The personal history of the author, with the account +of his early and rapid advancement, and the emoluments of the +posts which he successively held, with the bitter disappointment +which he expresses, at finding himself, at the height of his +ambition, in an unpaid place, is an excellent illustration of +this statement. Gibbon has before, c. iv. n. 45, and c. xvii. n. +112, traced the progress of a Roman citizen to the highest honors +of the state under the empire; the steps by which Lydus reached +his humbler eminence may likewise throw light on the civil +service at this period. He was first received into the office of +the Praetorian praefect; became a notary in that office, and made +in one year 1000 golden solidi, and that without extortion. His +place and the influence of his relatives obtained him a wife with +400 pounds of gold for her dowry. He became chief chartularius, +with an annual stipend of twenty-four solidi, and considerable +emoluments for all the various services which he performed. He +rose to an Augustalis, and finally to the dignity of Corniculus, +the highest, and at one time the most lucrative office in the +department. But the Praetorian praefect had gradually been +deprived of his powers and his honors. He lost the +superintendence of the supply and manufacture of arms; the +uncontrolled charge of the public posts; the levying of the +troops; the command of the army in war when the emperors ceased +nominally to command in person, but really through the Praetorian +praefect; that of the household troops, which fell to the +magister aulae. At length the office was so completely stripped +of its power, as to be virtually abolished, (see de Magist. l. +iii. c. 40, p. 220, &c.) This diminution of the office of the +praefect destroyed the emoluments of his subordinate officers, +and Lydus not only drew no revenue from his dignity, but expended +upon it all the gains of his former services. + + Lydus gravely refers this calamitous, and, as he considers +it, fatal degradation of the Praetorian office to the alteration +in the style of the official documents from Latin to Greek; and +refers to a prophecy of a certain Fonteius, which connected the +ruin of the Roman empire with its abandonment of its language. +Lydus chiefly owed his promotion to his knowledge of Latin! - M.] + + After this precaution, I shall briefly relate the anecdotes +of avarice and rapine under the following heads: I. Justinian +was so profuse that he could not be liberal. The civil and +military officers, when they were admitted into the service of +the palace, obtained an humble rank and a moderate stipend; they +ascended by seniority to a station of affluence and repose; the +annual pensions, of which the most honorable class was abolished +by Justinian, amounted to four hundred thousand pounds; and this +domestic economy was deplored by the venal or indigent courtiers +as the last outrage on the majesty of the empire. The posts, the +salaries of physicians, and the nocturnal illuminations, were +objects of more general concern; and the cities might justly +complain, that he usurped the municipal revenues which had been +appropriated to these useful institutions. Even the soldiers +were injured; and such was the decay of military spirit, that +they were injured with impunity. The emperor refused, at the +return of each fifth year, the customary donative of five pieces +of gold, reduced his veterans to beg their bread, and suffered +unpaid armies to melt away in the wars of Italy and Persia. II. +The humanity of his predecessors had always remitted, in some +auspicious circumstance of their reign, the arrears of the public +tribute, and they dexterously assumed the merit of resigning +those claims which it was impracticable to enforce. "Justinian, +in the space of thirty-two years, has never granted a similar +indulgence; and many of his subjects have renounced the +possession of those lands whose value is insufficient to satisfy +the demands of the treasury. To the cities which had suffered by +hostile inroads Anastasius promised a general exemption of seven +years: the provinces of Justinian have been ravaged by the +Persians and Arabs, the Huns and Sclavonians; but his vain and +ridiculous dispensation of a single year has been confined to +those places which were actually taken by the enemy." Such is the +language of the secret historian, who expressly denies that any +indulgence was granted to Palestine after the revolt of the +Samaritans; a false and odious charge, confuted by the authentic +record which attests a relief of thirteen centenaries of gold +(fifty-two thousand pounds) obtained for that desolate province +by the intercession of St. Sabas. ^85 III. Procopius has not +condescended to explain the system of taxation, which fell like a +hail-storm upon the land, like a devouring pestilence on its +inhabitants: but we should become the accomplices of his +malignity, if we imputed to Justinian alone the ancient though +rigorous principle, that a whole district should be condemned to +sustain the partial loss of the persons or property of +individuals. The Annona, or supply of corn for the use of the +army and capital, was a grievous and arbitrary exaction, which +exceeded, perhaps in a tenfold proportion, the ability of the +farmer; and his distress was aggravated by the partial injustice +of weights and measures, and the expense and labor of distant +carriage. In a time of scarcity, an extraordinary requisition +was made to the adjacent provinces of Thrace, Bithynia, and +Phrygia: but the proprietors, after a wearisome journey and +perilous navigation, received so inadequate a compensation, that +they would have chosen the alternative of delivering both the +corn and price at the doors of their granaries. These +precautions might indicate a tender solicitude for the welfare of +the capital; yet Constantinople did not escape the rapacious +despotism of Justinian. Till his reign, the Straits of the +Bosphorus and Hellespont were open to the freedom of trade, and +nothing was prohibited except the exportation of arms for the +service of the Barbarians. At each of these gates of the city, a +praetor was stationed, the minister of Imperial avarice; heavy +customs were imposed on the vessels and their merchandise; the +oppression was retaliated on the helpless consumer; the poor were +afflicted by the artificial scarcity, and exorbitant price of the +market; and a people, accustomed to depend on the liberality of +their prince, might sometimes complain of the deficiency of water +and bread. ^86 The aerial tribute, without a name, a law, or a +definite object, was an annual gift of one hundred and twenty +thousand pounds, which the emperor accepted from his Praetorian +praefect; and the means of payment were abandoned to the +discretion of that powerful magistrate. IV. Even such a tax was +less intolerable than the privilege of monopolies, ^* which +checked the fair competition of industry, and, for the sake of a +small and dishonest gain, imposed an arbitrary burden on the +wants and luxury of the subject. "As soon" (I transcribe the +Anecdotes) "as the exclusive sale of silk was usurped by the +Imperial treasurer, a whole people, the manufacturers of Tyre and +Berytus, was reduced to extreme misery, and either perished with +hunger, or fled to the hostile dominions of Persia." A province +might suffer by the decay of its manufactures, but in this +example of silk, Procopius has partially overlooked the +inestimable and lasting benefit which the empire received from +the curiosity of Justinian. His addition of one seventh to the +ordinary price of copper money may be interpreted with the same +candor; and the alteration, which might be wise, appears to have +been innocent; since he neither alloyed the purity, nor enhanced +the value, of the gold coin, ^87 the legal measure of public and +private payments. V. The ample jurisdiction required by the +farmers of the revenue to accomplish their engagements might be +placed in an odious light, as if they had purchased from the +emperor the lives and fortunes of their fellow-citizens. And a +more direct sale of honors and offices was transacted in the +palace, with the permission, or at least with the connivance, of +Justinian and Theodora. The claims of merit, even those of +favor, were disregarded, and it was almost reasonable to expect, +that the bold adventurer, who had undertaken the trade of a +magistrate, should find a rich compensation for infamy, labor, +danger, the debts which he had contracted, and the heavy interest +which he paid. A sense of the disgrace and mischief of this +venal practice, at length awakened the slumbering virtue of +Justinian; and he attempted, by the sanction of oaths ^88 and +penalties, to guard the integrity of his government: but at the +end of a year of perjury, his rigorous edict was suspended, and +corruption licentiously abused her triumph over the impotence of +the laws. VI. The testament of Eulalius, count of the +domestics, declared the emperor his sole heir, on condition, +however, that he should discharge his debts and legacies, allow +to his three daughters a decent maintenance, and bestow each of +them in marriage, with a portion of ten pounds of gold. But the +splendid fortune of Eulalius had been consumed by fire, and the +inventory of his goods did not exceed the trifling sum of five +hundred and sixty-four pieces of gold. A similar instance, in +Grecian history, admonished the emperor of the honorable part +prescribed for his imitation. He checked the selfish murmurs of +the treasury, applauded the confidence of his friend, discharged +the legacies and debts, educated the three virgins under the eye +of the empress Theodora, and doubled the marriage portion which +had satisfied the tenderness of their father. ^89 The humanity of +a prince (for princes cannot be generous) is entitled to some +praise; yet even in this act of virtue we may discover the +inveterate custom of supplanting the legal or natural heirs, +which Procopius imputes to the reign of Justinian. His charge is +supported by eminent names and scandalous examples; neither +widows nor orphans were spared; and the art of soliciting, or +extorting, or supposing testaments, was beneficially practised by +the agents of the palace. This base and mischievous tyranny +invades the security of private life; and the monarch who has +indulged an appetite for gain, will soon be tempted to anticipate +the moment of succession, to interpret wealth as an evidence of +guilt, and to proceed, from the claim of inheritance, to the +power of confiscation. VII. Among the forms of rapine, a +philosopher may be permitted to name the conversion of Pagan or +heretical riches to the use of the faithful; but in the time of +Justinian this holy plunder was condemned by the sectaries alone, +who became the victims of his orthodox avarice. ^90 + +[Footnote 85: One to Scythopolis, capital of the second +Palestine, and twelve for the rest of the province. Aleman. (p. +59) honestly produces this fact from a Ms. life of St. Sabas, by +his disciple Cyril, in the Vatican Library, and since published +by Cotelerius.] + +[Footnote 86: John Malala (tom. ii. p. 232) mentions the want of +bread, and Zonaras (l. xiv. p. 63) the leaden pipes, which +Justinian, or his servants, stole from the aqueducts.] + +[Footnote *: Hullman (Geschichte des Byzantinischen Handels. p. +15) shows that the despotism of the government was aggravated by +the unchecked rapenity of the officers. This state monopoly, +even of corn, wine, and oil, was to force at the time of the +first crusade. - M.] + +[Footnote 87: For an aureus, one sixth of an ounce of gold, +instead of 210, he gave no more than 180 folles, or ounces of +copper. A disproportion of the mint, below the market price, +must have soon produced a scarcity of small money. In England +twelve pence in copper would sell for no more than seven pence, +(Smith's Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations, vol. i. p. 49.) For +Justinian's gold coin, see Evagrius, (l. iv. c. 30.)] + +[Footnote 88: The oath is conceived in the most formidable words, +(Novell. viii. tit. 3.) The defaulters imprecate on themselves, +quicquid haben: telorum armamentaria coeli: the part of Judas, +the leprosy of Gieza, the tremor of Cain, &c., besides all +temporal pains.] + +[Footnote 89: A similar or more generous act of friendship is +related by Lucian of Eudamidas of Corinth, (in Toxare, c. 22, 23, +tom. ii. p. 530,) and the story has produced an ingenious, though +feeble, comedy of Fontenelle.] +[Footnote 90: John Malala, tom. ii. p. 101, 102, 103.] + +Chapter XL: Reign Of Justinian. + +Part IV. + + Dishonor might be ultimately reflected on the character of +Justinian; but much of the guilt, and still more of the profit, +was intercepted by the ministers, who were seldom promoted for +their virtues, and not always selected for their talents. ^91 The +merits of Tribonian the quaestor will hereafter be weighed in the +reformation of the Roman law; but the economy of the East was +subordinate to the Praetorian praefect, and Procopius has +justified his anecdotes by the portrait which he exposes in his +public history, of the notorious vices of John of Cappadocia. ^92 +^* His knowledge was not borrowed from the schools, ^93 and his +style was scarcely legible; but he excelled in the powers of +native genius, to suggest the wisest counsels, and to find +expedients in the most desperate situations. The corruption of +his heart was equal to the vigor of his understanding. Although +he was suspected of magic and Pagan superstition, he appeared +insensible to the fear of God or the reproaches of man; and his +aspiring fortune was raised on the death of thousands, the +poverty of millions, the ruins of cities, and the desolation of +provinces. From the dawn of light to the moment of dinner, he +assiduously labored to enrich his master and himself at the +expense of the Roman world; the remainder of the day was spent in +sensual and obscene pleasures, ^* and the silent hours of the +night were interrupted by the perpetual dread of the justice of +an assassin. His abilities, perhaps his vices, recommended him +to the lasting friendship of Justinian: the emperor yielded with +reluctance to the fury of the people; his victory was displayed +by the immediate restoration of their enemy; and they felt above +ten years, under his oppressive administration, that he was +stimulated by revenge, rather than instructed by misfortune. +Their murmurs served only to fortify the resolution of Justinian; +but the resentment of Theodora, disdained a power before which +every knee was bent, and attempted to sow the seeds of discord +between the emperor and his beloved consort. Even Theodora +herself was constrained to dissemble, to wait a favorable moment, +and, by an artful conspiracy, to render John of Coppadocia the +accomplice of his own destruction. ^! At a time when Belisarius, +unless he had been a hero, must have shown himself a rebel, his +wife Antonina, who enjoyed the secret confidence of the empress, +communicated his feigned discontent to Euphemia, the daughter of +the praefect; the credulous virgin imparted to her father the +dangerous project, and John, who might have known the value of +oaths and promises, was tempted to accept a nocturnal, and almost +treasonable, interview with the wife of Belisarius. An ambuscade +of guards and eunuchs had been posted by the command of Theodora; +they rushed with drawn swords to seize or to punish the guilty +minister: he was saved by the fidelity of his attendants; but +instead of appealing to a gracious sovereign, who had privately +warned him of his danger, he pusillanimously fled to the +sanctuary of the church. The favorite of Justinian was +sacrificed to conjugal tenderness or domestic tranquility; the +conversion of a praefect into a priest extinguished his ambitious +hopes: but the friendship of the emperor alleviated his disgrace, +and he retained in the mild exile of Cyzicus an ample portion of +his riches. Such imperfect revenge could not satisfy the +unrelenting hatred of Theodora; the murder of his old enemy, the +bishop of Cyzicus, afforded a decent pretence; and John of +Cappadocia, whose actions had deserved a thousand deaths, was at +last condemned for a crime of which he was innocent. A great +minister, who had been invested with the honors of consul and +patrician, was ignominiously scourged like the vilest of +malefactors; a tattered cloak was the sole remnant of his +fortunes; he was transported in a bark to the place of his +banishment at Antinopolis in Upper Egypt, and the praefect of the +East begged his bread through the cities which had trembled at +his name. During an exile of seven years, his life was +protracted and threatened by the ingenious cruelty of Theodora; +and when her death permitted the emperor to recall a servant whom +he had abandoned with regret, the ambition of John of Cappadocia +was reduced to the humble duties of the sacerdotal profession. +His successors convinced the subjects of Justinian, that the arts +of oppression might still be improved by experience and industry; +the frauds of a Syrian banker were introduced into the +administration of the finances; and the example of the praefect +was diligently copied by the quaestor, the public and private +treasurer, the governors of provinces, and the principal +magistrates of the Eastern empire. ^94 + +[Footnote 91: One of these, Anatolius, perished in an earthquake +- doubtless a judgment! The complaints and clamors of the people +in Agathias (l. v. p. 146, 147) are almost an echo of the +anecdote. The aliena pecunia reddenda of Corippus (l. ii. 381, +&c.,) is not very honorable to Justinian's memory.] +[Footnote 92: See the history and character of John of Cappadocia +in Procopius. (Persic, l. i. c. 35, 25, l. ii. c. 30. Vandal. +l. i. c. 13. Anecdot. c. 2, 17, 22.) The agreement of the history +and anecdotes is a mortal wound to the reputation of the +praefct.] + +[Footnote *: This view, particularly of the cruelty of John of +Cappadocia, is confirmed by the testimony of Joannes Lydus, who +was in the office of the praefect, and eye-witness of the +tortures inflicted by his command on the miserable debtors, or +supposed debtors, of the state. He mentions one horrible +instance of a respectable old man, with whom he was personally +acquainted, who, being suspected of possessing money, was hung up +by the hands till he was dead. Lydus de Magist. lib. iii. c. 57, +p. 254. - M.] +[Footnote 93: A forcible expression.] + +[Footnote *: Joannes Lydus is diffuse on this subject, lib. iii. +c. 65, p. 268. But the indignant virtue of Lydus seems greatly +stimulated by the loss of his official fees, which he ascribes to +the innovations of the minister. - M.] + +[Footnote !: According to Lydus, Theodora disclosed the crimes +and unpopularity of the minister to Justinian, but the emperor +had not the courage to remove, and was unable to replace, a +servant, under whom his finances seemed to prosper. He +attributes the sedition and conflagration to the popular +resentment against the tyranny of John, lib. iii. c 70, p. 278. +Unfortunately there is a large gap in his work just at this +period. - M.] +[Footnote 94: The chronology of Procopius is loose and obscure; +but with the aid of Pagi I can discern that John was appointed +Praetorian praefect of the East in the year 530 - that he was +removed in January, 532 - restored before June, 533 - banished in +541 - and recalled between June, 548, and April 1, 549. Aleman. +(p. 96, 97) gives the list of his ten successors - a rapid series +in a part of a single reign. + + Note: Lydus gives a high character of Phocas, his successor +tom. iii. c. 78 p. 288. - M.] + + V. The edifices of Justinian were cemented with the blood +and treasure of his people; but those stately structures appeared +to announce the prosperity of the empire, and actually displayed +the skill of their architects. Both the theory and practice of +the arts which depend on mathematical science and mechanical +power, were cultivated under the patronage of the emperors; the +fame of Archimedes was rivalled by Proclus and Anthemius; and if +their miracles had been related by intelligent spectators, they +might now enlarge the speculations, instead of exciting the +distrust, of philosophers. A tradition has prevailed, that the +Roman fleet was reduced to ashes in the port of Syracuse, by the +burning-glasses of Archimedes; ^95 and it is asserted, that a +similar expedient was employed by Proclus to destroy the Gothic +vessels in the harbor of Constantinople, and to protect his +benefactor Anastasius against the bold enterprise of Vitalian. +^96 A machine was fixed on the walls of the city, consisting of a +hexagon mirror of polished brass, with many smaller and movable +polygons to receive and reflect the rays of the meridian sun; and +a consuming flame was darted, to the distance, perhaps of two +hundred feet. ^97 The truth of these two extraordinary facts is +invalidated by the silence of the most authentic historians; and +the use of burning-glasses was never adopted in the attack or +defence of places. ^98 Yet the admirable experiments of a French +philosopher ^99 have demonstrated the possibility of such a +mirror; and, since it is possible, I am more disposed to +attribute the art to the greatest mathematicians of antiquity, +than to give the merit of the fiction to the idle fancy of a monk +or a sophist. According to another story, Proclus applied +sulphur to the destruction of the Gothic fleet; ^100 in a modern +imagination, the name of sulphur is instantly connected with the +suspicion of gunpowder, and that suspicion is propagated by the +secret arts of his disciple Anthemius. ^101 A citizen of Tralles +in Asia had five sons, who were all distinguished in their +respective professions by merit and success. Olympius excelled in +the knowledge and practice of the Roman jurisprudence. Dioscorus +and Alexander became learned physicians; but the skill of the +former was exercised for the benefit of his fellow-citizens, +while his more ambitious brother acquired wealth and reputation +at Rome. The fame of Metrodorus the grammarian, and of Anthemius +the mathematician and architect, reached the ears of the emperor +Justinian, who invited them to Constantinople; and while the one +instructed the rising generation in the schools of eloquence, the +other filled the capital and provinces with more lasting +monuments of his art. In a trifling dispute relative to the +walls or windows of their contiguous houses, he had been +vanquished by the eloquence of his neighbor Zeno; but the orator +was defeated in his turn by the master of mechanics, whose +malicious, though harmless, stratagems are darkly represented by +the ignorance of Agathias. In a lower room, Anthemius arranged +several vessels or caldrons of water, each of them covered by the +wide bottom of a leathern tube, which rose to a narrow top, and +was artificially conveyed among the joists and rafters of the +adjacent building. A fire was kindled beneath the caldron; the +steam of the boiling water ascended through the tubes; the house +was shaken by the efforts of imprisoned air, and its trembling +inhabitants might wonder that the city was unconscious of the +earthquake which they had felt. At another time, the friends of +Zeno, as they sat at table, were dazzled by the intolerable light +which flashed in their eyes from the reflecting mirrors of +Anthemius; they were astonished by the noise which he produced +from the collision of certain minute and sonorous particles; and +the orator declared in tragic style to the senate, that a mere +mortal must yield to the power of an antagonist, who shook the +earth with the trident of Neptune, and imitated the thunder and +lightning of Jove himself. The genius of Anthemius, and his +colleague Isidore the Milesian, was excited and employed by a +prince, whose taste for architecture had degenerated into a +mischievous and costly passion. His favorite architects +submitted their designs and difficulties to Justinian, and +discreetly confessed how much their laborious meditations were +surpassed by the intuitive knowledge of celestial inspiration of +an emperor, whose views were always directed to the benefit of +his people, the glory of his reign, and the salvation of his +soul. ^102 +[Footnote 95: This conflagration is hinted by Lucian (in Hippia, +c. 2) and Galen, (l. iii. de Temperamentis, tom. i. p. 81, edit. +Basil.) in the second century. A thousand years afterwards, it +is positively affirmed by Zonaras, (l. ix. p. 424,) on the faith +of Dion Cassius, Tzetzes, (Chiliad ii. 119, &c.,) Eustathius, (ad +Iliad. E. p. 338,) and the scholiast of Lucian. See Fabricius, +(Bibliot. Graec. l. iii. c. 22, tom. ii. p. 551, 552,) to whom I +am more or less indebted for several of these quotations.] + +[Footnote 96: Zonaras (l. xi. c. p. 55) affirms the fact, without +quoting any evidence.] + +[Footnote 97: Tzetzes describes the artifice of these +burning-glasses, which he had read, perhaps, with no learned +eyes, in a mathematical treatise of Anthemius. That treatise has +been lately published, translated, and illustrated, by M. Dupuys, +a scholar and a mathematician, (Memoires de l'Academie des +Inscriptions, tom xlii p. 392 - 451.)] + +[Footnote 98: In the siege of Syracuse, by the silence of +Polybius, Plutarch, Livy; in the siege of Constantinople, by that +of Marcellinus and all the contemporaries of the vith century.] + +[Footnote 99: Without any previous knowledge of Tzetzes or +Anthemius, the immortal Buffon imagined and executed a set of +burning-glasses, with which he could inflame planks at the +distance of 200 feet, (Supplement a l'Hist. Naturelle, tom. i. +399 - 483, quarto edition.) What miracles would not his genius +have performed for the public service, with royal expense, and in +the strong sun of Constantinople or Syracuse?] + +[Footnote 100: John Malala (tom. ii. p. 120 - 124) relates the +fact; but he seems to confound the names or persons of Proclus +and Marinus.] +[Footnote 101: Agathias, l. v. p. 149 - 152. The merit of +Anthemius as an architect is loudly praised by Procopius (de +Edif. l. i. c. 1) and Paulus Silentiarius, (part i. 134, &c.)] + +[Footnote 102: See Procopius, (de Edificiis, l. i. c. 1, 2, l. +ii. c. 3.) He relates a coincidence of dreams, which supposes +some fraud in Justinian or his architect. They both saw, in a +vision, the same plan for stopping an inundation at Dara. A +stone quarry near Jerusalem was revealed to the emperor, (l. v. +c. 6:) an angel was tricked into the perpetual custody of St. +Sophia, (Anonym. de Antiq. C. P. l. iv. p. 70.)] + + The principal church, which was dedicated by the founder of +Constantinople to St. Sophia, or the eternal wisdom, had been +twice destroyed by fire; after the exile of John Chrysostom, and +during the Nika of the blue and green factions. No sooner did +the tumult subside, than the Christian populace deplored their +sacrilegious rashness; but they might have rejoiced in the +calamity, had they foreseen the glory of the new temple, which at +the end of forty days was strenuously undertaken by the piety of +Justinian. ^103 The ruins were cleared away, a more spacious plan +was described, and as it required the consent of some proprietors +of ground, they obtained the most exorbitant terms from the eager +desires and timorous conscience of the monarch. Anthemius formed +the design, and his genius directed the hands of ten thousand +workmen, whose payment in pieces of fine silver was never delayed +beyond the evening. The emperor himself, clad in a linen tunic, +surveyed each day their rapid progress, and encouraged their +diligence by his familiarity, his zeal, and his rewards. The new +Cathedral of St. Sophia was consecrated by the patriarch, five +years, eleven months, and ten days from the first foundation; and +in the midst of the solemn festival Justinian exclaimed with +devout vanity, "Glory be to God, who hath thought me worthy to +accomplish so great a work; I have vanquished thee, O Solomon!" +^104 But the pride of the Roman Solomon, before twenty years had +elapsed, was humbled by an earthquake, which overthrew the +eastern part of the dome. Its splendor was again restored by the +perseverance of the same prince; and in the thirty- sixth year of +his reign, Justinian celebrated the second dedication of a temple +which remains, after twelve centuries, a stately monument of his +fame. The architecture of St. Sophia, which is now converted into +the principal mosch, has been imitated by the Turkish sultans, +and that venerable pile continues to excite the fond admiration +of the Greeks, and the more rational curiosity of European +travellers. The eye of the spectator is disappointed by an +irregular prospect of half-domes and shelving roofs: the western +front, the principal approach, is destitute of simplicity and +magnificence; and the scale of dimensions has been much surpassed +by several of the Latin cathedrals. But the architect who first +erected and aerial cupola, is entitled to the praise of bold +design and skilful execution. The dome of St. Sophia, +illuminated by four-and-twenty windows, is formed with so small a +curve, that the depth is equal only to one sixth of its diameter; +the measure of that diameter is one hundred and fifteen feet, and +the lofty centre, where a crescent has supplanted the cross, +rises to the perpendicular height of one hundred and eighty feet +above the pavement. The circle which encompasses the dome, +lightly reposes on four strong arches, and their weight is firmly +supported by four massy piles, whose strength is assisted, on the +northern and southern sides, by four columns of Egyptian granite. + +A Greek cross, inscribed in a quadrangle, represents the form of +the edifice; the exact breadth is two hundred and forty-three +feet, and two hundred and sixty-nine may be assigned for the +extreme length from the sanctuary in the east, to the nine +western doors, which open into the vestibule, and from thence +into the narthex or exterior portico. That portico was the +humble station of the penitents. The nave or body of the church +was filled by the congregation of the faithful; but the two sexes +were prudently distinguished, and the upper and lower galleries +were allotted for the more private devotion of the women. Beyond +the northern and southern piles, a balustrade, terminated on +either side by the thrones of the emperor and the patriarch, +divided the nave from the choir; and the space, as far as the +steps of the altar, was occupied by the clergy and singers. The +altar itself, a name which insensibly became familiar to +Christian ears, was placed in the eastern recess, artificially +built in the form of a demi-cylinder; and this sanctuary +communicated by several doors with the sacristy, the vestry, the +baptistery, and the contiguous buildings, subservient either to +the pomp of worship, or the private use of the ecclesiastical +ministers. The memory of past calamities inspired Justinian with +a wise resolution, that no wood, except for the doors, should be +admitted into the new edifice; and the choice of the materials +was applied to the strength, the lightness, or the splendor of +the respective parts. The solid piles which contained the cupola +were composed of huge blocks of freestone, hewn into squares and +triangles, fortified by circles of iron, and firmly cemented by +the infusion of lead and quicklime: but the weight of the cupola +was diminished by the levity of its substance, which consists +either of pumice-stone that floats in the water, or of bricks +from the Isle of Rhodes, five times less ponderous than the +ordinary sort. The whole frame of the edifice was constructed of +brick; but those base materials were concealed by a crust of +marble; and the inside of St. Sophia, the cupola, the two larger, +and the six smaller, semi-domes, the walls, the hundred columns, +and the pavement, delight even the eyes of Barbarians, with a +rich and variegated picture. A poet, ^105 who beheld the +primitive lustre of St. Sophia, enumerates the colors, the +shades, and the spots of ten or twelve marbles, jaspers, and +porphyries, which nature had profusely diversified, and which +were blended and contrasted as it were by a skilful painter. The +triumph of Christ was adorned with the last spoils of Paganism, +but the greater part of these costly stones was extracted from +the quarries of Asia Minor, the isles and continent of Greece, +Egypt, Africa, and Gaul. Eight columns of porphyry, which +Aurelian had placed in the temple of the sun, were offered by the +piety of a Roman matron; eight others of green marble were +presented by the ambitious zeal of the magistrates of Ephesus: +both are admirable by their size and beauty, but every order of +architecture disclaims their fantastic capital. A variety of +ornaments and figures was curiously expressed in mosaic; and the +images of Christ, of the Virgin, of saints, and of angels, which +have been defaced by Turkish fanaticism, were dangerously exposed +to the superstition of the Greeks. According to the sanctity of +each object, the precious metals were distributed in thin leaves +or in solid masses. The balustrade of the choir, the capitals of +the pillars, the ornaments of the doors and galleries, were of +gilt bronze; the spectator was dazzled by the glittering aspect +of the cupola; the sanctuary contained forty thousand pounds +weight of silver; and the holy vases and vestments of the altar +were of the purest gold, enriched with inestimable gems. Before +the structure of the church had arisen two cubits above the +ground, forty-five thousand two hundred pounds were already +consumed; and the whole expense amounted to three hundred and +twenty thousand: each reader, according to the measure of his +belief, may estimate their value either in gold or silver; but +the sum of one million sterling is the result of the lowest +computation. A magnificent temple is a laudable monument of +national taste and religion; and the enthusiast who entered the +dome of St. Sophia might be tempted to suppose that it was the +residence, or even the workmanship, of the Deity. Yet how dull +is the artifice, how insignificant is the labor, if it be +compared with the formation of the vilest insect that crawls upon +the surface of the temple! +[Footnote 103: Among the crowd of ancients and moderns who have +celebrated the edifice of St. Sophia, I shall distinguish and +follow, 1. Four original spectators and historians: Procopius, +(de Edific. l. i. c. 1,) Agathias, (l. v. p. 152, 153,) Paul +Silentiarius, (in a poem of 1026 hexameters, and calcem Annae +Commen. Alexiad.,) and Evagrius, (l. iv. c. 31.) 2. Two legendary +Greeks of a later period: George Codinus, (de Origin. C. P. p. 64 +- 74,) and the anonymous writer of Banduri, (Imp. Orient. tom. i. +l. iv. p. 65 - 80.)3. The great Byzantine antiquarian. Ducange, +(Comment. ad Paul Silentiar. p. 525 - 598, and C. P. Christ. l. +iii. p. 5 - 78.) 4. Two French travellers - the one, Peter +Gyllius, (de Topograph. C. P. l. ii. c. 3, 4,) in the xvith; the +other, Grelot, (Voyage de C. P. p. 95 - 164, Paris, 1680, in +4to:) he has given plans, prospects, and inside views of St. +Sophia; and his plans, though on a smaller scale, appear more +correct than those of Ducange. I have adopted and reduced the +measures of Grelot: but as no Christian can now ascend the dome, +the height is borrowed from Evagrius, compared with Gyllius, +Greaves, and the Oriental Geographer.] + +[Footnote 104: Solomon's temple was surrounded with courts, +porticos, &c.; but the proper structure of the house of God was +no more (if we take the Egyptian or Hebrew cubic at 22 inches) +than 55 feet in height, 36 2/3 in breadth, and 110 in length - a +small parish church, says Prideaux, (Connection, vol. i. p. 144, +folio;) but few sanctuaries could be valued at four or five +millions sterling! + + Note *: Hist of Jews, vol i p 257. - M] + +[Footnote 105: Paul Silentiarius, in dark and poetic language, +describes the various stones and marbles that were employed in +the edifice of St. Sophia, (P. ii. p. 129, 133, &c., &c.:) + +1. The Carystian - pale, with iron veins. + +2. The Phrygian - of two sorts, both of a rosy hue; the one with +a white shade, the other purple, with silver flowers. + +3. The Porphyry of Egypt - with small stars. + +4. The green marble of Laconia. + +5. The Carian - from Mount Iassis, with oblique veins, white and +red. +6. The Lydian - pale, with a red flower. + +7. The African, or Mauritanian - of a gold or saffron hue. +8. The Celtic - black, with white veins. + +9. The Bosphoric - white, with black edges. Besides the +Proconnesian which formed the pavement; the Thessalian, +Molossian, &c., which are less distinctly painted.] + + So minute a description of an edifice which time has +respected, may attest the truth, and excuse the relation, of the +innumerable works, both in the capital and provinces, which +Justinian constructed on a smaller scale and less durable +foundations. ^106 In Constantinople alone and the adjacent +suburbs, he dedicated twenty-five churches to the honor of +Christ, the Virgin, and the saints: most of these churches were +decorated with marble and gold; and their various situation was +skilfully chosen in a populous square, or a pleasant grove; on +the margin of the sea-shore, or on some lofty eminence which +overlooked the continents of Europe and Asia. The church of the +Holy Apostles at Constantinople, and that of St. John at Ephesus, +appear to have been framed on the same model: their domes aspired +to imitate the cupolas of St. Sophia; but the altar was more +judiciously placed under the centre of the dome, at the junction +of four stately porticos, which more accurately expressed the +figure of the Greek cross. The Virgin of Jerusalem might exult +in the temple erected by her Imperial votary on a most ungrateful +spot, which afforded neither ground nor materials to the +architect. A level was formed by raising part of a deep valley +to the height of the mountain. The stones of a neighboring quarry +were hewn into regular forms; each block was fixed on a peculiar +carriage, drawn by forty of the strongest oxen, and the roads +were widened for the passage of such enormous weights. Lebanon +furnished her loftiest cedars for the timbers of the church; and +the seasonable discovery of a vein of red marble supplied its +beautiful columns, two of which, the supporters of the exterior +portico, were esteemed the largest in the world. The pious +munificence of the emperor was diffused over the Holy Land; and +if reason should condemn the monasteries of both sexes which were +built or restored by Justinian, yet charity must applaud the +wells which he sunk, and the hospitals which he founded, for the +relief of the weary pilgrims. The schismatical temper of Egypt +was ill entitled to the royal bounty; but in Syria and Africa, +some remedies were applied to the disasters of wars and +earthquakes, and both Carthage and Antioch, emerging from their +ruins, might revere the name of their gracious benefactor. ^107 +Almost every saint in the calendar acquired the honors of a +temple; almost every city of the empire obtained the solid +advantages of bridges, hospitals, and aqueducts; but the severe +liberality of the monarch disdained to indulge his subjects in +the popular luxury of baths and theatres. While Justinian +labored for the public service, he was not unmindful of his own +dignity and ease. The Byzantine palace, which had been damaged +by the conflagration, was restored with new magnificence; and +some notion may be conceived of the whole edifice, by the +vestibule or hall, which, from the doors perhaps, or the roof, +was surnamed chalce, or the brazen. The dome of a spacious +quadrangle was supported by massy pillars; the pavement and walls +were incrusted with many-colored marbles - the emerald green of +Laconia, the fiery red, and the white Phrygian stone, intersected +with veins of a sea-green hue: the mosaic paintings of the dome +and sides represented the glories of the African and Italian +triumphs. On the Asiatic shore of the Propontis, at a small +distance to the east of Chalcedon, the costly palace and gardens +of Heraeum ^108 were prepared for the summer residence of +Justinian, and more especially of Theodora. The poets of the age +have celebrated the rare alliance of nature and art, the harmony +of the nymphs of the groves, the fountains, and the waves: yet +the crowd of attendants who followed the court complained of +their inconvenient lodgings, ^109 and the nymphs were too often +alarmed by the famous Porphyrio, a whale of ten cubits in +breadth, and thirty in length, who was stranded at the mouth of +the River Sangaris, after he had infested more than half a +century the seas of Constantinople. ^110 + +[Footnote 106: The six books of the Edifices of Procopius are +thus distributed the first is confined to Constantinople: the +second includes Mesopotamia and Syria the third, Armenia and the +Euxine; the fourth, Europe; the fifth, Asia Minor and Palestine; +the sixth, Egypt and Africa. Italy is forgot by the emperor or +the historian, who published this work of adulation before the +date (A.D. 555) of its final conquest.] + +[Footnote 107: Justinian once gave forty-five centenaries of gold +(180,000l for the repairs of Antioch after the earthquake, (John +Malala, tom. ii p 146 - 149.)] + +[Footnote 108: For the Heraeum, the palace of Theodora, see +Gyllius, (de Bosphoro Thracio, l. iii. c. xi.,) Aleman. (Not. +ad. Anec. p. 80, 81, who quotes several epigrams of the +Anthology,) and Ducange, (C. P. Christ. l. iv. c. 13, p. 175, +176.)] + +[Footnote 109: Compare, in the Edifices, (l. i. c. 11,) and in +the Anecdotes, (c. 8, 15.) the different styles of adulation and +malevolence: stripped of the paint, or cleansed from the dirt, +the object appears to be the same.] +[Footnote 110: Procopius, l. viii. 29; most probably a stranger +and wanderer, as the Mediterranean does not breed whales. +Balaenae quoque in nostra maria penetrant, (Plin. Hist. Natur. +ix. 2.) Between the polar circle and the tropic, the cetaceous +animals of the ocean grow to the length of 50, 80, or 100 feet, +(Hist. des Voyages, tom. xv. p. 289. Pennant's British Zoology, +vol. iii. p. 35.)] + + The fortifications of Europe and Asia were multiplied by +Justinian; but the repetition of those timid and fruitless +precautions exposes, to a philosophic eye, the debility of the +empire. ^111 From Belgrade to the Euxine, from the conflux of the +Save to the mouth of the Danube, a chain of above fourscore +fortified places was extended along the banks of the great river. +Single watch-towers were changed into spacious citadels; vacant +walls, which the engineers contracted or enlarged according to +the nature of the ground, were filled with colonies or garrisons; +a strong fortress defended the ruins of Trajan's bridge, ^112 and +several military stations affected to spread beyond the Danube +the pride of the Roman name. But that name was divested of its +terrors; the Barbarians, in their annual inroads, passed, and +contemptuously repassed, before these useless bulwarks; and the +inhabitants of the frontier, instead of reposing under the shadow +of the general defence, were compelled to guard, with incessant +vigilance, their separate habitations. The solitude of ancient +cities, was replenished; the new foundations of Justinian +acquired, perhaps too hastily, the epithets of impregnable and +populous; and the auspicious place of his own nativity attracted +the grateful reverence of the vainest of princes. Under the name +of Justiniana prima, the obscure village of Tauresium became the +seat of an archbishop and a praefect, whose jurisdiction extended +over seven warlike provinces of Illyricum; ^113 and the corrupt +apellation of Giustendil still indicates, about twenty miles to +the south of Sophia, the residence of a Turkish sanjak. ^114 For +the use of the emperor's countryman, a cathedral, a place, and an +aqueduct, were speedily constructed; the public and private +edifices were adapted to the greatness of a royal city; and the +strength of the walls resisted, during the lifetime of Justinian, +the unskilful assaults of the Huns and Sclavonians. Their +progress was sometimes retarded, and their hopes of rapine were +disappointed, by the innumerable castles which, in the provinces +of Dacia, Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, appeared to +cover the whole face of the country. Six hundred of these forts +were built or repaired by the emperor; but it seems reasonable to +believe, that the far greater part consisted only of a stone or +brick tower, in the midst of a square or circular area, which was +surrounded by a wall and ditch, and afforded in a moment of +danger some protection to the peasants and cattle of the +neighboring villages. ^115 Yet these military works, which +exhausted the public treasure, could not remove the just +apprehensions of Justinian and his European subjects. The warm +baths of Anchialus in Thrace were rendered as safe as they were +salutary; but the rich pastures of Thessalonica were foraged by +the Scythian cavalry; the delicious vale of Tempe, three hundred +miles from the Danube, was continually alarmed by the sound of +war; ^116 and no unfortified spot, however distant or solitary, +could securely enjoy the blessings of peace. The Straits of +Thermopylae, which seemed to protect, but which had so often +betrayed, the safety of Greece, were diligently strengthened by +the labors of Justinian. From the edge of the sea-shore, through +the forests and valleys, and as far as the summit of the +Thessalian mountains, a strong wall was continued, which occupied +every practicable entrance. Instead of a hasty crowd of +peasants, a garrison of two thousand soldiers was stationed along +the rampart; granaries of corn and reservoirs of water were +provided for their use; and by a precaution that inspired the +cowardice which it foresaw, convenient fortresses were erected +for their retreat. The walls of Corinth, overthrown by an +earthquake, and the mouldering bulwarks of Athens and Plataea, +were carefully restored; the Barbarians were discouraged by the +prospect of successive and painful sieges: and the naked cities +of Peloponnesus were covered by the fortifications of the Isthmus +of Corinth. At the extremity of Europe, another peninsula, the +Thracian Chersonesus, runs three days' journey into the sea, to +form, with the adjacent shores of Asia, the Straits of the +Hellespont. The intervals between eleven populous towns were +filled by lofty woods, fair pastures, and arable lands; and the +isthmus, of thirty seven stadia or furlongs, had been fortified +by a Spartan general nine hundred years before the reign of +Justinian. ^117 In an age of freedom and valor, the slightest +rampart may prevent a surprise; and Procopius appears insensible +of the superiority of ancient times, while he praises the solid +construction and double parapet of a wall, whose long arms +stretched on either side into the sea; but whose strength was +deemed insufficient to guard the Chersonesus, if each city, and +particularly Gallipoli and Sestus, had not been secured by their +peculiar fortifications. The long wall, as it was emphatically +styled, was a work as disgraceful in the object, as it was +respectable in the execution. The riches of a capital diffuse +themselves over the neighboring country, and the territory of +Constantinople a paradise of nature, was adorned with the +luxurious gardens and villas of the senators and opulent +citizens. But their wealth served only to attract the bold and +rapacious Barbarians; the noblest of the Romans, in the bosom of +peaceful indolence, were led away into Scythian captivity, and +their sovereign might view from his palace the hostile flames +which were insolently spread to the gates of the Imperial city. +At the distance only of forty miles, Anastasius was constrained +to establish a last frontier; his long wall, of sixty miles from +the Propontis to the Euxine, proclaimed the impotence of his +arms; and as the danger became more imminent, new fortifications +were added by the indefatigable prudence of Justinian. ^118 +[Footnote 111: Montesquieu observes, (tom. iii. p. 503, +Considerations sur la Grandeur et la Decadence des Romains, c. +xx.,) that Justinian's empire was like France in the time of the +Norman inroads - never so weak as when every village was +fortified.] + +[Footnote 112: Procopius affirms (l. iv. c. 6) that the Danube +was stopped by the ruins of the bridge. Had Apollodorus, the +architect, left a description of his own work, the fabulous +wonders of Dion Cassius (l lxviii. p. 1129) would have been +corrected by the genuine picture Trajan's bridge consisted of +twenty or twenty-two stone piles with wooden arches; the river is +shallow, the current gentle, and the whole interval no more than +443 (Reimer ad Dion. from Marsigli) or 5l7 toises, (D'Anville, +Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 305.)] +[Footnote 113: Of the two Dacias, Mediterranea and Ripensis, +Dardania, Pravalitana, the second Maesia, and the second +Macedonia. See Justinian (Novell. xi.,) who speaks of his +castles beyond the Danube, and on omines semper bellicis +sudoribus inhaerentes.] + +[Footnote 114: See D'Anville, (Memoires de l'Academie, &c., tom. +xxxi p. 280, 299,) Rycaut, (Present State of the Turkish Empire, +p. 97, 316,) Max sigli, (Stato Militare del Imperio Ottomano, p. +130.) The sanjak of Giustendil is one of the twenty under the +beglerbeg of Rurselis, and his district maintains 48 zaims and +588 timariots.] + +[Footnote 115: These fortifications may be compared to the +castles in Mingrelia (Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tom. i. p. 60, +131) - a natural picture.] + +[Footnote 116: The valley of Tempe is situate along the River +Peneus, between the hills of Ossa and Olympus: it is only five +miles long, and in some places no more than 120 feet in breadth. +Its verdant beauties are elegantly described by Pliny, (Hist. +Natur. l. iv. 15,) and more diffusely by Aelian, (Hist. Var. l. +iii. c. i.)] + +[Footnote 117: Xenophon Hellenic. l. iii. c. 2. After a long and +tedious conversation with the Byzantine declaimers, how +refreshing is the truth, the simplicity, the elegance of an Attic +writer!] + +[Footnote 118: See the long wall in Evagarius, (l. iv. c. 38.) +This whole article is drawn from the fourth book of the Edifices, +except Anchialus, (l. iii. c. 7.)] + + Asia Minor, after the submission of the Isaurians, ^119 +remained without enemies and without fortifications. Those bold +savages, who had disdained to be the subjects of Gallienus, +persisted two hundred and thirty years in a life of independence +and rapine. The most successful princes respected the strength +of the mountains and the despair of the natives; their fierce +spirit was sometimes soothed with gifts, and sometimes restrained +by terror; and a military count, with three legions, fixed his +permanent and ignominious station in the heart of the Roman +provinces. ^120 But no sooner was the vigilance of power relaxed +or diverted, than the light-armed squadrons descended from the +hills, and invaded the peaceful plenty of Asia. Although the +Isaurians were not remarkable for stature or bravery, want +rendered them bold, and experience made them skilful in the +exercise of predatory war. They advanced with secrecy and speed +to the attack of villages and defenceless towns; their flying +parties have sometimes touched the Hellespont, the Euxine, and +the gates of Tarsus, Antioch, or Damascus; ^121 and the spoil was +lodged in their inaccessible mountains, before the Roman troops +had received their orders, or the distant province had computed +its loss. The guilt of rebellion and robbery excluded them from +the rights of national enemies; and the magistrates were +instructed, by an edict, that the trial or punishment of an +Isaurian, even on the festival of Easter, was a meritorious act +of justice and piety. ^122 If the captives were condemned to +domestic slavery, they maintained, with their sword or dagger, +the private quarrel of their masters; and it was found expedient +for the public tranquillity to prohibit the service of such +dangerous retainers. When their countryman Tarcalissaeus or Zeno +ascended the throne, he invited a faithful and formidable band of +Isaurians, who insulted the court and city, and were rewarded by +an annual tribute of five thousand pounds of gold. But the hopes +of fortune depopulated the mountains, luxury enervated the +hardiness of their minds and bodies, and in proportion as they +mixed with mankind, they became less qualified for the enjoyment +of poor and solitary freedom. After the death of Zeno, his +successor Anastasius suppressed their pensions, exposed their +persons to the revenge of the people, banished them from +Constantinople, and prepared to sustain a war, which left only +the alternative of victory or servitude. A brother of the last +emperor usurped the title of Augustus; his cause was powerfully +supported by the arms, the treasures, and the magazines, +collected by Zeno; and the native Isaurians must have formed the +smallest portion of the hundred and fifty thousand Barbarians +under his standard, which was sanctified, for the first time, by +the presence of a fighting bishop. Their disorderly numbers were +vanquished in the plains of Phrygia by the valor and discipline +of the Goths; but a war of six years almost exhausted the courage +of the emperor. ^123 The Isaurians retired to their mountains; +their fortresses were successively besieged and ruined; their +communication with the sea was intercepted; the bravest of their +leaders died in arms; the surviving chiefs, before their +execution, were dragged in chains through the hippodrome; a +colony of their youth was transplanted into Thrace, and the +remnant of the people submitted to the Roman government. Yet +some generations elapsed before their minds were reduced to the +level of slavery. The populous villages of Mount Taurus were +filled with horsemen and archers: they resisted the imposition of +tributes, but they recruited the armies of Justinian; and his +civil magistrates, the proconsul of Cappadocia, the count of +Isauria, and the praetors of Lycaonia and Pisidia, were invested +with military power to restrain the licentious practice of rapes +and assassinations. ^124 +[Footnote 119: Turn back to vol. i. p. 328. In the course of +this History, I have sometimes mentioned, and much oftener +slighted, the hasty inroads of the Isaurians, which were not +attended with any consequences.] +[Footnote 120: Trebellius Pollio in Hist. August. p. 107, who +lived under Diocletian, or Constantine. See likewise Pancirolus +ad Notit. Imp. Orient c. 115, 141. See Cod. Theodos. l. ix. tit. +35, leg. 37, with a copious collective Annotation of Godefroy, +tom. iii. p. 256, 257.] +[Footnote 121: See the full and wide extent of their inroads in +Philostorgius (Hist. Eccles. l. xi. c. 8,) with Godefroy's +learned Dissertations.] +[Footnote 122: Cod. Justinian. l. ix. tit. 12, leg. 10. The +punishments are severs - a fine of a hundred pounds of gold, +degradation, and even death. The public peace might afford a +pretence, but Zeno was desirous of monopolizing the valor and +service of the Isaurians.] + +[Footnote 123: The Isaurian war and the triumph of Anastasius are +briefly and darkly represented by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 106, +107,) Evagrius, (l. iii. c. 35,) Theophanes, p. 118 - 120,) and +the Chronicle of Marcellinus.] +[Footnote 124: Fortes ea regio (says Justinian) viros habet, nec +in ullo differt ab Isauria, though Procopius (Persic. l. i. c. +18) marks an essential difference between their military +character; yet in former times the Lycaonians and Pisidians had +defended their liberty against the great king, Xenophon. +Anabasis, l. iii. c. 2.) Justinian introduces some false and +ridiculous erudition of the ancient empire of the Pisidians, and +of Lycaon, who, after visiting Rome, (long before Aeenas,) gave a +name and people to Lycaoni, (Novell. 24, 25, 27, 30.)] + +Chapter XL: Reign Of Justinian. + +Part V. + + If we extend our view from the tropic to the mouth of the +Tanais, we may observe, on one hand, the precautions of Justinian +to curb the savages of Aethiopia, ^125 and on the other, the long +walls which he constructed in Crimaea for the protection of his +friendly Goths, a colony of three thousand shepherds and +warriors. ^126 From that peninsula to Trebizond, the eastern +curve of the Euxine was secured by forts, by alliance, or by +religion; and the possession of Lazica, the Colchos of ancient, +the Mingrelia of modern, geography, soon became the object of an +important war. Trebizond, in after- times the seat of a romantic +empire, was indebted to the liberality of Justinian for a church, +an aqueduct, and a castle, whose ditches are hewn in the solid +rock. From that maritime city, frontier line of five hundred +miles may be drawn to the fortress of Circesium, the last Roman +station on the Euphrates. ^127 Above Trebizond immediately, and +five days' journey to the south, the country rises into dark +forests and craggy mountains, as savage though not so lofty as +the Alps and the Pyrenees. In this rigorous climate, ^128 where +the snows seldom melt, the fruits are tardy and tasteless, even +honey is poisonous: the most industrious tillage would be +confined to some pleasant valleys; and the pastoral tribes +obtained a scanty sustenance from the flesh and milk of their +cattle. The Chalybians ^129 derived their name and temper from +the iron quality of the soil; and, since the days of Cyrus, they +might produce, under the various appellations of Cha daeans and +Zanians, an uninterrupted prescription of war and rapine. Under +the reign of Justinian, they acknowledged the god and the emperor +of the Romans, and seven fortresses were built in the most +accessible passages, to exclude the ambition of the Persian +monarch. ^130 The principal source of the Euphrates descends from +the Chalybian mountains, and seems to flow towards the west and +the Euxine: bending to the south-west, the river passes under the +walls of Satala and Melitene, (which were restored by Justinian +as the bulwarks of the Lesser Armenia,) and gradually approaches +the Mediterranean Sea; till at length, repelled by Mount Taurus, +^131 the Euphrates inclines its long and flexible course to the +south-east and the Gulf of Persia. Among the Roman cities beyond +the Euphrates, we distinguish two recent foundations, which were +named from Theodosius, and the relics of the martyrs; and two +capitals, Amida and Edessa, which are celebrated in the history +of every age. Their strength was proportioned by Justinian to +the danger of their situation. A ditch and palisade might be +sufficient to resist the artless force of the cavalry of Scythia; +but more elaborate works were required to sustain a regular siege +against the arms and treasures of the great king. His skilful +engineers understood the methods of conducting deep mines, and of +raising platforms to the level of the rampart: he shook the +strongest battlements with his military engines, and sometimes +advanced to the assault with a line of movable turrets on the +backs of elephants. In the great cities of the East, the +disadvantage of space, perhaps of position, was compensated by +the zeal of the people, who seconded the garrison in the defence +of their country and religion; and the fabulous promise of the +Son of God, that Edessa should never be taken, filled the +citizens with valiant confidence, and chilled the besiegers with +doubt and dismay. ^132 The subordinate towns of Armenia and +Mesopotamia were diligently strengthened, and the posts which +appeared to have any command of ground or water were occupied by +numerous forts, substantially built of stone, or more hastily +erected with the obvious materials of earth and brick. The eye +of Justinian investigated every spot; and his cruel precautions +might attract the war into some lonely vale, whose peaceful +natives, connected by trade and marriage, were ignorant of +national discord and the quarrels of princes. Westward of the +Euphrates, a sandy desert extends above six hundred miles to the +Red Sea. Nature had interposed a vacant solitude between the +ambition of two rival empires; the Arabians, till Mahomet arose, +were formidable only as robbers; and in the proud security of +peace the fortifications of Syria were neglected on the most +vulnerable side. + +[Footnote 125: See Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 19. The altar of +national concern, of annual sacrifice and oaths, which Diocletian +had created in the Isla of Elephantine, was demolished by +Justinian with less policy than] +[Footnote 126: Procopius de Edificiis, l. iii. c. 7. Hist. l. +viii. c. 3, 4. These unambitious Goths had refused to follow the +standard of Theodoric. As late as the xvth and xvith century, +the name and nation might be discovered between Caffa and the +Straits of Azoph, (D'Anville, Memoires de l'academie, tom. xxx. +p. 240.) They well deserved the curiosity of Busbequius, (p. 321 +- 326;) but seem to have vanished in the more recent account of +the Missions du Levant, (tom. i.,) Tott, Peysonnnel, &c.] + +[Footnote 127: For the geography and architecture of this +Armenian border, see the Persian Wars and Edifices (l. ii. c. 4 - +7, l. iii. c. 2 - 7) of Procopius.] + +[Footnote 128: The country is described by Tournefort, (Voyage au +Levant, tom. iii. lettre xvii. xviii.) That skilful botanist soon +discovered the plant that infects the honey, (Plin. xxi. 44, 45:) +he observes, that the soldiers of Lucullus might indeed be +astonished at the cold, since, even in the plain of Erzerum, snow +sometimes falls in June, and the harvest is seldom finished +before September. The hills of Armenia are below the fortieth +degree of latitude; but in the mountainous country which I +inhabit, it is well known that an ascent of some hours carries +the traveller from the climate of Languedoc to that of Norway; +and a general theory has been introduced, that, under the line, +an elevation of 2400 toises is equivalent to the cold of the +polar circle, (Remond, Observations sur les Voyages de Coxe dans +la Suisse, tom. ii. p. 104.)] + +[Footnote 129: The identity or proximity of the Chalybians, or +Chaldaeana may be investigated in Strabo, (l. xii. p. 825, 826,) +Cellarius, (Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 202 - 204,) and Freret, +(Mem. de Academie, tom. iv. p. 594) Xenophon supposes, in his +romance, (Cyropaed l. iii.,) the same Barbarians, against whom he +had fought in his retreat, (Anabasis, l. iv.)] +[Footnote 130: Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 15. De Edific. l. +iii. c. 6.] +[Footnote 131: Ni Taurus obstet in nostra maria venturus, +(Pomponius Mela, iii. 8.) Pliny, a poet as well as a naturalist, +(v. 20,) personifies the river and mountain, and describes their +combat. See the course of the Tigris and Euphrates in the +excellent treatise of D'Anville.] + +[Footnote 132: Procopius (Persic. l. ii. c. 12) tells the story +with the tone, half sceptical, half superstitious, of Herodotus. +The promise was not in the primitive lie of Eusebius, but dates +at least from the year 400; and a third lie, the Veronica, was +soon raised on the two former, (Evagrius, l. iv. c. 27.) As +Edessa has been taken, Tillemont must disclaim the promise, (Mem. +Eccles. tom. i. p. 362, 383, 617.)] + + But the national enmity, at least the effects of that +enmity, had been suspended by a truce, which continued above +fourscore years. An ambassador from the emperor Zeno accompanied +the rash and unfortunate Perozes, ^* in his expedition against +the Nepthalites, ^! or white Huns, whose conquests had been +stretched from the Caspian to the heart of India, whose throne +was enriched with emeralds, ^133 and whose cavalry was supported +by a line of two thousand elephants. ^134 The Persians ^* were +twice circumvented, in a situation which made valor useless and +flight impossible; and the double victory of the Huns was +achieved by military stratagem. They dismissed their royal +captive after he had submitted to adore the majesty of a +Barbarian; and the humiliation was poorly evaded by the +casuistical subtlety of the Magi, who instructed Perozes to +direct his attention to the rising sun. ^!! The indignant +successor of Cyrus forgot his danger and his gratitude; he +renewed the attack with headstrong fury, and lost both his army +and his life. ^135 The death of Perozes abandoned Persia to her +foreign and domestic enemies; ^!!! and twelve years of confusion +elapsed before his son Cabades, or Kobad, could embrace any +designs of ambition or revenge. The unkind parsimony of +Anastasius was the motive or pretence of a Roman war; ^136 the +Huns and Arabs marched under the Persian standard, and the +fortifications of Armenia and Mesopotamia were, at that time, in +a ruinous or imperfect condition. The emperor returned his +thanks to the governor and people of Martyropolis for the prompt +surrender of a city which could not be successfully defended, and +the conflagration of Theodosiopolis might justify the conduct of +their prudent neighbors. Amida sustained a long and destructive +siege: at the end of three months the loss of fifty thousand of +the soldiers of Cabades was not balanced by any prospect of +success, and it was in vain that the Magi deduced a flattering +prediction from the indecency of the women ^* on the ramparts, +who had revealed their most secret charms to the eyes of the +assailants. At length, in a silent night, they ascended the most +accessible tower, which was guarded only by some monks, +oppressed, after the duties of a festival, with sleep and wine. +Scaling-ladders were applied at the dawn of day; the presence of +Cabades, his stern command, and his drawn sword, compelled the +Persians to vanquish; and before it was sheathed, fourscore +thousand of the inhabitants had expiated the blood of their +companions. After the siege of Amida, the war continued three +years, and the unhappy frontier tasted the full measure of its +calamities. The gold of Anastasius was offered too late, the +number of his troops was defeated by the number of their +generals; the country was stripped of its inhabitants, and both +the living and the dead were abandoned to the wild beasts of the +desert. The resistance of Edessa, and the deficiency of spoil, +inclined the mind of Cabades to peace: he sold his conquests for +an exorbitant price; and the same line, though marked with +slaughter and devastation, still separated the two empires. To +avert the repetition of the same evils, Anastasius resolved to +found a new colony, so strong, that it should defy the power of +the Persian, so far advanced towards Assyria, that its stationary +troops might defend the province by the menace or operation of +offensive war. For this purpose, the town of Dara, ^137 fourteen +miles from Nisibis, and four days' journey from the Tigris, was +peopled and adorned; the hasty works of Anastasius were improved +by the perseverance of Justinian; and, without insisting on +places less important, the fortifications of Dara may represent +the military architecture of the age. The city was surrounded +with two walls, and the interval between them, of fifty paces, +afforded a retreat to the cattle of the besieged. The inner wall +was a monument of strength and beauty: it measured sixty feet +from the ground, and the height of the towers was one hundred +feet; the loopholes, from whence an enemy might be annoyed with +missile weapons, were small, but numerous; the soldiers were +planted along the rampart, under the shelter of double galleries, +and a third platform, spacious and secure, was raised on the +summit of the towers. The exterior wall appears to have been +less lofty, but more solid; and each tower was protected by a +quadrangular bulwark. A hard, rocky soil resisted the tools of +the miners, and on the south-east, where the ground was more +tractable, their approach was retarded by a new work, which +advanced in the shape of a half-moon. The double and treble +ditches were filled with a stream of water; and in the management +of the river, the most skilful labor was employed to supply the +inhabitants, to distress the besiegers, and to prevent the +mischiefs of a natural or artificial inundation. Dara continued +more than sixty years to fulfil the wishes of its founders, and +to provoke the jealousy of the Persians, who incessantly +complained, that this impregnable fortress had been constructed +in manifest violation of the treaty of peace between the two +empires. ^* + +[Footnote *: Firouz the Conqueror - unfortunately so named. See +St. Martin, vol. vi. p. 439. - M.] + +[Footnote !: Rather Hepthalites. - M.] + +[Footnote 133: They were purchased from the merchants of Adulis +who traded to India, (Cosmas, Topograph. Christ. l. xi. p. 339;) +yet, in the estimate of precious stones, the Scythian emerald was +the first, the Bactrian the second, the Aethiopian only the +third, (Hill's Theophrastus, p. 61, &c., 92.) The production, +mines, &c., of emeralds, are involved in darkness; and it is +doubtful whether we possess any of the twelve sorts known to the +ancients, (Goguet, Origine des Loix, &c., part ii. l. ii. c. 2, +art. 3.) In this war the Huns got, or at least Perozes lost, the +finest pearl in the world, of which Procopius relates a +ridiculous fable.] + +[Footnote 134: The Indo-Scythae continued to reign from the time +of Augustus (Dionys. Perieget. 1088, with the Commentary of +Eustathius, in Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom. iv.) to that of the +elder Justin, (Cosmas, Topograph. Christ. l. xi. p. 338, 339.) On +their origin and conquests, see D'Anville, (sur l'Inde, p. 18, +45, &c., 69, 85, 89.) In the second century they were masters of +Larice or Guzerat.] + +[Footnote *: According to the Persian historians, he was misled +by guides who used he old stratagem of Zopyrus. Malcolm, vol. i. +p. 101. - M.] +[Footnote !!: In the Ms. Chronicle of Tabary, it is said that the +Moubedan Mobed, or Grand Pontiff, opposed with all his influence +the violation of the treaty. St. Martin, vol. vii. p. 254. - M.] + +[Footnote 135: See the fate of Phirouz, or Perozes, and its +consequences, in Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 3 - 6,) who may be +compared with the fragments of Oriental history, (D'Herbelot, +Bibliot. Orient. p. 351, and Texeira, History of Persia, +translated or abridged by Stephens, l. i. c. 32, p. 132 - 138.) +The chronology is ably ascertained by Asseman. (Bibliot. Orient. +tom. iii. p. 396 - 427.)] + +[Footnote !!!: When Firoze advanced, Khoosh-Nuaz (the king of the +Huns) presented on the point of a lance the treaty to which he +had sworn, and exhorted him yet to desist before he destroyed his +fame forever. Malcolm, vol. i. p. 103. - M.] + +[Footnote 136: The Persian war, under the reigns of Anastasius +and Justin, may be collected from Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 7, +8, 9,) Theophanes, (in Chronograph. p. 124 - 127,) Evagrius, (l. +iii. c. 37,) Marcellinus, (in Chron. p. 47,) and Josue Stylites, +(apud Asseman. tom. i. p. 272 - 281.)] +[Footnote *: Gibbon should have written "some prostitutes." Proc +Pers. vol. 1 p. 7. - M.] + +[Footnote 137: The description of Dara is amply and correctly +given by Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 10, l. ii. c. 13. De +Edific. l. ii. c. 1, 2, 3, l. iii. c. 5.) See the situation in +D'Anville, (l'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 53, 54, 55,) though he +seems to double the interval between Dara and Nisibis.] +[Footnote *: The situation (of Dara) does not appear to give it +strength, as it must have been commanded on three sides by the +mountains, but opening on the south towards the plains of +Mesopotamia. The foundation of the walls and towers, built of +large hewn stone, may be traced across the valley, and over a +number of low rocky hills which branch out from the foot of Mount +Masius. The circumference I conceive to be nearly two miles and a +half; and a small stream, which flows through the middle of the +place, has induced several Koordish and Armenian families to fix +their residence within the ruins. Besides the walls and towers, +the remains of many other buildings attest the former grandeur of +Dara; a considerable part of the space within the walls is arched +and vaulted underneath, and in one place we perceived a large +cavern, supported by four ponderous columns, somewhat resembling +the great cistern of Constantinople. In the centre of the +village are the ruins of a palace (probably that mentioned by +Procopius) or church, one hundred paces in length, and sixty in +breadth. The foundations, which are quite entire, consist of a +prodigious number of subterraneous vaulted chambers, entered by a +narrow passage forty paces in length. The gate is still +standing; a considerable part of the wall has bid defiance to +time, &c. M Donald Kinneir's Journey, p. 438. - M] + + Between the Euxine and the Caspian, the countries of +Colchos, Iberia, and Albania, are intersected in every direction +by the branches of Mount Caucasus; and the two principal gates, +or passes, from north to south, have been frequently confounded +in the geography both of the ancients and moderns. The name of +Caspian or Albanian gates is properly applied to Derbend, ^138 +which occupies a short declivity between the mountains and the +sea: the city, if we give credit to local tradition, had been +founded by the Greeks; and this dangerous entrance was fortified +by the kings of Persia with a mole, double walls, and doors of +iron. The Iberian gates ^139 ^* are formed by a narrow passage +of six miles in Mount Caucasus, which opens from the northern +side of Iberia, or Georgia, into the plain that reaches to the +Tanais and the Volga. A fortress, designed by Alexander perhaps, +or one of his successors, to command that important pass, had +descended by right of conquest or inheritance to a prince of the +Huns, who offered it for a moderate price to the emperor; but +while Anastasius paused, while he timorously computed the cost +and the distance, a more vigilant rival interposed, and Cabades +forcibly occupied the Straits of Caucasus. The Albanian and +Iberian gates excluded the horsemen of Scythia from the shortest +and most practicable roads, and the whole front of the mountains +was covered by the rampart of Gog and Magog, the long wall which +has excited the curiosity of an Arabian caliph ^140 and a Russian +conqueror. ^141 According to a recent description, huge stones, +seven feet thick, and twenty-one feet in length or height, are +artificially joined without iron or cement, to compose a wall, +which runs above three hundred miles from the shores of Derbend, +over the hills, and through the valleys of Daghestan and Georgia. + +Without a vision, such a work might be undertaken by the policy +of Cabades; without a miracle, it might be accomplished by his +son, so formidable to the Romans, under the name of Chosroes; so +dear to the Orientals, under the appellation of Nushirwan. The +Persian monarch held in his hand the keys both of peace and war; +but he stipulated, in every treaty, that Justinian should +contribute to the expense of a common barrier, which equally +protected the two empires from the inroads of the Scythians. ^142 + +[Footnote 138: For the city and pass of Derbend, see D'Herbelot, +(Bibliot. Orient. p. 157, 291, 807,) Petit de la Croix. (Hist. +de Gengiscan, l. iv. c. 9,) Histoire Genealogique des Tatars, +(tom. i. p. 120,) Olearius, (Voyage en Perse, p. 1039 - 1041,) +and Corneille le Bruyn, (Voyages, tom. i. p. 146, 147:) his view +may be compared with the plan of Olearius, who judges the wall to +be of shells and gravel hardened by time.] + +[Footnote 139: Procopius, though with some confusion, always +denominates them Caspian, (Persic. l. i. c. 10.) The pass is now +styled Tatar-topa, the Tartar-gates, (D'Anville, Geographie +Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 119, 120.)] +[Footnote *: Malte-Brun. tom. viii. p. 12, makes three passes: + 1. The central, which leads from Mosdok to Teflis. + + 2. The Albanian, more inland than the Derbend Pass. + + 3. The Derbend - the Caspian Gates. + + But the narrative of Col. Monteith, in the Journal of the +Geographical Society of London. vol. iii. p. i. p. 39, clearly +shows that there are but two passes between the Black Sea and the +Caspian; the central, the Caucasian, or, as Col. Monteith calls +it, the Caspian Gates, and the pass of Derbend, though it is +practicable to turn this position (of Derbend) by a road a few +miles distant through the mountains, p. 40. - M.] + +[Footnote 140: The imaginary rampart of Gog and Magog, which was +seriously explored and believed by a caliph of the ninth century, +appears to be derived from the gates of Mount Caucasus, and a +vague report of the wall of China, (Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 267 - +270. Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxxi. p. 210 - 219.)] + +[Footnote 141: See a learned dissertation of Baier, de muro +Caucaseo, in Comment. Acad. Petropol. ann. 1726, tom. i. p. 425 - +463; but it is destitute of a map or plan. When the czar Peter +I. became master of Derbend in the year 1722, the measure of the +wall was found to be 3285 Russian orgyioe, or fathom, each of +seven feet English; in the whole somewhat more than four miles in +length.] + +[Footnote 142: See the fortifications and treaties of Chosroes, +or Nushirwan, in Procopius (Persic. l. i. c. 16, 22, l. ii.) and +D'Herbelot, (p. 682.)] + VII. Justinian suppressed the schools of Athens and the +consulship of Rome, which had given so many sages and heroes to +mankind. Both these institutions had long since degenerated from +their primitive glory; yet some reproach may be justly inflicted +on the avarice and jealousy of a prince, by whose hand such +venerable ruins were destroyed. + + Athens, after her Persian triumphs, adopted the philosophy +of Ionia and the rhetoric of Sicily; and these studies became the +patrimony of a city, whose inhabitants, about thirty thousand +males, condensed, within the period of a single life, the genius +of ages and millions. Our sense of the dignity of human nature +is exalted by the simple recollection, that Isocrates ^143 was +the companion of Plato and Xenophon; that he assisted, perhaps +with the historian Thucydides, at the first representation of the +Oedipus of Sophocles and the Iphigenia of Euripides; and that his +pupils Aeschines and Demosthenes contended for the crown of +patriotism in the presence of Aristotle, the master of +Theophrastus, who taught at Athens with the founders of the Stoic +and Epicurean sects. ^144 The ingenuous youth of Attica enjoyed +the benefits of their domestic education, which was communicated +without envy to the rival cities. Two thousand disciples heard +the lessons of Theophrastus; ^145 the schools of rhetoric must +have been still more populous than those of philosophy; and a +rapid succession of students diffused the fame of their teachers +as far as the utmost limits of the Grecian language and name. +Those limits were enlarged by the victories of Alexander; the +arts of Athens survived her freedom and dominion; and the Greek +colonies which the Macedonians planted in Egypt, and scattered +over Asia, undertook long and frequent pilgrimages to worship the +Muses in their favorite temple on the banks of the Ilissus. The +Latin conquerors respectfully listened to the instructions of +their subjects and captives; the names of Cicero and Horace were +enrolled in the schools of Athens; and after the perfect +settlement of the Roman empire, the natives of Italy, of Africa, +and of Britain, conversed in the groves of the academy with their +fellow-students of the East. The studies of philosophy and +eloquence are congenial to a popular state, which encourages the +freedom of inquiry, and submits only to the force of persuasion. +In the republics of Greece and Rome, the art of speaking was the +powerful engine of patriotism or ambition; and the schools of +rhetoric poured forth a colony of statesmen and legislators. +When the liberty of public debate was suppressed, the orator, in +the honorable profession of an advocate, might plead the cause of +innocence and justice; he might abuse his talents in the more +profitable trade of panegyric; and the same precepts continued to +dictate the fanciful declamations of the sophist, and the chaster +beauties of historical composition. The systems which professed +to unfold the nature of God, of man, and of the universe, +entertained the curiosity of the philosophic student; and +according to the temper of his mind, he might doubt with the +Sceptics, or decide with the Stoics, sublimely speculate with +Plato, or severely argue with Aristotle. The pride of the +adverse sects had fixed an unattainable term of moral happiness +and perfection; but the race was glorious and salutary; the +disciples of Zeno, and even those of Epicurus, were taught both +to act and to suffer; and the death of Petronius was not less +effectual than that of Seneca, to humble a tyrant by the +discovery of his impotence. The light of science could not indeed +be confined within the walls of Athens. Her incomparable writers +address themselves to the human race; the living masters +emigrated to Italy and Asia; Berytus, in later times, was devoted +to the study of the law; astronomy and physic were cultivated in +the musaeum of Alexandria; but the Attic schools of rhetoric and +philosophy maintained their superior reputation from the +Peloponnesian war to the reign of Justinian. Athens, though +situate in a barren soil, possessed a pure air, a free +navigation, and the monuments of ancient art. That sacred +retirement was seldom disturbed by the business of trade or +government; and the last of the Athenians were distinguished by +their lively wit, the purity of their taste and language, their +social manners, and some traces, at least in discourse, of the +magnanimity of their fathers. In the suburbs of the city, the +academy of the Platonists, the lycaeum of the Peripatetics, the +portico of the Stoics, and the garden of the Epicureans, were +planted with trees and decorated with statues; and the +philosophers, instead of being immured in a cloister, delivered +their instructions in spacious and pleasant walks, which, at +different hours, were consecrated to the exercises of the mind +and body. The genius of the founders still lived in those +venerable seats; the ambition of succeeding to the masters of +human reason excited a generous emulation; and the merit of the +candidates was determined, on each vacancy, by the free voices of +an enlightened people. The Athenian professors were paid by +their disciples: according to their mutual wants and abilities, +the price appears to have varied; and Isocrates himself, who +derides the avarice of the sophists, required, in his school of +rhetoric, about thirty pounds from each of his hundred pupils. +The wages of industry are just and honorable, yet the same +Isocrates shed tears at the first receipt of a stipend: the Stoic +might blush when he was hired to preach the contempt of money; +and I should be sorry to discover that Aristotle or Plato so far +degenerated from the example of Socrates, as to exchange +knowledge for gold. But some property of lands and houses was +settled by the permission of the laws, and the legacies of +deceased friends, on the philosophic chairs of Athens. Epicurus +bequeathed to his disciples the gardens which he had purchased +for eighty minae or two hundred and fifty pounds, with a fund +sufficient for their frugal subsistence and monthly festivals; +^146 and the patrimony of Plato afforded an annual rent, which, +in eight centuries, was gradually increased from three to one +thousand pieces of gold. ^147 The schools of Athens were +protected by the wisest and most virtuous of the Roman princes. +The library, which Hadrian founded, was placed in a portico +adorned with pictures, statues, and a roof of alabaster, and +supported by one hundred columns of Phrygian marble. The public +salaries were assigned by the generous spirit of the Antonines; +and each professor of politics, of rhetoric, of the Platonic, the +Peripatetic, the Stoic, and the Epicurean philosophy, received an +annual stipend of ten thousand drachmae, or more than three +hundred pounds sterling. ^148 After the death of Marcus, these +liberal donations, and the privileges attached to the thrones of +science, were abolished and revived, diminished and enlarged; but +some vestige of royal bounty may be found under the successors of +Constantine; and their arbitrary choice of an unworthy candidate +might tempt the philosophers of Athens to regret the days of +independence and poverty. ^149 It is remarkable, that the +impartial favor of the Antonines was bestowed on the four adverse +sects of philosophy, which they considered as equally useful, or +at least, as equally innocent. Socrates had formerly been the +glory and the reproach of his country; and the first lessons of +Epicurus so strangely scandalized the pious ears of the +Athenians, that by his exile, and that of his antagonists, they +silenced all vain disputes concerning the nature of the gods. +But in the ensuing year they recalled the hasty decree, restored +the liberty of the schools, and were convinced by the experience +of ages, that the moral character of philosophers is not affected +by the diversity of their theological speculations. ^150 + +[Footnote 143: The life of Isocrates extends from Olymp. lxxxvi. +1. to cx. 3, (ante Christ. 436 - 438.) See Dionys. Halicarn. tom. +ii. p. 149, 150, edit. Hudson. Plutarch (sive anonymus) in Vit. +X. Oratorum, p. 1538 - 1543, edit. H. Steph. Phot. cod. cclix. +p. 1453.] + +[Footnote 144: The schools of Athens are copiously though +concisely represented in the Fortuna Attica of Meursius, (c. +viii. p. 59 - 73, in tom. i. Opp.) For the state and arts of the +city, see the first book of Pausanias, and a small tract of +Dicaearchus, in the second volume of Hudson's Geographers,) who +wrote about Olymp. cxvii. (Dodwell's Dissertia sect. 4.)] +[Footnote 145: Diogen Laert. de Vit. Philosoph. l. v. segm. 37, +p. 289.] +[Footnote 146: See the Testament of Epicurus in Diogen. Laert. +l. x. segm. 16 - 20, p. 611, 612. A single epistle (ad +Familiares, xiii. l.) displays the injustice of the Areopagus, +the fidelity of the Epicureans, the dexterous politeness of +Cicero, and the mixture of contempt and esteem with which the +Roman senators considered the philosophy and philosophers of +Greece.] +[Footnote 147: Damascius, in Vit. Isidor. apud Photium, cod. +ccxlii. p. 1054.] + +[Footnote 148: See Lucian (in Eunuch. tom. ii. p. 350 - 359, +edit. Reitz,) Philostratus (in Vit. Sophist. l. ii. c. 2,) and +Dion Cassius, or Xiphilin, (lxxi. p. 1195,) with their editors Du +Soul, Olearius, and Reimar, and, above all, Salmasius, (ad Hist. +August. p. 72.) A judicious philosopher (Smith's Wealth of +Nations, vol. ii. p. 340 - 374) prefers the free contributions of +the students to a fixed stipend for the professor.] + +[Footnote 149: Brucker, Hist. Crit. Philosoph. tom. ii. p. 310, +&c.] +[Footnote 150: The birth of Epicurus is fixed to the year 342 +before Christ, (Bayle,) Olympiad cix. 3; and he opened his school +at Athens, Olmp. cxviii. 3, 306 years before the same aera. This +intolerant law (Athenaeus, l. xiii. p. 610. Diogen. Laertius, l. +v. s. 38. p. 290. Julius Pollux, ix. 5) was enacted in the same +or the succeeding year, (Sigonius, Opp. tom. v. p. 62. Menagius +ad Diogen. Laert. p. 204. Corsini, Fasti Attici, tom. iv. p. +67, 68.) Theophrastus chief of the Peripatetics, and disciple of +Aristotle, was involved in the same exile.] + + The Gothic arms were less fatal to the schools of Athens +than the establishment of a new religion, whose ministers +superseded the exercise of reason, resolved every question by an +article of faith, and condemned the infidel or sceptic to eternal +flames. In many a volume of laborious controversy, they exposed +the weakness of the understanding and the corruption of the +heart, insulted human nature in the sages of antiquity, and +proscribed the spirit of philosophical inquiry, so repugnant to +the doctrine, or at least to the temper, of an humble believer. +The surviving sects of the Platonists, whom Plato would have +blushed to acknowledge, extravagantly mingled a sublime theory +with the practice of superstition and magic; and as they remained +alone in the midst of a Christian world, they indulged a secret +rancor against the government of the church and state, whose +severity was still suspended over their heads. About a century +after the reign of Julian, ^151 Proclus ^152 was permitted to +teach in the philosophic chair of the academy; and such was his +industry, that he frequently, in the same day, pronounced five +lessons, and composed seven hundred lines. His sagacious mind +explored the deepest questions of morals and metaphysics, and he +ventured to urge eighteen arguments against the Christian +doctrine of the creation of the world. But in the intervals of +study, he personally conversed with Pan, Aesculapius, and +Minerva, in whose mysteries he was secretly initiated, and whose +prostrate statues he adored; in the devout persuasion that the +philosopher, who is a citizen of the universe, should be the +priest of its various deities. An eclipse of the sun announced +his approaching end; and his life, with that of his scholar +Isidore, ^153 compiled by two of their most learned disciples, +exhibits a deplorable picture of the second childhood of human +reason. Yet the golden chain, as it was fondly styled, of the +Platonic succession, continued forty-four years from the death of +Proclus to the edict of Justinian, ^154 which imposed a perpetual +silence on the schools of Athens, and excited the grief and +indignation of the few remaining votaries of Grecian science and +superstition. Seven friends and philosophers, Diogenes and +Hermias, Eulalius and Priscian, Damascius, Isidore, and +Simplicius, who dissented from the religion of their sovereign, +embraced the resolution of seeking in a foreign land the freedom +which was denied in their native country. They had heard, and +they credulously believed, that the republic of Plato was +realized in the despotic government of Persia, and that a patriot +king reigned ever the happiest and most virtuous of nations. +They were soon astonished by the natural discovery, that Persia +resembled the other countries of the globe; that Chosroes, who +affected the name of a philosopher, was vain, cruel, and +ambitious; that bigotry, and a spirit of intolerance, prevailed +among the Magi; that the nobles were haughty, the courtiers +servile, and the magistrates unjust; that the guilty sometimes +escaped, and that the innocent were often oppressed. The +disappointment of the philosophers provoked them to overlook the +real virtues of the Persians; and they were scandalized, more +deeply perhaps than became their profession, with the plurality +of wives and concubines, the incestuous marriages, and the custom +of exposing dead bodies to the dogs and vultures, instead of +hiding them in the earth, or consuming them with fire. Their +repentance was expressed by a precipitate return, and they loudly +declared that they had rather die on the borders of the empire, +than enjoy the wealth and favor of the Barbarian. From this +journey, however, they derived a benefit which reflects the +purest lustre on the character of Chosroes. He required, that +the seven sages who had visited the court of Persia should be +exempted from the penal laws which Justinian enacted against his +Pagan subjects; and this privilege, expressly stipulated in a +treaty of peace, was guarded by the vigilance of a powerful +mediator. ^155 Simplicius and his companions ended their lives in +peace and obscurity; and as they left no disciples, they +terminate the long list of Grecian philosophers, who may be +justly praised, notwithstanding their defects, as the wisest and +most virtuous of their contemporaries. The writings of +Simplicius are now extant. His physical and metaphysical +commentaries on Aristotle have passed away with the fashion of +the times; but his moral interpretation of Epictetus is preserved +in the library of nations, as a classic book, most excellently +adapted to direct the will, to purify the heart, and to confirm +the understanding, by a just confidence in the nature both of God +and man. + +[Footnote 151: This is no fanciful aera: the Pagans reckoned +their calamities from the reign of their hero. Proclus, whose +nativity is marked by his horoscope, (A.D. 412, February 8, at C. +P.,) died 124 years, A.D. 485, (Marin. in Vita Procli, c. 36.)] + +[Footnote 152: The life of Proclus, by Marinus, was published by +Fabricius (Hamburg, 1700, et ad calcem Bibliot. Latin. Lond. +1703.) See Saidas, (tom. iii. p. 185, 186,) Fabricius, (Bibliot. +Graec. l. v. c. 26 p. 449 - 552,) and Brucker, (Hist. Crit. +Philosoph. tom. ii. p. 319 - 326] + +[Footnote 153: The life of Isidore was composed by Damascius, +(apud Photium, sod. ccxlii. p. 1028 - 1076.) See the last age of +the Pagan philosophers, in Brucker, (tom. ii. p. 341 - 351.)] + +[Footnote 154: The suppression of the schools of Athens is +recorded by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 187, sub Decio Cos. Sol.,) +and an anonymous Chronicle in the Vatican library, (apud Aleman. +p. 106.)] + +[Footnote 155: Agathias (l. ii. p. 69, 70, 71) relates this +curious story Chosroes ascended the throne in the year 531, and +made his first peace with the Romans in the beginning of 533 - a +date most compatible with his young fame and the old age of +Isidore, (Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. iii. p. 404. Pagi, tom. +ii. p. 543, 550.)] + + About the same time that Pythagoras first invented the +appellation of philosopher, liberty and the consulship were +founded at Rome by the elder Brutus. The revolutions of the +consular office, which may be viewed in the successive lights of +a substance, a shadow, and a name, have been occasionally +mentioned in the present History. The first magistrates of the +republic had been chosen by the people, to exercise, in the +senate and in the camp, the powers of peace and war, which were +afterwards translated to the emperors. But the tradition of +ancient dignity was long revered by the Romans and Barbarians. A +Gothic historian applauds the consulship of Theodoric as the +height of all temporal glory and greatness; ^156 the king of +Italy himself congratulated those annual favorites of fortune +who, without the cares, enjoyed the splendor of the throne; and +at the end of a thousand years, two consuls were created by the +sovereigns of Rome and Constantinople, for the sole purpose of +giving a date to the year, and a festival to the people. But the +expenses of this festival, in which the wealthy and the vain +aspired to surpass their predecessors, insensibly arose to the +enormous sum of fourscore thousand pounds; the wisest senators +declined a useless honor, which involved the certain ruin of +their families, and to this reluctance I should impute the +frequent chasms in the last age of the consular Fasti. The +predecessors of Justinian had assisted from the public treasures +the dignity of the less opulent candidates; the avarice of that +prince preferred the cheaper and more convenient method of advice +and regulation. ^157 Seven processions or spectacles were the +number to which his edict confined the horse and chariot races, +the athletic sports, the music, and pantomimes of the theatre, +and the hunting of wild beasts; and small pieces of silver were +discreetly substituted to the gold medals, which had always +excited tumult and drunkenness, when they were scattered with a +profuse hand among the populace. Notwithstanding these +precautions, and his own example, the succession of consuls +finally ceased in the thirteenth year of Justinian, whose +despotic temper might be gratified by the silent extinction of a +title which admonished the Romans of their ancient freedom. ^158 +Yet the annual consulship still lived in the minds of the people; +they fondly expected its speedy restoration; they applauded the +gracious condescension of successive princes, by whom it was +assumed in the first year of their reign; and three centuries +elapsed, after the death of Justinian, before that obsolete +dignity, which had been suppressed by custom, could be abolished +by law. ^159 The imperfect mode of distinguishing each year by +the name of a magistrate, was usefully supplied by the date of a +permanent aera: the creation of the world, according to the +Septuagint version, was adopted by the Greeks; ^160 and the +Latins, since the age of Charlemagne, have computed their time +from the birth of Christ. ^161 + +[Footnote 156: Cassiodor. Variarum Epist. vi. 1. Jornandes, c. +57, p. 696, dit. Grot. Quod summum bonum primumque in mundo +decus dicitur.] +[Footnote 157: See the regulations of Justinian, (Novell. cv.,) +dated at Constantinople, July 5, and addressed to Strategius, +treasurer of the empire.] +[Footnote 158: Procopius, in Anecdot. c. 26. Aleman. p. 106. In +the xviiith year after the consulship of Basilius, according to +the reckoning of Marcellinus, Victor, Marius, &c., the secret +history was composed, and, in the eyes of Procopius, the +consulship was finally abolished.] + +[Footnote 159: By Leo, the philosopher, (Novell. xciv. A.D. 886 - +911.) See Pagi (Dissertat. Hypatica, p. 325 - 362) and Ducange, +(Gloss, Graec p. 1635, 1636.) Even the title was vilified: +consulatus codicilli . . vilescunt, says the emperor himself.] + +[Footnote 160: According to Julius Africanus, &c., the world was +created the first of September, 5508 years, three months, and +twenty-five days before the birth of Christ. (See Pezron, +Antiquite des Tems defendue, p. 20 - 28.) And this aera has been +used by the Greeks, the Oriental Christians, and even by the +Russians, till the reign of Peter I The period, however +arbitrary, is clear and convenient. Of the 7296 years which are +supposed to elapse since the creation, we shall find 3000 of +ignorance and darkness; 2000 either fabulous or doubtful; 1000 of +ancient history, commencing with the Persian empire, and the +Republics of Rome and Athens; 1000 from the fall of the Roman +empire in the West to the discovery of America; and the remaining +296 will almost complete three centuries of the modern state of +Europe and mankind. I regret this chronology, so far preferable +to our double and perplexed method of counting backwards and +forwards the years before and after the Christian era.] + +[Footnote 161: The aera of the world has prevailed in the East +since the vith general council, (A.D. 681.) In the West, the +Christian aera was first invented in the vith century: it was +propagated in the viiith by the authority and writings of +venerable Bede; but it was not till the xth that the use became +legal and popular. See l'Art de Veriner les Dates, Dissert. +Preliminaire, p. iii. xii. Dictionnaire Diplomatique, tom. i. p. +329 - 337; the works of a laborious society of Benedictine +monks.] + +Chapter XLI: Conquests Of Justinian, Charact Of Balisarius. + + +Part I. + + Conquests Of Justinian In The West. - Character And First +Campaigns Of Belisarius - He Invades And Subdues The Vandal +Kingdom Of Africa - His Triumph. - The Gothic War. - He Recovers +Sicily, Naples, And Rome. - Siege Of Rome By The Goths. - Their +Retreat And Losses. - Surrender Of Ravenna. - Glory Of +Belisarius. - His Domestic Shame And Misfortunes. + + When Justinian ascended the throne, about fifty years after +the fall of the Western empire, the kingdoms of the Goths and +Vandals had obtained a solid, and, as it might seem, a legal +establishment both in Europe and Africa. The titles, which Roman +victory had inscribed, were erased with equal justice by the +sword of the Barbarians; and their successful rapine derived a +more venerable sanction from time, from treaties, and from the +oaths of fidelity, already repeated by a second or third +generation of obedient subjects. Experience and Christianity had +refuted the superstitious hope, that Rome was founded by the gods +to reign forever over the nations of the earth. But the proud +claim of perpetual and indefeasible dominion, which her soldiers +could no longer maintain, was firmly asserted by her statesmen +and lawyers, whose opinions have been sometimes revived and +propagated in the modern schools of jurisprudence. After Rome +herself had been stripped of the Imperial purple, the princes of +Constantinople assumed the sole and sacred sceptre of the +monarchy; demanded, as their rightful inheritance, the provinces +which had been subdued by the consuls, or possessed by the +Caesars; and feebly aspired to deliver their faithful subjects of +the West from the usurpation of heretics and Barbarians. The +execution of this splendid design was in some degree reserved for +Justinian. During the five first years of his reign, he +reluctantly waged a costly and unprofitable war against the +Persians; till his pride submitted to his ambition, and he +purchased at the price of four hundred and forty thousand pounds +sterling, the benefit of a precarious truce, which, in the +language of both nations, was dignified with the appellation of +the endless peace. The safety of the East enabled the emperor to +employ his forces against the Vandals; and the internal state of +Africa afforded an honorable motive, and promised a powerful +support, to the Roman arms. ^1 +[Footnote 1: The complete series of the Vandal war is related by +Procopius in a regular and elegant narrative, (l. i. c. 9 - 25, +l. ii. c. 1 - 13,) and happy would be my lot, could I always +tread in the footsteps of such a guide. From the entire and +diligent perusal of the Greek text, I have a right to pronounce +that the Latin and French versions of Grotius and Cousin may not +be implicitly trusted; yet the president Cousin has been often +praised, and Hugo Grotius was the first scholar of a learned +age.] + + According to the testament of the founder, the African +kingdom had lineally descended to Hilderic, the eldest of the +Vandal princes. A mild disposition inclined the son of a tyrant, +the grandson of a conqueror, to prefer the counsels of clemency +and peace; and his accession was marked by the salutary edict, +which restored two hundred bishops to their churches, and allowed +the free profession of the Athanasian creed. ^2 But the Catholics +accepted, with cold and transient gratitude, a favor so +inadequate to their pretensions, and the virtues of Hilderic +offended the prejudices of his countrymen. The Arian clergy +presumed to insinuate that he had renounced the faith, and the +soldiers more loudly complained that he had degenerated from the +courage, of his ancestors. His ambassadors were suspected of a +secret and disgraceful negotiation in the Byzantine court; and +his general, the Achilles, ^3 as he was named, of the Vandals, +lost a battle against the naked and disorderly Moors. The public +discontent was exasperated by Gelimer, whose age, descent, and +military fame, gave him an apparent title to the succession: he +assumed, with the consent of the nation, the reins of government; +and his unfortunate sovereign sunk without a struggle from the +throne to a dungeon, where he was strictly guarded with a +faithful counsellor, and his unpopular nephew the Achilles of the +Vandals. But the indulgence which Hilderic had shown to his +Catholic subjects had powerfully recommended him to the favor of +Justinian, who, for the benefit of his own sect, could +acknowledge the use and justice of religious toleration: their +alliance, while the nephew of Justin remained in a private +station, was cemented by the mutual exchange of gifts and +letters; and the emperor Justinian asserted the cause of royalty +and friendship. In two successive embassies, he admonished the +usurper to repent of his treason, or to abstain, at least, from +any further violence which might provoke the displeasure of God +and of the Romans; to reverence the laws of kindred and +succession, and to suffer an infirm old man peaceably to end his +days, either on the throne of Carthage or in the palace of +Constantinople. The passions, or even the prudence, of Gelimer +compelled him to reject these requests, which were urged in the +haughty tone of menace and command; and he justified his ambition +in a language rarely spoken in the Byzantine court, by alleging +the right of a free people to remove or punish their chief +magistrate, who had failed in the execution of the kingly office. + +After this fruitless expostulation, the captive monarch was more +rigorously treated, his nephew was deprived of his eyes, and the +cruel Vandal, confident in his strength and distance, derided the +vain threats and slow preparations of the emperor of the East. +Justinian resolved to deliver or revenge his friend, Gelimer to +maintain his usurpation; and the war was preceded, according to +the practice of civilized nations, by the most solemn +protestations, that each party was sincerely desirous of peace. + +[Footnote 2: See Ruinart, Hist. Persecut. Vandal. c. xii. p. 589. + +His best evidence is drawn from the life of St. Fulgentius, +composed by one of his disciples, transcribed in a great measure +in the annals of Baronius, and printed in several great +collections, (Catalog. Bibliot. Bunavianae, tom. i. vol. ii. p. +1258.)] + +[Footnote 3: For what quality of the mind or body? For speed, or +beauty, or valor? - In what language did the Vandals read Homer? +- Did he speak German? - The Latins had four versions, (Fabric. +tom. i. l. ii. c. 8, p. 297:) yet, in spite of the praises of +Seneca, (Consol. c. 26,) they appear to have been more successful +in imitating than in translating the Greek poets. But the name +of Achilles might be famous and popular even among the illiterate +Barbarians.] + The report of an African war was grateful only to the vain +and idle populace of Constantinople, whose poverty exempted them +from tribute, and whose cowardice was seldom exposed to military +service. But the wiser citizens, who judged of the future by the +past, revolved in their memory the immense loss, both of men and +money, which the empire had sustained in the expedition of +Basiliscus. The troops, which, after five laborious campaigns, +had been recalled from the Persian frontier, dreaded the sea, the +climate, and the arms of an unknown enemy. The ministers of the +finances computed, as far as they might compute, the demands of +an African war; the taxes which must be found and levied to +supply those insatiate demands; and the danger, lest their own +lives, or at least their lucrative employments, should be made +responsible for the deficiency of the supply. Inspired by such +selfish motives, (for we may not suspect him of any zeal for the +public good,) John of Cappadocia ventured to oppose in full +council the inclinations of his master. He confessed, that a +victory of such importance could not be too dearly purchased; but +he represented in a grave discourse the certain difficulties and +the uncertain event. "You undertake," said the praefect, "to +besiege Carthage: by land, the distance is not less than one +hundred and forty days' journey; on the sea, a whole year ^4 must +elapse before you can receive any intelligence from your fleet. +If Africa should be reduced, it cannot be preserved without the +additional conquest of Sicily and Italy. Success will impose the +obligations of new labors; a single misfortune will attract the +Barbarians into the heart of your exhausted empire." Justinian +felt the weight of this salutary advice; he was confounded by the +unwonted freedom of an obsequious servant; and the design of the +war would perhaps have been relinquished, if his courage had not +been revived by a voice which silenced the doubts of profane +reason. "I have seen a vision," cried an artful or fanatic +bishop of the East. "It is the will of Heaven, O emperor! that +you should not abandon your holy enterprise for the deliverance +of the African church. The God of battles will march before your +standard, and disperse your enemies, who are the enemies of his +Son." The emperor, might be tempted, and his counsellors were +constrained, to give credit to this seasonable revelation: but +they derived more rational hope from the revolt, which the +adherents of Hilderic or Athanasius had already excited on the +borders of the Vandal monarchy. Pudentius, an African subject, +had privately signified his loyal intentions, and a small +military aid restored the province of Tripoli to the obedience of +the Romans. The government of Sardinia had been intrusted to +Godas, a valiant Barbarian he suspended the payment of tribute, +disclaimed his allegiance to the usurper, and gave audience to +the emissaries of Justinian, who found him master of that +fruitful island, at the head of his guards, and proudly invested +with the ensigns of royalty. The forces of the Vandals were +diminished by discord and suspicion; the Roman armies were +animated by the spirit of Belisarius; one of those heroic names +which are familiar to every age and to every nation. + +[Footnote 4: A year - absurd exaggeration! The conquest of +Africa may be dated A. D 533, September 14. It is celebrated by +Justinian in the preface to his Institutes, which were published +November 21 of the same year. Including the voyage and return, +such a computation might be truly applied to our Indian empire.] + + The Africanus of new Rome was born, and perhaps educated, +among the Thracian peasants, ^5 without any of those advantages +which had formed the virtues of the elder and younger Scipio; a +noble origin, liberal studies, and the emulation of a free state. + +The silence of a loquacious secretary may be admitted, to prove +that the youth of Belisarius could not afford any subject of +praise: he served, most assuredly with valor and reputation, +among the private guards of Justinian; and when his patron became +emperor, the domestic was promoted to military command. After a +bold inroad into Persarmenia, in which his glory was shared by a +colleague, and his progress was checked by an enemy, Belisarius +repaired to the important station of Dara, where he first +accepted the service of Procopius, the faithful companion, and +diligent historian, of his exploits. ^6 The Mirranes of Persia +advanced, with forty thousand of her best troops, to raze the +fortifications of Dara; and signified the day and the hour on +which the citizens should prepare a bath for his refreshment, +after the toils of victory. He encountered an adversary equal to +himself, by the new title of General of the East; his superior in +the science of war, but much inferior in the number and quality +of his troops, which amounted only to twenty-five thousand Romans +and strangers, relaxed in their discipline, and humbled by recent +disasters. As the level plain of Dara refused all shelter to +stratagem and ambush, Belisarius protected his front with a deep +trench, which was prolonged at first in perpendicular, and +afterwards in parallel, lines, to cover the wings of cavalry +advantageously posted to command the flanks and rear of the +enemy. When the Roman centre was shaken, their well-timed and +rapid charge decided the conflict: the standard of Persia fell; +the immortals fled; the infantry threw away their bucklers, and +eight thousand of the vanquished were left on the field of +battle. In the next campaign, Syria was invaded on the side of +the desert; and Belisarius, with twenty thousand men, hastened +from Dara to the relief of the province. During the whole summer, +the designs of the enemy were baffled by his skilful +dispositions: he pressed their retreat, occupied each night their +camp of the preceding day, and would have secured a bloodless +victory, if he could have resisted the impatience of his own +troops. Their valiant promise was faintly supported in the hour +of battle; the right wing was exposed by the treacherous or +cowardly desertion of the Christian Arabs; the Huns, a veteran +band of eight hundred warriors, were oppressed by superior +numbers; the flight of the Isaurians was intercepted; but the +Roman infantry stood firm on the left; for Belisarius himself, +dismounting from his horse, showed them that intrepid despair was +their only safety. ^* They turned their backs to the Euphrates, +and their faces to the enemy: innumerable arrows glanced without +effect from the compact and shelving order of their bucklers; an +impenetrable line of pikes was opposed to the repeated assaults +of the Persian cavalry; and after a resistance of many hours, the +remaining troops were skilfully embarked under the shadow of the +night. The Persian commander retired with disorder and disgrace, +to answer a strict account of the lives of so many soldiers, +which he had consumed in a barren victory. But the fame of +Belisarius was not sullied by a defeat, in which he alone had +saved his army from the consequences of their own rashness: the +approach of peace relieved him from the guard of the eastern +frontier, and his conduct in the sedition of Constantinople amply +discharged his obligations to the emperor. When the African war +became the topic of popular discourse and secret deliberation, +each of the Roman generals was apprehensive, rather than +ambitious, of the dangerous honor; but as soon as Justinian had +declared his preference of superior merit, their envy was +rekindled by the unanimous applause which was given to the choice +of Belisarius. The temper of the Byzantine court may encourage a +suspicion, that the hero was darkly assisted by the intrigues of +his wife, the fair and subtle Antonina, who alternately enjoyed +the confidence, and incurred the hatred, of the empress Theodora. + +The birth of Antonina was ignoble; she descended from a family of +charioteers; and her chastity has been stained with the foulest +reproach. Yet she reigned with long and absolute power over the +mind of her illustrious husband; and if Antonina disdained the +merit of conjugal fidelity, she expressed a manly friendship to +Belisarius, whom she accompanied with undaunted resolution in all +the hardships and dangers of a military life. ^7 + +[Footnote 5: (Procop. Vandal. l. i. c. 11.) Aleman, (Not. ad +Anecdot. p. 5,) an Italian, could easily reject the German vanity +of Giphanius and Velserus, who wished to claim the hero; but his +Germania, a metropolis of Thrace, I cannot find in any civil or +ecclesiastical lists of the provinces and cities. + + Note *: M. von Hammer (in a review of Lord Mahon's Life of +Belisarius in the Vienna Jahrbucher) shows that the name of +Belisarius is a Sclavonic word, Beli-tzar, the White Prince, and +that the place of his birth was a village of Illvria, which still +bears the name of Germany. - M.] + +[Footnote 6: The two first Persian campaigns of Belisarius are +fairly and copiously related by his secretary, (Persic. l. i. c. +12 - 18.)] +[Footnote *: The battle was fought on Easter Sunday, April 19, +not at the end of the summer. The date is supplied from John +Malala by Lord Mabon p. 47. - M.] + +[Footnote 7: See the birth and character of Antonina, in the +Anecdotes, c. l. and the notes of Alemannus, p. 3.] + + The preparations for the African war were not unworthy of +the last contest between Rome and Carthage. The pride and flower +of the army consisted of the guards of Belisarius, who, according +to the pernicious indulgence of the times, devoted themselves, by +a particular oath of fidelity, to the service of their patrons. +Their strength and stature, for which they had been curiously +selected, the goodness of their horses and armor, and the +assiduous practice of all the exercises of war, enabled them to +act whatever their courage might prompt; and their courage was +exalted by the social honor of their rank, and the personal +ambition of favor and fortune. Four hundred of the bravest of +the Heruli marched under the banner of the faithful and active +Pharas; their untractable valor was more highly prized than the +tame submission of the Greeks and Syrians; and of such importance +was it deemed to procure a reenforcement of six hundred +Massagetae, or Huns, that they were allured by fraud and deceit +to engage in a naval expedition. Five thousand horse and ten +thousand foot were embarked at Constantinople, for the conquest +of Africa; but the infantry, for the most part levied in Thrace +and Isauria, yielded to the more prevailing use and reputation of +the cavalry; and the Scythian bow was the weapon on which the +armies of Rome were now reduced to place their principal +dependence. From a laudable desire to assert the dignity of his +theme, Procopius defends the soldiers of his own time against the +morose critics, who confined that respectable name to the +heavy-armed warriors of antiquity, and maliciously observed, that +the word archer is introduced by Homer ^8 as a term of contempt. +"Such contempt might perhaps be due to the naked youths who +appeared on foot in the fields of Troy, and lurking behind a +tombstone, or the shield of a friend, drew the bow-string to +their breast, ^9 and dismissed a feeble and lifeless arrow. But +our archers (pursues the historian) are mounted on horses, which +they manage with admirable skill; their head and shoulders are +protected by a casque or buckler; they wear greaves of iron on +their legs, and their bodies are guarded by a coat of mail. On +their right side hangs a quiver, a sword on their left, and their +hand is accustomed to wield a lance or javelin in closer combat. +Their bows are strong and weighty; they shoot in every possible +direction, advancing, retreating, to the front, to the rear, or +to either flank; and as they are taught to draw the bow-string +not to the breast, but to the right ear, firm indeed must be the +armor that can resist the rapid violence of their shaft." Five +hundred transports, navigated by twenty thousand mariners of +Egypt, Cilicia, and Ionia, were collected in the harbor of +Constantinople. The smallest of these vessels may be computed at +thirty, the largest at five hundred, tons; and the fair average +will supply an allowance, liberal, but not profuse, of about one +hundred thousand tons, ^10 for the reception of thirty-five +thousand soldiers and sailors, of five thousand horses, of arms, +engines, and military stores, and of a sufficient stock of water +and provisions for a voyage, perhaps, of three months. The proud +galleys, which in former ages swept the Mediterranean with so +many hundred oars, had long since disappeared; and the fleet of +Justinian was escorted only by ninety-two light brigantines, +covered from the missile weapons of the enemy, and rowed by two +thousand of the brave and robust youth of Constantinople. +Twenty-two generals are named, most of whom were afterwards +distinguished in the wars of Africa and Italy: but the supreme +command, both by land and sea, was delegated to Belisarius alone, +with a boundless power of acting according to his discretion, as +if the emperor himself were present. The separation of the naval +and military professions is at once the effect and the cause of +the modern improvements in the science of navigation and maritime +war. +[Footnote 8: See the preface of Procopius. The enemies of +archery might quote the reproaches of Diomede Iliad. Delta. 385, +&c.) and the permittere vulnera ventis of Lucan, (viii. 384:) yet +the Romans could not despise the arrows of the Parthians; and in +the siege of Troy, Pandarus, Paris, and Teucer, pierced those +haughty warriors who insulted them as women or children.] +[Footnote 9: (Iliad. Delta. 123.) How concise - how just - how +beautiful is the whole picture! I see the attitudes of the +archer - I hear the twanging of the bow.] + +[Footnote 10: The text appears to allow for the largest vessels +50,000 medimni, or 3000 tons, (since the medimnus weighed 160 +Roman, or 120 avoirdupois, pounds.) I have given a more rational +interpretation, by supposing that the Attic style of Procopius +conceals the legal and popular modius, a sixth part of the +medimnus, (Hooper's Ancient Measures, p. 152, &c.) A contrary and +indeed a stranger mistake has crept into an oration of Dinarchus, +(contra Demosthenem, in Reiske Orator. Graec tom iv. P. ii. p. +34.) By reducing the number of ships from 500 to 50, and +translating by mines, or pounds, Cousin has generously allowed +500 tons for the whole of the Imperial fleet! Did he never +think?] + + In the seventh year of the reign of Justinian, and about the +time of the summer solstice, the whole fleet of six hundred ships +was ranged in martial pomp before the gardens of the palace. The +patriarch pronounced his benediction, the emperor signified his +last commands, the general's trumpet gave the signal of +departure, and every heart, according to its fears or wishes, +explored, with anxious curiosity, the omens of misfortune and +success. The first halt was made at Perinthus or Heraclea, where +Belisarius waited five days to receive some Thracian horses, a +military gift of his sovereign. From thence the fleet pursued +their course through the midst of the Propontis; but as they +struggled to pass the Straits of the Hellespont, an unfavorable +wind detained them four days at Abydus, where the general +exhibited a memorable lesson of firmness and severity. Two of +the Huns, who in a drunken quarrel had slain one of their +fellow-soldiers, were instantly shown to the army suspended on a +lofty gibbet. The national dignity was resented by their +countrymen, who disclaimed the servile laws of the empire, and +asserted the free privilege of Scythia, where a small fine was +allowed to expiate the hasty sallies of intemperance and anger. +Their complaints were specious, their clamors were loud, and the +Romans were not averse to the example of disorder and impunity. +But the rising sedition was appeased by the authority and +eloquence of the general: and he represented to the assembled +troops the obligation of justice, the importance of discipline, +the rewards of piety and virtue, and the unpardonable guilt of +murder, which, in his apprehension, was aggravated rather than +excused by the vice of intoxication. ^11 In the navigation from +the Hellespont to Peloponnesus, which the Greeks, after the siege +of Troy, had performed in four days, ^12 the fleet of Belisarius +was guided in their course by his master-galley, conspicuous in +the day by the redness of the sails, and in the night by the +torches blazing from the mast head. It was the duty of the +pilots, as they steered between the islands, and turned the Capes +of Malea and Taenarium, to preserve the just order and regular +intervals of such a multitude of ships: as the wind was fair and +moderate, their labors were not unsuccessful, and the troops were +safely disembarked at Methone on the Messenian coast, to repose +themselves for a while after the fatigues of the sea. In this +place they experienced how avarice, invested with authority, may +sport with the lives of thousands which are bravely exposed for +the public service. According to military practice, the bread or +biscuit of the Romans was twice prepared in the oven, and the +diminution of one fourth was cheerfully allowed for the loss of +weight. To gain this miserable profit, and to save the expense +of wood, the praefect John of Cappadocia had given orders that +the flour should be slightly baked by the same fire which warmed +the baths of Constantinople; and when the sacks were opened, a +soft and mouldy paste was distributed to the army. Such +unwholesome food, assisted by the heat of the climate and season, +soon produced an epidemical disease, which swept away five +hundred soldiers. Their health was restored by the diligence of +Belisarius, who provided fresh bread at Methone, and boldly +expressed his just and humane indignation the emperor heard his +complaint; the general was praised but the minister was not +punished. From the port of Methone, the pilots steered along the +western coast of Peloponnesus, as far as the Isle of Zacynthus, +or Zante, before they undertook the voyage (in their eyes a most +arduous voyage) of one hundred leagues over the Ionian Sea. As +the fleet was surprised by a calm, sixteen days were consumed in +the slow navigation; and even the general would have suffered the +intolerable hardship of thirst, if the ingenuity of Antonina had +not preserved the water in glass bottles, which she buried deep +in the sand in a part of the ship impervious to the rays of the +sun. At length the harbor of Caucana, ^13 on the southern side +of Sicily, afforded a secure and hospitable shelter. The Gothic +officers who governed the island in the name of the daughter and +grandson of Theodoric, obeyed their imprudent orders, to receive +the troops of Justinian like friends and allies: provisions were +liberally supplied, the cavalry was remounted, ^14 and Procopius +soon returned from Syracuse with correct information of the state +and designs of the Vandals. His intelligence determined +Belisarius to hasten his operations, and his wise impatience was +seconded by the winds. The fleet lost sight of Sicily, passed +before the Isle of Malta, discovered the capes of Africa, ran +along the coast with a strong gale from the north-east, and +finally cast anchor at the promontory of Caput Vada, about five +days' journey to the south of Carthage. ^15 +[Footnote 11: I have read of a Greek legislator, who inflicted a +double penalty on the crimes committed in a state of +intoxication; but it seems agreed that this was rather a +political than a moral law.] +[Footnote 12: Or even in three days, since they anchored the +first evening in the neighboring isle of Tenedos: the second day +they sailed to Lesbon the third to the promontory of Euboea, and +on the fourth they reached Argos, (Homer, Odyss. P. 130 - 183. +Wood's Essay on Homer, p. 40 - 46.) A pirate sailed from the +Hellespont to the seaport of Sparta in three days, (Xenophon. +Hellen. l. ii. c. l.)] + +[Footnote 13: Caucana, near Camarina, is at least 50 miles (350 +or 400 stadia) from Syracuse, (Cluver. Sicilia Antiqua, p. 191.) + + Note *: Lord Mahon. (Life of Belisarius, p.88) suggests some +valid reasons for reading Catana, the ancient name of Catania. - +M.] +[Footnote 14: Procopius, Gothic. l. i. c. 3. Tibi tollit +hinnitum apta quadrigis equa, in the Sicilian pastures of +Grosphus, (Horat. Carm. ii. 16.) Acragas .... magnanimum quondam +generator equorum, (Virg. Aeneid. iii. 704.) Thero's horses, +whose victories are immortalized by Pindar, were bred in this +country.] + +[Footnote 15: The Caput Vada of Procopius (where Justinian +afterwards founded a city - De Edific.l. vi. c. 6) is the +promontory of Ammon in Strabo, the Brachodes of Ptolemy, the +Capaudia of the moderns, a long narrow slip that runs into the +sea, (Shaw's Travels, p. 111.)] + + If Gelimer had been informed of the approach of the enemy, +he must have delayed the conquest of Sardinia for the immediate +defence of his person and kingdom. A detachment of five thousand +soldiers, and one hundred and twenty galleys, would have joined +the remaining forces of the Vandals; and the descendant of +Genseric might have surprised and oppressed a fleet of deep laden +transports, incapable of action, and of light brigantines that +seemed only qualified for flight. Belisarius had secretly +trembled when he overheard his soldiers, in the passage, +emboldening each other to confess their apprehensions: if they +were once on shore, they hoped to maintain the honor of their +arms; but if they should be attacked at sea, they did not blush +to acknowledge that they wanted courage to contend at the same +time with the winds, the waves, and the Barbarians. ^16 The +knowledge of their sentiments decided Belisarius to seize the +first opportunity of landing them on the coast of Africa; and he +prudently rejected, in a council of war, the proposal of sailing +with the fleet and army into the port of Carthage. ^* Three +months after their departure from Constantinople, the men and +horses, the arms and military stores, were safely disembarked, +and five soldiers were left as a guard on board each of the +ships, which were disposed in the form of a semicircle. The +remainder of the troops occupied a camp on the sea- shore, which +they fortified, according to ancient discipline, with a ditch and +rampart; and the discovery of a source of fresh water, while it +allayed the thirst, excited the superstitious confidence, of the +Romans. The next morning, some of the neighboring gardens were +pillaged; and Belisarius, after chastising the offenders, +embraced the slight occasion, but the decisive moment, of +inculcating the maxims of justice, moderation, and genuine +policy. "When I first accepted the commission of subduing Africa, +I depended much less," said the general, "on the numbers, or even +the bravery of my troops, than on the friendly disposition of the +natives, and their immortal hatred to the Vandals. You alone can +deprive me of this hope; if you continue to extort by rapine what +might be purchased for a little money, such acts of violence will +reconcile these implacable enemies, and unite them in a just and +holy league against the invaders of their country." These +exhortations were enforced by a rigid discipline, of which the +soldiers themselves soon felt and praised the salutary effects. +The inhabitants, instead of deserting their houses, or hiding +their corn, supplied the Romans with a fair and liberal market: +the civil officers of the province continued to exercise their +functions in the name of Justinian: and the clergy, from motives +of conscience and interest, assiduously labored to promote the +cause of a Catholic emperor. The small town of Sullecte, ^17 one +day's journey from the camp, had the honor of being foremost to +open her gates, and to resume her ancient allegiance: the larger +cities of Leptis and Adrumetum imitated the example of loyalty as +soon as Belisarius appeared; and he advanced without opposition +as far as Grasse, a palace of the Vandal kings, at the distance +of fifty miles from Carthage. The weary Romans indulged +themselves in the refreshment of shady groves, cool fountains, +and delicious fruits; and the preference which Procopius allows +to these gardens over any that he had seen, either in the East or +West, may be ascribed either to the taste, or the fatigue, or the +historian. In three generations, prosperity and a warm climate +had dissolved the hardy virtue of the Vandals, who insensibly +became the most luxurious of mankind. In their villas and +gardens, which might deserve the Persian name of Paradise, ^18 +they enjoyed a cool and elegant repose; and, after the daily use +of the bath, the Barbarians were seated at a table profusely +spread with the delicacies of the land and sea. Their silken +robes loosely flowing, after the fashion of the Medes, were +embroidered with gold; love and hunting were the labors of their +life, and their vacant hours were amused by pantomimes, +chariot-races, and the music and dances of the theatre. + +[Footnote 16: A centurion of Mark Antony expressed, though in a +more manly train, the same dislike to the sea and to naval +combats, (Plutarch in Antonio, p. 1730, edit. Hen. Steph.)] + +[Footnote *: Rather into the present Lake of Tunis. Lord Mahon, +p. 92. - M.] +[Footnote 17: Sullecte is perhaps the Turris Hannibalis, an old +building, now as large as the Tower of London. The march of +Belisarius to Leptis. Adrumetum, &c., is illustrated by the +campaign of Caesar, (Hirtius, de Bello Africano, with the Analyse +of Guichardt,) and Shaw's Travels (p. 105 - 113) in the same +country.] + +[Footnote 18: The paradises, a name and fashion adopted from +Persia, may be represented by the royal garden of Ispahan, +(Voyage d'Olearius, p. 774.) See, in the Greek romances, their +most perfect model, (Longus. Pastoral. l. iv. p. 99 - 101 +Achilles Tatius. l. i. p. 22, 23.)] + + In a march of ten or twelve days, the vigilance of +Belisarius was constantly awake and active against his unseen +enemies, by whom, in every place, and at every hour, he might be +suddenly attacked. An officer of confidence and merit, John the +Armenian, led the vanguard of three hundred horse; six hundred +Massagetae covered at a certain distance the left flank; and the +whole fleet, steering along the coast, seldom lost sight of the +army, which moved each day about twelve miles, and lodged in the +evening in strong camps, or in friendly towns. The near approach +of the Romans to Carthage filled the mind of Gelimer with anxiety +and terror. He prudently wished to protract the war till his +brother, with his veteran troops, should return from the conquest +of Sardinia; and he now lamented the rash policy of his +ancestors, who, by destroying the fortifications of Africa, had +left him only the dangerous resource of risking a battle in the +neighborhood of his capital. The Vandal conquerors, from their +original number of fifty thousand, were multiplied, without +including their women and children, to one hundred and sixty +thousand fighting men: ^* and such forces, animated with valor +and union, might have crushed, at their first landing, the feeble +and exhausted bands of the Roman general. But the friends of the +captive king were more inclined to accept the invitations, than +to resist the progress, of Belisarius; and many a proud Barbarian +disguised his aversion to war under the more specious name of his +hatred to the usurper. Yet the authority and promises of Gelimer +collected a formidable army, and his plans were concerted with +some degree of military skill. An order was despatched to his +brother Ammatas, to collect all the forces of Carthage, and to +encounter the van of the Roman army at the distance of ten miles +from the city: his nephew Gibamund, with two thousand horse, was +destined to attack their left, when the monarch himself, who +silently followed, should charge their rear, in a situation which +excluded them from the aid or even the view of their fleet. But +the rashness of Ammatas was fatal to himself and his country. He +anticipated the hour of the attack, outstripped his tardy +followers, and was pierced with a mortal wound, after he had +slain with his own hand twelve of his boldest antagonists. His +Vandals fled to Carthage; the highway, almost ten miles, was +strewed with dead bodies; and it seemed incredible that such +multitudes could be slaughtered by the swords of three hundred +Romans. The nephew of Gelimer was defeated, after a slight +combat, by the six hundred Massagetae: they did not equal the +third part of his numbers; but each Scythian was fired by the +example of his chief, who gloriously exercised the privilege of +his family, by riding, foremost and alone, to shoot the first +arrow against the enemy. In the mean while, Gelimer himself, +ignorant of the event, and misguided by the windings of the +hills, inadvertently passed the Roman army, and reached the scene +of action where Ammatas had fallen. He wept the fate of his +brother and of Carthage, charged with irresistible fury the +advancing squadrons, and might have pursued, and perhaps decided, +the victory, if he had not wasted those inestimable moments in +the discharge of a vain, though pious, duty to the dead. While +his spirit was broken by this mournful office, he heard the +trumpet of Belisarius, who, leaving Antonina and his infantry in +the camp, pressed forwards with his guards and the remainder of +the cavalry to rally his flying troops, and to restore the +fortune of the day. Much room could not be found, in this +disorderly battle, for the talents of a general; but the king +fled before the hero; and the Vandals, accustomed only to a +Moorish enemy, were incapable of withstanding the arms and +discipline of the Romans. Gelimer retired with hasty steps +towards the desert of Numidia: but he had soon the consolation of +learning that his private orders for the execution of Hilderic +and his captive friends had been faithfully obeyed. The tyrant's +revenge was useful only to his enemies. The death of a lawful +prince excited the compassion of his people; his life might have +perplexed the victorious Romans; and the lieutenant of Justinian, +by a crime of which he was innocent, was relieved from the +painful alternative of forfeiting his honor or relinquishing his +conquests. + +[Footnote *: 80,000. Hist. Arc. c. 18. Gibbon has been misled by +the translation. See Lord ov. p. 99. - M.] + +Chapter XLI: Conquests Of Justinian, Charact Of Balisarius. + +Part II. + + As soon as the tumult had subsided, the several parts of the +army informed each other of the accidents of the day; and +Belisarius pitched his camp on the field of victory, to which the +tenth mile-stone from Carthage had applied the Latin appellation +of Decimus. From a wise suspicion of the stratagems and +resources of the Vandals, he marched the next day in order of +battle, halted in the evening before the gates of Carthage, and +allowed a night of repose, that he might not, in darkness and +disorder, expose the city to the license of the soldiers, or the +soldiers themselves to the secret ambush of the city. But as the +fears of Belisarius were the result of calm and intrepid reason, +he was soon satisfied that he might confide, without danger, in +the peaceful and friendly aspect of the capital. Carthage blazed +with innumerable torches, the signals of the public joy; the +chain was removed that guarded the entrance of the port; the +gates were thrown open, and the people, with acclamations of +gratitude, hailed and invited their Roman deliverers. The defeat +of the Vandals, and the freedom of Africa, were announced to the +city on the eve of St. Cyprian, when the churches were already +adorned and illuminated for the festival of the martyr whom three +centuries of superstition had almost raised to a local deity. +The Arians, conscious that their reign had expired, resigned the +temple to the Catholics, who rescued their saint from profane +hands, performed the holy rites, and loudly proclaimed the creed +of Athanasius and Justinian. One awful hour reversed the +fortunes of the contending parties. The suppliant Vandals, who +had so lately indulged the vices of conquerors, sought an humble +refuge in the sanctuary of the church; while the merchants of the +East were delivered from the deepest dungeon of the palace by +their affrighted keeper, who implored the protection of his +captives, and showed them, through an aperture in the wall, the +sails of the Roman fleet. After their separation from the army, +the naval commanders had proceeded with slow caution along the +coast till they reached the Hermaean promontory, and obtained the +first intelligence of the victory of Belisarius. Faithful to his +instructions, they would have cast anchor about twenty miles from +Carthage, if the more skilful seamen had not represented the +perils of the shore, and the signs of an impending tempest. +Still ignorant of the revolution, they declined, however, the +rash attempt of forcing the chain of the port; and the adjacent +harbor and suburb of Mandracium were insulted only by the rapine +of a private officer, who disobeyed and deserted his leaders. +But the Imperial fleet, advancing with a fair wind, steered +through the narrow entrance of the Goletta, and occupied, in the +deep and capacious lake of Tunis, a secure station about five +miles from the capital. ^19 No sooner was Belisarius informed of +their arrival, than he despatched orders that the greatest part +of the mariners should be immediately landed to join the triumph, +and to swell the apparent numbers, of the Romans. Before he +allowed them to enter the gates of Carthage, he exhorted them, in +a discourse worthy of himself and the occasion, not to disgrace +the glory of their arms; and to remember that the Vandals had +been the tyrants, but that they were the deliverers, of the +Africans, who must now be respected as the voluntary and +affectionate subjects of their common sovereign. The Romans +marched through the streets in close ranks prepared for battle if +an enemy had appeared: the strict order maintained by the general +imprinted on their minds the duty of obedience; and in an age in +which custom and impunity almost sanctified the abuse of +conquest, the genius of one man repressed the passions of a +victorious army. The voice of menace and complaint was silent; +the trade of Carthage was not interrupted; while Africa changed +her master and her government, the shops continued open and busy; +and the soldiers, after sufficient guards had been posted, +modestly departed to the houses which were allotted for their +reception. Belisarius fixed his residence in the palace; seated +himself on the throne of Genseric; accepted and distributed the +Barbaric spoil; granted their lives to the suppliant Vandals; and +labored to repair the damage which the suburb of Mandracium had +sustained in the preceding night. At supper he entertained his +principal officers with the form and magnificence of a royal +banquet. ^20 The victor was respectfully served by the captive +officers of the household; and in the moments of festivity, when +the impartial spectators applauded the fortune and merit of +Belisarius, his envious flatterers secretly shed their venom on +every word and gesture which might alarm the suspicions of a +jealous monarch. One day was given to these pompous scenes, +which may not be despised as useless, if they attracted the +popular veneration; but the active mind of Belisarius, which in +the pride of victory could suppose a defeat, had already resolved +that the Roman empire in Africa should not depend on the chance +of arms, or the favor of the people. The fortifications of +Carthage ^* had alone been exempted from the general +proscription; but in the reign of ninety-five years they were +suffered to decay by the thoughtless and indolent Vandals. A +wiser conqueror restored, with incredible despatch, the walls and +ditches of the city. His liberality encouraged the workmen; the +soldiers, the mariners, and the citizens, vied with each other in +the salutary labor; and Gelimer, who had feared to trust his +person in an open town, beheld with astonishment and despair, the +rising strength of an impregnable fortress. + +[Footnote 19: The neighborhood of Carthage, the sea, the land, +and the rivers, are changed almost as much as the works of man. +The isthmus, or neck of the city, is now confounded with the +continent; the harbor is a dry plain; and the lake, or stagnum, +no more than a morass, with six or seven feet water in the +mid-channel. See D'Anville, (Geographie Ancienne, tom. iii. p. +82,) Shaw, (Travels, p. 77 - 84,) Marmol, (Description de +l'Afrique, tom. ii. p. 465,) and Thuanus, (lviii. 12, tom. iii. +p. 334.)] + +[Footnote 20: From Delphi, the name of Delphicum was given, both +in Greek and Latin, to a tripod; and by an easy analogy, the same +appellation was extended at Rome, Constantinople, and Carthage, +to the royal banquetting room, (Procopius, Vandal. l. i. c. 21. +Ducange, Gloss, Graec. p. 277., ad Alexiad. p. 412.)] + +[Footnote *: And a few others. Procopius states in his work De +Edi Sciis. l. vi. vol i. p. 5. - M] + + That unfortunate monarch, after the loss of his capital, +applied himself to collect the remains of an army scattered, +rather than destroyed, by the preceding battle; and the hopes of +pillage attracted some Moorish bands to the standard of Gelimer. +He encamped in the fields of Bulla, four days' journey from +Carthage; insulted the capital, which he deprived of the use of +an aqueduct; proposed a high reward for the head of every Roman; +affected to spare the persons and property of his African +subjects, and secretly negotiated with the Arian sectaries and +the confederate Huns. Under these circumstances, the conquest of +Sardinia served only to aggravate his distress: he reflected, +with the deepest anguish, that he had wasted, in that useless +enterprise, five thousand of his bravest troops; and he read, +with grief and shame, the victorious letters of his brother Zano, +^* who expressed a sanguine confidence that the king, after the +example of their ancestors, had already chastised the rashness of +the Roman invader. "Alas! my brother," replied Gelimer, "Heaven +has declared against our unhappy nation. While you have subdued +Sardinia, we have lost Africa. No sooner did Belisarius appear +with a handful of soldiers, than courage and prosperity deserted +the cause of the Vandals. Your nephew Gibamund, your brother +Ammatas, have been betrayed to death by the cowardice of their +followers. Our horses, our ships, Carthage itself, and all +Africa, are in the power of the enemy. Yet the Vandals still +prefer an ignominious repose, at the expense of their wives and +children, their wealth and liberty. Nothing now remains, except +the fields of Bulla, and the hope of your valor. Abandon +Sardinia; fly to our relief; restore our empire, or perish by our +side." On the receipt of this epistle, Zano imparted his grief to +the principal Vandals; but the intelligence was prudently +concealed from the natives of the island. The troops embarked in +one hundred and twenty galleys at the port of Caghari, cast +anchor the third day on the confines of Mauritania, and hastily +pursued their march to join the royal standard in the camp of +Bulla. Mournful was the interview: the two brothers embraced; +they wept in silence; no questions were asked of the Sardinian +victory; no inquiries were made of the African misfortunes: they +saw before their eyes the whole extent of their calamities; and +the absence of their wives and children afforded a melancholy +proof that either death or captivity had been their lot. The +languid spirit of the Vandals was at length awakened and united +by the entreaties of their king, the example of Zano, and the +instant danger which threatened their monarchy and religion. The +military strength of the nation advanced to battle; and such was +the rapid increase, that before their army reached Tricameron, +about twenty miles from Carthage, they might boast, perhaps with +some exaggeration, that they surpassed, in a tenfold proportion, +the diminutive powers of the Romans. But these powers were under +the command of Belisarius; and, as he was conscious of their +superior merit, he permitted the Barbarians to surprise him at an +unseasonable hour. The Romans were instantly under arms; a +rivulet covered their front; the cavalry formed the first line, +which Belisarius supported in the centre, at the head of five +hundred guards; the infantry, at some distance, was posted in the +second line; and the vigilance of the general watched the +separate station and ambiguous faith of the Massagetae, who +secretly reserved their aid for the conquerors. The historian +has inserted, and the reader may easily supply, the speeches ^21 +of the commanders, who, by arguments the most apposite to their +situation, inculcated the importance of victory, and the contempt +of life. Zano, with the troops which had followed him to the +conquest of Sardinia, was placed in the centre; and the throne of +Genseric might have stood, if the multitude of Vandals had +imitated their intrepid resolution. Casting away their lances and +missile weapons, they drew their swords, and expected the charge: +the Roman cavalry thrice passed the rivulet; they were thrice +repulsed; and the conflict was firmly maintained, till Zano fell, +and the standard of Belisarius was displayed. Gelimer retreated +to his camp; the Huns joined the pursuit; and the victors +despoiled the bodies of the slain. Yet no more than fifty Romans, +and eight hundred Vandals were found on the field of battle; so +inconsiderable was the carnage of a day, which extinguished a +nation, and transferred the empire of Africa. In the evening +Belisarius led his infantry to the attack of the camp; and the +pusillanimous flight of Gelimer exposed the vanity of his recent +declarations, that to the vanquished, death was a relief, life a +burden, and infamy the only object of terror. His departure was +secret; but as soon as the Vandals discovered that their king had +deserted them, they hastily dispersed, anxious only for their +personal safety, and careless of every object that is dear or +valuable to mankind. The Romans entered the camp without +resistance; and the wildest scenes of disorder were veiled in the +darkness and confusion of the night. Every Barbarian who met +their swords was inhumanly massacred; their widows and daughters, +as rich heirs, or beautiful concubines, were embraced by the +licentious soldiers; and avarice itself was almost satiated with +the treasures of gold and silver, the accumulated fruits of +conquest or economy in a long period of prosperity and peace. In +this frantic search, the troops, even of Belisarius, forgot their +caution and respect. Intoxicated with lust and rapine, they +explored, in small parties, or alone, the adjacent fields, the +woods, the rocks, and the caverns, that might possibly conceal +any desirable prize: laden with booty, they deserted their ranks, +and wandered without a guide, on the high road to Carthage; and +if the flying enemies had dared to return, very few of the +conquerors would have escaped. Deeply sensible of the disgrace +and danger, Belisarius passed an apprehensive night on the field +of victory: at the dawn of day, he planted his standard on a +hill, recalled his guardians and veterans, and gradually restored +the modesty and obedience of the camp. It was equally the +concern of the Roman general to subdue the hostile, and to save +the prostrate, Barbarian; and the suppliant Vandals, who could be +found only in churches, were protected by his authority, +disarmed, and separately confined, that they might neither +disturb the public peace, nor become the victims of popular +revenge. After despatching a light detachment to tread the +footsteps of Gelimer, he advanced, with his whole army, about ten +days' march, as far as Hippo Regius, which no longer possessed +the relics of St. Augustin. ^22 The season, and the certain +intelligence that the Vandal had fled to an inaccessible country +of the Moors, determined Belisarius to relinquish the vain +pursuit, and to fix his winter quarters at Carthage. From thence +he despatched his principal lieutenant, to inform the emperor, +that in the space of three months he had achieved the conquest of +Africa. +[Footnote *: Gibbon had forgotten that the bearer of the +"victorious letters of his brother" had sailed into the port of +Carthage; and that the letters had fallen into the hands of the +Romans. Proc. Vandal. l. i. c. 23. - M.] +[Footnote 21: These orations always express the sense of the +times, and sometimes of the actors. I have condensed that sense, +and thrown away declamation.] + +[Footnote 22: The relics of St. Augustin were carried by the +African bishops to their Sardinian exile, (A.D. 500;) and it was +believed, in the viiith century, that Liutprand, king of the +Lombards, transported them (A.D. 721) from Sardinia to Pavia. In +the year 1695, the Augustan friars of that city found a brick +arch, marble coffin, silver case, silk wrapper, bones, blood, +&c., and perhaps an inscription of Agostino in Gothic letters. +But this useful discovery has been disputed by reason and +jealousy, (Baronius, Annal. A.D. 725, No. 2 - 9. Tillemont, Mem. +Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 944. Montfaucon, Diarium Ital. p. 26 - 30. + +Muratori, Antiq. Ital. Medii Aevi, tom. v. dissert. lviii. p. 9, +who had composed a separate treatise before the decree of the +bishop of Pavia, and Pope Benedict XIII.)] + + Belisarius spoke the language of truth. The surviving +Vandals yielded, without resistance, their arms and their +freedom; the neighborhood of Carthage submitted to his presence; +and the more distant provinces were successively subdued by the +report of his victory. Tripoli was confirmed in her voluntary +allegiance; Sardinia and Corsica surrendered to an officer, who +carried, instead of a sword, the head of the valiant Zano; and +the Isles of Majorca, Minorca, and Yvica consented to remain an +humble appendage of the African kingdom. Caesarea, a royal city, +which in looser geography may be confounded with the modern +Algiers, was situate thirty days' march to the westward of +Carthage: by land, the road was infested by the Moors; but the +sea was open, and the Romans were now masters of the sea. An +active and discreet tribune sailed as far as the Straits, where +he occupied Septem or Ceuta, ^23 which rises opposite to +Gibraltar on the African coast; that remote place was afterwards +adorned and fortified by Justinian; and he seems to have indulged +the vain ambition of extending his empire to the columns of +Hercules. He received the messengers of victory at the time when +he was preparing to publish the Pandects of the Roman laws; and +the devout or jealous emperor celebrated the divine goodness, and +confessed, in silence, the merit of his successful general. ^24 +Impatient to abolish the temporal and spiritual tyranny of the +Vandals, he proceeded, without delay, to the full establishment +of the Catholic church. Her jurisdiction, wealth, and immunites, +perhaps the most essential part of episcopal religion, were +restored and amplified with a liberal hand; the Arian worship was +suppressed; the Donatist meetings were proscribed; ^25 and the +synod of Carthage, by the voice of two hundred and seventeen +bishops, ^26 applauded the just measure of pious retaliation. On +such an occasion, it may not be presumed, that many orthodox +prelates were absent; but the comparative smallness of their +number, which in ancient councils had been twice or even thrice +multiplied, most clearly indicates the decay both of the church +and state. While Justinian approved himself the defender of the +faith, he entertained an ambitious hope, that his victorious +lieutenant would speedily enlarge the narrow limits of his +dominion to the space which they occupied before the invasion of +the Moors and Vandals; and Belisarius was instructed to establish +five dukes or commanders in the convenient stations of Tripoli, +Leptis, Cirta, Caesarea, and Sardinia, and to compute the +military force of palatines or borderers that might be sufficient +for the defence of Africa. The kingdom of the Vandals was not +unworthy of the presence of a Praetorian praefect; and four +consulars, three presidents, were appointed to administer the +seven provinces under his civil jurisdiction. The number of +their subordinate officers, clerks, messengers, or assistants, +was minutely expressed; three hundred and ninety-six for the +praefect himself, fifty for each of his vicegerents; and the +rigid definition of their fees and salaries was more effectual to +confirm the right than to prevent the abuse. These magistrates +might be oppressive, but they were not idle; and the subtile +questions of justice and revenue were infinitely propagated under +the new government, which professed to revive the freedom and +equity of the Roman republic. The conqueror was solicitous to +extract a prompt and plentiful supply from his African subjects; +and he allowed them to claim, even in the third degree, and from +the collateral line, the houses and lands of which their families +had been unjustly despoiled by the Vandals. After the departure +of Belisarius, who acted by a high and special commission, no +ordinary provision was made for a master- general of the forces; +but the office of Praetorian praefect was intrusted to a soldier; +the civil and military powers were united, according to the +practice of Justinian, in the chief governor; and the +representative of the emperor in Africa, as well as in Italy, was +soon distinguished by the appellation of Exarch. ^27 +[Footnote 23: The expression of Procopius (de Edific. l. vi. c. +7.) Ceuta, which has been defaced by the Portuguese, flourished +in nobles and palaces, in agriculture and manufactures, under the +more prosperous reign of the Arabs, (l'Afrique de Marmai, tom. +ii. p. 236.] + +[Footnote 24: See the second and third preambles to the Digest, +or Pandects, promulgated A.D. 533, December 16. To the titles of +Vandalicus and Africanus, Justinian, or rather Belisarius, had +acquired a just claim; Gothicus was premature, and Francicus +false, and offensive to a great nation.] +[Footnote 25: See the original acts in Baronius, (A.D. 535, No. +21 - 54.) The emperor applauds his own clemency to the heretics, +cum sufficiat eis vivere.] +[Footnote 26: Dupin (Geograph. Sacra Africana, p. lix. ad Optat. +Milav.) observes and bewails this episcopal decay. In the more +prosperous age of the church, he had noticed 690 bishoprics; but +however minute were the dioceses, it is not probable that they +all existed at the same time.] +[Footnote 27: The African laws of Justinian are illustrated by +his German biographer, (Cod. l. i. tit. 27. Novell. 36, 37, 131. + +Vit. Justinian, p. 349 - 377.)] + + Yet the conquest of Africa was imperfect till her former +sovereign was delivered, either alive or dead, into the hands of +the Romans. Doubtful of the event, Gelimer had given secret +orders that a part of his treasure should be transported to +Spain, where he hoped to find a secure refuge at the court of the +king of the Visigoths. But these intentions were disappointed by +accident, treachery, and the indefatigable pursuit of his +enemies, who intercepted his flight from the sea-shore, and +chased the unfortunate monarch, with some faithful followers, to +the inaccessible mountain of Papua, ^28 in the inland country of +Numidia. He was immediately besieged by Pharas, an officer whose +truth and sobriety were the more applauded, as such qualities +could seldom be found among the Heruli, the most corrupt of the +Barbarian tribes. To his vigilance Belisarius had intrusted this +important charge and, after a bold attempt to scale the mountain, +in which he lost a hundred and ten soldiers, Pharas expected, +during a winter siege, the operation of distress and famine on +the mind of the Vandal king. From the softest habits of +pleasure, from the unbounded command of industry and wealth, he +was reduced to share the poverty of the Moors, ^29 supportable +only to themselves by their ignorance of a happier condition. In +their rude hovels, of mud and hurdles, which confined the smoke +and excluded the light, they promiscuously slept on the ground, +perhaps on a sheep-skin, with their wives, their children, and +their cattle. Sordid and scanty were their garments; the use of +bread and wine was unknown; and their oaten or barley cakes, +imperfectly baked in the ashes, were devoured almost in a crude +state, by the hungry savages. The health of Gelimer must have +sunk under these strange and unwonted hardships, from whatsoever +cause they had been endured; but his actual misery was imbittered +by the recollection of past greatness, the daily insolence of his +protectors, and the just apprehension, that the light and venal +Moors might be tempted to betray the rights of hospitality. The +knowledge of his situation dictated the humane and friendly +epistle of Pharas. "Like yourself," said the chief of the +Heruli, "I am an illiterate Barbarian, but I speak the language +of plain sense and an honest heart. Why will you persist in +hopeless obstinacy? Why will you ruin yourself, your family, and +nation? The love of freedom and abhorrence of slavery? Alas! my +dearest Gelimer, are you not already the worst of slaves, the +slave of the vile nation of the Moors? Would it not be +preferable to sustain at Constantinople a life of poverty and +servitude, rather than to reign the undoubted monarch of the +mountain of Papua? Do you think it a disgrace to be the subject +of Justinian? Belisarius is his subject; and we ourselves, whose +birth is not inferior to your own, are not ashamed of our +obedience to the Roman emperor. That generous prince will grant +you a rich inheritance of lands, a place in the senate, and the +dignity of patrician: such are his gracious intentions, and you +may depend with full assurance on the word of Belisarius. So +long as Heaven has condemned us to suffer, patience is a virtue; +but if we reject the proffered deliverance, it degenerates into +blind and stupid despair." "I am not insensible" replied the king +of the Vandals, "how kind and rational is your advice. But I +cannot persuade myself to become the slave of an unjust enemy, +who has deserved my implacable hatred. Him I had never injured +either by word or deed: yet he has sent against me, I know not +from whence, a certain Belisarius, who has cast me headlong from +the throne into his abyss of misery. Justinian is a man; he is a +prince; does he not dread for himself a similar reverse of +fortune? I can write no more: my grief oppresses me. Send me, I +beseech you, my dear Pharas, send me, a lyre, ^30 a sponge, and a +loaf of bread." From the Vandal messenger, Pharas was informed of +the motives of this singular request. It was long since the king +of Africa had tasted bread; a defluxion had fallen on his eyes, +the effect of fatigue or incessant weeping; and he wished to +solace the melancholy hours, by singing to the lyre the sad story +of his own misfortunes. The humanity of Pharas was moved; he +sent the three extraordinary gifts; but even his humanity +prompted him to redouble the vigilance of his guard, that he +might sooner compel his prisoner to embrace a resolution +advantageous to the Romans, but salutary to himself. The +obstinacy of Gelimer at length yielded to reason and necessity; +the solemn assurances of safety and honorable treatment were +ratified in the emperor's name, by the ambassador of Belisarius; +and the king of the Vandals descended from the mountain. The +first public interview was in one of the suburbs of Carthage; and +when the royal captive accosted his conqueror, he burst into a +fit of laughter. The crowd might naturally believe, that extreme +grief had deprived Gelimer of his senses: but in this mournful +state, unseasonable mirth insinuated to more intelligent +observers, that the vain and transitory scenes of human greatness +are unworthy of a serious thought. ^31 + +[Footnote 28: Mount Papua is placed by D'Anville (tom. iii. p. +92, and Tabul. Imp. Rom. Occident.) near Hippo Regius and the +sea; yet this situation ill agrees with the long pursuit beyond +Hippo, and the words of Procopius, (l. ii.c.4,). + + Note: Compare Lord Mahon, 120. conceive Gibbon to be right +- M.] +[Footnote 29: Shaw (Travels, p. 220) most accurately represents +the manners of the Bedoweens and Kabyles, the last of whom, by +their language, are the remnant of the Moors; yet how changed - +how civilized are these modern savages! - provisions are plenty +among them and bread is common.] +[Footnote 30: By Procopius it is styled a lyre; perhaps harp +would have been more national. The instruments of music are thus +distinguished by Venantius Fortunatus: - + +Romanusque lyra tibi plaudat, Barbarus harpa.] + +[Footnote 31: Herodotus elegantly describes the strange effects +of grief in another royal captive, Psammetichus of Egypt, who +wept at the lesser and was silent at the greatest of his +calamities, (l. iii. c. 14.) In the interview of Paulus Aemilius +and Perses, Belisarius might study his part; but it is probable +that he never read either Livy or Plutarch; and it is certain +that his generosity did not need a tutor.] + + Their contempt was soon justified by a new example of a +vulgar truth; that flattery adheres to power, and envy to +superior merit. The chiefs of the Roman army presumed to think +themselves the rivals of a hero. Their private despatches +maliciously affirmed, that the conqueror of Africa, strong in his +reputation and the public love, conspired to seat himself on the +throne of the Vandals. Justinian listened with too patient an +ear; and his silence was the result of jealousy rather than of +confidence. An honorable alternative, of remaining in the +province, or of returning to the capital, was indeed submitted to +the discretion of Belisarius; but he wisely concluded, from +intercepted letters and the knowledge of his sovereign's temper, +that he must either resign his head, erect his standard, or +confound his enemies by his presence and submission. Innocence +and courage decided his choice; his guards, captives, and +treasures, were diligently embarked; and so prosperous was the +navigation, that his arrival at Constantinople preceded any +certain account of his departure from the port of Carthage. Such +unsuspecting loyalty removed the apprehensions of Justinian; envy +was silenced and inflamed by the public gratitude; and the third +Africanus obtained the honors of a triumph, a ceremony which the +city of Constantine had never seen, and which ancient Rome, since +the reign of Tiberius, had reserved for the auspicious arms of +the Caesars. ^32 From the palace of Belisarius, the procession +was conducted through the principal streets to the hippodrome; +and this memorable day seemed to avenge the injuries of Genseric, +and to expiate the shame of the Romans. The wealth of nations was +displayed, the trophies of martial or effeminate luxury; rich +armor, golden thrones, and the chariots of state which had been +used by the Vandal queen; the massy furniture of the royal +banquet, the splendor of precious stones, the elegant forms of +statues and vases, the more substantial treasure of gold, and the +holy vessels of the Jewish temple, which after their long +peregrination were respectfully deposited in the Christian church +of Jerusalem. A long train of the noblest Vandals reluctantly +exposed their lofty stature and manly countenance. Gelimer +slowly advanced: he was clad in a purple robe, and still +maintained the majesty of a king. Not a tear escaped from his +eyes, not a sigh was heard; but his pride or piety derived some +secret consolation from the words of Solomon, ^33 which he +repeatedly pronounced, Vanity! vanity! all is vanity! Instead +of ascending a triumphal car drawn by four horses or elephants, +the modest conqueror marched on foot at the head of his brave +companions; his prudence might decline an honor too conspicuous +for a subject; and his magnanimity might justly disdain what had +been so often sullied by the vilest of tyrants. The glorious +procession entered the gate of the hippodrome; was saluted by the +acclamations of the senate and people; and halted before the +throne where Justinian and Theodora were seated to receive homage +of the captive monarch and the victorious hero. They both +performed the customary adoration; and falling prostrate on the +ground, respectfully touched the footstool of a prince who had +not unsheathed his sword, and of a prostitute who had danced on +the theatre; some gentle violence was used to bend the stubborn +spirit of the grandson of Genseric; and however trained to +servitude, the genius of Belisarius must have secretly rebelled. +He was immediately declared consul for the ensuing year, and the +day of his inauguration resembled the pomp of a second triumph: +his curule chair was borne aloft on the shoulders of captive +Vandals; and the spoils of war, gold cups, and rich girdles, were +profusely scattered among the populace. +[Footnote 32: After the title of imperator had lost the old +military sense, and the Roman auspices were abolished by +Christianity, (see La Bleterie, Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xxi. p. +302 - 332,) a triumph might be given with less inconsistency to a +private general.] + +[Footnote 33: If the Ecclesiastes be truly a work of Solomon, and +not, like Prior's poem, a pious and moral composition of more +recent times, in his name, and on the subject of his repentance. +The latter is the opinion of the learned and free-spirited +Grotius, (Opp. Theolog. tom. i. p. 258;) and indeed the +Ecclesiastes and Proverbs display a larger compass of thought and +experience than seem to belong either to a Jew or a king. + + Note: Rosenmuller, arguing from the difference of style from +that of the greater part of the book of Proverbs, and from its +nearer approximation to the Aramaic dialect than any book of the +Old Testament, assigns the Ecclesiastes to some period between +Nehemiah and Alexander the Great Schol. in Vet. Test. ix. +Proemium ad Eccles. p. 19. - M.] + +Chapter XLI: Conquests Of Justinian, Charact Of Balisarius. + + +Part IV. + + Although Theodatus descended from a race of heroes, he was +ignorant of the art, and averse to the dangers, of war. Although +he had studied the writings of Plato and Tully, philosophy was +incapable of purifying his mind from the basest passions, avarice +and fear. He had purchased a sceptre by ingratitude and murder: +at the first menace of an enemy, he degraded his own majesty and +that of a nation, which already disdained their unworthy +sovereign. Astonished by the recent example of Gelimer, he saw +himself dragged in chains through the streets of Constantinople: +the terrors which Belisarius inspired were heightened by the +eloquence of Peter, the Byzantine ambassador; and that bold and +subtle advocate persuaded him to sign a treaty, too ignominious +to become the foundation of a lasting peace. It was stipulated, +that in the acclamations of the Roman people, the name of the +emperor should be always proclaimed before that of the Gothic +king; and that as often as the statue of Theodatus was erected in +brass on marble, the divine image of Justinian should be placed +on its right hand. Instead of conferring, the king of Italy was +reduced to solicit, the honors of the senate; and the consent of +the emperor was made indispensable before he could execute, +against a priest or senator, the sentence either of death or +confiscation. The feeble monarch resigned the possession of +Sicily; offered, as the annual mark of his dependence, a crown of +gold of the weight of three hundred pounds; and promised to +supply, at the requisition of his sovereign, three thousand +Gothic auxiliaries, for the service of the empire. Satisfied +with these extraordinary concessions, the successful agent of +Justinian hastened his journey to Constantinople; but no sooner +had he reached the Alban villa, ^60 than he was recalled by the +anxiety of Theodatus; and the dialogue which passed between the +king and the ambassador deserves to be represented in its +original simplicity. "Are you of opinion that the emperor will +ratify this treaty? Perhaps. If he refuses, what consequence +will ensue? War. Will such a war, be just or reasonable? Most +assuredly: every to his character. What is your meaning? You are +a philosopher - Justinian is emperor of the Romans: it would all +become the disciple of Plato to shed the blood of thousands in +his private quarrel: the successor of Augustus should vindicate +his rights, and recover by arms the ancient provinces of his +empire." This reasoning might not convince, but it was sufficient +to alarm and subdue the weakness of Theodatus; and he soon +descended to his last offer, that for the poor equivalent of a +pension of forty-eight thousand pounds sterling, he would resign +the kingdom of the Goths and Italians, and spend the remainder of +his days in the innocent pleasures of philosophy and agriculture. + +Both treaties were intrusted to the hands of the ambassador, on +the frail security of an oath not to produce the second till the +first had been positively rejected. The event may be easily +foreseen: Justinian required and accepted the abdication of the +Gothic king. His indefatigable agent returned from +Constantinople to Ravenna, with ample instructions; and a fair +epistle, which praised the wisdom and generosity of the royal +philosopher, granted his pension, with the assurance of such +honors as a subject and a Catholic might enjoy; and wisely +referred the final execution of the treaty to the presence and +authority of Belisarius. But in the interval of suspense, two +Roman generals, who had entered the province of Dalmatia, were +defeated and slain by the Gothic troops. From blind and abject +despair, Theodatus capriciously rose to groundless and fatal +presumption, ^61 and dared to receive, with menace and contempt, +the ambassador of Justinian; who claimed his promise, solicited +the allegiance of his subjects, and boldly asserted the +inviolable privilege of his own character. The march of +Belisarius dispelled this visionary pride; and as the first +campaign ^62 was employed in the reduction of Sicily, the +invasion of Italy is applied by Procopius to the second year of +the Gothic war. ^63 + +[Footnote 60: The ancient Alba was ruined in the first age of +Rome. On the same spot, or at least in the neighborhood, +successively arose. + 1. The villa of Pompey, &c.; + + 2. A camp of the Praetorian cohorts; + + 3. The modern episcopal city of Albanum or Albano. + + (Procop. Goth. l. ii. c. 4 Oluver. Ital. Antiq tom. ii. p. +914.)] +[Footnote 61: A Sibylline oracle was ready to pronounce - Africa +capta munitus cum nato peribit; a sentence of portentous +ambiguity, (Gothic. l. i. c. 7,) which has been published in +unknown characters by Opsopaeus, an editor of the oracles. The +Pere Maltret has promised a commentary; but all his promises have +been vain and fruitless.] + +[Footnote 62: In his chronology, imitated, in some degree, from +Thucydides, Procopius begins each spring the years of Justinian +and of the Gothic war; and his first aera coincides with the +first of April, 535, and not 536, according to the Annals of +Baronius, (Pagi, Crit. tom. ii. p. 555, who is followed by +Muratori and the editors of Sigonius.) Yet, in some passages, we +are at a loss to reconcile the dates of Procopius with himself, +and with the Chronicle of Marcellinus.] + +[Footnote 63: The series of the first Gothic war is represented +by Procopius (l. i. c. 5 - 29, l. ii. c. l - 30, l. iii. c. l) +till the captivity of Vitigas. With the aid of Sigonius (Opp. +tom. i. de Imp. Occident. l. xvii. xviii.) and Muratori, (Annali +d'Itaia, tom. v.,) I have gleaned some few additional facts.] + + After Belisarius had left sufficient garrisons in Palermo +and Syracuse, he embarked his troops at Messina, and landed them, +without resistance, on the opposite shores of Rhegium. A Gothic +prince, who had married the daughter of Theodatus, was stationed +with an army to guard the entrance of Italy; but he imitated, +without scruple, the example of a sovereign faithless to his +public and private duties. The perfidious Ebermor deserted with +his followers to the Roman camp, and was dismissed to enjoy the +servile honors of the Byzantine court. ^64 From Rhegium to +Naples, the fleet and army of Belisarius, almost always in view +of each other, advanced near three hundred miles along the +sea-coast. The people of Bruttium, Lucania, and Campania, who +abhorred the name and religion of the Goths, embraced the +specious excuse, that their ruined walls were incapable of +defence: the soldiers paid a just equivalent for a plentiful +market; and curiosity alone interrupted the peaceful occupations +of the husbandman or artificer. Naples, which has swelled to a +great and populous capital, long cherished the language and +manners of a Grecian colony; ^65 and the choice of Virgil had +ennobled this elegant retreat, which attracted the lovers of +repose and study, elegant retreat, which attracted the lovers of +repose and study, from the noise, the smoke, and the laborious +opulence of Rome. ^66 As soon as the place was invested by sea +and land, Belisarius gave audience to the deputies of the people, +who exhorted him to disregard a conquest unworthy of his arms, to +seek the Gothic king in a field of battle, and, after his +victory, to claim, as the sovereign of Rome, the allegiance of +the dependent cities. "When I treat with my enemies," replied +the Roman chief, with a haughty smile, "I am more accustomed to +give than to receive counsel; but I hold in one hand inevitable +ruin, and in the other peace and freedom, such as Sicily now +enjoys." The impatience of delay urged him to grant the most +liberal terms; his honor secured their performance: but Naples +was divided into two factions; and the Greek democracy was +inflamed by their orators, who, with much spirit and some truth, +represented to the multitude that the Goths would punish their +defection, and that Belisarius himself must esteem their loyalty +and valor. Their deliberations, however, were not perfectly +free: the city was commanded by eight hundred Barbarians, whose +wives and children were detained at Ravenna as the pledge of +their fidelity; and even the Jews, who were rich and numerous, +resisted, with desperate enthusiasm, the intolerant laws of +Justinian. In a much later period, the circumference of Naples +^67 measured only two thousand three hundred and sixty three +paces: ^68 the fortifications were defended by precipices or the +sea; when the aqueducts were intercepted, a supply of water might +be drawn from wells and fountains; and the stock of provisions +was sufficient to consume the patience of the besiegers. At the +end of twenty days, that of Belisarius was almost exhausted, and +he had reconciled himself to the disgrace of abandoning the +siege, that he might march, before the winter season, against +Rome and the Gothic king. But his anxiety was relieved by the +bold curiosity of an Isaurian, who explored the dry channel of an +aqueduct, and secretly reported, that a passage might be +perforated to introduce a file of armed soldiers into the heart +of the city. When the work had been silently executed, the +humane general risked the discovery of his secret by a last and +fruitless admonition of the impending danger. In the darkness of +the night, four hundred Romans entered the aqueduct, raised +themselves by a rope, which they fastened to an olive-tree, into +the house or garden of a solitary matron, sounded their trumpets, +surprised the sentinels, and gave admittance to their companions, +who on all sides scaled the walls, and burst open the gates of +the city. Every crime which is punished by social justice was +practised as the rights of war; the Huns were distinguished by +cruelty and sacrilege, and Belisarius alone appeared in the +streets and churches of Naples to moderate the calamities which +he predicted. "The gold and silver," he repeatedly exclaimed, +"are the just rewards of your valor. But spare the inhabitants; +they are Christians, they are suppliants, they are now your +fellow-subjects. Restore the children to their parents, the wives +to their husbands; and show them by you, generosity of what +friends they have obstinately deprived themselves." The city was +saved by the virtue and authority of its conqueror; ^69 and when +the Neapolitans returned to their houses, they found some +consolation in the secret enjoyment of their hidden treasures. +The Barbarian garrison enlisted in the service of the emperor; +Apulia and Calabria, delivered from the odious presence of the +Goths, acknowledged his dominion; and the tusks of the Calydonian +boar, which were still shown at Beneventum, are curiously +described by the historian of Belisarius. ^70 + +[Footnote 64: Jornandes, de Rebus Geticis, c. 60, p. 702, edit. +Grot., and tom. i. p. 221. Muratori, de Success, Regn. p. 241.] + +[Footnote 65: Nero (says Tacitus, Annal. xv. 35) Neapolim quasi +Graecam urbem delegit. One hundred and fifty years afterwards, +in the time of Septimius Severus, the Hellenism of the +Neapolitans is praised by Philostratus. (Icon. l. i. p. 763, +edit. Olear.)] + +[Footnote 66: The otium of Naples is praised by the Roman poets, +by Virgil, Horace, Silius Italicus, and Statius, (Cluver. Ital. +Ant. l. iv. p. 1149, 1150.) In an elegant epistles, (Sylv. l. +iii. 5, p. 94 - 98, edit. Markland,) Statius undertakes the +difficult task of drawing his wife from the pleasures of Rome to +that calm retreat.] + +[Footnote 67: This measure was taken by Roger l., after the +conquest of Naples, (A.D. 1139,) which he made the capital of his +new kingdom, (Giannone, Istoria Civile, tom. ii. p. 169.) That +city, the third in Christian Europe, is now at least twelve miles +in circumference, (Jul. Caesar. Capaccii Hist. Neapol. l. i. p. +47,) and contains more inhabitants (350,000) in a given space, +than any other spot in the known world.] + +[Footnote 68: Not geometrical, but common, paces or steps, of 22 +French inches, (D' Anville, Mesures Itineraires, p. 7, 8.) The +2363 do not take an English mile.] + +[Footnote 69: Belisarius was reproved by Pope Silverius for the +massacre. He repeopled Naples, and imported colonies of African +captives into Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia, (Hist. Miscell. l. +xvi. in Muratori, tom. i. p. 106, 107.)] + +[Footnote 70: Beneventum was built by Diomede, the nephew of +Meleager (Cluver. tom. ii. p. 1195, 1196.) The Calydonian hunt is +a picture of savage life, (Ovid, Metamorph. l. viii.) Thirty or +forty heroes were leagued against a hog: the brutes (not the hog) +quarrelled with lady for the head.] + The faithful soldiers and citizens of Naples had expected +their deliverance from a prince, who remained the inactive and +almost indifferent spectator of their ruin. Theodatus secured +his person within the walls of Rome, whilst his cavalry advanced +forty miles on the Appian way, and encamped in the Pomptine +marshes; which, by a canal of nineteen miles in length, had been +recently drained and converted into excellent pastures. ^71 But +the principal forces of the Goths were dispersed in Dalmatia, +Venetia, and Gaul; and the feeble mind of their king was +confounded by the unsuccessful event of a divination, which +seemed to presage the downfall of his empire. ^72 The most abject +slaves have arraigned the guilt or weakness of an unfortunate +master. The character of Theodatus was rigorously scrutinized by +a free and idle camp of Barbarians, conscious of their privilege +and power: he was declared unworthy of his race, his nation, and +his throne; and their general Vitiges, whose valor had been +signalized in the Illyrian war, was raised with unanimous +applause on the bucklers of his companions. On the first rumor, +the abdicated monarch fled from the justice of his country; but +he was pursued by private revenge. A Goth, whom he had injured +in his love, overtook Theodatus on the Flaminian way, and, +regardless of his unmanly cries, slaughtered him, as he lay, +prostrate on the ground, like a victim (says the historian) at +the foot of the altar. The choice of the people is the best and +purest title to reign over them; yet such is the prejudice of +every age, that Vitiges impatiently wished to return to Ravenna, +where he might seize, with the reluctant hand of the daughter of +Amalasontha, some faint shadow of hereditary right. A national +council was immediately held, and the new monarch reconciled the +impatient spirit of the Barbarians to a measure of disgrace, +which the misconduct of his predecessor rendered wise and +indispensable. The Goths consented to retreat in the presence of +a victorious enemy; to delay till the next spring the operations +of offensive war; to summon their scattered forces; to relinquish +their distant possessions, and to trust even Rome itself to the +faith of its inhabitants. Leuderis, an ancient warrior, was left +in the capital with four thousand soldiers; a feeble garrison, +which might have seconded the zeal, though it was incapable of +opposing the wishes, of the Romans. But a momentary enthusiasm +of religion and patriotism was kindled in their minds. They +furiously exclaimed, that the apostolic throne should no longer +be profaned by the triumph or toleration of Arianism; that the +tombs of the Caesars should no longer be trampled by the savages +of the North; and, without reflecting, that Italy must sink into +a province of Constantinople, they fondly hailed the restoration +of a Roman emperor as a new aera of freedom and prosperity. The +deputies of the pope and clergy, of the senate and people, +invited the lieutenant of Justinian to accept their voluntary +allegiance, and to enter the city, whose gates would be thrown +open for his reception. As soon as Belisarius had fortified his +new conquests, Naples and Cumae, he advanced about twenty miles +to the banks of the Vulturnus, contemplated the decayed grandeur +of Capua, and halted at the separation of the Latin and Appian +ways. The work of the censor, after the incessant use of nine +centuries, still preserved its primaeval beauty, and not a flaw +could be discovered in the large polished stones, of which that +solid, though narrow road, was so firmly compacted. ^73 +Belisarius, however, preferred the Latin way, which, at a +distance from the sea and the marshes, skirted in a space of one +hundred and twenty miles along the foot of the mountains. His +enemies had disappeared: when he made his entrance through the +Asinarian gate, the garrison departed without molestation along +the Flaminian way; and the city, after sixty years' servitude, +was delivered from the yoke of the Barbarians. Leuderis alone, +from a motive of pride or discontent, refused to accompany the +fugitives; and the Gothic chief, himself a trophy of the victory, +was sent with the keys of Rome to the throne of the emperor +Justinian. ^74 +[Footnote 71: The Decennovium is strangely confounded by +Cluverius (tom. ii. p. 1007) with the River Ufens. It was in +truth a canal of nineteen miles, from Forum Appii to Terracina, +on which Horace embarked in the night. The Decennovium, which is +mentioned by Lucan, Dion Cassius, and Cassiodorus, has been +sufficiently ruined, restored, and obliterated, (D'Anville, +Anayse de l'Italie, p. 185, &c.)] + +[Footnote 72: A Jew, gratified his contempt and hatred for all +the Christians, by enclosing three bands, each of ten hogs, and +discriminated by the names of Goths, Greeks, and Romans. Of the +first, almost all were found dead; almost all the second were +alive: of the third, half died, and the rest lost their bristles. + +No unsuitable emblem of the event] + +[Footnote 73: Bergier (Hist. des Grands Chemins des Romains, tom. +i. p. 221 - 228, 440 - 444) examines the structure and +materials, while D'Anville (Analyse d'Italie, p. 200 - 123) +defines the geographical line.] +[Footnote 74: Of the first recovery of Rome, the year (536) is +certain, from the series of events, rather than from the corrupt, +or interpolated, text of Procopius. The month (December) is +ascertained by Evagrius, (l. iv. v. 19;) and the day (the tenth) +may be admitted on the slight evidence of Nicephorus Callistus, +(l. xvii. c. 13.) For this accurate chronology, we are indebted +to the diligence and judgment of Pagi, (tom, ii. p. 659, 560.) + Note: Compare Maltret's note, in the edition of Dindorf the +ninth is the day, according to his reading, - M.] + + The first days, which coincided with the old Saturnalia, +were devoted to mutual congratulation and the public joy; and the +Catholics prepared to celebrate, without a rival, the approaching +festival of the nativity of Christ. In the familiar conversation +of a hero, the Romans acquired some notion of the virtues which +history ascribed to their ancestors; they were edified by the +apparent respect of Belisarius for the successor of St. Peter, +and his rigid discipline secured in the midst of war the +blessings of tranquillity and justice. They applauded the rapid +success of his arms, which overran the adjacent country, as far +as Narni, Perusia, and Spoleto; but they trembled, the senate, +the clergy, and the unwarlike people, as soon as they understood +that he had resolved, and would speedily be reduced, to sustain a +siege against the powers of the Gothic monarchy. The designs of +Vitiges were executed, during the winter season, with diligence +and effect. From their rustic habitations, from their distant +garrisons, the Goths assembled at Ravenna for the defence of +their country; and such were their numbers, that, after an army +had been detached for the relief of Dalmatia, one hundred and +fifty thousand fighting men marched under the royal standard. +According to the degrees of rank or merit, the Gothic king +distributed arms and horses, rich gifts, and liberal promises; he +moved along the Flaminian way, declined the useless sieges of +Perusia and Spoleto, respected he impregnable rock of Narni, and +arrived within two miles of Rome at the foot of the Milvian +bridge. The narrow passage was fortified with a tower, and +Belisarius had computed the value of the twenty days which must +be lost in the construction of another bridge. But the +consternation of the soldiers of the tower, who either fled or +deserted, disappointed his hopes, and betrayed his person into +the most imminent danger. At the head of one thousand horse, the +Roman general sallied from the Flaminian gate to mark the ground +of an advantageous position, and to survey the camp of the +Barbarians; but while he still believed them on the other side of +the Tyber, he was suddenly encompassed and assaulted by their +numerous squadrons. The fate of Italy depended on his life; and +the deserters pointed to the conspicuous horse a bay, ^75 with a +white face, which he rode on that memorable day. "Aim at the bay +horse," was the universal cry. Every bow was bent, every javelin +was directed, against that fatal object, and the command was +repeated and obeyed by thousands who were ignorant of its real +motive. The bolder Barbarians advanced to the more honorable +combat of swords and spears; and the praise of an enemy has +graced the fall of Visandus, the standard-bearer, ^76 who +maintained his foremost station, till he was pierced with +thirteen wounds, perhaps by the hand of Belisarius himself. The +Roman general was strong, active, and dexterous; on every side he +discharged his weighty and mortal strokes: his faithful guards +imitated his valor, and defended his person; and the Goths, after +the loss of a thousand men, fled before the arms of a hero. They +were rashly pursued to their camp; and the Romans, oppressed by +multitudes, made a gradual, and at length a precipitate retreat +to the gates of the city: the gates were shut against the +fugitives; and the public terror was increased, by the report +that Belisarius was slain. His countenance was indeed disfigured +by sweat, dust, and blood; his voice was hoarse, his strength was +almost exhausted; but his unconquerable spirit still remained; he +imparted that spirit to his desponding companions; and their last +desperate charge was felt by the flying Barbarians, as if a new +army, vigorous and entire, had been poured from the city. The +Flaminian gate was thrown open to a real triumph; but it was not +before Belisarius had visited every post, and provided for the +public safety, that he could be persuaded, by his wife and +friends, to taste the needful refreshments of food and sleep. In +the more improved state of the art of war, a general is seldom +required, or even permitted to display the personal prowess of a +soldier; and the example of Belisarius may be added to the rare +examples of Henry IV., of Pyrrhus, and of Alexander. + +[Footnote 75: A horse of a bay or red color was styled by the +Greeks, balan by the Barbarians, and spadix by the Romans. +Honesti spadices, says Virgil, (Georgic. l. iii. 72, with the +Observations of Martin and Heyne.) It signifies a branch of the +palm-tree, whose name is synonymous to red, (Aulus Gellius, ii. +26.)] + +[Footnote 76: I interpret it, not as a proper, name, but an +office, standard-bearer, from bandum, (vexillum,) a Barbaric word +adopted by the Greeks and Romans, (Paul Diacon. l. i. c. 20, p. +760. Grot. Nomina Hethica, p. 575. Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. +i. p. 539, 540.)] + + After this first and unsuccessful trial of their enemies, +the whole army of the Goths passed the Tyber, and formed the +siege of the city, which continued above a year, till their final +departure. Whatever fancy may conceive, the severe compass of +the geographer defines the circumference of Rome within a line of +twelve miles and three hundred and forty-five paces; and that +circumference, except in the Vatican, has invariably been the +same from the triumph of Aurelian to the peaceful but obscure +reign of the modern popes. ^77 But in the day of her greatness, +the space within her walls was crowded with habitations and +inhabitants; and the populous suburbs, that stretched along the +public roads, were darted like so many rays from one common +centre. Adversity swept away these extraneous ornaments, and left +naked and desolate a considerable part even of the seven hills. +Yet Rome in its present state could send into the field about +thirty thousand males of a military age; ^78 and, notwithstanding +the want of discipline and exercise, the far greater part, inured +to the hardships of poverty, might be capable of bearing arms for +the defence of their country and religion. The prudence of +Belisarius did not neglect this important resource. His soldiers +were relieved by the zeal and diligence of the people, who +watched while they slept, and labored while they reposed: he +accepted the voluntary service of the bravest and most indigent +of the Roman youth; and the companies of townsmen sometimes +represented, in a vacant post, the presence of the troops which +had been drawn away to more essential duties. But his just +confidence was placed in the veterans who had fought under his +banner in the Persian and African wars; and although that gallant +band was reduced to five thousand men, he undertook, with such +contemptible numbers, to defend a circle of twelve miles, against +an army of one hundred and fifty thousand Barbarians. In the +walls of Rome, which Belisarius constructed or restored, the +materials of ancient architecture may be discerned; ^79 and the +whole fortification was completed, except in a chasm still extant +between the Pincian and Flaminian gates, which the prejudices of +the Goths and Romans left under the effectual guard of St. Peter +the apostle. ^80 + +[Footnote 77: M. D'Anville has given, in the Memoirs of the +Academy for the year 1756, (tom. xxx. p. 198 - 236,) a plan of +Rome on a smaller scale, but far more accurate than that which he +had delineated in 1738 for Rollin's history. Experience had +improved his knowledge and instead of Rossi's topography, he used +the new and excellent map of Nolli. Pliny's old measure of +thirteen must be reduced to eight miles. It is easier to alter a +text, than to remove hills or buildings. + + Note: Compare Gibbon, ch. xi. note 43, and xxxi. 67, and ch. +lxxi. "It is quite clear," observes Sir J. Hobhouse, "that all +these measurements differ, (in the first and second it is 21, in +the text 12 and 345 paces, in the last 10,) yet it is equally +clear that the historian avers that they are all the same." The +present extent, 12 3/4 nearly agrees with the second statement of +Gibbon. Sir. J. Hobhouse also observes that the walls were +enlarged by Constantine; but there can be no doubt that the +circuit has been much changed. Illust. of Ch. Harold, p. 180. - +M.] + +[Footnote 78: In the year 1709, Labat (Voyages en Italie, tom. +iii. p. 218) reckoned 138,568 Christian souls, besides 8000 or +10,000 Jews - without souls? In the year 1763, the numbers +exceeded 160,000.] + +[Footnote 79: The accurate eye of Nardini (Roma Antica, l. i. c. +viii. p. 31) could distinguish the tumultuarie opere di +Belisario.] + +[Footnote 80: The fissure and leaning in the upper part of the +wall, which Procopius observed, (Goth. l. i. c. 13,) is visible +to the present hour, (Douat. Roma Vetus, l. i. c. 17, p. 53, +54.)] + + The battlements or bastions were shaped in sharp angles a +ditch, broad and deep, protected the foot of the rampart; and the +archers on the rampart were assisted by military engines; the +balistri, a powerful cross-bow, which darted short but massy +arrows; the onagri, or wild asses, which, on the principle of a +sling, threw stones and bullets of an enormous size. ^81 A chain +was drawn across the Tyber; the arches of the aqueducts were made +impervious, and the mole or sepulchre of Hadrian ^82 was +converted, for the first time, to the uses of a citadel. That +venerable structure, which contained the ashes of the Antonines, +was a circular turret rising from a quadrangular basis; it was +covered with the white marble of Paros, and decorated by the +statues of gods and heroes; and the lover of the arts must read +with a sigh, that the works of Praxiteles or Lysippus were torn +from their lofty pedestals, and hurled into the ditch on the +heads of the besiegers. ^83 To each of his lieutenants Belisarius +assigned the defence of a gate, with the wise and peremptory +instruction, that, whatever might be the alarm, they should +steadily adhere to their respective posts, and trust their +general for the safety of Rome. The formidable host of the Goths +was insufficient to embrace the ample measure of the city, of the +fourteen gates, seven only were invested from the Proenestine to +the Flaminian way; and Vitiges divided his troops into six camps, +each of which was fortified with a ditch and rampart. On the +Tuscan side of the river, a seventh encampment was formed in the +field or circus of the Vatican, for the important purpose of +commanding the Milvian bridge and the course of the Tyber; but +they approached with devotion the adjacent church of St. Peter; +and the threshold of the holy apostles was respected during the +siege by a Christian enemy. In the ages of victory, as often as +the senate decreed some distant conquest, the consul denounced +hostilities, by unbarring, in solemn pomp, the gates of the +temple of Janus. ^84 Domestic war now rendered the admonition +superfluous, and the ceremony was superseded by the establishment +of a new religion. But the brazen temple of Janus was left +standing in the forum; of a size sufficient only to contain the +statue of the god, five cubits in height, of a human form, but +with two faces directed to the east and west. The double gates +were likewise of brass; and a fruitless effort to turn them on +their rusty hinges revealed the scandalous secret that some +Romans were still attached to the superstition of their +ancestors. + +[Footnote 81: Lipsius (Opp. tom. iii. Poliorcet, l. iii.) was +ignorant of this clear and conspicuous passage of Procopius, +(Goth. l. i. c. 21.) The engine was named the wild ass, a +calcitrando, (Hen. Steph. Thesaur. Linguae Graec. tom. ii. p. +1340, 1341, tom. iii. p. 877.) I have seen an ingenious model, +contrived and executed by General Melville, which imitates or +surpasses the art of antiquity.] + +[Footnote 82: The description of this mausoleum, or mole, in +Procopius, (l. i. c. 25.) is the first and best. The height +above the walls. On Nolli's great plan, the sides measure 260 +English feet. + + Note: Donatus and Nardini suppose that Hadrian's tomb was +fortified by Honorius; it was united to the wall by men of old, +(Procop in loc.) Gibbon has mistaken the breadth for the height +above the walls Hobhouse, Illust. of Childe Harold, p. 302. - M.] + +[Footnote 83: Praxiteles excelled in Fauns, and that of Athens +was his own masterpiece. Rome now contains about thirty of the +same character. When the ditch of St. Angelo was cleansed under +Urban VIII., the workmen found the sleeping Faun of the Barberini +palace; but a leg, a thigh, and the right arm, had been broken +from that beautiful statue, (Winkelman, Hist. de l'Art, tom. ii. +p. 52, 53, tom iii. p. 265.)] + +[Footnote 84: Procopius has given the best description of the +temple of Janus a national deity of Latium, (Heyne, Excurs. v. ad +l. vii. Aeneid.) It was once a gate in the primitive city of +Romulus and Numa, (Nardini, p. 13, 256, 329.) Virgil has +described the ancient rite like a poet and an antiquarian.] + Eighteen days were employed by the besiegers, to provide all +the instruments of attack which antiquity had invented. Fascines +were prepared to fill the ditches, scaling-ladders to ascend the +walls. The largest trees of the forest supplied the timbers of +four battering-rams: their heads were armed with iron; they were +suspended by ropes, and each of them was worked by the labor of +fifty men. The lofty wooden turrets moved on wheels or rollers, +and formed a spacious platform of the level of the rampart. On +the morning of the nineteenth day, a general attack was made from +the Praenestine gate to the Vatican: seven Gothic columns, with +their military engines, advanced to the assault; and the Romans, +who lined the ramparts, listened with doubt and anxiety to the +cheerful assurances of their commander. As soon as the enemy +approached the ditch, Belisarius himself drew the first arrow; +and such was his strength and dexterity, that he transfixed the +foremost of the Barbarian leaders. + + As shout of applause and victory was reechoed along the +wall. He drew a second arrow, and the stroke was followed with +the same success and the same acclamation. The Roman general +then gave the word, that the archers should aim at the teams of +oxen; they were instantly covered with mortal wounds; the towers +which they drew remained useless and immovable, and a single +moment disconcerted the laborious projects of the king of the +Goths. After this disappointment, Vitiges still continued, or +feigned to continue, the assault of the Salarian gate, that he +might divert the attention of his adversary, while his principal +forces more strenuously attacked the Praenestine gate and the +sepulchre of Hadrian, at the distance of three miles from each +other. Near the former, the double walls of the Vivarium ^85 were +low or broken; the fortifications of the latter were feebly +guarded: the vigor of the Goths was excited by the hope of +victory and spoil; and if a single post had given way, the +Romans, and Rome itself, were irrecoverably lost. This perilous +day was the most glorious in the life of Belisarius. Amidst +tumult and dismay, the whole plan of the attack and defence was +distinctly present to his mind; he observed the changes of each +instant, weighed every possible advantage, transported his person +to the scenes of danger, and communicated his spirit in calm and +decisive orders. The contest was fiercely maintained from the +morning to the evening; the Goths were repulsed on all sides; and +each Roman might boast that he had vanquished thirty Barbarians, +if the strange disproportion of numbers were not counterbalanced +by the merit of one man. Thirty thousand Goths, according to the +confession of their own chiefs, perished in this bloody action; +and the multitude of the wounded was equal to that of the slain. +When they advanced to the assault, their close disorder suffered +not a javelin to fall without effect; and as they retired, the +populace of the city joined the pursuit, and slaughtered, with +impunity, the backs of their flying enemies. Belisarius +instantly sallied from the gates; and while the soldiers chanted +his name and victory, the hostile engines of war were reduced to +ashes. Such was the loss and consternation of the Goths, that, +from this day, the siege of Rome degenerated into a tedious and +indolent blockade; and they were incessantly harassed by the +Roman general, who, in frequent skirmishes, destroyed above five +thousand of their bravest troops. Their cavalry was unpractised +in the use of the bow; their archers served on foot; and this +divided force was incapable of contending with their adversaries, +whose lances and arrows, at a distance, or at hand, were alike +formidable. The consummate skill of Belisarius embraced the +favorable opportunities; and as he chose the ground and the +moment, as he pressed the charge or sounded the retreat, ^86 the +squadrons which he detached were seldom unsuccessful. These +partial advantages diffused an impatient ardor among the soldiers +and people, who began to feel the hardships of a siege, and to +disregard the dangers of a general engagement. Each plebeian +conceived himself to be a hero, and the infantry, who, since the +decay of discipline, were rejected from the line of battle, +aspired to the ancient honors of the Roman legion. Belisarius +praised the spirit of his troops, condemned their presumption, +yielded to their clamors, and prepared the remedies of a defeat, +the possibility of which he alone had courage to suspect. In the +quarter of the Vatican, the Romans prevailed; and if the +irreparable moments had not been wasted in the pillage of the +camp, they might have occupied the Milvian bridge, and charged in +the rear of the Gothic host. On the other side of the Tyber, +Belisarius advanced from the Pincian and Salarian gates. But his +army, four thousand soldiers perhaps, was lost in a spacious +plain; they were encompassed and oppressed by fresh multitudes, +who continually relieved the broken ranks of the Barbarians. The +valiant leaders of the infantry were unskilled to conquer; they +died: the retreat (a hasty retreat) was covered by the prudence +of the general, and the victors started back with affright from +the formidable aspect of an armed rampart. The reputation of +Belisarius was unsullied by a defeat; and the vain confidence of +the Goths was not less serviceable to his designs than the +repentance and modesty of the Roman troops. + +[Footnote 85: Vivarium was an angle in the new wall enclosed for +wild beasts, (Procopius, Goth. l. i. c. 23.) The spot is still +visible in Nardini (l iv. c. 2, p. 159, 160,) and Nolli's great +plan of Rome.] + +[Footnote 86: For the Roman trumpet, and its various notes, +consult Lipsius de Militia Romana, (Opp. tom. iii. l. iv. +Dialog. x. p. 125-129.) A mode of distinguishing the charge by +the horse-trumpet of solid brass, and the retreat by the +foot-trumpet of leather and light wood, was recommended by +Procopius, and adopted by Belisarius.] + +Chapter XLI: Conquests Of Justinian, Charact Of Balisarius. + +Part V. + + From the moment that Belisarius had determined to sustain a +siege, his assiduous care provided Rome against the danger of +famine, more dreadful than the Gothic arms. An extraordinary +supply of corn was imported from Sicily: the harvests of Campania +and Tuscany were forcibly swept for the use of the city; and the +rights of private property were infringed by the strong plea of +the public safety. It might easily be foreseen that the enemy +would intercept the aqueducts; and the cessation of the +water-mills was the first inconvenience, which was speedily +removed by mooring large vessels, and fixing mill-stones in the +current of the river. The stream was soon embarrassed by the +trunks of trees, and polluted with dead bodies; yet so effectual +were the precautions of the Roman general, that the waters of the +Tyber still continued to give motion to the mills and drink to +the inhabitants: the more distant quarters were supplied from +domestic wells; and a besieged city might support, without +impatience, the privation of her public baths. A large portion +of Rome, from the Praenestine gate to the church of St. Paul, was +never invested by the Goths; their excursions were restrained by +the activity of the Moorish troops: the navigation of the Tyber, +and the Latin, Appian, and Ostian ways, were left free and +unmolested for the introduction of corn and cattle, or the +retreat of the inhabitants, who sought refuge in Campania or +Sicily. Anxious to relieve himself from a useless and devouring +multitude, Belisarius issued his peremptory orders for the +instant departure of the women, the children, and slaves; +required his soldiers to dismiss their male and female +attendants, and regulated their allowance that one moiety should +be given in provisions, and the other in money. His foresight +was justified by the increase of the public distress, as soon as +the Goths had occupied two important posts in the neighborhood of +Rome. By the loss of the port, or, as it is now called, the city +of Porto, he was deprived of the country on the right of the +Tyber, and the best communication with the sea; and he reflected, +with grief and anger, that three hundred men, could he have +spared such a feeble band, might have defended its impregnable +works. Seven miles from the capital, between the Appian and the +Latin ways, two principal aqueducts crossing, and again crossing +each other: enclosed within their solid and lofty arches a +fortified space, ^87 where Vitiges established a camp of seven +thousand Goths to intercept the convoy of Sicily and Campania. +The granaries of Rome were insensibly exhausted, the adjacent +country had been wasted with fire and sword; such scanty supplies +as might yet be obtained by hasty excursions were the reward of +valor, and the purchase of wealth: the forage of the horses, and +the bread of the soldiers, never failed: but in the last months +of the siege, the people were exposed to the miseries of +scarcity, unwholesome food, ^88 and contagious disorders. +Belisarius saw and pitied their sufferings; but he had foreseen, +and he watched the decay of their loyalty, and the progress of +their discontent. Adversity had awakened the Romans from the +dreams of grandeur and freedom, and taught them the humiliating +lesson, that it was of small moment to their real happiness, +whether the name of their master was derived from the Gothic or +the Latin language. The lieutenant of Justinian listened to +their just complaints, but he rejected with disdain the idea of +flight or capitulation; repressed their clamorous impatience for +battle; amused them with the prospect of a sure and speedy +relief; and secured himself and the city from the effects of +their despair or treachery. Twice in each month he changed the +station of the officers to whom the custody of the gates was +committed: the various precautions of patroles, watch words, +lights, and music, were repeatedly employed to discover whatever +passed on the ramparts; out-guards were posted beyond the ditch, +and the trusty vigilance of dogs supplied the more doubtful +fidelity of mankind. A letter was intercepted, which assured the +king of the Goths that the Asinarian gate, adjoining to the +Lateran church, should be secretly opened to his troops. On the +proof or suspicion of treason, several senators were banished, +and the pope Sylverius was summoned to attend the representative +of his sovereign, at his head-quarters in the Pincian palace. ^89 +The ecclesiastics, who followed their bishop, were detained in +the first or second apartment, ^90 and he alone was admitted to +the presence of Belisarius. The conqueror of Rome and Carthage +was modestly seated at the feet of Antonina, who reclined on a +stately couch: the general was silent, but the voice of reproach +and menace issued from the mouth of his imperious wife. Accused +by credible witnesses, and the evidence of his own subscription, +the successor of St. Peter was despoiled of his pontifical +ornaments, clad in the mean habit of a monk, and embarked, +without delay, for a distant exile in the East. ^* At the +emperor's command, the clergy of Rome proceeded to the choice of +a new bishop; and after a solemn invocation of the Holy Ghost, +elected the deacon Vigilius, who had purchased the papal throne +by a bribe of two hundred pounds of gold. The profit, and +consequently the guilt, of this simony, was imputed to +Belisarius: but the hero obeyed the orders of his wife; Antonina +served the passions of the empress; and Theodora lavished her +treasures, in the vain hope of obtaining a pontiff hostile or +indifferent to the council of Chalcedon. ^91 +[Footnote 87: Procopius (Goth. l. ii. c. 3) has forgot to name +these aqueducts nor can such a double intersection, at such a +distance from Rome, be clearly ascertained from the writings of +Frontinus, Fabretti, and Eschinard, de Aquis and de Agro Romano, +or from the local maps of Lameti and Cingolani. Seven or eight +miles from the city, (50 stadia,) on the road to Albano, between +the Latin and Appian ways, I discern the remains of an aqueduct, +(probably the Septimian,) a series (630 paces) of arches +twenty-five feet high.] +[Footnote 88: They made sausages of mule's flesh; unwholesome, if +the animals had died of the plague. Otherwise, the famous +Bologna sausages are said to be made of ass flesh, (Voyages de +Labat, tom. ii. p. 218.)] + +[Footnote 89: The name of the palace, the hill, and the adjoining +gate, were all derived from the senator Pincius. Some recent +vestiges of temples and churches are now smoothed in the garden +of the Minims of the Trinita del Monte, (Nardini, l. iv. c. 7, p. +196. Eschinard, p. 209, 210, the old plan of Buffalino, and the +great plan of Nolli.) Belisarius had fixed his station between +the Pincian and Salarian gates, (Procop. Goth. l. i. c. 15.)] +[Footnote 90: From the mention of the primum et secundum velum, +it should seem that Belisarius, even in a siege, represented the +emperor, and maintained the proud ceremonial of the Byzantine +palace.] + +[Footnote *: De Beau, as a good Catholic, makes the Pope the +victim of a dark intrigue. Lord Mahon, (p. 225.) with whom I +concur, summed up against him. - M.] + +[Footnote 91: Of this act of sacrilege, Procopius (Goth. l. i. c. +25) is a dry and reluctant witness. The narratives of Liberatus +(Breviarium, c. 22) and Anastasius (de Vit. Pont. p. 39) are +characteristic, but passionate. Hear the execrations of Cardinal +Baronius, (A.D. 536, No. 123 A.D. 538, No. 4 - 20:) portentum, +facinus omni execratione dignum.] + + The epistle of Belisarius to the emperor announced his +victory, his danger, and his resolution. "According to your +commands, we have entered the dominions of the Goths, and reduced +to your obedience Sicily, Campania, and the city of Rome; but the +loss of these conquests will be more disgraceful than their +acquisition was glorious. Hitherto we have successfully fought +against the multitudes of the Barbarians, but their multitudes +may finally prevail. Victory is the gift of Providence, but the +reputation of kings and generals depends on the success or the +failure of their designs. Permit me to speak with freedom: if +you wish that we should live, send us subsistence; if you desire +that we should conquer, send us arms, horses, and men. The +Romans have received us as friends and deliverers: but in our +present distress, they will be either betrayed by their +confidence, or we shall be oppressed by their treachery and +hatred. For myself, my life is consecrated to your service: it +is yours to reflect, whether my death in this situation will +contribute to the glory and prosperity of your reign." Perhaps +that reign would have been equally prosperous if the peaceful +master of the East had abstained from the conquest of Africa and +Italy: but as Justinian was ambitious of fame, he made some +efforts (they were feeble and languid) to support and rescue his +victorious general. A reenforcement of sixteen hundred +Sclavonians and Huns was led by Martin and Valerian; and as they +reposed during the winter season in the harbors of Greece, the +strength of the men and horses was not impaired by the fatigues +of a sea-voyage; and they distinguished their valor in the first +sally against the besiegers. About the time of the summer +solstice, Euthalius landed at Terracina with large sums of money +for the payment of the troops: he cautiously proceeded along the +Appian way, and this convoy entered Rome through the gate Capena, +^92 while Belisarius, on the other side, diverted the attention +of the Goths by a vigorous and successful skirmish. These +seasonable aids, the use and reputation of which were dexterously +managed by the Roman general, revived the courage, or at least +the hopes, of the soldiers and people. The historian Procopius +was despatched with an important commission to collect the troops +and provisions which Campania could furnish, or Constantinople +had sent; and the secretary of Belisarius was soon followed by +Antonina herself, ^93 who boldly traversed the posts of the +enemy, and returned with the Oriental succors to the relief of +her husband and the besieged city. A fleet of three thousand +Isaurians cast anchor in the Bay of Naples and afterwards at +Ostia. Above two thousand horse, of whom a part were Thracians, +landed at Tarentum; and, after the junction of five hundred +soldiers of Campania, and a train of wagons laden with wine and +flour, they directed their march on the Appian way, from Capua to +the neighborhood of Rome. The forces that arrived by land and +sea were united at the mouth of the Tyber. Antonina convened a +council of war: it was resolved to surmount, with sails and oars, +the adverse stream of the river; and the Goths were apprehensive +of disturbing, by any rash hostilities, the negotiation to which +Belisarius had craftily listened. They credulously believed that +they saw no more than the vanguard of a fleet and army, which +already covered the Ionian Sea and the plains of Campania; and +the illusion was supported by the haughty language of the Roman +general, when he gave audience to the ambassadors of Vitiges. +After a specious discourse to vindicate the justice of his cause, +they declared, that, for the sake of peace, they were disposed to +renounce the possession of Sicily. "The emperor is not less +generous," replied his lieutenant, with a disdainful smile, "in +return for a gift which you no longer possess: he presents you +with an ancient province of the empire; he resigns to the Goths +the sovereignty of the British island." Belisarius rejected with +equal firmness and contempt the offer of a tribute; but he +allowed the Gothic ambassadors to seek their fate from the mouth +of Justinian himself; and consented, with seeming reluctance, to +a truce of three months, from the winter solstice to the equinox +of spring. Prudence might not safely trust either the oaths or +hostages of the Barbarians, and the conscious superiority of the +Roman chief was expressed in the distribution of his troops. As +soon as fear or hunger compelled the Goths to evacuate Alba, +Porto, and Centumcellae, their place was instantly supplied; the +garrisons of Narni, Spoleto, and Perusia, were reenforced, and +the seven camps of the besiegers were gradually encompassed with +the calamities of a siege. The prayers and pilgrimage of Datius, +bishop of Milan, were not without effect; and he obtained one +thousand Thracians and Isaurians, to assist the revolt of Liguria +against her Arian tyrant. At the same time, John the Sanguinary, +^94 the nephew of Vitalian, was detached with two thousand chosen +horse, first to Alba, on the Fucine Lake, and afterwards to the +frontiers of Picenum, on the Hadriatic Sea. "In the province," +said Belisarius, "the Goths have deposited their families and +treasures, without a guard or the suspicion of danger. Doubtless +they will violate the truce: let them feel your presence, before +they hear of your motions. Spare the Italians; suffer not any +fortified places to remain hostile in your rear; and faithfully +reserve the spoil for an equal and common partition. It would +not be reasonable," he added with a laugh, "that whilst we are +toiling to the destruction of the drones, our more fortunate +brethren should rifle and enjoy the honey." + +[Footnote 92: The old Capena was removed by Aurelian to, or near, +the modern gate of St. Sebastian, (see Nolli's plan.) That +memorable spot has been consecrated by the Egerian grove, the +memory of Numa two umphal arches, the sepulchres of the Scipios, +Metelli, &c.] + +[Footnote 93: The expression of Procopius has an invidious cast, +(Goth. l. ii. c. 4.) Yet he is speaking of a woman.] + +[Footnote 94: Anastasius (p. 40) has preserved this epithet of +Sanguinarius which might do honor to a tiger.] + + The whole nation of the Ostrogoths had been assembled for +the attack, and was almost entirely consumed in the siege of +Rome. If any credit be due to an intelligent spectator, one +third at least of their enormous host was destroyed, in frequent +and bloody combats under the walls of the city. The bad fame and +pernicious qualities of the summer air might already be imputed +to the decay of agriculture and population; and the evils of +famine and pestilence were aggravated by their own +licentiousness, and the unfriendly disposition of the country. +While Vitiges struggled with his fortune, while he hesitated +between shame and ruin, his retreat was hastened by domestic +alarms. The king of the Goths was informed by trembling +messengers, that John the Sanguinary spread the devastations of +war from the Apennine to the Hadriatic; that the rich spoils and +innumerable captives of Picenum were lodged in the fortifications +of Rimini; and that this formidable chief had defeated his uncle, +insulted his capital, and seduced, by secret correspondence, the +fidelity of his wife, the imperious daughter of Amalasontha. +Yet, before he retired, Vitiges made a last effort, either to +storm or to surprise the city. A secret passage was discovered +in one of the aqueducts; two citizens of the Vatican were tempted +by bribes to intoxicate the guards of the Aurelian gate; an +attack was meditated on the walls beyond the Tyber, in a place +which was not fortified with towers; and the Barbarians advanced, +with torches and scaling-ladders, to the assault of the Pincian +gate. But every attempt was defeated by the intrepid vigilance +of Belisarius and his band of veterans, who, in the most perilous +moments, did not regret the absence of their companions; and the +Goths, alike destitute of hope and subsistence, clamorously urged +their departure before the truce should expire, and the Roman +cavalry should again be united. One year and nine days after the +commencement of the siege, an army, so lately strong and +triumphant, burnt their tents, and tumultuously repassed the +Milvian bridge. They repassed not with impunity: their thronging +multitudes, oppressed in a narrow passage, were driven headlong +into the Tyber, by their own fears and the pursuit of the enemy; +and the Roman general, sallying from the Pincian gate, inflicted +a severe and disgraceful wound on their retreat. The slow length +of a sickly and desponding host was heavily dragged along the +Flaminian way; from whence the Barbarians were sometimes +compelled to deviate, lest they should encounter the hostile +garrisons that guarded the high road to Rimini and Ravenna. Yet +so powerful was this flying army, that Vitiges spared ten +thousand men for the defence of the cities which he was most +solicitous to preserve, and detached his nephew Uraias, with an +adequate force, for the chastisement of rebellious Milan. At the +head of his principal army, he besieged Rimini, only thirty-three +miles distant from the Gothic capital. A feeble rampart, and a +shallow ditch, were maintained by the skill and valor of John the +Sanguinary, who shared the danger and fatigue of the meanest +soldier, and emulated, on a theatre less illustrious, the +military virtues of his great commander. The towers and +battering-engines of the Barbarians were rendered useless; their +attacks were repulsed; and the tedious blockade, which reduced +the garrison to the last extremity of hunger, afforded time for +the union and march of the Roman forces. A fleet, which had +surprised Ancona, sailed along the coast of the Hadriatic, to the +relief of the besieged city. The eunuch Narses landed in Picenum +with two thousand Heruli and five thousand of the bravest troops +of the East. The rock of the Apennine was forced; ten thousand +veterans moved round the foot of the mountains, under the command +of Belisarius himself; and a new army, whose encampment blazed +with innumerable lights, appeared to advance along the Flaminian +way. Overwhelmed with astonishment and despair, the Goths +abandoned the siege of Rimini, their tents, their standards, and +their leaders; and Vitiges, who gave or followed the example of +flight, never halted till he found a shelter within the walls and +morasses of Ravenna. + To these walls, and to some fortresses destitute of any +mutual support, the Gothic monarchy was now reduced. The +provinces of Italy had embraced the party of the emperor and his +army, gradually recruited to the number of twenty thousand men, +must have achieved an easy and rapid conquest, if their +invincible powers had not been weakened by the discord of the +Roman chiefs. Before the end of the siege, an act of blood, +ambiguous and indiscreet, sullied the fair fame of Belisarius. +Presidius, a loyal Italian, as he fled from Ravenna to Rome, was +rudely stopped by Constantine, the military governor of Spoleto, +and despoiled, even in a church, of two daggers richly inlaid +with gold and precious stones. As soon as the public danger had +subsided, Presidius complained of the loss and injury: his +complaint was heard, but the order of restitution was disobeyed +by the pride and avarice of the offender. Exasperated by the +delay, Presidius boldly arrested the general's horse as he passed +through the forum; and, with the spirit of a citizen, demanded +the common benefit of the Roman laws. The honor of Belisarius +was engaged; he summoned a council; claimed the obedience of his +subordinate officer; and was provoked, by an insolent reply, to +call hastily for the presence of his guards. Constantine, +viewing their entrance as the signal of death, drew his sword, +and rushed on the general, who nimbly eluded the stroke, and was +protected by his friends; while the desperate assassin was +disarmed, dragged into a neighboring chamber, and executed, or +rather murdered, by the guards, at the arbitrary command of +Belisarius. ^95 In this hasty act of violence, the guilt of +Constantine was no longer remembered; the despair and death of +that valiant officer were secretly imputed to the revenge of +Antonina; and each of his colleagues, conscious of the same +rapine, was apprehensive of the same fate. The fear of a common +enemy suspended the effects of their envy and discontent; but in +the confidence of approaching victory, they instigated a powerful +rival to oppose the conqueror of Rome and Africa. From the +domestic service of the palace, and the administration of the +private revenue, Narses the eunuch was suddenly exalted to the +head of an army; and the spirit of a hero, who afterwards +equalled the merit and glory of Belisarius, served only to +perplex the operations of the Gothic war. To his prudent +counsels, the relief of Rimini was ascribed by the leaders of the +discontented faction, who exhorted Narses to assume an +independent and separate command. The epistle of Justinian had +indeed enjoined his obedience to the general; but the dangerous +exception, "as far as may be advantageous to the public service," +reserved some freedom of judgment to the discreet favorite, who +had so lately departed from the sacred and familiar conversation +of his sovereign. In the exercise of this doubtful right, the +eunuch perpetually dissented from the opinions of Belisarius; +and, after yielding with reluctance to the siege of Urbino, he +deserted his colleague in the night, and marched away to the +conquest of the Aemilian province. The fierce and formidable +bands of the Heruli were attached to the person of Narses; ^96 +ten thousand Romans and confederates were persuaded to march +under his banners; every malecontent embraced the fair +opportunity of revenging his private or imaginary wrongs; and the +remaining troops of Belisarius were divided and dispersed from +the garrisons of Sicily to the shores of the Hadriatic. His +skill and perseverance overcame every obstacle: Urbino was taken, +the sieges of Faesulae Orvieto, and Auximum, were undertaken and +vigorously prosecuted; and the eunuch Narses was at length +recalled to the domestic cares of the palace. All dissensions +were healed, and all opposition was subdued, by the temperate +authority of the Roman general, to whom his enemies could not +refuse their esteem; and Belisarius inculcated the salutary +lesson that the forces of the state should compose one body, and +be animated by one soul. But in the interval of discord, the +Goths were permitted to breathe; an important season was lost, +Milan was destroyed, and the northern provinces of Italy were +afflicted by an inundation of the Franks. + +[Footnote 95: This transaction is related in the public history +(Goth. l. ii. c. 8) with candor or caution; in the Anecdotes (c. +7) with malevolence or freedom; but Marcellinus, or rather his +continuator, (in Chron.,) casts a shade of premeditated +assassination over the death of Constantine. He had performed +good service at Rome and Spoleto, (Procop. Goth l. i. c. 7, 14;) +but Alemannus confounds him with a Constantianus comes stabuli.] +[Footnote 96: They refused to serve after his departure; sold +their captives and cattle to the Goths; and swore never to fight +against them. Procopius introduces a curious digression on the +manners and adventures of this wandering nation, a part of whom +finally emigrated to Thule or Scandinavia. (Goth. l. ii. c. 14, +15.)] + + When Justinian first meditated the conquest of Italy, he +sent ambassadors to the kings of the Franks, and adjured them, by +the common ties of alliance and religion, to join in the holy +enterprise against the Arians. The Goths, as their want were more +urgent, employed a more effectual mode of persuasion, and vainly +strove, by the gift of lands and money, to purchase the +friendship, or at least the neutrality, of a light and perfidious +nation. ^97 But the arms of Belisarius, and the revolt of the +Italians, had no sooner shaken the Gothic monarchy, than +Theodebert of Austrasia, the most powerful and warlike of the +Merovingian kings, was persuaded to succor their distress by an +indirect and seasonable aid. Without expecting the consent of +their sovereign, the thousand Burgundians, his recent subjects, +descended from the Alps, and joined the troops which Vitiges had +sent to chastise the revolt of Milan. After an obstinate siege, +the capital of Liguria was reduced by famine; but no capitulation +could be obtained, except for the safe retreat of the Roman +garrison. Datius, the orthodox bishop, who had seduced his +countrymen to rebellion ^98 and ruin, escaped to the luxury and +honors of the Byzantine court; ^99 but the clergy, perhaps the +Arian clergy, were slaughtered at the foot of their own altars by +the defenders of the Catholic faith. Three hundred thousand +males were reported to be slain; ^100 the female sex, and the +more precious spoil, was resigned to the Burgundians; and the +houses, or at least the walls, of Milan, were levelled with the +ground. The Goths, in their last moments, were revenged by the +destruction of a city, second only to Rome in size and opulence, +in the splendor of its buildings, or the number of its +inhabitants; and Belisarius sympathized alone in the fate of his +deserted and devoted friends. Encouraged by this successful +inroad, Theodebert himself, in the ensuing spring, invaded the +plains of Italy with an army of one hundred thousand Barbarians. +^101 The king, and some chosen followers, were mounted on +horseback, and armed with lances; the infantry, without bows or +spears, were satisfied with a shield, a sword, and a double-edged +battle-axe, which, in their hands, became a deadly and unerring +weapon. Italy trembled at the march of the Franks; and both the +Gothic prince and the Roman general, alike ignorant of their +designs, solicited, with hope and terror, the friendship of these +dangerous allies. Till he had secured the passage of the Po on +the bridge of Pavia, the grandson of Clovis dissembled his +intentions, which he at length declared, by assaulting, almost at +the same instant, the hostile camps of the Romans and Goths. +Instead of uniting their arms, they fled with equal +precipitation; and the fertile, though desolate provinces of +Liguria and Aemilia, were abandoned to a licentious host of +Barbarians, whose rage was not mitigated by any thoughts of +settlement or conquest. Among the cities which they ruined, +Genoa, not yet constructed of marble, is particularly enumerated; +and the deaths of thousands, according to the regular practice of +war, appear to have excited less horror than some idolatrous +sacrifices of women and children, which were performed with +impunity in the camp of the most Christian king. If it were not a +melancholy truth, that the first and most cruel sufferings must +be the lot of the innocent and helpless, history might exult in +the misery of the conquerors, who, in the midst of riches, were +left destitute of bread or wine, reduced to drink the waters of +the Po, and to feed on the flesh of distempered cattle. The +dysentery swept away one third of their army; and the clamors of +his subjects, who were impatient to pass the Alps, disposed +Theodebert to listen with respect to the mild exhortations of +Belisarius. The memory of this inglorious and destructive +warfare was perpetuated on the medals of Gaul; and Justinian, +without unsheathing his sword, assumed the title of conqueror of +the Franks. The Merovingian prince was offended by the vanity of +the emperor; he affected to pity the fallen fortunes of the +Goths; and his insidious offer of a foederal union was fortified +by the promise or menace of descending from the Alps at the head +of five hundred thousand men. His plans of conquest were +boundless, and perhaps chimerical. The king of Austrasia +threatened to chastise Justinian, and to march to the gates of +Constantinople: ^102 he was overthrown and slain ^103 by a wild +bull, ^104 as he hunted in the Belgic or German forests. +[Footnote 97: This national reproach of perfidy (Procop. Goth. l. +ii. c. 25) offends the ear of La Mothe le Vayer, (tom. viii. p. +163 - 165,) who criticizes, as if he had not read, the Greek +historian.] + +[Footnote 98: Baronius applauds his treason, and justifies the +Catholic bishops - qui ne sub heretico principe degant omnem +lapidem movent - a useful caution. The more rational Muratori +(Annali d'Italia, tom. v. p. 54) hints at the guilt of perjury, +and blames at least the imprudence of Datius.] +[Footnote 99: St. Datius was more successful against devils than +against Barbarians. He travelled with a numerons retinue, and +occupied at Corinth a large house. (Baronius, A.D. 538, No. 89, +A.D. 539, No. 20.)] +[Footnote 100: (Compare Procopius, Goth. l. ii. c. 7, 21.) Yet +such population is incredible; and the second or third city of +Italy need not repine if we only decimate the numbers of the +present text Both Milan and Genoa revived in less than thirty +years, (Paul Diacon de Gestis Langobard. l. ii. c. 38.) + Note: Procopius says distinctly that Milan was the second +city of the West. Which did Gibbon suppose could compete with +it, Ravenna or Naples; the next page he calls it the second. - +M.] + +[Footnote 101: Besides Procopius, perhaps too Roman, see the +Chronicles of Marius and Marcellinus, Jornandes, (in Success. +Regn. in Muratori, tom. i. p. 241,) and Gregory of Tours, (l. +iii. c. 32, in tom. ii. of the Historians of France.) Gregory +supposes a defeat of Belisarius, who, in Aimoin, (de Gestis +Franc. l. ii. c. 23, in tom. iii. p. 59,) is slain by the +Franks.] +[Footnote 102: Agathias, l. i. p. 14, 15. Could he have seduced +or subdued the Gepidae or Lombards of Pannonia, the Greek +historian is confident that he must have been destroyed in +Thrace.] + +[Footnote 103: The king pointed his spear - the bull overturned a +tree on his head - he expired the same day. Such is the story of +Agathias; but the original historians of France (tom. ii. p. 202, +403, 558, 667) impute his death to a fever.] + +[Footnote 104: Without losing myself in a labyrinth of species +and names - the aurochs, urus, bisons, bubalus, bonasus, buffalo, +&c., (Buffon. Hist. Nat. tom. xi., and Supplement, tom. iii. +vi.,) it is certain, that in the sixth century a large wild +species of horned cattle was hunted in the great forests of the +Vosges in Lorraine, and the Ardennes, (Greg. Turon. tom. ii. l. +x. c. 10, p. 369.)] + +Chapter XLI: Conquests Of Justinian, Charact Of Balisarius. + +Part VI. + + As soon as Belisarius was delivered from his foreign and +domestic enemies, he seriously applied his forces to the final +reduction of Italy. In the siege of Osimo, the general was +nearly transpierced with an arrow, if the mortal stroke had not +been intercepted by one of his guards, who lost, in that pious +office, the use of his hand. The Goths of Osimo, ^* four +thousand warriors, with those of Faesulae and the Cottian Alps, +were among the last who maintained their independence; and their +gallant resistance, which almost tired the patience, deserved the +esteem, of the conqueror. His prudence refused to subscribe the +safe conduct which they asked, to join their brethren of Ravenna; +but they saved, by an honorable capitulation, one moiety at least +of their wealth, with the free alternative of retiring peaceably +to their estates, or enlisting to serve the emperor in his +Persian wars. The multitudes which yet adhered to the standard +of Vitiges far surpassed the number of the Roman troops; but +neither prayers nor defiance, nor the extreme danger of his most +faithful subjects, could tempt the Gothic king beyond the +fortifications of Ravenna. These fortifications were, indeed, +impregnable to the assaults of art or violence; and when +Belisarius invested the capital, he was soon convinced that +famine only could tame the stubborn spirit of the Barbarians. +The sea, the land, and the channels of the Po, were guarded by +the vigilance of the Roman general; and his morality extended the +rights of war to the practice of poisoning the waters, ^105 and +secretly firing the granaries ^106 of a besieged city. ^107 While +he pressed the blockade of Ravenna, he was surprised by the +arrival of two ambassadors from Constantinople, with a treaty of +peace, which Justinian had imprudently signed, without deigning +to consult the author of his victory. By this disgraceful and +precarious agreement, Italy and the Gothic treasure were divided, +and the provinces beyond the Po were left with the regal title to +the successor of Theodoric. The ambassadors were eager to +accomplish their salutary commission; the captive Vitiges +accepted, with transport, the unexpected offer of a crown; honor +was less prevalent among the Goths, than the want and appetite of +food; and the Roman chiefs, who murmured at the continuance of +the war, professed implicit submission to the commands of the +emperor. If Belisarius had possessed only the courage of a +soldier, the laurel would have been snatched from his hand by +timid and envious counsels; but in this decisive moment, he +resolved, with the magnanimity of a statesman, to sustain alone +the danger and merit of generous disobedience. Each of his +officers gave a written opinion that the siege of Ravenna was +impracticable and hopeless: the general then rejected the treaty +of partition, and declared his own resolution of leading Vitiges +in chains to the feet of Justinian. The Goths retired with doubt +and dismay: this peremptory refusal deprived them of the only +signature which they could trust, and filled their minds with a +just apprehension, that a sagacious enemy had discovered the full +extent of their deplorable state. They compared the fame and +fortune of Belisarius with the weakness of their ill- fated king; +and the comparison suggested an extraordinary project, to which +Vitiges, with apparent resignation, was compelled to acquiesce. +Partition would ruin the strength, exile would disgrace the +honor, of the nation; but they offered their arms, their +treasures, and the fortifications of Ravenna, if Belisarius would +disclaim the authority of a master, accept the choice of the +Goths, and assume, as he had deserved, the kingdom of Italy. If +the false lustre of a diadem could have tempted the loyalty of a +faithful subject, his prudence must have foreseen the inconstancy +of the Barbarians, and his rational ambition would prefer the +safe and honorable station of a Roman general. Even the patience +and seeming satisfaction with which he entertained a proposal of +treason, might be susceptible of a malignant interpretation. But +the lieutenant of Justinian was conscious of his own rectitude; +he entered into a dark and crooked path, as it might lead to the +voluntary submission of the Goths; and his dexterous policy +persuaded them that he was disposed to comply with their wishes, +without engaging an oath or a promise for the performance of a +treaty which he secretly abhorred. The day of the surrender of +Ravenna was stipulated by the Gothic ambassadors: a fleet, laden +with provisions, sailed as a welcome guest into the deepest +recess of the harbor: the gates were opened to the fancied king +of Italy; and Belisarius, without meeting an enemy, triumphantly +marched through the streets of an impregnable city. ^108 The +Romans were astonished by their success; the multitudes of tall +and robust Barbarians were confounded by the image of their own +patience and the masculine females, spitting in the faces of +their sons and husbands, most bitterly reproached them for +betraying their dominion and freedom to these pygmies of the +south, contemptible in their numbers, diminutive in their +stature. Before the Goths could recover from the first surprise, +and claim the accomplishment of their doubtful hopes, the victor +established his power in Ravenna, beyond the danger of repentance +and revolt. + +[Footnote *: Auximum, p. 175. - M.] + +[Footnote 105: In the siege of Auximum, he first labored to +demolish an old aqueduct, and then cast into the stream, 1. dead +bodies; 2. mischievous herbs; and 3. quicklime. (says Procopius, +l. ii. c. 27) Yet both words are used as synonymous in Galen, +Dioscorides, and Lucian, (Hen. Steph. Thesaur. Ling. Graec. tom. +iii. p. 748.)] + +[Footnote 106: The Goths suspected Mathasuintha as an accomplice +in the mischief, which perhaps was occasioned by accidental +lightning.] +[Footnote 107: In strict philosophy, a limitation of the rights +of war seems to imply nonsense and contradiction. Grotius +himself is lost in an idle distinction between the jus naturae +and the jus gentium, between poison and infection. He balances +in one scale the passages of Homer (Odyss. A 259, &c.) and +Florus, (l. ii. c. 20, No. 7, ult.;) and in the other, the +examples of Solon (Pausanias, l. x. c. 37) and Belisarius. See +his great work De Jure Belli et Pacis, (l. iii. c. 4, s. 15, 16, +17, and in Barbeyrac's version, tom. ii. p. 257, &c.) Yet I can +understand the benefit and validity of an agreement, tacit or +express, mutually to abstain from certain modes of hostility. +See the Amphictyonic oath in Aeschines, de falsa Legatione.] +[Footnote 108: Ravenna was taken, not in the year 540, but in the +latter end of 539; and Pagi (tom. ii. p. 569) is rectified by +Muratori. (Annali d'Italia, tom. v. p. 62,) who proves from an +original act on papyrus, (Antiquit. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. ii. +dissert. xxxii. p. 999 - 1007,) Maffei, (Istoria Diplomat. p. 155 +- 160,) that before the third of January, 540, peace and free +correspondence were restored between Ravenna and Faenza.] + Vitiges, who perhaps had attempted to escape, was honorably +guarded in his palace; ^109 the flower of the Gothic youth was +selected for the service of the emperor; the remainder of the +people was dismissed to their peaceful habitations in the +southern provinces; and a colony of Italians was invited to +replenish the depopulated city. The submission of the capital +was imitated in the towns and villages of Italy, which had not +been subdued, or even visited, by the Romans; and the independent +Goths, who remained in arms at Pavia and Verona, were ambitious +only to become the subjects of Belisarius. But his inflexible +loyalty rejected, except as the substitute of Justinian, their +oaths of allegiance; and he was not offended by the reproach of +their deputies, that he rather chose to be a slave than a king. + +[Footnote 109: He was seized by John the Sanguinary, but an oath +or sacrament was pledged for his safety in the Basilica Julii, +(Hist. Miscell. l. xvii. in Muratori, tom. i. p. 107.) Anastasius +(in Vit. Pont. p. 40) gives a dark but probable account. +Montfaucon is quoted by Mascou (Hist. of the Germans, xii. 21) +for a votive shield representing the captivity of Vitiges and now +in the collection of Signor Landi at Rome.] + + After the second victory of Belisarius, envy again +whispered, Justinian listened, and the hero was recalled. "The +remnant of the Gothic war was no longer worthy of his presence: a +gracious sovereign was impatient to reward his services, and to +consult his wisdom; and he alone was capable of defending the +East against the innumerable armies of Persia." Belisarius +understood the suspicion, accepted the excuse, embarked at +Ravenna his spoils and trophies; and proved, by his ready +obedience, that such an abrupt removal from the government of +Italy was not less unjust than it might have been indiscreet. The +emperor received with honorable courtesy both Vitiges and his +more noble consort; and as the king of the Goths conformed to the +Athanasian faith, he obtained, with a rich inheritance of land in +Asia, the rank of senator and patrician. ^110 Every spectator +admired, without peril, the strength and stature of the young +Barbarians: they adored the majesty of the throne, and promised +to shed their blood in the service of their benefactor. +Justinian deposited in the Byzantine palace the treasures of the +Gothic monarchy. A flattering senate was sometime admitted to +gaze on the magnificent spectacle; but it was enviously secluded +from the public view: and the conqueror of Italy renounced, +without a murmur, perhaps without a sigh, the well-earned honors +of a second triumph. His glory was indeed exalted above all +external pomp; and the faint and hollow praises of the court were +supplied, even in a servile age, by the respect and admiration of +his country. Whenever he appeared in the streets and public +places of Constantinople, Belisarius attracted and satisfied the +eyes of the people. His lofty stature and majestic countenance +fulfilled their expectations of a hero; the meanest of his +fellow-citizens were emboldened by his gentle and gracious +demeanor; and the martial train which attended his footsteps left +his person more accessible than in a day of battle. Seven +thousand horsemen, matchless for beauty and valor, were +maintained in the service, and at the private expense, of the +general. ^111 Their prowess was always conspicuous in single +combats, or in the foremost ranks; and both parties confessed +that in the siege of Rome, the guards of Belisarius had alone +vanquished the Barbarian host. Their numbers were continually +augmented by the bravest and most faithful of the enemy; and his +fortunate captives, the Vandals, the Moors, and the Goths, +emulated the attachment of his domestic followers. By the union +of liberality and justice, he acquired the love of the soldiers, +without alienating the affections of the people. The sick and +wounded were relieved with medicines and money; and still more +efficaciously, by the healing visits and smiles of their +commander. The loss of a weapon or a horse was instantly +repaired, and each deed of valor was rewarded by the rich and +honorable gifts of a bracelet or a collar, which were rendered +more precious by the judgment of Belisarius. He was endeared to +the husbandmen by the peace and plenty which they enjoyed under +the shadow of his standard. Instead of being injured, the country +was enriched by the march of the Roman armies; and such was the +rigid discipline of their camp, that not an apple was gathered +from the tree, not a path could be traced in the fields of corn. +Belisarius was chaste and sober. In the license of a military +life, none could boast that they had seen him intoxicated with +wine: the most beautiful captives of Gothic or Vandal race were +offered to his embraces; but he turned aside from their charms, +and the husband of Antonina was never suspected of violating the +laws of conjugal fidelity. The spectator and historian of his +exploits has observed, that amidst the perils of war, he was +daring without rashness, prudent without fear, slow or rapid +according to the exigencies of the moment; that in the deepest +distress he was animated by real or apparent hope, but that he +was modest and humble in the most prosperous fortune. By these +virtues, he equalled or excelled the ancient masters of the +military art. Victory, by sea and land, attended his arms. He +subdued Africa, Italy, and the adjacent islands; led away +captives the successors of Genseric and Theodoric; filled +Constantinople with the spoils of their palaces; and in the space +of six years recovered half the provinces of the Western empire. +In his fame and merit, in wealth and power, he remained without a +rival, the first of the Roman subjects; the voice of envy could +only magnify his dangerous importance; and the emperor might +applaud his own discerning spirit, which had discovered and +raised the genius of Belisarius. +[Footnote 110: Vitiges lived two years at Constantinople, and +imperatoris in affectu convictus (or conjunctus) rebus excessit +humanis. His widow Mathasuenta, the wife and mother of the +patricians, the elder and younger Germanus, united the streams of +Anician and Amali blood, (Jornandes, c. 60, p. 221, in Muratori, +tom. i.)] + +[Footnote 111: Procopius, Goth. l. iii. c. 1. Aimoin, a French +monk of the xith century, who had obtained, and has disfigured, +some authentic information of Belisarius, mentions, in his name, +12,000, pueri or slaves - quos propriis alimus stipendiis - +besides 18,000 soldiers, (Historians of France, tom. iii. De +Gestis Franc. l. ii. c. 6, p. 48.)] + + It was the custom of the Roman triumphs, that a slave should +be placed behind the chariot to remind the conqueror of the +instability of fortune, and the infirmities of human nature. +Procopius, in his Anecdotes, has assumed that servile and +ungrateful office. The generous reader may cast away the libel, +but the evidence of facts will adhere to his memory; and he will +reluctantly confess, that the fame, and even the virtue, of +Belisarius, were polluted by the lust and cruelty of his wife; +and that hero deserved an appellation which may not drop from the +pen of the decent historian. The mother of Antonina ^112 was a +theatrical prostitute, and both her father and grandfather +exercised, at Thessalonica and Constantinople, the vile, though +lucrative, profession of charioteers. In the various situations +of their fortune she became the companion, the enemy, the +servant, and the favorite of the empress Theodora: these loose +and ambitious females had been connected by similar pleasures; +they were separated by the jealousy of vice, and at length +reconciled by the partnership of guilt. Before her marriage with +Belisarius, Antonina had one husband and many lovers: Photius, +the son of her former nuptials, was of an age to distinguish +himself at the siege of Naples; and it was not till the autumn of +her age and beauty ^113 that she indulged a scandalous attachment +to a Thracian youth. Theodosius had been educated in the +Eunomian heresy; the African voyage was consecrated by the +baptism and auspicious name of the first soldier who embarked; +and the proselyte was adopted into the family of his spiritual +parents, ^114 Belisarius and Antonina. Before they touched the +shores of Africa, this holy kindred degenerated into sensual +love: and as Antonina soon overleaped the bounds of modesty and +caution, the Roman general was alone ignorant of his own +dishonor. During their residence at Carthage, he surprised the +two lovers in a subterraneous chamber, solitary, warm, and almost +naked. Anger flashed from his eyes. "With the help of this +young man," said the unblushing Antonina, "I was secreting our +most precious effects from the knowledge of Justinian." The youth +resumed his garments, and the pious husband consented to +disbelieve the evidence of his own senses. From this pleasing +and perhaps voluntary delusion, Belisarius was awakened at +Syracuse, by the officious information of Macedonia; and that +female attendant, after requiring an oath for her security, +produced two chamberlains, who, like herself, had often beheld +the adulteries of Antonina. A hasty flight into Asia saved +Theodosius from the justice of an injured husband, who had +signified to one of his guards the order of his death; but the +tears of Antonina, and her artful seductions, assured the +credulous hero of her innocence: and he stooped, against his +faith and judgment, to abandon those imprudent friends, who had +presumed to accuse or doubt the chastity of his wife. The +revenge of a guilty woman is implacable and bloody: the +unfortunate Macedonia, with the two witnesses, were secretly +arrested by the minister of her cruelty; their tongues were cut +out, their bodies were hacked into small pieces, and their +remains were cast into the Sea of Syracuse. A rash though +judicious saying of Constantine, "I would sooner have punished +the adulteress than the boy," was deeply remembered by Antonina; +and two years afterwards, when despair had armed that officer +against his general, her sanguinary advice decided and hastened +his execution. Even the indignation of Photius was not forgiven +by his mother; the exile of her son prepared the recall of her +lover; and Theodosius condescended to accept the pressing and +humble invitation of the conqueror of Italy. In the absolute +direction of his household, and in the important commissions of +peace and war, ^115 the favorite youth most rapidly acquired a +fortune of four hundred thousand pounds sterling; and after their +return to Constantinople, the passion of Antonina, at least, +continued ardent and unabated. But fear, devotion, and lassitude +perhaps, inspired Theodosius with more serious thoughts. He +dreaded the busy scandal of the capital, and the indiscreet +fondness of the wife of Belisarius; escaped from her embraces, +and retiring to Ephesus, shaved his head, and took refuge in the +sanctuary of a monastic life. The despair of the new Ariadne +could scarcely have been excused by the death of her husband. +She wept, she tore her hair, she filled the palace with her +cries; "she had lost the dearest of friends, a tender, a +faithful, a laborious friend!" But her warm entreaties, fortified +by the prayers of Belisarius, were insufficient to draw the holy +monk from the solitude of Ephesus. It was not till the general +moved forward for the Persian war, that Theodosius could be +tempted to return to Constantinople; and the short interval +before the departure of Antonina herself was boldly devoted to +love and pleasure. +[Footnote 112: The diligence of Alemannus could add but little to +the four first and most curious chapters of the Anecdotes. Of +these strange Anecdotes, a part may be true, because probable - +and a part true, because improbable. Procopius must have known +the former, and the latter he could scarcely invent. + Note: The malice of court scandal is proverbially inventive; +and of such scandal the "Anecdota" may be an embellished record. +- M.] +[Footnote 113: Procopius intimates (Anecdot. c. 4) that when +Belisarius returned to Italy, (A.D. 543,) Antonina was sixty +years of age. A forced, but more polite construction, which +refers that date to the moment when he was writing, (A.D. 559,) +would be compatible with the manhood of Photius, (Gothic. l. i. +c. 10) in 536.] + +[Footnote 114: Gompare the Vandalic War (l. i. c. 12) with the +Anecdotes (c. i.) and Alemannus, (p. 2, 3.) This mode of +baptismal adoption was revived by Leo the philosopher.] + +[Footnote 115: In November, 537, Photius arrested the pope, +(Liberat. Brev. c. 22. Pagi, tom. ii. p. 562) About the end of +539, Belisarius sent Theodosius on an important and lucrative +commission to Ravenna, (Goth. l. ii. c. 18.)] + A philosopher may pity and forgive the infirmities of female +nature, from which he receives no real injury: but contemptible +is the husband who feels, and yet endures, his own infamy in that +of his wife. Antonina pursued her son with implacable hatred; +and the gallant Photius ^116 was exposed to her secret +persecutions in the camp beyond the Tigris. Enraged by his own +wrongs, and by the dishonor of his blood, he cast away in his +turn the sentiments of nature, and revealed to Belisarius the +turpitude of a woman who had violated all the duties of a mother +and a wife. From the surprise and indignation of the Roman +general, his former credulity appears to have been sincere: he +embraced the knees of the son of Antonina, adjured him to +remember his obligations rather than his birth, and confirmed at +the altar their holy vows of revenge and mutual defence. The +dominion of Antonina was impaired by absence; and when she met +her husband, on his return from the Persian confines, Belisarius, +in his first and transient emotions, confined her person, and +threatened her life. Photius was more resolved to punish, and +less prompt to pardon: he flew to Ephesus; extorted from a trusty +eunuch of his another the full confession of her guilt; arrested +Theodosius and his treasures in the church of St. John the +Apostle, and concealed his captives, whose execution was only +delayed, in a secure and sequestered fortress of Cilicia. Such a +daring outrage against public justice could not pass with +impunity; and the cause of Antonina was espoused by the empress, +whose favor she had deserved by the recent services of the +disgrace of a praefect, and the exile and murder of a pope. At +the end of the campaign, Belisarius was recalled; he complied, as +usual, with the Imperial mandate. His mind was not prepared for +rebellion: his obedience, however adverse to the dictates of +honor, was consonant to the wishes of his heart; and when he +embraced his wife, at the command, and perhaps in the presence, +of the empress, the tender husband was disposed to forgive or to +be forgiven. The bounty of Theodora reserved for her companion a +more precious favor. "I have found," she said, "my dearest +patrician, a pearl of inestimable value; it has not yet been +viewed by any mortal eye; but the sight and the possession of +this jewel are destined for my friend." ^* As soon as the +curiosity and impatience of Antonina were kindled, the door of a +bed-chamber was thrown open, and she beheld her lover, whom the +diligence of the eunuchs had discovered in his secret prison. +Her silent wonder burst into passionate exclamations of gratitude +and joy, and she named Theodora her queen, her benefactress, and +her savior. The monk of Ephesus was nourished in the palace with +luxury and ambition; but instead of assuming, as he was promised, +the command of the Roman armies, Theodosius expired in the first +fatigues of an amorous interview. ^! The grief of Antonina could +only be assuaged by the sufferings of her son. A youth of +consular rank, and a sickly constitution, was punished, without a +trial, like a malefactor and a slave: yet such was the constancy +of his mind, that Photius sustained the tortures of the scourge +and the rack, ^!! without violating the faith which he had sworn +to Belisarius. After this fruitless cruelty, the son of +Antonina, while his mother feasted with the empress, was buried +in her subterraneous prisons, which admitted not the distinction +of night and day. He twice escaped to the most venerable +sanctuaries of Constantinople, the churches of St. Sophia, and of +the Virgin: but his tyrants were insensible of religion as of +pity; and the helpless youth, amidst the clamors of the clergy +and people, was twice dragged from the altar to the dungeon. His +third attempt was more successful. At the end of three years, +the prophet Zachariah, or some mortal friend, indicated the means +of an escape: he eluded the spies and guards of the empress, +reached the holy sepulchre of Jerusalem, embraced the profession +of a monk; and the abbot Photius was employed, after the death of +Justinian, to reconcile and regulate the churches of Egypt. The +son of Antonina suffered all that an enemy can inflict: her +patient husband imposed on himself the more exquisite misery of +violating his promise and deserting his friend. + +[Footnote 116: Theophanes (Chronograph. p. 204) styles him +Photinus, the son-in-law of Belisarius; and he is copied by the +Historia Miscella and Anastasius.] + +[Footnote *: This and much of the private scandal in the +"Anecdota" is liable to serious doubt. Who reported all these +private conversations, and how did they reach the ears of +Procopius? - M.] + +[Footnote !: This is a strange misrepresentation - he died of a +dysentery; nor does it appear that it was immediately after this +scene. Antonina proposed to raise him to the generalship of the +army. Procop. Anecd. p. 14. The sudden change from the +abstemious diet of a monk to the luxury of the court is a much +more probable cause of his death. - M.] + +[Footnote !!: The expression of Procopius does not appear to me +to mean this kind of torture. Ibid. - M.] + + In the succeeding campaign, Belisarius was again sent +against the Persians: he saved the East, but he offended +Theodora, and perhaps the emperor himself. The malady of +Justinian had countenanced the rumor of his death; and the Roman +general, on the supposition of that probable event spoke the free +language of a citizen and a soldier. His colleague Buzes, who +concurred in the same sentiments, lost his rank, his liberty, and +his health, by the persecution of the empress: but the disgrace +of Belisarius was alleviated by the dignity of his own character, +and the influence of his wife, who might wish to humble, but +could not desire to ruin, the partner of her fortunes. Even his +removal was colored by the assurance, that the sinking state of +Italy would be retrieved by the single presence of its conqueror. + +But no sooner had he returned, alone and defenceless, than a +hostile commission was sent to the East, to seize his treasures +and criminate his actions; the guards and veterans, who followed +his private banner, were distributed among the chiefs of the +army, and even the eunuchs presumed to cast lots for the +partition of his martial domestics. When he passed with a small +and sordid retinue through the streets of Constantinople, his +forlorn appearance excited the amazement and compassion of the +people. Justinian and Theodora received him with cold +ingratitude; the servile crowd, with insolence and contempt; and +in the evening he retired with trembling steps to his deserted +palace. An indisposition, feigned or real, had confined Antonina +to her apartment; and she walked disdainfully silent in the +adjacent portico, while Belisarius threw himself on his bed, and +expected, in an agony of grief and terror, the death which he had +so often braved under the walls of Rome. Long after sunset a +messenger was announced from the empress: he opened, with anxious +curiosity, the letter which contained the sentence of his fate. +"You cannot be ignorant how much you have deserved my +displeasure. I am not insensible of the services of Antonina. To +her merits and intercession I have granted your life, and permit +you to retain a part of your treasures, which might be justly +forfeited to the state. Let your gratitude, where it is due, be +displayed, not in words, but in your future behavior." I know not +how to believe or to relate the transports with which the hero is +said to have received this ignominious pardon. He fell prostrate +before his wife, he kissed the feet of his savior, and he +devoutly promised to live the grateful and submissive slave of +Antonina. A fine of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds +sterling was levied on the fortunes of Belisarius; and with the +office of count, or master of the royal stables, he accepted the +conduct of the Italian war. At his departure from +Constantinople, his friends, and even the public, were persuaded +that as soon as he regained his freedom, he would renounce his +dissimulation, and that his wife, Theodora, and perhaps the +emperor himself, would be sacrificed to the just revenge of a +virtuous rebel. Their hopes were deceived; and the unconquerable +patience and loyalty of Belisarius appear either below or above +the character of a man. ^117 + +[Footnote 117: The continuator of the Chronicle of Marcellinus +gives, in a few decent words, the substance of the Anecdotes: +Belisarius de Oriente evocatus, in offensam periculumque +incurrens grave, et invidiae subeacens rursus remittitur in +Italiam, (p. 54.)] + +Chapter XLII: State Of The Barbaric World. + +Part I. + + State Of The Barbaric World. - Establishment Of The Lombards +On the Danube. - Tribes And Inroads Of The Sclavonians. - Origin, +Empire, And Embassies Of The Turks. - The Flight Of The Avars. - +Chosroes I, Or Nushirvan, King Of Persia. - His Prosperous Reign +And Wars With The Romans. - The Colchian Or Lazic War. - The +Aethiopians. + + Our estimate of personal merit, is relative to the common +faculties of mankind. The aspiring efforts of genius, or virtue, +either in active or speculative life, are measured, not so much +by their real elevation, as by the height to which they ascend +above the level of their age and country; and the same stature, +which in a people of giants would pass unnoticed, must appear +conspicuous in a race of pygmies. Leonidas, and his three +hundred companions, devoted their lives at Thermopylae; but the +education of the infant, the boy, and the man, had prepared, and +almost insured, this memorable sacrifice; and each Spartan would +approve, rather than admire, an act of duty, of which himself and +eight thousand of his fellow-citizens were equally capable. ^1 +The great Pompey might inscribe on his trophies, that he had +defeated in battle two millions of enemies, and reduced fifteen +hundred cities from the Lake Maeotis to the Red Sea: ^2 but the +fortune of Rome flew before his eagles; the nations were +oppressed by their own fears, and the invincible legions which he +commanded, had been formed by the habits of conquest and the +discipline of ages. In this view, the character of Belisarius +may be deservedly placed above the heroes of the ancient +republics. His imperfections flowed from the contagion of the +times; his virtues were his own, the free gift of nature or +reflection; he raised himself without a master or a rival; and so +inadequate were the arms committed to his hand, that his sole +advantage was derived from the pride and presumption of his +adversaries. Under his command, the subjects of Justinian often +deserved to be called Romans: but the unwarlike appellation of +Greeks was imposed as a term of reproach by the haughty Goths; +who affected to blush, that they must dispute the kingdom of +Italy with a nation of tragedians pantomimes, and pirates. ^3 The +climate of Asia has indeed been found less congenial than that of +Europe to military spirit: those populous countries were +enervated by luxury, despotism, and superstition; and the monks +were more expensive and more numerous than the soldiers of the +East. The regular force of the empire had once amounted to six +hundred and forty- five thousand men: it was reduced, in the time +of Justinian, to one hundred and fifty thousand; and this number, +large as it may seem, was thinly scattered over the sea and land; +in Spain and Italy, in Africa and Egypt, on the banks of the +Danube, the coast of the Euxine, and the frontiers of Persia. +The citizen was exhausted, yet the soldier was unpaid; his +poverty was mischievously soothed by the privilege of rapine and +indolence; and the tardy payments were detained and intercepted +by the fraud of those agents who usurp, without courage or +danger, the emoluments of war. Public and private distress +recruited the armies of the state; but in the field, and still +more in the presence of the enemy, their numbers were always +defective. The want of national spirit was supplied by the +precarious faith and disorderly service of Barbarian mercenaries. + +Even military honor, which has often survived the loss of virtue +and freedom, was almost totally extinct. The generals, who were +multiplied beyond the example of former times, labored only to +prevent the success, or to sully the reputation of their +colleagues; and they had been taught by experience, that if merit +sometimes provoked the jealousy, error, or even guilt, would +obtain the indulgence, of a gracious emperor. ^4 In such an age, +the triumphs of Belisarius, and afterwards of Narses, shine with +incomparable lustre; but they are encompassed with the darkest +shades of disgrace and calamity. While the lieutenant of +Justinian subdued the kingdoms of the Goths and Vandals, the +emperor, ^5 timid, though ambitious, balanced the forces of the +Barbarians, fomented their divisions by flattery and falsehood, +and invited by his patience and liberality the repetition of +injuries. ^6 The keys of Carthage, Rome, and Ravenna, were +presented to their conqueror, while Antioch was destroyed by the +Persians, and Justinian trembled for the safety of +Constantinople. + +[Footnote 1: It will be a pleasure, not a task, to read +Herodotus, (l. vii. c. 104, 134, p. 550, 615.) The conversation +of Xerxes and Demaratus at Thermopylae is one of the most +interesting and moral scenes in history. It was the torture of +the royal Spartan to behold, with anguish and remorse, the virtue +of his country.] + +[Footnote 2: See this proud inscription in Pliny, (Hist. Natur. +vii. 27.) Few men have more exquisitely tasted of glory and +disgrace; nor could Juvenal (Satir. x.) produce a more striking +example of the vicissitudes of fortune, and the vanity of human +wishes.] + +[Footnote 3: This last epithet of Procopius is too nobly +translated by pirates; naval thieves is the proper word; +strippers of garments, either for injury or insult, (Demosthenes +contra Conon Reiske, Orator, Graec. tom. ii. p. 1264.)] + +[Footnote 4: See the third and fourth books of the Gothic War: +the writer of the Anecdotes cannot aggravate these abuses.] + +[Footnote 5: Agathias, l. v. p. 157, 158. He confines this +weakness of the emperor and the empire to the old age of +Justinian; but alas! he was never young.] + +[Footnote 6: This mischievous policy, which Procopius (Anecdot. +c. 19) imputes to the emperor, is revealed in his epistle to a +Scythian prince, who was capable of understanding it.] + + Even the Gothic victories of Belisarius were prejudicial to +the state, since they abolished the important barrier of the +Upper Danube, which had been so faithfully guarded by Theodoric +and his daughter. For the defence of Italy, the Goths evacuated +Pannonia and Noricum, which they left in a peaceful and +flourishing condition: the sovereignty was claimed by the emperor +of the Romans; the actual possession was abandoned to the +boldness of the first invader. On the opposite banks of the +Danube, the plains of Upper Hungary and the Transylvanian hills +were possessed, since the death of Attila, by the tribes of the +Gepidae, who respected the Gothic arms, and despised, not indeed +the gold of the Romans, but the secret motive of their annual +subsidies. The vacant fortifications of the river were instantly +occupied by these Barbarians; their standards were planted on the +walls of Sirmium and Belgrade; and the ironical tone of their +apology aggravated this insult on the majesty of the empire. "So +extensive, O Caesar, are your dominions, so numerous are your +cities, that you are continually seeking for nations to whom, +either in peace or in war, you may relinquish these useless +possessions. The Gepidae are your brave and faithful allies; and +if they have anticipated your gifts, they have shown a just +confidence in your bounty." Their presumption was excused by the +mode of revenge which Justinian embraced. Instead of asserting +the rights of a sovereign for the protection of his subjects, the +emperor invited a strange people to invade and possess the Roman +provinces between the Danube and the Alps and the ambition of the +Gepidae was checked by the rising power and fame of the Lombards. +^7 This corrupt appellation has been diffused in the thirteenth +century by the merchants and bankers, the Italian posterity of +these savage warriors: but the original name of Langobards is +expressive only of the peculiar length and fashion of their +beards. I am not disposed either to question or to justify their +Scandinavian origin; ^8 nor to pursue the migrations of the +Lombards through unknown regions and marvellous adventures. +About the time of Augustus and Trajan, a ray of historic light +breaks on the darkness of their antiquities, and they are +discovered, for the first time, between the Elbe and the Oder. +Fierce, beyond the example of the Germans, they delighted to +propagate the tremendous belief, that their heads were formed +like the heads of dogs, and that they drank the blood of their +enemies, whom they vanquished in battle. The smallness of their +numbers was recruited by the adoption of their bravest slaves; +and alone, amidst their powerful neighbors, they defended by arms +their high-spirited independence. In the tempests of the north, +which overwhelmed so many names and nations, this little bark of +the Lombards still floated on the surface: they gradually +descended towards the south and the Danube, and, at the end of +four hundred years, they again appear with their ancient valor +and renown. Their manners were not less ferocious. The +assassination of a royal guest was executed in the presence, and +by the command, of the king's daughter, who had been provoked by +some words of insult, and disappointed by his diminutive stature; +and a tribute, the price of blood, was imposed on the Lombards, +by his brother the king of the Heruli. Adversity revived a sense +of moderation and justice, and the insolence of conquest was +chastised by the signal defeat and irreparable dispersion of the +Heruli, who were seated in the southern provinces of Poland. ^9 +The victories of the Lombards recommended them to the friendship +of the emperors; and at the solicitations of Justinian, they +passed the Danube, to reduce, according to their treaty, the +cities of Noricum and the fortresses of Pannonia. But the spirit +of rapine soon tempted them beyond these ample limits; they +wandered along the coast of the Hadriatic as far as Dyrrachium, +and presumed, with familiar rudeness to enter the towns and +houses of their Roman allies, and to seize the captives who had +escaped from their audacious hands. These acts of hostility, the +sallies, as it might be pretended, of some loose adventurers, +were disowned by the nation, and excused by the emperor; but the +arms of the Lombards were more seriously engaged by a contest of +thirty years, which was terminated only by the extirpation of the +Gepidae. The hostile nations often pleaded their cause before +the throne of Constantinople; and the crafty Justinian, to whom +the Barbarians were almost equally odious, pronounced a partial +and ambiguous sentence, and dexterously protracted the war by +slow and ineffectual succors. Their strength was formidable, +since the Lombards, who sent into the field several myriads of +soldiers, still claimed, as the weaker side, the protection of +the Romans. Their spirit was intrepid; yet such is the +uncertainty of courage, that the two armies were suddenly struck +with a panic; they fled from each other, and the rival kings +remained with their guards in the midst of an empty plain. A +short truce was obtained; but their mutual resentment again +kindled; and the remembrance of their shame rendered the next +encounter more desperate and bloody Forty thousand of the +Barbarians perished in the decisive battle, which broke the power +of the Gepidae, transferred the fears and wishes of Justinian, +and first displayed the character of Alboin, the youthful prince +of the Lombards, and the future conqueror of Italy. ^10 + +[Footnote 7: Gens Germana feritate ferocior, says Velleius +Paterculus of the Lombards, (ii. 106.) Langobardos paucitas +nobilitat. Plurimis ac valentissimis nationibus cincti non per +obsequium, sed praeliis et perilitando, tuti sunt, (Tacit. de +Moribus German. c. 40.) See likewise Strabo, (l. viii. p. 446.) +The best geographers place them beyond the Elbe, in the bishopric +of Magdeburgh and the middle march of Brandenburgh; and their +situation will agree with the patriotic remark of the count de +Hertzberg, that most of the Barbarian conquerors issued from the +same countries which still produce the armies of Prussia. + + Note: See Malte Brun, vol. i. p 402. - M] + +[Footnote 8: The Scandinavian origin of the Goths and Lombards, +as stated by Paul Warnefrid, surnamed the deacon, is attacked by +Cluverius, (Germania, Antiq. l. iii. c. 26, p. 102, &c.,) a +native of Prussia, and defended by Grotius, (Prolegom. ad Hist. +Goth. p. 28, &c.,) the Swedish Ambassador.] +[Footnote 9: Two facts in the narrative of Paul Diaconus (l. i. +c. 20) are expressive of national manners: 1. Dum ad tabulam +luderet - while he played at draughts. 2. Camporum viridantia +lina. The cultivation of flax supposes property, commerce, +agriculture, and manufactures] + +[Footnote 10: I have used, without undertaking to reconcile, the +facts in Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 14, l. iii. c. 33, 34, l. +iv. c. 18, 25,) Paul Diaconus, (de Gestis Langobard, l. i. c. 1 - +23, in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. p. 405 - +419,) and Jornandes, (de Success. Regnorum, p. 242.) The patient +reader may draw some light from Mascou (Hist. of the Germans, and +Annotat. xxiii.) and De Buat, (Hist. des Peuples, &c., tom. ix. +x. xi.)] + + The wild people who dwelt or wandered in the plains of +Russia, Lithuania, and Poland, might be reduced, in the age of +Justinian, under the two great families of the Bulgarians ^11 and +the Sclavonians. According to the Greek writers, the former, who +touched the Euxine and the Lake Maeotis, derived from the Huns +their name or descent; and it is needless to renew the simple and +well-known picture of Tartar manners. They were bold and +dexterous archers, who drank the milk, and feasted on the flesh, +of their fleet and indefatigable horses; whose flocks and herds +followed, or rather guided, the motions of their roving camps; to +whose inroads no country was remote or impervious, and who were +practised in flight, though incapable of fear. The nation was +divided into two powerful and hostile tribes, who pursued each +other with fraternal hatred. They eagerly disputed the +friendship, or rather the gifts, of the emperor; and the +distinctions which nature had fixed between the faithful dog and +the rapacious wolf was applied by an ambassador who received only +verbal instructions from the mouth of his illiterate prince. ^12 +The Bulgarians, of whatsoever species, were equally attracted by +Roman wealth: they assumed a vague dominion over the Sclavonian +name, and their rapid marches could only be stopped by the Baltic +Sea, or the extreme cold and poverty of the north. But the same +race of Sclavonians appears to have maintained, in every age, the +possession of the same countries. Their numerous tribes, however +distant or adverse, used one common language, (it was harsh and +irregular,) and where known by the resemblance of their form, +which deviated from the swarthy Tartar, and approached without +attaining the lofty stature and fair complexion of the German. +Four thousand six hundred villages ^13 were scattered over the +provinces of Russia and Poland, and their huts were hastily built +of rough timber, in a country deficient both in stone and iron. +Erected, or rather concealed, in the depth of forests, on the +banks of rivers, or the edges of morasses, we may not perhaps, +without flattery, compare them to the architecture of the beaver; +which they resembled in a double issue, to the land and water, +for the escape of the savage inhabitant, an animal less cleanly, +less diligent, and less social, than that marvellous quadruped. +The fertility of the soil, rather than the labor of the natives, +supplied the rustic plenty of the Sclavonians. Their sheep and +horned cattle were large and numerous, and the fields which they +sowed with millet or panic ^14 afforded, in place of bread, a +coarse and less nutritive food. The incessant rapine of their +neighbors compelled them to bury this treasure in the earth; but +on the appearance of a stranger, it was freely imparted by a +people, whose unfavorable character is qualified by the epithets +of chaste, patient, and hospitable. As their supreme god, they +adored an invisible master of the thunder. The rivers and the +nymphs obtained their subordinate honors, and the popular worship +was expressed in vows and sacrifice. The Sclavonians disdained +to obey a despot, a prince, or even a magistrate; but their +experience was too narrow, their passions too headstrong, to +compose a system of equal law or general defence. Some voluntary +respect was yielded to age and valor; but each tribe or village +existed as a separate republic, and all must be persuaded where +none could be compelled. They fought on foot, almost naked, and +except an unwieldy shield, without any defensive armor; their +weapons of offence were a bow, a quiver of small poisoned arrows, +and a long rope, which they dexterously threw from a distance, +and entangled their enemy in a running noose. In the field, the +Sclavonian infantry was dangerous by their speed, agility, and +hardiness: they swam, they dived, they remained under water, +drawing their breath through a hollow cane; and a river or lake +was often the scene of their unsuspected ambuscade. But these +were the achievements of spies or stragglers; the military art +was unknown to the Sclavonians; their name was obscure, and their +conquests were inglorious. ^15 +[Footnote 11: I adopt the appellation of Bulgarians from +Ennodius, (in Panegyr. Theodorici, Opp. Sirmond, tom. i. p. +1598, 1599,) Jornandes, (de Rebus Geticis, c. 5, p. 194, et de +Regn. Successione, p. 242,) Theophanes, (p. 185,) and the +Chronicles of Cassiodorus and Marcellinus. The name of Huns is +too vague; the tribes of the Cutturgurians and Utturgurians are +too minute and too harsh. + + Note: The Bulgarians are first mentioned among the writers +of the West in the Panegyric on Theodoric by Ennodius, Bishop of +Pavia. Though they perhaps took part in the conquests of the +Huns, they did not advance to the Danube till after the +dismemberment of that monarchy on the death of Attila. But the +Bulgarians are mentioned much earlier by the Armenian writers. +Above 600 years before Christ, a tribe of Bulgarians, driven from +their native possessions beyond the Caspian, occupied a part of +Armenia, north of the Araxes. They were of the Finnish race; +part of the nation, in the fifth century, moved westward, and +reached the modern Bulgaria; part remained along the Volga, which +is called Etel, Etil, or Athil, in all the Tartar languages, but +from the Bulgarians, the Volga. The power of the eastern +Bulgarians was broken by Batou, son of Tchingiz Khan; that of the +western will appear in the course of the history. From St. +Martin, vol. vii p. 141. Malte-Brun, on the contrary, conceives +that the Bulgarians took their name from the river. According to +the Byzantine historians they were a branch of the Ougres, +(Thunmann, Hist. of the People to the East of Europe,) but they +have more resemblance to the Turks. Their first country, Great +Bulgaria, was washed by the Volga. Some remains of their capital +are still shown near Kasan. They afterwards dwelt in Kuban, and +finally on the Danube, where they subdued (about the year 500) +the Slavo-Servians established on the Lower Danube. Conquered in +their turn by the Avars, they freed themselves from that yoke in +635; their empire then comprised the Cutturgurians, the remains +of the Huns established on the Palus Maeotis. The Danubian +Bulgaria, a dismemberment of this vast state, was long formidable +to the Byzantine empire. Malte-Brun, Prec. de Geog Univ. vol. i. +p. 419. - M. + + According to Shafarik, the Danubian Bulgaria was peopled by +a Slavo Bulgarian race. The Slavish population was conquered by +the Bulgarian (of Uralian and Finnish descent,) and incorporated +with them. This mingled race are the Bulgarians bordering on the +Byzantine empire. Shafarik, ii 152, et seq. - M. 1845] + +[Footnote 12: Procopius, (Goth. l. iv. c. 19.) His verbal message +(he owns him self an illiterate Barbarian) is delivered as an +epistle. The style is savage, figurative, and original.] + +[Footnote 13: This sum is the result of a particular list, in a +curious Ms. fragment of the year 550, found in the library of +Milan. The obscure geography of the times provokes and exercises +the patience of the count de Buat, (tom. xi. p. 69 - 189.) The +French minister often loses himself in a wilderness which +requires a Saxon and Polish guide.] + +[Footnote 14: Panicum, milium. See Columella, l. ii. c. 9, p. +430, edit. Gesner. Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii. 24, 25. The +Samaritans made a pap of millet, mingled with mare's milk or +blood. In the wealth of modern husbandry, our millet feeds +poultry, and not heroes. See the dictionaries of Bomare and +Miller.] + +[Footnote 15: For the name and nation, the situation and manners, +of the Sclavonians, see the original evidence of the vith +century, in Procopius, (Goth. l. ii. c. 26, l. iii. c. 14,) and +the emperor Mauritius or Maurice (Stratagemat. l. ii. c. 5, apud +Mascon Annotat. xxxi.) The stratagems of Maurice have been +printed only, as I understand, at the end of Scheffer's edition +of Arrian's Tactics, at Upsal, 1664, (Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. l. +iv. c. 8, tom. iii. p. 278,) a scarce, and hitherto, to me, an +inaccessible book.] + I have marked the faint and general outline of the +Sclavonians and Bulgarians, without attempting to define their +intermediate boundaries, which were not accurately known or +respected by the Barbarians themselves. Their importance was +measured by their vicinity to the empire; and the level country +of Moldavia and Wallachia was occupied by the Antes, ^16 a +Sclavonian tribe, which swelled the titles of Justinian with an +epithet of conquest. ^17 Against the Antes he erected the +fortifications of the Lower Danube; and labored to secure the +alliance of a people seated in the direct channel of northern +inundation, an interval of two hundred miles between the +mountains of Transylvania and the Euxine Sea. But the Antes +wanted power and inclination to stem the fury of the torrent; and +the light-armed Sclavonians, from a hundred tribes, pursued with +almost equal speed the footsteps of the Bulgarian horse. The +payment of one piece of gold for each soldier procured a safe and +easy retreat through the country of the Gepidae, who commanded +the passage of the Upper Danube. ^18 The hopes or fears of the +Barbarians; their intense union or discord; the accident of a +frozen or shallow stream; the prospect of harvest or vintage; the +prosperity or distress of the Romans; were the causes which +produced the uniform repetition of annual visits, ^19 tedious in +the narrative, and destructive in the event. The same year, and +possibly the same month, in which Ravenna surrendered, was marked +by an invasion of the Huns or Bulgarians, so dreadful, that it +almost effaced the memory of their past inroads. They spread +from the suburbs of Constantinople to the Ionian Gulf, destroyed +thirty-two cities or castles, erased Potidaea, which Athens had +built, and Philip had besieged, and repassed the Danube, dragging +at their horses' heels one hundred and twenty thousand of the +subjects of Justinian. In a subsequent inroad they pierced the +wall of the Thracian Chersonesus, extirpated the habitations and +the inhabitants, boldly traversed the Hellespont, and returned to +their companions, laden with the spoils of Asia. Another party, +which seemed a multitude in the eyes of the Romans, penetrated, +without opposition, from the Straits of Thermopylae to the +Isthmus of Corinth; and the last ruin of Greece has appeared an +object too minute for the attention of history. The works which +the emperor raised for the protection, but at the expense of his +subjects, served only to disclose the weakness of some neglected +part; and the walls, which by flattery had been deemed +impregnable, were either deserted by the garrison, or scaled by +the Barbarians. Three thousand Sclavonians, who insolently +divided themselves into two bands, discovered the weakness and +misery of a triumphant reign. They passed the Danube and the +Hebrus, vanquished the Roman generals who dared to oppose their +progress, and plundered, with impunity, the cities of Illyricum +and Thrace, each of which had arms and numbers to overwhelm their +contemptible assailants. Whatever praise the boldness of the +Sclavonians may deserve, it is sullied by the wanton and +deliberate cruelty which they are accused of exercising on their +prisoners. Without distinction of rank, or age, or sex, the +captives were impaled or flayed alive, or suspended between four +posts, and beaten with clubs till they expired, or enclosed in +some spacious building, and left to perish in the flames with the +spoil and cattle which might impede the march of these savage +victors. ^20 Perhaps a more impartial narrative would reduce the +number, and qualify the nature, of these horrid acts; and they +might sometimes be excused by the cruel laws of retaliation. In +the siege of Topirus, ^21 whose obstinate defence had enraged the +Sclavonians, they massacred fifteen thousand males; but they +spared the women and children; the most valuable captives were +always reserved for labor or ransom; the servitude was not +rigorous, and the terms of their deliverance were speedy and +moderate. But the subject, or the historian of Justinian, +exhaled his just indignation in the language of complaint and +reproach; and Procopius has confidently affirmed, that in a reign +of thirty-two years, each annual inroad of the Barbarians +consumed two hundred thousand of the inhabitants of the Roman +empire. The entire population of Turkish Europe, which nearly +corresponds with the provinces of Justinian, would perhaps be +incapable of supplying six millions of persons, the result of +this incredible estimate. ^22 + +[Footnote 16: Antes corum fortissimi .... Taysis qui rapidus et +vorticosus in Histri fluenta furens devolvitur, (Jornandes, c. 5, +p. 194, edit. Murator. Procopius, Goth. l. iii. c. 14, et de +Edific. l iv. c. 7.) Yet the same Procopius mentions the Goths +and Huns as neighbors to the Danube, (de Edific. l. v. c. 1.)] + +[Footnote 17: The national title of Anticus, in the laws and +inscriptions of Justinian, was adopted by his successors, and is +justified by the pious Ludewig (in Vit. Justinian. p. 515.) It +had strangely puzzled the civilians of the middle age.] + +[Footnote 18: Procopius, Goth. l. iv. c. 25.] + +[Footnote 19: An inroad of the Huns is connected, by Procopius, +with a comet perhaps that of 531, (Persic. l. ii. c. 4.) Agathias +(l. v. p. 154, 155) borrows from his predecessors some early +facts.] + +[Footnote 20: The cruelties of the Sclavonians are related or +magnified by Procopius, (Goth. l. iii. c. 29, 38.) For their mild +and liberal behavior to their prisoners, we may appeal to the +authority, somewhat more recent of the emperor Maurice, +(Stratagem. l. ii. c. 5.)] + +[Footnote 21: Topirus was situate near Philippi in Thrace, or +Macedonia, opposite to the Isle of Thasos, twelve days' journey +from Constantinople (Cellarius, tom. i. p. 676, 846.)] + +[Footnote 22: According to the malevolent testimony of the +Anecdotes, (c. 18,) these inroads had reduced the provinces south +of the Danube to the state of a Scythian wilderness.] + + In the midst of these obscure calamities, Europe felt the +shock of revolution, which first revealed to the world the name +and nation of the Turks. ^* Like Romulus, the founder ^! of that +martial people was suckled by a she-wolf, who afterwards made him +the father of a numerous progeny; and the representation of that +animal in the banners of the Turks preserved the memory, or +rather suggested the idea, of a fable, which was invented, +without any mutual intercourse, by the shepherds of Latium and +those of Scythia. At the equal distance of two thousand miles +from the Caspian, the Icy, the Chinese, and the Bengal Seas, a +ridge of mountains is conspicuous, the centre, and perhaps the +summit, of Asia; which, in the language of different nations, has +been styled Imaus, and Caf, ^23 and Altai, and the Golden +Mountains, ^!! and the Girdle of the Earth. The sides of the +hills were productive of minerals; and the iron forges, ^24 for +the purpose of war, were exercised by the Turks, the most +despised portion of the slaves of the great khan of the Geougen. +But their servitude could only last till a leader, bold and +eloquent, should arise to persuade his countrymen that the same +arms which they forged for their masters, might become, in their +own hands, the instruments of freedom and victory. They sallied +from the mountains; ^25 a sceptre was the reward of his advice; +and the annual ceremony, in which a piece of iron was heated in +the fire, and a smith's hammer ^* was successively handled by the +prince and his nobles, recorded for ages the humble profession +and rational pride of the Turkish nation. Bertezena, ^!!! their +first leader, signalized their valor and his own in successful +combats against the neighboring tribes; but when he presumed to +ask in marriage the daughter of the great khan, the insolent +demand of a slave and a mechanic was contemptuously rejected. +The disgrace was expiated by a more noble alliance with a +princess of China; and the decisive battle which almost +extirpated the nation of the Geougen, established in Tartary the +new and more powerful empire of the Turks. ^* They reigned over +the north; but they confessed the vanity of conquest, by their +faithful attachment to the mountain of their fathers. The royal +encampment seldom lost sight of Mount Altai, from whence the +River Irtish descends to water the rich pastures of the Calmucks, +^26 which nourish the largest sheep and oxen in the world. The +soil is fruitful, and the climate mild and temperate: the happy +region was ignorant of earthquake and pestilence; the emperor's +throne was turned towards the East, and a golden wolf on the top +of a spear seemed to guard the entrance of his tent. One of the +successors of Bertezena was tempted by the luxury and +superstition of China; but his design of building cities and +temples was defeated by the simple wisdom of a Barbarian +counsellor. "The Turks," he said, "are not equal in number to +one hundredth part of the inhabitants of China. If we balance +their power, and elude their armies, it is because we wander +without any fixed habitations in the exercise of war and hunting. + +Are we strong? we advance and conquer: are we feeble? we retire +and are concealed. Should the Turks confine themselves within +the walls of cities, the loss of a battle would be the +destruction of their empire. The bonzes preach only patience, +humility, and the renunciation of the world. Such, O king! is +not the religion of heroes." They entertained, with less +reluctance, the doctrines of Zoroaster; but the greatest part of +the nation acquiesced, without inquiry, in the opinions, or +rather in the practice, of their ancestors. The honors of +sacrifice were reserved for the supreme deity; they acknowledged, +in rude hymns, their obligations to the air, the fire, the water, +and the earth; and their priests derived some profit from the art +of divination. Their unwritten laws were rigorous and impartial: +theft was punished with a tenfold restitution; adultery, treason, +and murder, with death; and no chastisement could be inflicted +too severe for the rare and inexpiable guilt of cowardice. As the +subject nations marched under the standard of the Turks, their +cavalry, both men and horses, were proudly computed by millions; +one of their effective armies consisted of four hundred thousand +soldiers, and in less than fifty years they were connected in +peace and war with the Romans, the Persians, and the Chinese. In +their northern limits, some vestige may be discovered of the form +and situation of Kamptchatka, of a people of hunters and +fishermen, whose sledges were drawn by dogs, and whose +habitations were buried in the earth. The Turks were ignorant of +astronomy; but the observation taken by some learned Chinese, +with a gnomon of eight feet, fixes the royal camp in the latitude +of forty-nine degrees, and marks their extreme progress within +three, or at least ten degrees, of the polar circle. ^27 Among +their southern conquests the most splendid was that of the +Nephthalites, or white Huns, a polite and warlike people, who +possessed the commercial cities of Bochara and Samarcand, who had +vanquished the Persian monarch, and carried their victorious arms +along the banks, and perhaps to the mouth, of the Indus. On the +side of the West, the Turkish cavalry advanced to the Lake +Maeotis. They passed that lake on the ice. The khan who dwelt +at the foot of Mount Altai issued his commands for the siege of +Bosphorus, ^28 a city the voluntary subject of Rome, and whose +princes had formerly been the friends of Athens. ^29 To the east, +the Turks invaded China, as often as the vigor of the government +was relaxed: and I am taught to read in the history of the times, +that they mowed down their patient enemies like hemp or grass; +and that the mandarins applauded the wisdom of an emperor who +repulsed these Barbarians with golden lances. This extent of +savage empire compelled the Turkish monarch to establish three +subordinate princes of his own blood, who soon forgot their +gratitude and allegiance. The conquerors were enervated by +luxury, which is always fatal except to an industrious people; +the policy of China solicited the vanquished nations to resume +their independence and the power of the Turks was limited to a +period of two hundred years. The revival of their name and +dominion in the southern countries of Asia are the events of a +later age; and the dynasties, which succeeded to their native +realms, may sleep in oblivion; since their history bears no +relation to the decline and fall of the Roman empire. ^30 + +[Footnote *: It must be remembered that the name of Turks is +extended to a whole family of the Asiatic races, and not confined +to the Assena, or Turks of the Altai. - M.] + +[Footnote !: Assena (the wolf) was the name of this chief. +Klaproth, Tabl. Hist. de l'Asie p. 114. - M.] + +[Footnote 23: From Caf to Caf; which a more rational geography +would interpret, from Imaus, perhaps, to Mount Atlas. According +to the religious philosophy of the Mahometans, the basis of Mount +Caf is an emerald, whose reflection produces the azure of the +sky. The mountain is endowed with a sensitive action in its +roots or nerves; and their vibration, at the command of God, is +the cause of earthquakes. (D'Herbelot, p. 230, 231.)] +[Footnote !!: Altai, i. e. Altun Tagh, the Golden Mountain. Von +Hammer Osman Geschichte, vol. i. p. 2. - M.] + +[Footnote 24: The Siberian iron is the best and most plentiful in +the world; and in the southern parts, above sixty mines are now +worked by the industry of the Russians, (Strahlenberg, Hist. of +Siberia, p. 342, 387. Voyage en Siberie, par l'Abbe Chappe +d'Auteroche, p. 603 - 608, edit in 12mo. Amsterdam. 1770.) The +Turks offered iron for sale; yet the Roman ambassadors, with +strange obstinacy, persisted in believing that it was all a +trick, and that their country produced none, (Menander in +Excerpt. Leg. p. 152.)] +[Footnote 25: Of Irgana-kon, (Abulghazi Khan, Hist. Genealogique +des Tatars, P ii. c. 5, p. 71 - 77, c. 15, p. 155.) The tradition +of the Moguls, of the 450 years which they passed in the +mountains, agrees with the Chinese periods of the history of the +Huns and Turks, (De Guignes, tom. i. part ii. p. 376,) and the +twenty generations, from their restoration to Zingis.] +[Footnote *: The Mongol Temugin is also, though erroneously, +explained by Rubruquis, a smith. Schmidt, p 876. - M.] + +[Footnote !!!: There appears the same confusion here. Bertezena +(Berte-Scheno) is claimed as the founder of the Mongol race. The +name means the gray (blauliche) wolf. In fact, the same +tradition of the origin from a wolf seems common to the Mongols +and the Turks. The Mongol Berte-Scheno, of the very curious +Mongol History, published and translated by M. Schmidt of +Petersburg, is brought from Thibet. M. Schmidt considers this +tradition of the Thibetane descent of the royal race of the +Mongols to be much earlier than their conversion to Lamaism, yet +it seems very suspicious. See Klaproth, Tabl. de l'Asie, p. 159. + +The Turkish Bertezena is called Thou-men by Klaproth, p. 115. In +552, Thou-men took the title of Kha-Khan, and was called Il Khan. +- M.] + +[Footnote *: Great Bucharia is called Turkistan: see Hammer, 2. +It includes all the last steppes at the foot of the Altai. The +name is the same with that of the Turan of Persian poetic legend. +- M.] + +[Footnote 26: The country of the Turks, now of the Calmucks, is +well described in the Genealogical History, p. 521 - 562. The +curious notes of the French translator are enlarged and digested +in the second volume of the English version.] + +[Footnote 27: Visdelou, p. 141, 151. The fact, though it +strictly belongs to a subordinate and successive tribe, may be +introduced here.] +[Footnote 28: Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 12, l. ii. c. 3. +Peyssonel, Observations sur les Peuples Barbares, p. 99, 100, +defines the distance between Caffa and the old Bosphorus at xvi. +long Tartar leagues.] +[Footnote 29: See, in a Memoire of M. de Boze, (Mem. de +l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. vi. p. 549 - 565,) the ancient +kings and medals of the Cimmerian Bosphorus; and the gratitude of +Athens, in the Oration of Demosthenes against Leptines, (in +Reiske, Orator. Graec. tom. i. p. 466, 187.)] + +[Footnote 30: For the origin and revolutions of the first Turkish +empire, the Chinese details are borrowed from De Guignes (Hist. +des Huns, tom. P. ii. p. 367 - 462) and Visdelou, (Supplement a +la Bibliotheque Orient. d'Herbelot, p. 82 - 114.) The Greek or +Roman hints are gathered in Menander (p. 108 - 164) and +Theophylact Simocatta, (l. vii. c. 7, 8.)] + +Chapter XLII: State Of The Barbaric World. + + +Part II. + + In the rapid career of conquest, the Turks attacked and +subdued the nation of the Ogors or Varchonites ^* on the banks of +the River Til, which derived the epithet of Black from its dark +water or gloomy forests. ^31 The khan of the Ogors was slain with +three hundred thousand of his subjects, and their bodies were +scattered over the space of four days' journey: their surviving +countrymen acknowledged the strength and mercy of the Turks; and +a small portion, about twenty thousand warriors, preferred exile +to servitude. They followed the well-known road of the Volga, +cherished the error of the nations who confounded them with the +Avars, and spread the terror of that false though famous +appellation, which had not, however, saved its lawful proprietors +from the yoke of the Turks. ^32 After a long and victorious +march, the new Avars arrived at the foot of Mount Caucasus, in +the country of the Alani ^33 and Circassians, where they first +heard of the splendor and weakness of the Roman empire. They +humbly requested their confederate, the prince of the Alani, to +lead them to this source of riches; and their ambassador, with +the permission of the governor of Lazica, was transported by the +Euxine Sea to Constantinople. The whole city was poured forth to +behold with curiosity and terror the aspect of a strange people: +their long hair, which hung in tresses down their backs, was +gracefully bound with ribbons, but the rest of their habit +appeared to imitate the fashion of the Huns. When they were +admitted to the audience of Justinian, Candish, the first of the +ambassadors, addressed the Roman emperor in these terms: "You see +before you, O mighty prince, the representatives of the strongest +and most populous of nations, the invincible, the irresistible +Avars. We are willing to devote ourselves to your service: we +are able to vanquish and destroy all the enemies who now disturb +your repose. But we expect, as the price of our alliance, as the +reward of our valor, precious gifts, annual subsidies, and +fruitful possessions." At the time of this embassy, Justinian had +reigned above thirty, he had lived above seventy-five years: his +mind, as well as his body, was feeble and languid; and the +conqueror of Africa and Italy, careless of the permanent interest +of his people, aspired only to end his days in the bosom even of +inglorious peace. In a studied oration, he imparted to the senate +his resolution to dissemble the insult, and to purchase the +friendship of the Avars; and the whole senate, like the mandarins +of China, applauded the incomparable wisdom and foresight of +their sovereign. The instruments of luxury were immediately +prepared to captivate the Barbarians; silken garments, soft and +splendid beds, and chains and collars incrusted with gold. The +ambassadors, content with such liberal reception, departed from +Constantinople, and Valentin, one of the emperor's guards, was +sent with a similar character to their camp at the foot of Mount +Caucasus. As their destruction or their success must be alike +advantageous to the empire, he persuaded them to invade the +enemies of Rome; and they were easily tempted, by gifts and +promises, to gratify their ruling inclinations. These fugitives, +who fled before the Turkish arms, passed the Tanais and +Borysthenes, and boldly advanced into the heart of Poland and +Germany, violating the law of nations, and abusing the rights of +victory. Before ten years had elapsed, their camps were seated +on the Danube and the Elbe, many Bulgarian and Sclavonian names +were obliterated from the earth, and the remainder of their +tribes are found, as tributaries and vassals, under the standard +of the Avars. The chagan, the peculiar title of their king, +still affected to cultivate the friendship of the emperor; and +Justinian entertained some thoughts of fixing them in Pannonia, +to balance the prevailing power of the Lombards. But the virtue +or treachery of an Avar betrayed the secret enmity and ambitious +designs of their countrymen; and they loudly complained of the +timid, though jealous policy, of detaining their ambassadors, and +denying the arms which they had been allowed to purchase in the +capital of the empire. ^34 + +[Footnote *: The Ogors or Varchonites, from Var. a river, +(obviously connected with the name Avar,) must not be confounded +with the Uigours, the eastern Turks, (v. Hammer, Osmanische +Geschichte, vol. i. p. 3,) who speak a language the parent of the +more modern Turkish dialects. Compare Klaproth, page 121. They +are the ancestors of the Usbeck Turks. These Ogors were of the +same Finnish race with the Huns; and the 20,000 families which +fled towards the west, after the Turkish invasion, were of the +same race with those which remained to the east of the Volga, the +true Avars of Theophy fact. - M.] +[Footnote 31: The River Til, or Tula, according to the geography +of De Guignes, (tom. i. part ii. p. lviii. and 352,) is a small, +though grateful, stream of the desert, that falls into the Orhon, +Selinga, &c. See Bell, Journey from Petersburg to Pekin, (vol. +ii. p. 124;) yet his own description of the Keat, down which he +sailed into the Oby, represents the name and attributes of the +black river, (p. 139.) + + Note: M. Klaproth, (Tableaux Historiques de l'Asie, p. 274) +supposes this river to be an eastern affluent of the Volga, the +Kama, which, from the color of its waters, might be called black. + +M. Abel Remusat (Recherchea sur les Langues Tartares, vol. i. p. +320) and M. St. Martin (vol. ix. p. 373 consider it the Volga, +which is called Atel or Etel by all the Turkish tribes. It is +called Attilas by Menander, and Ettilia by the monk Ruysbreek +(1253.) See Klaproth, Tabl. Hist. p. 247. This geography is much +more clear and simple than that adopted by Gibbon from De +Guignes, or suggested from Bell. - M.] +[Footnote 32: Theophylact, l. vii. c. 7, 8. And yet his true +Avars are invisible even to the eyes of M. de Guignes; and what +can be more illustrious than the false? The right of the +fugitive Ogors to that national appellation is confessed by the +Turks themselves, (Menander, p. 108.)] +[Footnote 33: The Alani are still found in the Genealogical +History of the Tartars, (p. 617,) and in D'Anville's maps. They +opposed the march of the generals of Zingis round the Caspian +Sea, and were overthrown in a great battle, (Hist. de Gengiscan, +l. iv. c. 9, p. 447.)] + +[Footnote 34: The embassies and first conquests of the Avars may +be read in Menander, (Excerpt. Legat. p. 99, 100, 101, 154, 155,) +Theophanes, (p. 196,) the Historia Miscella, (l. xvi. p. 109,) +and Gregory of Tours, (L iv. c. 23, 29, in the Historians of +France, tom. ii. p. 214, 217.)] + + Perhaps the apparent change in the dispositions of the +emperors may be ascribed to the embassy which was received from +the conquerors of the Avars. ^35 The immense distance which +eluded their arms could not extinguish their resentment: the +Turkish ambassadors pursued the footsteps of the vanquished to +the Jaik, the Volga, Mount Caucasus, the Euxine and +Constantinople, and at length appeared before the successor of +Constantine, to request that he would not espouse the cause of +rebels and fugitives. Even commerce had some share in this +remarkable negotiation: and the Sogdoites, who were now the +tributaries of the Turks, embraced the fair occasion of opening, +by the north of the Caspian, a new road for the importation of +Chinese silk into the Roman empire. The Persian, who preferred +the navigation of Ceylon, had stopped the caravans of Bochara and +Samarcand: their silk was contemptuously burnt: some Turkish +ambassadors died in Persia, with a suspicion of poison; and the +great khan permitted his faithful vassal Maniach, the prince of +the Sogdoites, to propose, at the Byzantine court, a treaty of +alliance against their common enemies. Their splendid apparel +and rich presents, the fruit of Oriental luxury, distinguished +Maniach and his colleagues from the rude savages of the North: +their letters, in the Scythian character and language, announced +a people who had attained the rudiments of science: ^36 they +enumerated the conquests, they offered the friendship and +military aid of the Turks; and their sincerity was attested by +direful imprecations (if they were guilty of falsehood) against +their own head, and the head of Disabul their master. The Greek +prince entertained with hospitable regard the ambassadors of a +remote and powerful monarch: the sight of silk-worms and looms +disappointed the hopes of the Sogdoites; the emperor renounced, +or seemed to renounce, the fugitive Avars, but he accepted the +alliance of the Turks; and the ratification of the treaty was +carried by a Roman minister to the foot of Mount Altai. Under +the successors of Justinian, the friendship of the two nations +was cultivated by frequent and cordial intercourse; the most +favored vassals were permitted to imitate the example of the +great khan, and one hundred and six Turks, who, on various +occasions, had visited Constantinople, departed at the same time +for their native country. The duration and length of the journey +from the Byzantine court to Mount Altai are not specified: it +might have been difficult to mark a road through the nameless +deserts, the mountains, rivers, and morasses of Tartary; but a +curious account has been preserved of the reception of the Roman +ambassadors at the royal camp. After they had been purified with +fire and incense, according to a rite still practised under the +sons of Zingis, ^* they were introduced to the presence of +Disabul. In a valley of the Golden Mountain, they found the +great khan in his tent, seated in a chair with wheels, to which a +horse might be occasionally harnessed. As soon as they had +delivered their presents, which were received by the proper +officers, they exposed, in a florid oration, the wishes of the +Roman emperor, that victory might attend the arms of the Turks, +that their reign might be long and prosperous, and that a strict +alliance, without envy or deceit, might forever be maintained +between the two most powerful nations of the earth. The answer +of Disabul corresponded with these friendly professions, and the +ambassadors were seated by his side, at a banquet which lasted +the greatest part of the day: the tent was surrounded with silk +hangings, and a Tartar liquor was served on the table, which +possessed at least the intoxicating qualities of wine. The +entertainment of the succeeding day was more sumptuous; the silk +hangings of the second tent were embroidered in various figures; +and the royal seat, the cups, and the vases, were of gold. A +third pavilion was supported by columns of gilt wood; a bed of +pure and massy gold was raised on four peacocks of the same +metal: and before the entrance of the tent, dishes, basins, and +statues of solid silver, and admirable art, were ostentatiously +piled in wagons, the monuments of valor rather than of industry. +When Disabul led his armies against the frontiers of Persia, his +Roman allies followed many days the march of the Turkish camp, +nor were they dismissed till they had enjoyed their precedency +over the envoy of the great king, whose loud and intemperate +clamors interrupted the silence of the royal banquet. The power +and ambition of Chosroes cemented the union of the Turks and +Romans, who touched his dominions on either side: but those +distant nations, regardless of each other, consulted the dictates +of interest, without recollecting the obligations of oaths and +treaties. While the successor of Disabul celebrated his father's +obsequies, he was saluted by the ambassadors of the emperor +Tiberius, who proposed an invasion of Persia, and sustained, with +firmness, the angry and perhaps the just reproaches of that +haughty Barbarian. "You see my ten fingers," said the great +khan, and he applied them to his mouth. "You Romans speak with as +many tongues, but they are tongues of deceit and perjury. To me +you hold one language, to my subjects another; and the nations +are successively deluded by your perfidious eloquence. You +precipitate your allies into war and danger, you enjoy their +labors, and you neglect your benefactors. Hasten your return, +inform your master that a Turk is incapable of uttering or +forgiving falsehood, and that he shall speedily meet the +punishment which he deserves. While he solicits my friendship +with flattering and hollow words, he is sunk to a confederate of +my fugitive Varchonites. If I condescend to march against those +contemptible slaves, they will tremble at the sound of our whips; +they will be trampled, like a nest of ants, under the feet of my +innumerable cavalry. I am not ignorant of the road which they +have followed to invade your empire; nor can I be deceived by the +vain pretence, that Mount Caucasus is the impregnable barrier of +the Romans. I know the course of the Niester, the Danube, and +the Hebrus; the most warlike nations have yielded to the arms of +the Turks; and from the rising to the setting sun, the earth is +my inheritance." Notwithstanding this menace, a sense of mutual +advantage soon renewed the alliance of the Turks and Romans: but +the pride of the great khan survived his resentment; and when he +announced an important conquest to his friend the emperor +Maurice, he styled himself the master of the seven races, and the +lord of the seven climates of the world. ^37 +[Footnote 35: Theophanes, (Chron. p. 204,) and the Hist. +Miscella, (l. xvi. p. 110,) as understood by De Guignes, tom. i. +part ii. p. 354,) appear to speak of a Turkish embassy to +Justinian himself; but that of Maniach, in the fourth year of his +successor Justin, is positively the first that reached +Constantinople, (Menander p. 108.)] + +[Footnote 36: The Russians have found characters, rude +hieroglyphics, on the Irtish and Yenisei, on medals, tombs, +idols, rocks, obelisks, &c., (Strahlenberg, Hist. of Siberia, p. +324, 346, 406, 429.) Dr. Hyde (de Religione Veterum Persarum, p. +521, &c.) has given two alphabets of Thibet and of the Eygours. +I have long harbored a suspicion, that all the Scythian, and +some, perhaps much, of the Indian science, was derived from the +Greeks of Bactriana. + + Note: Modern discoveries give no confirmation to this +suspicion. The character of Indian science, as well as of their +literature and mythology, indicates an original source. Grecian +art may have occasionally found its way into India. One or two +of the sculptures in Col. Tod's account of the Jain temples, if +correct, show a finer outline, and purer sense of beauty, than +appears native to India, where the monstrous always predominated +over simple nature. - M.] + +[Footnote *: This rite is so curious, that I have subjoined the +description of it: - + + When these (the exorcisers, the Shamans) approached +Zemarchus, they took all our baggage and placed it in the centre. + +Then, kindling a fire with branches of frankincense, lowly +murmuring certain barbarous words in the Scythian language, +beating on a kind of bell (a gong) and a drum, they passed over +the baggage the leaves of the frankincense, crackling with the +fire, and at the same time themselves becoming frantic, and +violently leaping about, seemed to exorcise the evil spirits. +Having thus as they thought, averted all evil, they led Zemarchus +himself through the fire. Menander, in Niebuhr's Bryant. Hist. +p. 381. Compare Carpini's Travels. The princes of the race of +Zingis Khan condescended to receive the ambassadors of the king +of France, at the end of the 13th century without their +submitting to this humiliating rite. See Correspondence published +by Abel Remusat, Nouv. Mem. de l'Acad des Inscrip. vol. vii. On +the embassy of Zemarchus, compare Klaproth, Tableaux de l'Asie p. +116. - M.] + +[Footnote 37: All the details of these Turkish and Roman +embassies, so curious in the history of human manners, are drawn +from the extracts of Menander, (p. 106 - 110, 151 - 154, 161 - +164,) in which we often regret the want of order and connection.] + + Disputes have often arisen between the sovereigns of Asia +for the title of king of the world; while the contest has proved +that it could not belong to either of the competitors. The +kingdom of the Turks was bounded by the Oxus or Gihon; and Touran +was separated by that great river from the rival monarchy of +Iran, or Persia, which in a smaller compass contained perhaps a +larger measure of power and population. The Persians, who +alternately invaded and repulsed the Turks and the Romans, were +still ruled by the house of Sassan, which ascended the throne +three hundred years before the accession of Justinian. His +contemporary, Cabades, or Kobad, had been successful in war +against the emperor Anastasius; but the reign of that prince was +distracted by civil and religious troubles. A prisoner in the +hands of his subjects, an exile among the enemies of Persia, he +recovered his liberty by prostituting the honor of his wife, and +regained his kingdom with the dangerous and mercenary aid of the +Barbarians, who had slain his father. His nobles were suspicious +that Kobad never forgave the authors of his expulsion, or even +those of his restoration. The people was deluded and inflamed by +the fanaticism of Mazdak, ^38 who asserted the community of +women, ^39 and the equality of mankind, whilst he appropriated +the richest lands and most beautiful females to the use of his +sectaries. The view of these disorders, which had been fomented +by his laws and example, ^40 imbittered the declining age of the +Persian monarch; and his fears were increased by the +consciousness of his design to reverse the natural and customary +order of succession, in favor of his third and most favored son, +so famous under the names of Chosroes and Nushirvan. To render +the youth more illustrious in the eyes of the nations, Kobad was +desirous that he should be adopted by the emperor Justin: ^* the +hope of peace inclined the Byzantine court to accept this +singular proposal; and Chosroes might have acquired a specious +claim to the inheritance of his Roman parent. But the future +mischief was diverted by the advice of the quaestor Proclus: a +difficulty was started, whether the adoption should be performed +as a civil or military rite; ^41 the treaty was abruptly +dissolved; and the sense of this indignity sunk deep into the +mind of Chosroes, who had already advanced to the Tigris on his +road to Constantinople. His father did not long survive the +disappointment of his wishes: the testament of their deceased +sovereign was read in the assembly of the nobles; and a powerful +faction, prepared for the event, and regardless of the priority +of age, exalted Chosroes to the throne of Persia. He filled that +throne during a prosperous period of forty-eight years; ^42 and +the Justice of Nushirvan is celebrated as the theme of immortal +praise by the nations of the East. +[Footnote 38: See D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 568, 929;) +Hyde, (de Religione Vet. Persarum, c. 21, p. 290, 291;) Pocock, +(Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 70, 71;) Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. +176;) Texeira, (in Stevens, Hist. of Persia, l. i. c. 34.) + + Note: Mazdak was an Archimagus, born, according to Mirkhond, +(translated by De Sacy, p. 353, and Malcolm, vol. i. p. 104,) at +Istakhar or Persepolis, according to an inedited and anonymous +history, (the Modjmal- alte-warikh in the Royal Library at Paris, +quoted by St. Martin, vol. vii. p. 322) at Wischapour in +Chorasan: his father's name was Bamdadam. He announces himself +as a reformer of Zoroastrianism, and carried the doctrine of the +two principles to a much grater height. He preached the absolute +indifference of human action, perfect equality of rank, community +of property and of women, marriages between the nearest kindred; +he interdicted the use of animal food, proscribed the killing of +animals for food, enforced a vegetable diet. See St. Martin, +vol. vii. p. 322. Malcolm, vol. i. p. 104. Mirkhond translated +by De Sacy. It is remarkable that the doctrine of Mazdak spread +into the West. Two inscriptions found in Cyrene, in 1823, and +explained by M. Gesenius, and by M. Hamaker of Leyden, prove +clearly that his doctrines had been eagerly embraced by the +remains of the ancient Gnostics; and Mazdak was enrolled with +Thoth, Saturn, Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Epicurus, John, and Christ, +as the teachers of true Gnostic wisdom. See St. Martin, vol. +vii. p. 338. Gesenius de Inscriptione Phoenicio-Graeca in +Cyrenaica nuper reperta, Halle, 1825. Hamaker, Lettre a M. Raoul +Rochette, Leyden, 1825. - M.] +[Footnote 39: The fame of the new law for the community of women +was soon propagated in Syria (Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. iii. +p. 402) and Greece, (Procop. Persic. l. i. c. 5.)] + +[Footnote 40: He offered his own wife and sister to the prophet; +but the prayers of Nushirvan saved his mother, and the indignant +monarch never forgave the humiliation to which his filial piety +had stooped: pedes tuos deosculatus (said he to Mazdak,) cujus +foetor adhuc nares occupat, (Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arab. p. +71.)] + +[Footnote *: St. Martin questions this adoption: he urges its +improbability; and supposes that Procopius, perverting some +popular traditions, or the remembrance of some fruitless +negotiations which took place at that time, has mistaken, for a +treaty of adoption some treaty of guaranty or protection for the +purpose of insuring the crown, after the death of Kobad, to his +favorite son Chosroes, vol. viii. p. 32. Yet the Greek +historians seem unanimous as to the proposal: the Persians might +be expected to maintain silence on such a subject. - M.] + +[Footnote 41: Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 11. Was not Proclus +over-wise? Was not the danger imaginary? - The excuse, at least, +was injurious to a nation not ignorant of letters. Whether any +mode of adoption was practised in Persia, I much doubt.] + +[Footnote 42: From Procopius and Agathias, Pagi (tom. ii. p. 543, +626) has proved that Chosroes Nushirvan ascended the throne in +the fifth year of Justinian, (A.D. 531, April 1. - A.D. 532, +April 1.) But the true chronology, which harmonizes with the +Greeks and Orientals, is ascertained by John Malala, (tom. ii. +211.) Cabades, or Kobad, after a reign of forty-three years and +two months, sickened the 8th, and died the 13th of September, +A.D. 531, aged eighty-two years. According to the annals of +Eutychius, Nushirvan reigned forty seven years and six months; +and his death must consequently be placed in March, A.D. 579.] + + But the justice of kings is understood by themselves, and +even by their subjects, with an ample indulgence for the +gratification of passion and interest. The virtue of Chosroes +was that of a conqueror, who, in the measures of peace and war, +is excited by ambition, and restrained by prudence; who confounds +the greatness with the happiness of a nation, and calmly devotes +the lives of thousands to the fame, or even the amusement, of a +single man. In his domestic administration, the just Nushirvan +would merit in our feelings the appellation of a tyrant. His two +elder brothers had been deprived of their fair expectations of +the diadem: their future life, between the supreme rank and the +condition of subjects, was anxious to themselves and formidable +to their master: fear as well as revenge might tempt them to +rebel: the slightest evidence of a conspiracy satisfied the +author of their wrongs; and the repose of Chosroes was secured by +the death of these unhappy princes, with their families and +adherents. One guiltless youth was saved and dismissed by the +compassion of a veteran general; and this act of humanity, which +was revealed by his son, overbalanced the merit of reducing +twelve nations to the obedience of Persia. The zeal and prudence +of Mebodes had fixed the diadem on the head of Chosroes himself; +but he delayed to attend the royal summons, till he had performed +the duties of a military review: he was instantly commanded to +repair to the iron tripod, which stood before the gate of the +palace, ^43 where it was death to relieve or approach the victim; +and Mebodes languished several days before his sentence was +pronounced, by the inflexible pride and calm ingratitude of the +son of Kobad. But the people, more especially in the East, is +disposed to forgive, and even to applaud, the cruelty which +strikes at the loftiest heads; at the slaves of ambition, whose +voluntary choice has exposed them to live in the smiles, and to +perish by the frown, of a capricious monarch. In the execution +of the laws which he had no temptation to violate; in the +punishment of crimes which attacked his own dignity, as well as +the happiness of individuals; Nushirvan, or Chosroes, deserved +the appellation of just. His government was firm, rigorous, and +impartial. It was the first labor of his reign to abolish the +dangerous theory of common or equal possessions: the lands and +women which the sectaries of Mazdak has usurped were restored to +their lawful owners; and the temperate ^* chastisement of the +fanatics or impostors confirmed the domestic rights of society. +Instead of listening with blind confidence to a favorite +minister, he established four viziers over the four great +provinces of his empire, Assyria, Media, Persia, and Bactriana. +In the choice of judges, praefects, and counsellors, he strove to +remove the mask which is always worn in the presence of kings: he +wished to substitute the natural order of talents for the +accidental distinctions of birth and fortune; he professed, in +specious language, his intention to prefer those men who carried +the poor in their bosoms, and to banish corruption from the seat +of justice, as dogs were excluded from the temples of the Magi. +The code of laws of the first Artaxerxes was revived and +published as the rule of the magistrates; but the assurance of +speedy punishment was the best security of their virtue. Their +behavior was inspected by a thousand eyes, their words were +overheard by a thousand ears, the secret or public agents of the +throne; and the provinces, from the Indian to the Arabian +confines, were enlightened by the frequent visits of a sovereign, +who affected to emulate his celestial brother in his rapid and +salutary career. Education and agriculture he viewed as the two +objects most deserving of his care. In every city of Persia +orphans, and the children of the poor, were maintained and +instructed at the public expense; the daughters were given in +marriage to the richest citizens of their own rank, and the sons, +according to their different talents, were employed in mechanic +trades, or promoted to more honorable service. The deserted +villages were relieved by his bounty; to the peasants and farmers +who were found incapable of cultivating their lands, he +distributed cattle, seed, and the instruments of husbandry; and +the rare and inestimable treasure of fresh water was +parsimoniously managed, and skilfully dispersed over the arid +territory of Persia. ^44 The prosperity of that kingdom was the +effect and evidence of his virtues; his vices are those of +Oriental despotism; but in the long competition between Chosroes +and Justinian, the advantage both of merit and fortune is almost +always on the side of the Barbarian. ^45 +[Footnote 43: Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 23. Brisson, de Regn. +Pers. p. 494. The gate of the palace of Ispahan is, or was, the +fatal scene of disgrace or death, (Chardin, Voyage en Perse, tom. +iv. p. 312, 313.)] + +[Footnote *: This is a strange term. Nushirvan employed a +stratagem similar to that of Jehu, 2 Kings, x. 18 - 28, to +separate the followers of Mazdak from the rest of his subjects, +and with a body of his troops cut them all in pieces. The Greek +writers concur with the Persian in this representation of +Nushirvan's temperate conduct. Theophanes, p. 146. Mirkhond. p. +362. Eutychius, Ann. vol. ii. p. 179. Abulfeda, in an unedited +part, consulted by St. Martin as well as in a passage formerly +cited. Le Beau vol. viii. p. 38. Malcolm vol l p. 109. - M.] + +[Footnote 44: In Persia, the prince of the waters is an officer +of state. The number of wells and subterraneous channels is much +diminished, and with it the fertility of the soil: 400 wells have +been recently lost near Tauris, and 42,000 were once reckoned in +the province of Khorasan (Chardin, tom. iii. p. 99, 100. +Tavernier, tom. i. p. 416.)] + +[Footnote 45: The character and government of Nushirvan is +represented some times in the words of D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. +Orient. p. 680, &c., from Khondemir,) Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. +p. 179, 180, - very rich,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. vii. p. 94, +95, - very poor,) Tarikh Schikard, (p. 144 - 150,) Texeira, (in +Stevens, l. i. c. 35,) Asseman, (Bibliot Orient. tom. iii. p. 404 +- 410,) and the Abbe Fourmont, (Hist. de l'Acad. des +Inscriptions, tom. vii. p. 325 - 334,) who has translated a +spurious or genuine testament of Nushirvan.] + + To the praise of justice Nushirvan united the reputation of +knowledge; and the seven Greek philosophers, who visited his +court, were invited and deceived by the strange assurance, that a +disciple of Plato was seated on the Persian throne. Did they +expect, that a prince, strenuously exercised in the toils of war +and government, should agitate, with dexterity like their own, +the abstruse and profound questions which amused the leisure of +the schools of Athens? Could they hope that the precepts of +philosophy should direct the life, and control the passions, of a +despot, whose infancy had been taught to consider his absolute +and fluctuating will as the only rule of moral obligation? ^46 +The studies of Chosroes were ostentatious and superficial: but +his example awakened the curiosity of an ingenious people, and +the light of science was diffused over the dominions of Persia. +^47 At Gondi Sapor, in the neighborhood of the royal city of +Susa, an academy of physic was founded, which insensibly became a +liberal school of poetry, philosophy, and rhetoric. ^48 The +annals of the monarchy ^49 were composed; and while recent and +authentic history might afford some useful lessons both to the +prince and people, the darkness of the first ages was embellished +by the giants, the dragons, and the fabulous heroes of Oriental +romance. ^50 Every learned or confident stranger was enriched by +the bounty, and flattered by the conversation, of the monarch: he +nobly rewarded a Greek physician, ^51 by the deliverance of three +thousand, captives; and the sophists, who contended for his +favor, were exasperated by the wealth and insolence of Uranius, +their more successful rival. Nushirvan believed, or at least +respected, the religion of the Magi; and some traces of +persecution may be discovered in his reign. ^52 Yet he allowed +himself freely to compare the tenets of the various sects; and +the theological disputes, in which he frequently presided, +diminished the authority of the priest, and enlightened the minds +of the people. At his command, the most celebrated writers of +Greece and India were translated into the Persian language; a +smooth and elegant idiom, recommended by Mahomet to the use of +paradise; though it is branded with the epithets of savage and +unmusical, by the ignorance and presumption of Agathias. ^53 Yet +the Greek historian might reasonably wonder that it should be +found possible to execute an entire version of Plato and +Aristotle in a foreign dialect, which had not been framed to +express the spirit of freedom and the subtilties of philosophic +disquisition. And, if the reason of the Stagyrite might be +equally dark, or equally intelligible in every tongue, the +dramatic art and verbal argumentation of the disciple of +Socrates, ^54 appear to be indissolubly mingled with the grace +and perfection of his Attic style. In the search of universal +knowledge, Nushirvan was informed, that the moral and political +fables of Pilpay, an ancient Brachman, were preserved with +jealous reverence among the treasures of the kings of India. The +physician Perozes was secretly despatched to the banks of the +Ganges, with instructions to procure, at any price, the +communication of this valuable work. His dexterity obtained a +transcript, his learned diligence accomplished the translation; +and the fables of Pilpay ^55 were read and admired in the +assembly of Nushirvan and his nobles. The Indian original, and +the Persian copy, have long since disappeared; but this venerable +monument has been saved by the curiosity of the Arabian caliphs, +revived in the modern Persic, the Turkish, the Syriac, the +Hebrew, and the Greek idioms, and transfused through successive +versions into the modern languages of Europe. In their present +form, the peculiar character, the manners and religion of the +Hindoos, are completely obliterated; and the intrinsic merit of +the fables of Pilpay is far inferior to the concise elegance of +Phaedrus, and the native graces of La Fontaine. Fifteen moral and +political sentences are illustrated in a series of apologues: but +the composition is intricate, the narrative prolix, and the +precept obvious and barren. Yet the Brachman may assume the +merit of inventing a pleasing fiction, which adorns the nakedness +of truth, and alleviates, perhaps, to a royal ear, the harshness +of instruction. With a similar design, to admonish kings that +they are strong only in the strength of their subjects, the same +Indians invented the game of chess, which was likewise introduced +into Persia under the reign of Nushirvan. ^56 +[Footnote 46: A thousand years before his birth, the judges of +Persia had given a solemn opinion, (Herodot. l. iii. c. 31, p. +210, edit. Wesseling.) Nor had this constitutional maxim been +neglected as a useless and barren theory.] +[Footnote 47: On the literary state of Persia, the Greek +versions, philosophers, sophists, the learning or ignorance of +Chosroes, Agathias (l. ii. c. 66 - 71) displays much information +and strong prejudices.] +[Footnote 48: Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. iv. p. DCCXLV. vi. +vii.] +[Footnote 49: The Shah Nameh, or Book of Kings, is perhaps the +original record of history which was translated into Greek by the +interpreter Sergius, (Agathias, l. v. p. 141,) preserved after +the Mahometan conquest, and versified in the year 994, by the +national poet Ferdoussi. See D'Anquetil (Mem. de l'Academie, +tom. xxxi. p. 379) and Sir William Jones, (Hist. of Nadir Shah, +p. 161.)] + +[Footnote 50: In the fifth century, the name of Restom, or +Rostam, a hero who equalled the strength of twelve elephants, was +familiar to the Armenians, (Moses Chorenensis, Hist. Armen. l. +ii. c. 7, p. 96, edit. Whiston.) In the beginning of the seventh, +the Persian Romance of Rostam and Isfendiar was applauded at +Mecca, (Sale's Koran, c. xxxi. p. 335.) Yet this exposition of +ludicrum novae historiae is not given by Maracci, (Refutat. +Alcoran. p. 544 - 548.)] + +[Footnote 51: Procop. (Goth. l. iv. c. 10.) Kobad had a favorite +Greek physician, Stephen of Edessa, (Persic. l. ii. c. 26.) The +practice was ancient; and Herodotus relates the adventures of +Democedes of Crotona, (l. iii p. 125 - 137.] + +[Footnote 52: See Pagi, tom. ii. p. 626. In one of the treaties +an honorable article was inserted for the toleration and burial +of the Catholics, (Menander, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 142.) +Nushizad, a son of Nushirvan, was a Christian, a rebel, and - a +martyr? (D'Herbelot, p. 681.)] +[Footnote 53: On the Persian language, and its three dialects, +consult D'Anquetil (p. 339 - 343) and Jones, (p. 153 - 185:) is +the character which Agathias (l. ii. p. 66) ascribes to an idiom +renowned in the East for poetical softness.] + +[Footnote 54: Agathias specifies the Gorgias, Phaedon, +Parmenides, and Timaeus. Renaudot (Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. +tom. xii. p. 246 - 261) does not mention this Barbaric version of +Aristotle.] + +[Footnote 55: Of these fables, I have seen three copies in three +different languages: 1. In Greek, translated by Simeon Seth (A.D. +1100) from the Arabic, and published by Starck at Berlin in 1697, +in 12mo. 2. In Latin, a version from the Greek Sapientia +Indorum, inserted by Pere Poussin at the end of his edition of +Pachymer, (p. 547 - 620, edit. Roman.) 3. In French, from the +Turkish, dedicated, in 1540, to Sultan Soliman Contes et Fables +Indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokman, par Mm. Galland et Cardonne, +Paris, 1778, 3 vols. in 12mo. Mr. Warton (History of English +Poetry, vol. i. p. 129 - 131) takes a larger scope. + + Note: The oldest Indian collection extant is the +Pancha-tantra, (the five collections,) analyzed by Mr. Wilson in +the Transactions of the Royal Asiat. Soc. It was translated into +Persian by Barsuyah, the physician of Nushirvan, under the name +of the Fables of Bidpai, (Vidyapriya, the Friend of Knowledge, +or, as the Oriental writers understand it, the Friend of +Medicine.) It was translated into Arabic by Abdolla Ibn Mokaffa, +under the name of Kalila and Dimnah. From the Arabic it passed +into the European languages. Compare Wilson, in Trans. As. Soc. +i. 52. dohlen, das alte Indien, ii. p. 386. Silvestre de Sacy, +Memoire sur Kalila vs Dimnah. - M.] + +[Footnote 56: See the Historia Shahiludii of Dr. Hyde, (Syntagm. +Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 61 - 69.)] + + +Chapter XLII: State Of The Barbaric World. + + +Part III. + + The son of Kobad found his kingdom involved in a war with +the successor of Constantine; and the anxiety of his domestic +situation inclined him to grant the suspension of arms, which +Justinian was impatient to purchase. Chosroes saw the Roman +ambassadors at his feet. He accepted eleven thousand pounds of +gold, as the price of an endless or indefinite peace: ^57 some +mutual exchanges were regulated; the Persian assumed the guard of +the gates of Caucasus, and the demolition of Dara was suspended, +on condition that it should never be made the residence of the +general of the East. This interval of repose had been solicited, +and was diligently improved, by the ambition of the emperor: his +African conquests were the first fruits of the Persian treaty; +and the avarice of Chosroes was soothed by a large portion of the +spoils of Carthage, which his ambassadors required in a tone of +pleasantry and under the color of friendship. ^58 But the +trophies of Belisarius disturbed the slumbers of the great king; +and he heard with astonishment, envy, and fear, that Sicily, +Italy, and Rome itself, had been reduced, in three rapid +campaigns, to the obedience of Justinian. Unpractised in the art +of violating treaties, he secretly excited his bold and subtle +vassal Almondar. That prince of the Saracens, who resided at +Hira, ^59 had not been included in the general peace, and still +waged an obscure war against his rival Arethas, the chief of the +tribe of Gassan, and confederate of the empire. The subject of +their dispute was an extensive sheep-walk in the desert to the +south of Palmyra. An immemorial tribute for the license of +pasture appeared to attest the rights of Almondar, while the +Gassanite appealed to the Latin name of strata, a paved road, as +an unquestionable evidence of the sovereignty and labors of the +Romans. ^60 The two monarchs supported the cause of their +respective vassals; and the Persian Arab, without expecting the +event of a slow and doubtful arbitration, enriched his flying +camp with the spoil and captives of Syria. Instead of repelling +the arms, Justinian attempted to seduce the fidelity of Almondar, +while he called from the extremities of the earth the nations of +Aethiopia and Scythia to invade the dominions of his rival. But +the aid of such allies was distant and precarious, and the +discovery of this hostile correspondence justified the complaints +of the Goths and Armenians, who implored, almost at the same +time, the protection of Chosroes. The descendants of Arsaces, +who were still numerous in Armenia, had been provoked to assert +the last relics of national freedom and hereditary rank; and the +ambassadors of Vitiges had secretly traversed the empire to +expose the instant, and almost inevitable, danger of the kingdom +of Italy. Their representations were uniform, weighty, and +effectual. "We stand before your throne, the advocates of your +interest as well as of our own. The ambitious and faithless +Justinian aspires to be the sole master of the world. Since the +endless peace, which betrayed the common freedom of mankind, that +prince, your ally in words, your enemy in actions, has alike +insulted his friends and foes, and has filled the earth with +blood and confusion. Has he not violated the privileges of +Armenia, the independence of Colchos, and the wild liberty of the +Tzanian mountains? Has he not usurped, with equal avidity, the +city of Bosphorus on the frozen Maeotis, and the vale of +palm-trees on the shores of the Red Sea? The Moors, the Vandals, +the Goths, have been successively oppressed, and each nation has +calmly remained the spectator of their neighbor's ruin. Embrace, +O king! the favorable moment; the East is left without defence, +while the armies of Justinian and his renowned general are +detained in the distant regions of the West. If you hesitate or +delay, Belisarius and his victorious troops will soon return from +the Tyber to the Tigris, and Persia may enjoy the wretched +consolation of being the last devoured." ^61 By such arguments, +Chosroes was easily persuaded to imitate the example which he +condemned: but the Persian, ambitious of military fame, disdained +the inactive warfare of a rival, who issued his sanguinary +commands from the secure station of the Byzantine palace. +[Footnote 57: The endless peace (Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 21) +was concluded or ratified in the vith year, and iiid consulship, +of Justinian, (A.D. 533, between January 1 and April 1. Pagi, +tom. ii. p. 550.) Marcellinus, in his Chronicle, uses the style +of Medes and Persians.] + +[Footnote 58: Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 26.] + +[Footnote 59: Almondar, king of Hira, was deposed by Kobad, and +restored by Nushirvan. His mother, from her beauty, was surnamed +Celestial Water, an appellation which became hereditary, and was +extended for a more noble cause (liberality in famine) to the +Arab princes of Syria, (Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 69, 70.)] + +[Footnote 60: Procopius, Persic. l. ii. c. 1. We are ignorant of +the origin and object of this strata, a paved road of ten days' +journey from Auranitis to Babylonia. (See a Latin note in +Delisle's Map Imp. Orient.) Wesseling and D'Anville are silent.] + +[Footnote 61: I have blended, in a short speech, the two orations +of the Arsacides of Armenia and the Gothic ambassadors. +Procopius, in his public history, feels, and makes us feel, that +Justinian was the true author of the war, (Persic. l. ii. c. 2, +3.)] + + Whatever might be the provocations of Chosroes, he abused +the confidence of treaties; and the just reproaches of +dissimulation and falsehood could only be concealed by the lustre +of his victories. ^62 The Persian army, which had been assembled +in the plains of Babylon, prudently declined the strong cities of +Mesopotamia, and followed the western bank of the Euphrates, till +the small, though populous, town of Dura ^* presumed to arrest +the progress of the great king. The gates of Dura, by treachery +and surprise, were burst open; and as soon as Chosroes had +stained his cimeter with the blood of the inhabitants, he +dismissed the ambassador of Justinian to inform his master in +what place he had left the enemy of the Romans. The conqueror +still affected the praise of humanity and justice; and as he +beheld a noble matron with her infant rudely dragged along the +ground, he sighed, he wept, and implored the divine justice to +punish the author of these calamities. Yet the herd of twelve +thousand captives was ransomed for two hundred pounds of gold; +the neighboring bishop of Sergiopolis pledged his faith for the +payment: and in the subsequent year the unfeeling avarice of +Chosroes exacted the penalty of an obligation which it was +generous to contract and impossible to discharge. He advanced +into the heart of Syria: but a feeble enemy, who vanished at his +approach, disappointed him of the honor of victory; and as he +could not hope to establish his dominion, the Persian king +displayed in this inroad the mean and rapacious vices of a +robber. Hierapolis, Berrhaea or Aleppo, Apamea and Chalcis, were +successively besieged: they redeemed their safety by a ransom of +gold or silver, proportioned to their respective strength and +opulence; and their new master enforced, without observing, the +terms of capitulation. Educated in the religion of the Magi, he +exercised, without remorse, the lucrative trade of sacrilege; +and, after stripping of its gold and gems a piece of the true +cross, he generously restored the naked relic to the devotion of +the Christians of Apamea. No more than fourteen years had +elapsed since Antioch was ruined by an earthquake; ^! but the +queen of the East, the new Theopolis, had been raised from the +ground by the liberality of Justinian; and the increasing +greatness of the buildings and the people already erased the +memory of this recent disaster. On one side, the city was +defended by the mountain, on the other by the River Orontes; but +the most accessible part was commanded by a superior eminence: +the proper remedies were rejected, from the despicable fear of +discovering its weakness to the enemy; and Germanus, the +emperor's nephew, refused to trust his person and dignity within +the walls of a besieged city. The people of Antioch had +inherited the vain and satirical genius of their ancestors: they +were elated by a sudden reenforcement of six thousand soldiers; +they disdained the offers of an easy capitulation and their +intemperate clamors insulted from the ramparts the majesty of the +great king. Under his eye the Persian myriads mounted with +scaling-ladders to the assault; the Roman mercenaries fled +through the opposite gate of Daphne; and the generous assistance +of the youth of Antioch served only to aggravate the miseries of +their country. As Chosroes, attended by the ambassadors of +Justinian, was descending from the mountain, he affected, in a +plaintive voice, to deplore the obstinacy and ruin of that +unhappy people; but the slaughter still raged with unrelenting +fury; and the city, at the command of a Barbarian, was delivered +to the flames. The cathedral of Antioch was indeed preserved by +the avarice, not the piety, of the conqueror: a more honorable +exemption was granted to the church of St. Julian, and the +quarter of the town where the ambassadors resided; some distant +streets were saved by the shifting of the wind, and the walls +still subsisted to protect, and soon to betray, their new +inhabitants. Fanaticism had defaced the ornaments of Daphne, but +Chosroes breathed a purer air amidst her groves and fountains; +and some idolaters in his train might sacrifice with impunity to +the nymphs of that elegant retreat. Eighteen miles below +Antioch, the River Orontes falls into the Mediterranean. The +haughty Persian visited the term of his conquests; and, after +bathing alone in the sea, he offered a solemn sacrifice of +thanksgiving to the sun, or rather to the Creator of the sun, +whom the Magi adored. If this act of superstition offended the +prejudices of the Syrians, they were pleased by the courteous and +even eager attention with which he assisted at the games of the +circus; and as Chosroes had heard that the blue faction was +espoused by the emperor, his peremptory command secured the +victory of the green charioteer. From the discipline of his camp +the people derived more solid consolation; and they interceded in +vain for the life of a soldier who had too faithfully copied the +rapine of the just Nushirvan. At length, fatigued, though +unsatiated, with the spoil of Syria, ^* he slowly moved to the +Euphrates, formed a temporary bridge in the neighborhood of +Barbalissus, and defined the space of three days for the entire +passage of his numerous host. After his return, he founded, at +the distance of one day's journey from the palace of Ctesiphon, a +new city, which perpetuated the joint names of Chosroes and of +Antioch. The Syrian captives recognized the form and situation +of their native abodes: baths and a stately circus were +constructed for their use; and a colony of musicians and +charioteers revived in Assyria the pleasures of a Greek capital. +By the munificence of the royal founder, a liberal allowance was +assigned to these fortunate exiles; and they enjoyed the singular +privilege of bestowing freedom on the slaves whom they +acknowledged as their kinsmen. Palestine, and the holy wealth of +Jerusalem, were the next objects that attracted the ambition, or +rather the avarice, of Chosroes. Constantinople, and the palace +of the Caesars, no longer appeared impregnable or remote; and his +aspiring fancy already covered Asia Minor with the troops, and +the Black Sea with the navies, of Persia. + +[Footnote 62: The invasion of Syria, the ruin of Antioch, &c., +are related in a full and regular series by Procopius, (Persic. +l. ii. c. 5 - 14.) Small collateral aid can be drawn from the +Orientals: yet not they, but D'Herbelot himself, (p. 680,) should +blush when he blames them for making Justinian and Nushirvan +contemporaries. On the geography of the seat of war, D'Anville +(l'Euphrate et le Tigre) is sufficient and satisfactory.] + +[Footnote *: It is Sura in Procopius. Is it a misprint in +Gibbon? - M.] +[Footnote !: Joannes Lydus attributes the easy capture of Antioch +to the want of fortifications which had not been restored since +the earthquake, l. iii. c. 54. p. 246. - M.] + +[Footnote *: Lydus asserts that he carried away all the statues, +pictures, and marbles which adorned the city, l. iii. c. 54, p. +246. - M.] + These hopes might have been realized, if the conqueror of +Italy had not been seasonably recalled to the defence of the +East. ^63 While Chosroes pursued his ambitious designs on the +coast of the Euxine, Belisarius, at the head of an army without +pay or discipline, encamped beyond the Euphrates, within six +miles of Nisibis. He meditated, by a skilful operation, to draw +the Persians from their impregnable citadel, and improving his +advantage in the field, either to intercept their retreat, or +perhaps to enter the gates with the flying Barbarians. He +advanced one day's journey on the territories of Persia, reduced +the fortress of Sisaurane, and sent the governor, with eight +hundred chosen horsemen, to serve the emperor in his Italian +wars. He detached Arethas and his Arabs, supported by twelve +hundred Romans, to pass the Tigris, and to ravage the harvests of +Assyria, a fruitful province, long exempt from the calamities of +war. But the plans of Belisarius were disconcerted by the +untractable spirit of Arethas, who neither returned to the camp, +nor sent any intelligence of his motions. The Roman general was +fixed in anxious expectation to the same spot; the time of action +elapsed, the ardent sun of Mesopotamia inflamed with fevors the +blood of his European soldiers; and the stationary troops and +officers of Syria affected to tremble for the safety of their +defenceless cities. Yet this diversion had already succeeded in +forcing Chosroes to return with loss and precipitation; and if +the skill of Belisarius had been seconded by discipline and +valor, his success might have satisfied the sanguine wishes of +the public, who required at his hands the conquest of Ctesiphon, +and the deliverance of the captives of Antioch. At the end of +the campaign, he was recalled to Constantinople by an ungrateful +court, but the dangers of the ensuing spring restored his +confidence and command; and the hero, almost alone, was +despatched, with the speed of post-horses, to repel, by his name +and presence, the invasion of Syria. He found the Roman +generals, among whom was a nephew of Justinian, imprisoned by +their fears in the fortifications of Hierapolis. But instead of +listening to their timid counsels, Belisarius commanded them to +follow him to Europus, where he had resolved to collect his +forces, and to execute whatever God should inspire him to achieve +against the enemy. His firm attitude on the banks of the +Euphrates restrained Chosroes from advancing towards Palestine; +and he received with art and dignity the ambassadors, or rather +spies, of the Persian monarch. The plain between Hierapolis and +the river was covered with the squadrons of cavalry, six thousand +hunters, tall and robust, who pursued their game without the +apprehension of an enemy. On the opposite bank the ambassadors +descried a thousand Armenian horse, who appeared to guard the +passage of the Euphrates. The tent of Belisarius was of the +coarsest linen, the simple equipage of a warrior who disdained +the luxury of the East. Around his tent, the nations who marched +under his standard were arranged with skilful confusion. The +Thracians and Illyrians were posted in the front, the Heruli and +Goths in the centre; the prospect was closed by the Moors and +Vandals, and their loose array seemed to multiply their numbers. +Their dress was light and active; one soldier carried a whip, +another a sword, a third a bow, a fourth, perhaps, a battle axe, +and the whole picture exhibited the intrepidity of the troops and +the vigilance of the general. Chosroes was deluded by the +address, and awed by the genius, of the lieutenant of Justinian. +Conscious of the merit, and ignorant of the force, of his +antagonist, he dreaded a decisive battle in a distant country, +from whence not a Persian might return to relate the melancholy +tale. The great king hastened to repass the Euphrates; and +Belisarius pressed his retreat, by affecting to oppose a measure +so salutary to the empire, and which could scarcely have been +prevented by an army of a hundred thousand men. Envy might +suggest to ignorance and pride, that the public enemy had been +suffered to escape: but the African and Gothic triumphs are less +glorious than this safe and bloodless victory, in which neither +fortune, nor the valor of the soldiers, can subtract any part of +the general's renown. The second removal of Belisarius from the +Persian to the Italian war revealed the extent of his personal +merit, which had corrected or supplied the want of discipline and +courage. Fifteen generals, without concert or skill, led through +the mountains of Armenia an army of thirty thousand Romans, +inattentive to their signals, their ranks, and their ensigns. +Four thousand Persians, intrenched in the camp of Dubis, +vanquished, almost without a combat, this disorderly multitude; +their useless arms were scattered along the road, and their +horses sunk under the fatigue of their rapid flight. But the +Arabs of the Roman party prevailed over their brethren; the +Armenians returned to their allegiance; the cities of Dara and +Edessa resisted a sudden assault and a regular siege, and the +calamities of war were suspended by those of pestilence. A tacit +or formal agreement between the two sovereigns protected the +tranquillity of the Eastern frontier; and the arms of Chosroes +were confined to the Colchian or Lazic war, which has been too +minutely described by the historians of the times. ^64 +[Footnote 63: In the public history of Procopius, (Persic. l. ii. +c. 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28;) and, with some slight +exceptions, we may reasonably shut our ears against the +malevolent whisper of the Anecdotes, (c. 2, 3, with the Notes, as +usual, of Alemannus.)] + +[Footnote 64: The Lazic war, the contest of Rome and Persia on +the Phasis, is tediously spun through many a page of Procopius +(Persic. l. ii. c. 15, 17, 28, 29, 30.) Gothic. l. iv. c. 7 - 16) +and Agathias, (l. ii. iii. and iv. p. 55 - 132, 141.)] + + The extreme length of the Euxine Sea ^65 from Constantinople +to the mouth of the Phasis, may be computed as a voyage of nine +days, and a measure of seven hundred miles. From the Iberian +Caucasus, the most lofty and craggy mountains of Asia, that river +descends with such oblique vehemence, that in a short space it is +traversed by one hundred and twenty bridges. Nor does the stream +become placid and navigable, till it reaches the town of +Sarapana, five days' journey from the Cyrus, which flows from the +same hills, but in a contrary direction to the Caspian Lake. The +proximity of these rivers has suggested the practice, or at least +the idea, of wafting the precious merchandise of India down the +Oxus, over the Caspian, up the Cyrus, and with the current of the +Phasis into the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas. As it +successively collects the streams of the plain of Colchos, the +Phasis moves with diminished speed, though accumulated weight. +At the mouth it is sixty fathom deep, and half a league broad, +but a small woody island is interposed in the midst of the +channel; the water, so soon as it has deposited an earthy or +metallic sediment, floats on the surface of the waves, and is no +longer susceptible of corruption. In a course of one hundred +miles, forty of which are navigable for large vessels, the Phasis +divides the celebrated region of Colchos, ^66 or Mingrelia, ^67 +which, on three sides, is fortified by the Iberian and Armenian +mountains, and whose maritime coast extends about two hundred +miles from the neighborhood of Trebizond to Dioscurias and the +confines of Circassia. Both the soil and climate are relaxed by +excessive moisture: twenty-eight rivers, besides the Phasis and +his dependent streams, convey their waters to the sea; and the +hollowness of the ground appears to indicate the subterraneous +channels between the Euxine and the Caspian. In the fields where +wheat or barley is sown, the earth is too soft to sustain the +action of the plough; but the gom, a small grain, not unlike the +millet or coriander seed, supplies the ordinary food of the +people; and the use of bread is confined to the prince and his +nobles. Yet the vintage is more plentiful than the harvest; and +the bulk of the stems, as well as the quality of the wine, +display the unassisted powers of nature. The same powers +continually tend to overshadow the face of the country with thick +forests; the timber of the hills, and the flax of the plains, +contribute to the abundance of naval stores; the wild and tame +animals, the horse, the ox, and the hog, are remarkably prolific, +and the name of the pheasant is expressive of his native +habitation on the banks of the Phasis. The gold mines to the +south of Trebizond, which are still worked with sufficient +profit, were a subject of national dispute between Justinian and +Chosroes; and it is not unreasonable to believe, that a vein of +precious metal may be equally diffused through the circle of the +hills, although these secret treasures are neglected by the +laziness, or concealed by the prudence, of the Mingrelians. The +waters, impregnated with particles of gold, are carefully +strained through sheep-skins or fleeces; but this expedient, the +groundwork perhaps of a marvellous fable, affords a faint image +of the wealth extracted from a virgin earth by the power and +industry of ancient kings. Their silver palaces and golden +chambers surpass our belief; but the fame of their riches is said +to have excited the enterprising avarice of the Argonauts. ^68 +Tradition has affirmed, with some color of reason, that Egypt +planted on the Phasis a learned and polite colony, ^69 which +manufactured linen, built navies, and invented geographical maps. +The ingenuity of the moderns has peopled, with flourishing cities +and nations, the isthmus between the Euxine and the Caspian; ^70 +and a lively writer, observing the resemblance of climate, and, +in his apprehension, of trade, has not hesitated to pronounce +Colchos the Holland of antiquity. ^71 +[Footnote 65: The Periplus, or circumnavigation of the Euxine +Sea, was described in Latin by Sallust, and in Greek by Arrian: +I. The former work, which no longer exists, has been restored by +the singular diligence of M. de Brosses, first president of the +parliament of Dijon, (Hist. de la Republique Romaine, tom. ii. l. +iii. p. 199 - 298,) who ventures to assume the character of the +Roman historian. His description of the Euxine is ingeniously +formed of all the fragments of the original, and of all the +Greeks and Latins whom Sallust might copy, or by whom he might be +copied; and the merit of the execution atones for the whimsical +design. 2. The Periplus of Arrian is addressed to the emperor +Hadrian, (in Geograph. Minor. Hudson, tom. i.,) and contains +whatever the governor of Pontus had seen from Trebizond to +Dioscurias; whatever he had heard from Dioscurias to the Danube; +and whatever he knew from the Danube to Trebizond.] + +[Footnote 66: Besides the many occasional hints from the poets, +historians &c., of antiquity, we may consult the geographical +descriptions of Colchos, by Strabo (l. xi. p. 760 - 765) and +Pliny, (Hist. Natur. vi. 5, 19, &c.)] +[Footnote 67: I shall quote, and have used, three modern +descriptions of Mingrelia and the adjacent countries. 1. Of the +Pere Archangeli Lamberti, (Relations de Thevenot, part i. p. 31 - +52, with a map,) who has all the knowledge and prejudices of a +missionary. 2. Of Chardia, (Voyages en Perse, tom. i. p. 54, 68 +- 168.) His observations are judicious and his own adventures in +the country are still more instructive than his observations. 3. +Of Peyssonel, (Observations sur les Peuples Barbares, p. 49, 50, +51, 58 62, 64, 65, 71, &c., and a more recent treatise, Sur le +Commerce de la Mer Noire, tom. ii. p. 1 - 53.) He had long +resided at Caffa, as consul of France; and his erudition is less +valuable than his experience.] + +[Footnote 68: Pliny, Hist. Natur. l. xxxiii. 15. The gold and +silver mines of Colchos attracted the Argonauts, (Strab. l. i. p. +77.) The sagacious Chardin could find no gold in mines, rivers, +or elsewhere. Yet a Mingrelian lost his hand and foot for +showing some specimens at Constantinople of native gold] +[Footnote 69: Herodot. l. ii. c. 104, 105, p. 150, 151. Diodor. +Sicul. l. i. p. 33, edit. Wesseling. Dionys. Perieget. 689, and +Eustath. ad loc. Schohast ad Apollonium Argonaut. l. iv. 282 - +291.] + +[Footnote 70: Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xxi. c. 6. +L'Isthme ... couvero de villes et nations qui ne sont plus.] + +[Footnote 71: Bougainville, Memoires de l'Academie des +Inscriptions, tom. xxvi. p. 33, on the African voyage of Hanno +and the commerce of antiquity.] + But the riches of Colchos shine only through the darkness of +conjecture or tradition; and its genuine history presents a +uniform scene of rudeness and poverty. If one hundred and thirty +languages were spoken in the market of Dioscurias, ^72 they were +the imperfect idioms of so many savage tribes or families, +sequestered from each other in the valleys of Mount Caucasus; and +their separation, which diminished the importance, must have +multiplied the number, of their rustic capitals. In the present +state of Mingrelia, a village is an assemblage of huts within a +wooden fence; the fortresses are seated in the depths of forests; +the princely town of Cyta, or Cotatis, consists of two hundred +houses, and a stone edifice appertains only to the magnificence +of kings. Twelve ships from Constantinople, and about sixty +barks, laden with the fruits of industry, annually cast anchor on +the coast; and the list of Colchian exports is much increased, +since the natives had only slaves and hides to offer in exchange +for the corn and salt which they purchased from the subjects of +Justinian. Not a vestige can be found of the art, the knowledge, +or the navigation, of the ancient Colchians: few Greeks desired +or dared to pursue the footsteps of the Argonauts; and even the +marks of an Egyptian colony are lost on a nearer approach. The +rite of circumcision is practised only by the Mahometans of the +Euxine; and the curled hair and swarthy complexion of Africa no +longer disfigure the most perfect of the human race. It is in +the adjacent climates of Georgia, Mingrelia, and Circassia, that +nature has placed, at least to our eyes, the model of beauty in +the shape of the limbs, the color of the skin, the symmetry of +the features, and the expression of the countenance. ^73 +According to the destination of the two sexes, the men seemed +formed for action, the women for love; and the perpetual supply +of females from Mount Caucasus has purified the blood, and +improved the breed, of the southern nations of Asia. The proper +district of Mingrelia, a portion only of the ancient Colchos, has +long sustained an exportation of twelve thousand slaves. The +number of prisoners or criminals would be inadequate to the +annual demand; but the common people are in a state of servitude +to their lords; the exercise of fraud or rapine is unpunished in +a lawless community; and the market is continually replenished by +the abuse of civil and paternal authority. Such a trade, ^74 +which reduces the human species to the level of cattle, may tend +to encourage marriage and population, since the multitude of +children enriches their sordid and inhuman parent. But this +source of impure wealth must inevitably poison the national +manners, obliterate the sense of honor and virtue, and almost +extinguish the instincts of nature: the Christians of Georgia and +Mingrelia are the most dissolute of mankind; and their children, +who, in a tender age, are sold into foreign slavery, have already +learned to imitate the rapine of the father and the prostitution +of the mother. Yet, amidst the rudest ignorance, the untaught +natives discover a singular dexterity both of mind and hand; and +although the want of union and discipline exposes them to their +more powerful neighbors, a bold and intrepid spirit has animated +the Colchians of every age. In the host of Xerxes, they served +on foot; and their arms were a dagger or a javelin, a wooden +casque, and a buckler of raw hides. But in their own country the +use of cavalry has more generally prevailed: the meanest of the +peasants disdained to walk; the martial nobles are possessed, +perhaps, of two hundred horses; and above five thousand are +numbered in the train of the prince of Mingrelia. The Colchian +government has been always a pure and hereditary kingdom; and the +authority of the sovereign is only restrained by the turbulence +of his subjects. Whenever they were obedient, he could lead a +numerous army into the field; but some faith is requisite to +believe, that the single tribe of the Suanians as composed of two +hundred thousand soldiers, or that the population of Mingrelia +now amounts to four millions of inhabitants. ^75 +[Footnote 72: A Greek historian, Timosthenes, had affirmed, in +eam ccc. nationes dissimilibus linguis descendere; and the modest +Pliny is content to add, et postea a nostris cxxx. interpretibus +negotia ibi gesta, (vi. 5) But the words nunc deserta cover a +multitude of past fictions.] +[Footnote 73: Buffon (Hist. Nat. tom. iii. p. 433 - 437) collects +the unanimous suffrage of naturalists and travellers. If, in the +time of Herodotus, they were, (and he had observed them with +care,) this precious fact is an example of the influence of +climate on a foreign colony.] +[Footnote 74: The Mingrelian ambassador arrived at Constantinople +with two hundred persons; but he ate (sold) them day by day, till +his retinue was diminished to a secretary and two valets, +(Tavernier, tom. i. p. 365.) To purchase his mistress, a +Mingrelian gentleman sold twelve priests and his wife to the +Turks, (Chardin, tom. i. p. 66.)] + +[Footnote 75: Strabo, l. xi. p. 765. Lamberti, Relation de la +Mingrelie. Yet we must avoid the contrary extreme of Chardin, who +allows no more than 20,000 inhabitants to supply an annual +exportation of 12,000 slaves; an absurdity unworthy of that +judicious traveller.] + + +Chapter XLII: State Of The Barbaric World. + + +Part III. + + It was the boast of the Colchians, that their ancestors had +checked the victories of Sesostris; and the defeat of the +Egyptian is less incredible than his successful progress as far +as the foot of Mount Caucasus. They sunk without any memorable +effort, under the arms of Cyrus; followed in distant wars the +standard of the great king, and presented him every fifth year +with one hundred boys, and as many virgins, the fairest produce +of the land. ^76 Yet he accepted this gift like the gold and +ebony of India, the frankincense of the Arabs, or the negroes and +ivory of Aethiopia: the Colchians were not subject to the +dominion of a satrap, and they continued to enjoy the name as +well as substance of national independence. ^77 After the fall of +the Persian empire, Mithridates, king of Pontus, added Colchos to +the wide circle of his dominions on the Euxine; and when the +natives presumed to request that his son might reign over them, +he bound the ambitious youth in chains of gold, and delegated a +servant in his place. In pursuit of Mithridates, the Romans +advanced to the banks of the Phasis, and their galleys ascended +the river till they reached the camp of Pompey and his legions. +^78 But the senate, and afterwards the emperors, disdained to +reduce that distant and useless conquest into the form of a +province. The family of a Greek rhetorician was permitted to +reign in Colchos and the adjacent kingdoms from the time of Mark +Antony to that of Nero; and after the race of Polemo ^79 was +extinct, the eastern Pontus, which preserved his name, extended +no farther than the neighborhood of Trebizond. Beyond these +limits the fortifications of Hyssus, of Apsarus, of the Phasis, +of Dioscurias or Sebastopolis, and of Pityus, were guarded by +sufficient detachments of horse and foot; and six princes of +Colchos received their diadems from the lieutenants of Caesar. +One of these lieutenants, the eloquent and philosophic Arrian, +surveyed, and has described, the Euxine coast, under the reign of +Hadrian. The garrison which he reviewed at the mouth of the +Phasis consisted of four hundred chosen legionaries; the brick +walls and towers, the double ditch, and the military engines on +the rampart, rendered this place inaccessible to the Barbarians: +but the new suburbs which had been built by the merchants and +veterans, required, in the opinion of Arrian, some external +defence. ^80 As the strength of the empire was gradually +impaired, the Romans stationed on the Phasis were neither +withdrawn nor expelled; and the tribe of the Lazi, ^81 whose +posterity speak a foreign dialect, and inhabit the sea coast of +Trebizond, imposed their name and dominion on the ancient kingdom +of Colchos. Their independence was soon invaded by a formidable +neighbor, who had acquired, by arms and treaties, the sovereignty +of Iberia. The dependent king of Lazica received his sceptre at +the hands of the Persian monarch, and the successors of +Constantine acquiesced in this injurious claim, which was proudly +urged as a right of immemorial prescription. In the beginning of +the sixth century, their influence was restored by the +introduction of Christianity, which the Mingrelians still profess +with becoming zeal, without understanding the doctrines, or +observing the precepts, of their religion. After the decease of +his father, Zathus was exalted to the regal dignity by the favor +of the great king; but the pious youth abhorred the ceremonies of +the Magi, and sought, in the palace of Constantinople, an +orthodox baptism, a noble wife, and the alliance of the emperor +Justin. The king of Lazica was solemnly invested with the +diadem, and his cloak and tunic of white silk, with a gold +border, displayed, in rich embroidery, the figure of his new +patron; who soothed the jealousy of the Persian court, and +excused the revolt of Colchos, by the venerable names of +hospitality and religion. The common interest of both empires +imposed on the Colchians the duty of guarding the passes of Mount +Caucasus, where a wall of sixty miles is now defended by the +monthly service of the musketeers of Mingrelia. ^82 + +[Footnote 76: Herodot. l. iii. c. 97. See, in l. vii. c. 79, +their arms and service in the expedition of Xerxes against +Greece.] + +[Footnote 77: Xenophon, who had encountered the Colchians in his +retreat, (Anabasis, l. iv. p. 320, 343, 348, edit. Hutchinson; +and Foster's Dissertation, p. liii. - lviii., in Spelman's +English version, vol. ii.,) styled them. Before the conquest of +Mithridates, they are named by Appian, (de Bell. Mithridatico, c. +15, tom. i. p. 661, of the last and best edition, by John +Schweighaeuser. Lipsae, 1785 8 vols. largo octavo.)] +[Footnote 78: The conquest of Colchos by Mithridates and Pompey +is marked by Appian (de Bell. Mithridat.) and Plutarch, (in Vit. +Pomp.)] +[Footnote 79: We may trace the rise and fall of the family of +Polemo, in Strabo, (l. xi. p. 755, l. xii. p. 867,) Dion Cassius, +or Xiphilin, (p. 588, 593, 601, 719, 754, 915, 946, edit. +Reimar,) Suetonius, (in Neron. c. 18, in Vespasian, c. 8,) +Eutropius, (vii. 14,) Josephus, (Antiq. Judaic. l. xx. c. 7, p. +970, edit. Havercamp,) and Eusebius, (Chron. with Scaliger, +Animadvers. p. 196.)] + +[Footnote 80: In the time of Procopius, there were no Roman forts +on the Phasis. Pityus and Sebastopolis were evacuated on the +rumor of the Persians, (Goth. l. iv. c. 4;) but the latter was +afterwards restored by Justinian, (de Edif. l. iv. c. 7.)] + +[Footnote 81: In the time of Pliny, Arrian, and Ptolemy, the Lazi +were a particular tribe on the northern skirts of Colchos, +(Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 222.) In the age of +Justinian, they spread, or at least reigned, over the whole +country. At present, they have migrated along the coast towards +Trebizond, and compose a rude sea-faring people, with a peculiar +language, (Chardin, p. 149. Peyssonel p. 64.)] + +[Footnote 82: John Malala, Chron. tom. ii. p. 134 - 137 +Theophanes, p. 144. Hist. Miscell. l. xv. p. 103. The fact is +authentic, but the date seems too recent. In speaking of their +Persian alliance, the Lazi contemporaries of Justinian employ the +most obsolete words, &c. Could they belong to a connection which +had not been dissolved above twenty years?] + But this honorable connection was soon corrupted by the +avarice and ambition of the Romans. Degraded from the rank of +allies, the Lazi were incessantly reminded, by words and actions, +of their dependent state. At the distance of a day's journey +beyond the Apsarus, they beheld the rising fortress of Petra, ^83 +which commanded the maritime country to the south of the Phasis. +Instead of being protected by the valor, Colchos was insulted by +the licentiousness, of foreign mercenaries; the benefits of +commerce were converted into base and vexatious monopoly; and +Gubazes, the native prince, was reduced to a pageant of royalty, +by the superior influence of the officers of Justinian. +Disappointed in their expectations of Christian virtue, the +indignant Lazi reposed some confidence in the justice of an +unbeliever. After a private assurance that their ambassadors +should not be delivered to the Romans, they publicly solicited +the friendship and aid of Chosroes. The sagacious monarch +instantly discerned the use and importance of Colchos; and +meditated a plan of conquest, which was renewed at the end of a +thousand years by Shah Abbas, the wisest and most powerful of his +successors. ^84 His ambition was fired by the hope of launching a +Persian navy from the Phasis, of commanding the trade and +navigation of the Euxine Sea, of desolating the coast of Pontus +and Bithynia, of distressing, perhaps of attacking, +Constantinople, and of persuading the Barbarians of Europe to +second his arms and counsels against the common enemy of mankind. + +Under the pretence of a Scythian war, he silently led his troops +to the frontiers of Iberia; the Colchian guides were prepared to +conduct them through the woods and along the precipices of Mount +Caucasus; and a narrow path was laboriously formed into a safe +and spacious highway, for the march of cavalry, and even of +elephants. Gubazes laid his person and diadem at the feet of the +king of Persia; his Colchians imitated the submission of their +prince; and after the walls of Petra had been shaken, the Roman +garrison prevented, by a capitulation, the impending fury of the +last assault. But the Lazi soon discovered, that their +impatience had urged them to choose an evil more intolerable than +the calamities which they strove to escape. The monopoly of salt +and corn was effectually removed by the loss of those valuable +commodities. The authority of a Roman legislator, was succeeded +by the pride of an Oriental despot, who beheld, with equal +disdain, the slaves whom he had exalted, and the kings whom he +had humbled before the footstool of his throne. The adoration of +fire was introduced into Colchos by the zeal of the Magi: their +intolerant spirit provoked the fervor of a Christian people; and +the prejudice of nature or education was wounded by the impious +practice of exposing the dead bodies of their parents, on the +summit of a lofty tower, to the crows and vultures of the air. +^85 Conscious of the increasing hatred, which retarded the +execution of his great designs, the just Nashirvan had secretly +given orders to assassinate the king of the Lazi, to transplant +the people into some distant land, and to fix a faithful and +warlike colony on the banks of the Phasis. The watchful jealousy +of the Colchians foresaw and averted the approaching ruin. Their +repentance was accepted at Constantinople by the prudence, rather +than clemency, of Justinian; and he commanded Dagisteus, with +seven thousand Romans, and one thousand of the Zani, ^* to expel +the Persians from the coast of the Euxine. +[Footnote 83: The sole vestige of Petra subsists in the writings +of Procopius and Agathias. Most of the towns and castles of +Lazica may be found by comparing their names and position with +the map of Mingrelia, in Lamberti.] +[Footnote 84: See the amusing letters of Pietro della Valle, the +Roman traveler, (Viaggi, tom. ii. 207, 209, 213, 215, 266, 286, +300, tom. iii. p. 54, 127.) In the years 1618, 1619, and 1620, he +conversed with Shah Abbas, and strongly encouraged a design which +might have united Persia and Europe against their common enemy +the Turk.] + +[Footnote 85: See Herodotus, (l. i. c. 140, p. 69,) who speaks +with diffidence, Larcher, (tom. i. p. 399 - 401, Notes sur +Herodote,) Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 11,) and Agathias, (l. +ii. p. 61, 62.) This practice, agreeable to the Zendavesta, +(Hyde, de Relig. Pers. c. 34, p. 414 - 421,) demonstrates that +the burial of the Persian kings, (Xenophon, Cyropaed. l. viii. p. +658,) is a Greek fiction, and that their tombs could be no more +than cenotaphs.] + +[Footnote *: These seem the same people called Suanians, p. 328. +- M.] + The siege of Petra, which the Roman general, with the aid of +the Lazi, immediately undertook, is one of the most remarkable +actions of the age. The city was seated on a craggy rock, which +hung over the sea, and communicated by a steep and narrow path +with the land. Since the approach was difficult, the attack +might be deemed impossible: the Persian conqueror had +strengthened the fortifications of Justinian; and the places +least inaccessible were covered by additional bulwarks. In this +important fortress, the vigilance of Chosroes had deposited a +magazine of offensive and defensive arms, sufficient for five +times the number, not only of the garrison, but of the besiegers +themselves. The stock of flour and salt provisions was adequate +to the consumption of five years; the want of wine was supplied +by vinegar; and of grain from whence a strong liquor was +extracted, and a triple aqueduct eluded the diligence, and even +the suspicions, of the enemy. But the firmest defence of Petra +was placed in the valor of fifteen hundred Persians, who resisted +the assaults of the Romans, whilst, in a softer vein of earth, a +mine was secretly perforated. The wall, supported by slender and +temporary props, hung tottering in the air; but Dagisteus delayed +the attack till he had secured a specific recompense; and the +town was relieved before the return of his messenger from +Constantinople. The Persian garrison was reduced to four hundred +men, of whom no more than fifty were exempt from sickness or +wounds; yet such had been their inflexible perseverance, that +they concealed their losses from the enemy, by enduring, without +a murmur, the sight and putrefying stench of the dead bodies of +their eleven hundred companions. After their deliverance, the +breaches were hastily stopped with sand-bags; the mine was +replenished with earth; a new wall was erected on a frame of +substantial timber; and a fresh garrison of three thousand men +was stationed at Petra to sustain the labors of a second siege. +The operations, both of the attack and defence, were conducted +with skilful obstinacy; and each party derived useful lessons +from the experience of their past faults. A battering-ram was +invented, of light construction and powerful effect: it was +transported and worked by the hands of forty soldiers; and as the +stones were loosened by its repeated strokes, they were torn with +long iron hooks from the wall. From those walls, a shower of +darts was incessantly poured on the heads of the assailants; but +they were most dangerously annoyed by a fiery composition of +sulphur and bitumen, which in Colchos might with some propriety +be named the oil of Medea. Of six thousand Romans who mounted +the scaling-ladders, their general Bessas was the first, a +gallant veteran of seventy years of age: the courage of their +leader, his fall, and extreme danger, animated the irresistible +effort of his troops; and their prevailing numbers oppressed the +strength, without subduing the spirit, of the Persian garrison. +The fate of these valiant men deserves to be more distinctly +noticed. Seven hundred had perished in the siege, two thousand +three hundred survived to defend the breach. One thousand and +seventy were destroyed with fire and sword in the last assault; +and if seven hundred and thirty were made prisoners, only +eighteen among them were found without the marks of honorable +wounds. The remaining five hundred escaped into the citadel, +which they maintained without any hopes of relief, rejecting the +fairest terms of capitulation and service, till they were lost in +the flames. They died in obedience to the commands of their +prince; and such examples of loyalty and valor might excite their +countrymen to deeds of equal despair and more prosperous event. +The instant demolition of the works of Petra confessed the +astonishment and apprehension of the conqueror. + A Spartan would have praised and pitied the virtue of these +heroic slaves; but the tedious warfare and alternate success of +the Roman and Persian arms cannot detain the attention of +posterity at the foot of Mount Caucasus. The advantages obtained +by the troops of Justinian were more frequent and splendid; but +the forces of the great king were continually supplied, till they +amounted to eight elephants and seventy thousand men, including +twelve thousand Scythian allies, and above three thousand +Dilemites, who descended by their free choice from the hills of +Hyrcania, and were equally formidable in close or in distant +combat. The siege of Archaeopolis, a name imposed or corrupted +by the Greeks, was raised with some loss and precipitation; but +the Persians occupied the passes of Iberia: Colchos was enslaved +by their forts and garrisons; they devoured the scanty sustenance +of the people; and the prince of the Lazi fled into the +mountains. In the Roman camp, faith and discipline were unknown; +and the independent leaders, who were invested with equal power, +disputed with each other the preeminence of vice and corruption. +The Persians followed, without a murmur, the commands of a single +chief, who implicitly obeyed the instructions of their supreme +lord. Their general was distinguished among the heroes of the +East by his wisdom in council, and his valor in the field. The +advanced age of Mermeroes, and the lameness of both his feet, +could not diminish the activity of his mind, or even of his body; +and, whilst he was carried in a litter in the front of battle, he +inspired terror to the enemy, and a just confidence to the +troops, who, under his banners, were always successful. After his +death, the command devolved to Nacoragan, a proud satrap, who, in +a conference with the Imperial chiefs, had presumed to declare +that he disposed of victory as absolutely as of the ring on his +finger. Such presumption was the natural cause and forerunner of +a shameful defeat. The Romans had been gradually repulsed to the +edge of the sea-shore; and their last camp, on the ruins of the +Grecian colony of Phasis, was defended on all sides by strong +intrenchments, the river, the Euxine, and a fleet of galleys. +Despair united their counsels and invigorated their arms: they +withstood the assault of the Persians and the flight of Nacoragan +preceded or followed the slaughter of ten thousand of his bravest +soldiers. He escaped from the Romans to fall into the hands of an +unforgiving master who severely chastised the error of his own +choice: the unfortunate general was flayed alive, and his skin, +stuffed into the human form, was exposed on a mountain; a +dreadful warning to those who might hereafter be intrusted with +the fame and fortune of Persia. ^86 Yet the prudence of Chosroes +insensibly relinquished the prosecution of the Colchian war, in +the just persuasion, that it is impossible to reduce, or, at +least, to hold a distant country against the wishes and efforts +of its inhabitants. The fidelity of Gubazes sustained the most +rigorous trials. He patiently endured the hardships of a savage +life, and rejected with disdain, the specious temptations of the +Persian court. ^* The king of the Lazi had been educated in the +Christian religion; his mother was the daughter of a senator; +during his youth he had served ten years a silentiary of the +Byzantine palace, ^87 and the arrears of an unpaid salary were a +motive of attachment as well as of complaint. But the long +continuance of his sufferings extorted from him a naked +representation of the truth; and truth was an unpardonable libel +on the lieutenants of Justinian, who, amidst the delays of a +ruinous war, had spared his enemies and trampled on his allies. +Their malicious information persuaded the emperor that his +faithless vassal already meditated a second defection: an order +was surprised to send him prisoner to Constantinople; a +treacherous clause was inserted, that he might be lawfully killed +in case of resistance; and Gubazes, without arms, or suspicion of +danger, was stabbed in the security of a friendly interview. In +the first moments of rage and despair, the Colchians would have +sacrificed their country and religion to the gratification of +revenge. But the authority and eloquence of the wiser few +obtained a salutary pause: the victory of the Phasis restored the +terror of the Roman arms, and the emperor was solicitous to +absolve his own name from the imputation of so foul a murder. A +judge of senatorial rank was commissioned to inquire into the +conduct and death of the king of the Lazi. He ascended a stately +tribunal, encompassed by the ministers of justice and punishment: +in the presence of both nations, this extraordinary cause was +pleaded, according to the forms of civil jurisprudence, and some +satisfaction was granted to an injured people, by the sentence +and execution of the meaner criminals. ^88 +[Footnote 86: The punishment of flaying alive could not be +introduced into Persia by Sapor, (Brisson, de Regn. Pers. l. ii. +p. 578,) nor could it be copied from the foolish tale of Marsyas, +the Phrygian piper, most foolishly quoted as a precedent by +Agathias, (l. iv. p. 132, 133.)] + +[Footnote *: According to Agathias, the death of Gubazos preceded +the defeat of Nacoragan. The trial took place after the battle. +- M.] +[Footnote 87: In the palace of Constantinople there were thirty +silentiaries, who were styled hastati, ante fores cubiculi, an +honorable title which conferred the rank, without imposing the +duties, of a senator, (Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. 23. Gothofred. +Comment. tom. ii. p. 129.)] + +[Footnote 88: On these judicial orations, Agathias (l. iii. p. 81 +- 89, l. iv. p. 108 - 119) lavishes eighteen or twenty pages of +false and florid rhetoric. His ignorance or carelessness +overlooks the strongest argument against the king of Lazica - his +former revolt. + + Note: The Orations in the third book of Agathias are not +judicial, nor delivered before the Roman tribunal: it is a +deliberative debate among the Colchians on the expediency of +adhering to the Roman, or embracing the Persian alliance. - M.]] + + In peace, the king of Persia continually sought the +pretences of a rupture: but no sooner had he taken up arms, than +he expressed his desire of a safe and honorable treaty. During +the fiercest hostilities, the two monarchs entertained a +deceitful negotiation; and such was the superiority of Chosroes, +that whilst he treated the Roman ministers with insolence and +contempt, he obtained the most unprecedented honors for his own +ambassadors at the Imperial court. The successor of Cyrus +assumed the majesty of the Eastern sun, and graciously permitted +his younger brother Justinian to reign over the West, with the +pale and reflected splendor of the moon. This gigantic style was +supported by the pomp and eloquence of Isdigune, one of the royal +chamberlains. His wife and daughters, with a train of eunuchs +and camels, attended the march of the ambassador: two satraps +with golden diadems were numbered among his followers: he was +guarded by five hundred horse, the most valiant of the Persians; +and the Roman governor of Dara wisely refused to admit more than +twenty of this martial and hostile caravan. When Isdigune had +saluted the emperor, and delivered his presents, he passed ten +months at Constantinople without discussing any serious affairs. +Instead of being confined to his palace, and receiving food and +water from the hands of his keepers, the Persian ambassador, +without spies or guards, was allowed to visit the capital; and +the freedom of conversation and trade enjoyed by his domestics, +offended the prejudices of an age which rigorously practised the +law of nations, without confidence or courtesy. ^89 By an +unexampled indulgence, his interpreter, a servant below the +notice of a Roman magistrate, was seated, at the table of +Justinian, by the side of his master: and one thousand pounds of +gold might be assigned for the expense of his journey and +entertainment. Yet the repeated labors of Isdigune could procure +only a partial and imperfect truce, which was always purchased +with the treasures, and renewed at the solicitation, of the +Byzantine court Many years of fruitless desolation elapsed before +Justinian and Chosroes were compelled, by mutual lassitude, to +consult the repose of their declining age. At a conference held +on the frontier, each party, without expecting to gain credit, +displayed the power, the justice, and the pacific intentions, of +their respective sovereigns; but necessity and interest dictated +the treaty of peace, which was concluded for a term of fifty +years, diligently composed in the Greek and Persian languages, +and attested by the seals of twelve interpreters. The liberty of +commerce and religion was fixed and defined; the allies of the +emperor and the great king were included in the same benefits and +obligations; and the most scrupulous precautions were provided to +prevent or determine the accidental disputes that might arise on +the confines of two hostile nations. After twenty years of +destructive though feeble war, the limits still remained without +alteration; and Chosroes was persuaded to renounce his dangerous +claim to the possession or sovereignty of Colchos and its +dependent states. Rich in the accumulated treasures of the East, +he extorted from the Romans an annual payment of thirty thousand +pieces of gold; and the smallness of the sum revealed the +disgrace of a tribute in its naked deformity. In a previous +debate, the chariot of Sesostris, and the wheel of fortune, were +applied by one of the ministers of Justinian, who observed that +the reduction of Antioch, and some Syrian cities, had elevated +beyond measure the vain and ambitious spirit of the Barbarian. +"You are mistaken," replied the modest Persian: "the king of +kings, the lord of mankind, looks down with contempt on such +petty acquisitions; and of the ten nations, vanquished by his +invincible arms, he esteems the Romans as the least formidable." +^90 According to the Orientals, the empire of Nushirvan extended +from Ferganah, in Transoxiana, to Yemen or Arabia Faelix. He +subdued the rebels of Hyrcania, reduced the provinces of Cabul +and Zablestan on the banks of the Indus, broke the power of the +Euthalites, terminated by an honorable treaty the Turkish war, +and admitted the daughter of the great khan into the number of +his lawful wives. Victorious and respected among the princes of +Asia, he gave audience, in his palace of Madain, or Ctesiphon, to +the ambassadors of the world. Their gifts or tributes, arms, +rich garments, gems, slaves or aromatics, were humbly presented +at the foot of his throne; and he condescended to accept from the +king of India ten quintals of the wood of aloes, a maid seven +cubits in height, and a carpet softer than silk, the skin, as it +was reported, of an extraordinary serpent. ^91 + +[Footnote 89: Procopius represents the practice of the Gothic +court of Ravenna (Goth. l. i. c. 7;) and foreign ambassadors have +been treated with the same jealousy and rigor in Turkey, +(Busbequius, epist. iii. p. 149, 242, &c.,) Russia, (Voyage +D'Olearius,) and China, (Narrative of A. de Lange, in Bell's +Travels, vol. ii. p. 189 - 311.)] + +[Footnote 90: The negotiations and treaties between Justinian and +Chosroes are copiously explained by Procopius, (Persie, l. ii. c. +10, 13, 26, 27, 28. Gothic. l. ii. c. 11, 15,) Agathias, (l. iv. +p. 141, 142,) and Menander, (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 132 - 147.) +Consult Barbeyrac, Hist. des Anciens Traites, tom. ii. p. 154, +181 - 184, 193 - 200.] + +[Footnote 91: D'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 680, 681, 294, +295.] + Justinian had been reproached for his alliance with the +Aethiopians, as if he attempted to introduce a people of savage +negroes into the system of civilized society. But the friends of +the Roman empire, the Axumites, or Abyssinians, may be always +distinguished from the original natives of Africa. ^92 The hand +of nature has flattened the noses of the negroes, covered their +heads with shaggy wool, and tinged their skin with inherent and +indelible blackness. But the olive complexion of the +Abyssinians, their hair, shape, and features, distinctly mark +them as a colony of Arabs; and this descent is confirmed by the +resemblance of language and manners the report of an ancient +emigration, and the narrow interval between the shores of the Red +Sea. Christianity had raised that nation above the level of +African barbarism: ^93 their intercourse with Egypt, and the +successors of Constantine, ^94 had communicated the rudiments of +the arts and sciences; their vessels traded to the Isle of +Ceylon, ^95 and seven kingdoms obeyed the Negus or supreme prince +of Abyssinia. The independence of the Homerites, ^! who reigned +in the rich and happy Arabia, was first violated by an Aethiopian +conqueror: he drew his hereditary claim from the queen of Sheba, +^96 and his ambition was sanctified by religious zeal. The Jews, +powerful and active in exile, had seduced the mind of Dunaan, +prince of the Homerites. They urged him to retaliate the +persecution inflicted by the Imperial laws on their unfortunate +brethren: some Roman merchants were injuriously treated; and +several Christians of Negra ^97 were honored with the crown of +martyrdom. ^98 The churches of Arabia implored the protection of +the Abyssinian monarch. The Negus passed the Red Sea with a +fleet and army, deprived the Jewish proselyte of his kingdom and +life, and extinguished a race of princes, who had ruled above two +thousand years the sequestered region of myrrh and frankincense. +The conqueror immediately announced the victory of the gospel, +requested an orthodox patriarch, and so warmly professed his +friendship to the Roman empire, that Justinian was flattered by +the hope of diverting the silk trade through the channel of +Abyssinia, and of exciting the forces of Arabia against the +Persian king. Nonnosus, descended from a family of ambassadors, +was named by the emperor to execute this important commission. +He wisely declined the shorter, but more dangerous, road, through +the sandy deserts of Nubia; ascended the Nile, embarked on the +Red Sea, and safely landed at the African port of Adulis. From +Adulis to the royal city of Axume is no more than fifty leagues, +in a direct line; but the winding passes of the mountains +detained the ambassador fifteen days; and as he traversed the +forests, he saw, and vaguely computed, about five thousand wild +elephants. The capital, according to his report, was large and +populous; and the village of Axume is still conspicuous by the +regal coronations, by the ruins of a Christian temple, and by +sixteen or seventeen obelisks inscribed with Grecian characters. +^99 But the Negus ^!! gave audience in the open field, seated on +a lofty chariot, which was drawn by four elephants, superbly +caparisoned, and surrounded by his nobles and musicians. He was +clad in a linen garment and cap, holding in his hand two javelins +and a light shield; and, although his nakedness was imperfectly +covered, he displayed the Barbaric pomp of gold chains, collars, +and bracelets, richly adorned with pearls and precious stones. +The ambassador of Justinian knelt; the Negus raised him from the +ground, embraced Nonnosus, kissed the seal, perused the letter, +accepted the Roman alliance, and, brandishing his weapons, +denounced implacable war against the worshipers of fire. But the +proposal of the silk trade was eluded; and notwithstanding the +assurances, and perhaps the wishes, of the Abyssinians, these +hostile menaces evaporated without effect. The Homerites were +unwilling to abandon their aromatic groves, to explore a sandy +desert, and to encounter, after all their fatigues, a formidable +nation from whom they had never received any personal injuries. +Instead of enlarging his conquests, the king of Aethiopia was +incapable of defending his possessions. Abrahah, ^!!! the slave +of a Roman merchant of Adulis, assumed the sceptre of the +Homerites,; the troops of Africa were seduced by the luxury of +the climate; and Justinian solicited the friendship of the +usurper, who honored with a slight tribute the supremacy of his +prince. After a long series of prosperity, the power of Abrahah +was overthrown before the gates of Mecca; and his children were +despoiled by the Persian conqueror; and the Aethiopians were +finally expelled from the continent of Asia. This narrative of +obscure and remote events is not foreign to the decline and fall +of the Roman empire. If a Christian power had been maintained in +Arabia, Mahomet must have been crushed in his cradle, and +Abyssinia would have prevented a revolution which has changed the +civil and religious state of the world. ^100 ^* + +[Footnote 92: See Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 449. +This Arab cast of features and complexion, which has continued +3400 years (Ludolpb. Hist. et Comment. Aethiopic. l. i. c. 4) in +the colony of Abyssinia, will justify the suspicion, that race, +as well as climate, must have contributed to form the negroes of +the adjacent and similar regions. + + Note: Mr. Salt (Travels, vol. ii. p. 458) considers them to +be distinct from the Arabs - "in feature, color, habit, and +manners." - M.] +[Footnote 93: The Portuguese missionaries, Alvarez, (Ramusio, +tom. i. fol. 204, rect. 274, vers.) Bermudez, (Purchas's +Pilgrims, vol. ii. l. v. c. 7, p. 1149 - 1188,) Lobo, (Relation, +&c., par M. le Grand, with xv. Dissertations, Paris, 1728,) and +Tellez (Relations de Thevenot, part iv.) could only relate of +modern Abyssinia what they had seen or invented. The erudition +of Ludolphus, (Hist. Aethiopica, Francofurt, 1681. Commentarius, +1691. Appendix, 1694,) in twenty-five languages, could add little +concerning its ancient history. Yet the fame of Caled, or +Ellisthaeus, the conqueror of Yemen, is celebrated in national +songs and legends.] + +[Footnote 94: The negotiations of Justinian with the Axumites, or +Aethiopians, are recorded by Procopius (Persic. l. i. c. 19, 20) +and John Malala, tom. ii. p. 163 - 165, 193 - 196.) The historian +of Antioch quotes the original narrative of the ambassador +Nonnosus, of which Photius (Bibliot. Cod. iii.) has preserved a +curious extract.] + +[Footnote 95: The trade of the Axumites to the coast of India and +Africa, and the Isle of Ceylon, is curiously represented by +Cosmas Indicopleustes, (Topograph. Christian. l. ii. p. 132, 138, +139, 140, l. xi. p. 338, 339.)] +[Footnote !: It appears by the important inscription discovered +by Mr. Salt at Axoum, and from a law of Constantius, (16th Jan. +356, inserted in the Theodosian Code, l. 12, c. 12,) that in the +middle of the fourth century of our era the princes of the +Axumites joined to their titles that of king of the Homerites. +The conquests which they made over the Arabs in the sixth century +were only a restoration of the ancient order of things. St. +Martin vol. viii. p. 46 - M.] + +[Footnote 96: Ludolph. Hist. et Comment. Aethiop. l. ii. c. 3.] +[Footnote 97: The city of Negra, or Nag'ran, in Yemen, is +surrounded with palm-trees, and stands in the high road between +Saana, the capital, and Mecca; from the former ten, from the +latter twenty days' journey of a caravan of camels, (Abulfeda, +Descript. Arabiae, p. 52.)] + +[Footnote 98: The martyrdom of St. Arethas, prince of Negra, and +his three hundred and forty companions, is embellished in the +legends of Metaphrastes and Nicephorus Callistus, copied by +Baronius, (A. D 522, No. 22 - 66, A.D. 523, No. 16 - 29,) and +refuted with obscure diligence, by Basnage, (Hist. des Juifs, +tom. viii. l. xii. c. ii. p. 333 - 348,) who investigates the +state of the Jews in Arabia and Aethiopia. + + Note: According to Johannsen, (Hist. Yemanae, Praef. p. 89,) +Dunaan (Ds Nowas) massacred 20,000 Christians, and threw them +into a pit, where they were burned. They are called in the Koran +the companions of the pit (socii foveae.) - M.] + +[Footnote 99: Alvarez (in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 219, vers. 221, +vers.) saw the flourishing state of Axume in the year 1520 - +luogomolto buono e grande. It was ruined in the same century by +the Turkish invasion. No more than 100 houses remain; but the +memory of its past greatness is preserved by the regal +coronation, (Ludolph. Hist. et Comment. l. ii. c. 11.) + + Note: Lord Valentia's and Mr. Salt's Travels give a high +notion of the ruins of Axum. - M.] + +[Footnote !!: The Negus is differently called Elesbaan, Elesboas, +Elisthaeus, probably the same name, or rather appellation. See +St. Martin, vol. viii. p. 49. - M.] + +[Footnote !!!: According to the Arabian authorities, (Johannsen, +Hist. Yemanae, p. 94, Bonn, 1828,) Abrahah was an Abyssinian, the +rival of Ariathus, the brother of the Abyssinian king: he +surprised and slew Ariathus, and by his craft appeased the +resentment of Nadjash, the Abyssinian king. Abrahah was a +Christian; he built a magnificent church at Sana, and dissuaded +his subjects from their accustomed pilgrimages to Mecca. The +church was defiled, it was supposed, by the Koreishites, and +Abrahah took up arms to revenge himself on the temple at Mecca. +He was repelled by miracle: his elephant would not advance, but +knelt down before the sacred place; Abrahah fled, discomfited and +mortally wounded, to Sana - M.] + +[Footnote 100: The revolutions of Yemen in the sixth century must +be collected from Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 19, 20,) +Theophanes Byzant., (apud Phot. cod. lxiii. p. 80,) St. +Theophanes, (in Chronograph. p. 144, 145, 188, 189, 206, 207, who +is full of strange blunders,) Pocock, (Specimen Hist. Arab. p. +62, 65,) D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 12, 477,) and Sale's +Preliminary Discourse and Koran, (c. 105.) The revolt of Abrahah +is mentioned by Procopius; and his fall, though clouded with +miracles, is an historical fact. + Note: To the authors who have illustrated the obscure +history of the Jewish and Abyssinian kingdoms in Homeritis may be +added Schultens, Hist. Joctanidarum; Walch, Historia rerum in +Homerite gestarum, in the 4th vol. of the Gottingen Transactions; +Salt's Travels, vol. ii. p. 446, &c.: Sylvestre de Sacy, vol. i. +Acad. des Inscrip. Jost, Geschichte der Israeliter; Johannsen, +Hist. Yemanae; St. Martin's notes to Le Beau, t. vii p. 42. - M.] + +[Footnote *: A period of sixty-seven years is assigned by most of +the Arabian authorities to the Abyssinian kingdoms in Homeritis. +- M.] + + +Chapter XLIII: Last Victory And Death Of Belisarius, Death Of +Justinian. + + +Part I. + + Rebellions Of Africa. - Restoration Of The Gothic Kingdom By +Totila. - Loss And Recovery Of Rome. - Final Conquest Of Italy By +Narses. - Extinction Of The Ostrogoths. - Defeat Of The Franks +And Alemanni. - Last Victory, Disgrace, And Death Of Belisarius. +- Death And Character Of Justinian. - Comet, Earthquakes, And +Plague. + + The review of the nations from the Danube to the Nile has +exposed, on every side, the weakness of the Romans; and our +wonder is reasonably excited that they should presume to enlarge +an empire whose ancient limits they were incapable of defending. +But the wars, the conquests, and the triumphs of Justinian, are +the feeble and pernicious efforts of old age, which exhaust the +remains of strength, and accelerate the decay of the powers of +life. He exulted in the glorious act of restoring Africa and +Italy to the republic; but the calamities which followed the +departure of Belisarius betrayed the impotence of the conqueror, +and accomplished the ruin of those unfortunate countries. + + From his new acquisitions, Justinian expected that his +avarice, as well as pride, should be richly gratified. A +rapacious minister of the finances closely pursued the footsteps +of Belisarius; and as the old registers of tribute had been burnt +by the Vandals, he indulged his fancy in a liberal calculation +and arbitrary assessment of the wealth of Africa. ^1 The increase +of taxes, which were drawn away by a distant sovereign, and a +general resumption of the patrimony or crown lands, soon +dispelled the intoxication of the public joy: but the emperor was +insensible to the modest complaints of the people, till he was +awakened and alarmed by the clamors of military discontent. Many +of the Roman soldiers had married the widows and daughters of the +Vandals. As their own, by the double right of conquest and +inheritance, they claimed the estates which Genseric had assigned +to his victorious troops. They heard with disdain the cold and +selfish representations of their officers, that the liberality of +Justinian had raised them from a savage or servile condition; +that they were already enriched by the spoils of Africa, the +treasure, the slaves, and the movables of the vanquished +Barbarians; and that the ancient and lawful patrimony of the +emperors would be applied only to the support of that government +on which their own safety and reward must ultimately depend. The +mutiny was secretly inflamed by a thousand soldiers, for the most +part Heruli, who had imbibed the doctrines, and were instigated +by the clergy, of the Arian sect; and the cause of perjury and +rebellion was sanctified by the dispensing powers of fanaticism. +The Arians deplored the ruin of their church, triumphant above a +century in Africa; and they were justly provoked by the laws of +the conqueror, which interdicted the baptism of their children, +and the exercise of all religious worship. Of the Vandals chosen +by Belisarius, the far greater part, in the honors of the Eastern +service, forgot their country and religion. But a generous band +of four hundred obliged the mariners, when they were in sight of +the Isle of Lesbos, to alter their course: they touched on +Peloponnesus, ran ashore on a desert coast of Africa, and boldly +erected, on Mount Aurasius, the standard of independence and +revolt. While the troops of the provinces disclaimed the +commands of their superiors, a conspiracy was formed at Carthage +against the life of Solomon, who filled with honor the place of +Belisarius; and the Arians had piously resolved to sacrifice the +tyrant at the foot of the altar, during the awful mysteries of +the festival of Easter. Fear or remorse restrained the daggers +of the assassins, but the patience of Solomon emboldened their +discontent; and, at the end of ten days, a furious sedition was +kindled in the Circus, which desolated Africa above ten years. +The pillage of the city, and the indiscriminate slaughter of its +inhabitants, were suspended only by darkness, sleep, and +intoxication: the governor, with seven companions, among whom was +the historian Procopius, escaped to Sicily: two thirds of the +army were involved in the guilt of treason; and eight thousand +insurgents, assembling in the field of Bulla, elected Stoza for +their chief, a private soldier, who possessed in a superior +degree the virtues of a rebel. Under the mask of freedom, his +eloquence could lead, or at least impel, the passions of his +equals. He raised himself to a level with Belisarius, and the +nephew of the emperor, by daring to encounter them in the field; +and the victorious generals were compelled to acknowledge that +Stoza deserved a purer cause, and a more legitimate command. +Vanquished in battle, he dexterously employed the arts of +negotiation; a Roman army was seduced from their allegiance, and +the chiefs who had trusted to his faithless promise were murdered +by his order in a church of Numidia. When every resource, either +of force or perfidy, was exhausted, Stoza, with some desperate +Vandals, retired to the wilds of Mauritania, obtained the +daughter of a Barbarian prince, and eluded the pursuit of his +enemies, by the report of his death. The personal weight of +Belisarius, the rank, the spirit, and the temper, of Germanus, +the emperor's nephew, and the vigor and success of the second +administration of the eunuch Solomon, restored the modesty of the +camp, and maintained for a while the tranquillity of Africa. But +the vices of the Byzantine court were felt in that distant +province; the troops complained that they were neither paid nor +relieved, and as soon as the public disorders were sufficiently +mature, Stoza was again alive, in arms, and at the gates of +Carthage. He fell in a single combat, but he smiled in the +agonies of death, when he was informed that his own javelin had +reached the heart of his antagonist. ^* The example of Stoza, and +the assurance that a fortunate soldier had been the first king, +encouraged the ambition of Gontharis, and he promised, by a +private treaty, to divide Africa with the Moors, if, with their +dangerous aid, he should ascend the throne of Carthage. The +feeble Areobindus, unskilled in the affairs of peace and war, was +raised, by his marriage with the niece of Justinian, to the +office of exarch. He was suddenly oppressed by a sedition of the +guards, and his abject supplications, which provoked the +contempt, could not move the pity, of the inexorable tyrant. +After a reign of thirty days, Gontharis himself was stabbed at a +banquet by the hand of Artaban; ^** and it is singular enough, +that an Armenian prince, of the royal family of Arsaces, should +reestablish at Carthage the authority of the Roman empire. In +the conspiracy which unsheathed the dagger of Brutus against the +life of Caesar, every circumstance is curious and important to +the eyes of posterity; but the guilt or merit of these loyal or +rebellious assassins could interest only the contemporaries of +Procopius, who, by their hopes and fears, their friendship or +resentment, were personally engaged in the revolutions of Africa. +^2 + +[Footnote 1: For the troubles of Africa, I neither have nor +desire another guide than Procopius, whose eye contemplated the +image, and whose ear collected the reports, of the memorable +events of his own times. In the second book of the Vandalic war +he relates the revolt of Stoza, (c. 14 - 24,) the return of +Belisarius, (c. 15,) the victory of Germanus, (c. 16, 17, 18,) +the second administration of Solomon, (c. 19, 20, 21,) the +government of Sergius, (c. 22, 23,) of Areobindus, (c. 24,) the +tyranny and death of Gontharis, (c. 25, 26, 27, 28;) nor can I +discern any symptoms of flattery or malevolence in his various +portraits.] + +[Footnote *: Corippus gives a different account of the death of +Stoza; he was transfixed by an arrow from the hand of John, (not +the hero of his poem) who broke desperately through the +victorious troops of the enemy. Stoza repented, says the poet, +of his treasonous rebellion, and anticipated - another Cataline - +eternal torments as his punishment. + +Reddam, improba, poenas Quas merui. Furiis socius Catilina +cruentis Exagitatus adest. Video jam Tartara, fundo Flammarumque +globos, et clara incendia volvi. + +Johannidos, book iv. line 211. + + All the other authorities confirm Gibbon's account of the +death of John by the hand of Stoza. This poem of Corippus, +unknown to Gibbon, was first published by Mazzuchelli during the +present century, and is reprinted in the new edition of the +Byzantine writers. - M] + +[Footnote **: This murder was prompted to the Armenian (according +to Corippus) by Athanasius, (then praefect of Africa.) + + Hunc placidus cana gravitate coegit + Inumitera mactare virum. - Corripus, vol. iv. p. 237 - M.] +[Footnote 2: Yet I must not refuse him the merit of painting, in +lively colors, the murder of Gontharis. One of the assassins +uttered a sentiment not unworthy of a Roman patriot: "If I fail," +said Artasires, "in the first stroke, kill me on the spot, lest +the rack should extort a discovery of my accomplices."] + + That country was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism +from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and +Roman laws; and every step of intestine discord was marked by +some deplorable victory of savage man over civilized society. +The Moors, ^3 though ignorant of justice, were impatient of +oppression: their vagrant life and boundless wilderness +disappointed the arms, and eluded the chains, of a conqueror; and +experience had shown, that neither oaths nor obligations could +secure the fidelity of their attachment. The victory of Mount +Auras had awed them into momentary submission; but if they +respected the character of Solomon, they hated and despised the +pride and luxury of his two nephews, Cyrus and Sergius, on whom +their uncle had imprudently bestowed the provincial governments +of Tripoli and Pentapolis. A Moorish tribe encamped under the +walls of Leptis, to renew their alliance, and receive from the +governor the customary gifts. Fourscore of their deputies were +introduced as friends into the city; but on the dark suspicion of +a conspiracy, they were massacred at the table of Sergius, and +the clamor of arms and revenge was reechoed through the valleys +of Mount Atlas from both the Syrtes to the Atlantic Ocean. A +personal injury, the unjust execution or murder of his brother, +rendered Antalas the enemy of the Romans. The defeat of the +Vandals had formerly signalized his valor; the rudiments of +justice and prudence were still more conspicuous in a Moor; and +while he laid Adrumetum in ashes, he calmly admonished the +emperor that the peace of Africa might be secured by the recall +of Solomon and his unworthy nephews. The exarch led forth his +troops from Carthage: but, at the distance of six days' journey, +in the neighborhood of Tebeste, ^4 he was astonished by the +superior numbers and fierce aspect of the Barbarians. He +proposed a treaty; solicited a reconciliation; and offered to +bind himself by the most solemn oaths. "By what oaths can he +bind himself?" interrupted the indignant Moors. "Will he swear +by the Gospels, the divine books of the Christians? It was on +those books that the faith of his nephew Sergius was pledged to +eighty of our innocent and unfortunate brethren. Before we trust +them a second time, let us try their efficacy in the chastisement +of perjury and the vindication of their own honor." Their honor +was vindicated in the field of Tebeste, by the death of Solomon, +and the total loss of his army. ^* The arrival of fresh troops +and more skilful commanders soon checked the insolence of the +Moors: seventeen of their princes were slain in the same battle; +and the doubtful and transient submission of their tribes was +celebrated with lavish applause by the people of Constantinople. +Successive inroads had reduced the province of Africa to one +third of the measure of Italy; yet the Roman emperors continued +to reign above a century over Carthage and the fruitful coast of +the Mediterranean. But the victories and the losses of Justinian +were alike pernicious to mankind; and such was the desolation of +Africa, that in many parts a stranger might wander whole days +without meeting the face either of a friend or an enemy. The +nation of the Vandals had disappeared: they once amounted to a +hundred and sixty thousand warriors, without including the +children, the women, or the slaves. Their numbers were +infinitely surpassed by the number of the Moorish families +extirpated in a relentless war; and the same destruction was +retaliated on the Romans and their allies, who perished by the +climate, their mutual quarrels, and the rage of the Barbarians. +When Procopius first landed, he admired the populousness of the +cities and country, strenuously exercised in the labors of +commerce and agriculture. In less than twenty years, that busy +scene was converted into a silent solitude; the wealthy citizens +escaped to Sicily and Constantinople; and the secret historian +has confidently affirmed, that five millions of Africans were +consumed by the wars and government of the emperor Justinian. ^5 +[Footnote 3: The Moorish wars are occasionally introduced into +the narrative of Procopius, (Vandal. l. ii. c. 19 - 23, 25, 27, +28. Gothic. l. iv. c. 17;) and Theophanes adds some prosperous +and adverse events in the last years of Justinian.] + +[Footnote 4: Now Tibesh, in the kingdom of Algiers. It is +watered by a river, the Sujerass, which falls into the Mejerda, +(Bagradas.) Tibesh is still remarkable for its walls of large +stones, (like the Coliseum of Rome,) a fountain, and a grove of +walnut-trees: the country is fruitful, and the neighboring +Bereberes are warlike. It appears from an inscription, that, +under the reign of Adrian, the road from Carthage to Tebeste was +constructed by the third legion, (Marmol, Description de +l'Afrique, tom. ii. p. 442, 443. Shaw's Travels, p. 64, 65, 66.)] + +[Footnote *: Corripus (Johannidos lib. iii. 417 - 441) describes +the defeat and death of Solomon. - M.] + +[Footnote 5: Procopius, Anecdot. c. 18. The series of the +African history at tests this melancholy truth.] + + The jealousy of the Byzantine court had not permitted +Belisarius to achieve the conquest of Italy; and his abrupt +departure revived the courage of the Goths, ^6 who respected his +genius, his virtue, and even the laudable motive which had urged +the servant of Justinian to deceive and reject them. They had +lost their king, (an inconsiderable loss,) their capital, their +treasures, the provinces from Sicily to the Alps, and the +military force of two hundred thousand Barbarians, magnificently +equipped with horses and arms. Yet all was not lost, as long as +Pavia was defended by one thousand Goths, inspired by a sense of +honor, the love of freedom, and the memory of their past +greatness. The supreme command was unanimously offered to the +brave Uraias; and it was in his eyes alone that the disgrace of +his uncle Vitiges could appear as a reason of exclusion. His +voice inclined the election in favor of Hildibald, whose personal +merit was recommended by the vain hope that his kinsman Theudes, +the Spanish monarch, would support the common interest of the +Gothic nation. The success of his arms in Liguria and Venetia +seemed to justify their choice; but he soon declared to the world +that he was incapable of forgiving or commanding his benefactor. +The consort of Hildibald was deeply wounded by the beauty, the +riches, and the pride, of the wife of Uraias; and the death of +that virtuous patriot excited the indignation of a free people. +A bold assassin executed their sentence by striking off the head +of Hildibald in the midst of a banquet; the Rugians, a foreign +tribe, assumed the privilege of election: and Totila, ^* the +nephew of the late king, was tempted, by revenge, to deliver +himself and the garrison of Trevigo into the hands of the Romans. + +But the gallant and accomplished youth was easily persuaded to +prefer the Gothic throne before the service of Justinian; and as +soon as the palace of Pavia had been purified from the Rugian +usurper, he reviewed the national force of five thousand +soldiers, and generously undertook the restoration of the kingdom +of Italy. + +[Footnote 6: In the second (c. 30) and third books, (c. 1 - 40,) +Procopius continues the history of the Gothic war from the fifth +to the fifteenth year of Justinian. As the events are less +interesting than in the former period, he allots only half the +space to double the time. Jornandes, and the Chronicle of +Marcellinus, afford some collateral hints Sigonius, Pagi, +Muratori, Mascou, and De Buat, are useful, and have been used.] +[Footnote *: His real name, as appears by medals, was Baduilla, +or Badiula. Totila signifies immortal: tod (in German) is death. +Todilas, deathless. Compare St Martin, vol. ix. p. 37. - M.] + + The successors of Belisarius, eleven generals of equal rank, +neglected to crush the feeble and disunited Goths, till they were +roused to action by the progress of Totila and the reproaches of +Justinian. The gates of Verona were secretly opened to +Artabazus, at the head of one hundred Persians in the service of +the empire. The Goths fled from the city. At the distance of +sixty furlongs the Roman generals halted to regulate the division +of the spoil. While they disputed, the enemy discovered the real +number of the victors: the Persians were instantly overpowered, +and it was by leaping from the wall that Artabazus preserved a +life which he lost in a few days by the lance of a Barbarian, who +had defied him to single combat. Twenty thousand Romans +encountered the forces of Totila, near Faenza, and on the hills +of Mugello, of the Florentine territory. The ardor of freedmen, +who fought to regain their country, was opposed to the languid +temper of mercenary troops, who were even destitute of the merits +of strong and well-disciplined servitude. On the first attack, +they abandoned their ensigns, threw down their arms, and +dispersed on all sides with an active speed, which abated the +loss, whilst it aggravated the shame, of their defeat. The king +of the Goths, who blushed for the baseness of his enemies, +pursued with rapid steps the path of honor and victory. Totila +passed the Po, ^* traversed the Apennine, suspended the important +conquest of Ravenna, Florence, and Rome, and marched through the +heart of Italy, to form the siege or rather the blockade, of +Naples. The Roman chiefs, imprisoned in their respective cities, +and accusing each other of the common disgrace, did not presume +to disturb his enterprise. But the emperor, alarmed by the +distress and danger of his Italian conquests, despatched to the +relief of Naples a fleet of galleys and a body of Thracian and +Armenian soldiers. They landed in Sicily, which yielded its +copious stores of provisions; but the delays of the new +commander, an unwarlike magistrate, protracted the sufferings of +the besieged; and the succors, which he dropped with a timid and +tardy hand, were successively intercepted by the armed vessels +stationed by Totila in the Bay of Naples. The principal officer +of the Romans was dragged, with a rope round his neck, to the +foot of the wall, from whence, with a trembling voice, he +exhorted the citizens to implore, like himself, the mercy of the +conqueror. They requested a truce, with a promise of +surrendering the city, if no effectual relief should appear at +the end of thirty days. Instead of one month, the audacious +Barbarian granted them three, in the just confidence that famine +would anticipate the term of their capitulation. After the +reduction of Naples and Cumae, the provinces of Lucania, Apulia, +and Calabria, submitted to the king of the Goths. Totila led his +army to the gates of Rome, pitched his camp at Tibur, or Tivoli, +within twenty miles of the capital, and calmly exhorted the +senate and people to compare the tyranny of the Greeks with the +blessings of the Gothic reign. + +[Footnote *: This is not quite correct: he had crossed the Po +before the battle of Faenza. - M.] + + The rapid success of Totila may be partly ascribed to the +revolution which three years' experience had produced in the +sentiments of the Italians. At the command, or at least in the +name, of a Catholic emperor, the pope, ^7 their spiritual father, +had been torn from the Roman church, and either starved or +murdered on a desolate island. ^8 The virtues of Belisarius were +replaced by the various or uniform vices of eleven chiefs, at +Rome, Ravenna, Florence, Perugia, Spoleto, &c., who abused their +authority for the indulgence of lust or avarice. The improvement +of the revenue was committed to Alexander, a subtle scribe, long +practised in the fraud and oppression of the Byzantine schools, +and whose name of Psalliction, the scissors, ^9 was drawn from +the dexterous artifice with which he reduced the size without +defacing the figure, of the gold coin. Instead of expecting the +restoration of peace and industry, he imposed a heavy assessment +on the fortunes of the Italians. Yet his present or future +demands were less odious than a prosecution of arbitrary rigor +against the persons and property of all those who, under the +Gothic kings, had been concerned in the receipt and expenditure +of the public money. The subjects of Justinian, who escaped +these partial vexations, were oppressed by the irregular +maintenance of the soldiers, whom Alexander defrauded and +despised; and their hasty sallies in quest of wealth, or +subsistence, provoked the inhabitants of the country to await or +implore their deliverance from the virtues of a Barbarian. +Totila ^10 was chaste and temperate; and none were deceived, +either friends or enemies, who depended on his faith or his +clemency. To the husbandmen of Italy the Gothic king issued a +welcome proclamation, enjoining them to pursue their important +labors, and to rest assured, that, on the payment of the ordinary +taxes, they should be defended by his valor and discipline from +the injuries of war. The strong towns he successively attacked; +and as soon as they had yielded to his arms, he demolished the +fortifications, to save the people from the calamities of a +future siege, to deprive the Romans of the arts of defence, and +to decide the tedious quarrel of the two nations, by an equal and +honorable conflict in the field of battle. The Roman captives +and deserters were tempted to enlist in the service of a liberal +and courteous adversary; the slaves were attracted by the firm +and faithful promise, that they should never be delivered to +their masters; and from the thousand warriors of Pavia, a new +people, under the same appellation of Goths, was insensibly +formed in the camp of Totila. He sincerely accomplished the +articles of capitulation, without seeking or accepting any +sinister advantage from ambiguous expressions or unforeseen +events: the garrison of Naples had stipulated that they should be +transported by sea; the obstinacy of the winds prevented their +voyage, but they were generously supplied with horses, +provisions, and a safe-conduct to the gates of Rome. The wives +of the senators, who had been surprised in the villas of +Campania, were restored, without a ransom, to their husbands; the +violation of female chastity was inexorably chastised with death; +and in the salutary regulation of the edict of the famished +Neapolitans, the conqueror assumed the office of a humane and +attentive physician. The virtues of Totila are equally laudable, +whether they proceeded from true policy, religious principle, or +the instinct of humanity: he often harangued his troops; and it +was his constant theme, that national vice and ruin are +inseparably connected; that victory is the fruit of moral as well +as military virtue; and that the prince, and even the people, are +responsible for the crimes which they neglect to punish. +[Footnote 7: Sylverius, bishop of Rome, was first transported to +Patara, in Lycia, and at length starved (sub eorum custodia +inedia confectus) in the Isle of Palmaria, A.D. 538, June 20, +(Liberat. in Breviar. c. 22. Anastasius, in Sylverio. Baronius, +A.D. 540, No. 2, 3. Pagi, in Vit. Pont. tom. i. p. 285, 286.) +Procopius (Anecdot. c. 1) accuses only the empress and Antonina.] + +[Footnote 8: Palmaria, a small island, opposite to Terracina and +the coast of the Volsci, (Cluver. Ital. Antiq. l. iii. c. 7, p. +1014.)] +[Footnote 9: As the Logothete Alexander, and most of his civil +and military colleagues, were either disgraced or despised, the +ink of the Anecdotes (c. 4, 5, 18) is scarcely blacker than that +of the Gothic History (l. iii. c. 1, 3, 4, 9, 20, 21, &c.)] + +[Footnote 10: Procopius (l. iii. c. 2, 8, &c.,) does ample and +willing justice to the merit of Totila. The Roman historians, +from Sallust and Tacitus were happy to forget the vices of their +countrymen in the contemplation of Barbaric virtue.] + + The return of Belisarius to save the country which he had +subdued, was pressed with equal vehemence by his friends and +enemies; and the Gothic war was imposed as a trust or an exile on +the veteran commander. A hero on the banks of the Euphrates, a +slave in the palace of Constantinople, he accepted with +reluctance the painful task of supporting his own reputation, and +retrieving the faults of his successors. The sea was open to the +Romans: the ships and soldiers were assembled at Salona, near the +palace of Diocletian: he refreshed and reviewed his troops at +Pola in Istria, coasted round the head of the Adriatic, entered +the port of Ravenna, and despatched orders rather than supplies +to the subordinate cities. His first public oration was +addressed to the Goths and Romans, in the name of the emperor, +who had suspended for a while the conquest of Persia, and +listened to the prayers of his Italian subjects. He gently +touched on the causes and the authors of the recent disasters; +striving to remove the fear of punishment for the past, and the +hope of impunity for the future, and laboring, with more zeal +than success, to unite all the members of his government in a +firm league of affection and obedience. Justinian, his gracious +master, was inclined to pardon and reward; and it was their +interest, as well as duty, to reclaim their deluded brethren, who +had been seduced by the arts of the usurper. Not a man was +tempted to desert the standard of the Gothic king. Belisarius +soon discovered, that he was sent to remain the idle and impotent +spectator of the glory of a young Barbarian; and his own epistle +exhibits a genuine and lively picture of the distress of a noble +mind. "Most excellent prince, we are arrived in Italy, destitute +of all the necessary implements of war, men, horses, arms, and +money. In our late circuit through the villages of Thrace and +Illyricum, we have collected, with extreme difficulty, about four +thousand recruits, naked, and unskilled in the use of weapons and +the exercises of the camp. The soldiers already stationed in the +province are discontented, fearful, and dismayed; at the sound of +an enemy, they dismiss their horses, and cast their arms on the +ground. No taxes can be raised, since Italy is in the hands of +the Barbarians; the failure of payment has deprived us of the +right of command, or even of admonition. Be assured, dread Sir, +that the greater part of your troops have already deserted to the +Goths. If the war could be achieved by the presence of +Belisarius alone, your wishes are satisfied; Belisarius is in the +midst of Italy. But if you desire to conquer, far other +preparations are requisite: without a military force, the title +of general is an empty name. It would be expedient to restore to +my service my own veteran and domestic guards. Before I can take +the field, I must receive an adequate supply of light and heavy +armed troops; and it is only with ready money that you can +procure the indispensable aid of a powerful body of the cavalry +of the Huns." ^11 An officer in whom Belisarius confided was sent +from Ravenna to hasten and conduct the succors; but the message +was neglected, and the messenger was detained at Constantinople +by an advantageous marriage. After his patience had been +exhausted by delay and disappointment, the Roman general repassed +the Adriatic, and expected at Dyrrachium the arrival of the +troops, which were slowly assembled among the subjects and allies +of the empire. His powers were still inadequate to the +deliverance of Rome, which was closely besieged by the Gothic +king. The Appian way, a march of forty days, was covered by the +Barbarians; and as the prudence of Belisarius declined a battle, +he preferred the safe and speedy navigation of five days from the +coast of Epirus to the mouth of the Tyber. + +[Footnote 11: Procopius, l. iii. c. 12. The soul of a hero is +deeply impressed on the letter; nor can we confound such genuine +and original acts with the elaborate and often empty speeches of +the Byzantine historians] + After reducing, by force, or treaty, the towns of inferior +note in the midland provinces of Italy, Totila proceeded, not to +assault, but to encompass and starve, the ancient capital. Rome +was afflicted by the avarice, and guarded by the valor, of +Bessas, a veteran chief of Gothic extraction, who filled, with a +garrison of three thousand soldiers, the spacious circle of her +venerable walls. From the distress of the people he extracted a +profitable trade, and secretly rejoiced in the continuance of the +siege. It was for his use that the granaries had been +replenished: the charity of Pope Vigilius had purchased and +embarked an ample supply of Sicilian corn; but the vessels which +escaped the Barbarians were seized by a rapacious governor, who +imparted a scanty sustenance to the soldiers, and sold the +remainder to the wealthy Romans. The medimnus, or fifth part of +the quarter of wheat, was exchanged for seven pieces of gold; +fifty pieces were given for an ox, a rare and accidental prize; +the progress of famine enhanced this exorbitant value, and the +mercenaries were tempted to deprive themselves of the allowance +which was scarcely sufficient for the support of life. A +tasteless and unwholesome mixture, in which the bran thrice +exceeded the quantity of flour, appeased the hunger of the poor; +they were gradually reduced to feed on dead horses, dogs, cats, +and mice, and eagerly to snatch the grass, and even the nettles, +which grew among the ruins of the city. A crowd of spectres, +pale and emaciated, their bodies oppressed with disease, and +their minds with despair, surrounded the palace of the governor, +urged, with unavailing truth, that it was the duty of a master to +maintain his slaves, and humbly requested that he would provide +for their subsistence, to permit their flight, or command their +immediate execution. Bessas replied, with unfeeling +tranquillity, that it was impossible to feed, unsafe to dismiss, +and unlawful to kill, the subjects of the emperor. Yet the +example of a private citizen might have shown his countrymen that +a tyrant cannot withhold the privilege of death. Pierced by the +cries of five children, who vainly called on their father for +bread, he ordered them to follow his steps, advanced with calm +and silent despair to one of the bridges of the Tyber, and, +covering his face, threw himself headlong into the stream, in the +presence of his family and the Roman people. To the rich and +pusillammous, Bessas ^12 sold the permission of departure; but +the greatest part of the fugitives expired on the public +highways, or were intercepted by the flying parties of +Barbarians. In the mean while, the artful governor soothed the +discontent, and revived the hopes of the Romans, by the vague +reports of the fleets and armies which were hastening to their +relief from the extremities of the East. They derived more +rational comfort from the assurance that Belisarius had landed at +the port; and, without numbering his forces, they firmly relied +on the humanity, the courage, and the skill of their great +deliverer. + +[Footnote 12: The avarice of Bessas is not dissembled by +Procopius, (l. iii. c. 17, 20.) He expiated the loss of Rome by +the glorious conquest of Petraea, (Goth. l. iv. c. 12;) but the +same vices followed him from the Tyber to the Phasis, (c. 13;) +and the historian is equally true to the merits and defects of +his character. The chastisement which the author of the romance +of Belisaire has inflicted on the oppressor of Rome is more +agreeable to justice than to history.] + + +Chapter XLIII: Last Victory And Death Of Belisarius, Death Of +Justinian. + + +Part II. + + The foresight of Totila had raised obstacles worthy of such +an antagonist. Ninety furlongs below the city, in the narrowest +part of the river, he joined the two banks by strong and solid +timbers in the form of a bridge, on which he erected two lofty +towers, manned by the bravest of his Goths, and profusely stored +with missile weapons and engines of offence. The approach of the +bridge and towers was covered by a strong and massy chain of +iron; and the chain, at either end, on the opposite sides of the +Tyber, was defended by a numerous and chosen detachment of +archers. But the enterprise of forcing these barriers, and +relieving the capital, displays a shining example of the boldness +and conduct of Belisarius. His cavalry advanced from the port +along the public road, to awe the motions, and distract the +attention of the enemy. His infantry and provisions were +distributed in two hundred large boats; and each boat was +shielded by a high rampart of thick planks, pierced with many +small holes for the discharge of missile weapons. In the front, +two large vessels were linked together to sustain a floating +castle, which commanded the towers of the bridge, and contained a +magazine of fire, sulphur, and bitumen. The whole fleet, which +the general led in person, was laboriously moved against the +current of the river. The chain yielded to their weight, and the +enemies who guarded the banks were either slain or scattered. As +soon as they touched the principal barrier, the fire- ship was +instantly grappled to the bridge; one of the towers, with two +hundred Goths, was consumed by the flames; the assailants shouted +victory; and Rome was saved, if the wisdom of Belisarius had not +been defeated by the misconduct of his officers. He had +previously sent orders to Bessas to second his operations by a +timely sally from the town; and he had fixed his lieutenant, +Isaac, by a peremptory command, to the station of the port. But +avarice rendered Bessas immovable; while the youthful ardor of +Isaac delivered him into the hands of a superior enemy. The +exaggerated rumor of his defeat was hastily carried to the ears +of Belisarius: he paused; betrayed in that single moment of his +life some emotions of surprise and perplexity; and reluctantly +sounded a retreat to save his wife Antonina, his treasures, and +the only harbor which he possessed on the Tuscan coast. The +vexation of his mind produced an ardent and almost mortal fever; +and Rome was left without protection to the mercy or indignation +of Totila. The continuance of hostilities had imbittered the +national hatred: the Arian clergy was ignominiously driven from +Rome; Pelagius, the archdeacon, returned without success from an +embassy to the Gothic camp; and a Sicilian bishop, the envoy or +nuncio of the pope, was deprived of both his hands, for daring to +utter falsehoods in the service of the church and state. + + Famine had relaxed the strength and discipline of the +garrison of Rome. They could derive no effectual service from a +dying people; and the inhuman avarice of the merchant at length +absorbed the vigilance of the governor. Four Isaurian sentinels, +while their companions slept, and their officers were absent, +descended by a rope from the wall, and secretly proposed to the +Gothic king to introduce his troops into the city. The offer was +entertained with coldness and suspicion; they returned in safety; +they twice repeated their visit; the place was twice examined; +the conspiracy was known and disregarded; and no sooner had +Totila consented to the attempt, than they unbarred the Asinarian +gate, and gave admittance to the Goths. Till the dawn of day, +they halted in order of battle, apprehensive of treachery or +ambush; but the troops of Bessas, with their leader, had already +escaped; and when the king was pressed to disturb their retreat, +he prudently replied, that no sight could be more grateful than +that of a flying enemy. The patricians, who were still possessed +of horses, Decius, Basilius, &c. accompanied the governor; their +brethren, among whom Olybrius, Orestes, and Maximus, are named by +the historian, took refuge in the church of St. Peter: but the +assertion, that only five hundred persons remained in the +capital, inspires some doubt of the fidelity either of his +narrative or of his text. As soon as daylight had displayed the +entire victory of the Goths, their monarch devoutly visited the +tomb of the prince of the apostles; but while he prayed at the +altar, twenty-five soldiers, and sixty citizens, were put to the +sword in the vestibule of the temple. The archdeacon Pelagius +^13 stood before him, with the Gospels in his hand. "O Lord, be +merciful to your servant." "Pelagius," said Totila, with an +insulting smile, "your pride now condescends to become a +suppliant." "I am a suppliant," replied the prudent archdeacon; +"God has now made us your subjects, and as your subjects, we are +entitled to your clemency." At his humble prayer, the lives of +the Romans were spared; and the chastity of the maids and matrons +was preserved inviolate from the passions of the hungry soldiers. + +But they were rewarded by the freedom of pillage, after the most +precious spoils had been reserved for the royal treasury. The +houses of the senators were plentifully stored with gold and +silver; and the avarice of Bessas had labored with so much guilt +and shame for the benefit of the conqueror. In this revolution, +the sons and daughters of Roman consuls lasted the misery which +they had spurned or relieved, wandered in tattered garments +through the streets of the city and begged their bread, perhaps +without success, before the gates of their hereditary mansions. +The riches of Rusticiana, the daughter of Symmachus and widow of +Boethius, had been generously devoted to alleviate the calamities +of famine. But the Barbarians were exasperated by the report, +that she had prompted the people to overthrow the statues of the +great Theodoric; and the life of that venerable matron would have +been sacrificed to his memory, if Totila had not respected her +birth, her virtues, and even the pious motive of her revenge. The +next day he pronounced two orations, to congratulate and admonish +his victorious Goths, and to reproach the senate, as the vilest +of slaves, with their perjury, folly, and ingratitude; sternly +declaring, that their estates and honors were justly forfeited to +the companions of his arms. Yet he consented to forgive their +revolt; and the senators repaid his clemency by despatching +circular letters to their tenants and vassals in the provinces of +Italy, strictly to enjoin them to desert the standard of the +Greeks, to cultivate their lands in peace, and to learn from +their masters the duty of obedience to a Gothic sovereign. +Against the city which had so long delayed the course of his +victories, he appeared inexorable: one third of the walls, in +different parts, were demolished by his command; fire and engines +prepared to consume or subvert the most stately works of +antiquity; and the world was astonished by the fatal decree, that +Rome should be changed into a pasture for cattle. The firm and +temperate remonstrance of Belisarius suspended the execution; he +warned the Barbarian not to sully his fame by the destruction of +those monuments which were the glory of the dead, and the delight +of the living; and Totila was persuaded, by the advice of an +enemy, to preserve Rome as the ornament of his kingdom, or the +fairest pledge of peace and reconciliation. When he had signified +to the ambassadors of Belisarius his intention of sparing the +city, he stationed an army at the distance of one hundred and +twenty furlongs, to observe the motions of the Roman general. +With the remainder of his forces he marched into Lucania and +Apulia, and occupied on the summit of Mount Garganus ^14 one of +the camps of Hannibal. ^15 The senators were dragged in his +train, and afterwards confined in the fortresses of Campania: the +citizens, with their wives and children, were dispersed in exile; +and during forty days Rome was abandoned to desolate and dreary +solitude. ^16 + +[Footnote 13: During the long exile, and after the death of +Vigilius, the Roman church was governed, at first by the +archdeacon, and at length (A. D 655) by the pope Pelagius, who +was not thought guiltless of the sufferings of his predecessor. +See the original lives of the popes under the name of Anastasius, +(Muratori, Script. Rer. Italicarum, tom. iii. P. i. p. 130, 131,) +who relates several curious incidents of the sieges of Rome and +the wars of Italy.] + +[Footnote 14: Mount Garganus, now Monte St. Angelo, in the +kingdom of Naples, runs three hundred stadia into the Adriatic +Sea, (Strab. - vi. p. 436,) and in the darker ages was +illustrated by the apparition, miracles, and church, of St. +Michael the archangel. Horace, a native of Apulia or Lucania, +had seen the elms and oaks of Garganus laboring and bellowing +with the north wind that blew on that lofty coast, (Carm. ii. 9, +Epist. ii. i. 201.)] +[Footnote 15: I cannot ascertain this particular camp of +Hannibal; but the Punic quarters were long and often in the +neighborhood of Arpi, (T. Liv. xxii. 9, 12, xxiv. 3, &c.)] + +[Footnote 16: Totila .... Romam ingreditur .... ac evertit muros, +domos aliquantas igni comburens, ac omnes Romanorum res in +praedam ac cepit, hos ipsos Romanos in Campaniam captivos +abduxit. Post quam devastationem, xl. autamp lius dies, Roma +fuit ita desolata, ut nemo ibi hominum, nisi (nulloe?) bestiae +morarentur, (Marcellin. in Chron. p. 54.)] + + The loss of Rome was speedily retrieved by an action, to +which, according to the event, the public opinion would apply the +names of rashness or heroism. After the departure of Totila, the +Roman general sallied from the port at the head of a thousand +horse, cut in pieces the enemy who opposed his progress, and +visited with pity and reverence the vacant space of the eternal +city. Resolved to maintain a station so conspicuous in the eyes +of mankind, he summoned the greatest part of his troops to the +standard which he erected on the Capitol: the old inhabitants +were recalled by the love of their country and the hopes of food; +and the keys of Rome were sent a second time to the emperor +Justinian. The walls, as far as they had been demolished by the +Goths, were repaired with rude and dissimilar materials; the +ditch was restored; iron spikes ^17 were profusely scattered in +the highways to annoy the feet of the horses; and as new gates +could not suddenly be procured, the entrance was guarded by a +Spartan rampart of his bravest soldiers. At the expiration of +twenty-five days, Totila returned by hasty marches from Apulia to +avenge the injury and disgrace. Belisarius expected his +approach. The Goths were thrice repulsed in three general +assaults; they lost the flower of their troops; the royal +standard had almost fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the +fame of Totila sunk, as it had risen, with the fortune of his +arms. Whatever skill and courage could achieve, had been +performed by the Roman general: it remained only that Justinian +should terminate, by a strong and seasonable effort, the war +which he had ambitiously undertaken. The indolence, perhaps the +impotence, of a prince who despised his enemies, and envied his +servants, protracted the calamities of Italy. After a long +silence, Belisarius was commanded to leave a sufficient garrison +at Rome, and to transport himself into the province of Lucania, +whose inhabitants, inflamed by Catholic zeal, had cast away the +yoke of their Arian conquerors. In this ignoble warfare, the +hero, invincible against the power of the Barbarians, was basely +vanquished by the delay, the disobedience, and the cowardice of +his own officers. He reposed in his winter quarters of Crotona, +in the full assurance, that the two passes of the Lucanian hills +were guarded by his cavalry. They were betrayed by treachery or +weakness; and the rapid march of the Goths scarcely allowed time +for the escape of Belisarius to the coast of Sicily. At length a +fleet and army were assembled for the relief of Ruscianum, or +Rossano, ^18 a fortress sixty furlongs from the ruins of Sybaris, +where the nobles of Lucania had taken refuge. In the first +attempt, the Roman forces were dissipated by a storm. In the +second, they approached the shore; but they saw the hills covered +with archers, the landing-place defended by a line of spears, and +the king of the Goths impatient for battle. The conqueror of +Italy retired with a sigh, and continued to languish, inglorious +and inactive, till Antonina, who had been sent to Constantinople +to solicit succors, obtained, after the death of the empress, the +permission of his return. + +[Footnote 17: The tribuli are small engines with four spikes, one +fixed in the ground, the three others erect or adverse, +(Procopius, Gothic. l. iii. c. 24. Just. Lipsius, Poliorcetwv, l. +v. c. 3.) The metaphor was borrowed from the tribuli, +(land-caltrops,) an herb with a prickly fruit, commex in Italy. +(Martin, ad Virgil. Georgic. i. 153 vol. ii. p. 33.)] + +[Footnote 18: Ruscia, the navale Thuriorum, was transferred to +the distance of sixty stadia to Ruscianum, Rossano, an +archbishopric without suffragans. The republic of Sybaris is now +the estate of the duke of Corigliano. (Riedesel, Travels into +Magna Graecia and Sicily, p. 166 - 171.)] + + The five last campaigns of Belisarius might abate the envy +of his competitors, whose eyes had been dazzled and wounded by +the blaze of his former glory. Instead of delivering Italy from +the Goths, he had wandered like a fugitive along the coast, +without daring to march into the country, or to accept the bold +and repeated challenge of Totila. Yet, in the judgment of the +few who could discriminate counsels from events, and compare the +instruments with the execution, he appeared a more consummate +master of the art of war, than in the season of his prosperity, +when he presented two captive kings before the throne of +Justinian. The valor of Belisarius was not chilled by age: his +prudence was matured by experience; but the moral virtues of +humanity and justice seem to have yielded to the hard necessity +of the times. The parsimony or poverty of the emperor compelled +him to deviate from the rule of conduct which had deserved the +love and confidence of the Italians. The war was maintained by +the oppression of Ravenna, Sicily, and all the faithful subjects +of the empire; and the rigorous prosecution of Herodian provoked +that injured or guilty officer to deliver Spoleto into the hands +of the enemy. The avarice of Antonina, which had been some times +diverted by love, now reigned without a rival in her breast. +Belisarius himself had always understood, that riches, in a +corrupt age, are the support and ornament of personal merit. And +it cannot be presumed that he should stain his honor for the +public service, without applying a part of the spoil to his +private emolument. The hero had escaped the sword of the +Barbarians. But the dagger of conspiracy ^19 awaited his return. +In the midst of wealth and honors, Artaban, who had chastised the +African tyrant, complained of the ingratitude of courts. He +aspired to Praejecta, the emperor's niece, who wished to reward +her deliverer; but the impediment of his previous marriage was +asserted by the piety of Theodora. The pride of royal descent +was irritated by flattery; and the service in which he gloried +had proved him capable of bold and sanguinary deeds. The death +of Justinian was resolved, but the conspirators delayed the +execution till they could surprise Belisarius disarmed, and +naked, in the palace of Constantinople. Not a hope could be +entertained of shaking his long-tried fidelity; and they justly +dreaded the revenge, or rather the justice, of the veteran +general, who might speedily assemble an army in Thrace to punish +the assassins, and perhaps to enjoy the fruits of their crime. +Delay afforded time for rash communications and honest +confessions: Artaban and his accomplices were condemned by the +senate, but the extreme clemency of Justinian detained them in +the gentle confinement of the palace, till he pardoned their +flagitious attempt against his throne and life. If the emperor +forgave his enemies, he must cordially embrace a friend whose +victories were alone remembered, and who was endeared to his +prince by the recent circumstances of their common danger. +Belisarius reposed from his toils, in the high station of general +of the East and count of the domestics; and the older consuls and +patricians respectfully yielded the precedency of rank to the +peerless merit of the first of the Romans. ^20 The first of the +Romans still submitted to be the slave of his wife; but the +servitude of habit and affection became less disgraceful when the +death of Theodora had removed the baser influence of fear. +Joannina, their daughter, and the sole heiress of their fortunes, +was betrothed to Anastasius, the grandson, or rather the nephew, +of the empress, ^21 whose kind interposition forwarded the +consummation of their youthful loves. But the power of Theodora +expired, the parents of Joannina returned, and her honor, perhaps +her happiness, were sacrificed to the revenge of an unfeeling +mother, who dissolved the imperfect nuptials before they had been +ratified by the ceremonies of the church. ^22 +[Footnote 19: This conspiracy is related by Procopius (Gothic. l. +iii. c. 31, 32, with such freedom and candor, that the liberty of +the Anecdotes gives him nothing to add.] + +[Footnote 20: The honors of Belisarius are gladly commemorated by +his secretary, (Procop. Goth. l. iii. c. 35, l. iv. c. 21.) This +title is ill translated, at least in this instance, by praefectus +praetorio; and to a military character, magister militum is more +proper and applicable, (Ducange, Gloss. Graec. p. 1458, 1459.)] + +[Footnote 21: Alemannus, (ad Hist. Arcanum, p. 68,) Ducange, +(Familiae Byzant. p. 98,) and Heineccius, (Hist. Juris Civilis, +p. 434,) all three represent Anastasius as the son of the +daughter of Theodora; and their opinion firmly reposes on the +unambiguous testimony of Procopius, (Anecdot. c. 4, 5, - twice +repeated.) And yet I will remark, 1. That in the year 547, +Theodora could sarcely have a grandson of the age of puberty; 2. +That we are totally ignorant of this daughter and her husband; +and, 3. That Theodora concealed her bastards, and that her +grandson by Justinian would have been heir apparent of the +empire.] + +[Footnote 22: The sins of the hero in Italy and after his return, +are manifested, and most probably swelled, by the author of the +Anecdotes, (c. 4, 5.) The designs of Antonina were favored by the +fluctuating jurisprudence of Justinian. On the law of marriage +and divorce, that emperor was trocho versatilior, (Heineccius, +Element Juris Civil. ad Ordinem Pandect. P. iv. No. 233.)] + + Before the departure of Belisarius, Perusia was besieged, +and few cities were impregnable to the Gothic arms. Ravenna, +Ancona, and Crotona, still resisted the Barbarians; and when +Totila asked in marriage one of the daughters of France, he was +stung by the just reproach that the king of Italy was unworthy of +his title till it was acknowledged by the Roman people. Three +thousand of the bravest soldiers had been left to defend the +capital. On the suspicion of a monopoly, they massacred the +governor, and announced to Justinian, by a deputation of the +clergy, that unless their offence was pardoned, and their arrears +were satisfied, they should instantly accept the tempting offers +of Totila. But the officer who succeeded to the command (his +name was Diogenes) deserved their esteem and confidence; and the +Goths, instead of finding an easy conquest, encountered a +vigorous resistance from the soldiers and people, who patiently +endured the loss of the port and of all maritime supplies. The +siege of Rome would perhaps have been raised, if the liberality +of Totila to the Isaurians had not encouraged some of their venal +countrymen to copy the example of treason. In a dark night, +while the Gothic trumpets sounded on another side, they silently +opened the gate of St. Paul: the Barbarians rushed into the city; +and the flying garrison was intercepted before they could reach +the harbor of Centumcellae. A soldier trained in the school of +Belisarius, Paul of Cilicia, retired with four hundred men to the +mole of Hadrian. They repelled the Goths; but they felt the +approach of famine; and their aversion to the taste of +horse-flesh confirmed their resolution to risk the event of a +desperate and decisive sally. But their spirit insensibly +stooped to the offers of capitulation; they retrieved their +arrears of pay, and preserved their arms and horses, by enlisting +in the service of Totila; their chiefs, who pleaded a laudable +attachment to their wives and children in the East, were +dismissed with honor; and above four hundred enemies, who had +taken refuge in the sanctuaries, were saved by the clemency of +the victor. He no longer entertained a wish of destroying the +edifices of Rome, ^23 which he now respected as the seat of the +Gothic kingdom: the senate and people were restored to their +country; the means of subsistence were liberally provided; and +Totila, in the robe of peace, exhibited the equestrian games of +the circus. Whilst he amused the eyes of the multitude, four +hundred vessels were prepared for the embarkation of his troops. +The cities of Rhegium and Tarentum were reduced: he passed into +Sicily, the object of his implacable resentment; and the island +was stripped of its gold and silver, of the fruits of the earth, +and of an infinite number of horses, sheep, and oxen. Sardinia +and Corsica obeyed the fortune of Italy; and the sea-coast of +Greece was visited by a fleet of three hundred galleys. ^24 The +Goths were landed in Corcyra and the ancient continent of Epirus; +they advanced as far as Nicopolis, the trophy of Augustus, and +Dodona, ^25 once famous by the oracle of Jove. In every step of +his victories, the wise Barbarian repeated to Justinian the +desire of peace, applauded the concord of their predecessors, and +offered to employ the Gothic arms in the service of the empire. + +[Footnote 23: The Romans were still attached to the monuments of +their ancestors; and according to Procopius, (Goth. l. iv. c. +22,) the gallery of Aeneas, of a single rank of oars, 25 feet in +breadth, 120 in length, was preserved entire in the navalia, near +Monte Testaceo, at the foot of the Aventine, (Nardini, Roma +Antica, l. vii. c. 9, p. 466. Donatus, Rom Antiqua, l. iv. c. +13, p. 334) But all antiquity is ignorant of relic.] +[Footnote 24: In these seas Procopius searched without success +for the Isle of Calypso. He was shown, at Phaeacia, or Cocyra, +the petrified ship of Ulysses, (Odyss. xiii. 163;) but he found +it a recent fabric of many stones, dedicated by a merchant to +Jupiter Cassius, (l. iv. c. 22.) Eustathius had supposed it to be +the fanciful likeness of a rock.] + +[Footnote 25: M. D'Anville (Memoires de l'Acad. tom. xxxii. p. +513 - 528) illustrates the Gulf of Ambracia; but he cannot +ascertain the situation of Dodona. A country in sight of Italy +is less known than the wilds of America. + Note: On the site of Dodona compare Walpole's Travels in the +East, vol. ii. p. 473; Col. Leake's Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. +163; and a dissertation by the present bishop of Lichfield (Dr. +Butler) in the appendix to Hughes's Travels, vol. i. p. 511. - +M.] + + Justinian was deaf to the voice of peace: but he neglected +the prosecution of war; and the indolence of his temper +disappointed, in some degree, the obstinacy of his passions. +From this salutary slumber the emperor was awakened by the pope +Vigilius and the patrician Cethegus, who appeared before his +throne, and adjured him, in the name of God and the people, to +resume the conquest and deliverance of Italy. In the choice of +the generals, caprice, as well as judgment, was shown. A fleet +and army sailed for the relief of Sicily, under the conduct of +Liberius; but his youth ^! and want of experience were afterwards +discovered, and before he touched the shores of the island he was +overtaken by his successor. In the place of Liberius, the +conspirator Artaban was raised from a prison to military honors; +in the pious presumption, that gratitude would animate his valor +and fortify his allegiance. Belisarius reposed in the shade of +his laurels, but the command of the principal army was reserved +for Germanus, ^26 the emperor's nephew, whose rank and merit had +been long depressed by the jealousy of the court. Theodora had +injured him in the rights of a private citizen, the marriage of +his children, and the testament of his brother; and although his +conduct was pure and blameless, Justinian was displeased that he +should be thought worthy of the confidence of the malecontents. +The life of Germanus was a lesson of implicit obedience: he nobly +refused to prostitute his name and character in the factions of +the circus: the gravity of his manners was tempered by innocent +cheerfulness; and his riches were lent without interest to +indigent or deserving friends. His valor had formerly triumphed +over the Sclavonians of the Danube and the rebels of Africa: the +first report of his promotion revived the hopes of the Italians; +and he was privately assured, that a crowd of Roman deserters +would abandon, on his approach, the standard of Totila. His +second marriage with Malasontha, the granddaughter of Theodoric +endeared Germanus to the Goths themselves; and they marched with +reluctance against the father of a royal infant the last +offspring of the line of Amali. ^27 A splendid allowance was +assigned by the emperor: the general contribute his private +fortune: his two sons were popular and active and he surpassed, +in the promptitude and success of his levies the expectation of +mankind. He was permitted to select some squadrons of Thracian +cavalry: the veterans, as well as the youth of Constantinople and +Europe, engaged their voluntary service; and as far as the heart +of Germany, his fame and liberality attracted the aid of the +Barbarians. ^* The Romans advanced to Sardica; an army of +Sclavonians fled before their march; but within two days of their +final departure, the designs of Germanus were terminated by his +malady and death. Yet the impulse which he had given to the +Italian war still continued to act with energy and effect. The +maritime towns Ancona, Crotona, Centumcellae, resisted the +assaults of Totila Sicily was reduced by the zeal of Artaban, and +the Gothic navy was defeated near the coast of the Adriatic. The +two fleets were almost equal, forty-seven to fifty galleys: the +victory was decided by the knowledge and dexterity of the Greeks; +but the ships were so closely grappled, that only twelve of the +Goths escaped from this unfortunate conflict. They affected to +depreciate an element in which they were unskilled; but their own +experience confirmed the truth of a maxim, that the master of the +sea will always acquire the dominion of the land. ^28 + +[Footnote !: This is a singular mistake. Gibbon must have +hastily caught at his inexperience, and concluded that it must +have been from youth. Lord Mahon has pointed out this error, p. +401. I should add that in the last 4to. edition, corrected by +Gibbon, it stands "want of youth and experience;" - but Gibbon +can scarcely have intended such a phrase. - M.] + +[Footnote 26: See the acts of Germanus in the public (Vandal. l. +ii, c. 16, 17, 18 Goth. l. iii. c. 31, 32) and private history, +(Anecdot. c. 5,) and those of his son Justin, in Agathias, (l. +iv. p. 130, 131.) Notwithstanding an ambiguous expression of +Jornandes, fratri suo, Alemannus has proved that he was the son +of the emperor's brother.] + +[Footnote 27: Conjuncta Aniciorum gens cum Amala stirpe spem +adhuc utii usque generis promittit, (Jornandes, c. 60, p. 703.) +He wrote at Ravenna before the death of Totila] + +[Footnote *: See note 31, p. 268. - M.] + +[Footnote 28: The third book of Procopius is terminated by the +death of Germanus, (Add. l. iv. c. 23, 24, 25, 26.)] + + After the loss of Germanus, the nations were provoked to +smile, by the strange intelligence, that the command of the Roman +armies was given to a eunuch. But the eunuch Narses ^29 is +ranked among the few who have rescued that unhappy name from the +contempt and hatred of mankind. A feeble, diminutive body +concealed the soul of a statesman and a warrior. His youth had +been employed in the management of the loom and distaff, in the +cares of the household, and the service of female luxury; but +while his hands were busy, he secretly exercised the faculties of +a vigorous and discerning mind. A stranger to the schools and the +camp, he studied in the palace to dissemble, to flatter, and to +persuade; and as soon as he approached the person of the emperor, +Justinian listened with surprise and pleasure to the manly +counsels of his chamberlain and private treasurer. ^30 The +talents of Narses were tried and improved in frequent embassies: +he led an army into Italy acquired a practical knowledge of the +war and the country, and presumed to strive with the genius of +Belisarius. Twelve years after his return, the eunuch was chosen +to achieve the conquest which had been left imperfect by the +first of the Roman generals. Instead of being dazzled by vanity +or emulation, he seriously declared that, unless he were armed +with an adequate force, he would never consent to risk his own +glory and that of his sovereign. Justinian granted to the +favorite what he might have denied to the hero: the Gothic war +was rekindled from its ashes, and the preparations were not +unworthy of the ancient majesty of the empire. The key of the +public treasure was put into his hand, to collect magazines, to +levy soldiers, to purchase arms and horses, to discharge the +arrears of pay, and to tempt the fidelity of the fugitives and +deserters. The troops of Germanus were still in arms; they +halted at Salona in the expectation of a new leader; and legions +of subjects and allies were created by the well-known liberality +of the eunuch Narses. The king of the Lombards ^31 satisfied or +surpassed the obligations of a treaty, by lending two thousand +two hundred of his bravest warriors, ^!! who were followed by +three thousand of their martial attendants. Three thousand +Heruli fought on horseback under Philemuth, their native chief; +and the noble Aratus, who adopted the manners and discipline of +Rome, conducted a band of veterans of the same nation. Dagistheus +was released from prison to command the Huns; and Kobad, the +grandson and nephew of the great king, was conspicuous by the +regal tiara at the head of his faithful Persians, who had devoted +themselves to the fortunes of their prince. ^32 Absolute in the +exercise of his authority, more absolute in the affection of his +troops, Narses led a numerous and gallant army from Philippopolis +to Salona, from whence he coasted the eastern side of the +Adriatic as far as the confines of Italy. His progress was +checked. The East could not supply vessels capable of +transporting such multitudes of men and horses. The Franks, who, +in the general confusion, had usurped the greater part of the +Venetian province, refused a free passage to the friends of the +Lombards. The station of Verona was occupied by Teias, with the +flower of the Gothic forces; and that skilful commander had +overspread the adjacent country with the fall of woods and the +inundation of waters. ^33 In this perplexity, an officer of +experience proposed a measure, secure by the appearance of +rashness; that the Roman army should cautiously advance along the +seashore, while the fleet preceded their march, and successively +cast a bridge of boats over the mouths of the rivers, the +Timavus, the Brenta, the Adige, and the Po, that fall into the +Adriatic to the north of Ravenna. Nine days he reposed in the +city, collected the fragments of the Italian army, and marching +towards Rimini to meet the defiance of an insulting enemy. + +[Footnote 29: Procopius relates the whole series of this second +Gothic war and the victory of Narses, (l. iv. c. 21, 26 - 35.) A +splendid scene. Among the six subjects of epic poetry which +Tasso revolved in his mind, he hesitated between the conquests of +Italy by Belisarius and by Narses, (Hayley's Works, vol. iv. p. +70.)] + +[Footnote 30: The country of Narses is unknown, since he must not +be confounded with the Persarmenian. Procopius styles him (see +Goth. l. ii. c. 13); Paul Warnefrid, (l. ii. c. 3, p. 776,) +Chartularius: Marcellinus adds the name of Cubicularius. In an +inscription on the Salarian bridge he is entitled Ex-consul, +Ex-praepositus, Cubiculi Patricius, (Mascou, Hist. of the +Germans, l. xiii. c. 25.) The law of Theodosius against ennuchs +was obsolete or abolished, Annotation xx.,) but the foolish +prophecy of the Romans subsisted in full vigor, (Procop. l. iv. +c. 21.) + + Note: Lord Mahon supposes them both to have been +Persarmenians. Note, p. 256. - M.] + +[Footnote 31: Paul Warnefrid, the Lombard, records with +complacency the succor, service, and honorable dismission of his +countrymen - reipublicae Romanae adversus aemulos adjutores +fuerant, (l. ii. c. i. p. 774, edit. Grot.) I am surprised that +Alboin, their martial king, did not lead his subjects in person. + + Note: The Lombards were still at war with the Gepidae. See +Procop. Goth. lib. iv. p. 25. - M.] + +[Footnote !!: Gibbon has blindly followed the translation of +Maltretus: Bis mille ducentos - while the original Greek says +expressly something else, (Goth. lib. iv. c. 26.) In like manner, +(p. 266,) he draws volunteers from Germany, on the authority of +Cousin, who, in one place, has mistaken Germanus for Germania. +Yet only a few pages further we find Gibbon loudly condemning the +French and Latin readers of Procopius. Lord Mahon, p. 403. The +first of these errors remains uncorrected in the new edition of +the Byzantines. - M.] +[Footnote 32: He was, if not an impostor, the son of the blind +Zames, saved by compassion, and educated in the Byzantine court +by the various motives of policy, pride, and generosity, (Procop. +Persic. l. i. c. 23.)] +[Footnote 33: In the time of Augustus, and in the middle ages, +the whole waste from Aquileia to Ravenna was covered with woods, +lakes, and morasses. Man has subdued nature, and the land has +been cultivated since the waters are confined and embanked. See +the learned researches of Muratori, (Antiquitat. Italiae Medii +Aevi. tom. i. dissert xxi. p. 253, 254,) from Vitruvius, Strabo, +Herodian, old charters, and local knowledge.] + + +Chapter XLIII: Last Victory And Death Of Belisarius, Death Of +Justinian. + + +Part III. + + The prudence of Narses impelled him to speedy and decisive +action. His powers were the last effort of the state; the cost +of each day accumulated the enormous account; and the nations, +untrained to discipline or fatigue, might be rashly provoked to +turn their arms against each other, or against their benefactor. +The same considerations might have tempered the ardor of Totila. +But he was conscious that the clergy and people of Italy aspired +to a second revolution: he felt or suspected the rapid progress +of treason; and he resolved to risk the Gothic kingdom on the +chance of a day, in which the valiant would be animated by +instant danger and the disaffected might be awed by mutual +ignorance. In his march from Ravenna, the Roman general +chastised the garrison of Rimini, traversed in a direct line the +hills of Urbino, and reentered the Flaminian way, nine miles +beyond the perforated rock, an obstacle of art and nature which +might have stopped or retarded his progress. ^34 The Goths were +assembled in the neighborhood of Rome, they advanced without +delay to seek a superior enemy, and the two armies approached +each other at the distance of one hundred furlongs, between +Tagina ^35 and the sepulchres of the Gauls. ^36 The haughty +message of Narses was an offer, not of peace, but of pardon. The +answer of the Gothic king declared his resolution to die or +conquer. "What day," said the messenger, "will you fix for the +combat?" "The eighth day," replied Totila; but early the next +morning he attempted to surprise a foe, suspicious of deceit, and +prepared for battle. Ten thousand Heruli and Lombards, of +approved valor and doubtful faith, were placed in the centre. +Each of the wings was composed of eight thousand Romans; the +right was guarded by the cavalry of the Huns, the left was +covered by fifteen hundred chosen horse, destined, according to +the emergencies of action, to sustain the retreat of their +friends, or to encompass the flank of the enemy. From his proper +station at the head of the right wing, the eunuch rode along the +line, expressing by his voice and countenance the assurance of +victory; exciting the soldiers of the emperor to punish the guilt +and madness of a band of robbers; and exposing to their view gold +chains, collars, and bracelets, the rewards of military virtue. +From the event of a single combat they drew an omen of success; +and they beheld with pleasure the courage of fifty archers, who +maintained a small eminence against three successive attacks of +the Gothic cavalry. At the distance only of two bow-shots, the +armies spent the morning in dreadful suspense, and the Romans +tasted some necessary food, without unloosing the cuirass from +their breast, or the bridle from their horses. Narses awaited +the charge; and it was delayed by Totila till he had received his +last succors of two thousand Goths. While he consumed the hours +in fruitless treaty, the king exhibited in a narrow space the +strength and agility of a warrior. His armor was enchased with +gold; his purple banner floated with the wind: he cast his lance +into the air; caught it with the right hand; shifted it to the +left; threw himself backwards; recovered his seat; and managed a +fiery steed in all the paces and evolutions of the equestrian +school. As soon as the succors had arrived, he retired to his +tent, assumed the dress and arms of a private soldier, and gave +the signal of a battle. The first line of cavalry advanced with +more courage than discretion, and left behind them the infantry +of the second line. They were soon engaged between the horns of +a crescent, into which the adverse wings had been insensibly +curved, and were saluted from either side by the volleys of four +thousand archers. Their ardor, and even their distress, drove +them forwards to a close and unequal conflict, in which they +could only use their lances against an enemy equally skilled in +all the instruments of war. A generous emulation inspired the +Romans and their Barbarian allies; and Narses, who calmly viewed +and directed their efforts, doubted to whom he should adjudge the +prize of superior bravery. The Gothic cavalry was astonished and +disordered, pressed and broken; and the line of infantry, instead +of presenting their spears, or opening their intervals, were +trampled under the feet of the flying horse. Six thousand of the +Goths were slaughtered without mercy in the field of Tagina. +Their prince, with five attendants, was overtaken by Asbad, of +the race of the Gepidae. "Spare the king of Italy," ^* cried a +loyal voice, and Asbad struck his lance through the body of +Totila. The blow was instantly revenged by the faithful Goths: +they transported their dying monarch seven miles beyond the scene +of his disgrace; and his last moments were not imbittered by the +presence of an enemy. Compassion afforded him the shelter of an +obscure tomb; but the Romans were not satisfied of their victory, +till they beheld the corpse of the Gothic king. His hat, +enriched with gems, and his bloody robe, were presented to +Justinian by the messengers of triumph. ^37 + +[Footnote 34: The Flaminian way, as it is corrected from the +Itineraries, and the best modern maps, by D'Anville, (Analyse de +l'Italie, p. 147 - 162,) may be thus stated: Rome to Narni, 51 +Roman miles; Terni, 57; Spoleto, 75; Foligno, 88; Nocera, 103; +Cagli, 142; Intercisa, 157; Fossombrone, 160; Fano, 176; Pesaro, +184; Rimini, 208 - about 189 English miles. He takes no notice +of the death of Totila; but West selling (Itinerar. p. 614) +exchanges, for the field of Taginas, the unknown appellation of +Ptanias, eight miles from Nocera.] + +[Footnote 35: Taginae, or rather Tadinae, is mentioned by Pliny; +but the bishopric of that obscure town, a mile from Gualdo, in +the plain, was united, in the year 1007, with that of Nocera. +The signs of antiquity are preserved in the local appellations, +Fossato, the camp; Capraia, Caprea; Bastia, Busta Gallorum. See +Cluverius, (Italia Antiqua, l. ii. c. 6, p. 615, 616, 617,) Lucas +Holstenius, (Annotat. ad Cluver. p. 85, 86,) Guazzesi, +(Dissertat. p. 177 - 217, a professed inquiry,) and the maps of +the ecclesiastical state and the march of Ancona, by Le Maire and +Magini.] + +[Footnote 36: The battle was fought in the year of Rome 458; and +the consul Decius, by devoting his own life, assured the triumph +of his country and his colleague Fabius, (T. Liv. x. 28, 29.) +Procopius ascribes to Camillus the victory of the Busta Gallorum; +and his error is branded by Cluverius with the national reproach +of Graecorum nugamenta.] + +[Footnote *: "Dog, wilt thou strike thy Lord?" was the more +characteristic exclamation of the Gothic youth. Procop. lib. iv. +p. 32. - M.] +[Footnote 37: Theophanes, Chron. p. 193. Hist. Miscell. l. xvi. +p. 108.] + As soon as Narses had paid his devotions to the Author of +victory, and the blessed Virgin, his peculiar patroness, ^38 he +praised, rewarded, and dismissed the Lombards. The villages had +been reduced to ashes by these valiant savages; they ravished +matrons and virgins on the altar; their retreat was diligently +watched by a strong detachment of regular forces, who prevented a +repetition of the like disorders. The victorious eunuch pursued +his march through Tuscany, accepted the submission of the Goths, +heard the acclamations, and often the complaints, of the +Italians, and encompassed the walls of Rome with the remainder of +his formidable host. Round the wide circumference, Narses +assigned to himself, and to each of his lieutenants, a real or a +feigned attack, while he silently marked the place of easy and +unguarded entrance. Neither the fortifications of Hadrian's +mole, nor of the port, could long delay the progress of the +conqueror; and Justinian once more received the keys of Rome, +which, under his reign, had been five times taken and recovered. +^39 But the deliverance of Rome was the last calamity of the +Roman people. The Barbarian allies of Narses too frequently +confounded the privileges of peace and war. The despair of the +flying Goths found some consolation in sanguinary revenge; and +three hundred youths of the noblest families, who had been sent +as hostages beyond the Po, were inhumanly slain by the successor +of Totila. The fate of the senate suggests an awful lesson of +the vicissitude of human affairs. Of the senators whom Totila +had banished from their country, some were rescued by an officer +of Belisarius, and transported from Campania to Sicily; while +others were too guilty to confide in the clemency of Justinian, +or too poor to provide horses for their escape to the sea-shore. +Their brethren languished five years in a state of indigence and +exile: the victory of Narses revived their hopes; but their +premature return to the metropolis was prevented by the furious +Goths; and all the fortresses of Campania were stained with +patrician ^40 blood. After a period of thirteen centuries, the +institution of Romulus expired; and if the nobles of Rome still +assumed the title of senators, few subsequent traces can be +discovered of a public council, or constitutional order. Ascend +six hundred years, and contemplate the kings of the earth +soliciting an audience, as the slaves or freedmen of the Roman +senate! ^41 + +[Footnote 38: Evagrius, l. iv. c. 24. The inspiration of the +Virgin revealed to Narses the day, and the word, of battle, (Paul +Diacon. l. ii. c. 3, p. 776)] + +[Footnote 39: (Procop. Goth. lib. iv. p. 33.)] + + In the year 536 by Belisarius, in 546 by Totila, in 547 by +Belisarius, in 549 by Totila, and in 552 by Narses. Maltretus +had inadvertently translated sextum; a mistake which he +afterwards retracts; out the mischief was done; and Cousin, with +a train of French and Latin readers, have fallen into the snare.] + +[Footnote 40: Compare two passages of Procopius, (l. iii. c. 26, +l. iv. c. 24,) which, with some collateral hints from Marcellinus +and Jornandes, illustrate the state of the expiring senate.] + +[Footnote 41: See, in the example of Prusias, as it is delivered +in the fragments of Polybius, (Excerpt. Legat. xcvii. p. 927, +928,) a curious picture of a royal slave.] + + The Gothic war was yet alive. The bravest of the nation +retired beyond the Po; and Teias was unanimously chosen to +succeed and revenge their departed hero. The new king +immediately sent ambassadors to implore, or rather to purchase, +the aid of the Franks, and nobly lavished, for the public safety, +the riches which had been deposited in the palace of Pavia. The +residue of the royal treasure was guarded by his brother Aligern, +at Cumaea, in Campania; but the strong castle which Totila had +fortified was closely besieged by the arms of Narses. From the +Alps to the foot of Mount Vesuvius, the Gothic king, by rapid and +secret marches, advanced to the relief of his brother, eluded the +vigilance of the Roman chiefs, and pitched his camp on the banks +of the Sarnus or Draco, ^42 which flows from Nuceria into the Bay +of Naples. The river separated the two armies: sixty days were +consumed in distant and fruitless combats, and Teias maintained +this important post till he was deserted by his fleet and the +hope of subsistence. With reluctant steps he ascended the +Lactarian mount, where the physicians of Rome, since the time of +Galen, had sent their patients for the benefit of the air and the +milk. ^43 But the Goths soon embraced a more generous resolution: +to descend the hill, to dismiss their horses, and to die in arms, +and in the possession of freedom. The king marched at their +head, bearing in his right hand a lance, and an ample buckler in +his left: with the one he struck dead the foremost of the +assailants; with the other he received the weapons which every +hand was ambitious to aim against his life. After a combat of +many hours, his left arm was fatigued by the weight of twelve +javelins which hung from his shield. Without moving from his +ground, or suspending his blows, the hero called aloud on his +attendants for a fresh buckler; but in the moment while his side +was uncovered, it was pierced by a mortal dart. He fell; and his +head, exalted on a spear, proclaimed to the nations that the +Gothic kingdom was no more. But the example of his death served +only to animate the companions who had sworn to perish with their +leader. They fought till darkness descended on the earth. They +reposed on their arms. The combat was renewed with the return of +light, and maintained with unabated vigor till the evening of the +second day. The repose of a second night, the want of water, and +the loss of their bravest champions, determined the surviving +Goths to accept the fair capitulation which the prudence of +Narses was inclined to propose. They embraced the alternative of +residing in Italy, as the subjects and soldiers of Justinian, or +departing with a portion of their private wealth, in search of +some independent country. ^44 Yet the oath of fidelity or exile +was alike rejected by one thousand Goths, who broke away before +the treaty was signed, and boldly effected their retreat to the +walls of Pavia. The spirit, as well as the situation, of Aligern +prompted him to imitate rather than to bewail his brother: a +strong and dexterous archer, he transpierced with a single arrow +the armor and breast of his antagonist; and his military conduct +defended Cumae ^45 above a year against the forces of the Romans. + +Their industry had scooped the Sibyl's cave ^46 into a prodigious +mine; combustible materials were introduced to consume the +temporary props: the wall and the gate of Cumae sunk into the +cavern, but the ruins formed a deep and inaccessible precipice. +On the fragment of a rock Aligern stood alone and unshaken, till +he calmly surveyed the hopeless condition of his country, and +judged it more honorable to be the friend of Narses, than the +slave of the Franks. After the death of Teias, the Roman general +separated his troops to reduce the cities of Italy; Lucca +sustained a long and vigorous siege: and such was the humanity or +the prudence of Narses, that the repeated perfidy of the +inhabitants could not provoke him to exact the forfeit lives of +their hostages. These hostages were dismissed in safety; and +their grateful zeal at length subdued the obstinacy of their +countrymen. ^47 + +[Footnote 42: The item of Procopius (Goth. l. iv. c. 35) is +evidently the Sarnus. The text is accused or altered by the rash +violence of Cluverius (l. iv. c. 3. p. 1156:) but Camillo +Pellegrini of Naples (Discorsi sopra la Campania Felice, p. 330, +331) has proved from old records, that as early as the year 822 +that river was called the Dracontio, or Draconcello.] +[Footnote 43: Galen (de Method. Medendi, l. v. apud Cluver. l. +iv. c. 3, p. 1159, 1160) describes the lofty site, pure air, and +rich milk, of Mount Lactarius, whose medicinal benefits were +equally known and sought in the time of Symmachus (l. vi. epist. +18) and Cassiodorus, (Var. xi. 10.) Nothing is now left except +the name of the town of Lettere.] + +[Footnote 44: Buat (tom. xi. p. 2, &c.) conveys to his favorite +Bavaria this remnant of Goths, who by others are buried in the +mountains of Uri, or restored to their native isle of Gothland, +(Mascou, Annot. xxi.)] +[Footnote 45: I leave Scaliger (Animadvers. in Euseb. p. 59) and +Salmasius (Exercitat. Plinian. p. 51, 52) to quarrel about the +origin of Cumae, the oldest of the Greek colonies in Italy, +(Strab. l. v. p. 372, Velleius Paterculus, l. i. c. 4,) already +vacant in Juvenal's time, (Satir. iii.,) and now in ruins.] + +[Footnote 46: Agathias (l. i. c. 21) settles the Sibyl's cave +under the wall of Cumae: he agrees with Servius, (ad. l. vi. +Aeneid.;) nor can I perceive why their opinion should be rejected +by Heyne, the excellent editor of Virgil, (tom. ii. p. 650, 651.) +In urbe media secreta religio! But Cumae was not yet built; and +the lines (l. vi. 96, 97) would become ridiculous, if Aeneas were +actually in a Greek city.] + +[Footnote 47: There is some difficulty in connecting the 35th +chapter of the fourth book of the Gothic war of Procopius with +the first book of the history of Agathias. We must now +relinquish the statesman and soldier, to attend the footsteps of +a poet and rhetorician, (l. i. p. 11, l. ii. p. 51, edit. +Lonvre.)] + + Before Lucca had surrendered, Italy was overwhelmed by a new +deluge of Barbarians. A feeble youth, the grandson of Clovis, +reigned over the Austrasians or oriental Franks. The guardians +of Theodebald entertained with coldness and reluctance the +magnificent promises of the Gothic ambassadors. But the spirit of +a martial people outstripped the timid counsels of the court: two +brothers, Lothaire and Buccelin, ^48 the dukes of the Alemanni, +stood forth as the leaders of the Italian war; and seventy-five +thousand Germans descended in the autumn from the Rhaetian Alps +into the plain of Milan. The vanguard of the Roman army was +stationed near the Po, under the conduct of Fulcaris, a bold +Herulian, who rashly conceived that personal bravery was the sole +duty and merit of a commander. As he marched without order or +precaution along the Aemilian way, an ambuscade of Franks +suddenly rose from the amphitheatre of Parma; his troops were +surprised and routed; but their leader refused to fly; declaring +to the last moment, that death was less terrible than the angry +countenance of Narses. ^* The death of Fulcaris, and the retreat +of the surviving chiefs, decided the fluctuating and rebellious +temper of the Goths; they flew to the standard of their +deliverers, and admitted them into the cities which still +resisted the arms of the Roman general. The conqueror of Italy +opened a free passage to the irresistible torrent of Barbarians. +They passed under the walls of Cesena, and answered by threats +and reproaches the advice of Aligern, ^! that the Gothic +treasures could no longer repay the labor of an invasion. Two +thousand Franks were destroyed by the skill and valor of Narses +himself, who sailed from Rimini at the head of three hundred +horse, to chastise the licentious rapine of their march. On the +confines of Samnium the two brothers divided their forces. With +the right wing, Buccelin assumed the spoil of Campania, Lucania, +and Bruttium; with the left, Lothaire accepted the plunder of +Apulia and Calabria. They followed the coast of the Mediterranean +and the Adriatic, as far as Rhegium and Otranto, and the extreme +lands of Italy were the term of their destructive progress. The +Franks, who were Christians and Catholics, contented themselves +with simple pillage and occasional murder. But the churches +which their piety had spared, were stripped by the sacrilegious +hands of the Alamanni, who sacrificed horses' heads to their +native deities of the woods and rivers; ^49 they melted or +profaned the consecrated vessels, and the ruins of shrines and +altars were stained with the blood of the faithful. Buccelin was +actuated by ambition, and Lothaire by avarice. The former +aspired to restore the Gothic kingdom; the latter, after a +promise to his brother of speedy succors, returned by the same +road to deposit his treasure beyond the Alps. The strength of +their armies was already wasted by the change of climate and +contagion of disease: the Germans revelled in the vintage of +Italy; and their own intemperance avenged, in some degree, the +miseries of a defenceless people. ^* + +[Footnote 48: Among the fabulous exploits of Buccelin, he +discomfited and slew Belisarius, subdued Italy and Sicily, &c. +See in the Historians of France, Gregory of Tours, (tom. ii. l. +iii. c. 32, p. 203,) and Aimoin, (tom. iii. l. ii. de Gestis +Francorum, c. 23, p. 59.)] + +[Footnote *: .... Agathius.] + +[Footnote !: Aligern, after the surrender of Cumae, had been sent +to Cesent by Narses. Agathias. - M.] + +[Footnote 49: Agathias notices their superstition in a +philosophic tone, (l. i. p. 18.) At Zug, in Switzerland, idolatry +still prevailed in the year 613: St. Columban and St. Gaul were +the apostles of that rude country; and the latter founded a +hermitage, which has swelled into an ecclesiastical principality +and a populous city, the seat of freedom and commerce.] +[Footnote *: A body of Lothaire's troops was defeated near Fano, +some were driven down precipices into the sea, others fled to the +camp; many prisoners seized the opportunity of making their +escape; and the Barbarians lost most of their booty in their +precipitate retreat. Agathias. - M.] + At the entrance of the spring, the Imperial troops, who had +guarded the cities, assembled, to the number of eighteen thousand +men, in the neighborhood of Rome. Their winter hours had not +been consumed in idleness. By the command, and after the example, +of Narses, they repeated each day their military exercise on foot +and on horseback, accustomed their ear to obey the sound of the +trumpet, and practised the steps and evolutions of the Pyrrhic +dance. From the Straits of Sicily, Buccelin, with thirty +thousand Franks and Alamanni, slowly moved towards Capua, +occupied with a wooden tower the bridge of Casilinum, covered his +right by the stream of the Vulturnus, and secured the rest of his +encampment by a rampart of sharp stakes, and a circle of wagons, +whose wheels were buried in the earth. He impatiently expected +the return of Lothaire; ignorant, alas! that his brother could +never return, and that the chief and his army had been swept away +by a strange disease ^50 on the banks of the Lake Benacus, +between Trent and Verona. The banners of Narses soon approached +the Vulturnus, and the eyes of Italy were anxiously fixed on the +event of this final contest. Perhaps the talents of the Roman +general were most conspicuous in the calm operations which +precede the tumult of a battle. His skilful movements +intercepted the subsistence of the Barbarian deprived him of the +advantage of the bridge and river, and in the choice of the +ground and moment of action reduced him to comply with the +inclination of his enemy. On the morning of the important day, +when the ranks were already formed, a servant, for some trivial +fault, was killed by his master, one of the leaders of the +Heruli. The justice or passion of Narses was awakened: he +summoned the offender to his presence, and without listening to +his excuses, gave the signal to the minister of death. If the +cruel master had not infringed the laws of his nation, this +arbitrary execution was not less unjust than it appears to have +been imprudent. The Heruli felt the indignity; they halted: but +the Roman general, without soothing their rage, or expecting +their resolution, called aloud, as the trumpets sounded, that +unless they hastened to occupy their place, they would lose the +honor of the victory. His troops were disposed ^51 in a long +front, the cavalry on the wings; in the centre, the heavy-armed +foot; the archers and slingers in the rear. The Germans advanced +in a sharp-pointed column, of the form of a triangle or solid +wedge. They pierced the feeble centre of Narses, who received +them with a smile into the fatal snare, and directed his wings of +cavalry insensibly to wheel on their flanks and encompass their +rear. The host of the Franks and Alamanni consisted of infantry: +a sword and buckler hung by their side; and they used, as their +weapons of offence, a weighty hatchet and a hooked javelin, which +were only formidable in close combat, or at a short distance. The +flower of the Roman archers, on horseback, and in complete armor, +skirmished without peril round this immovable phalanx; supplied +by active speed the deficiency of number; and aimed their arrows +against a crowd of Barbarians, who, instead of a cuirass and +helmet, were covered by a loose garment of fur or linen. They +paused, they trembled, their ranks were confounded, and in the +decisive moment the Heruli, preferring glory to revenge, charged +with rapid violence the head of the column. Their leader, +Sinbal, and Aligern, the Gothic prince, deserved the prize of +superior valor; and their example excited the victorious troops +to achieve with swords and spears the destruction of the enemy. +Buccelin, and the greatest part of his army, perished on the +field of battle, in the waters of the Vulturnus, or by the hands +of the enraged peasants: but it may seem incredible, that a +victory, ^52 which no more than five of the Alamanni survived, +could be purchased with the loss of fourscore Romans. Seven +thousand Goths, the relics of the war, defended the fortress of +Campsa till the ensuing spring; and every messenger of Narses +announced the reduction of the Italian cities, whose names were +corrupted by the ignorance or vanity of the Greeks. ^53 After the +battle of Casilinum, Narses entered the capital; the arms and +treasures of the Goths, the Franks, and the Alamanni, were +displayed; his soldiers, with garlands in their hands, chanted +the praises of the conqueror; and Rome, for the last time, beheld +the semblance of a triumph. + +[Footnote 50: See the death of Lothaire in Agathias (l. ii. p. +38) and Paul Warnefrid, surnamed Diaconus, (l. ii. c. 3, 775.) +The Greek makes him rave and tear his flesh. He had plundered +churches.] + +[Footnote 51: Pere Daniel (Hist. de la Milice Francoise, tom. i. +p. 17 - 21) has exhibited a fanciful representation of this +battle, somewhat in the manner of the Chevalier Folard, the once +famous editor of Polybius, who fashioned to his own habits and +opinions all the military operations of antiquity.] +[Footnote 52: Agathias (l. ii. p. 47) has produced a Greek +epigram of six lines on this victory of Narses, which a favorably +compared to the battles of Marathon and Plataea. The chief +difference is indeed in their consequences - so trivial in the +former instance - so permanent and glorious in the latter. + Note: Not in the epigram, but in the previous observations - +M.] +[Footnote 53: The Beroia and Brincas of Theophanes or his +transcriber (p. 201) must be read or understood Verona and +Brixia.] + + After a reign of sixty years, the throne of the Gothic kings +was filled by the exarchs of Ravenna, the representatives in +peace and war of the emperor of the Romans. Their jurisdiction +was soon reduced to the limits of a narrow province: but Narses +himself, the first and most powerful of the exarchs, administered +above fifteen years the entire kingdom of Italy. Like +Belisarius, he had deserved the honors of envy, calumny, and +disgrace: but the favorite eunuch still enjoyed the confidence of +Justinian; or the leader of a victorious army awed and repressed +the ingratitude of a timid court. Yet it was not by weak and +mischievous indulgence that Narses secured the attachment of his +troops. Forgetful of the past, and regardless of the future, +they abused the present hour of prosperity and peace. The cities +of Italy resounded with the noise of drinking and dancing; the +spoils of victory were wasted in sensual pleasures; and nothing +(says Agathias) remained unless to exchange their shields and +helmets for the soft lute and the capacious hogshead. ^54 In a +manly oration, not unworthy of a Roman censor, the eunuch +reproved these disorderly vices, which sullied their fame, and +endangered their safety. The soldiers blushed and obeyed; +discipline was confirmed; the fortifications were restored; a +duke was stationed for the defence and military command of each +of the principal cities; ^55 and the eye of Narses pervaded the +ample prospect from Calabria to the Alps. The remains of the +Gothic nation evacuated the country, or mingled with the people; +the Franks, instead of revenging the death of Buccelin, +abandoned, without a struggle, their Italian conquests; and the +rebellious Sinbal, chief of the Heruli, was subdued, taken and +hung on a lofty gallows by the inflexible justice of the exarch. +^56 The civil state of Italy, after the agitation of a long +tempest, was fixed by a pragmatic sanction, which the emperor +promulgated at the request of the pope. Justinian introduced his +own jurisprudence into the schools and tribunals of the West; he +ratified the acts of Theodoric and his immediate successors, but +every deed was rescinded and abolished which force had extorted, +or fear had subscribed, under the usurpation of Totila. A +moderate theory was framed to reconcile the rights of property +with the safety of prescription, the claims of the state with the +poverty of the people, and the pardon of offences with the +interest of virtue and order of society. Under the exarchs of +Ravenna, Rome was degraded to the second rank. Yet the senators +were gratified by the permission of visiting their estates in +Italy, and of approaching, without obstacle, the throne of +Constantinople: the regulation of weights and measures was +delegated to the pope and senate; and the salaries of lawyers and +physicians, of orators and grammarians, were destined to +preserve, or rekindle, the light of science in the ancient +capital. Justinian might dictate benevolent edicts, ^57 and +Narses might second his wishes by the restoration of cities, and +more especially of churches. But the power of kings is most +effectual to destroy; and the twenty years of the Gothic war had +consummated the distress and depopulation of Italy. As early as +the fourth campaign, under the discipline of Belisarius himself, +fifty thousand laborers died of hunger ^58 in the narrow region +of Picenum; ^59 and a strict interpretation of the evidence of +Procopius would swell the loss of Italy above the total sum of +her present inhabitants. ^60 +[Footnote 54: (Agathias, l. ii. p. 48.) In the first scene of +Richard III. our English poet has beautifully enlarged on this +idea, for which, however, he was not indebted to the Byzantine +historian.] + +[Footnote 55: Maffei has proved, (Verona Illustrata. P. i. l. x. +p. 257, 289,) against the common opinion, that the dukes of Italy +were instituted before the conquest of the Lombards, by Narses +himself. In the Pragmatic Sanction, (No. 23,) Justinian +restrains the judices militares.] + +[Footnote 56: See Paulus Diaconus, liii. c. 2, p. 776. Menander +in (Excerp Legat. p. 133) mentions some risings in Italy by the +Franks, and Theophanes (p. 201) hints at some Gothic rebellions.] + +[Footnote 57: The Pragmatic Sanction of Justinian, which restores +and regulates the civil state of Italy, consists of xxvii. +articles: it is dated August 15, A.D. 554; is addressed to +Narses, V. J. Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi, and to Antiochus, +Praefectus Praetorio Italiae; and has been preserved by Julian +Antecessor, and in the Corpus Juris Civilis, after the novels and +edicts of Justinian, Justin, and Tiberius.] + +[Footnote 58: A still greater number was consumed by famine in +the southern provinces, without the Ionian Gulf. Acorns were +used in the place of bread. Procopius had seen a deserted orphan +suckled by a she-goat. Seventeen passengers were lodged, +murdered, and eaten, by two women, who were detected and slain by +the eighteenth, &c. + + Note: Denina considers that greater evil was inflicted upon +Italy by the Urocian conquest than by any other invasion. +Reveluz. d' Italia, t. i. l. v. p. 247. - M.] + +[Footnote 59: Quinta regio Piceni est; quondam uberrimae +multitudinis, ccclx. millia Picentium in fidem P. R. venere, +(Plin. Hist. Natur. iii. 18.) In the time of Vespasian, this +ancient population was already diminished.] +[Footnote 60: Perhaps fifteen or sixteen millions. Procopius +(Anecdot. c. 18) computes that Africa lost five millions, that +Italy was thrice as extensive, and that the depopulation was in a +larger proportion. But his reckoning is inflamed by passion, and +clouded with uncertainty.] + + I desire to believe, but I dare not affirm, that Belisarius +sincerely rejoiced in the triumph of Narses. Yet the +consciousness of his own exploits might teach him to esteem +without jealousy the merit of a rival; and the repose of the aged +warrior was crowned by a last victory, which saved the emperor +and the capital. The Barbarians, who annually visited the +provinces of Europe, were less discouraged by some accidental +defeats, than they were excited by the double hope of spoil and +of subsidy. In the thirty-second winter of Justinian's reign, +the Danube was deeply frozen: Zabergan led the cavalry of the +Bulgarians, and his standard was followed by a promiscuous +multitude of Sclavonians. ^* The savage chief passed, without +opposition, the river and the mountains, spread his troops over +Macedonia and Thrace, and advanced with no more than seven +thousand horse to the long wall, which should have defended the +territory of Constantinople. But the works of man are impotent +against the assaults of nature: a recent earthquake had shaken +the foundations of the wall; and the forces of the empire were +employed on the distant frontiers of Italy, Africa, and Persia. +The seven schools, ^61 or companies of the guards or domestic +troops, had been augmented to the number of five thousand five +hundred men, whose ordinary station was in the peaceful cities of +Asia. But the places of the brave Armenians were insensibly +supplied by lazy citizens, who purchased an exemption from the +duties of civil life, without being exposed to the dangers of +military service. Of such soldiers, few could be tempted to +sally from the gates; and none could be persuaded to remain in +the field, unless they wanted strength and speed to escape from +the Bulgarians. The report of the fugitives exaggerated the +numbers and fierceness of an enemy, who had polluted holy +virgins, and abandoned new-born infants to the dogs and vultures; +a crowd of rustics, imploring food and protection, increased the +consternation of the city, and the tents of Zabergan were pitched +at the distance of twenty miles, ^62 on the banks of a small +river, which encircles Melanthias, and afterwards falls into the +Propontis. ^63 Justinian trembled: and those who had only seen +the emperor in his old age, were pleased to suppose, that he had +lost the alacrity and vigor of his youth. By his command the +vessels of gold and silver were removed from the churches in the +neighborhood, and even the suburbs, of Constantinople; the +ramparts were lined with trembling spectators; the golden gate +was crowded with useless generals and tribunes, and the senate +shared the fatigues and the apprehensions of the populace. + +[Footnote *: Zabergan was king of the Cutrigours, a tribe of +Huns, who were neither Bulgarians nor Sclavonians. St. Martin, +vol. ix. p. 408 - 420. - M] +[Footnote 61: In the decay of these military schools, the satire +of Procopius (Anecdot. c. 24, Aleman. p. 102, 103) is confirmed +and illustrated by Agathias, (l. v. p. 159,) who cannot be +rejected as a hostile witness.] +[Footnote 62: The distance from Constantinople to Melanthias, +Villa Caesariana, (Ammian. Marcellin. xxx. 11,) is variously +fixed at 102 or 140 stadia, (Suidas, tom. ii. p. 522, 523. +Agathias, l. v. p. 158,) or xviii. or xix. miles, (Itineraria, +p. 138, 230, 323, 332, and Wesseling's Observations.) The first +xii. miles, as far as Rhegium, were paved by Justinian, who built +a bridge over a morass or gullet between a lake and the sea, +(Procop. de Edif. l. iv. c. 8.)] + +[Footnote 63: The Atyras, (Pompon. Mela, l. ii. c. 2, p. 169, +edit. Voss.) At the river's mouth, a town or castle of the same +name was fortified by Justinian, (Procop. de Edif. l. iv. c. 2. +Itinerar. p. 570, and Wesseling.)] + But the eyes of the prince and people were directed to a +feeble veteran, who was compelled by the public danger to resume +the armor in which he had entered Carthage and defended Rome. +The horses of the royal stables, of private citizens, and even of +the circus, were hastily collected; the emulation of the old and +young was roused by the name of Belisarius, and his first +encampment was in the presence of a victorious enemy. His +prudence, and the labor of the friendly peasants, secured, with a +ditch and rampart, the repose of the night; innumerable fires, +and clouds of dust, were artfully contrived to magnify the +opinion of his strength; his soldiers suddenly passed from +despondency to presumption; and, while ten thousand voices +demanded the battle, Belisarius dissembled his knowledge, that in +the hour of trial he must depend on the firmness of three hundred +veterans. The next morning the Bulgarian cavalry advanced to the +charge. But they heard the shouts of multitudes, they beheld the +arms and discipline of the front; they were assaulted on the +flanks by two ambuscades which rose from the woods; their +foremost warriors fell by the hand of the aged hero and his +gnards; and the swiftness of their evolutions was rendered +useless by the close attack and rapid pursuit of the Romans. In +this action (so speedy was their flight) the Bulgarians lost only +four hundred horse; but Constantinople was saved; and Zabergan, +who felt the hand of a master, withdrew to a respectful distance. +But his friends were numerous in the councils of the emperor, and +Belisarius obeyed with reluctance the commands of envy and +Justinian, which forbade him to achieve the deliverance of his +country. On his return to the city, the people, still conscious +of their danger, accompanied his triumph with acclamations of joy +and gratitude, which were imputed as a crime to the victorious +general. But when he entered the palace, the courtiers were +silent, and the emperor, after a cold and thankless embrace, +dismissed him to mingle with the train of slaves. Yet so deep +was the impression of his glory on the minds of men, that +Justinian, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, was encouraged +to advance near forty miles from the capital, and to inspect in +person the restoration of the long wall. The Bulgarians wasted +the summer in the plains of Thrace; but they were inclined to +peace by the failure of their rash attempts on Greece and the +Chersonesus. A menace of killing their prisoners quickened the +payment of heavy ransoms; and the departure of Zabergan was +hastened by the report, that double-prowed vessels were built on +the Danube to intercept his passage. The danger was soon +forgotten; and a vain question, whether their sovereign had shown +more wisdom or weakness, amused the idleness of the city. ^64 + +[Footnote 64: The Bulgarian war, and the last victory of +Belisarius, are imperfectly represented in the prolix declamation +of Agathias. (l. 5, p. 154-174,) and the dry Chronicle of +Theophanes, (p. 197 198.)] + +Chapter XLIII: Last Victory And Death Of Belisarius, Death Of +Justinian. + + +Part IV. + + About two years after the last victory of Belisarius, the +emperor returned from a Thracian journey of health, or business, +or devotion. Justinian was afflicted by a pain in his head; and +his private entry countenanced the rumor of his death. Before +the third hour of the day, the bakers' shops were plundered of +their bread, the houses were shut, and every citizen, with hope +or terror, prepared for the impending tumult. The senators +themselves, fearful and suspicious, were convened at the ninth +hour; and the praefect received their commands to visit every +quarter of the city, and proclaim a general illumination for the +recovery of the emperor's health. The ferment subsided; but every +accident betrayed the impotence of the government, and the +factious temper of the people: the guards were disposed to mutiny +as often as their quarters were changed, or their pay was +withheld: the frequent calamities of fires and earthquakes +afforded the opportunities of disorder; the disputes of the blues +and greens, of the orthodox and heretics, degenerated into bloody +battles; and, in the presence of the Persian ambassador, +Justinian blushed for himself and for his subjects. Capricious +pardon and arbitrary punishment imbittered the irksomeness and +discontent of a long reign: a conspiracy was formed in the +palace; and, unless we are deceived by the names of Marcellus and +Sergius, the most virtuous and the most profligate of the +courtiers were associated in the same designs. They had fixed +the time of the execution; their rank gave them access to the +royal banquet; and their black slaves ^65 were stationed in the +vestibule and porticos, to announce the death of the tyrant, and +to excite a sedition in the capital. But the indiscretion of an +accomplice saved the poor remnant of the days of Justinian. The +conspirators were detected and seized, with daggers hidden under +their garments: Marcellus died by his own hand, and Sergius was +dragged from the sanctuary. ^66 Pressed by remorse, or tempted by +the hopes of safety, he accused two officers of the household of +Belisarius; and torture forced them to declare that they had +acted according to the secret instructions of their patron. ^67 +Posterity will not hastily believe that a hero who, in the vigor +of life, had disdained the fairest offers of ambition and +revenge, should stoop to the murder of his prince, whom he could +not long expect to survive. His followers were impatient to fly; +but flight must have been supported by rebellion, and he had +lived enough for nature and for glory. Belisarius appeared before +the council with less fear than indignation: after forty years' +service, the emperor had prejudged his guilt; and injustice was +sanctified by the presence and authority of the patriarch. The +life of Belisarius was graciously spared; but his fortunes were +sequestered, and, from December to July, he was guarded as a +prisoner in his own palace. At length his innocence was +acknowledged; his freedom and honor were restored; and death, +which might be hastened by resentment and grief, removed him from +the world in about eight months after his deliverance. The name +of Belisarius can never die but instead of the funeral, the +monuments, the statues, so justly due to his memory, I only read, +that his treasures, the spoil of the Goths and Vandals, were +immediately confiscated by the emperor. Some decent portion was +reserved, however for the use of his widow: and as Antonina had +much to repent, she devoted the last remains of her life and +fortune to the foundation of a convent. Such is the simple and +genuine narrative of the fall of Belisarius and the ingratitude +of Justinian. ^68 That he was deprived of his eyes, and reduced +by envy to beg his bread, ^* "Give a penny to Belisarius the +general!" is a fiction of later times, ^69 which has obtained +credit, or rather favor, as a strange example of the vicissitudes +of fortune. ^70 +[Footnote 65: They could scarcely be real Indians; and the +Aethiopians, sometimes known by that name, were never used by the +ancients as guards or followers: they were the trifling, though +costly objects of female and royal luxury, (Terent. Eunuch. act. +i. scene ii Sueton. in August. c. 83, with a good note of +Casaubon, in Caligula, c. 57.)] + +[Footnote 66: The Sergius (Vandal. l. ii. c. 21, 22, Anecdot. c. +5) and Marcellus (Goth. l. iii. c. 32) are mentioned by +Procopius. See Theophanes, p. 197, 201. + + Note: Some words, "the acts of," or "the crimes cf," appear +to have false from the text. The omission is in all the editions +I have consulted. - M.] +[Footnote 67: Alemannus, (p. quotes an old Byzantian Ms., which +has been printed in the Imperium Orientale of Banduri.)] + +[Footnote 68: Of the disgrace and restoration of Belisarius, the +genuine original record is preserved in the Fragment of John +Malala (tom. ii. p. 234 - 243) and the exact Chronicle of +Theophanes, (p. 194 - 204.) Cedrenus (Compend. p. 387, 388) and +Zonaras (tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 69) seem to hesitate between the +obsolete truth and the growing falsehood.] + +[Footnote *: Le Beau, following Allemannus, conceives that +Belisarius was confounded with John of Cappadocia, who was thus +reduced to beggary, (vol. ix. p. 58, 449.) Lord Mahon has, with +considerable learning, and on the authority of a yet unquoted +writer of the eleventh century, endeavored to reestablish the old +tradition. I cannot acknowledge that I have been convinced, and +am inclined to subscribe to the theory of Le Beau. - M.] + +[Footnote 69: The source of this idle fable may be derived from a +miscellaneous work of the xiith century, the Chiliads of John +Tzetzes, a monk, (Basil. 1546, ad calcem Lycophront. Colon. +Allobrog. 1614, in Corp. Poet. Graec.) He relates the blindness +and beggary of Belisarius in ten vulgar or political verses, +(Chiliad iii. No. 88, 339 - 348, in Corp. Poet. Graec. tom. ii. +p. 311.) + +This moral or romantic tale was imported into Italy with the +language and manuscripts of Greece; repeated before the end of +the xvth century by Crinitus, Pontanus, and Volaterranus, +attacked by Alciat, for the honor of the law; and defended by +Baronius, (A.D. 561, No. 2, &c.,) for the honor of the church. +Yet Tzetzes himself had read in other chronicles, that Belisarius +did not lose his sight, and that he recovered his fame and +fortunes. + Note: I know not where Gibbon found Tzetzes to be a monk; I +suppose he considered his bad verses a proof of his monachism. +Compare to Gerbelius in Kiesling's edition of Tzetzes. - M.] + +[Footnote 70: The statue in the villa Borghese at Rome, in a +sitting posture, with an open hand, which is vulgarly given to +Belisarius, may be ascribed with more dignity to Augustus in the +act of propitiating Nemesis, (Winckelman, Hist. de l'Art, tom. +iii. p. 266.) Ex nocturno visu etiam stipem, quotannis, die +certo, emendicabat a populo, cavana manum asses porrigentibus +praebens, (Sueton. in August. c. 91, with an excellent note of +Casaubon.) + Note: Lord Mahon abandons the statue, as altogether +irreconcilable with the state of the arts at this period, (p. +472.) - M.] + + If the emperor could rejoice in the death of Belisarius, he +enjoyed the base satisfaction only eight months, the last period +of a reign of thirty- eight years, and a life of eighty-three +years. It would be difficult to trace the character of a prince +who is not the most conspicuous object of his own times: but the +confessions of an enemy may be received as the safest evidence of +his virtues. The resemblance of Justinian to the bust of +Domitian, is maliciously urged; ^71 with the acknowledgment, +however, of a well-proportioned figure, a ruddy complexion, and a +pleasing countenance. The emperor was easy of access, patient of +hearing, courteous and affable in discourse, and a master of the +angry passions which rage with such destructive violence in the +breast of a despot. Procopius praises his temper, to reproach +him with calm and deliberate cruelty: but in the conspiracies +which attacked his authority and person, a more candid judge will +approve the justice, or admire the clemency, of Justinian. He +excelled in the private virtues of chastity and temperance: but +the impartial love of beauty would have been less mischievous +than his conjugal tenderness for Theodora; and his abstemious +diet was regulated, not by the prudence of a philosopher, but the +superstition of a monk. His repasts were short and frugal: on +solemn fasts, he contented himself with water and vegetables; and +such was his strength, as well as fervor, that he frequently +passed two days, and as many nights, without tasting any food. +The measure of his sleep was not less rigorous: after the repose +of a single hour, the body was awakened by the soul, and, to the +astonishment of his chamberlain, Justinian walked or studied till +the morning light. Such restless application prolonged his time +for the acquisition of knowledge ^72 and the despatch of +business; and he might seriously deserve the reproach of +confounding, by minute and preposterous diligence, the general +order of his administration. The emperor professed himself a +musician and architect, a poet and philosopher, a lawyer and +theologian; and if he failed in the enterprise of reconciling the +Christian sects, the review of the Roman jurisprudence is a noble +monument of his spirit and industry. In the government of the +empire, he was less wise, or less successful: the age was +unfortunate; the people was oppressed and discontented; Theodora +abused her power; a succession of bad ministers disgraced his +judgment; and Justinian was neither beloved in his life, nor +regretted at his death. The love of fame was deeply implanted in +his breast, but he condescended to the poor ambition of titles, +honors, and contemporary praise; and while he labored to fix the +admiration, he forfeited the esteem and affection, of the Romans. + +The design of the African and Italian wars was boldly conceived +and executed; and his penetration discovered the talents of +Belisarius in the camp, of Narses in the palace. But the name of +the emperor is eclipsed by the names of his victorious generals; +and Belisarius still lives, to upbraid the envy and ingratitude +of his sovereign. The partial favor of mankind applauds the +genius of a conqueror, who leads and directs his subjects in the +exercise of arms. The characters of Philip the Second and of +Justinian are distinguished by the cold ambition which delights +in war, and declines the dangers of the field. Yet a colossal +statue of bronze represented the emperor on horseback, preparing +to march against the Persians in the habit and armor of Achilles. +In the great square before the church of St. Sophia, this +monument was raised on a brass column and a stone pedestal of +seven steps; and the pillar of Theodosius, which weighed seven +thousand four hundred pounds of silver, was removed from the same +place by the avarice and vanity of Justinian. Future princes +were more just or indulgent to his memory; the elder Andronicus, +in the beginning of the fourteenth century, repaired and +beautified his equestrian statue: since the fall of the empire it +has been melted into cannon by the victorious Turks. ^73 + +[Footnote 71: The rubor of Domitian is stigmatized, quaintly +enough, by the pen of Tacitus, (in Vit. Agricol. c. 45;) and has +been likewise noticed by the younger Pliny, (Panegyr. c. 48,) and +Suetonius, (in Domitian, c. 18, and Casaubon ad locum.) Procopius +(Anecdot. c. 8) foolishly believes that only one bust of Domitian +had reached the vith century.] + +[Footnote 72: The studies and science of Justinian are attested +by the confession (Anecdot. c. 8, 13) still more than by the +praises (Gothic. l. iii. c. 31, de Edific. l. i. Proem. c. 7) of +Procopius. Consult the copious index of Alemannus, and read the +life of Justinian by Ludewig, (p. 135 - 142.)] +[Footnote 73: See in the C. P. Christiana of Ducange (l. i. c. +24, No. 1) a chain of original testimonies, from Procopius in the +vith, to Gyllius in the xvith century.] + + I shall conclude this chapter with the comets, the +earthquakes, and the plague, which astonished or afflicted the +age of Justinian. + I. In the fifth year of his reign, and in the month of +September, a comet ^74 was seen during twenty days in the western +quarter of the heavens, and which shot its rays into the north. +Eight years afterwards, while the sun was in Capricorn, another +comet appeared to follow in the Sagittary; the size was gradually +increasing; the head was in the east, the tail in the west, and +it remained visible above forty days. The nations, who gazed +with astonishment, expected wars and calamities from their +baleful influence; and these expectations were abundantly +fulfilled. The astronomers dissembled their ignorance of the +nature of these blazing stars, which they affected to represent +as the floating meteors of the air; and few among them embraced +the simple notion of Seneca and the Chaldeans, that they are only +planets of a longer period and more eccentric motion. ^75 Time +and science have justified the conjectures and predictions of the +Roman sage: the telescope has opened new worlds to the eyes of +astronomers; ^76 and, in the narrow space of history and fable, +one and the same comet is already found to have revisited the +earth in seven equal revolutions of five hundred and seventy-five +years. The first, ^77 which ascends beyond the Christian aera one +thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven years, is coeval with +Ogyges, the father of Grecian antiquity. And this appearance +explains the tradition which Varro has preserved, that under his +reign the planet Venus changed her color, size, figure, and +course; a prodigy without example either in past or succeeding +ages. ^78 The second visit, in the year eleven hundred and +ninety-three, is darkly implied in the fable of Electra, the +seventh of the Pleiads, who have been reduced to six since the +time of the Trojan war. That nymph, the wife of Dardanus, was +unable to support the ruin of her country: she abandoned the +dances of her sister orbs, fled from the zodiac to the north +pole, and obtained, from her dishevelled locks, the name of the +comet. The third period expires in the year six hundred and +eighteen, a date that exactly agrees with the tremendous comet of +the Sibyl, and perhaps of Pliny, which arose in the West two +generations before the reign of Cyrus. The fourth apparition, +forty-four years before the birth of Christ, is of all others the +most splendid and important. After the death of Caesar, a +long-haired star was conspicuous to Rome and to the nations, +during the games which were exhibited by young Octavian in honor +of Venus and his uncle. The vulgar opinion, that it conveyed to +heaven the divine soul of the dictator, was cherished and +consecrated by the piety of a statesman; while his secret +superstition referred the comet to the glory of his own times. +^79 The fifth visit has been already ascribed to the fifth year +of Justinian, which coincides with the five hundred and +thirty-first of the Christian aera. And it may deserve notice, +that in this, as in the preceding instance, the comet was +followed, though at a longer interval, by a remarkable paleness +of the sun. The sixth return, in the year eleven hundred and +six, is recorded by the chronicles of Europe and China: and in +the first fervor of the crusades, the Christians and the +Mahometans might surmise, with equal reason, that it portended +the destruction of the Infidels. The seventh phenomenon, of one +thousand six hundred and eighty, was presented to the eyes of an +enlightened age. ^80 The philosophy of Bayle dispelled a +prejudice which Milton's muse had so recently adorned, that the +comet, "from its horrid hair shakes pestilence and war." ^81 Its +road in the heavens was observed with exquisite skill by +Flamstead and Cassini: and the mathematical science of Bernoulli, +Newton ^*, and Halley, investigated the laws of its revolutions. +At the eighth period, in the year two thousand three hundred and +fifty-five, their calculations may perhaps be verified by the +astronomers of some future capital in the Siberian or American +wilderness. +[Footnote 74: The first comet is mentioned by John Malala (tom. +ii. p. 190, 219) and Theophanes, (p. 154;) the second by +Procopius, (Persic. l. ii. 4.) Yet I strongly suspect their +identity. The paleness of the sun sum Vandal. l. ii. c. 14) is +applied by Theophanes (p. 158) to a different year. + Note: See Lydus de Ostentis, particularly c 15, in which the +author begins to show the signification of comets according to +the part of the heavens in which they appear, and what fortunes +they prognosticate to the Roman empire and their Persian enemies. + +The chapter, however, is imperfect. (Edit. Neibuhr, p. 290.) - +M.] + +[Footnote 75: Seneca's viith book of Natural Questions displays, +in the theory of comets, a philosophic mind. Yet should we not +too candidly confound a vague prediction, a venient tempus, &c., +with the merit of real discoveries.] +[Footnote 76: Astronomers may study Newton and Halley. I draw my +humble science from the article Comete, in the French +Encyclopedie, by M. d'Alembert.] + +[Footnote 77: Whiston, the honest, pious, visionary Whiston, had +fancied for the aera of Noah's flood (2242 years before Christ) a +prior apparition of the same comet which drowned the earth with +its tail.] + +[Footnote 78: A Dissertation of Freret (Memoires de l'Academie +des Inscriptions, tom. x. p. 357-377) affords a happy union of +philosophy and erudition. The phenomenon in the time of Ogyges +was preserved by Varro, (Apud Augustin. de Civitate Dei, xxi. 8,) +who quotes Castor, Dion of Naples, and Adastrus of Cyzicus - +nobiles mathematici. The two subsequent periods are preserved by +the Greek mythologists and the spurious books of Sibylline +verses.] + +[Footnote 79: Pliny (Hist. Nat. ii. 23) has transcribed the +original memorial of Augustus. Mairan, in his most ingenious +letters to the P. Parennin, missionary in China, removes the +games and the comet of September, from the year 44 to the year +43, before the Christian aera; but I am not totally subdued by +the criticism of the astronomer, (Opuscules, p. 275 )] +[Footnote 80: This last comet was visible in the month of +December, 1680. Bayle, who began his Pensees sur la Comete in +January, 1681, (Oeuvres, tom. iii.,) was forced to argue that a +supernatural comet would have confirmed the ancients in their +idolatry. Bernoulli (see his Eloge, in Fontenelle, tom. v. p. +99) was forced to allow that the tail though not the head, was a +sign of the wrath of God.] + +[Footnote 81: Paradise Lost was published in the year 1667; and +the famous lines (l. ii. 708, &c.) which startled the licenser, +may allude to the recent comet of 1664, observed by Cassini at +Rome in the presence of Queen Christina, (Fontenelle, in his +Eloge, tom. v. p. 338.) Had Charles II. betrayed any symptoms of +curiosity or fear?] + +[Footnote *: Compare Pingre, Histoire des Cometes. - M.] + + II. The near approach of a comet may injure or destroy the +globe which we inhabit; but the changes on its surface have been +hitherto produced by the action of volcanoes and earthquakes. ^82 +The nature of the soil may indicate the countries most exposed to +these formidable concussions, since they are caused by +subterraneous fires, and such fires are kindled by the union and +fermentation of iron and sulphur. But their times and effects +appear to lie beyond the reach of human curiosity; and the +philosopher will discreetly abstain from the prediction of +earthquakes, till he has counted the drops of water that silently +filtrate on the inflammable mineral, and measured the caverns +which increase by resistance the explosion of the imprisoned air. +Without assigning the cause, history will distinguish the periods +in which these calamitous events have been rare or frequent, and +will observe, that this fever of the earth raged with uncommon +violence during the reign of Justinian. ^83 Each year is marked +by the repetition of earthquakes, of such duration, that +Constantinople has been shaken above forty days; of such extent, +that the shock has been communicated to the whole surface of the +globe, or at least of the Roman empire. An impulsive or +vibratory motion was felt: enormous chasms were opened, huge and +heavy bodies were discharged into the air, the sea alternately +advanced and retreated beyond its ordinary bounds, and a mountain +was torn from Libanus, ^84 and cast into the waves, where it +protected, as a mole, the new harbor of Botrys ^85 in Phoenicia. +The stroke that agitates an ant-hill may crush the insect-myriads +in the dust; yet truth must extort confession that man has +industriously labored for his own destruction. The institution +of great cities, which include a nation within the limits of a +wall, almost realizes the wish of Caligula, that the Roman people +had but one neck. Two hundred and fifty thousand persons are +said to have perished in the earthquake of Antioch, whose +domestic multitudes were swelled by the conflux of strangers to +the festival of the Ascension. The loss of Berytus ^86 was of +smaller account, but of much greater value. That city, on the +coast of Phoenicia, was illustrated by the study of the civil +law, which opened the surest road to wealth and dignity: the +schools of Berytus were filled with the rising spirits of the +age, and many a youth was lost in the earthquake, who might have +lived to be the scourge or the guardian of his country. In these +disasters, the architect becomes the enemy of mankind. The hut +of a savage, or the tent of an Arab, may be thrown down without +injury to the inhabitant; and the Peruvians had reason to deride +the folly of their Spanish conquerors, who with so much cost and +labor erected their own sepulchres. The rich marbles of a +patrician are dashed on his own head: a whole people is buried +under the ruins of public and private edifices, and the +conflagration is kindled and propagated by the innumerable fires +which are necessary for the subsistence and manufactures of a +great city. Instead of the mutual sympathy which might comfort +and assist the distressed, they dreadfully experience the vices +and passions which are released from the fear of punishment: the +tottering houses are pillaged by intrepid avarice; revenge +embraces the moment, and selects the victim; and the earth often +swallows the assassin, or the ravisher, in the consummation of +their crimes. Superstition involves the present danger with +invisible terrors; and if the image of death may sometimes be +subservient to the virtue or repentance of individuals, an +affrighted people is more forcibly moved to expect the end of the +world, or to deprecate with servile homage the wrath of an +avenging Deity. +[Footnote 82: For the cause of earthquakes, see Buffon, (tom. i. +p. 502 - 536 Supplement a l'Hist. Naturelle, tom. v. p. 382-390, +edition in 4to., Valmont de Bomare, (Dictionnaire d'Histoire +Naturelle, Tremblemen de Terre, Pyrites,) Watson, (Chemical +Essays, tom. i. p. 181 - 209.)] + +[Footnote 83: The earthquakes that shook the Roman world in the +reign of Justinian are described or mentioned by Procopius, +(Goth. l. iv. c. 25 Anecdot. c. 18,) Agathias, (l. ii. p. 52, 53, +54, l. v. p. 145-152,) John Malala, (Chron. tom. ii. p. 140-146, +176, 177, 183, 193, 220, 229, 231, 233, 234,) and Theophanes, (p. +151, 183, 189, 191-196.) + + Note *: Compare Daubeny on Earthquakes, and Lyell's Geology, +vol. ii. p. 161 et seq. - M] + +[Footnote 84: An abrupt height, a perpendicular cape, between +Aradus and Botrys (Polyb. l. v. p. 411. Pompon. Mela, l. i. c. +12, p. 87, cum Isaac. Voss. Observat. Maundrell, Journey, p. 32, +33. Pocock's Description, vol. ii. p. 99.)] + +[Footnote 85: Botrys was founded (ann. ante Christ. 935 - 903) by +Ithobal, king of Tyre, (Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 387, 388.) Its +poor representative, the village of Patrone, is now destitute of +a harbor.] + +[Footnote 86: The university, splendor, and ruin of Berytus are +celebrated by Heineccius (p. 351 - 356) as an essential part of +the history of the Roman law. It was overthrown in the xxvth +year of Justinian, A. D 551, July 9, (Theophanes, p. 192;) but +Agathias (l. ii. p. 51, 52) suspends the earthquake till he has +achieved the Italian war.] + + III. Aethiopia and Egypt have been stigmatized, in every +age, as the original source and seminary of the plague. ^87 In a +damp, hot, stagnating air, this African fever is generated from +the putrefaction of animal substances, and especially from the +swarms of locusts, not less destructive to mankind in their death +than in their lives. The fatal disease which depopulated the +earth in the time of Justinian and his successors, ^88 first +appeared in the neighborhood of Pelusium, between the Serbonian +bog and the eastern channel of the Nile. From thence, tracing as +it were a double path, it spread to the East, over Syria, Persia, +and the Indies, and penetrated to the West, along the coast of +Africa, and over the continent of Europe. In the spring of the +second year, Constantinople, during three or four months, was +visited by the pestilence; and Procopius, who observed its +progress and symptoms with the eyes of a physician, ^89 has +emulated the skill and diligence of Thucydides in the description +of the plague of Athens. ^90 The infection was sometimes +announced by the visions of a distempered fancy, and the victim +despaired as soon as he had heard the menace and felt the stroke +of an invisible spectre. But the greater number, in their beds, +in the streets, in their usual occupation, were surprised by a +slight fever; so slight, indeed, that neither the pulse nor the +color of the patient gave any signs of the approaching danger. +The same, the next, or the succeeding day, it was declared by the +swelling of the glands, particularly those of the groin, of the +armpits, and under the ear; and when these buboes or tumors were +opened, they were found to contain a coal, or black substance, of +the size of a lentil. If they came to a just swelling and +suppuration, the patient was saved by this kind and natural +discharge of the morbid humor. But if they continued hard and +dry, a mortification quickly ensued, and the fifth day was +commonly the term of his life. The fever was often accompanied +with lethargy or delirium; the bodies of the sick were covered +with black pustules or carbuncles, the symptoms of immediate +death; and in the constitutions too feeble to produce an +irruption, the vomiting of blood was followed by a mortification +of the bowels. To pregnant women the plague was generally +mortal: yet one infant was drawn alive from his dead mother, and +three mothers survived the loss of their infected foetus. Youth +was the most perilous season; and the female sex was less +susceptible than the male: but every rank and profession was +attacked with indiscriminate rage, and many of those who escaped +were deprived of the use of their speech, without being secure +from a return of the disorder. ^91 The physicians of +Constantinople were zealous and skilful; but their art was +baffled by the various symptoms and pertinacious vehemence of the +disease: the same remedies were productive of contrary effects, +and the event capriciously disappointed their prognostics of +death or recovery. The order of funerals, and the right of +sepulchres, were confounded: those who were left without friends +or servants, lay unburied in the streets, or in their desolate +houses; and a magistrate was authorized to collect the +promiscuous heaps of dead bodies, to transport them by land or +water, and to inter them in deep pits beyond the precincts of the +city. Their own danger, and the prospect of public distress, +awakened some remorse in the minds of the most vicious of +mankind: the confidence of health again revived their passions +and habits; but philosophy must disdain the observation of +Procopius, that the lives of such men were guarded by the +peculiar favor of fortune or Providence. He forgot, or perhaps +he secretly recollected, that the plague had touched the person +of Justinian himself; but the abstemious diet of the emperor may +suggest, as in the case of Socrates, a more rational and +honorable cause for his recovery. ^92 During his sickness, the +public consternation was expressed in the habits of the citizens; +and their idleness and despondence occasioned a general scarcity +in the capital of the East. +[Footnote 87: I have read with pleasure Mead's short, but +elegant, treatise concerning Pestilential Disorders, the viiith +edition, London, 1722.] +[Footnote 88: The great plague which raged in 542 and the +following years (Pagi, Critica, tom. ii. p. 518) must be traced +in Procopius, (Persic. l. ii. c. 22, 23,) Agathias, (l. v. p. +153, 154,) Evagrius, (l. iv. c. 29,) Paul Diaconus, (l. ii. c. +iv. p. 776, 777,) Gregory of Tours, (tom. ii. l. iv. c. 5, p +205,) who styles it Lues Inguinaria, and the Chronicles of Victor +Tunnunensis, (p. 9, in Thesaur. Temporum,) of Marcellinus, (p. +54,) and of Theophanes, (p. 153.)] + +[Footnote 89: Dr. Friend (Hist. Medicin. in Opp. p. 416 - 420, +Lond. 1733) is satisfied that Procopius must have studied physic, +from his knowledge and use of the technical words. Yet many +words that are now scientific were common and popular in the +Greek idiom.] + +[Footnote 90: See Thucydides, l. ii. c. 47 - 54, p. 127 - 133, +edit. Duker, and the poetical description of the same plague by +Lucretius. (l. vi. 1136 - 1284.) I was indebted to Dr. Hunter +for an elaborate commentary on this part of Thucydides, a quarto +of 600 pages, (Venet. 1603, apud Juntas,) which was pronounced in +St. Mark's Library by Fabius Paullinus Utinensis, a physician and +philosopher.] + +[Footnote 91: Thucydides (c. 51) affirms, that the infection +could only be once taken; but Evagrius, who had family experience +of the plague, observes, that some persons, who had escaped the +first, sunk under the second attack; and this repetition is +confirmed by Fabius Paullinus, (p. 588.) I observe, that on this +head physicians are divided; and the nature and operation of the +disease may not always be similar.] + +[Footnote 92: It was thus that Socrates had been saved by his +temperance, in the plague of Athens, (Aul. Gellius, Noct. Attic. +ii. l.) Dr. Mead accounts for the peculiar salubrity of religious +houses, by the two advantages of seclusion and abstinence, (p. +18, 19.)] + + Contagion is the inseparable symptom of the plague; which, +by mutual respiration, is transfused from the infected persons to +the lungs and stomach of those who approach them. While +philosophers believe and tremble, it is singular, that the +existence of a real danger should have been denied by a people +most prone to vain and imaginary terrors. ^93 Yet the +fellow-citizens of Procopius were satisfied, by some short and +partial experience, that the infection could not be gained by the +closest conversation: ^94 and this persuasion might support the +assiduity of friends or physicians in the care of the sick, whom +inhuman prudence would have condemned to solitude and despair. +But the fatal security, like the predestination of the Turks, +must have aided the progress of the contagion; and those salutary +precautions to which Europe is indebted for her safety, were +unknown to the government of Justinian. No restraints were +imposed on the free and frequent intercourse of the Roman +provinces: from Persia to France, the nations were mingled and +infected by wars and emigrations; and the pestilential odor which +lurks for years in a bale of cotton was imported, by the abuse of +trade, into the most distant regions. The mode of its +propagation is explained by the remark of Procopius himself, that +it always spread from the sea-coast to the inland country: the +most sequestered islands and mountains were successively visited; +the places which had escaped the fury of its first passage were +alone exposed to the contagion of the ensuing year. The winds +might diffuse that subtile venom; but unless the atmosphere be +previously disposed for its reception, the plague would soon +expire in the cold or temperate climates of the earth. Such was +the universal corruption of the air, that the pestilence which +burst forth in the fifteenth year of Justinian was not checked or +alleviated by any difference of the seasons. In time, its first +malignity was abated and dispersed; the disease alternately +languished and revived; but it was not till the end of a +calamitous period of fifty-two years, that mankind recovered +their health, or the air resumed its pure and salubrious quality. + +No facts have been preserved to sustain an account, or even a +conjecture, of the numbers that perished in this extraordinary +mortality. I only find, that during three months, five, and at +length ten, thousand persons died each day at Constantinople; +that many cities of the East were left vacant, and that in +several districts of Italy the harvest and the vintage withered +on the ground. The triple scourge of war, pestilence, and famine, +afflicted the subjects of Justinian; and his reign is disgraced +by the visible decrease of the human species, which has never +been repaired in some of the fairest countries of the globe. ^95 + +[Footnote 93: Mead proves that the plague is contagious from +Thucydides, Lacretius, Aristotle, Galen, and common experience, +(p. 10 - 20;) and he refutes (Preface, p. 2 - 13) the contrary +opinion of the French physicians who visited Marseilles in the +year 1720. Yet these were the recent and enlightened spectators +of a plague which, in a few months, swept away 50,000 inhabitants +(sur le Peste de Marseille, Paris, 1786) of a city that, in the +present hour of prosperity and trade contains no more then 90,000 +souls, (Necker, sur les Finances, tom. i. p. 231.)] + +[Footnote 94: The strong assertions of Procopius are overthrown +by the subsequent experience of Evagrius.] + +[Footnote 95: After some figures of rhetoric, the sands of the +sea, &c., Procopius (Anecdot. c. 18) attempts a more definite +account; that it had been exterminated under the reign of the +Imperial demon. The expression is obscure in grammar and +arithmetic and a literal interpretation would produce several +millions of millions Alemannus (p. 80) and Cousin (tom. iii. p. +178) translate this passage, "two hundred millions:" but I am +ignorant of their motives. The remaining myriad of myriads, +would furnish one hundred millions, a number not wholly +inadmissible.] + + +Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. + + +Part I. + + Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. - The Laws Of The Kings - +The Twelve Of The Decemvirs. - The Laws Of The People. - The +Decrees Of The Senate. - The Edicts Of The Magistrates And +Emperors - Authority Of The Civilians. - Code, Pandects, Novels, +And Institutes Of Justinian: - I. Rights Of Persons. - II. +Rights Of Things. - III. Private Injuries And Actions. - IV. +Crimes And Punishments. + + Note: In the notes to this important chapter, which is +received as the text-book on Civil Law in some of the foreign +universities, I have consulted, + I. the newly-discovered Institutes of Gaius, (Gaii +Institutiones, ed. Goeschen, Berlin, 1824,) with some other +fragments of the Roman law, (Codicis Theodosiani Fragmenta +inedita, ab Amadeo Peyron. Turin, 1824.) + II. The History of the Roman Law, by Professor Hugo, in the +French translation of M. Jourdan. Paris, 1825. + + III. Savigny, Geschichte des Romischen Rechts im +Mittelalter, 6 bande, Heidelberg, 1815. + + IV. Walther, Romische Rechts-Geschichte, Bonn. 1834. But I +am particularly indebted to an edition of the French translation +of this chapter, with additional notes, by one of the most +learned civilians of Europe, Professor Warnkonig, published at +Liege, 1821. I have inserted almost the whole of these notes, +which are distinguished by the letter W. - M. + The vain titles of the victories of Justinian are crumbled +into dust; but the name of the legislator is inscribed on a fair +and everlasting monument. Under his reign, and by his care, the +civil jurisprudence was digested in the immortal works of the +Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes: ^1 the public reason of +the Romans has been silently or studiously transfused into the +domestic institutions of Europe, ^2, and the laws of Justinian +still command the respect or obedience of independent nations. +Wise or fortunate is the prince who connects his own reputation +with the honor or interest of a perpetual order of men. The +defence of their founder is the first cause, which in every age +has exercised the zeal and industry of the civilians. They +piously commemorate his virtues; dissemble or deny his failings; +and fiercely chastise the guilt or folly of the rebels, who +presume to sully the majesty of the purple. The idolatry of love +has provoked, as it usually happens, the rancor of opposition; +the character of Justinian has been exposed to the blind +vehemence of flattery and invective; and the injustice of a sect +(the Anti-Tribonians,) has refused all praise and merit to the +prince, his ministers, and his laws. ^3 Attached to no party, +interested only for the truth and candor of history, and directed +by the most temperate and skilful guides, ^4 I enter with just +diffidence on the subject of civil law, which has exhausted so +many learned lives, and clothed the walls of such spacious +libraries. In a single, if possible in a short, chapter, I shall +trace the Roman jurisprudence from Romulus to Justinian, ^5 +appreciate the labors of that emperor, and pause to contemplate +the principles of a science so important to the peace and +happiness of society. The laws of a nation form the most +instructive portion of its history; and although I have devoted +myself to write the annals of a declining monarchy, I shall +embrace the occasion to breathe the pure and invigorating air of +the republic. +[Footnote 1: The civilians of the darker ages have established an +absurd and incomprehensible mode of quotation, which is supported +by authority and custom. In their references to the Code, the +Pandects, and the Institutes, they mention the number, not of the +book, but only of the law; and content themselves with reciting +the first words of the title to which it belongs; and of these +titles there are more than a thousand. Ludewig (Vit. Justiniani, +p. 268) wishes to shake off this pendantic yoke; and I have dared +to adopt the simple and rational method of numbering the book, +the title, and the law. + Note: The example of Gibbor has been followed by M Hugo and +other civilians. - M] + +[Footnote 2: Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, and Scotland, +have received them as common law or reason; in France, Italy, +&c., they possess a direct or indirect influence; and they were +respected in England, from Stephen to Edward I. our national +Justinian, (Duck. de Usu et Auctoritate Juris Civilis, l. ii. c. +1, 8 - 15. Heineccius, Hist. Juris Germanici, c. 3, 4, No. 55 - +124, and the legal historians of each country.) + + Note: Although the restoration of the Roman law, introduced +by the revival of this study in Italy, is one of the most +important branches of history, it had been treated but +imperfectly when Gibbon wrote his work. That of Arthur Duck is +but an insignificant performance. But the researches of the +learned have thrown much light upon the matter. The Sarti, the +Tiraboschi, the Fantuzzi, the Savioli, had made some very +interesting inquiries; but it was reserved for M. de Savigny, in +a work entitled "The History of the Roman Law during the Middle +Ages," to cast the strongest right on this part of history. He +demonstrates incontestably the preservation of the Roman law from +Justinian to the time of the Glossators, who by their +indefatigable zeal, propagated the study of the Roman +jurisprudence in all the countries of Europe. It is much to be +desired that the author should continue this interesting work, +and that the learned should engage in the inquiry in what manner +the Roman law introduced itself into their respective countries, +and the authority which it progressively acquired. For Belgium, +there exists, on this subject, (proposed by the Academy of +Brussels in 1781,) a Collection of Memoirs, printed at Brussels +in 4to., 1783, among which should be distinguished those of M. de +Berg. M. Berriat Saint Prix has given us hopes of the speedy +appearance of a work in which he will discuss this question, +especially in relation to France. M. Spangenberg, in his +Introduction to the Study of the Corpus Juris Civilis Hanover, +1817, 1 vol. 8vo. p. 86, 116, gives us a general sketch of the +history of the Roman law in different parts of Europe. We cannot +avoid mentioning an elementary work by M. Hugo, in which he +treats of the History of the Roman Law from Justinian to the +present Time, 2d edit. Berlin 1818 W.] + +[Footnote 3: Francis Hottoman, a learned and acute lawyer of the +xvith century, wished to mortify Cujacius, and to please the +Chancellor de l'Hopital. His Anti-Tribonianus (which I have +never been able to procure) was published in French in 1609; and +his sect was propagated in Germany, (Heineccius, Op. tom. iii. +sylloge iii. p. 171 - 183.) + + Note: Though there have always been many detractors of the +Roman law, no sect of Anti-Tribonians has ever existed under that +name, as Gibbon seems to suppose. - W.] + +[Footnote 4: At the head of these guides I shall respectfully +place the learned and perspicuous Heineccius, a German professor, +who died at Halle in the year 1741, (see his Eloge in the +Nouvelle Bibliotheque Germanique, tom. ii. p. 51 - 64.) His ample +works have been collected in eight volumes in 4to. Geneva, 1743 - +1748. The treatises which I have separately used are, + 1. Historia Juris Romani et Germanici, Lugd. Batav. 1740, in +8 vo. + 2. Syntagma Antiquitatum Romanam Jurisprudentiam +illustrantium, 2 vols. in 8 vo. Traject. ad Rhenum. + + 3. Elementa Juris Civilis secundum Ordinem Institutionum, +Lugd. Bat. 1751, in 8 vo. + + 4. Elementa J. C. secundum Ordinem Pandectarum Traject. +1772, in 8vo. 2 vols. + + Note: Our author, who was not a lawyer, was necessarily +obliged to content himself with following the opinions of those +writers who were then of the greatest authority; but as +Heineccius, notwithstanding his high reputation for the study of +the Roman law, knew nothing of the subject on which he treated, +but what he had learned from the compilations of various authors, +it happened that, in following the sometimes rash opinions of +these guides, Gibbon has fallen into many errors, which we shall +endeavor in succession to correct. + + The work of Bach on the History of the Roman Jurisprudence, +with which Gibbon was not acquainted, is far superior to that of +Heineccius and since that time we have new obligations to the +modern historic civilians, whose indefatigable researches have +greatly enlarged the sphere of our knowledge in this important +branch of history. We want a pen like that of Gibbon to give to +the more accurate notions which we have acquired since his time, +the brilliancy, the vigor, and the animation which Gibbon has +bestowed on the opinions of Heineccius and his contemporaries. - +W] + +[Footnote 5: Our original text is a fragment de Origine Juris +(Pandect. l. i. tit. ii.) of Pomponius, a Roman lawyer, who lived +under the Antonines, (Heinecc. tom. iii. syl. iii. p. 66 - 126.) +It has been abridged, and probably corrupted, by Tribonian, and +since restored by Bynkershoek (Opp. tom. i. p. 279 - 304.)] + + The primitive government of Rome ^6 was composed, with some +political skill, of an elective king, a council of nobles, and a +general assembly of the people. War and religion were +administered by the supreme magistrate; and he alone proposed the +laws, which were debated in the senate, and finally ratified or +rejected by a majority of votes in the thirty curiae or parishes +of the city. Romulus, Numa, and Servius Tullius, are celebrated +as the most ancient legislators; and each of them claims his +peculiar part in the threefold division of jurisprudence. ^7 The +laws of marriage, the education of children, and the authority of +parents, which may seem to draw their origin from nature itself, +are ascribed to the untutored wisdom of Romulus. The law of +nations and of religious worship, which Numa introduced, was +derived from his nocturnal converse with the nymph Egeria. The +civil law is attributed to the experience of Servius: he balanced +the rights and fortunes of the seven classes of citizens; and +guarded, by fifty new regulations, the observance of contracts +and the punishment of crimes. The state, which he had inclined +towards a democracy, was changed by the last Tarquin into a +lawless despotism; and when the kingly office was abolished, the +patricians engrossed the benefits of freedom. The royal laws +became odious or obsolete; the mysterious deposit was silently +preserved by the priests and nobles; and at the end of sixty +years, the citizens of Rome still complained that they were ruled +by the arbitrary sentence of the magistrates. Yet the positive +institutions of the kings had blended themselves with the public +and private manners of the city, some fragments of that venerable +jurisprudence ^8 were compiled by the diligence of antiquarians, +^9 and above twenty texts still speak the rudeness of the +Pelasgic idiom of the Latins. ^10 + +[Footnote 6: The constitutional history of the kings of Rome may +be studied in the first book of Livy, and more copiously in +Dionysius Halicarnassensis, (l. li. p. 80 - 96, 119 - 130, l. iv. +p. 198 - 220,) who sometimes betrays the character of a +rhetorician and a Greek. + + Note: M. Warnkonig refers to the work of Beaufort, on the +Uncertainty of the Five First Ages of the Roman History, with +which Gibbon was probably acquainted, to Niebuhr, and to the less +known volume of Wachsmuth, "Aeltere Geschichte des Rom. Staats." +To these I would add A. W. Schlegel's Review of Niebuhr, and my +friend Dr. Arnold's recently published volume, of which the +chapter on the Law of the XII. Tables appears to me one of the +most valuable, if not the most valuable, chapter. - M.] + +[Footnote 7: This threefold division of the law was applied to +the three Roman kings by Justus Lipsius, (Opp. tom. iv. p. 279;) +is adopted by Gravina, (Origines Juris Civilis, p. 28, edit. +Lips. 1737:) and is reluctantly admitted by Mascou, his German +editor. + + Note: Whoever is acquainted with the real notions of the +Romans on the jus naturale, gentium et civile, cannot but +disapprove of this explanation which has no relation to them, and +might be taken for a pleasantry. It is certainly unnecessary to +increase the confusion which already prevails among modern +writers on the true sense of these ideas. Hugo. - W] +[Footnote 8: The most ancient Code or Digest was styled Jus +Papirianum, from the first compiler, Papirius, who flourished +somewhat before or after the Regifugium, (Pandect. l. i. tit. +ii.) The best judicial critics, even Bynkershoek (tom. i. p. 284, +285) and Heineccius, (Hist. J. C. R. l. i. c. 16, 17, and Opp. +tom. iii. sylloge iv. p. 1 - 8,) give credit to this tale of +Pomponius, without sufficiently adverting to the value and rarity +of such a monument of the third century, of the illiterate city. +I much suspect that the Caius Papirius, the Pontifex Maximus, who +revived the laws of Numa (Dionys. Hal. l. iii. p. 171) left only +an oral tradition; and that the Jus Papirianum of Granius Flaccus +(Pandect. l. L. tit. xvi. leg. 144) was not a commentary, but an +original work, compiled in the time of Caesar, (Censorin. de Die +Natali, l. iii. p. 13, Duker de Latinitate J. C. p. 154.) + Note: Niebuhr considers the Jus Papirianum, adduced by +Verrius Fiaccus, to be of undoubted authenticity. Rom. +Geschichte, l. 257. - M. Compare this with the work of M. Hugo. - +W.] + +[Footnote 9: A pompous, though feeble attempt to restore the +original, is made in the Histoire de la Jurisprudence Romaine of +Terasson, p. 22 - 72, Paris, 1750, in folio; a work of more +promise than performance.] + +[Footnote 10: In the year 1444, seven or eight tables of brass +were dug up between Cortona and Gubio. A part of these (for the +rest is Etruscan) represents the primitive state of the Pelasgic +letters and language, which are ascribed by Herodotus to that +district of Italy, (l. i. c. 56, 57, 58;) though this difficult +passage may be explained of a Crestona in Thrace, (Notes de +Larcher, tom. i. p. 256 - 261.) The savage dialect of the +Eugubine tables ^! has exercised, and may still elude, the +divination of criticism; but the root is undoubtedly Latin, of +the same age and character as the Saliare Carmen, which, in the +time of Horace, none could understand. The Roman idiom, by an +infusion of Doric and Aeolic Greek, was gradually ripened into +the style of the xii. tables, of the Duillian column, of Ennius, +of Terence, and of Cicero, (Gruter. Inscript. tom. i. p. cxlii. +Scipion Maffei, Istoria Diplomatica, p. 241 - 258. Bibliotheque +Italique, tom. iii. p. 30 - 41, 174 - 205. tom. xiv. p. 1 - 52.) + + Note: The Eugubine Tables have exercised the ingenuity of +the Italian and German critics; it seems admitted (O. Muller, die +Etrusker, ii. 313) that they are Tuscan. See the works of Lanzi, +Passeri, Dempster, and O. Muller. - M] + I shall not repeat the well-known story of the Decemvirs, +^11 who sullied by their actions the honor of inscribing on +brass, or wood, or ivory, the Twelve Tables of the Roman laws. +^12 They were dictated by the rigid and jealous spirit of an +aristocracy, which had yielded with reluctance to the just +demands of the people. But the substance of the Twelve Tables +was adapted to the state of the city; and the Romans had emerged +from Barbarism, since they were capable of studying and embracing +the institutions of their more enlightened neighbors. ^* A wise +Ephesian was driven by envy from his native country: before he +could reach the shores of Latium, he had observed the various +forms of human nature and civil society: he imparted his +knowledge to the legislators of Rome, and a statue was erected in +the forum to the perpetual memory of Hermodorus. ^13 The names +and divisions of the copper money, the sole coin of the infant +state, were of Dorian origin: ^14 the harvests of Campania and +Sicily relieved the wants of a people whose agriculture was often +interrupted by war and faction; and since the trade was +established, ^15 the deputies who sailed from the Tyber might +return from the same harbors with a more precious cargo of +political wisdom. The colonies of Great Greece had transported +and improved the arts of their mother country. Cumae and Rhegium, +Crotona and Tarentum, Agrigentum and Syracuse, were in the rank +of the most flourishing cities. The disciples of Pythagoras +applied philosophy to the use of government; the unwritten laws +of Charondas accepted the aid of poetry and music, ^16 and +Zaleucus framed the republic of the Locrians, which stood without +alteration above two hundred years. ^17 From a similar motive of +national pride, both Livy and Dionysius are willing to believe, +that the deputies of Rome visited Athens under the wise and +splendid administration of Pericles; and the laws of Solon were +transfused into the twelve tables. If such an embassy had indeed +been received from the Barbarians of Hesperia, the Roman name +would have been familiar to the Greeks before the reign of +Alexander; ^18 and the faintest evidence would have been explored +and celebrated by the curiosity of succeeding times. But the +Athenian monuments are silent; nor will it seem credible that the +patricians should undertake a long and perilous navigation to +copy the purest model of democracy. In the comparison of the +tables of Solon with those of the Decemvirs, some casual +resemblance may be found; some rules which nature and reason have +revealed to every society; some proofs of a common descent from +Egypt or Phoenicia. ^19 But in all the great lines of public and +private jurisprudence, the legislators of Rome and Athens appear +to be strangers or adverse at each other. + +[Footnote 11: Compare Livy (l. iii. c. 31 - 59) with Dionysius +Halicarnassensis, (l. x. p. 644 - xi. p. 691.) How concise and +animated is the Roman - how prolix and lifeless the Greek! Yet +he has admirably judged the masters, and defined the rules, of +historical composition.] +[Footnote 12: From the historians, Heineccius (Hist. J. R. l. i. +No. 26) maintains that the twelve tables were of brass - aereas; +in the text of Pomponius we read eboreas; for which Scaliger has +substituted roboreas, (Bynkershoek, p. 286.) Wood, brass, and +ivory, might be successively employed. + Note: Compare Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 349, &c. - M.] + +[Footnote *: Compare Niebuhr, 355, note 720. - M. It is a most +important question whether the twelve tables in fact include laws +imported from Greece. The negative opinion maintained by our +author, is now almost universally adopted, particularly by Mm. +Niebuhr, Hugo, and others. See my Institutiones Juris Romani +privati Leodii, 1819, p. 311, 312. - W. Dr. Arnold, p. 255, +seems to incline to the opposite opinion. Compare some just and +sensible observations in the Appendix to Mr. Travers Twiss's +Epitome of Niebuhr, p. 347, Oxford, 1836. - M.] + +[Footnote 13: His exile is mentioned by Cicero, (Tusculan. +Quaestion. v. 36; his statue by Pliny, (Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 11.) +The letter, dream, and prophecy of Heraclitus, are alike +spurious, (Epistolae Graec. Divers. p. 337. + Note: Compare Niebuhr, ii. 209. - M. See the Mem de +l'Academ. des Inscript. xxii. p. 48. It would be difficult to +disprove, that a certain Hermodorus had some share in framing the +Laws of the Twelve Tables. Pomponius even says that this +Hermodorus was the author of the last two tables. Pliny calls +him the Interpreter of the Decemvirs, which may lead us to +suppose that he labored with them in drawing up that law. But it +is astonishing that in his Dissertation, (De Hermodoro vero XII. +Tabularum Auctore, Annales Academiae Groninganae anni 1817, +1818,) M. Gratama has ventured to advance two propositions +entirely devoid of proof: "Decem priores tabulas ab ipsis Romanis +non esse profectas, tota confirma Decemviratus Historia," et +"Hermodorum legum decemviralium ceri nominis auctorem esse, qui +eas composuerit suis ordinibus, disposuerit, suaque fecerit +auctoritate, ut a decemviris reciperentur." This truly was an age +in which the Roman Patricians would allow their laws to be +dictated by a foreign Exile! Mr. Gratama does not attempt to +prove the authenticity of the supposititious letter of +Heraclitus. He contents himself with expressing his astonishment +that M. Bonamy (as well as Gibbon) will be receive it as genuine. +- W.] + +[Footnote 14: This intricate subject of the Sicilian and Roman +money, is ably discussed by Dr. Bentley, (Dissertation on the +Epistles of Phalaris, p. 427 - 479,) whose powers in this +controversy were called forth by honor and resentment.] + +[Footnote 15: The Romans, or their allies, sailed as far as the +fair promontory of Africa, (Polyb. l. iii. p. 177, edit. +Casaubon, in folio.) Their voyages to Cumae, &c., are noticed by +Livy and Dionysius.] +[Footnote 16: This circumstance would alone prove the antiquity +of Charondas, the legislator of Rhegium and Catana, who, by a +strange error of Diodorus Siculus (tom. i. l. xii. p. 485 - 492) +is celebrated long afterwards as the author of the policy of +Thurium.] + +[Footnote 17: Zaleucus, whose existence has been rashly attacked, +had the merit and glory of converting a band of outlaws (the +Locrians) into the most virtuous and orderly of the Greek +republics. (See two Memoirs of the Baron de St. Croix, sur la +Legislation de la Grande Grece Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xlii. p. +276 - 333.) But the laws of Zaleucus and Charondas, which imposed +on Diodorus and Stobaeus, are the spurious composition of a +Pythagorean sophist, whose fraud has been detected by the +critical sagacity of Bentley, p. 335 - 377.] + +[Footnote 18: I seize the opportunity of tracing the progress of +this national intercourse 1. Herodotus and Thucydides (A. U. C. +300 - 350) appear ignorant of the name and existence of Rome, +(Joseph. contra Appion tom. ii. l. i. c. 12, p. 444, edit. +Havercamp.) 2. Theopompus (A. U. C. 400, Plin. iii. 9) mentions +the invasion of the Gauls, which is noticed in looser terms by +Heraclides Ponticus, (Plutarch in Camillo, p. 292, edit. H. +Stephan.) 3. The real or fabulous embassy of the Romans to +Alexander (A. U. C. 430) is attested by Clitarchus, (Plin. iii. +9,) by Aristus and Asclepiades, (Arrian. l. vii. p. 294, 295,) +and by Memnon of Heraclea, (apud Photium, cod. ccxxiv. p. 725,) +though tacitly denied by Livy. 4. Theophrastus (A. U. C. 440) +primus externorum aliqua de Romanis diligentius scripsit, (Plin. +iii. 9.) 5. Lycophron (A. U. C. 480 - 500) scattered the first +seed of a Trojan colony and the fable of the Aeneid, (Cassandra, +1226 - 1280.) + +A bold prediction before the end of the first Punic war! + + Note: Compare Niebuhr throughout. Niebuhr has written a +dissertation (Kleine Schriften, i. p. 438,) arguing from this +prediction, and on the other conclusive grounds, that the +Lycophron, the author of the Cassandra, is not the Alexandrian +poet. He had been anticipated in this sagacious criticism, as he +afterwards discovered, by a writer of no less distinction than +Charles James Fox. - Letters to Wakefield. And likewise by the +author of the extraordinary translation of this poem, that most +promising scholar, Lord Royston. See the Remains of Lord +Royston, by the Rev. Henry Pepys, London, 1838.] + +[Footnote 19: The tenth table, de modo sepulturae, was borrowed +from Solon, (Cicero de Legibus, ii. 23 - 26:) the furtem per +lancem et licium conceptum, is derived by Heineccius from the +manners of Athens, (Antiquitat. Rom. tom. ii. p. 167 - 175.) The +right of killing a nocturnal thief was declared by Moses, Solon, +and the Decemvirs, (Exodus xxii. 3. Demosthenes contra +Timocratem, tom. i. p. 736, edit. Reiske. Macrob. Saturnalia, l. +i. c. 4. Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanatum, tit, vii. No. i. +p. 218, edit. Cannegieter.) + + Note: Are not the same points of similarity discovered in +the legislation of all actions in the infancy of their +civilization? - W.] + + +Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. + + +Part II. + + Whatever might be the origin or the merit of the twelve +tables, ^20 they obtained among the Romans that blind and partial +reverence which the lawyers of every country delight to bestow on +their municipal institutions. The study is recommended by Cicero +^21 as equally pleasant and instructive. "They amuse the mind by +the remembrance of old words and the portrait of ancient manners; +they inculcate the soundest principles of government and morals; +and I am not afraid to affirm, that the brief composition of the +Decemvirs surpasses in genuine value the libraries of Grecian +philosophy. How admirable," says Tully, with honest or affected +prejudice, "is the wisdom of our ancestors! We alone are the +masters of civil prudence, and our superiority is the more +conspicuous, if we deign to cast our eyes on the rude and almost +ridiculous jurisprudence of Draco, of Solon, and of Lycurgus." +The twelve tables were committed to the memory of the young and +the meditation of the old; they were transcribed and illustrated +with learned diligence; they had escaped the flames of the Gauls, +they subsisted in the age of Justinian, and their subsequent loss +has been imperfectly restored by the labors of modern critics. +^22 But although these venerable monuments were considered as the +rule of right and the fountain of justice, ^23 they were +overwhelmed by the weight and variety of new laws, which, at the +end of five centuries, became a grievance more intolerable than +the vices of the city. ^24 Three thousand brass plates, the acts +of the senate of the people, were deposited in the Capitol: ^25 +and some of the acts, as the Julian law against extortion, +surpassed the number of a hundred chapters. ^26 The Decemvirs had +neglected to import the sanction of Zaleucus, which so long +maintained the integrity of his republic. A Locrian, who +proposed any new law, stood forth in the assembly of the people +with a cord round his neck, and if the law was rejected, the +innovator was instantly strangled. + +[Footnote 20: It is the praise of Diodorus, tom. i. l. xii. p. +494,) which may be fairly translated by the eleganti atque +absoluta brevitate verborum of Aulus Gellius, (Noct. Attic. xxi. +1.)] + +[Footnote 21: Listen to Cicero (de Legibus, ii. 23) and his +representative Crassus, (de Oratore, i. 43, 44.)] + +[Footnote 22: See Heineccius, (Hist. J. R. No. 29 - 33.) I have +followed the restoration of the xii. tables by Gravina (Origines +J. C. p. 280 - 307) and Terrasson, (Hist. de la Jurisprudence +Romaine, p. 94 - 205.) + Note: The wish expressed by Warnkonig, that the text and the +conjectural emendations on the fragments of the xii. tables +should be submitted to rigid criticism, has been fulfilled by +Dirksen, Uebersicht der bisherigen Versuche Leipzig Kritik und +Herstellung des Textes der Zwolf-Tafel-Fragmente, Leipzug, 1824. +- M.] + +[Footnote 23: Finis aequi juris, (Tacit. Annal. iii. 27.) Fons +omnis publici et privati juris, (T. Liv. iii. 34.) + + Note: From the context of the phrase in Tacitus, "Nam +secutae leges etsi alquando in maleficos ex delicto; saepius +tamen dissensione ordinum * * * latae sunt," it is clear that +Gibbon has rendered this sentence incorrectly. Hugo, Hist. p. 62. +- M.] + +[Footnote 24: De principiis juris, et quibus modis ad hanc +multitudinem infinitam ac varietatem legum perventum sit altius +disseram, (Tacit. Annal. iii. 25.) This deep disquisition fills +only two pages, but they are the pages of Tacitus. With equal +sense, but with less energy, Livy (iii. 34) had complained, in +hoc immenso aliarum super alias acervatarum legum cumulo, &c.] +[Footnote 25: Suetonius in Vespasiano, c. 8.] + +[Footnote 26: Cicero ad Familiares, viii. 8.] + + The Decemvirs had been named, and their tables were +approved, by an assembly of the centuries, in which riches +preponderated against numbers. To the first class of Romans, the +proprietors of one hundred thousand pounds of copper, ^27 +ninety-eight votes were assigned, and only ninety-five were left +for the six inferior classes, distributed according to their +substance by the artful policy of Servius. But the tribunes soon +established a more specious and popular maxim, that every citizen +has an equal right to enact the laws which he is bound to obey. +Instead of the centuries, they convened the tribes; and the +patricians, after an impotent struggle, submitted to the decrees +of an assembly, in which their votes were confounded with those +of the meanest plebeians. Yet as long as the tribes successively +passed over narrow bridges ^28 and gave their voices aloud, the +conduct of each citizen was exposed to the eyes and ears of his +friends and countrymen. The insolvent debtor consulted the +wishes of his creditor; the client would have blushed to oppose +the views of his patron; the general was followed by his +veterans, and the aspect of a grave magistrate was a living +lesson to the multitude. A new method of secret ballot abolished +the influence of fear and shame, of honor and interest, and the +abuse of freedom accelerated the progress of anarchy and +despotism. ^29 The Romans had aspired to be equal; they were +levelled by the equality of servitude; and the dictates of +Augustus were patiently ratified by the formal consent of the +tribes or centuries. Once, and once only, he experienced a +sincere and strenuous opposition. His subjects had resigned all +political liberty; they defended the freedom of domestic life. A +law which enforced the obligation, and strengthened the bonds of +marriage, was clamorously rejected; Propertius, in the arms of +Delia, applauded the victory of licentious love; and the project +of reform was suspended till a new and more tractable generation +had arisen in the world. ^30 Such an example was not necessary to +instruct a prudent usurper of the mischief of popular assemblies; +and their abolition, which Augustus had silently prepared, was +accomplished without resistance, and almost without notice, on +the accession of his successor. ^31 Sixty thousand plebeian +legislators, whom numbers made formidable, and poverty secure, +were supplanted by six hundred senators, who held their honors, +their fortunes, and their lives, by the clemency of the emperor. +The loss of executive power was alleviated by the gift of +legislative authority; and Ulpian might assert, after the +practice of two hundred years, that the decrees of the senate +obtained the force and validity of laws. In the times of +freedom, the resolves of the people had often been dictated by +the passion or error of the moment: the Cornelian, Pompeian, and +Julian laws were adapted by a single hand to the prevailing +disorders; but the senate, under the reign of the Caesars, was +composed of magistrates and lawyers, and in questions of private +jurisprudence, the integrity of their judgment was seldom +perverted by fear or interest. ^32 + +[Footnote 27: Dionysius, with Arbuthnot, and most of the moderns, +(except Eisenschmidt de Ponderibus, &c., p. 137 - 140,) represent +the 100,000 asses by 10,000 Attic drachmae, or somewhat more than +300 pounds sterling. But their calculation can apply only to the +latter times, when the as was diminished to 1-24th of its ancient +weight: nor can I believe that in the first ages, however +destitute of the precious metals, a single ounce of silver could +have been exchanged for seventy pounds of copper or brass. A +more simple and rational method is to value the copper itself +according to the present rate, and, after comparing the mint and +the market price, the Roman and avoirdupois weight, the primitive +as or Roman pound of copper may be appreciated at one English +shilling, and the 100,000 asses of the first class amounted to +5000 pounds sterling. It will appear from the same reckoning, +that an ox was sold at Rome for five pounds, a sheep for ten +shillings, and a quarter of wheat for one pound ten shillings, +(Festus, p. 330, edit. Dacier. Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii. 4:) nor +do I see any reason to reject these consequences, which moderate +our ideas of the poverty of the first Romans. + + Note: Compare Niebuhr, English translation, vol. i. p. 448, +&c. - M.] +[Footnote 28: Consult the common writers on the Roman Comitia, +especially Sigonius and Beaufort. Spanheim (de Praestantia et +Usu Numismatum, tom. ii. dissert. x. p. 192, 193) shows, on a +curious medal, the Cista, Pontes, Septa, Diribitor, &c.] + +[Footnote 29: Cicero (de Legibus, iii. 16, 17, 18) debates this +constitutional question, and assigns to his brother Quintus the +most unpopular side.] +[Footnote 30: Prae tumultu recusantium perferre non potuit, +(Sueton. in August. c. 34.) See Propertius, l. ii. eleg. 6. +Heineccius, in a separate history, has exhausted the whole +subject of the Julian and Papian Poppaean laws, (Opp. tom. vii. +P. i. p. 1 - 479.)] + +[Footnote 31: Tacit. Annal. i. 15. Lipsius, Excursus E. in +Tacitum. + Note: This error of Gibbon has been long detected. The +senate, under Tiberius did indeed elect the magistrates, who +before that emperor were elected in the comitia. But we find +laws enacted by the people during his reign, and that of +Claudius. For example; the Julia-Norbana, Vellea, and Claudia de +tutela foeminarum. Compare the Hist. du Droit Romain, by M. +Hugo, vol. ii. p. 55, 57. The comitia ceased imperceptibly as +the republic gradually expired. - W.] + +[Footnote 32: Non ambigitur senatum jus facere posse, is the +decision of Ulpian, (l. xvi. ad Edict. in Pandect. l. i. tit. +iii. leg. 9.) Pomponius taxes the comitia of the people as a +turba hominum, (Pandect. l. i. tit. ii. leg 9.) + + Note: The author adopts the opinion, that under the emperors +alone the senate had a share in the legislative power. They had +nevertheless participated in it under the Republic, since +senatus-consulta relating to civil rights have been preserved, +which are much earlier than the reigns of Augustus or Tiberius. +It is true that, under the emperors, the senate exercised this +right more frequently, and that the assemblies of the people had +become much more rare, though in law they were still permitted, +in the time of Ulpian. (See the fragments of Ulpian.) Bach has +clearly demonstrated that the senate had the same power in the +time of the Republic. It is natural that the senatus-consulta +should have been more frequent under the emperors, because they +employed those means of flattering the pride of the senators, by +granting them the right of deliberating on all affairs which did +not intrench on the Imperial power. Compare the discussions of +M. Hugo, vol. i. p. 284, et seq. - W.] + + The silence or ambiguity of the laws was supplied by the +occasional edicts ^! of those magistrates who were invested with +the honors of the state. ^33 This ancient prerogative of the +Roman kings was transferred, in their respective offices, to the +consuls and dictators, the censors and praetors; and a similar +right was assumed by the tribunes of the people, the ediles, and +the proconsuls. At Rome, and in the provinces, the duties of the +subject, and the intentions of the governor, were proclaimed; and +the civil jurisprudence was reformed by the annual edicts of the +supreme judge, the praetor of the city. ^* As soon as he ascended +his tribunal, he announced by the voice of the crier, and +afterwards inscribed on a white wall, the rules which he proposed +to follow in the decision of doubtful cases, and the relief which +his equity would afford from the precise rigor of ancient +statutes. A principle of discretion more congenial to monarchy +was introduced into the republic: the art of respecting the name, +and eluding the efficacy, of the laws, was improved by successive +praetors; subtleties and fictions were invented to defeat the +plainest meaning of the Decemvirs, and where the end was +salutary, the means were frequently absurd. The secret or +probable wish of the dead was suffered to prevail over the order +of succession and the forms of testaments; and the claimant, who +was excluded from the character of heir, accepted with equal +pleasure from an indulgent praetor the possession of the goods of +his late kinsman or benefactor. In the redress of private +wrongs, compensations and fines were substituted to the obsolete +rigor of the Twelve Tables; time and space were annihilated by +fanciful suppositions; and the plea of youth, or fraud, or +violence, annulled the obligation, or excused the performance, of +an inconvenient contract. A jurisdiction thus vague and +arbitrary was exposed to the most dangerous abuse: the substance, +as well as the form, of justice were often sacrificed to the +prejudices of virtue, the bias of laudable affection, and the +grosser seductions of interest or resentment. But the errors or +vices of each praetor expired with his annual office; such maxims +alone as had been approved by reason and practice were copied by +succeeding judges; the rule of proceeding was defined by the +solution of new cases; and the temptations of injustice were +removed by the Cornelian law, which compelled the praetor of the +year to adhere to the spirit and letter of his first +proclamation. ^34 It was reserved for the curiosity and learning +of Adrian, to accomplish the design which had been conceived by +the genius of Caesar; and the praetorship of Salvius Julian, an +eminent lawyer, was immortalized by the composition of the +Perpetual Edict. This well-digested code was ratified by the +emperor and the senate; the long divorce of law and equity was at +length reconciled; and, instead of the Twelve Tables, the +perpetual edict was fixed as the invariable standard of civil +jurisprudence. ^35 + +[Footnote !: There is a curious passage from Aurelius, a writer +on Law, on the Praetorian Praefect, quoted in Lydus de +Magistratibus, p. 32, edit. Hase. The Praetorian praefect was to +the emperor what the master of the horse was to the dictator +under the Republic. He was the delegate, therefore, of the full +Imperial authority; and no appeal could be made or exception +taken against his edicts. I had not observed this passage, when +the third volume, where it would have been more appropriately +placed, passed through the press. - M] +[Footnote 33: The jus honorarium of the praetors and other +magistrates is strictly defined in the Latin text to the +Institutes, (l. i. tit. ii. No. 7,) and more loosely explained in +the Greek paraphrase of Theophilus, (p. 33 - 38, edit. Reitz,) +who drops the important word honorarium. + + Note: The author here follows the opinion of Heineccius, +who, according to the idea of his master Thomasius, was unwilling +to suppose that magistrates exercising a judicial could share in +the legislative power. For this reason he represents the edicts +of the praetors as absurd. (See his work, Historia Juris Romani, +69, 74.) But Heineccius had altogether a false notion of this +important institution of the Romans, to which we owe in a great +degree the perfection of their jurisprudence. Heineccius, +therefore, in his own days had many opponents of his system, +among others the celebrated Ritter, professor at Wittemberg, who +contested it in notes appended to the work of Heineccius, and +retained in all subsequent editions of that book. After Ritter, +the learned Bach undertook to vindicate the edicts of the +praetors in his Historia Jurisprud. Rom. edit. 6, p. 218, 224. +But it remained for a civilian of our own days to throw light on +the spirit and true character of this institution. M. Hugo has +completely demonstrated that the praetorian edicts furnished the +salutary means of perpetually harmonizing the legislation with +the spirit of the times. The praetors were the true organs of +public opinion. It was not according to their caprice that they +framed their regulations, but according to the manners and to the +opinions of the great civil lawyers of their day. We know from +Cicero himself, that it was esteemed a great honor among the +Romans to publish an edict, well conceived and well drawn. The +most distinguished lawyers of Rome were invited by the praetor to +assist in framing this annual law, which, according to its +principle, was only a declaration which the praetor made to the +public, to announce the manner in which he would judge, and to +guard against every charge of partiality. Those who had reason +to fear his opinions might delay their cause till the following +year. + The praetor was responsible for all the faults which he +committed. The tribunes could lodge an accusation against the +praetor who issued a partial edict. He was bound strictly to +follow and to observe the regulations published by him at the +commencement of his year of office, according to the Cornelian +law, by which these edicts were called perpetual, and he could +make no change in a regulation once published. The praetor was +obliged to submit to his own edict, and to judge his own affairs +according to its provisions. These magistrates had no power of +departing from the fundamental laws, or the laws of the Twelve +Tables. The people held them in such consideration, that they +rarely enacted laws contrary to their provisions; but as some +provisions were found inefficient, others opposed to the manners +of the people, and to the spirit of subsequent ages, the +praetors, still maintaining respect for the laws, endeavored to +bring them into accordance with the necessities of the existing +time, by such fictions as best suited the nature of the case. In +what legislation do we not find these fictions, which even yet +exist, absurd and ridiculous as they are, among the ancient laws +of modern nations? These always variable edicts at length +comprehended the whole of the Roman legislature, and became the +subject of the commentaries of the most celebrated lawyers. They +must therefore be considered as the basis of all the Roman +jurisprudence comprehended in the Digest of Justinian. + + It is in this sense that M. Schrader has written on this +important institution, proposing it for imitation as far as may +be consistent with our manners, and agreeable to our political +institutions, in order to avoid immature legislation becoming a +permanent evil. See the History of the Roman Law by M. Hugo, +vol. i. p. 296, &c., vol. ii. p. 30, et seq., 78. et seq., and +the note in my elementary book on the Industries, p. 313. With +regard to the works best suited to give information on the +framing and the form of these edicts, see Haubold, Institutiones +Literariae, tom. i. p. 321, 368. + All that Heineccius says about the usurpation of the right +of making these edicts by the praetors is false, and contrary to +all historical testimony. A multitude of authorities proves that +the magistrates were under an obligation to publish these edicts. +- W. + + With the utmost deference for these excellent civilians, I +cannot but consider this confusion of the judicial and +legislative authority as a very perilous constitutional +precedent. It might answer among a people so singularly trained +as the Romans were by habit and national character in reverence +for legal institutions, so as to be an aristocracy, if not a +people, of legislators; but in most nations the investiture of a +magistrate in such authority, leaving to his sole judgment the +lawyers he might consult, and the view of public opinion which he +might take, would be a very insufficient guaranty for right +legislation. - M.] + +[Footnote *: Compare throughout the brief but admirable sketch of +the progress and growth of the Roman jurisprudence, the necessary +operation of the jusgentium, when Rome became the sovereign of +nations, upon the jus civile of the citizens of Rome, in the +first chapter of Savigny. Geschichte des Romischen Rechts im +Mittelalter. - M.] + +[Footnote 34: Dion Cassius (tom. i. l. xxxvi. p. 100) fixes the +perpetual edicts in the year of Rome, 686. Their institution, +however, is ascribed to the year 585 in the Acta Diurna, which +have been published from the papers of Ludovicus Vives. Their +authenticity is supported or allowed by Pighius, (Annal. Rom. +tom. ii. p. 377, 378,) Graevius, (ad Sueton. p. 778,) Dodwell, +(Praelection. Cambden, p. 665,) and Heineccius: but a single +word, Scutum Cimbricum, detects the forgery, (Moyle's Works, vol. +i. p. 303.)] +[Footnote 35: The history of edicts is composed, and the text of +the perpetual edict is restored, by the master-hand of +Heineccius, (Opp. tom. vii. P. ii. p. 1 - 564;) in whose +researches I might safely acquiesce. In the Academy of +Inscriptions, M. Bouchaud has given a series of memoirs to this +interesting subject of law and literature. + + Note: This restoration was only the commencement of a work +found among the papers of Heineccius, and published after his +death. - G.] + Note: Gibbon has here fallen into an error, with Heineccius, +and almost the whole literary world, concerning the real meaning +of what is called the perpetual edict of Hadrian. Since the +Cornelian law, the edicts were perpetual, but only in this sense, +that the praetor could not change them during the year of his +magistracy. And although it appears that under Hadrian, the +civilian Julianus made, or assisted in making, a complete +collection of the edicts, (which certainly had been done likewise +before Hadrian, for example, by Ofilius, qui diligenter edictum +composuit,) we have no sufficient proof to admit the common +opinion, that the Praetorian edict was declared perpetually +unalterable by Hadrian. The writers on law subsequent to Hadrian +(and among the rest Pomponius, in his Summary of the Roman +Jurisprudence) speak of the edict as it existed in the time of +Cicero. They would not certainly have passed over in silence so +remarkable a change in the most important source of the civil +law. M. Hugo has conclusively shown that the various passages in +authors, like Eutropius, are not sufficient to establish the +opinion introduced by Heineccius. Compare Hugo, vol. ii. p. 78. +A new proof of this is found in the Institutes of Gaius, who, in +the first books of his work, expresses himself in the same +manner, without mentioning any change made by Hadrian. +Nevertheless, if it had taken place, he must have noticed it, as +he does l. i. 8, the responsa prudentum, on the occasion of a +rescript of Hadrian. There is no lacuna in the text. Why then +should Gaius maintain silence concerning an innovation so much +more important than that of which he speaks? After all, this +question becomes of slight interest, since, in fact, we find no +change in the perpetual edict inserted in the Digest, from the +time of Hadrian to the end of that epoch, except that made by +Julian, (compare Hugo, l. c.) The latter lawyers appear to +follow, in their commentaries, the same texts as their +predecessors. It is natural to suppose, that, after the labors +of so many men distinguished in jurisprudence, the framing of the +edict must have attained such perfection that it would have been +difficult to have made any innovation. We nowhere find that the +jurists of the Pandects disputed concerning the words, or the +drawing up of the edict. + What difference would, in fact, result from this with regard +to our codes, and our modern legislation? Compare the learned +Dissertation of M. Biener, De Salvii Juliani meritis in Edictum +Praetorium recte aestimandis. Lipsae, 1809, 4to. - W.] + + From Augustus to Trajan, the modest Caesars were content to +promulgate their edicts in the various characters of a Roman +magistrate; ^* and, in the decrees of the senate, the epistles +and orations of the prince were respectfully inserted. Adrian +^36 appears to have been the first who assumed, without disguise, +the plenitude of legislative power. And this innovation, so +agreeable to his active mind, was countenanced by the patience of +the times, and his long absence from the seat of government. The +same policy was embraced by succeeding monarchs, and, according +to the harsh metaphor of Tertullian, "the gloomy and intricate +forest of ancient laws was cleared away by the axe of royal +mandates and constitutions." ^37 During four centuries, from +Adrian to Justinian the public and private jurisprudence was +moulded by the will of the sovereign; and few institutions, +either human or divine, were permitted to stand on their former +basis. The origin of Imperial legislation was concealed by the +darkness of ages and the terrors of armed despotism; and a double +tiction was propagated by the servility, or perhaps the +ignorance, of the civilians, who basked in the sunshine of the +Roman and Byzantine courts. 1. To the prayer of the ancient +Caesars, the people or the senate had sometimes granted a +personal exemption from the obligation and penalty of particular +statutes; and each indulgence was an act of jurisdiction +exercised by the republic over the first of her citizens. His +humble privilege was at length transformed into the prerogative +of a tyrant; and the Latin expression of "released from the laws" +^38 was supposed to exalt the emperor above all human restraints, +and to leave his conscience and reason as the sacred measure of +his conduct. 2. A similar dependence was implied in the decrees +of the senate, which, in every reign, defined the titles and +powers of an elective magistrate. But it was not before the +ideas, and even the language, of the Romans had been corrupted, +that a royal law, ^39 and an irrevocable gift of the people, were +created by the fancy of Ulpian, or more probably of Tribonian +himself; ^40 and the origin of Imperial power, though false in +fact, and slavish in its consequence, was supported on a +principle of freedom and justice. "The pleasure of the emperor +has the vigor and effect of law, since the Roman people, by the +royal law, have transferred to their prince the full extent of +their own power and sovereignty." ^41 The will of a single man, +of a child perhaps, was allowed to prevail over the wisdom of +ages and the inclinations of millions; and the degenerate Greeks +were proud to declare, that in his hands alone the arbitrary +exercise of legislation could be safely deposited. "What +interest or passion," exclaims Theophilus in the court of +Justinian, "can reach the calm and sublime elevation of the +monarch? He is already master of the lives and fortunes of his +subjects; and those who have incurred his displeasure are already +numbered with the dead." ^42 Disdaining the language of flattery, +the historian may confess, that in questions of private +jurisprudence, the absolute sovereign of a great empire can +seldom be influenced by any personal considerations. Virtue, or +even reason, will suggest to his impartial mind, that he is the +guardian of peace and equity, and that the interest of society is +inseparably connected with his own. Under the weakest and most +vicious reign, the seat of justice was filled by the wisdom and +integrity of Papinian and Ulpian; ^43 and the purest materials of +the Code and Pandects are inscribed with the names of Caracalla +and his ministers. ^44 The tyrant of Rome was sometimes the +benefactor of the provinces. A dagger terminated the crimes of +Domitian; but the prudence of Nerva confirmed his acts, which, in +the joy of their deliverance, had been rescinded by an indignant +senate. ^45 Yet in the rescripts, ^46 replies to the +consultations of the magistrates, the wisest of princes might be +deceived by a partial exposition of the case. And this abuse, +which placed their hasty decisions on the same level with mature +and deliberate acts of legislation, was ineffectually condemned +by the sense and example of Trajan. The rescripts of the +emperor, his grants and decrees, his edicts and pragmatic +sanctions, were subscribed in purple ink, ^47 and transmitted to +the provinces as general or special laws, which the magistrates +were bound to execute, and the people to obey. But as their +number continually multiplied, the rule of obedience became each +day more doubtful and obscure, till the will of the sovereign was +fixed and ascertained in the Gregorian, the Hermogenian, and the +Theodosian codes. ^* The two first, of which some fragments have +escaped, were framed by two private lawyers, to preserve the +constitutions of the Pagan emperors from Adrian to Constantine. +The third, which is still extant, was digested in sixteen books +by the order of the younger Theodosius to consecrate the laws of +the Christian princes from Constantine to his own reign. But the +three codes obtained an equal authority in the tribunals; and any +act which was not included in the sacred deposit might be +disregarded by the judge as epurious or obsolete. ^48 + +[Footnote *: It is an important question in what manner the +emperors were invested with this legislative power. The newly +discovered Gaius distinctly states that it was in virtue of a law +- Nec unquam dubitatum est, quin id legis vicem obtineat, cum +ipse imperator per legem imperium accipiat. But it is still +uncertain whether this was a general law, passed on the +transition of the government from a republican to a monarchical +form, or a law passed on the accession of each emperor. Compare +Hugo, Hist. du Droit Romain, (French translation,) vol. ii. p. 8. +- M.] + +[Footnote 36: His laws are the first in the code. See Dodwell, +(Praelect. Cambden, p. 319 - 340,) who wanders from the subject +in confused reading and feeble paradox. + + Note: This is again an error which Gibbon shares with +Heineccius, and the generality of authors. It arises from having +mistaken the insignificant edict of Hadrian, inserted in the Code +of Justinian, (lib. vi, tit. xxiii. c. 11,) for the first +constitutio principis, without attending to the fact, that the +Pandects contain so many constitutions of the emperors, from +Julius Caesar, (see l. i. Digest 29, l) M. Hugo justly observes, +that the acta of Sylla, approved by the senate, were the same +thing with the constitutions of those who after him usurped the +sovereign power. Moreover, we find that Pliny, and other ancient +authors, report a multitude of rescripts of the emperors from the +time of Augustus. See Hugo, Hist. du Droit Romain, vol. ii. p. +24-27. - W.] + +[Footnote 37: Totam illam veterem et squalentem sylvam legum +novis principalium rescriptorum et edictorum securibus truncatis +et caeditis; (Apologet. c. 4, p. 50, edit. Havercamp.) He +proceeds to praise the recent firmness of Severus, who repealed +the useless or pernicious laws, without any regard to their age +or authority.] + +[Footnote 38: The constitutional style of Legibus Solutus is +misinterpreted by the art or ignorance of Dion Cassius, (tom. i. +l. liii. p. 713.) On this occasion, his editor, Reimer, joins the +universal censure which freedom and criticism have pronounced +against that slavish historian.] +[Footnote 39: The word (Lex Regia) was still more recent than the +thing. The slaves of Commodus or Caracalla would have started at +the name of royalty. + Note: Yet a century before, Domitian was called not only by +Martial but even in public documents, Dominus et Deus Noster. +Sueton. Domit. cap. 13. Hugo. - W.] + +[Footnote 40: See Gravina (Opp. p. 501 - 512) and Beaufort, +(Republique Romaine, tom. i. p. 255 - 274.) He has made a proper +use of two dissertations by John Frederic Gronovius and Noodt, +both translated, with valuable notes, by Barbeyrac, 2 vols. in +12mo. 1731.] + +[Footnote 41: Institut. l. i. tit. ii. No. 6. Pandect. l. i. +tit. iv. leg. 1. Cod. Justinian, l. i. tit. xvii. leg. 1, No. 7. +In his Antiquities and Elements, Heineccius has amply treated de +constitutionibus principum, which are illustrated by Godefroy +(Comment. ad Cod. Theodos. l. i. tit. i. ii. iii.) and Gravina, +(p. 87 - 90.) + + Note: Gaius asserts that the Imperial edict or rescript has +and always had, the force of law, because the Imperial authority +rests upon law. Constitutio principis est, quod imperator decreto +vel edicto, vel epistola constituit, nee unquam dubitatum, quin +id legis, vicem obtineat, cum ipse imperator per legem imperium +accipiat. Gaius, 6 Instit. i. 2. - M.] +[Footnote 42: Theophilus, in Paraphras. Graec. Institut. p. 33, +34, edit. Reitz For his person, time, writings, see the +Theophilus of J. H. Mylius, Excurs. iii. p. 1034 - 1073.] + +[Footnote 43: There is more envy than reason in the complaint of +Macrinus (Jul. Capitolin. c. 13:) Nefas esse leges videri Commodi +et Caracalla at hominum imperitorum voluntates. Commodus was +made a Divus by Severus, (Dodwell, Praelect. viii. p. 324, 325.) +Yet he occurs only twice in the Pandects.] + +[Footnote 44: Of Antoninus Caracalla alone 200 constitutions are +extant in the Code, and with his father 160. These two princes +are quoted fifty times in the Pandects, and eight in the +Institutes, (Terasson, p. 265.)] +[Footnote 45: Plin. Secund. Epistol. x. 66. Sueton. in Domitian. +c. 23.] +[Footnote 46: It was a maxim of Constantine, contra jus rescripta +non valeant, (Cod. Theodos. l. i. tit. ii. leg. 1.) The emperors +reluctantly allow some scrutiny into the law and the fact, some +delay, petition, &c.; but these insufficient remedies are too +much in the discretion and at the peril of the judge.] + +[Footnote 47: A compound of vermilion and cinnabar, which marks +the Imperial diplomas from Leo I. (A.D. 470) to the fall of the +Greek empire, (Bibliotheque Raisonnee de la Diplomatique, tom. i. +p. 504 - 515 Lami, de Eruditione Apostolorum, tom. ii. p. 720 - +726.)] + +[Footnote *: Savigny states the following as the authorities for +the Roman law at the commencement of the fifth century: - + + 1. The writings of the jurists, according to the regulations +of the Constitution of Valentinian III., first promulgated in the +West, but by its admission into the Theodosian Code established +likewise in the East. (This Constitution established the +authority of the five great jurists, Papinian, Paulus, Caius, +Ulpian, and Modestinus as interpreters of the ancient law. * * * +In case of difference of opinion among these five, a majority +decided the case; where they were equal, the opinion of Papinian, +where he was silent, the judge; but see p. 40, and Hugo, vol. ii. +p. 89.) + +2. The Gregorian and Hermogenian Collection of the Imperial +Rescripts. +3. The Code of Theodosius II. + + 4. The particular Novellae, as additions and Supplements to +this Code Savigny. vol. i. p 10. - M.] + +[Footnote 48: Schulting, Jurisprudentia Ante-Justinianea, p. 681 +- 718. Cujacius assigned to Gregory the reigns from Hadrian to +Gallienus. and the continuation to his fellow-laborer Hermogenes. + +This general division may be just, but they often trespassed on +each other's ground] + + +Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. + + +Part III. + + Among savage nations, the want of letters is imperfectly +supplied by the use of visible signs, which awaken attention, and +perpetuate the remembrance of any public or private transaction. +The jurisprudence of the first Romans exhibited the scenes of a +pantomime; the words were adapted to the gestures, and the +slightest error or neglect in the forms of proceeding was +sufficient to annul the substance of the fairest claim. The +communion of the marriage- life was denoted by the necessary +elements of fire and water; ^49 and the divorced wife resigned +the bunch of keys, by the delivery of which she had been invested +with the government of the family. The manumission of a son, or +a slave, was performed by turning him round with a gentle blow on +the cheek; a work was prohibited by the casting of a stone; +prescription was interrupted by the breaking of a branch; the +clinched fist was the symbol of a pledge or deposit; the right +hand was the gift of faith and confidence. The indenture of +covenants was a broken straw; weights and scales were introduced +into every payment, and the heir who accepted a testament was +sometimes obliged to snap his fingers, to cast away his garments, +and to leap or dance with real or affected transport. ^50 If a +citizen pursued any stolen goods into a neighbor's house, he +concealed his nakedness with a linen towel, and hid his face with +a mask or basin, lest he should encounter the eyes of a virgin or +a matron. ^51 In a civil action the plaintiff touched the ear of +his witness, seized his reluctant adversary by the neck, and +implored, in solemn lamentation, the aid of his fellow-citizens. +The two competitors grasped each other's hand as if they stood +prepared for combat before the tribunal of the praetor; he +commanded them to produce the object of the dispute; they went, +they returned with measured steps, and a clod of earth was cast +at his feet to represent the field for which they contended. +This occult science of the words and actions of law was the +inheritance of the pontiffs and patricians. Like the Chaldean +astrologers, they announced to their clients the days of business +and repose; these important trifles were interwoven with the +religion of Numa; and after the publication of the Twelve Tables, +the Roman people was still enslaved by the ignorance of judicial +proceedings. The treachery of some plebeian officers at length +revealed the profitable mystery: in a more enlightened age, the +legal actions were derided and observed; and the same antiquity +which sanctified the practice, obliterated the use and meaning of +this primitive language. ^52 + +[Footnote 49: Scaevola, most probably Q. Cervidius Scaevola; the +master of Papinian considers this acceptance of fire and water as +the essence of marriage, (Pandect. l. xxiv. tit. 1, leg. 66. +See Heineccius, Hist. J. R. No. 317.)] + +[Footnote 50: Cicero (de Officiis, iii. 19) may state an ideal +case, but St. Am brose (de Officiis, iii. 2,) appeals to the +practice of his own times, which he understood as a lawyer and a +magistrate, (Schulting ad Ulpian, Fragment. tit. xxii. No. 28, p. +643, 644.) + + Note: In this passage the author has endeavored to collect +all the examples of judicial formularies which he could find. +That which he adduces as the form of cretio haereditatis is +absolutely false. It is sufficient to glance at the passage in +Cicero which he cites, to see that it has no relation to it. The +author appeals to the opinion of Schulting, who, in the passage +quoted, himself protests against the ridiculous and absurd +interpretation of the passage in Cicero, and observes that +Graevius had already well explained the real sense. See in Gaius +the form of cretio haereditatis Inst. l. ii. p. 166. - W.] + +[Footnote 51: The furtum lance licioque conceptum was no longer +understood in the time of the Antonines, (Aulus Gellius, xvi. +10.) The Attic derivation of Heineccius, (Antiquitat. Rom. l. iv. +tit. i. No. 13 - 21) is supported by the evidence of +Aristophanes, his scholiast, and Pollux. + + Note: Nothing more is known of this ceremony; nevertheless +we find that already in his own days Gaius turned it into +ridicule. He says, (lib. iii. et p. 192, Sections 293,) +prohibiti actio quadrupli ex edicto praetoris introducta est; lex +autem eo nomine nullam poenam constituit. Hoc solum praecepit, +ut qui quaerere velit, nudus quaerat, linteo cinctus, lancem +habens; qui si quid invenerit. jubet id lex furtum manifestum +esse. Quid sit autem linteum? quaesitum est. Sed verius est +consuti genus esse, quo necessariae partes tegerentur. Quare lex +tota ridicula est. Nam qui vestitum quaerere prohibet, is et +nudum quaerere prohibiturus est; eo magis, quod invenerit ibi +imponat, neutrum eorum procedit, si id quod quaeratur, ejus +magnitudinis aut naturae sit ut neque subjici, neque ibi imponi +possit. Certe non dubitatur, cujuscunque materiae sit ea lanx, +satis legi fieri. We see moreover, from this passage, that the +basin, as most authors, resting on the authority of Festus, have +supposed, was not used to cover the figure. - W. Gibbon says the +face, though equally inaccurately. This passage of Gaius, I must +observe, as well as others in M. Warnkonig's work, is very +inaccurately printed. - M.] + +[Footnote 52: In his Oration for Murena, (c. 9 - 13,) Cicero +turns into ridicule the forms and mysteries of the civilians, +which are represented with more candor by Aulus Gellius, (Noct. +Attic. xx. 10,) Gravina, (Opp p. 265, 266, 267,) and Heineccius, +(Antiquitat. l. iv. tit. vi.) + + Note: Gibbon had conceived opinions too decided against the +forms of procedure in use among the Romans. Yet it is on these +solemn forms that the certainty of laws has been founded among +all nations. Those of the Romans were very intimately allied +with the ancient religion, and must of necessity have disappeared +as Rome attained a higher degree of civilization. Have not +modern nations, even the most civilized, overloaded their laws +with a thousand forms, often absurd, almost always trivial? How +many examples are afforded by the English law! See, on the +nature of these forms, the work of M. de Savigny on the Vocation +of our Age for Legislation and Jurisprudence, Heidelberg, 1814, +p. 9, 10. - W. This work of M. Savigny has been translated into +English by Mr. Hayward. - M.] + + A more liberal art was cultivated, however, by the sage of +Rome, who, in a stricter sense, may be considered as the authors +of the civil law. The alteration of the idiom and manners of the +Romans rendered the style of the Twelve Tables less familiar to +each rising generation, and the doubtful passages were +imperfectly explained by the study of legal antiquarians. To +define the ambiguities, to circumscribe the latitude, to apply +the principles, to extend the consequences, to reconcile the real +or apparent contradictions, was a much nobler and more important +task; and the province of legislation was silently invaded by the +expounders of ancient statutes. Their subtle interpretations +concurred with the equity of the praetor, to reform the tyranny +of the darker ages: however strange or intricate the means, it +was the aim of artificial jurisprudence to restore the simple +dictates of nature and reason, and the skill of private citizens +was usefully employed to undermine the public institutions of +their country. ^! The revolution of almost one thousand years, +from the Twelve Tables to the reign of Justinian, may be divided +into three periods, almost equal in duration, and distinguished +from each other by the mode of instruction and the character of +the civilians. ^53 Pride and ignorance contributed, during the +first period, to confine within narrow limits the science of the +Roman law. On the public days of market or assembly, the masters +of the art were seen walking in the forum ready to impart the +needful advice to the meanest of their fellow-citizens, from +whose votes, on a future occasion, they might solicit a grateful +return. As their years and honors increased, they seated +themselves at home on a chair or throne, to expect with patient +gravity the visits of their clients, who at the dawn of day, from +the town and country, began to thunder at their door. The duties +of social life, and the incidents of judicial proceeding, were +the ordinary subject of these consultations, and the verbal or +written opinion of the juris-consults was framed according to the +rules of prudence and law. The youths of their own order and +family were permitted to listen; their children enjoyed the +benefit of more private lessons, and the Mucian race was long +renowned for the hereditary knowledge of the civil law. The +second period, the learned and splendid age of jurisprudence, may +be extended from the birth of Cicero to the reign of Severus +Alexander. A system was formed, schools were instituted, books +were composed, and both the living and the dead became +subservient to the instruction of the student. The tripartite of +Aelius Paetus, surnamed Catus, or the Cunning, was preserved as +the oldest work of Jurisprudence. Cato the censor derived some +additional fame from his legal studies, and those of his son: the +kindred appellation of Mucius Scaevola was illustrated by three +sages of the law; but the perfection of the science was ascribed +to Servius Sulpicius, their disciple, and the friend of Tully; +and the long succession, which shone with equal lustre under the +republic and under the Caesars, is finally closed by the +respectable characters of Papinian, of Paul, and of Ulpian. +Their names, and the various titles of their productions, have +been minutely preserved, and the example of Labeo may suggest +some idea of their diligence and fecundity. That eminent lawyer +of the Augustan age divided the year between the city and +country, between business and composition; and four hundred books +are enumerated as the fruit of his retirement. Of the collection +of his rival Capito, the two hundred and fifty-ninth book is +expressly quoted; and few teachers could deliver their opinions +in less than a century of volumes. In the third period, between +the reigns of Alexander and Justinian, the oracles of +jurisprudence were almost mute. The measure of curiosity had +been filled: the throne was occupied by tyrants and Barbarians, +the active spirits were diverted by religious disputes, and the +professors of Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus, were humbly +content to repeat the lessons of their more enlightened +predecessors. From the slow advances and rapid decay of these +legal studies, it may be inferred, that they require a state of +peace and refinement. From the multitude of voluminous civilians +who fill the intermediate space, it is evident that such studies +may be pursued, and such works may be performed, with a common +share of judgment, experience, and industry. The genius of +Cicero and Virgil was more sensibly felt, as each revolving age +had been found incapable of producing a similar or a second: but +the most eminent teachers of the law were assured of leaving +disciples equal or superior to themselves in merit and +reputation. + +[Footnote !: Compare, on the Responsa Prudentum, Warnkonig, +Histoire Externe du Droit Romain Bruxelles, 1836, p. 122. - M.] + +[Footnote 53: The series of the civil lawyers is deduced by +Pomponius, (de Origine Juris Pandect. l. i. tit. ii.) The moderns +have discussed, with learning and criticism, this branch of +literary history; and among these I have chiefly been guided by +Gravina (p. 41 - 79) and Hei neccius, (Hist. J. R. No. 113 - +351.) Cicero, more especially in his books de Oratore, de Claris +Oratoribus, de Legibus, and the Clavie Ciceroniana of Ernesti +(under the names of Mucius, &c.) afford much genuine and pleasing +information. Horace often alludes to the morning labors of the +civilians, (Serm. I. i. 10, Epist. II. i. 103, &c) + +Agricolam laudat juris legumque peritus Sub galli cantum, +consultor ubi ostia pulsat. + +- - - - - - - - + +Romae dulce diu fuit et solemne, reclusa Mane domo vigilare, +clienti promere jura. + + Note: It is particularly in this division of the history of +the Roman jurisprudence into epochs, that Gibbon displays his +profound knowledge of the laws of this people. M. Hugo, adopting +this division, prefaced these three periods with the history of +the times anterior to the Law of the Twelve Tables, which are, as +it were, the infancy of the Roman law. - W] + The jurisprudence which had been grossly adapted to the +wants of the first Romans, was polished and improved in the +seventh century of the city, by the alliance of Grecian +philosophy. The Scaevolas had been taught by use and experience; +but Servius Sulpicius ^* was the first civilian who established +his art on a certain and general theory. ^54 For the discernment +of truth and falsehood he applied, as an infallible rule, the +logic of Aristotle and the stoics, reduced particular cases to +general principles, and diffused over the shapeless mass the +light of order and eloquence. Cicero, his contemporary and +friend, declined the reputation of a professed lawyer; but the +jurisprudence of his country was adorned by his incomparable +genius, which converts into gold every object that it touches. +After the example of Plato, he composed a republic; and, for the +use of his republic, a treatise of laws; in which he labors to +deduce from a celestial origin the wisdom and justice of the +Roman constitution. The whole universe, according to his sublime +hypothesis, forms one immense commonwealth: gods and men, who +participate of the same essence, are members of the same +community; reason prescribes the law of nature and nations; and +all positive institutions, however modified by accident or +custom, are drawn from the rule of right, which the Deity has +inscribed on every virtuous mind. From these philosophical +mysteries, he mildly excludes the sceptics who refuse to believe, +and the epicureans who are unwilling to act. The latter disdain +the care of the republic: he advises them to slumber in their +shady gardens. But he humbly entreats that the new academy would +be silent, since her bold objections would too soon destroy the +fair and well ordered structure of his lofty system. ^55 Plato, +Aristotle, and Zeno, he represents as the only teachers who arm +and instruct a citizen for the duties of social life. Of these, +the armor of the stoics ^56 was found to be of the firmest +temper; and it was chiefly worn, both for use and ornament, in +the schools of jurisprudence. From the portico, the Roman +civilians learned to live, to reason, and to die: but they +imbibed in some degree the prejudices of the sect; the love of +paradox, the pertinacious habits of dispute, and a minute +attachment to words and verbal distinctions. The superiority of +form to matter was introduced to ascertain the right of property: +and the equality of crimes is countenanced by an opinion of +Trebatius, ^57 that he who touches the ear, touches the whole +body; and that he who steals from a heap of corn, or a hogshead +of wine, is guilty of the entire theft. ^58 + +[Footnote *: M. Hugo thinks that the ingenious system of the +Institutes adopted by a great number of the ancient lawyers, and +by Justinian himself, dates from Severus Sulpicius. Hist du +Droit Romain, vol.iii.p. 119. - W.] +[Footnote 54: Crassus, or rather Cicero himself, proposes (de +Oratore, i. 41, 42) an idea of the art or science of +jurisprudence, which the eloquent, but illiterate, Antonius (i. +58) affects to deride. It was partly executed by Servius +Sulpicius, (in Bruto, c. 41,) whose praises are elegantly varied +in the classic Latinity of the Roman Gravina, (p. 60.)] + +[Footnote 55: Perturbatricem autem omnium harum rerum academiam, +hanc ab Arcesila et Carneade recentem, exoremus ut sileat, nam si +invaserit in haec, quae satis scite instructa et composita +videantur, nimis edet ruinas, quam quidem ego placare cupio, +submovere non audeo. (de Legibus, i. 13.) From this passage +alone, Bentley (Remarks on Free-thinking, p. 250) might have +learned how firmly Cicero believed in the specious doctrines +which he has adorned.] +[Footnote 56: The stoic philosophy was first taught at Rome by +Panaetius, the friend of the younger Scipio, (see his life in the +Mem. de l'Academis des Inscriptions, tom. x. p. 75 - 89.)] + +[Footnote 57: As he is quoted by Ulpian, (leg.40, 40, ad Sabinum +in Pandect. l. xlvii. tit. ii. leg. 21.) Yet Trebatius, after he +was a leading civilian, que qui familiam duxit, became an +epicurean, (Cicero ad Fam. vii. 5.) Perhaps he was not constant +or sincere in his new sect. + + Note: Gibbon had entirely misunderstood this phrase of +Cicero. It was only since his time that the real meaning of the +author was apprehended. Cicero, in enumerating the qualifications +of Trebatius, says, Accedit etiam, quod familiam ducit in jure +civili, singularis memoria, summa scientia, which means that +Trebatius possessed a still further most important qualification +for a student of civil law, a remarkable memory, &c. This +explanation, already conjectured by G. Menage, Amaenit. Juris +Civilis, c. 14, is found in the dictionary of Scheller, v. +Familia, and in the History of the Roman Law by M. Hugo. Many +authors have asserted, without any proof sufficient to warrant +the conjecture, that Trebatius was of the school of Epicurus - +W.] +[Footnote 58: See Gravina (p. 45 - 51) and the ineffectual cavils +of Mascou. Heineccius (Hist. J. R. No. 125) quotes and approves a +dissertation of Everard Otto, de Stoica Jurisconsultorum +Philosophia.] + + Arms, eloquence, and the study of the civil law, promoted a +citizen to the honors of the Roman state; and the three +professions were sometimes more conspicuous by their union in the +same character. In the composition of the edict, a learned +praetor gave a sanction and preference to his private sentiments; +the opinion of a censor, or a counsel, was entertained with +respect; and a doubtful interpretation of the laws might be +supported by the virtues or triumphs of the civilian. The +patrician arts were long protected by the veil of mystery; and in +more enlightened times, the freedom of inquiry established the +general principles of jurisprudence. Subtile and intricate cases +were elucidated by the disputes of the forum: rules, axioms, and +definitions, ^59 were admitted as the genuine dictates of reason; +and the consent of the legal professors was interwoven into the +practice of the tribunals. But these interpreters could neither +enact nor execute the laws of the republic; and the judges might +disregard the authority of the Scaevolas themselves, which was +often overthrown by the eloquence or sophistry of an ingenious +pleader. ^60 Augustus and Tiberius were the first to adopt, as a +useful engine, the science of the civilians; and their servile +labors accommodated the old system to the spirit and views of +despotism. Under the fair pretence of securing the dignity of the +art, the privilege of subscribing legal and valid opinions was +confined to the sages of senatorian or equestrian rank, who had +been previously approved by the judgment of the prince; and this +monopoly prevailed, till Adrian restored the freedom of the +profession to every citizen conscious of his abilities and +knowledge. The discretion of the praetor was now governed by the +lessons of his teachers; the judges were enjoined to obey the +comment as well as the text of the law; and the use of codicils +was a memorable innovation, which Augustus ratified by the advice +of the civilians. ^61 ^* + +[Footnote 59: We have heard of the Catonian rule, the Aquilian +stipulation, and the Manilian forms, of 211 maxims, and of 247 +definitions, (Pandect. l. i. tit. xvi. xvii.)] + +[Footnote 60: Read Cicero, l. i. de Oratore, Topica, pro Murena.] + +[Footnote 61: See Pomponius, (de Origine Juris Pandect. l. i. +tit. ii. leg. 2, No 47,) Heineccius, (ad Institut. l. i. tit. ii. +No. 8, l. ii. tit. xxv. in Element et Antiquitat.,) and Gravina, +(p. 41 - 45.) Yet the monopoly of Augustus, a harsh measure, +would appear with some softening in contemporary evidence; and it +was probably veiled by a decree of the senate] +[Footnote *: The author here follows the then generally received +opinion of Heineccius. The proofs which appear to confirm it are +l. 2, 47, D. I. 2, and 8. Instit. I. 2. The first of these +passages speaks expressly of a privilege granted to certain +lawyers, until the time of Adrian, publice respondendi jus ante +Augusti tempora non dabatur. Primus Divus Augustus, ut major +juris auctoritas haberetur, constituit, ut ex auctoritate ejus +responderent. The passage of the Institutes speaks of the +different opinions of those, quibus est permissum jura condere. +It is true that the first of these passages does not say that the +opinion of these privileged lawyers had the force of a law for +the judges. For this reason M. Hugo altogether rejects the +opinion adopted by Heineccius, by Bach, and in general by all the +writers who preceded him. He conceives that the 8 of the +Institutes referred to the constitution of Valentinian III., +which regulated the respective authority to be ascribed to the +different writings of the great civilians. But we have now the +following passage in the Institutes of Gaius: Responsa prudentum +sunt sententiae et opiniones eorum, quibus permissum est jura +condere; quorum omnium si in unum sententiae concorrupt, id quod +ita sentiunt, legis vicem obtinet, si vero dissentiunt, judici +licet, quam velit sententiam sequi, idque rescripto Divi Hadrian +signiticatur. I do not know, how in opposition to this passage, +the opinion of M. Hugo can be maintained. We must add to this the +passage quoted from Pomponius and from such strong proofs, it +seems incontestable that the emperors had granted some kind of +privilege to certain civilians, quibus permissum erat jura +condere. Their opinion had sometimes the force of law, legis +vicem. M. Hugo, endeavoring to reconcile this phrase with his +system, gives it a forced interpretation, which quite alters the +sense; he supposes that the passage contains no more than what is +evident of itself, that the authority of the civilians was to be +respected, thus making a privilege of that which was free to all +the world. It appears to me almost indisputable, that the +emperors had sanctioned certain provisions relative to the +authority of these civilians, consulted by the judges. But how +far was their advice to be respected? This is a question which +it is impossible to answer precisely, from the want of historic +evidence. Is it not possible that the emperors established an +authority to be consulted by the judges? and in this case this +authority must have emanated from certain civilians named for +this purpose by the emperors. See Hugo, l. c. Moreover, may not +the passage of Suetonius, in the Life of Caligula, where he says +that the emperor would no longer permit the civilians to give +their advice, mean that Caligula entertained the design of +suppressing this institution? See on this passage the Themis, +vol. xi. p. 17, 36. Our author not being acquainted with the +opinions opposed to Heineccius has not gone to the bottom of the +subject. - W.] + + The most absolute mandate could only require that the judges +should agree with the civilians, if the civilians agreed among +themselves. But positive institutions are often the result of +custom and prejudice; laws and language are ambiguous and +arbitrary; where reason is incapable of pronouncing, the love of +argument is inflamed by the envy of rivals, the vanity of +masters, the blind attachment of their disciples; and the Roman +jurisprudence was divided by the once famous sects of the +Proculians and Sabinians. ^62 Two sages of the law, Ateius Capito +and Antistius Labeo, ^63 adorned the peace of the Augustan age; +the former distinguished by the favor of his sovereign; the +latter more illustrious by his contempt of that favor, and his +stern though harmless opposition to the tyrant of Rome. Their +legal studies were influenced by the various colors of their +temper and principles. Labeo was attached to the form of the old +republic; his rival embraced the more profitable substance of the +rising monarchy. But the disposition of a courtier is tame and +submissive; and Capito seldom presumed to deviate from the +sentiments, or at least from the words, of his predecessors; +while the bold republican pursued his independent ideas without +fear of paradox or innovations. The freedom of Labeo was +enslaved, however, by the rigor of his own conclusions, and he +decided, according to the letter of the law, the same questions +which his indulgent competitor resolved with a latitude of equity +more suitable to the common sense and feelings of mankind. If a +fair exchange had been substituted to the payment of money, +Capito still considered the transaction as a legal sale; ^64 and +he consulted nature for the age of puberty, without confining his +definition to the precise period of twelve or fourteen years. ^65 +This opposition of sentiments was propagated in the writings and +lessons of the two founders; the schools of Capito and Labeo +maintained their inveterate conflict from the age of Augustus to +that of Adrian; ^66 and the two sects derived their appellations +from Sabinus and Proculus, their most celebrated teachers. The +names of Cassians and Pegasians were likewise applied to the same +parties; but, by a strange reverse, the popular cause was in the +hands of Pegasus, ^67 a timid slave of Domitian, while the +favorite of the Caesars was represented by Cassius, ^68 who +gloried in his descent from the patriot assassin. By the +perpetual edict, the controversies of the sects were in a great +measure determined. For that important work, the emperor Adrian +preferred the chief of the Sabinians: the friends of monarchy +prevailed; but the moderation of Salvius Julian insensibly +reconciled the victors and the vanquished. Like the contemporary +philosophers, the lawyers of the age of the Antonines disclaimed +the authority of a master, and adopted from every system the most +probable doctrines. ^69 But their writings would have been less +voluminous, had their choice been more unanimous. The conscience +of the judge was perplexed by the number and weight of discordant +testimonies, and every sentence that his passion or interest +might pronounce was justified by the sanction of some venerable +name. An indulgent edict of the younger Theodosius excused him +from the labor of comparing and weighing their arguments. Five +civilians, Caius, Papinian, Paul, Ulpian, and Modestinus, were +established as the oracles of jurisprudence: a majority was +decisive: but if their opinions were equally divided, a casting +vote was ascribed to the superior wisdom of Papinian. ^70 +[Footnote 62: I have perused the Diatribe of Gotfridus Mascovius, +the learned Mascou, de Sectis Jurisconsultorum, (Lipsiae, 1728, +in 12mo., p. 276,) a learned treatise on a narrow and barren +ground.] + +[Footnote 63: See the character of Antistius Labeo in Tacitus, +(Annal. iii. 75,) and in an epistle of Ateius Capito, (Aul. +Gellius, xiii. 12,) who accuses his rival of libertas nimia et +vecors. Yet Horace would not have lashed a virtuous and +respectable senator; and I must adopt the emendation of Bentley, +who reads Labieno insanior, (Serm. I. iii. 82.) See Mascou, de +Sectis, (c. i. p. 1 - 24.)] + +[Footnote 64: Justinian (Institut. l. iii. tit. 23, and Theophil. +Vers. Graec. p. 677, 680) has commemorated this weighty dispute, +and the verses of Homer that were alleged on either side as legal +authorities. It was decided by Paul, (leg. 33, ad Edict. in +Pandect. l. xviii. tit. i. leg. 1,) since, in a simple exchange, +the buyer could not be discriminated from the seller.] +[Footnote 65: This controversy was likewise given for the +Proculians, to supersede the indecency of a search, and to comply +with the aphorism of Hippocrates, who was attached to the +septenary number of two weeks of years, or 700 of days, +(Institut. l. i. tit. xxii.) Plutarch and the Stoics (de Placit. +Philosoph. l. v. c. 24) assign a more natural reason. Fourteen +years is the age. See the vestigia of the sects in Mascou, c. +ix. p. 145 - 276.] +[Footnote 66: The series and conclusion of the sects are +described by Mascou, c. ii. - vii. p. 24 - 120;) and it would be +almost ridiculous to praise his equal justice to these obsolete +sects. + + Note: The work of Gaius, subsequent to the time of Adrian, +furnishes us with some information on this subject. The disputes +which rose between these two sects appear to have been very +numerous. Gaius avows himself a disciple of Sabinus and of +Caius. Compare Hugo, vol. ii. p. 106. - W.] +[Footnote 67: At the first summons he flies to the +turbot-council; yet Juvenal (Satir. iv. 75 - 81) styles the +praefect or bailiff of Rome sanctissimus legum interpres. From +his science, says the old scholiast, he was called, not a man, +but a book. He derived the singular name of Pegasus from the +galley which his father commanded.] + +[Footnote 68: Tacit. Annal. xvii. 7. Sueton. in Nerone, c. +xxxvii.] +[Footnote 69: Mascou, de Sectis, c. viii. p. 120 - 144 de +Herciscundis, a legal term which was applied to these eclectic +lawyers: herciscere is synonymous to dividere. + + Note: This word has never existed. Cujacius is the author +of it, who read me words terris condi in Servius ad Virg. +herciscundi, to which he gave an erroneous interpretation. - W.] + +[Footnote 70: See the Theodosian Code, l. i. tit. iv. with +Godefroy's Commentary, tom. i. p. 30 - 35. ^! This decree might +give occasion to Jesuitical disputes like those in the Lettres +Provinciales, whether a Judge was obliged to follow the opinion +of Papinian, or of a majority, against his judgment, against his +conscience, &c. Yet a legislator might give that opinion, +however false, the validity, not of truth, but of law. + Note: We possess (since 1824) some interesting information +as to the framing of the Theodosian Code, and its ratification at +Rome, in the year 438. M. Closius, now professor at Dorpat in +Russia, and M. Peyron, member of the Academy of Turin, have +discovered, the one at Milan, the other at Turin, a great part of +the five first books of the Code which were wanting, and besides +this, the reports (gesta) of the sitting of the senate at Rome, +in which the Code was published, in the year after the marriage +of Valentinian III. Among these pieces are the constitutions +which nominate commissioners for the formation of the Code; and +though there are many points of considerable obscurity in these +documents, they communicate many facts relative to this +legislation. + + 1. That Theodosius designed a great reform in the +legislation; to add to the Gregorian and Hermogenian codes all +the new constitutions from Constantine to his own day; and to +frame a second code for common use with extracts from the three +codes, and from the works of the civil lawyers. All laws either +abrogated or fallen into disuse were to be noted under their +proper heads. + 2. An Ordinance was issued in 429 to form a commission for +this purpose of nine persons, of which Antiochus, as quaestor and +praefectus, was president. A second commission of sixteen +members was issued in 435 under the same president. + + 3. A code, which we possess under the name of Codex +Theodosianus, was finished in 438, published in the East, in an +ordinance addressed to the Praetorian praefect, Florentinus, and +intended to be published in the West. + 4. Before it was published in the West, Valentinian +submitted it to the senate. There is a report of the proceedings +of the senate, which closed with loud acclamations and +gratulations. - From Warnkonig, Histoire du Droit Romain, p. 169 +- Wenck has published this work, Codicis Theodosiani libri +priores. Leipzig, 1825. - M.] + + Note *: Closius of Tubingen communicated to M.Warnkonig the +two following constitutions of the emperor Constantine, which he +discovered in the Ambrosian library at Milan: - + + 1. Imper. Constantinus Aug. ad Maximium Praef. Praetorio. + Perpetuas prudentum contentiones eruere cupientes, Ulpiani +ac Pauli, in Papinianum notas, qui dum ingenii laudem sectantur, +non tam corrigere eum quam depravere maluerunt, aboleri +praecepimus. Dat. III. Kalend. Octob. Const. Cons. et Crispi, +(321.) Idem. Aug. ad Maximium Praef Praet. + Universa, quae scriptura Pauli continentur, recepta +auctoritate firmanda runt, et omni veneratione celebranda. +Ideoque sententiarum libros plepissima luce et perfectissima +elocutione et justissima juris ratione succinctos in judiciis +prolatos valere minimie dubitatur. Dat. V. Kalend. Oct. Trovia +Coust. et Max. Coss. (327.) - W] + + +Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. + + +Part IV. + + When Justinian ascended the throne, the reformation of the +Roman jurisprudence was an arduous but indispensable task. In +the space of ten centuries, the infinite variety of laws and +legal opinions had filled many thousand volumes, which no fortune +could purchase and no capacity could digest. Books could not +easily be found; and the judges, poor in the midst of riches, +were reduced to the exercise of their illiterate discretion. The +subjects of the Greek provinces were ignorant of the language +that disposed of their lives and properties; and the barbarous +dialect of the Latins was imperfectly studied in the academies of +Berytus and Constantinople. As an Illyrian soldier, that idiom +was familiar to the infancy of Justinian; his youth had been +instructed by the lessons of jurisprudence, and his Imperial +choice selected the most learned civilians of the East, to labor +with their sovereign in the work of reformation. ^71 The theory +of professors was assisted by the practice of advocates, and the +experience of magistrates; and the whole undertaking was animated +by the spirit of Tribonian. ^72 This extraordinary man, the +object of so much praise and censure, was a native of Side in +Pamphylia; and his genius, like that of Bacon, embraced, as his +own, all the business and knowledge of the age. Tribonian +composed, both in prose and verse, on a strange diversity of +curious and abstruse subjects: ^73 a double panegyric of +Justinian and the life of the philosopher Theodotus; the nature +of happiness and the duties of government; Homer's catalogue and +the four-and-twenty sorts of metre; the astronomical canon of +Ptolemy; the changes of the months; the houses of the planets; +and the harmonic system of the world. To the literature of +Greece he added the use of the Latin tonque; the Roman civilians +were deposited in his library and in his mind; and he most +assiduously cultivated those arts which opened the road of wealth +and preferment. From the bar of the Praetorian praefects, he +raised himself to the honors of quaestor, of consul, and of +master of the offices: the council of Justinian listened to his +eloquence and wisdom; and envy was mitigated by the gentleness +and affability of his manners. The reproaches of impiety and +avarice have stained the virtue or the reputation of Tribonian. +In a bigoted and persecuting court, the principal minister was +accused of a secret aversion to the Christian faith, and was +supposed to entertain the sentiments of an Atheist and a Pagan, +which have been imputed, inconsistently enough, to the last +philosophers of Greece. His avarice was more clearly proved and +more sensibly felt. If he were swayed by gifts in the +administration of justice, the example of Bacon will again occur; +nor can the merit of Tribonian atone for his baseness, if he +degraded the sanctity of his profession; and if laws were every +day enacted, modified, or repealed, for the base consideration of +his private emolument. In the sedition of Constantinople, his +removal was granted to the clamors, perhaps to the just +indignation, of the people: but the quaestor was speedily +restored, and, till the hour of his death, he possessed, above +twenty years, the favor and confidence of the emperor. His +passive and dutiful submission had been honored with the praise +of Justinian himself, whose vanity was incapable of discerning +how often that submission degenerated into the grossest +adulation. Tribonian adored the virtues of his gracious of his +gracious master; the earth was unworthy of such a prince; and he +affected a pious fear, that Justinian, like Elijah or Romulus, +would be snatched into the air, and translated alive to the +mansions of celestial glory. ^74 + +[Footnote 71: For the legal labors of Justinian, I have studied +the Preface to the Institutes; the 1st, 2d, and 3d Prefaces to +the Pandects; the 1st and 2d Preface to the Code; and the Code +itself, (l. i. tit. xvii. de Veteri Jure enucleando.) After these +original testimonies, I have consulted, among the moderns, +Heineccius, (Hist. J. R. No. 383 - 404,) Terasson. (Hist. de la +Jurisprudence Romaine, p. 295 - 356,) Gravina, (Opp. p. 93 - +100,) and Ludewig, in his Life of Justinian, (p.19 - 123, 318 - +321; for the Code and Novels, p. 209 - 261; for the Digest or +Pandects, p. 262 - 317.)] +[Footnote 72: For the character of Tribonian, see the testimonies +of Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 23, 24. Anecdot. c. 13, 20,) and +Suidas, (tom. iii. p. 501, edit. Kuster.) Ludewig (in Vit. +Justinian, p. 175 - 209) works hard, very hard, to whitewash - +the blackamoor.] + +[Footnote 73: I apply the two passages of Suidas to the same man; +every circumstance so exactly tallies. Yet the lawyers appear +ignorant; and Fabricius is inclined to separate the two +characters, (Bibliot. Grae. tom. i. p. 341, ii. p. 518, iii. p. +418, xii. p. 346, 353, 474.] + +[Footnote 74: This story is related by Hesychius, (de Viris +Illustribus,) Procopius, (Anecdot. c. 13,) and Suidas, (tom. iii. +p. 501.) Such flattery is incredible! + + - Nihil est quod credere de se Non possit, cum laudatur Diis +aequa potestas. +Fontenelle (tom. i. p. 32 - 39) has ridiculed the impudence of +the modest Virgil. But the same Fontenelle places his king above +the divine Augustus; and the sage Boileau has not blushed to say, +"Le destin a ses yeux n'oseroit balancer" Yet neither Augustus +nor Louis XIV. were fools.] + If Caesar had achieved the reformation of the Roman law, his +creative genius, enlightened by reflection and study, would have +given to the world a pure and original system of jurisprudence. +Whatever flattery might suggest, the emperor of the East was +afraid to establish his private judgment as the standard of +equity: in the possession of legislative power, he borrowed the +aid of time and opinion; and his laborious compilations are +guarded by the sages and legislature of past times. Instead of a +statue cast in a simple mould by the hand of an artist, the works +of Justinian represent a tessellated pavement of antique and +costly, but too often of incoherent, fragments. In the first +year of his reign, he directed the faithful Tribonian, and nine +learned associates, to revise the ordinances of his predecessors, +as they were contained, since the time of Adrian, in the +Gregorian Hermogenian, and Theodosian codes; to purge the errors +and contradictions, to retrench whatever was obsolete or +superfluous, and to select the wise and salutary laws best +adapted to the practice of the tribunals and the use of his +subjects. The work was accomplished in fourteen months; and the +twelve books or tables, which the new decemvirs produced, might +be designed to imitate the labors of their Roman predecessors. +The new Code of Justinian was honored with his name, and +confirmed by his royal signature: authentic transcripts were +multiplied by the pens of notaries and scribes; they were +transmitted to the magistrates of the European, the Asiatic, and +afterwards the African provinces; and the law of the empire was +proclaimed on solemn festivals at the doors of churches. A more +arduous operation was still behind - to extract the spirit of +jurisprudence from the decisions and conjectures, the questions +and disputes, of the Roman civilians. Seventeen lawyers, with +Tribonian at their head, were appointed by the emperor to +exercise an absolute jurisdiction over the works of their +predecessors. If they had obeyed his commands in ten years, +Justinian would have been satisfied with their diligence; and the +rapid composition of the Digest of Pandects, ^75 in three years, +will deserve praise or censure, according to the merit of the +execution. From the library of Tribonian, they chose forty, the +most eminent civilians of former times: ^76 two thousand +treatises were comprised in an abridgment of fifty books; and it +has been carefully recorded, that three millions of lines or +sentences, ^77 were reduced, in this abstract, to the moderate +number of one hundred and fifty thousand. The edition of this +great work was delayed a month after that of the Institutes; and +it seemed reasonable that the elements should precede the digest +of the Roman law. As soon as the emperor had approved their +labors, he ratified, by his legislative power, the speculations +of these private citizens: their commentaries, on the twelve +tables, the perpetual edict, the laws of the people, and the +decrees of the senate, succeeded to the authority of the text; +and the text was abandoned, as a useless, though venerable, relic +of antiquity. The Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes, were +declared to be the legitimate system of civil jurisprudence; they +alone were admitted into the tribunals, and they alone were +taught in the academies of Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus. +Justinian addressed to the senate and provinces his eternal +oracles; and his pride, under the mask of piety, ascribed the +consummation of this great design to the support and inspiration +of the Deity. + +[Footnote 75: General receivers was a common title of the Greek +miscellanies, (Plin. Praefat. ad Hist. Natur.) The Digesta of +Scaevola, Marcellinus, Celsus, were already familiar to the +civilians: but Justinian was in the wrong when he used the two +appellations as synonymous. Is the word Pandects Greek or Latin +- masculine or feminine? The diligent Brenckman will not presume +to decide these momentous controversies, (Hist. Pandect. +Florentine. p. 200 - 304.) + Note: The word was formerly in common use. See the preface +is Aulus Gellius - W] + +[Footnote 76: Angelus Politianus (l. v. Epist. ult.) reckons +thirty-seven (p. 192 - 200) civilians quoted in the Pandects - a +learned, and for his times, an extraordinary list. The Greek +index to the Pandects enumerates thirty-nine, and forty are +produced by the indefatigable Fabricius, (Bibliot. Graec. tom. +iii. p. 488 - 502.) Antoninus Augustus (de Nominibus Propriis +Pandect. apud Ludewig, p. 283) is said to have added fifty-four +names; but they must be vague or second-hand references.] + +[Footnote 77: The item of the ancient Mss. may be strictly +defined as sentences or periods of a complete sense, which, on +the breadth of the parchment rolls or volumes, composed as many +lines of unequal length. The number in each book served as a +check on the errors of the scribes, (Ludewig, p. 211 - 215; and +his original author Suicer. Thesaur. Ecclesiast. tom. i. p 1021 - +1036).] + + Since the emperor declined the fame and envy of original +composition, we can only require, at his hands, method choice, +and fidelity, the humble, though indispensable, virtues of a +compiler. Among the various combinations of ideas, it is +difficult to assign any reasonable preference; but as the order +of Justinian is different in his three works, it is possible that +all may be wrong; and it is certain that two cannot be right. In +the selection of ancient laws, he seems to have viewed his +predecessors without jealousy, and with equal regard: the series +could not ascend above the reign of Adrian, and the narrow +distinction of Paganism and Christianity, introduced by the +superstition of Theodosius, had been abolished by the consent of +mankind. But the jurisprudence of the Pandects is circumscribed +within a period of a hundred years, from the perpetual edict to +the death of Severus Alexander: the civilians who lived under the +first Caesars are seldom permitted to speak, and only three names +can be attributed to the age of the republic. The favorite of +Justinian (it has been fiercely urged) was fearful of +encountering the light of freedom and the gravity of Roman sages. + +Tribonian condemned to oblivion the genuine and native wisdom of +Cato, the Scaevolas, and Sulpicius; while he invoked spirits more +congenial to his own, the Syrians, Greeks, and Africans, who +flocked to the Imperial court to study Latin as a foreign tongue, +and jurisprudence as a lucrative profession. But the ministers +of Justinian, ^78 were instructed to labor, not for the curiosity +of antiquarians, but for the immediate benefit of his subjects. +It was their duty to select the useful and practical parts of the +Roman law; and the writings of the old republicans, however +curious on excellent, were no longer suited to the new system of +manners, religion, and government. Perhaps, if the preceptors and +friends of Cicero were still alive, our candor would acknowledge, +that, except in purity of language, ^79 their intrinsic merit was +excelled by the school of Papinian and Ulpian. The science of +the laws is the slow growth of time and experience, and the +advantage both of method and materials, is naturally assumed by +the most recent authors. The civilians of the reign of the +Antonines had studied the works of their predecessors: their +philosophic spirit had mitigated the rigor of antiquity, +simplified the forms of proceeding, and emerged from the jealousy +and prejudice of the rival sects. The choice of the authorities +that compose the Pandects depended on the judgment of Tribonian: +but the power of his sovereign could not absolve him from the +sacred obligations of truth and fidelity. As the legislator of +the empire, Justinian might repeal the acts of the Antonines, or +condemn, as seditious, the free principles, which were maintained +by the last of the Roman lawyers. ^80 But the existence of past +facts is placed beyond the reach of despotism; and the emperor +was guilty of fraud and forgery, when he corrupted the integrity +of their text, inscribed with their venerable names the words and +ideas of his servile reign, ^81 and suppressed, by the hand of +power, the pure and authentic copies of their sentiments. The +changes and interpolations of Tribonian and his colleagues are +excused by the pretence of uniformity: but their cares have been +insufficient, and the antinomies, or contradictions of the Code +and Pandects, still exercise the patience and subtilty of modern +civilians. ^82 + +[Footnote 78: An ingenious and learned oration of Schultingius +(Jurisprudentia Ante-Justinianea, p. 883 - 907) justifies the +choice of Tribonian, against the passionate charges of Francis +Hottoman and his sectaries.] +[Footnote 79: Strip away the crust of Tribonian, and allow for +the use of technical words, and the Latin of the Pandects will be +found not unworthy of the silver age. It has been vehemently +attacked by Laurentius Valla, a fastidious grammarian of the xvth +century, and by his apologist Floridus Sabinus. It has been +defended by Alciat, and a name less advocate, (most probably +James Capellus.) Their various treatises are collected by Duker, +(Opuscula de Latinitate veterum Jurisconsultorum, Lugd. Bat. +1721, in 12mo.) + Note: Gibbon is mistaken with regard to Valla, who, though +he inveighs against the barbarous style of the civilians of his +own day, lavishes the highest praise on the admirable purity of +the language of the ancient writers on civil law. (M. Warnkonig +quotes a long passage of Valla in justification of this +observation.) Since his time, this truth has been recognized by +men of the highest eminence, such as Erasmus, David Hume and +Runkhenius. - W.] +[Footnote 80: Nomina quidem veteribus servavimus, legum autem +veritatem nostram fecimus. Itaque siquid erat in illis +seditiosum, multa autem talia erant ibi reposita, hoc decisum est +et definitum, et in perspicuum finem deducta est quaeque lex, +(Cod. Justinian. l. i. tit. xvii. leg. 3, No 10.) A frank +confession! + + Note: Seditiosum, in the language of Justinian, means not +seditious, but discounted. - W.] + +[Footnote 81: The number of these emblemata (a polite name for +forgeries) is much reduced by Bynkershoek, (in the four last +books of his Observations,) who poorly maintains the right of +Justinian and the duty of Tribonian.] +[Footnote 82: The antinomies, or opposite laws of the Code and +Pandects, are sometimes the cause, and often the excuse, of the +glorious uncertainty of the civil law, which so often affords +what Montaigne calls "Questions pour l'Ami." See a fine passage +of Franciscus Balduinus in Justinian, (l. ii. p. 259, &c., apud +Ludewig, p. 305, 306.)] + + A rumor devoid of evidence has been propagated by the +enemies of Justinian; that the jurisprudence of ancient Rome was +reduced to ashes by the author of the Pandects, from the vain +persuasion, that it was now either false or superfluous. Without +usurping an office so invidious, the emperor might safely commit +to ignorance and time the accomplishments of this destructive +wish. Before the invention of printing and paper, the labor and +the materials of writing could be purchased only by the rich; and +it may reasonably be computed, that the price of books was a +hundred fold their present value. ^83 Copies were slowly +multiplied and cautiously renewed: the hopes of profit tempted +the sacrilegious scribes to erase the characters of antiquity, ^* +and Sophocles or Tacitus were obliged to resign the parchment to +missals, homilies, and the golden legend. ^84 If such was the +fate of the most beautiful compositions of genius, what stability +could be expected for the dull and barren works of an obsolete +science? The books of jurisprudence were interesting to few, and +entertaining to none: their value was connected with present use, +and they sunk forever as soon as that use was superseded by the +innovations of fashion, superior merit, or public authority. In +the age of peace and learning, between Cicero and the last of the +Antonines, many losses had been already sustained, and some +luminaries of the school, or forum, were known only to the +curious by tradition and report. Three hundred and sixty years +of disorder and decay accelerated the progress of oblivion; and +it may fairly be presumed, that of the writings, which Justinian +is accused of neglecting, many were no longer to be found in the +libraries of the East. ^85 The copies of Papinian, or Ulpian, +which the reformer had proscribed, were deemed unworthy of future +notice: the Twelve Tables and praetorian edicts insensibly +vanished, and the monuments of ancient Rome were neglected or +destroyed by the envy and ignorance of the Greeks. Even the +Pandects themselves have escaped with difficulty and danger from +the common shipwreck, and criticism has pronounced that all the +editions and manuscripts of the West are derived from one +original. ^86 It was transcribed at Constantinople in the +beginning of the seventh century, ^87 was successively +transported by the accidents of war and commerce to Amalphi, ^88 +Pisa, ^89 and Florence, ^90 and is now deposited as a sacred +relic ^91 in the ancient palace of the republic. ^92 + +[Footnote 83: When Faust, or Faustus, sold at Paris his first +printed Bibles as manuscripts, the price of a parchment copy was +reduced from four or five hundred to sixty, fifty, and forty +crowns. The public was at first pleased with the cheapness, and +at length provoked by the discovery of the fraud, (Mattaire, +Annal. Typograph. tom. i. p. 12; first edit.)] + +[Footnote *: Among the works which have been recovered, by the +persevering and successful endeavors of M. Mai and his followers +to trace the imperfectly erased characters of the ancient writers +on these Palimpsests, Gibbon at this period of his labors would +have hailed with delight the recovery of the Institutes of Gaius, +and the fragments of the Theodosian Code, published by M Keyron +of Turin. - M.] + +[Footnote 84: This execrable practice prevailed from the viiith, +and more especially from the xiith, century, when it became +almost universal (Montfaucon, in the Memoires de l'Academie, tom. +vi. p. 606, &c. Bibliotheque Raisonnee de la Diplomatique, tom. +i. p. 176.)] + +[Footnote 85: Pomponius (Pandect. l. i. tit. ii. leg. 2) +observes, that of the three founders of the civil law, Mucius, +Brutus, and Manilius, extant volumina, scripta Manilii monumenta; +that of some old republican lawyers, haec versantur eorum scripta +inter manus hominum. Eight of the Augustan sages were reduced to +a compendium: of Cascellius, scripta non extant sed unus liber, +&c.; of Trebatius, minus frequentatur; of Tubero, libri parum +grati sunt. Many quotations in the Pandects are derived from +books which Tribonian never saw; and in the long period from the +viith to the xiiith century of Rome, the apparent reading of the +moderns successively depends on the knowledge and veracity of +their predecessors.] + +[Footnote 86: All, in several instances, repeat the errors of the +scribe and the transpositions of some leaves in the Florentine +Pandects. This fact, if it be true, is decisive. Yet the +Pandects are quoted by Ivo of Chartres, (who died in 1117,) by +Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, and by Vacarius, our first +professor, in the year 1140, (Selden ad Fletam, c. 7, tom. ii. p. +1080 - 1085.) Have our British Mss. of the Pandects been +collated?] +[Footnote 87: See the description of this original in Brenckman, +(Hist. Pandect. Florent. l. i. c. 2, 3, p. 4 - 17, and l. ii.) +Politian, an enthusiast, revered it as the authentic standard of +Justinian himself, (p. 407, 408;) but this paradox is refuted by +the abbreviations of the Florentine Ms. (l. ii. c. 3, p. 117 - +130.) It is composed of two quarto volumes, with large margins, +on a thin parchment, and the Latin characters betray the band of +a Greek scribe.] + +[Footnote 88: Brenckman, at the end of his history, has inserted +two dissertations on the republic of Amalphi, and the Pisan war +in the year 1135, &c.] + +[Footnote 89: The discovery of the Pandects at Amalphi (A. D +1137) is first noticed (in 1501) by Ludovicus Bologninus, +(Brenckman, l. i. c. 11, p. 73, 74, l. iv. c. 2, p. 417 - 425,) +on the faith of a Pisan chronicle, (p. 409, 410,) without a name +or a date. The whole story, though unknown to the xiith century, +embellished by ignorant ages, and suspected by rigid criticism, +is not, however, destitute of much internal probability, (l. i. +c. 4 - 8, p. 17 - 50.) The Liber Pandectarum of Pisa was +undoubtedly consulted in the xivth century by the great Bartolus, +(p. 406, 407. See l. i. c. 9, p. 50 - 62.) + Note: Savigny (vol. iii. p. 83, 89) examines and rejects the +whole story. See likewise Hallam vol. iii. p. 514. - M.] + +[Footnote 90: Pisa was taken by the Florentines in the year 1406; +and in 1411 the Pandects were transported to the capital. These +events are authentic and famous.] + +[Footnote 91: They were new bound in purple, deposited in a rich +casket, and shown to curious travellers by the monks and +magistrates bareheaded, and with lighted tapers, (Brenckman, l. +i. c. 10, 11, 12, p. 62 - 93.)] +[Footnote 92: After the collations of Politian, Bologninus, and +Antoninus Augustinus, and the splendid edition of the Pandects by +Taurellus, (in 1551,) Henry Brenckman, a Dutchman, undertook a +pilgrimage to Florence, where he employed several years in the +study of a single manuscript. His Historia Pandectarum +Florentinorum, (Utrecht, 1722, in 4to.,) though a monument of +industry, is a small portion of his original design.] + + It is the first care of a reformer to prevent any future +reformation. To maintain the text of the Pandects, the +Institutes, and the Code, the use of ciphers and abbreviations +was rigorously proscribed; and as Justinian recollected, that the +perpetual edict had been buried under the weight of commentators, +he denounced the punishment of forgery against the rash civilians +who should presume to interpret or pervert the will of their +sovereign. The scholars of Accursius, of Bartolus, of Cujacius, +should blush for their accumulated guilt, unless they dare to +dispute his right of binding the authority of his successors, and +the native freedom of the mind. But the emperor was unable to +fix his own inconstancy; and, while he boasted of renewing the +exchange of Diomede, of transmuting brass into gold, ^93 +discovered the necessity of purifying his gold from the mixture +of baser alloy. Six years had not elapsed from the publication +of the Code, before he condemned the imperfect attempt, by a new +and more accurate edition of the same work; which he enriched +with two hundred of his own laws, and fifty decisions of the +darkest and most intricate points of jurisprudence. Every year, +or, according to Procopius, each day, of his long reign, was +marked by some legal innovation. Many of his acts were rescinded +by himself; many were rejected by his successors; many have been +obliterated by time; but the number of sixteen Edicts, and one +hundred and sixty-eight Novels, ^94 has been admitted into the +authentic body of the civil jurisprudence. In the opinion of a +philosopher superior to the prejudices of his profession, these +incessant, and, for the most part, trifling alterations, can be +only explained by the venal spirit of a prince, who sold without +shame his judgments and his laws. ^95 The charge of the secret +historian is indeed explicit and vehement; but the sole instance, +which he produces, may be ascribed to the devotion as well as to +the avarice of Justinian. A wealthy bigot had bequeathed his +inheritance to the church of Emesa; and its value was enhanced by +the dexterity of an artist, who subscribed confessions of debt +and promises of payment with the names of the richest Syrians. +They pleaded the established prescription of thirty or forty +years; but their defence was overruled by a retrospective edict, +which extended the claims of the church to the term of a century; +an edict so pregnant with injustice and disorder, that, after +serving this occasional purpose, it was prudently abolished in +the same reign. ^96 If candor will acquit the emperor himself, +and transfer the corruption to his wife and favorites, the +suspicion of so foul a vice must still degrade the majesty of his +laws; and the advocates of Justinian may acknowledge, that such +levity, whatsoever be the motive, is unworthy of a legislator and +a man. +[Footnote 93: Apud Homerum patrem omnis virtutis, (1st Praefat. +ad Pandect.) A line of Milton or Tasso would surprise us in an +act of parliament. Quae omnia obtinere sancimus in omne aevum. +Of the first Code, he says, (2d Praefat.,) in aeternum valiturum. + +Man and forever!] + +[Footnote 94: Novellae is a classic adjective, but a barbarous +substantive, (Ludewig, p. 245.) Justinian never collected them +himself; the nine collations, the legal standard of modern +tribunals, consist of ninety-eight Novels; but the number was +increased by the diligence of Julian, Haloander, and Contius, +(Ludewig, p. 249, 258 Aleman. Not in Anecdot. p. 98.)] +[Footnote 95: Montesquieu, Considerations sur la Grandeur et la +Decadence des Romains, c. 20, tom. iii. p. 501, in 4to. On this +occasion he throws aside the gown and cap of a President a +Mortier.] + +[Footnote 96: Procopius, Anecdot. c. 28. A similar privilege was +granted to the church of Rome, (Novel. ix.) For the general +repeal of these mischievous indulgences, see Novel. cxi. and +Edict. v.] + + Monarchs seldom condescend to become the preceptors of their +subjects; and some praise is due to Justinian, by whose command +an ample system was reduced to a short and elementary treatise. +Among the various institutes of the Roman law, ^97 those of Caius +^98 were the most popular in the East and West; and their use may +be considered as an evidence of their merit. They were selected +by the Imperial delegates, Tribonian, Theophilus, and Dorotheus; +and the freedom and purity of the Antonines was incrusted with +the coarser materials of a degenerate age. The same volume which +introduced the youth of Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus, to the +gradual study of the Code and Pandects, is still precious to the +historian, the philosopher, and the magistrate. The Institutes +of Justinian are divided into four books: they proceed, with no +contemptible method, from, I. Persons, to, II. Things, and from +things, to, III. Actions; and the article IV., of Private +Wrongs, is terminated by the principles of Criminal Law. ^* + +[Footnote 97: Lactantius, in his Institutes of Christianity, an +elegant and specious work, proposes to imitate the title and +method of the civilians. Quidam prudentes et arbitri aequitatis +Institutiones Civilis Juris compositas ediderunt, (Institut. +Divin. l. i. c. 1.) Such as Ulpian, Paul, Florentinus, Marcian.] + +[Footnote 98: The emperor Justinian calls him suum, though he +died before the end of the second century. His Institutes are +quoted by Servius, Boethius, Priscian, &c.; and the Epitome by +Arrian is still extant. (See the Prolegomena and notes to the +edition of Schulting, in the Jurisprudentia Ante-Justinianea, +Lugd. Bat. 1717. Heineccius, Hist. J R No. 313. Ludewig, in +Vit. Just. p. 199.)] + +[Footnote *: Gibbon, dividing the Institutes into four parts, +considers the appendix of the criminal law in the last title as a +fourth part. - W.] + + +Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. + + +Part IV. + + The distinction of ranks and persons is the firmest basis of +a mixed and limited government. In France, the remains of +liberty are kept alive by the spirit, the honors, and even the +prejudices, of fifty thousand nobles. ^99 Two hundred families ^! +supply, in lineal descent, the second branch of English +legislature, which maintains, between the king and commons, the +balance of the constitution. A gradation of patricians and +plebeians, of strangers and subjects, has supported the +aristocracy of Genoa, Venice, and ancient Rome. The perfect +equality of men is the point in which the extremes of democracy +and despotism are confounded; since the majesty of the prince or +people would be offended, if any heads were exalted above the +level of their fellow-slaves or fellow-citizens. In the decline +of the Roman empire, the proud distinctions of the republic were +gradually abolished, and the reason or instinct of Justinian +completed the simple form of an absolute monarchy. The emperor +could not eradicate the popular reverence which always waits on +the possession of hereditary wealth, or the memory of famous +ancestors. He delighted to honor, with titles and emoluments, +his generals, magistrates, and senators; and his precarious +indulgence communicated some rays of their glory to the persons +of their wives and children. But in the eye of the law, all +Roman citizens were equal, and all subjects of the empire were +citizens of Rome. That inestimable character was degraded to an +obsolete and empty name. The voice of a Roman could no longer +enact his laws, or create the annual ministers of his power: his +constitutional rights might have checked the arbitrary will of a +master: and the bold adventurer from Germany or Arabia was +admitted, with equal favor, to the civil and military command, +which the citizen alone had been once entitled to assume over the +conquests of his fathers. The first Caesars had scrupulously +guarded the distinction of ingenuous and servile birth, which was +decided by the condition of the mother; and the candor of the +laws was satisfied, if her freedom could be ascertained, during a +single moment, between the conception and the delivery. The +slaves, who were liberated by a generous master, immediately +entered into the middle class of libertines or freedmen; but they +could never be enfranchised from the duties of obedience and +gratitude; whatever were the fruits of their industry, their +patron and his family inherited the third part; or even the whole +of their fortune, if they died without children and without a +testament. Justinian respected the rights of patrons; but his +indulgence removed the badge of disgrace from the two inferior +orders of freedmen; whoever ceased to be a slave, obtained, +without reserve or delay, the station of a citizen; and at length +the dignity of an ingenuous birth, which nature had refused, was +created, or supposed, by the omnipotence of the emperor. +Whatever restraints of age, or forms, or numbers, had been +formerly introduced to check the abuse of manumissions, and the +too rapid increase of vile and indigent Romans, he finally +abolished; and the spirit of his laws promoted the extinction of +domestic servitude. Yet the eastern provinces were filled, in +the time of Justinian, with multitudes of slaves, either born or +purchased for the use of their masters; and the price, from ten +to seventy pieces of gold, was determined by their age, their +strength, and their education. ^100 But the hardships of this +dependent state were continually diminished by the influence of +government and religion: and the pride of a subject was no longer +elated by his absolute dominion over the life and happiness of +his bondsman. ^101 +[Footnote 99: See the Annales Politiques de l'Abbe de St. Pierre, +tom. i. p. 25 who dates in the year 1735. The most ancient +families claim the immemorial possession of arms and fiefs. +Since the Crusades, some, the most truly respectable, have been +created by the king, for merit and services. The recent and +vulgar crowd is derived from the multitude of venal offices +without trust or dignity, which continually ennoble the wealthy +plebeians.] +[Footnote !: Since the time of Gibbon, the House of Peers has +been more than doubled: it is above 400, exclusive of the +spiritual peers - a wise policy to increase the patrician order +in proportion to the general increase of the nation. - M.] + +[Footnote 100: If the option of a slave was bequeathed to several +legatees, they drew lots, and the losers were entitled to their +share of his value; ten pieces of gold for a common servant or +maid under ten years: if above that age, twenty; if they knew a +trade, thirty; notaries or writers, fifty; midwives or +physicians, sixty; eunuchs under ten years, thirty pieces; above, +fifty; if tradesmen, seventy, (Cod. l. vi. tit. xliii. leg. 3.) +These legal prices are generally below those of the market.] + +[Footnote 101: For the state of slaves and freedmen, see +Institutes, l. i. tit. iii. - viii. l. ii. tit. ix. l. iii. tit. +viii. ix. Pandects or Digest, l. i. tit. v. vi. l. xxxviii. tit. +i. - iv., and the whole of the xlth book. Code, l. vi. tit. iv. +v. l. vii. tit. i. - xxiii. Be it henceforward understood that, +with the original text of the Institutes and Pandects, the +correspondent articles in the Antiquities and Elements of +Heineccius are implicitly quoted; and with the xxvii. first books +of the Pandects, the learned and rational Commentaries of Gerard +Noodt, (Opera, tom. ii. p. 1 - 590, the end. Lugd. Bat. 1724.)] + + The law of nature instructs most animals to cherish and +educate their infant progeny. The law of reason inculcates to +the human species the returns of filial piety. But the +exclusive, absolute, and perpetual dominion of the father over +his children, is peculiar to the Roman jurisprudence, ^102 and +seems to be coeval with the foundation of the city. ^103 The +paternal power was instituted or confirmed by Romulus himself; +and, after the practice of three centuries, it was inscribed on +the fourth table of the Decemvirs. In the forum, the senate, or +the camp, the adult son of a Roman citizen enjoyed the public and +private rights of a person: in his father's house he was a mere +thing; ^!! confounded by the laws with the movables, the cattle, +and the slaves, whom the capricious master might alienate or +destroy, without being responsible to any earthly tribunal. The +hand which bestowed the daily sustenance might resume the +voluntary gift, and whatever was acquired by the labor or fortune +of the son was immediately lost in the property of the father. +His stolen goods (his oxen or his children) might be recovered by +the same action of theft; ^104 and if either had been guilty of a +trespass, it was in his own option to compensate the damage, or +resign to the injured party the obnoxious animal. At the call of +indigence or avarice, the master of a family could dispose of his +children or his slaves. But the condition of the slave was far +more advantageous, since he regained, by the first manumission, +his alienated freedom: the son was again restored to his +unnatural father; he might be condemned to servitude a second and +a third time, and it was not till after the third sale and +deliverance, ^105 that he was enfranchised from the domestic +power which had been so repeatedly abused. According to his +discretion, a father might chastise the real or imaginary faults +of his children, by stripes, by imprisonment, by exile, by +sending them to the country to work in chains among the meanest +of his servants. The majesty of a parent was armed with the +power of life and death; ^106 and the examples of such bloody +executions, which were sometimes praised and never punished, may +be traced in the annals of Rome beyond the times of Pompey and +Augustus. Neither age, nor rank, nor the consular office, nor the +honors of a triumph, could exempt the most illustrious citizen +from the bonds of filial subjection: ^107 his own descendants +were included in the family of their common ancestor; and the +claims of adoption were not less sacred or less rigorous than +those of nature. Without fear, though not without danger of +abuse, the Roman legislators had reposed an unbounded confidence +in the sentiments of paternal love; and the oppression was +tempered by the assurance that each generation must succeed in +its turn to the awful dignity of parent and master. +[Footnote 102: See the patria potestas in the Institutes, (l. i. +tit. ix.,) the Pandects, (l. i. tit. vi. vii.,) and the Code, (l. +viii. tit. xlvii. xlviii. xlix.) Jus potestatis quod in liberos +habemus proprium est civium Romanorum. Nulli enim alii sunt +homines, qui talem in liberos habeant potestatem qualem nos +habemus. + + Note: The newly-discovered Institutes of Gaius name one +nation in which the same power was vested in the parent. Nec me +praeterit Galatarum gentem credere, in potestate parentum liberos +esse. Gaii Instit. edit. 1824, p. 257. - M.] + +[Footnote 103: Dionysius Hal. l. ii. p. 94, 95. Gravina (Opp. p. +286) produces the words of the xii. tables. Papinian (in +Collatione Legum Roman et Mosaicarum, tit. iv. p. 204) styles +this patria potestas, lex regia: Ulpian (ad Sabin. l. xxvi. in +Pandect. l. i. tit. vi. leg. 8) says, jus potestatis moribus +receptum; and furiosus filium in potestate habebit How sacred - +or rather, how absurd! + + Note: All this is in strict accordance with the Roman +character. - W.] +[Footnote !!: This parental power was strictly confined to the +Roman citizen. The foreigner, or he who had only jus Latii, did +not possess it. If a Roman citizen unknowingly married a Latin +or a foreign wife, he did not possess this power over his son, +because the son, following the legal condition of the mother, was +not a Roman citizen. A man, however, alleging sufficient cause +for his ignorance, might raise both mother and child to the +rights of citizenship. Gaius. p. 30. - M.] + +[Footnote 104: Pandect. l. xlvii. tit. ii. leg. 14, No. 13, leg. +38, No. 1. Such was the decision of Ulpian and Paul.] + +[Footnote 105: The trina mancipatio is most clearly defined by +Ulpian, (Fragment. x. p. 591, 592, edit. Schulting;) and best +illustrated in the Antiquities of Heineccius. + + Note: The son of a family sold by his father did not become +in every respect a slave, he was statu liber; that is to say, on +paying the price for which he was sold, he became entirely free. +See Hugo, Hist. Section 61 - W.] +[Footnote 106: By Justinian, the old law, the jus necis of the +Roman father (Institut. l. iv. tit. ix. No. 7) is reported and +reprobated. Some legal vestiges are left in the Pandects (l. +xliii. tit. xxix. leg. 3, No. 4) and the Collatio Legum Romanarum +et Mosaicarum, (tit. ii. No. 3, p. 189.)] +[Footnote 107: Except on public occasions, and in the actual +exercise of his office. In publicis locis atque muneribus, atque +actionibus patrum, jura cum filiorum qui in magistratu sunt +potestatibus collata interquiescere paullulum et connivere, &c., +(Aul. Gellius, Noctes Atticae, ii. 2.) The Lessons of the +philosopher Taurus were justified by the old and memorable +example of Fabius; and we may contemplate the same story in the +style of Livy (xxiv. 44) and the homely idiom of Claudius Quadri +garius the annalist.] + + The first limitation of paternal power is ascribed to the +justice and humanity of Numa; and the maid who, with his father's +consent, had espoused a freeman, was protected from the disgrace +of becoming the wife of a slave. In the first ages, when the city +was pressed, and often famished, by her Latin and Tuscan +neighbors, the sale of children might be a frequent practice; but +as a Roman could not legally purchase the liberty of his +fellow-citizen, the market must gradually fail, and the trade +would be destroyed by the conquests of the republic. An +imperfect right of property was at length communicated to sons; +and the threefold distinction of profectitious, adventitious, and +professional was ascertained by the jurisprudence of the Code and +Pandects. ^108 Of all that proceeded from the father, he imparted +only the use, and reserved the absolute dominion; yet if his +goods were sold, the filial portion was excepted, by a favorable +interpretation, from the demands of the creditors. In whatever +accrued by marriage, gift, or collateral succession, the property +was secured to the son; but the father, unless he had been +specially excluded, enjoyed the usufruct during his life. As a +just and prudent reward of military virtue, the spoils of the +enemy were acquired, possessed, and bequeathed by the soldier +alone; and the fair analogy was extended to the emoluments of any +liberal profession, the salary of public service, and the sacred +liberality of the emperor or empress. The life of a citizen was +less exposed than his fortune to the abuse of paternal power. +Yet his life might be adverse to the interest or passions of an +unworthy father: the same crimes that flowed from the corruption, +were more sensibly felt by the humanity, of the Augustan age; and +the cruel Erixo, who whipped his son till he expired, was saved +by the emperor from the just fury of the multitude. ^109 The +Roman father, from the license of servile dominion, was reduced +to the gravity and moderation of a judge. The presence and +opinion of Augustus confirmed the sentence of exile pronounced +against an intentional parricide by the domestic tribunal of +Arius. Adrian transported to an island the jealous parent, who, +like a robber, had seized the opportunity of hunting, to +assassinate a youth, the incestuous lover of his step-mother. +^110 A private jurisdiction is repugnant to the spirit of +monarchy; the parent was again reduced from a judge to an +accuser; and the magistrates were enjoined by Severus Alexander +to hear his complaints and execute his sentence. He could no +longer take the life of a son without incurring the guilt and +punishment of murder; and the pains of parricide, from which he +had been excepted by the Pompeian law, were finally inflicted by +the justice of Constantine. ^111 The same protection was due to +every period of existence; and reason must applaud the humanity +of Paulus, for imputing the crime of murder to the father who +strangles, or starves, or abandons his new-born infant; or +exposes him in a public place to find the mercy which he himself +had denied. But the exposition of children was the prevailing +and stubborn vice of antiquity: it was sometimes prescribed, +often permitted, almost always practised with impunity, by the +nations who never entertained the Roman ideas of paternal power; +and the dramatic poets, who appeal to the human heart, represent +with indifference a popular custom which was palliated by the +motives of economy and compassion. ^112 If the father could +subdue his own feelings, he might escape, though not the censure, +at least the chastisement, of the laws; and the Roman empire was +stained with the blood of infants, till such murders were +included, by Valentinian and his colleagues, in the letter and +spirit of the Cornelian law. The lessons of jurisprudence ^113 +and Christianity had been insufficient to eradicate this inhuman +practice, till their gentle influence was fortified by the +terrors of capital punishment. ^114 + +[Footnote 108: See the gradual enlargement and security of the +filial peculium in the Institutes, (l. ii. tit. ix.,) the +Pandects, (l. xv. tit. i. l. xli. tit. i.,) and the Code, (l. iv. +tit. xxvi. xxvii.)] + +[Footnote 109: The examples of Erixo and Arius are related by +Seneca, (de Clementia, i. 14, 15,) the former with horror, the +latter with applause.] +[Footnote 110: Quod latronis magis quam patris jure eum +interfecit, nam patria potestas in pietate debet non in +atrocitate consistere, (Marcian. Institut. l. xix. in Pandect. l. +xlviii. tit. ix. leg.5.)] + +[Footnote 111: The Pompeian and Cornelian laws de sicariis and +parricidis are repeated, or rather abridged, with the last +supplements of Alexander Severus, Constantine, and Valentinian, +in the Pandects (l. xlviii. tit. viii ix,) and Code, (l. ix. tit. +xvi. xvii.) See likewise the Theodosian Code, (l. ix. tit. xiv. +xv.,) with Godefroy's Commentary, (tom. iii. p. 84 - 113) who +pours a flood of ancient and modern learning over these penal +laws.] +[Footnote 112: When the Chremes of Terence reproaches his wife +for not obeying his orders and exposing their infant, he speaks +like a father and a master, and silences the scruples of a +foolish woman. See Apuleius, (Metamorph. l. x. p. 337, edit. +Delphin.)] + +[Footnote 113: The opinion of the lawyers, and the discretion of +the magistrates, had introduced, in the time of Tacitus, some +legal restraints, which might support his contrast of the boni +mores of the Germans to the bonae leges alibi - that is to say, +at Rome, (de Moribus Germanorum, c. 19.) Tertullian (ad Nationes, +l. i. c. 15) refutes his own charges, and those of his brethren, +against the heathen jurisprudence.] + +[Footnote 114: The wise and humane sentence of the civilian Paul +(l. ii. Sententiarum in Pandect, 1. xxv. tit. iii. leg. 4) is +represented as a mere moral precept by Gerard Noodt, (Opp. tom. +i. in Julius Paulus, p. 567 - 558, and Amica Responsio, p. 591 - +606,) who maintains the opinion of Justus Lipsius, (Opp. tom. ii. +p. 409, ad Belgas. cent. i. epist. 85,) and as a positive binding +law by Bynkershoek, (de Jure occidendi Liberos, Opp. tom. i. p. +318 - 340. Curae Secundae, p. 391 - 427.) In a learned out angry +controversy, the two friends deviated into the opposite +extremes.] + Experience has proved, that savages are the tyrants of the +female sex, and that the condition of women is usually softened +by the refinements of social life. In the hope of a robust +progeny, Lycurgus had delayed the season of marriage: it was +fixed by Numa at the tender age of twelve years, that the Roman +husband might educate to his will a pure and obedient virgin. +^115 According to the custom of antiquity, he bought his bride of +her parents, and she fulfilled the coemption by purchasing, with +three pieces of copper, a just introduction to his house and +household deities. A sacrifice of fruits was offered by the +pontiffs in the presence of ten witnesses; the contracting +parties were seated on the same sheep-skin; they tasted a salt +cake of far or rice; and this confarreation, ^116 which denoted +the ancient food of Italy, served as an emblem of their mystic +union of mind and body. But this union on the side of the woman +was rigorous and unequal; and she renounced the name and worship +of her father's house, to embrace a new servitude, decorated only +by the title of adoption, a fiction of the law, neither rational +nor elegant, bestowed on the mother of a family ^117 (her proper +appellation) the strange characters of sister to her own +children, and of daughter to her husband or master, who was +invested with the plenitude of paternal power. By his judgment +or caprice her behavior was approved, or censured, or chastised; +he exercised the jurisdiction of life and death; and it was +allowed, that in the cases of adultery or drunkenness, ^118 the +sentence might be properly inflicted. She acquired and inherited +for the sole profit of her lord; and so clearly was woman +defined, not as a person, but as a thing, that, if the original +title were deficient, she might be claimed, like other movables, +by the use and possession of an entire year. The inclination of +the Roman husband discharged or withheld the conjugal debt, so +scrupulously exacted by the Athenian and Jewish laws: ^119 but as +polygamy was unknown, he could never admit to his bed a fairer or +a more favored partner. + +[Footnote 115: Dionys. Hal. l. ii. p. 92, 93. Plutarch, in Numa, +p. 140-141.] +[Footnote 116: Among the winter frunenta, the triticum, or +bearded wheat; the siligo, or the unbearded; the far, adorea, +oryza, whose description perfectly tallies with the rice of Spain +and Italy. I adopt this identity on the credit of M. Paucton in +his useful and laborious Metrologie, (p. 517 - 529.)] +[Footnote 117: Aulus Gellius (Noctes Atticae, xviii. 6) gives a +ridiculous definition of Aelius Melissus, Matrona, quae semel +materfamilias quae saepius peperit, as porcetra and scropha in +the sow kind. He then adds the genuine meaning, quae in +matrimonium vel in manum convenerat.] + +[Footnote 118: It was enough to have tasted wine, or to have +stolen the key of the cellar, (Plin. Hist. Nat. xiv. 14.)] + +[Footnote 119: Solon requires three payments per month. By the +Misna, a daily debt was imposed on an idle, vigorous, young +husband; twice a week on a citizen; once on a peasant; once in +thirty days on a camel-driver; once in six months on a seaman. +But the student or doctor was free from tribute; and no wife, if +she received a weekly sustenance, could sue for a divorce; for +one week a vow of abstinence was allowed. Polygamy divided, +without multiplying, the duties of the husband, (Selden, Uxor +Ebraica, l. iii. c 6, in his works, vol ii. p. 717 - 720.)] + + After the Punic triumphs, the matrons of Rome aspired to the +common benefits of a free and opulent republic: their wishes were +gratified by the indulgence of fathers and lovers, and their +ambition was unsuccessfully resisted by the gravity of Cato the +Censor. ^120 They declined the solemnities of the old nuptiais; +defeated the annual prescription by an absence of three days; +and, without losing their name or independence, subscribed the +liberal and definite terms of a marriage contract. Of their +private fortunes, they communicated the use, and secured the +property: the estates of a wife could neither be alienated nor +mortgaged by a prodigal husband; their mutual gifts were +prohibited by the jealousy of the laws; and the misconduct of +either party might afford, under another name, a future subject +for an action of theft. To this loose and voluntary compact, +religious and civil rights were no longer essential; and, between +persons of a similar rank, the apparent community of life was +allowed as sufficient evidence of their nuptials. The dignity of +marriage was restored by the Christians, who derived all +spiritual grace from the prayers of the faithful and the +benediction of the priest or bishop. The origin, validity, and +duties of the holy institution were regulated by the tradition of +the synagogue, the precepts of the gospel, and the canons of +general or provincial synods; ^121 and the conscience of the +Christians was awed by the decrees and censures of their +ecclesiastical rulers. Yet the magistrates of Justinian were not +subject to the authority of the church: the emperor consulted the +unbelieving civilians of antiquity, and the choice of matrimonial +laws in the Code and Pandects, is directed by the earthly motives +of justice, policy, and the natural freedom of both sexes. ^122 + +[Footnote 120: On the Oppian law we may hear the mitigating +speech of Vaerius Flaccus, and the severe censorial oration of +the elder Cato, (Liv. xxxiv. l - 8.) But we shall rather hear the +polished historian of the eighth, than the rough orators of the +sixth, century of Rome. The principles, and even the style, of +Cato are more accurately preserved by Aulus Gellius, (x. 23.)] +[Footnote 121: For the system of Jewish and Catholic matrimony, +see Selden, Uxor Ebraica, Opp. vol. ii. p. 529 - 860,) Bingham, +(Christian Antiquities, l. xxii.,) and Chardon, (Hist. des +Sacremens, tom. vi.)] + +[Footnote 122: The civil laws of marriage are exposed in the +Institutes, (l. i. tit. x.,) the Pandects, (l. xxiii. xxiv. +xxv.,) and the Code, (l. v.;) but as the title de ritu nuptiarum +is yet imperfect, we are obliged to explore the fragments of +Ulpian (tit. ix. p. 590, 591,) and the Collatio Legum Mosaicarum, +(tit. xvi. p. 790, 791,) with the notes of Pithaeus and +Schulting. They find in the Commentary of Servius (on the 1st +Georgia and the 4th Aeneid) two curious passages.] + + Besides the agreement of the parties, the essence of every +rational contract, the Roman marriage required the previous +approbation of the parents. A father might be forced by some +recent laws to supply the wants of a mature daughter; but even +his insanity was not gradually allowed to supersede the necessity +of his consent. The causes of the dissolution of matrimony have +varied among the Romans; ^123 but the most solemn sacrament, the +confarreation itself, might always be done away by rites of a +contrary tendency. In the first ages, the father of a family +might sell his children, and his wife was reckoned in the number +of his children: the domestic judge might pronounce the death of +the offender, or his mercy might expel her from his bed and +house; but the slavery of the wretched female was hopeless and +perpetual, unless he asserted for his own convenience the manly +prerogative of divorce. ^* The warmest applause has been lavished +on the virtue of the Romans, who abstained from the exercise of +this tempting privilege above five hundred years: ^124 but the +same fact evinces the unequal terms of a connection in which the +slave was unable to renounce her tyrant, and the tyrant was +unwilling to relinquish his slave. When the Roman matrons became +the equal and voluntary companions of their lords, a new +jurisprudence was introduced, that marriage, like other +partnerships, might be dissolved by the abdication of one of the +associates. In three centuries of prosperity and corruption, this +principle was enlarged to frequent practice and pernicious abuse. + +Passion, interest, or caprice, suggested daily motives for the +dissolution of marriage; a word, a sign, a message, a letter, the +mandate of a freedman, declared the separation; the most tender +of human connections was degraded to a transient society of +profit or pleasure. According to the various conditions of life, +both sexes alternately felt the disgrace and injury: an +inconstant spouse transferred her wealth to a new family, +abandoning a numerous, perhaps a spurious, progeny to the +paternal authority and care of her late husband; a beautiful +virgin might be dismissed to the world, old, indigent, and +friendless; but the reluctance of the Romans, when they were +pressed to marriage by Augustus, sufficiently marks, that the +prevailing institutions were least favorable to the males. A +specious theory is confuted by this free and perfect experiment, +which demonstrates, that the liberty of divorce does not +contribute to happiness and virtue. The facility of separation +would destroy all mutual confidence, and inflame every trifling +dispute: the minute difference between a husband and a stranger, +which might so easily be removed, might still more easily be +forgotten; and the matron, who in five years can submit to the +embraces of eight husbands, must cease to reverence the chastity +of her own person. ^125 +[Footnote 123: According to Plutarch, (p. 57,) Romulus allowed +only three grounds of a divorce - drunkenness, adultery, and +false keys. Otherwise, the husband who abused his supremacy +forfeited half his goods to the wife, and half to the goddess +Ceres, and offered a sacrifice (with the remainder?) to the +terrestrial deities. This strange law was either imaginary or +transient.] +[Footnote *: Montesquieu relates and explains this fact in a +different marnes Esprit des Loix, l. xvi. c. 16. - G.] + +[Footnote 124: In the year of Rome 523, Spurius Carvilius Ruga +repudiated a fair, a good, but a barren, wife, (Dionysius Hal. l. +ii. p. 93. Plutarch, in Numa, p. 141; Valerius Maximus, l. ii. +c. 1; Aulus Gellius, iv. 3.) He was questioned by the censors, +and hated by the people; but his divorce stood unimpeached in +law.] + +[Footnote 125: - Sic fiunt octo mariti Quinque per autumnos. +Juvenal, Satir. vi. 20. + +A rapid succession, which may yet be credible, as well as the non +consulum numero, sed maritorum annos suos computant, of Seneca, +(de Beneficiis, iii. 16.) Jerom saw at Rome a triumphant husband +bury his twenty-first wife, who had interred twenty-two of his +less sturdy predecessors, (Opp. tom. i. p. 90, ad Gerontiam.) But +the ten husbands in a month of the poet Martial, is an +extravagant hyperbole, (l. 71. epigram 7.)] + + Insufficient remedies followed with distant and tardy steps +the rapid progress of the evil. The ancient worship of the +Romans afforded a peculiar goddess to hear and reconcile the +complaints of a married life; but her epithet of Viriplaca, ^126 +the appeaser of husbands, too clearly indicates on which side +submission and repentance were always expected. Every act of a +citizen was subject to the judgment of the censors; the first who +used the privilege of divorce assigned, at their command, the +motives of his conduct; ^127 and a senator was expelled for +dismissing his virgin spouse without the knowledge or advice of +his friends. Whenever an action was instituted for the recovery +of a marriage portion, the proetor, as the guardian of equity, +examined the cause and the characters, and gently inclined the +scale in favor of the guiltless and injured party. Augustus, who +united the powers of both magistrates, adopted their different +modes of repressing or chastising the license of divorce. ^128 +The presence of seven Roman witnesses was required for the +validity of this solemn and deliberate act: if any adequate +provocation had been given by the husband, instead of the delay +of two years, he was compelled to refund immediately, or in the +space of six months; but if he could arraign the manners of his +wife, her guilt or levity was expiated by the loss of the sixth +or eighth part of her marriage portion. The Christian princes +were the first who specified the just causes of a private +divorce; their institutions, from Constantine to Justinian, +appear to fluctuate between the custom of the empire and the +wishes of the church, ^129 and the author of the Novels too +frequently reforms the jurisprudence of the Code and Pandects. In +the most rigorous laws, a wife was condemned to support a +gamester, a drunkard, or a libertine, unless he were guilty of +homicide, poison, or sacrilege, in which cases the marriage, as +it should seem, might have been dissolved by the hand of the +executioner. But the sacred right of the husband was invariably +maintained, to deliver his name and family from the disgrace of +adultery: the list of mortal sins, either male or female, was +curtailed and enlarged by successive regulations, and the +obstacles of incurable impotence, long absence, and monastic +profession, were allowed to rescind the matrimonial obligation. +Whoever transgressed the permission of the law, was subject to +various and heavy penalties. The woman was stripped of her +wealth and ornaments, without excepting the bodkin of her hair: +if the man introduced a new bride into his bed, her fortune might +be lawfully seized by the vengeance of his exiled wife. +Forfeiture was sometimes commuted to a fine; the fine was +sometimes aggravated by transportation to an island, or +imprisonment in a monastery; the injured party was released from +the bonds of marriage; but the offender, during life, or a term +of years, was disabled from the repetition of nuptials. The +successor of Justinian yielded to the prayers of his unhappy +subjects, and restored the liberty of divorce by mutual consent: +the civilians were unanimous, ^130 the theologians were divided, +^131 and the ambiguous word, which contains the precept of +Christ, is flexible to any interpretation that the wisdom of a +legislator can demand. + +[Footnote 126: Sacellum Viriplacae, (Valerius Maximus, l. ii. c. +1,) in the Palatine region, appears in the time of Theodosius, in +the description of Rome by Publius Victor.] + +[Footnote 127: Valerius Maximus, l. ii. c. 9. With some +propriety he judges divorce more criminal than celibacy: illo +namque conjugalia sacre spreta tantum, hoc etiam injuriose +tractata.] + +[Footnote 128: See the laws of Augustus and his successors, in +Heineccius, ad Legem Papiam-Poppaeam, c. 19, in Opp. tom. vi. P. +i. p. 323 - 333.] +[Footnote 129: Aliae sunt leges Caesarum, aliae Christi; aliud +Papinianus, aliud Paulus nocter praecipit, (Jerom. tom. i. p. +198. Selden, Uxor Ebraica l. iii. c. 31 p. 847 - 853.)] + +[Footnote 130: The Institutes are silent; but we may consult the +Codes of Theodosius (l. iii. tit. xvi., with Godefroy's +Commentary, tom. i. p. 310 - 315) and Justinian, (l. v. tit. +xvii.,) the Pandects (l. xxiv. tit. ii.) and the Novels, (xxii. +cxvii. cxxvii. cxxxiv. cxl.) Justinian fluctuated to the last +between civil and ecclesiastical law.] + +[Footnote 131: In pure Greek, it is not a common word; nor can +the proper meaning, fornication, be strictly applied to +matrimonial sin. In a figurative sense, how far, and to what +offences, may it be extended? Did Christ speak the Rabbinical or +Syriac tongue? Of what original word is the translation? How +variously is that Greek word translated in the versions ancient +and modern! There are two (Mark, x. 11, Luke, xvi. 18) to one +(Matthew, xix. 9) that such ground of divorce was not excepted by +Jesus. Some critics have presumed to think, by an evasive answer, +he avoided the giving offence either to the school of Sammai or +to that of Hillel, (Selden, Uxor Ebraica, l. iii. c. 18 - 22, 28, +31.) + + Note: But these had nothing to do with the question of a +divorce made by judicial authority. - Hugo.] + + The freedom of love and marriage was restrained among the +Romans by natural and civil impediments. An instinct, almost +innate and universal, appears to prohibit the incestuous commerce +^132 of parents and children in the infinite series of ascending +and descending generations. Concerning the oblique and +collateral branches, nature is indifferent, reason mute, and +custom various and arbitrary. In Egypt, the marriage of brothers +and sisters was admitted without scruple or exception: a Spartan +might espouse the daughter of his father, an Athenian, that of +his mother; and the nuptials of an uncle with his niece were +applauded at Athens as a happy union of the dearest relations. +The profane lawgivers of Rome were never tempted by interest or +superstition to multiply the forbidden degrees: but they +inflexibly condemned the marriage of sisters and brothers, +hesitated whether first cousins should be touched by the same +interdict; revered the parental character of aunts and uncles, ^* +and treated affinity and adoption as a just imitation of the ties +of blood. According to the proud maxims of the republic, a legal +marriage could only be contracted by free citizens; an honorable, +at least an ingenuous birth, was required for the spouse of a +senator: but the blood of kings could never mingle in legitimate +nuptials with the blood of a Roman; and the name of Stranger +degraded Cleopatra and Berenice, ^133 to live the concubines of +Mark Antony and Titus. ^134 This appellation, indeed, so +injurious to the majesty, cannot without indulgence be applied to +the manners, of these Oriental queens. A concubine, in the +strict sense of the civilians, was a woman of servile or plebeian +extraction, the sole and faithful companion of a Roman citizen, +who continued in a state of celibacy. Her modest station, below +the honors of a wife, above the infamy of a prostitute, was +acknowledged and approved by the laws: from the age of Augustus +to the tenth century, the use of this secondary marriage +prevailed both in the West and East; and the humble virtues of a +concubine were often preferred to the pomp and insolence of a +noble matron. In this connection, the two Antonines, the best of +princes and of men, enjoyed the comforts of domestic love: the +example was imitated by many citizens impatient of celibacy, but +regardful of their families. If at any time they desired to +legitimate their natural children, the conversion was instantly +performed by the celebration of their nuptials with a partner +whose faithfulness and fidelity they had already tried. ^* By +this epithet of natural, the offspring of the concubine were +distinguished from the spurious brood of adultery, prostitution, +and incest, to whom Justinian reluctantly grants the necessary +aliments of life; and these natural children alone were capable +of succeeding to a sixth part of the inheritance of their reputed +father. According to the rigor of law, bastards were entitled +only to the name and condition of their mother, from whom they +might derive the character of a slave, a stranger, or a citizen. +The outcasts of every family were adopted without reproach as the +children of the state. ^135 ^! + +[Footnote 132: The principles of the Roman jurisprudence are +exposed by Justinian, (Institut. t. i. tit. x.;) and the laws and +manners of the different nations of antiquity concerning +forbidden degrees, &c., are copiously explained by Dr. Taylor in +his Elements of Civil Law, (p. 108, 314 - 339,) a work of +amusing, though various reading; but which cannot be praised for +philosophical precision.] + +[Footnote *: According to the earlier law, (Gaii Instit. p. 27,) +a man might marry his niece on the brother's, not on the +sister's, side. The emperor Claudius set the example of the +former. In the Institutes, this distinction was abolished and +both declared illegal. - M.] + +[Footnote 133: When her father Agrippa died, (A.D. 44,) Berenice +was sixteen years of age, (Joseph. tom. i. Antiquit. Judaic. l. +xix. c. 9, p. 952, edit. Havercamp.) She was therefore above +fifty years old when Titus (A.D. 79) invitus invitam invisit. +This date would not have adorned the tragedy or pastoral of the +tender Racine.] + +[Footnote 134: The Aegyptia conjux of Virgil (Aeneid, viii. 688) +seems to be numbered among the monsters who warred with Mark +Antony against Augustus, the senate, and the gods of Italy.] + +[Footnote *: The Edict of Constantine first conferred this right; +for Augustus had prohibited the taking as a concubine a woman who +might be taken as a wife; and if marriage took place afterwards, +this marriage made no change in the rights of the children born +before it; recourse was then had to adoption, properly called +arrogation. - G.] + +[Footnote 135: The humble but legal rights of concubines and +natural children are stated in the Institutes, (l. i. tit. x.,) +the Pandects, (l. i. tit. vii.,) the Code, (l. v. tit. xxv.,) and +the Novels, (lxxiv. lxxxix.) The researches of Heineccius and +Giannone, (ad Legem Juliam et Papiam-Poppaeam, c. iv. p. 164 - +175. Opere Posthume, p. 108 - 158) illustrate this interesting +and domestic subject.] + +[Footnote !: See, however, the two fragments of laws in the newly +discovered extracts from the Theodosian Code, published by M. A. +Peyron, at Turin. By the first law of Constantine, the +legitimate offspring could alone inherit; where there were no +near legitimate relatives, the inheritance went to the fiscus. +The son of a certain Licinianus, who had inherited his father's +property under the supposition that he was legitimate, and had +been promoted to a place of dignity, was to be degraded, his +property confiscated, himself punished with stripes and +imprisonment. By the second, all persons, even of the highest +rank, senators, perfectissimi, decemvirs, were to be declared +infamous, and out of the protection of the Roman law, if born ex +ancilla, vel ancillae filia, vel liberta, vel libertae filia, +sive Romana facta, seu Latina, vel scaenicae filia, vel ex +tabernaria, vel ex tabernariae filia, vel humili vel abjecta, vel +lenonis, aut arenarii filia, vel quae mercimoniis publicis +praefuit. Whatever a fond father had conferred on such children +was revoked, and either restored to the legitimate children, or +confiscated to the state; the mothers, who were guily of thus +poisoning the minds of the fathers, were to be put to the torture +(tormentis subici jubemus.) The unfortunate son of Licinianus, it +appears from this second law, having fled, had been taken, and +was ordered to be kept in chains to work in the Gynaeceum at +Carthage. Cod. Theodor ab. A. Person, 87 - 90. - M.] + + +Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. + + +Part V. + + The relation of guardian and ward, or in Roman words of +tutor and pupil, which covers so many titles of the Institutes +and Pandects, ^136 is of a very simple and uniform nature. The +person and property of an orphan must always be trusted to the +custody of some discreet friend. If the deceased father had not +signified his choice, the agnats, or paternal kindred of the +nearest degree, were compelled to act as the natural guardians: +the Athenians were apprehensive of exposing the infant to the +power of those most interested in his death; but an axiom of +Roman jurisprudence has pronounced, that the charge of tutelage +should constantly attend the emolument of succession. If the +choice of the father, and the line of consanguinity, afforded no +efficient guardian, the failure was supplied by the nomination of +the praetor of the city, or the president of the province. But +the person whom they named to this public office might be legally +excused by insanity or blindness, by ignorance or inability, by +previous enmity or adverse interest, by the number of children or +guardianships with which he was already burdened, and by the +immunities which were granted to the useful labors of +magistrates, lawyers, physicians, and professors. Till the +infant could speak, and think, he was represented by the tutor, +whose authority was finally determined by the age of puberty. +Without his consent, no act of the pupil could bind himself to +his own prejudice, though it might oblige others for his personal +benefit. It is needless to observe, that the tutor often gave +security, and always rendered an account, and that the want of +diligence or integrity exposed him to a civil and almost criminal +action for the violation of his sacred trust. The age of puberty +had been rashly fixed by the civilians at fourteen; ^* but as the +faculities of the mind ripen more slowly than those of the body, +a curator was interposed to guard the fortunes of a Roman youth +from his own inexperience and headstrong passions. Such a +trustee had been first instituted by the praetor, to save a +family from the blind havoc of a prodigal or madman; and the +minor was compelled, by the laws, to solicit the same protection, +to give validity to his acts till he accomplished the full period +of twenty-five years. Women were condemned to the perpetual +tutelage of parents, husbands, or guardians; a sex created to +please and obey was never supposed to have attained the age of +reason and experience. Such, at least, was the stern and haughty +spirit of the ancient law, which had been insensibly mollified +before the time of Justinian. + +[Footnote 136: See the article of guardians and wards in the +Institutes, (l. i. tit. xiii. - xxvi.,) the Pandects, (l. xxvi. +xxvii.,) and the Code, (l. v. tit. xxviii. - lxx.)] + +[Footnote *: Gibbon accuses the civilians of having "rashly fixed +the age of puberty at twelve or fourteen years." It was not so; +before Justinian, no law existed on this subject. Ulpian relates +the discussions which took place on this point among the +different sects of civilians. See the Institutes, l. i. tit. 22, +and the fragments of Ulpian. Nor was the curatorship obligatory +for all minors. - W.] + + II. The original right of property can only be justified by +the accident or merit of prior occupancy; and on this foundation +it is wisely established by the philosophy of the civilians. ^137 +The savage who hollows a tree, inserts a sharp stone into a +wooden handle, or applies a string to an elastic branch, becomes +in a state of nature the just proprietor of the canoe, the bow, +or the hatchet. The materials were common to all, the new form, +the produce of his time and simple industry, belongs solely to +himself. His hungry brethren cannot, without a sense of their own +injustice, extort from the hunter the game of the forest +overtaken or slain by his personal strength and dexterity. If +his provident care preserves and multiplies the tame animals, +whose nature is tractable to the arts of education, he acquires a +perpetual title to the use and service of their numerous progeny, +which derives its existence from him alone. If he encloses and +cultivates a field for their sustenance and his own, a barren +waste is converted into a fertile soil; the seed, the manure, the +labor, create a new value, and the rewards of harvest are +painfully earned by the fatigues of the revolving year. In the +successive states of society, the hunter, the shepherd, the +husbandman, may defend their possessions by two reasons which +forcibly appeal to the feelings of the human mind: that whatever +they enjoy is the fruit of their own industry; and that every man +who envies their felicity, may purchase similar acquisitions by +the exercise of similar diligence. Such, in truth, may be the +freedom and plenty of a small colony cast on a fruitful island. +But the colony multiplies, while the space still continues the +same; the common rights, the equal inheritance of mankind. are +engrossed by the bold and crafty; each field and forest is +circumscribed by the landmarks of a jealous master; and it is the +peculiar praise of the Roman jurisprudence, that i asserts the +claim of the first occupant to the wild animals of the earth, the +air, and the waters. In the progress from primitive equity to +final injustice, the steps are silent, the shades are almost +imperceptible, and the absolute monopoly is guarded by positive +laws and artificial reason. The active, insatiate principle of +self-love can alone supply the arts of life and the wages of +industry; and as soon as civil government and exclusive property +have been introduced, they become necessary to the existence of +the human race. Except in the singular institutions of Sparta, +the wisest legislators have disapproved an agrarian law as a +false and dangerous innovation. Among the Romans, the enormous +disproportion of wealth surmounted the ideal restraints of a +doubtful tradition, and an obsolete statute; a tradition that the +poorest follower of Romulus had been endowed with the perpetual +inheritance of two jugera; ^138 a statute which confined the +richest citizen to the measure of five hundred jugera, or three +hundred and twelve acres of land. The original territory of Rome +consisted only of some miles of wood and meadow along the banks +of the Tyber; and domestic exchange could add nothing to the +national stock. But the goods of an alien or enemy were lawfully +exposed to the first hostile occupier; the city was enriched by +the profitable trade of war; and the blood of her sons was the +only price that was paid for the Volscian sheep, the slaves of +Briton, or the gems and gold of Asiatic kingdoms. In the +language of ancient jurisprudence, which was corrupted and +forgotten before the age of Justinian, these spoils were +distinguished by the name of manceps or manicipium, taken with +the hand; and whenever they were sold or emancipated, the +purchaser required some assurance that they had been the property +of an enemy, and not of a fellow- citizen. ^139 A citizen could +only forfeit his rights by apparent dereliction, and such +dereliction of a valuable interest could not easily be presumed. +Yet, according to the Twelve Tables, a prescription of one year +for movables, and of two years for immovables, abolished the +claim of the ancient master, if the actual possessor had acquired +them by a fair transaction from the person whom he believed to be +the lawful proprietor. ^140 Such conscientious injustice, without +any mixture of fraud or force could seldom injure the members of +a small republic; but the various periods of three, of ten, or of +twenty years, determined by Justinian, are more suitable to the +latitude of a great empire. It is only in the term of +prescription that the distinction of real and personal fortune +has been remarked by the civilians; and their general idea of +property is that of simple, uniform, and absolute dominion. The +subordinate exceptions of use, of usufruct, ^141 of servitude, +^142 imposed for the benefit of a neighbor on lands and houses, +are abundantly explained by the professors of jurisprudence. The +claims of property, as far as they are altered by the mixture, +the division, or the transformation of substances, are +investigated with metaphysical subtilty by the same civilians. + +[Footnote 137: Institut. l. ii. tit i. ii. Compare the pure and +precise reasoning of Caius and Heineccius (l. ii. tit. i. p. 69 - +91) with the loose prolixity of Theophilus, (p. 207 - 265.) The +opinions of Ulpian are preserved in the Pandects, (l. i. tit. +viii. leg. 41, No. 1.)] + +[Footnote 138: The heredium of the first Romans is defined by +Varro, (de Re Rustica, l. i. c. ii. p. 141, c. x. p. 160, 161, +edit. Gesner,) and clouded by Pliny's declamation, (Hist. Natur. +xviii. 2.) A just and learned comment is given in the +Administration des Terres chez les Romains, (p. 12 - 66.) + Note: On the duo jugera, compare Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 337. - +M.] +[Footnote 139: The res mancipi is explained from faint and remote +lights by Ulpian (Fragment. tit. xviii. p. 618, 619) and +Bynkershoek, (Opp tom. i. p. 306 - 315.) The definition is +somewhat arbitrary; and as none except myself have assigned a +reason, I am diffident of my own.] + +[Footnote 140: From this short prescription, Hume (Essays, vol. +i. p. 423) infers that there could not then be more order and +settlement in Italy than now amongst the Tartars. By the +civilian of his adversary Wallace, he is reproached, and not +without reason, for overlooking the conditions, (Institut. l. ii. +tit. vi.) + + Note: Gibbon acknowledges, in the former note, the obscurity +of his views with regard to the res mancipi. The interpreters, +who preceded him, are not agreed on this point, one of the most +difficult in the ancient Roman law. The conclusions of Hume, of +which the author here speaks, are grounded on false assumptions. +Gibbon had conceived very inaccurate notions of Property among +the Romans, and those of many authors in the present day are not +less erroneous. We think it right, in this place, to develop the +system of property among the Romans, as the result of the study +of the extant original authorities on the ancient law, and as it +has been demonstrated, recognized, and adopted by the most +learned expositors of the Roman law. Besides the authorities +formerly known, such as the Fragments of Ulpian, t. xix. and t. +i. 16. Theoph. Paraph. i. 5, 4, may be consulted the Institutes +of Gaius, i. 54, and ii. 40, et seq. + + The Roman laws protected all property acquired in a lawful +manner. They imposed on those who had invaded it, the obligation +of making restitution and reparation of all damage caused by that +invasion; they punished it moreover, in many cases, by a +pecuniary fine. But they did not always grant a recovery against +the third person, who had become bona fide possessed of the +property. He who had obtained possession of a thing belonging to +another, knowing nothing of the prior rights of that person, +maintained the possession. The law had expressly determined +those cases, in which it permitted property to be reclaimed from +an innocent possessor. In these cases possession had the +characters of absolute proprietorship, called mancipium, jus +Quiritium. To possess this right, it was not sufficient to have +entered into possession of the thing in any manner; the +acquisition was bound to have that character of publicity, which +was given by the observation of solemn forms, prescribed by the +laws, or the uninterrupted exercise of proprietorship during a +certain time: the Roman citizen alone could acquire this +proprietorship. Every other kind of possession, which might be +named imperfect proprietorship, was called "in bonis habere." It +was not till after the time of Cicero that the general name of +Dominium was given to all proprietorship. + + It was then the publicity which constituted the distinctive +character of absolute dominion. This publicity was grounded on +the mode of acquisition, which the moderns have called Civil, +(Modi adquirendi Civiles.) These modes of acquisition were, + + 1. Mancipium or mancipatio, which was nothing but the solemn +delivering over of the thing in the presence of a determinate +number of witnesses and a public officer; it was from this +probably that proprietorship was named, + 2. In jure cessio, which was a solemn delivering over before +the praetor. + 3. Adjudicatio, made by a judge, in a case of partition. + 4. Lex, which comprehended modes of acquiring in particular +cases determined by law; probably the law of the xii. tables; for +instance, the sub corona emptio and the legatum. + + 5. Usna, called afterwards usacapio, and by the moderns +prescription. + This was only a year for movables; two years for things not +movable. Its primary object was altogether different from that +of prescription in the present day. It was originally introduced +in order to transform the simple possession of a thing (in bonis +habere) into Roman proprietorship. The public and uninterrupted +possession of a thing, enjoyed for the space of one or two years, +was sufficient to make known to the inhabitants of the city of +Rome to whom the thing belonged. This last mode of acquisition +completed the system of civil acquisitions. by legalizing. as it +were, every other kind of acquisition which was not conferred, +from the commencement, by the Jus Quiritium. V. Ulpian. Fragm. +i. 16. Gaius, ii. 14. We believe, according to Gaius, 43, that +this usucaption was extended to the case where a thing had been +acquired from a person not the real proprietor; and that +according to the time prescribed, it gave to the possessor the +Roman proprietorship. But this does not appear to have been the +original design of this Institution. Caeterum etiam earum rerum +usucapio nobis competit, quae non a domino nobis tradita fuerint, +si modo eas bona fide acceperimus Gaius, l ii. 43. + As to things of smaller value, or those which it was +difficult to distinguish from each other, the solemnities of +which we speak were not requisite to obtain legal proprietorship. + +In this case simple delivery was sufficient. + + In proportion to the aggrandizement of the Republic, this +latter principle became more important from the increase of the +commerce and wealth of the state. It was necessary to know what +were those things of which absolute property might be acquired by +simple delivery, and what, on the contrary, those, the +acquisition of which must be sanctioned by these solemnities. +This question was necessarily to be decided by a general rule; +and it is this rule which establishes the distinction between res +mancipi and nec mancipi, a distinction about which the opinions +of modern civilians differ so much that there are above ten +conflicting systems on the subject. The system which accords best +with a sound interpretation of the Roman laws, is that proposed +by M. Trekel of Hamburg, and still further developed by M. Hugo, +who has extracted it in the Magazine of Civil Law, vol. ii. p. 7. + +This is the system now almost universally adopted. Res mancipi +(by contraction for mancipii) were things of which the absolute +property (Jus Quiritium) might be acquired only by the +solemnities mentioned above, at least by that of mancipation, +which was, without doubt, the most easy and the most usual. +Gaius, ii. 25. As for other things, the acquisition of which +was not subject to these forms, in order to confer absolute +right, they were called res nec mancipi. See Ulpian, Fragm. xix. + 1. 3, 7. + + Ulpian and Varro enumerate the different kinds of res +mancipi. Their enumerations do not quite agree; and various +methods of reconciling them have been attempted. The authority +of Ulpian, however, who wrote as a civilian, ought to have the +greater weight on this subject. + + But why are these things alone res mancipi? This is one of +the questions which have been most frequently agitated, and on +which the opinions of civilians are most divided. M. Hugo has +resolved it in the most natural and satisfactory manner. "All +things which were easily known individually, which were of great +value, with which the Romans were acquainted, and which they +highly appreciated, were res mancipi. Of old mancipation or some +other solemn form was required for the acquisition of these +things, an account of their importance. Mancipation served to +prove their acquisition, because they were easily distinguished +one from the other." On this great historical discussion consult +the Magazine of Civil Law by M. Hugo, vol. ii. p. 37, 38; the +dissertation of M. J. M. Zachariae, de Rebus Mancipi et nec +Mancipi Conjecturae, p. 11. Lipsiae, 1807; the History of Civil +Law by M. Hugo; and my Institutiones Juris Romani Privati p. 108, +110. + + As a general rule, it may be said that all things are res +nec mancipi; the res mancipi are the exception to this principle. + + The praetors changed the system of property by allowing a +person, who had a thing in bonis, the right to recover before the +prescribed term of usucaption had conferred absolute +proprietorship. (Pauliana in rem actio.) Justinian went still +further, in times when there was no longer any distinction +between a Roman citizen and a stranger. He granted the right of +recovering all things which had been acquired, whether by what +were called civil or natural modes of acquisition, Cod. l. vii. +t. 25, 31. And he so altered the theory of Gaius in his +Institutes, ii. 1, that no trace remains of the doctrine taught +by that civilian. - W.] + +[Footnote 141: See the Institutes (l. i. tit. iv. v.) and the +Pandects, (l. vii.) Noodt has composed a learned and distinct +treatise de Usufructu, (Opp. tom. i. p. 387 - 478.)] + +[Footnote 142: The questions de Servitutibus are discussed in the +Institutes (l. ii. tit. iii.) and Pandects, (l. viii.) Cicero +(pro Murena, c. 9) and Lactantius (Institut. Divin. l. i. c. i.) +affect to laugh at the insignificant doctrine, de aqua de pluvia +arcenda, &c. Yet it might be of frequent use among litigious +neighbors, both in town and country.] + + The personal title of the first proprietor must be +determined by his death: but the possession, without any +appearance of change, is peaceably continued in his children, the +associates of his toil, and the partners of his wealth. This +natural inheritance has been protected by the legislators of +every climate and age, and the father is encouraged to persevere +in slow and distant improvements, by the tender hope, that a long +posterity will enjoy the fruits of his labor. The principle of +hereditary succession is universal; but the order has been +variously established by convenience or caprice, by the spirit of +national institutions, or by some partial example which was +originally decided by fraud or violence. The jurisprudence of +the Romans appear to have deviated from the inequality of nature +much less than the Jewish, ^143 the Athenian, ^144 or the English +institutions. ^145 On the death of a citizen, all his +descendants, unless they were already freed from his paternal +power, were called to the inheritance of his possessions. The +insolent prerogative of primogeniture was unknown; the two sexes +were placed on a just level; all the sons and daughters were +entitled to an equal portion of the patrimonial estate; and if +any of the sons had been intercepted by a premature death, his +person was represented, and his share was divided, by his +surviving children. On the failure of the direct line, the right +of succession must diverge to the collateral branches. The +degrees of kindred ^146 are numbered by the civilians, ascending +from the last possessor to a common parent, and descending from +the common parent to the next heir: my father stands in the first +degree, my brother in the second, his children in the third, and +the remainder of the series may be conceived by a fancy, or +pictured in a genealogical table. In this computation, a +distinction was made, essential to the laws and even the +constitution of Rome; the agnats, or persons connected by a line +of males, were called, as they stood in the nearest degree, to an +equal partition; but a female was incapable of transmitting any +legal claims; and the cognats of every rank, without excepting +the dear relation of a mother and a son, were disinherited by the +Twelve Tables, as strangers and aliens. Among the Romans agens +or lineage was united by a common name and domestic rites; the +various cognomens or surnames of Scipio, or Marcellus, +distinguished from each other the subordinate branches or +families of the Cornelian or Claudian race: the default of the +agnats, of the same surname, was supplied by the larger +denomination of gentiles; and the vigilance of the laws +maintained, in the same name, the perpetual descent of religion +and property. A similar principle dictated the Voconian law, +^147 which abolished the right of female inheritance. As long as +virgins were given or sold in marriage, the adoption of the wife +extinguished the hopes of the daughter. But the equal succession +of independent matrons supported their pride and luxury, and +might transport into a foreign house the riches of their fathers. + +While the maxims of Cato ^148 were revered, they tended to +perpetuate in each family a just and virtuous mediocrity: till +female blandishments insensibly triumphed; and every salutary +restraint was lost in the dissolute greatness of the republic. +The rigor of the decemvirs was tempered by the equity of the +praetors. Their edicts restored and emancipated posthumous +children to the rights of nature; and upon the failure of the +agnats, they preferred the blood of the cognats to the name of +the gentiles whose title and character were insensibly covered +with oblivion. The reciprocal inheritance of mothers and sons +was established in the Tertullian and Orphitian decrees by the +humanity of the senate. A new and more impartial order was +introduced by the Novels of Justinian, who affected to revive the +jurisprudence of the Twelve Tables. The lines of masculine and +female kindred were confounded: the descending, ascending, and +collateral series was accurately defined; and each degree, +according tot he proximity of blood and affection, succeeded to +the vacant possessions of a Roman citizen. ^149 + +[Footnote 143: Among the patriarchs, the first-born enjoyed a +mystic and spiritual primogeniture, (Genesis, xxv. 31.) In the +land of Canaan, he was entitled to a double portion of +inheritance, (Deuteronomy, xxi. 17, with Le Clerc's judicious +Commentary.)] + +[Footnote 144: At Athens, the sons were equal; but the poor +daughters were endowed at the discretion of their brothers. See +the pleadings of Isaeus, (in the viith volume of the Greek +Orators,) illustrated by the version and comment of Sir William +Jones, a scholar, a lawyer, and a man of genius.] +[Footnote 145: In England, the eldest son also inherits all the +land; a law, says the orthodox Judge Blackstone, (Commentaries on +the Laws of England, vol. ii. p. 215,) unjust only in the opinion +of younger brothers. It may be of some political use in +sharpening their industry.] + +[Footnote 146: Blackstone's Tables (vol. ii. p. 202) represent +and compare the decrees of the civil with those of the canon and +common law. A separate tract of Julius Paulus, de gradibus et +affinibus, is inserted or abridged in the Pandects, (l. xxxviii. +tit. x.) In the viith degrees he computes (No. 18) 1024 persons.] + +[Footnote 147: The Voconian law was enacted in the year of Rome +584. The younger Scipio, who was then 17 years of age, +(Frenshemius, Supplement. Livian. xlvi. 40,) found an occasion of +exercising his generosity to his mother, sisters, &c. (Polybius, +tom. ii. l. xxxi. p. 1453 - 1464, edit Gronov., a domestic +witness.)] + +[Footnote 148: Legem Voconiam (Ernesti, Clavis Ciceroniana) magna +voce bonis lateribus (at lxv. years of age) suasissem, says old +Cato, (de Senectute, c. 5,) Aulus Gellius (vii. 13, xvii. 6) has +saved some passages.] +[Footnote 149: See the law of succession in the Institutes of +Caius, (l. ii. tit. viii. p. 130 - 144,) and Justinian, (l. iii. +tit. i. - vi., with the Greek version of Theophilus, p. 515 - +575, 588 - 600,) the Pandects, (l. xxxviii. tit. vi. - xvii.,) +the Code, (l. vi. tit. lv. - lx.,) and the Novels, (cxviii.)] + + The order of succession is regulated by nature, or at least +by the general and permanent reason of the lawgiver: but this +order is frequently violated by the arbitrary and partial wills, +which prolong the dominion of the testator beyond the grave. ^150 +In the simple state of society, this last use or abuse of the +right of property is seldom indulged: it was introduced at Athens +by the laws of Solon; and the private testaments of the father of +a family are authorized by the Twelve Tables. Before the time of +the decemvirs, ^151 a Roman citizen exposed his wishes and +motives to the assembly of the thirty curiae or parishes, and the +general law of inheritance was suspended by an occasional act of +the legislature. After the permission of the decemvirs, each +private lawgiver promulgated his verbal or written testament in +the presence of five citizens, who represented the five classes +of the Roman people; a sixth witness attested their concurrence; +a seventh weighed the copper money, which was paid by an +imaginary purchaser; and the estate was emancipated by a +fictitious sale and immediate release. This singular ceremony, +^152 which excited the wonder of the Greeks, was still practised +in the age of Severus; but the praetors had already approved a +more simple testament, for which they required the seals and +signatures of seven witnesses, free from all legal exception, and +purposely summoned for the execution of that important act. A +domestic monarch, who reigned over the lives and fortunes of his +children, might distribute their respective shares according to +the degrees of their merit or his affection; his arbitrary +displeasure chastised an unworthy son by the loss of his +inheritance, and the mortifying preference of a stranger. But +the experience of unnatural parents recommended some limitations +of their testamentary powers. A son, or, by the laws of +Justinian, even a daughter, could no longer be disinherited by +their silence: they were compelled to name the criminal, and to +specify the offence; and the justice of the emperor enumerated +the sole causes that could justify such a violation of the first +principles of nature and society. ^153 Unless a legitimate +portion, a fourth part, had been reserved for the children, they +were entitled to institute an action or complaint of inofficious +testament; to suppose that their father's understanding was +impaired by sickness or age; and respectfully to appeal from his +rigorous sentence to the deliberate wisdom of the magistrate. In +the Roman jurisprudence, an essential distinction was admitted +between the inheritance and the legacies. The heirs who +succeeded to the entire unity, or to any of the twelve fractions +of the substance of the testator, represented his civil and +religious character, asserted his rights, fulfilled his +obligations, and discharged the gifts of friendship or +liberality, which his last will had bequeathed under the name of +legacies. But as the imprudence or prodigality of a dying man +might exhaust the inheritance, and leave only risk and labor to +his successor, he was empowered to retain the Falcidian portion; +to deduct, before the payment of the legacies, a clear fourth for +his own emolument. A reasonable time was allowed to examine the +proportion between the debts and the estate, to decide whether he +should accept or refuse the testament; and if he used the benefit +of an inventory, the demands of the creditors could not exceed +the valuation of the effects. The last will of a citizen might +be altered during his life, or rescinded after his death: the +persons whom he named might die before him, or reject the +inheritance, or be exposed to some legal disqualification. In +the contemplation of these events, he was permitted to substitute +second and third heirs, to replace each other according to the +order of the testament; and the incapacity of a madman or an +infant to bequeath his property might be supplied by a similar +substitution. ^154 But the power of the testator expired with the +acceptance of the testament: each Roman of mature age and +discretion acquired the absolute dominion of his inheritance, and +the simplicity of the civil law was never clouded by the long and +intricate entails which confine the happiness and freedom of +unborn generations. + +[Footnote 150: That succession was the rule, testament the +exception, is proved by Taylor, (Elements of Civil Law, p. 519 - +527, (a learned, rambling, spirited writer. In the iid and iiid +books, the method of the Institutes is doubtless preposterous; +and the Chancellor Daguesseau (Oeuvres, tom. i. p. 275) wishes +his countryman Domat in the place of Tribonian. Yet covenants +before successions is not surely the natural order of civil +laws.] +[Footnote 151: Prior examples of testaments are perhaps fabulous. + +At Athens a childless father only could make a will, (Plutarch, +in Solone, tom. i. p. 164. See Isaeus and Jones.)] + +[Footnote 152: The testament of Augustus is specified by +Suetonius, (in August, c. 101, in Neron. c. 4,) who may be +studied as a code of Roman antiquities. Plutarch (Opuscul. tom. +ii. p. 976) is surprised. The language of Ulpian (Fragment. tit. +xx. p. 627, edit. Schulting) is almost too exclusive - solum in +usu est.] + +[Footnote 153: Justinian (Novell. cxv. No. 3, 4) enumerates only +the public and private crimes, for which a son might likewise +disinherit his father. + Note: Gibbon has singular notions on the provisions of +Novell. cxv. 3, 4, which probably he did not clearly understand. +- W] + +[Footnote 154: The substitutions of fidei-commissaires of the +modern civil law is a feudal idea grafted on the Roman +jurisprudence, and bears scarcely any resemblance to the ancient +fidei-commissa, (Institutions du Droit Francois, tom. i. p. 347 - +383. Denissart, Decisions de Jurisprudence, tom. iv. p. 577 - +604.) They were stretched to the fourth degree by an abuse of the +clixth Novel; a partial, perplexed, declamatory law.] + + Conquest and the formalities of law established the use of +codicils. If a Roman was surprised by death in a remote province +of the empire, he addressed a short epistle to his legitimate or +testamentary heir; who fulfilled with honor, or neglected with +impunity, this last request, which the judges before the age of +Augustus were not authorized to enforce. A codicil might be +expressed in any mode, or in any language; but the subscription +of five witnesses must declare that it was the genuine +composition of the author. His intention, however laudable, was +sometimes illegal; and the invention of fidei-commissa, or +trusts, arose form the struggle between natural justice and +positive jurisprudence. A stranger of Greece or Africa might be +the friend or benefactor of a childless Roman, but none, except a +fellow-citizen, could act as his heir. The Voconian law, which +abolished female succession, restrained the legacy or inheritance +of a woman to the sum of one hundred thousand sesterces; ^155 and +an only daughter was condemned almost as an alien in her father's +house. The zeal of friendship, and parental affection, suggested +a liberal artifice: a qualified citizen was named in the +testament, with a prayer or injunction that he would restore the +inheritance to the person for whom it was truly intended. Various +was the conduct of the trustees in this painful situation: they +had sworn to observe the laws of their country, but honor +prompted them to violate their oath; and if they preferred their +interest under the mask of patriotism, they forfeited the esteem +of every virtuous mind. The declaration of Augustus relieved +their doubts, gave a legal sanction to confidential testaments +and codicils, and gently unravelled the forms and restraints of +the republican jurisprudence. ^156 But as the new practice of +trusts degenerated into some abuse, the trustee was enabled, by +the Trebellian and Pegasian decrees, to reserve one fourth of the +estate, or to transfer on the head of the real heir all the debts +and actions of the succession. The interpretation of testaments +was strict and literal; but the language of trusts and codicils +was delivered from the minute and technical accuracy of the +civilians. ^157 + +[Footnote 155: Dion Cassius (tom. ii. l. lvi. p. 814, with +Reimar's Notes) specifies in Greek money the sum of 25,000 +drachms.] + +[Footnote 156: The revolutions of the Roman laws of inheritance +are finely, though sometimes fancifully, deduced by Montesquieu, +(Esprit des Loix, l. xxvii.)] + +[Footnote 157: Of the civil jurisprudence of successions, +testaments, codicils, legacies, and trusts, the principles are +ascertained in the Institutes of Caius, (l. ii. tit. ii. - ix. p. +91 - 144,) Justinian, (l. ii. tit. x. - xxv.,) and Theophilus, +(p. 328 - 514;) and the immense detail occupies twelve books +(xxviii. - xxxix.) of the Pandects.] + III. The general duties of mankind are imposed by their +public and private relations: but their specific obligations to +each other can only be the effect of, 1. a promise, 2. a benefit, +or 3. an injury: and when these obligations are ratified by law, +the interested party may compel the performance by a judicial +action. On this principle, the civilians of every country have +erected a similar jurisprudence, the fair conclusion of universal +reason and justice. ^158 + +[Footnote 158: The Institutes of Caius, (l. ii. tit. ix. x. p. +144 - 214,) of Justinian, (l. iii. tit. xiv. - xxx. l. iv. tit. +i. - vi.,) and of Theophilus, (p. 616 - 837,) distinguish four +sorts of obligations - aut re, aut verbis, aut literis aut +consensu: but I confess myself partial to my own division. + Note: It is not at all applicable to the Roman system of +contracts, even if I were allowed to be good. - M.] + + +Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. + + +Part VI. + + 1. The goddess of faith (of human and social faith) was +worshipped, not only in her temples, but in the lives of the +Romans; and if that nation was deficient in the more amiable +qualities of benevolence and generosity, they astonished the +Greeks by their sincere and simple performance of the most +burdensome engagements. ^159 Yet among the same people, according +to the rigid maxims of the patricians and decemvirs, a naked +pact, a promise, or even an oath, did not create any civil +obligation, unless it was confirmed by the legal form of a +stipulation. Whatever might be the etymology of the Latin word, +it conveyed the idea of a firm and irrevocable contract, which +was always expressed in the mode of a question and answer. Do +you promise to pay me one hundred pieces of gold? was the solemn +interrogation of Seius. I do promise, was the reply of +Sempronius. The friends of Sempronius, who answered for his +ability and inclination, might be separately sued at the option +of Seius; and the benefit of partition, or order of reciprocal +actions, insensibly deviated from the strict theory of +stipulation. The most cautious and deliberate consent was justly +required to sustain the validity of a gratuitous promise; and the +citizen who might have obtained a legal security, incurred the +suspicion of fraud, and paid the forfeit of his neglect. But the +ingenuity of the civilians successfully labored to convert simple +engagements into the form of solemn stipulations. The praetors, +as the guardians of social faith, admitted every rational +evidence of a voluntary and deliberate act, which in their +tribunal produced an equitable obligation, and for which they +gave an action and a remedy. ^160 + +[Footnote 159: How much is the cool, rational evidence of +Polybius (l. vi. p. 693, l. xxxi. p. 1459, 1460) superior to +vague, indiscriminate applause - omnium maxime et praecipue fidem +coluit, (A. Gellius, xx. l.)] +[Footnote 160: The Jus Praetorium de Pactis et Transactionibus is +a separate and satisfactory treatise of Gerard Noodt, (Opp. tom. +i. p. 483 - 564.) And I will here observe, that the universities +of Holland and Brandenburg, in the beginning of the present +century, appear to have studied the civil law on the most just +and liberal principles. + + Note: Simple agreements (pacta) formed as valid an +obligation as a solemn contract. Only an action, or the right to +a direct judicial prosecution, was not permitted in every case of +compact. In all other respects, the judge was bound to maintain +an agreement made by pactum. The stipulation was a form common +to every kind of agreement, by which the right of action was +given to this. - W.] + + 2. The obligations of the second class, as they were +contracted by the delivery of a thing, are marked by the +civilians with the epithet of real. ^161 A grateful return is due +to the author of a benefit; and whoever is intrusted with the +property of another, has bound himself to the sacred duty of +restitution. In the case of a friendly loan, the merit of +generosity is on the side of the lender only; in a deposit, on +the side of the receiver; but in a pledge, and the rest of the +selfish commerce of ordinary life, the benefit is compensated by +an equivalent, and the obligation to restore is variously +modified by the nature of the transaction. The Latin language +very happily expresses the fundamental difference between the +commodatum and the mutuum, which our poverty is reduced to +confound under the vague and common appellation of a loan. In +the former, the borrower was obliged to restore the same +individual thing with which he had been accommodated for the +temporary supply of his wants; in the latter, it was destined for +his use and consumption, and he discharged this mutual +engagement, by substituting the same specific value according to +a just estimation of number, of weight, and of measure. In the +contract of sale, the absolute dominion is transferred to the +purchaser, and he repays the benefit with an adequate sum of gold +or silver, the price and universal standard of all earthly +possessions. The obligation of another contract, that of +location, is of a more complicated kind. Lands or houses, labor +or talents, may be hired for a definite term; at the expiration +of the time, the thing itself must be restored to the owner, with +an additional reward for the beneficial occupation and +employment. In these lucrative contracts, to which may be added +those of partnership and commissions, the civilians sometimes +imagine the delivery of the object, and sometimes presume the +consent of the parties. The substantial pledge has been refined +into the invisible rights of a mortgage or hypotheca; and the +agreement of sale, for a certain price, imputes, from that +moment, the chances of gain or loss to the account of the +purchaser. It may be fairly supposed, that every man will obey +the dictates of his interest; and if he accepts the benefit, he +is obliged to sustain the expense, of the transaction. In this +boundless subject, the historian will observe the location of +land and money, the rent of the one and the interest of the +other, as they materially affect the prosperity of agriculture +and commerce. The landlord was often obliged to advance the +stock and instruments of husbandry, and to content himself with a +partition of the fruits. If the feeble tenant was oppressed by +accident, contagion, or hostile violence, he claimed a +proportionable relief from the equity of the laws: five years +were the customary term, and no solid or costly improvements +could be expected from a farmer, who, at each moment might be +ejected by the sale of the estate. ^162 Usury, ^163 the +inveterate grievance of the city, had been discouraged by the +Twelve Tables, ^164 and abolished by the clamors of the people. +It was revived by their wants and idleness, tolerated by the +discretion of the praetors, and finally determined by the Code of +Justinian. Persons of illustrious rank were confined to the +moderate profit of four per cent.; six was pronounced to be the +ordinary and legal standard of interest; eight was allowed for +the convenience of manufactures and merchants; twelve was granted +to nautical insurance, which the wiser ancients had not attempted +to define; but, except in this perilous adventure, the practice +of exorbitant usury was severely restrained. ^165 The most simple +interest was condemned by the clergy of the East and West; ^166 +but the sense of mutual benefit, which had triumphed over the law +of the republic, has resisted with equal firmness the decrees of +the church, and even the prejudices of mankind. ^167 + +[Footnote 161: The nice and various subject of contracts by +consent is spread over four books (xvii. - xx.) of the Pandects, +and is one of the parts best deserving of the attention of an +English student. + + Note: This is erroneously called "benefits." Gibbon +enumerates various kinds of contracts, of which some alone are +properly called benefits. - W.] +[Footnote 162: The covenants of rent are defined in the Pandects +(l. xix.) and the Code, (l. iv. tit. lxv.) The quinquennium, or +term of five years, appears to have been a custom rather than a +law; but in France all leases of land were determined in nine +years. This limitation was removed only in the year 1775, +(Encyclopedie Methodique, tom. i. de la Jurisprudence, p. 668, +669;) and I am sorry to observe that it yet prevails in the +beauteous and happy country where I am permitted to reside.] + +[Footnote 163: I might implicitly acquiesce in the sense and +learning of the three books of G. Noodt, de foenore et usuris. +(Opp. tom. i. p. 175 - 268.) The interpretation of the asses or +centesimoe usuroe at twelve, the unciarioe at one per cent., is +maintained by the best critics and civilians: Noodt, (l. ii. c. +2, p. 207,) Gravina, (Opp. p. 205, &c., 210,) Heineccius, +(Antiquitat. ad Institut. l. iii. tit. xv.,) Montesquieu, (Esprit +des Loix, l. xxii. c. 22, tom. ii. p. 36. Defense de l'Esprit +des Loix, tom. iii. p. 478, &c.,) and above all, John Frederic +Gronovius (de Pecunia Veteri, l. iii. c. 13, p. 213 - 227, and +his three Antexegeses, p. 455 - 655, the founder, or at least the +champion, of this probable opinion; which is, however, perplexed +with some difficulties.] + +[Footnote 164: Primo xii. Tabulis sancitum est ne quis unciario +foenore amplius exerceret, (Tacit. Annal. vi. 16.) Pour peu (says +Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xxii. 22) qu'on soit verse dans +l'histoire de Rome, on verra qu'une pareille loi ne devoit pas +etre l'ouvrage des decemvirs. Was Tacitus ignorant - or stupid? +But the wiser and more virtuous patricians might sacrifice their +avarice to their ambition, and might attempt to check the odious +practice by such interest as no lender would accept, and such +penalties as no debtor would incur. + + Note: The real nature of the foenus unciarium has been +proved; it amounted in a year of twelve months to ten per cent. +See, in the Magazine for Civil Law, by M. Hugo, vol. v. p. 180, +184, an article of M. Schrader, following up the conjectures of +Niebuhr, Hist. Rom. tom. ii. p. 431. - W. + Compare a very clear account of this question in the +appendix to Mr. Travers Twiss's Epitome of Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. +257. - M.] +[Footnote 165: Justinian has not condescended to give usury a +place in his Institutes; but the necessary rules and restrictions +are inserted in the Pandects (l. xxii. tit. i. ii.) and the Code, +(l. iv. tit. xxxii. xxxiii.)] +[Footnote 166: The Fathers are unanimous, (Barbeyrac, Morale des +Peres, p. 144. &c.:) Cyprian, Lactantius, Basil, Chrysostom, (see +his frivolous arguments in Noodt, l. i. c. 7, p. 188,) Gregory of +Nyssa, Ambrose, Jerom, Augustin, and a host of councils and +casuists.] + +[Footnote 167: Cato, Seneca, Plutarch, have loudly condemned the +practice or abuse of usury. According to the etymology of +foenus, the principal is supposed to generate the interest: a +breed of barren metal, exclaims Shakespeare - and the stage is +the echo of the public voice.] + 3. Nature and society impose the strict obligation of +repairing an injury; and the sufferer by private injustice +acquires a personal right and a legitimate action. If the +property of another be intrusted to our care, the requisite +degree of care may rise and fall according to the benefit which +we derive from such temporary possession; we are seldom made +responsible for inevitable accident, but the consequences of a +voluntary fault must always be imputed to the author. ^168 A +Roman pursued and recovered his stolen goods by a civil action of +theft; they might pass through a succession of pure and innocent +hands, but nothing less than a prescription of thirty years could +extinguish his original claim. They were restored by the +sentence of the praetor, and the injury was compensated by +double, or threefold, or even quadruple damages, as the deed had +been perpetrated by secret fraud or open rapine, as the robber +had been surprised in the fact, or detected by a subsequent +research. The Aquilian law ^169 defended the living property of +a citizen, his slaves and cattle, from the stroke of malice or +negligence: the highest price was allowed that could be ascribed +to the domestic animal at any moment of the year preceding his +death; a similar latitude of thirty days was granted on the +destruction of any other valuable effects. A personal injury is +blunted or sharpened by the manners of the times and the +sensibility of the individual: the pain or the disgrace of a word +or blow cannot easily be appreciated by a pecuniary equivalent. +The rude jurisprudence of the decemvirs had confounded all hasty +insults, which did not amount to the fracture of a limb, by +condemning the aggressor to the common penalty of twenty-five +asses. But the same denomination of money was reduced, in three +centuries, from a pound to the weight of half an ounce: and the +insolence of a wealthy Roman indulged himself in the cheap +amusement of breaking and satisfying the law of the twelve +tables. Veratius ran through the streets striking on the face +the inoffensive passengers, and his attendant purse-bearer +immediately silenced their clamors by the legal tender of +twenty-five pieces of copper, about the value of one shilling. +^170 The equity of the praetors examined and estimated the +distinct merits of each particular complaint. In the +adjudication of civil damages, the magistrate assumed a right to +consider the various circumstances of time and place, of age and +dignity, which may aggravate the shame and sufferings of the +injured person; but if he admitted the idea of a fine, a +punishment, an example, he invaded the province, though, perhaps, +he supplied the defects, of the criminal law. +[Footnote 168: Sir William Jones has given an ingenious and +rational Essay on the law of Bailment, (London, 1781, p. 127, in +8vo.) He is perhaps the only lawyer equally conversant with the +year-books of Westminster, the Commentaries of Ulpian, the Attic +pleadings of Isaeus, and the sentences of Arabian and Persian +cadhis.] + +[Footnote 169: Noodt (Opp. tom. i. p. 137 - 172) has composed a +separate treatise, ad Legem Aquilian, (Pandect. l. ix. tit. ii.)] + +[Footnote 170: Aulus Gellius (Noct. Attic. xx. i.) borrowed this +story from the Commentaries of Q. Labeo on the xii. tables.] + + The execution of the Alban dictator, who was dismembered by +eight horses, is represented by Livy as the first and the fast +instance of Roman cruelty in the punishment of the most atrocious +crimes. ^171 But this act of justice, or revenge, was inflicted +on a foreign enemy in the heat of victory, and at the command of +a single man. The twelve tables afford a more decisive proof of +the national spirit, since they were framed by the wisest of the +senate, and accepted by the free voices of the people; yet these +laws, like the statutes of Draco, ^172 are written in characters +of blood. ^173 They approve the inhuman and unequal principle of +retaliation; and the forfeit of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a +tooth, a limb for a limb, is rigorously exacted, unless the +offender can redeem his pardon by a fine of three hundred pounds +of copper. The decemvirs distributed with much liberality the +slighter chastisements of flagellation and servitude; and nine +crimes of a very different complexion are adjudged worthy of +death. + + 1. Any act of treason against the state, or of +correspondence with the public enemy. The mode of execution was +painful and ignominious: the head of the degenerate Roman was +shrouded in a veil, his hands were tied behind his back, and +after he had been scourged by the lictor, he was suspended in the +midst of the forum on a cross, or inauspicious tree. + + 2. Nocturnal meetings in the city; whatever might be the +pretence, of pleasure, or religion, or the public good. + + 3. The murder of a citizen; for which the common feelings of +mankind demand the blood of the murderer. Poison is still more +odious than the sword or dagger; and we are surprised to +discover, in two flagitious events, how early such subtle +wickedness had infected the simplicity of the republic, and the +chaste virtues of the Roman matrons. ^174 The parricide, who +violated the duties of nature and gratitude, was cast into the +river or the sea, enclosed in a sack; and a cock, a viper, a dog, +and a monkey, were successively added, as the most suitable +companions. ^175 Italy produces no monkeys; but the want could +never be felt, till the middle of the sixth century first +revealed the guilt of a parricide. ^176 + + 4. The malice of an incendiary. After the previous ceremony +of whipping, he himself was delivered to the flames; and in this +example alone our reason is tempted to applaud the justice of +retaliation. + + 5. Judicial perjury. The corrupt or malicious witness was +thrown headlong from the Tarpeian rock, to expiate his falsehood, +which was rendered still more fatal by the severity of the penal +laws, and the deficiency of written evidence. + + 6. The corruption of a judge, who accepted bribes to +pronounce an iniquitous sentence. + + 7. Libels and satires, whose rude strains sometimes +disturbed the peace of an illiterate city. The author was beaten +with clubs, a worthy chastisement, but it is not certain that he +was left to expire under the blows of the executioner. ^177 + + 8. The nocturnal mischief of damaging or destroying a +neighbor's corn. The criminal was suspended as a grateful victim +to Ceres. But the sylvan deities were less implacable, and the +extirpation of a more valuable tree was compensated by the +moderate fine of twenty-five pounds of copper. + 9. Magical incantations; which had power, in the opinion of +the Latin shepherds, to exhaust the strength of an enemy, to +extinguish his life, and to remove from their seats his +deep-rooted plantations. + +The cruelty of the twelve tables against insolvent debtors still +remains to be told; and I shall dare to prefer the literal sense +of antiquity to the specious refinements of modern criticism. +^178 ^* After the judicial proof or confession of the debt, +thirty days of grace were allowed before a Roman was delivered +into the power of his fellow- citizen. In this private prison, +twelve ounces of rice were his daily food; he might be bound with +a chain of fifteen pounds weight; and his misery was thrice +exposed in the market place, to solicit the compassion of his +friends and countrymen. At the expiration of sixty days, the +debt was discharged by the loss of liberty or life; the insolvent +debtor was either put to death, or sold in foreign slavery beyond +the Tyber: but, if several creditors were alike obstinate and +unrelenting, they might legally dismember his body, and satiate +their revenge by this horrid partition. The advocates for this +savage law have insisted, that it must strongly operate in +deterring idleness and fraud from contracting debts which they +were unable to discharge; but experience would dissipate this +salutary terror, by proving that no creditor could be found to +exact this unprofitable penalty of life or limb. As the manners +of Rome were insensibly polished, the criminal code of the +decemvirs was abolished by the humanity of accusers, witnesses, +and judges; and impunity became the consequence of immoderate +rigor. The Porcian and Valerian laws prohibited the magistrates +from inflicting on a free citizen any capital, or even corporal, +punishment; and the obsolete statutes of blood were artfully, and +perhaps truly, ascribed to the spirit, not of patrician, but of +regal, tyranny. + +[Footnote 171: The narrative of Livy (i. 28) is weighty and +solemn. At tu, Albane, maneres, is a harsh reflection, unworthy +of Virgil's humanity, (Aeneid, viii. 643.) Heyne, with his usual +good taste, observes that the subject was too horrid for the +shield of Aencas, (tom. iii. p. 229.)] +[Footnote 172: The age of Draco (Olympiad xxxix. l) is fixed by +Sir John Marsham (Canon Chronicus, p. 593 - 596) and Corsini, +(Fasti Attici, tom. iii. p. 62.) For his laws, see the writers on +the government of Athens, Sigonius, Meursius, Potter, &c.] + +[Footnote 173: The viith, de delictis, of the xii. tables is +delineated by Gravina, (Opp. p. 292, 293, with a commentary, p. +214 - 230.) Aulus Gellius (xx. 1) and the Collatio Legum +Mosaicarum et Romanarum afford much original information.] + +[Footnote 174: Livy mentions two remarkable and flagitious aeras, +of 3000 persons accused, and of 190 noble matrons convicted, of +the crime of poisoning, (xl. 43, viii. 18.) Mr. Hume +discriminates the ages of private and public virtue, (Essays, +vol. i. p. 22, 23.) I would rather say that such ebullitions of +mischief (as in France in the year 1680) are accidents and +prodigies which leave no marks on the manners of a nation.] +[Footnote 175: The xii. tables and Cicero (pro Roscio Amerino, c. +25, 26) are content with the sack; Seneca (Excerpt. Controvers. v +4) adorns it with serpents; Juvenal pities the guiltless monkey +(innoxia simia - 156.) Adrian (apud Dositheum Magistrum, l. iii. +c. p. 874 - 876, with Schulting's Note,) Modestinus, (Pandect. +xlviii. tit. ix. leg. 9,) Constantine, (Cod. l. ix. tit. xvii.,) +and Justinian, (Institut. l. iv. tit. xviii.,) enumerate all the +companions of the parricide. But this fanciful execution was +simplified in practice. Hodie tamen viv exuruntur vel ad bestias +dantur, (Paul. Sentent. Recept. l. v. tit. xxiv p. 512, edit. +Schulting.)] + +[Footnote 176: The first parricide at Rome was L. Ostius, after +the second Punic war, (Plutarch, in Romulo, tom. i. p. 54.) +During the Cimbric, P. Malleolus was guilty of the first +matricide, (Liv. Epitom. l. lxviii.)] +[Footnote 177: Horace talks of the formidine fustis, (l. ii. +epist. ii. 154,) but Cicero (de Republica, l. iv. apud Augustin. +de Civitat. Dei, ix. 6, in Fragment. Philosoph. tom. iii. p. 393, +edit. Olivet) affirms that the decemvirs made libels a capital +offence: cum perpaucas res capite sanxisent - perpaucus!] + +[Footnote 178: Bynkershoek (Observat. Juris Rom. l. i. c. 1, in +Opp. tom. i. p. 9, 10, 11) labors to prove that the creditors +divided not the body, but the price, of the insolvent debtor. +Yet his interpretation is one perpetual harsh metaphor; nor can +he surmount the Roman authorities of Quintilian, Caecilius, +Favonius, and Tertullian. See Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic. xxi.] +[Footnote *: Hugo (Histoire du Droit Romain, tom. i. p. 234) +concurs with Gibbon See Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 313. - M.] + + In the absence of penal laws, and the insufficiency of civil +actions, the peace and justice of the city were imperfectly +maintained by the private jurisdiction of the citizens. The +malefactors who replenish our jails are the outcasts of society, +and the crimes for which they suffer may be commonly ascribed to +ignorance, poverty, and brutal appetite. For the perpetration of +similar enormities, a vile plebeian might claim and abuse the +sacred character of a member of the republic: but, on the proof +or suspicion of guilt, the slave, or the stranger, was nailed to +a cross; and this strict and summary justice might be exercised +without restraint over the greatest part of the populace of Rome. + +Each family contained a domestic tribunal, which was not +confined, like that of the praetor, to the cognizance of external +actions: virtuous principles and habits were inculcated by the +discipline of education; and the Roman father was accountable to +the state for the manners of his children, since he disposed, +without appeal, of their life, their liberty, and their +inheritance. In some pressing emergencies, the citizen was +authorized to avenge his private or public wrongs. The consent +of the Jewish, the Athenian, and the Roman laws approved the +slaughter of the nocturnal thief; though in open daylight a +robber could not be slain without some previous evidence of +danger and complaint. Whoever surprised an adulterer in his +nuptial bed might freely exercise his revenge; ^179 the most +bloody and wanton outrage was excused by the provocation; ^180 +nor was it before the reign of Augustus that the husband was +reduced to weigh the rank of the offender, or that the parent was +condemned to sacrifice his daughter with her guilty seducer. +After the expulsion of the kings, the ambitious Roman, who should +dare to assume their title or imitate their tyranny, was devoted +to the infernal gods: each of his fellow-citizens was armed with +the sword of justice; and the act of Brutus, however repugnant to +gratitude or prudence, had been already sanctified by the +judgment of his country. ^181 The barbarous practice of wearing +arms in the midst of peace, ^182 and the bloody maxims of honor, +were unknown to the Romans; and, during the two purest ages, from +the establishment of equal freedom to the end of the Punic wars, +the city was never disturbed by sedition, and rarely polluted +with atrocious crimes. The failure of penal laws was more +sensibly felt, when every vice was inflamed by faction at home +and dominion abroad. In the time of Cicero, each private citizen +enjoyed the privilege of anarchy; each minister of the republic +was exalted to the temptations of regal power, and their virtues +are entitled to the warmest praise, as the spontaneous fruits of +nature or philosophy. After a triennial indulgence of lust, +rapine, and cruelty, Verres, the tyrant of Sicily, could only be +sued for the pecuniary restitution of three hundred thousand +pounds sterling; and such was the temper of the laws, the judges, +and perhaps the accuser himself, ^183 that, on refunding a +thirteenth part of his plunder, Verres could retire to an easy +and luxurious exile. ^184 +[Footnote 179: The first speech of Lysias (Reiske, Orator. Graec. +tom. v. p. 2 - 48) is in defence of a husband who had killed the +adulterer. The rights of husbands and fathers at Rome and Athens +are discussed with much learning by Dr. Taylor, (Lectiones +Lysiacae, c. xi. in Reiske, tom. vi. p. 301 - 308.)] +[Footnote 180: See Casaubon ad Athenaeum, l. i. c. 5, p. 19. +Percurrent raphanique mugilesque, (Catull. p. 41, 42, edit. +Vossian.) Hunc mugilis intrat, (Juvenal. Satir. x. 317.) Hunc +perminxere calones, (Horat l. i. Satir. ii. 44.) Familiae +stuprandum dedit . . fraudi non fuit, (Val. Maxim. l. vi. c. l, +No. 13.)] + +[Footnote 181: This law is noticed by Livy (ii. 8) and Plutarch, +(in Publiccla, tom. i. p. 187,) and it fully justifies the public +opinion on the death of Caesar which Suetonius could publish +under the Imperial government. Jure caesus existimatur, (in +Julio, c. 76.) Read the letters that passed between Cicero and +Matius a few months after the ides of March (ad Fam. xi. 27, +28.)] + +[Footnote 182: Thucydid. l. i. c. 6 The historian who considers +this circumstance as the test of civilization, would disdain the +barbarism of a European court] + +[Footnote 183: He first rated at millies (800,000l.) the damages +of Sicily, (Divinatio in Caecilium, c. 5,) which he afterwards +reduced to quadringenties, (320,000l. - 1 Actio in Verrem, c. +18,) and was finally content with tricies, (24,000l.) Plutarch +(in Ciceron. tom. iii. p. 1584) has not dissembled the popular +suspicion and report.] + +[Footnote 184: Verres lived near thirty years after his trial, +till the second triumvirate, when he was proscribed by the taste +of Mark Antony for the sake of his Corinthian plate, (Plin. Hist. +Natur. xxxiv. 3.)] + + The first imperfect attempt to restore the proportion of +crimes and punishments was made by the dictator Sylla, who, in +the midst of his sanguinary triumph, aspired to restrain the +license, rather than to oppress the liberty, of the Romans. He +gloried in the arbitrary proscription of four thousand seven +hundred citizens. ^185 But, in the character of a legislator, he +respected the prejudices of the times; and, instead of +pronouncing a sentence of death against the robber or assassin, +the general who betrayed an army, or the magistrate who ruined a +province, Sylla was content to aggravate the pecuniary damages by +the penalty of exile, or, in more constitutional language, by the +interdiction of fire and water. The Cornelian, and afterwards +the Pompeian and Julian, laws introduced a new system of criminal +jurisprudence; ^186 and the emperors, from Augustus to Justinian, +disguised their increasing rigor under the names of the original +authors. But the invention and frequent use of extraordinary +pains proceeded from the desire to extend and conceal the +progress of despotism. In the condemnation of illustrious +Romans, the senate was always prepared to confound, at the will +of their masters, the judicial and legislative powers. It was +the duty of the governors to maintain the peace of their +province, by the arbitrary and rigid administration of justice; +the freedom of the city evaporated in the extent of empire, and +the Spanish malefactor, who claimed the privilege of a Roman, was +elevated by the command of Galba on a fairer and more lofty +cross. ^187 Occasional rescripts issued from the throne to decide +the questions which, by their novelty or importance, appeared to +surpass the authority and discernment of a proconsul. +Transportation and beheading were reserved for honorable persons; +meaner criminals were either hanged, or burnt, or buried in the +mines, or exposed to the wild beasts of the amphitheatre. Armed +robbers were pursued and extirpated as the enemies of society; +the driving away horses or cattle was made a capital offence; +^188 but simple theft was uniformly considered as a mere civil +and private injury. The degrees of guilt, and the modes of +punishment, were too often determined by the discretion of the +rulers, and the subject was left in ignorance of the legal danger +which he might incur by every action of his life. + +[Footnote 185: Such is the number assigned by Valer'us Maximus, +(l. ix. c. 2, No. 1,) Florus (iv. 21) distinguishes 2000 senators +and knights. Appian (de Bell. Civil. l. i. c. 95, tom. ii. p. +133, edit. Schweighauser) more accurately computes forty victims +of the senatorian rank, and 1600 of the equestrian census or +order.] + +[Footnote 186: For the penal laws (Leges Corneliae, Pompeiae, +Julae, of Sylla, Pompey, and the Caesars) see the sentences of +Paulus, (l. iv. tit. xviii. - xxx. p. 497 - 528, edit. +Schulting,) the Gregorian Code, (Fragment. l. xix. p. 705, 706, +in Schulting,) the Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum, (tit. +i. - xv.,) the Theodosian Code, (l. ix.,) the Code of Justinian, +(l. ix.,) the Pandects, (xlviii.,) the Institutes, (l. iv. tit. +xviii.,) and the Greek version of Theophilus, (p. 917 - 926.)] + +[Footnote 187: It was a guardian who had poisoned his ward. The +crime was atrocious: yet the punishment is reckoned by Suetonius +(c. 9) among the acts in which Galba showed himself acer, +vehemens, et in delictis coercendis immodicus.] + +[Footnote 188: The abactores or abigeatores, who drove one horse, +or two mares or oxen, or five hogs, or ten goats, were subject to +capital punishment, (Paul, Sentent. Recept. l. iv. tit. xviii. p. +497, 498.) Hadrian, (ad Concil. Baeticae,) most severe where the +offence was most frequent, condemns the criminals, ad gladium, +ludi damnationem, (Ulpian, de Officio Proconsulis, l. viii. in +Collatione Legum Mosaic. et Rom. tit. xi p. 235.)] + A sin, a vice, a crime, are the objects of theology, ethics, +and jurisprudence. Whenever their judgments agree, they +corroborate each other; but, as often as they differ, a prudent +legislator appreciates the guilt and punishment according to the +measure of social injury. On this principle, the most daring +attack on the life and property of a private citizen is judged +less atrocious than the crime of treason or rebellion, which +invades the majesty of the republic: the obsequious civilians +unanimously pronounced, that the republic is contained in the +person of its chief; and the edge of the Julian law was sharpened +by the incessant diligence of the emperors. The licentious +commerce of the sexes may be tolerated as an impulse of nature, +or forbidden as a source of disorder and corruption; but the +fame, the fortunes, the family of the husband, are seriously +injured by the adultery of the wife. The wisdom of Augustus, +after curbing the freedom of revenge, applied to this domestic +offence the animadversion of the laws: and the guilty parties, +after the payment of heavy forfeitures and fines, were condemned +to long or perpetual exile in two separate islands. ^189 Religion +pronounces an equal censure against the infidelity of the +husband; but, as it is not accompanied by the same civil effects, +the wife was never permitted to vindicate her wrongs; ^190 and +the distinction of simple or double adultery, so familiar and so +important in the canon law, is unknown to the jurisprudence of +the Code and the Pandects. I touch with reluctance, and despatch +with impatience, a more odious vice, of which modesty rejects the +name, and nature abominates the idea. The primitive Romans were +infected by the example of the Etruscans ^191 and Greeks: ^192 +and in the mad abuse of prosperity and power, every pleasure that +is innocent was deemed insipid; and the Scatinian law, ^193 which +had been extorted by an act of violence, was insensibly abolished +by the lapse of time and the multitude of criminals. By this +law, the rape, perhaps the seduction, of an ingenuous youth, was +compensated, as a personal injury, by the poor damages of ten +thousand sesterces, or fourscore pounds; the ravisher might be +slain by the resistance or revenge of chastity; and I wish to +believe, that at Rome, as in Athens, the voluntary and effeminate +deserter of his sex was degraded from the honors and the rights +of a citizen. ^194 But the practice of vice was not discouraged +by the severity of opinion: the indelible stain of manhood was +confounded with the more venial transgressions of fornication and +adultery, nor was the licentious lover exposed to the same +dishonor which he impressed on the male or female partner of his +guilt. From Catullus to Juvenal, ^195 the poets accuse and +celebrate the degeneracy of the times; and the reformation of +manners was feebly attempted by the reason and authority of the +civilians till the most virtuous of the Caesars proscribed the +sin against nature as a crime against society. ^196 + +[Footnote 189: Till the publication of the Julius Paulus of +Schulting, (l. ii. tit. xxvi. p. 317 - 323,) it was affirmed and +believed that the Julian laws punished adultery with death; and +the mistake arose from the fraud or error of Tribonian. Yet +Lipsius had suspected the truth from the narratives of Tacitus, +(Annal. ii. 50, iii. 24, iv. 42,) and even from the practice of +Augustus, who distinguished the treasonable frailties of his +female kindred.] +[Footnote 190: In cases of adultery, Severus confined to the +husband the right of public accusation, (Cod. Justinian, l. ix. +tit. ix. leg. 1.) Nor is this privilege unjust - so different are +the effects of male or female infidelity.] +[Footnote 191: Timon (l. i.) and Theopompus (l. xliii. apud +Athenaeum, l. xii. p. 517) describe the luxury and lust of the +Etruscans. About the same period (A. U. C. 445) the Roman youth +studied in Etruria, (liv. ix. 36.)] +[Footnote 192: The Persians had been corrupted in the same +school, (Herodot. l. i. c. 135.) A curious dissertation might be +formed on the introduction of paederasty after the time of Homer, +its progress among the Greeks of Asia and Europe, the vehemence +of their passions, and the thin device of virtue and friendship +which amused the philosophers of Athens. But scelera ostendi +oportet dum puniuntur, abscondi flagitia.] + +[Footnote 193: The name, the date, and the provisions of this law +are equally doubtful, (Gravina, Opp. p. 432, 433. Heineccius, +Hist. Jur. Rom. No. 108. Ernesti, Clav. Ciceron. in Indice +Legum.) But I will observe that the nefanda Venus of the honest +German is styled aversa by the more polite Italian.] +[Footnote 194: See the oration of Aeschines against the catamite +Timarchus, (in Reiske, Orator. Graec. tom. iii. p. 21 - 184.)] + +[Footnote 195: A crowd of disgraceful passages will force +themselves on the memory of the classic reader: I will only +remind him of the cool declaration of Ovid: - + +Odi concubitus qui non utrumque resolvant. Hoc est quod puerum +tangar amore minus.] + +[Footnote 196: Aelius Lampridius, in Vit. Heliogabal. in Hist. +August p. 112 Aurelius Victor, in Philippo, Codex Theodos. l. ix. +tit. vii. leg. 7, and Godefroy's Commentary, tom. iii. p. 63. +Theodosius abolished the subterraneous brothels of Rome, in which +the prostitution of both sexes was acted with impunity.] + + +Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence. + + +Part VII. + + A new spirit of legislation, respectable even in its error, +arose in the empire with the religion of Constantine. ^197 The +laws of Moses were received as the divine original of justice, +and the Christian princes adapted their penal statutes to the +degrees of moral and religious turpitude. Adultery was first +declared to be a capital offence: the frailty of the sexes was +assimilated to poison or assassination, to sorcery or parricide; +the same penalties were inflicted on the passive and active guilt +of paederasty; and all criminals of free or servile condition +were either drowned or beheaded, or cast alive into the avenging +flames. The adulterers were spared by the common sympathy of +mankind; but the lovers of their own sex were pursued by general +and pious indignation: the impure manners of Greece still +prevailed in the cities of Asia, and every vice was fomented by +the celibacy of the monks and clergy. Justinian relaxed the +punishment at least of female infidelity: the guilty spouse was +only condemned to solitude and penance, and at the end of two +years she might be recalled to the arms of a forgiving husband. +But the same emperor declared himself the implacable enemy of +unmanly lust, and the cruelty of his persecution can scarcely be +excused by the purity of his motives. ^198 In defiance of every +principle of justice, he stretched to past as well as future +offences the operations of his edicts, with the previous +allowance of a short respite for confession and pardon. A +painful death was inflicted by the amputation of the sinful +instrument, or the insertion of sharp reeds into the pores and +tubes of most exquisite sensibility; and Justinian defended the +propriety of the execution, since the criminals would have lost +their hands, had they been convicted of sacrilege. In this state +of disgrace and agony, two bishops, Isaiah of Rhodes and +Alexander of Diospolis, were dragged through the streets of +Constantinople, while their brethren were admonished, by the +voice of a crier, to observe this awful lesson, and not to +pollute the sanctity of their character. Perhaps these prelates +were innocent. A sentence of death and infamy was often founded +on the slight and suspicious evidence of a child or a servant: +the guilt of the green faction, of the rich, and of the enemies +of Theodora, was presumed by the judges, and paederasty became +the crime of those to whom no crime could be imputed. A French +philosopher ^199 has dared to remark that whatever is secret must +be doubtful, and that our natural horror of vice may be abused as +an engine of tyranny. But the favorable persuasion of the same +writer, that a legislator may confide in the taste and reason of +mankind, is impeached by the unwelcome discovery of the antiquity +and extent of the disease. ^200 + +[Footnote 197: See the laws of Constantine and his successors +against adultery, sodomy &c., in the Theodosian, (l. ix. tit. +vii. leg. 7, l. xi. tit. xxxvi leg. 1, 4) and Justinian Codes, +(l. ix. tit. ix. leg. 30, 31.) These princes speak the language +of passion as well as of justice, and fraudulently ascribe their +own severity to the first Caesars.] + +[Footnote 198: Justinian, Novel. lxxvii. cxxxiv. cxli. Procopius +in Anecdot. c. 11, 16, with the notes of Alemannus. Theophanes, +p. 151. Cedrenus. p. 688. Zonaras, l. xiv. p. 64.] + +[Footnote 199: Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 6. That +eloquent philosopher conciliates the rights of liberty and of +nature, which should never be placed in opposition to each +other.] + +[Footnote 200: For the corruption of Palestine, 2000 years before +the Christian aera, see the history and laws of Moses. Ancient +Gaul is stigmatized by Diodorus Siculus, (tom. i. l. v. p. 356,) +China by the Mahometar and Christian travellers, (Ancient +Relations of India and China, p. 34 translated by Renaudot, and +his bitter critic the Pere Premare, Lettres Edifiantes, tom. xix. +p. 435,) and native America by the Spanish historians, +(Garcilasso de la Vega, l. iii. c. 13, Rycaut's translation; and +Dictionnaire de Bayle, tom. iii. p. 88.) I believe, and hope, +that the negroes, in their own country, were exempt from this +moral pestilence.] + + The free citizens of Athens and Rome enjoyed, in all +criminal cases, the invaluable privilege of being tried by their +country. ^201 1. The administration of justice is the most +ancient office of a prince: it was exercised by the Roman kings, +and abused by Tarquin; who alone, without law or council, +pronounced his arbitrary judgments. The first consuls succeeded +to this regal prerogative; but the sacred right of appeal soon +abolished the jurisdiction of the magistrates, and all public +causes were decided by the supreme tribunal of the people. But a +wild democracy, superior to the forms, too often disdains the +essential principles, of justice: the pride of despotism was +envenomed by plebeian envy, and the heroes of Athens might +sometimes applaud the happiness of the Persian, whose fate +depended on the caprice of a single tyrant. Some salutary +restraints, imposed by the people or their own passions, were at +once the cause and effect of the gravity and temperance of the +Romans. The right of accusation was confined to the magistrates. + +A vote of the thirty five tribes could inflict a fine; but the +cognizance of all capital crimes was reserved by a fundamental +law to the assembly of the centuries, in which the weight of +influence and property was sure to preponderate. Repeated +proclamations and adjournments were interposed, to allow time for +prejudice and resentment to subside: the whole proceeding might +be annulled by a seasonable omen, or the opposition of a tribune; +and such popular trials were commonly less formidable to +innocence than they were favorable to guilt. But this union of +the judicial and legislative powers left it doubtful whether the +accused party was pardoned or acquitted; and, in the defence of +an illustrious client, the orators of Rome and Athens address +their arguments to the policy and benevolence, as well as to the +justice, of their sovereign. 2. The task of convening the +citizens for the trial of each offender became more difficult, as +the citizens and the offenders continually multiplied; and the +ready expedient was adopted of delegating the jurisdiction of the +people to the ordinary magistrates, or to extraordinary +inquisitors. In the first ages these questions were rare and +occasional. In the beginning of the seventh century of Rome they +were made perpetual: four praetors were annually empowered to sit +in judgment on the state offences of treason, extortion, +peculation, and bribery; and Sylla added new praetors and new +questions for those crimes which more directly injure the safety +of individuals. By these inquisitors the trial was prepared and +directed; but they could only pronounce the sentence of the +majority of judges, who with some truth, and more prejudice, have +been compared to the English juries. ^202 To discharge this +important, though burdensome office, an annual list of ancient +and respectable citizens was formed by the praetor. After many +constitutional struggles, they were chosen in equal numbers from +the senate, the equestrian order, and the people; four hundred +and fifty were appointed for single questions; and the various +rolls or decuries of judges must have contained the names of some +thousand Romans, who represented the judicial authority of the +state. In each particular cause, a sufficient number was drawn +from the urn; their integrity was guarded by an oath; the mode of +ballot secured their independence; the suspicion of partiality +was removed by the mutual challenges of the accuser and +defendant; and the judges of Milo, by the retrenchment of fifteen +on each side, were reduced to fifty-one voices or tablets, of +acquittal, of condemnation, or of favorable doubt. ^203 3. In his +civil jurisdiction, the praetor of the city was truly a judge, +and almost a legislator; but, as soon as he had prescribed the +action of law, he often referred to a delegate the determination +of the fact. With the increase of legal proceedings, the +tribunal of the centumvirs, in which he presided, acquired more +weight and reputation. But whether he acted alone, or with the +advice of his council, the most absolute powers might be trusted +to a magistrate who was annually chosen by the votes of the +people. The rules and precautions of freedom have required some +explanation; the order of despotism is simple and inanimate. +Before the age of Justinian, or perhaps of Diocletian, the +decuries of Roman judges had sunk to an empty title: the humble +advice of the assessors might be accepted or despised; and in +each tribunal the civil and criminal jurisdiction was +administered by a single magistrate, who was raised and disgraced +by the will of the emperor. +[Footnote 201: The important subject of the public questions and +judgments at Rome, is explained with much learning, and in a +classic style, by Charles Sigonius, (l. iii. de Judiciis, in Opp. +tom. iii. p. 679 - 864;) and a good abridgment may be found in +the Republique Romaine of Beaufort, (tom. ii. l. v. p. 1 - 121.) +Those who wish for more abstruse law may study Noodt, (de +Jurisdictione et Imperio Libri duo, tom. i. p. 93 - 134,) +Heineccius, (ad Pandect. l. i. et ii. ad Institut. l. iv. tit. +xvii Element. ad Antiquitat.) and Gravina (Opp. 230 - 251.)] + +[Footnote 202: The office, both at Rome and in England, must be +considered as an occasional duty, and not a magistracy, or +profession. But the obligation of a unanimous verdict is +peculiar to our laws, which condemn the jurymen to undergo the +torture from whence they have exempted the criminal.] +[Footnote 203: We are indebted for this interesting fact to a +fragment of Asconius Pedianus, who flourished under the reign of +Tiberius. The loss of his Commentaries on the Orations of Cicero +has deprived us of a valuable fund of historical and legal +knowledge.] + + A Roman accused of any capital crime might prevent the +sentence of the law by voluntary exile, or death. Till his guilt +had been legally proved, his innocence was presumed, and his +person was free: till the votes of the last century had been +counted and declared, he might peaceably secede to any of the +allied cities of Italy, or Greece, or Asia. ^204 His fame and +fortunes were preserved, at least to his children, by this civil +death; and he might still be happy in every rational and sensual +enjoyment, if a mind accustomed to the ambitious tumult of Rome +could support the uniformity and silence of Rhodes or Athens. A +bolder effort was required to escape from the tyranny of the +Caesars; but this effort was rendered familiar by the maxims of +the stoics, the example of the bravest Romans, and the legal +encouragements of suicide. The bodies of condemned criminals were +exposed to public ignominy, and their children, a more serious +evil, were reduced to poverty by the confiscation of their +fortunes. But, if the victims of Tiberius and Nero anticipated +the decree of the prince or senate, their courage and despatch +were recompensed by the applause of the public, the decent honors +of burial, and the validity of their testaments. ^205 The +exquisite avarice and cruelty of Domitian appear to have deprived +the unfortunate of this last consolation, and it was still denied +even by the clemency of the Antonines. A voluntary death, which, +in the case of a capital offence, intervened between the +accusation and the sentence, was admitted as a confession of +guilt, and the spoils of the deceased were seized by the inhuman +claims of the treasury. ^206 Yet the civilians have always +respected the natural right of a citizen to dispose of his life; +and the posthumous disgrace invented by Tarquin, ^207 to check +the despair of his subjects, was never revived or imitated by +succeeding tyrants. The powers of this world have indeed lost +their dominion over him who is resolved on death; and his arm can +only be restrained by the religious apprehension of a future +state. Suicides are enumerated by Virgil among the unfortunate, +rather than the guilty; ^208 and the poetical fables of the +infernal shades could not seriously influence the faith or +practice of mankind. But the precepts of the gospel, or the +church, have at length imposed a pious servitude on the minds of +Christians, and condemn them to expect, without a murmur, the +last stroke of disease or the executioner. +[Footnote 204: Polyb. l. vi. p. 643. The extension of the empire +and city of Rome obliged the exile to seek a more distant place +of retirement.] +[Footnote 205: Qui de se statuebant, humabanta corpora, manebant +testamenta; pretium festinandi. Tacit. Annal. vi. 25, with the +Notes of Lipsius.] +[Footnote 206: Julius Paulus, (Sentent. Recept. l. v. tit. xii. +p. 476,) the Pandects, (xlviii. tit. xxi.,) the Code, (l. ix. +tit. l.,) Bynkershoek, (tom. i. p. 59, Observat. J. C. R. iv. 4,) +and Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxix. c. ix.,) define the +civil limitations of the liberty and privileges of suicide. The +criminal penalties are the production of a later and darker age.] + +[Footnote 207: Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxvi. 24. When he fatigued +his subjects in building the Capitol, many of the laborers were +provoked to despatch themselves: he nailed their dead bodies to +crosses.] + +[Footnote 208: The sole resemblance of a violent and premature +death has engaged Virgil (Aeneid, vi. 434 - 439) to confound +suicides with infants, lovers, and persons unjustly condemned. +Heyne, the best of his editors, is at a loss to deduce the idea, +or ascertain the jurisprudence, of the Roman poet.] + The penal statutes form a very small proportion of the +sixty-two books of the Code and Pandects; and in all judicial +proceedings, the life or death of a citizen is determined with +less caution or delay than the most ordinary question of covenant +or inheritance. This singular distinction, though something may +be allowed for the urgent necessity of defending the peace of +society, is derived from the nature of criminal and civil +jurisprudence. Our duties to the state are simple and uniform: +the law by which he is condemned is inscribed not only on brass +or marble, but on the conscience of the offender, and his guilt +is commonly proved by the testimony of a single fact. But our +relations to each other are various and infinite; our obligations +are created, annulled, and modified, by injuries, benefits, and +promises; and the interpretation of voluntary contracts and +testaments, which are often dictated by fraud or ignorance, +affords a long and laborious exercise to the sagacity of the +judge. The business of life is multiplied by the extent of +commerce and dominion, and the residence of the parties in the +distant provinces of an empire is productive of doubt, delay, and +inevitable appeals from the local to the supreme magistrate. +Justinian, the Greek emperor of Constantinople and the East, was +the legal successor of the Latin shepherd who had planted a +colony on the banks of the Tyber. In a period of thirteen +hundred years, the laws had reluctantly followed the changes of +government and manners; and the laudable desire of conciliating +ancient names with recent institutions destroyed the harmony, and +swelled the magnitude, of the obscure and irregular system. The +laws which excuse, on any occasions, the ignorance of their +subjects, confess their own imperfections: the civil +jurisprudence, as it was abridged by Justinian, still continued a +mysterious science, and a profitable trade, and the innate +perplexity of the study was involved in tenfold darkness by the +private industry of the practitioners. The expense of the pursuit +sometimes exceeded the value of the prize, and the fairest rights +were abandoned by the poverty or prudence of the claimants. Such +costly justice might tend to abate the spirit of litigation, but +the unequal pressure serves only to increase the influence of the +rich, and to aggravate the misery of the poor. By these dilatory +and expensive proceedings, the wealthy pleader obtains a more +certain advantage than he could hope from the accidental +corruption of his judge. The experience of an abuse, from which +our own age and country are not perfectly exempt, may sometimes +provoke a generous indignation, and extort the hasty wish of +exchanging our elaborate jurisprudence for the simple and summary +decrees of a Turkish cadhi. Our calmer reflection will suggest, +that such forms and delays are necessary to guard the person and +property of the citizen; that the discretion of the judge is the +first engine of tyranny; and that the laws of a free people +should foresee and determine every question that may probably +arise in the exercise of power and the transactions of industry. +But the government of Justinian united the evils of liberty and +servitude; and the Romans were oppressed at the same time by the +multiplicity of their laws and the arbitrary will of their +master. + + +Chapter XLV: State Of Italy Under The Lombards. + + +Part I. + + Reign Of The Younger Justin. - Embassy Of The Avars. - Their +Settlement On The Danube. - Conquest Of Italy By The Lombards. - +Adoption And Reign Of Tiberius. - Of Maurice. - State Of Italy +Under The Lombards And The Exarchs. - Of Ravenna. - Distress Of +Rome. - Character And Pontificate Of Gregory The First. + + During the last years of Justinian, his infirm mind was +devoted to heavenly contemplation, and he neglected the business +of the lower world. His subjects were impatient of the long +continuance of his life and reign: yet all who were capable of +reflection apprehended the moment of his death, which might +involve the capital in tumult, and the empire in civil war. Seven +nephews ^1 of the childless monarch, the sons or grandsons of his +brother and sister, had been educated in the splendor of a +princely fortune; they had been shown in high commands to the +provinces and armies; their characters were known, their +followers were zealous, and, as the jealousy of age postponed the +declaration of a successor, they might expect with equal hopes +the inheritance of their uncle. He expired in his palace, after +a reign of thirty-eight years; and the decisive opportunity was +embraced by the friends of Justin, the son of Vigilantia. ^2 At +the hour of midnight, his domestics were awakened by an +importunate crowd, who thundered at his door, and obtained +admittance by revealing themselves to be the principal members of +the senate. These welcome deputies announced the recent and +momentous secret of the emperor's decease; reported, or perhaps +invented, his dying choice of the best beloved and most deserving +of his nephews, and conjured Justin to prevent the disorders of +the multitude, if they should perceive, with the return of light, +that they were left without a master. After composing his +countenance to surprise, sorrow, and decent modesty, Justin, by +the advice of his wife Sophia, submitted to the authority of the +senate. He was conducted with speed and silence to the palace; +the guards saluted their new sovereign; and the martial and +religious rites of his coronation were diligently accomplished. +By the hands of the proper officers he was invested with the +Imperial garments, the red buskins, white tunic, and purple robe. + +A fortunate soldier, whom he instantly promoted to the rank of +tribune, encircled his neck with a military collar; four robust +youths exalted him on a shield; he stood firm and erect to +receive the adoration of his subjects; and their choice was +sanctified by the benediction of the patriarch, who imposed the +diadem on the head of an orthodox prince. The hippodrome was +already filled with innumerable multitudes; and no sooner did the +emperor appear on his throne, than the voices of the blue and the +green factions were confounded in the same loyal acclamations. +In the speeches which Justin addressed to the senate and people, +he promised to correct the abuses which had disgraced the age of +his predecessor, displayed the maxims of a just and beneficent +government, and declared that, on the approaching calends of +January, ^3 he would revive in his own person the name and +liberty of a Roman consul. The immediate discharge of his +uncle's debts exhibited a solid pledge of his faith and +generosity: a train of porters, laden with bags of gold, advanced +into the midst of the hippodrome, and the hopeless creditors of +Justinian accepted this equitable payment as a voluntary gift. +Before the end of three years, his example was imitated and +surpassed by the empress Sophia, who delivered many indigent +citizens from the weight of debt and usury: an act of benevolence +the best entitled to gratitude, since it relieves the most +intolerable distress; but in which the bounty of a prince is the +most liable to be abused by the claims of prodigality and fraud. +^4 +[Footnote 1: See the family of Justin and Justinian in the +Familiae Byzantine of Ducange, p. 89 - 101. The devout +civilians, Ludewig (in Vit. Justinian. p. 131) and Heineccius +(Hist. Juris. Roman. p. 374) have since illustrated the genealogy +of their favorite prince.] + +[Footnote 2: In the story of Justin's elevation I have translated +into simple and concise prose the eight hundred verses of the two +first books of Corippus, de Laudibus Justini Appendix Hist. +Byzant. p. 401 - 416 Rome 1777.] +[Footnote 3: It is surprising how Pagi (Critica. in Annal. Baron. +tom. ii. p 639) could be tempted by any chronicles to contradict +the plain and decisive text of Corippus, (vicina dona, l. ii. +354, vicina dies, l. iv. 1,) and to postpone, till A.D. 567, the +consulship of Justin.] + +[Footnote 4: Theophan. Chronograph. p. 205. Whenever Cedrenus or +Zonaras are mere transcribers, it is superfluous to allege their +testimony.] + On the seventh day of his reign, Justin gave audience to the +ambassadors of the Avars, and the scene was decorated to impress +the Barbarians with astonishment, veneration, and terror. From +the palace gate, the spacious courts and long porticos were lined +with the lofty crests and gilt bucklers of the guards, who +presented their spears and axes with more confidence than they +would have shown in a field of battle. The officers who +exercised the power, or attended the person, of the prince, were +attired in their richest habits, and arranged according to the +military and civil order of the hierarchy. When the veil of the +sanctuary was withdrawn, the ambassadors beheld the emperor of +the East on his throne, beneath a canopy, or dome, which was +supported by four columns, and crowned with a winged figure of +Victory. In the first emotions of surprise, they submitted to +the servile adoration of the Byzantine court; but as soon as they +rose from the ground, Targetius, the chief of the embassy, +expressed the freedom and pride of a Barbarian. He extolled, by +the tongue of his interpreter, the greatness of the chagan, by +whose clemency the kingdoms of the South were permitted to exist, +whose victorious subjects had traversed the frozen rivers of +Scythia, and who now covered the banks of the Danube with +innumerable tents. The late emperor had cultivated, with annual +and costly gifts, the friendship of a grateful monarch, and the +enemies of Rome had respected the allies of the Avars. The same +prudence would instruct the nephew of Justinian to imitate the +liberality of his uncle, and to purchase the blessings of peace +from an invincible people, who delighted and excelled in the +exercise of war. The reply of the emperor was delivered in the +same strain of haughty defiance, and he derived his confidence +from the God of the Christians, the ancient glory of Rome, and +the recent triumphs of Justinian. "The empire," said he, "abounds +with men and horses, and arms sufficient to defend our frontiers, +and to chastise the Barbarians. You offer aid, you threaten +hostilities: we despise your enmity and your aid. The conquerors +of the Avars solicit our alliance; shall we dread their fugitives +and exiles? ^5 The bounty of our uncle was granted to your +misery, to your humble prayers. From us you shall receive a more +important obligation, the knowledge of your own weakness. Retire +from our presence; the lives of ambassadors are safe; and, if you +return to implore our pardon, perhaps you will taste of our +benevolence." ^6 On the report of his ambassadors, the chagan was +awed by the apparent firmness of a Roman emperor of whose +character and resources he was ignorant. Instead of executing his +threats against the Eastern empire, he marched into the poor and +savage countries of Germany, which were subject to the dominion +of the Franks. After two doubtful battles, he consented to +retire, and the Austrasian king relieve the distress of his camp +with an immediate supply of corn and cattle. ^7 Such repeated +disappointments had chilled the spirit of the Avars, and their +power would have dissolved away in the Sarmatian desert, if the +alliance of Alboin, king of the Lombards, had not given a new +object to their arms, and a lasting settlement to their wearied +fortunes. + +[Footnote 5: Corippus, l. iii. 390. The unquestionable sense +relates to the Turks, the conquerors of the Avars; but the word +scultor has no apparent meaning, and the sole Ms. of Corippus, +from whence the first edition (1581, apud Plantin) was printed, +is no longer visible. The last editor, Foggini of Rome, has +inserted the conjectural emendation of soldan: but the proofs of +Ducange, (Joinville, Dissert. xvi. p. 238 - 240,) for the early +use of this title among the Turks and Persians, are weak or +ambiguous. And I must incline to the authority of D'Herbelot, +(Bibliotheque Orient. p. 825,) who ascribes the word to the +Arabic and Chaldaean tongues, and the date to the beginning of +the xith century, when it was bestowed by the khalif of Bagdad on +Mahmud, prince of Gazna, and conqueror of India.] + +[Footnote 6: For these characteristic speeches, compare the verse +of Corippus (l. iii. 251 - 401) with the prose of Menander, +(Excerpt. Legation. p 102, 103.) Their diversity proves that they +did not copy each other their resemblance, that they drew from a +common original.] + +[Footnote 7: For the Austrasian war, see Menander (Excerpt. +Legat. p. 110,) Gregory of Tours, (Hist. Franc. l. iv. c 29,) and +Paul the deacon, (de Gest. Langobard. l. ii. c. 10.)] + + While Alboin served under his father's standard, he +encountered in battle, and transpierced with his lance, the rival +prince of the Gepidae. The Lombards, who applauded such early +prowess, requested his father, with unanimous acclamations, that +the heroic youth, who had shared the dangers of the field, might +be admitted to the feast of victory. "You are not unmindful," +replied the inflexible Audoin, "of the wise customs of our +ancestors. Whatever may be his merit, a prince is incapable of +sitting at table with his father till he has received his arms +from a foreign and royal hand." Alboin bowed with reverence to +the institutions of his country, selected forty companions, and +boldly visited the court of Turisund, king of the Gepidae, who +embraced and entertained, according to the laws of hospitality, +the murderer of his son. At the banquet, whilst Alboin occupied +the seat of the youth whom he had slain, a tender remembrance +arose in the mind of Turisund. "How dear is that place! how +hateful is that person!" were the words that escaped, with a +sigh, from the indignant father. His grief exasperated the +national resentment of the Gepidae; and Cunimund, his surviving +son, was provoked by wine, or fraternal affection, to the desire +of vengeance. "The Lombards," said the rude Barbarian, +"resemble, in figure and in smell, the mares of our Sarmatian +plains." And this insult was a coarse allusion to the white bands +which enveloped their legs. "Add another resemblance," replied +an audacious Lombard; "you have felt how strongly they kick. +Visit the plain of Asfield, and seek for the bones of thy +brother: they are mingled with those of the vilest animals." The +Gepidae, a nation of warriors, started from their seats, and the +fearless Alboin, with his forty companions, laid their hands on +their swords. The tumult was appeased by the venerable +interposition of Turisund. He saved his own honor, and the life +of his guest; and, after the solemn rites of investiture, +dismissed the stranger in the bloody arms of his son; the gift of +a weeping parent. Alboin returned in triumph; and the Lombards, +who celebrated his matchless intrepidity, were compelled to +praise the virtues of an enemy. ^8 In this extraordinary visit he +had probably seen the daughter of Cunimund, who soon after +ascended the throne of the Gepidae. Her name was Rosamond, an +appellation expressive of female beauty, and which our own +history or romance has consecrated to amorous tales. The king of +the Lombards (the father of Alboin no longer lived) was +contracted to the granddaughter of Clovis; but the restraints of +faith and policy soon yielded to the hope of possessing the fair +Rosamond, and of insulting her family and nation. The arts of +persuasion were tried without success; and the impatient lover, +by force and stratagem, obtained the object of his desires. War +was the consequence which he foresaw and solicited; but the +Lombards could not long withstand the furious assault of the +Gepidae, who were sustained by a Roman army. And, as the offer +of marriage was rejected with contempt, Alboin was compelled to +relinquish his prey, and to partake of the disgrace which he had +inflicted on the house of Cunimund. ^9 + +[Footnote 8: Paul Warnefrid, the deacon of Friuli, de Gest. +Langobard. l. i. c. 23, 24. His pictures of national manners, +though rudely sketched are more lively and faithful than those of +Bede, or Gregory of Tours] +[Footnote 9: The story is told by an impostor, (Theophylact. +Simocat. l. vi. c. 10;) but he had art enough to build his +fictions on public and notorious facts.] + + When a public quarrel is envenomed by private injuries, a +blow that is not mortal or decisive can be productive only of a +short truce, which allows the unsuccessful combatant to sharpen +his arms for a new encounter. The strength of Alboin had been +found unequal to the gratification of his love, ambition, and +revenge: he condescended to implore the formidable aid of the +chagan; and the arguments that he employed are expressive of the +art and policy of the Barbarians. In the attack of the Gepidae, +he had been prompted by the just desire of extirpating a people +whom their alliance with the Roman empire had rendered the common +enemies of the nations, and the personal adversaries of the +chagan. If the forces of the Avars and the Lombards should unite +in this glorious quarrel, the victory was secure, and the reward +inestimable: the Danube, the Hebrus, Italy, and Constantinople, +would be exposed, without a barrier, to their invincible arms. +But, if they hesitated or delayed to prevent the malice of the +Romans, the same spirit which had insulted would pursue the Avars +to the extremity of the earth. These specious reasons were heard +by the chagan with coldness and disdain: he detained the Lombard +ambassadors in his camp, protracted the negotiation, and by turns +alleged his want of inclination, or his want of ability, to +undertake this important enterprise. At length he signified the +ultimate price of his alliance, that the Lombards should +immediately present him with a tithe of their cattle; that the +spoils and captives should be equally divided; but that the lands +of the Gepidae should become the sole patrimony of the Avars. +Such hard conditions were eagerly accepted by the passions of +Alboin; and, as the Romans were dissatisfied with the ingratitude +and perfidy of the Gepidae, Justin abandoned that incorrigible +people to their fate, and remained the tranquil spectator of this +unequal conflict. The despair of Cunimund was active and +dangerous. He was informed that the Avars had entered his +confines; but, on the strong assurance that, after the defeat of +the Lombards, these foreign invaders would easily be repelled, he +rushed forwards to encounter the implacable enemy of his name and +family. But the courage of the Gepidae could secure them no more +than an honorable death. The bravest of the nation fell in the +field of battle; the king of the Lombards contemplated with +delight the head of Cunimund; and his skull was fashioned into a +cup to satiate the hatred of the conqueror, or, perhaps, to +comply with the savage custom of his country. ^10 After this +victory, no further obstacle could impede the progress of the +confederates, and they faithfully executed the terms of their +agreement. ^11 The fair countries of Walachia, Moldavia, +Transylvania, and the other parts of Hungary beyond the Danube, +were occupied, without resistance, by a new colony of Scythians; +and the Dacian empire of the chagans subsisted with splendor +above two hundred and thirty years. The nation of the Gepidae +was dissolved; but, in the distribution of the captives, the +slaves of the Avars were less fortunate than the companions of +the Lombards, whose generosity adopted a valiant foe, and whose +freedom was incompatible with cool and deliberate tyranny. One +moiety of the spoil introduced into the camp of Alboin more +wealth than a Barbarian could readily compute. The fair Rosamond +was persuaded, or compelled, to acknowledge the rights of her +victorious lover; and the daughter of Cunimund appeared to +forgive those crimes which might be imputed to her own +irresistible charms. +[Footnote 10: It appears from Strabo, Pliny, and Ammianus +Marcellinus, that the same practice was common among the Scythian +tribes, (Muratori, Scriptores Rer. Italic. tom. i. p. 424.) The +scalps of North America are likewise trophies of valor. The +skull of Cunimund was preserved above two hundred years among the +Lombards; and Paul himself was one of the guests to whom Duke +Ratchis exhibited this cup on a high festival, (l. ii. c. 28.)] +[Footnote 11: Paul, l. i. c. 27. Menander, in Excerpt Legat. p. +110, 111.] + The destruction of a mighty kingdom established the fame of +Alboin. In the days of Charlemagne, the Bavarians, the Saxons, +and the other tribes of the Teutonic language, still repeated the +songs which described the heroic virtues, the valor, liberality, +and fortune of the king of the Lombards. ^12 But his ambition was +yet unsatisfied; and the conqueror of the Gepidae turned his eyes +from the Danube to the richer banks of the Po, and the Tyber. +Fifteen years had not elapsed, since his subjects, the +confederates of Narses, had visited the pleasant climate of +Italy: the mountains, the rivers, the highways, were familiar to +their memory: the report of their success, perhaps the view of +their spoils, had kindled in the rising generation the flame of +emulation and enterprise. Their hopes were encouraged by the +spirit and eloquence of Alboin: and it is affirmed, that he spoke +to their senses, by producing at the royal feast, the fairest and +most exquisite fruits that grew spontaneously in the garden of +the world. No sooner had he erected his standard, than the +native strength of the Lombard was multiplied by the adventurous +youth of Germany and Scythia. The robust peasantry of Noricum +and Pannonia had resumed the manners of Barbarians; and the names +of the Gepidae, Bulgarians, Sarmatians, and Bavarians, may be +distinctly traced in the provinces of Italy. ^13 Of the Saxons, +the old allies of the Lombards, twenty thousand warriors, with +their wives and children, accepted the invitation of Alboin. +Their bravery contributed to his success; but the accession or +the absence of their numbers was not sensibly felt in the +magnitude of his host. Every mode of religion was freely +practised by its respective votaries. The king of the Lombards +had been educated in the Arian heresy; but the Catholics, in +their public worship, were allowed to pray for his conversion; +while the more stubborn Barbarians sacrificed a she-goat, or +perhaps a captive, to the gods of their fathers. ^14 The +Lombards, and their confederates, were united by their common +attachment to a chief, who excelled in all the virtues and vices +of a savage hero; and the vigilance of Alboin provided an ample +magazine of offensive and defensive arms for the use of the +expedition. The portable wealth of the Lombards attended the +march: their lands they cheerfully relinquished to the Avars, on +the solemn promise, which was made and accepted without a smile, +that if they failed in the conquest of Italy, these voluntary +exiles should be reinstated in their former possessions. + +[Footnote 12: Ut hactenus etiam tam apud Bajoarior um gentem, +quam et Saxmum, sed et alios ejusdem linguae homines .... . in +eorum carmini bus celebretur. Paul, l. i. c. 27. He died A.D. +799, (Muratori, in Praefat. tom. i. p. 397.) These German songs, +some of which might be as old as Tacitus, (de Moribus Germ. c. +2,) were compiled and transcribed by Charlemagne. Barbara et +antiquissima carmina, quibus veterum regum actus et bella +canebantur scripsit memoriaeque mandavit, (Eginard, in Vit. +Carol. Magn. c. 29, p. 130, 131.) The poems, which Goldast +commends, (Animadvers. ad Eginard. p. 207,) appear to be recent +and contemptible romances.] + +[Footnote 13: The other nations are rehearsed by Paul, (l. ii. c. +6, 26,) Muratori (Antichita Italiane, tom. i. dissert. i. p. 4) +has discovered the village of the Bavarians, three miles from +Modena.] + +[Footnote 14: Gregory the Roman (Dialog. l. i. iii. c. 27, 28, +apud Baron. Annal Eccles. A.D. 579, No. 10) supposes that they +likewise adored this she- goat. I know but of one religion in +which the god and the victim are the same.] + + They might have failed, if Narses had been the antagonist of +the Lombards; and the veteran warriors, the associates of his +Gothic victory, would have encountered with reluctance an enemy +whom they dreaded and esteemed. But the weakness of the +Byzantine court was subservient to the Barbarian cause; and it +was for the ruin of Italy, that the emperor once listened to the +complaints of his subjects. The virtues of Narses were stained +with avarice; and, in his provincial reign of fifteen years, he +accumulated a treasure of gold and silver which surpassed the +modesty of a private fortune. His government was oppressive or +unpopular, and the general discontent was expressed with freedom +by the deputies of Rome. Before the throne of Justinian they +boldly declared, that their Gothic servitude had been more +tolerable than the despotism of a Greek eunuch; and that, unless +their tyrant were instantly removed, they would consult their own +happiness in the choice of a master. The apprehension of a +revolt was urged by the voice of envy and detraction, which had +so recently triumphed over the merit of Belisarius. A new +exarch, Longinus, was appointed to supersede the conqueror of +Italy, and the base motives of his recall were revealed in the +insulting mandate of the empress Sophia, "that he should leave to +men the exercise of arms, and return to his proper station among +the maidens of the palace, where a distaff should be again placed +in the hand of the eunuch." "I will spin her such a thread as she +shall not easily unravel!" is said to have been the reply which +indignation and conscious virtue extorted from the hero. Instead +of attending, a slave and a victim, at the gate of the Byzantine +palace, he retired to Naples, from whence (if any credit is due +to the belief of the times) Narses invited the Lombards to +chastise the ingratitude of the prince and people. ^15 But the +passions of the people are furious and changeable, and the Romans +soon recollected the merits, or dreaded the resentment, of their +victorious general. By the mediation of the pope, who undertook +a special pilgrimage to Naples, their repentance was accepted; +and Narses, assuming a milder aspect and a more dutiful language, +consented to fix his residence in the Capitol. His death, ^16 +though in the extreme period of old age, was unseasonable and +premature, since his genius alone could have repaired the last +and fatal error of his life. The reality, or the suspicion, of a +conspiracy disarmed and disunited the Italians. The soldiers +resented the disgrace, and bewailed the loss, of their general. +They were ignorant of their new exarch; and Longinus was himself +ignorant of the state of the army and the province. In the +preceding years Italy had been desolated by pestilence and +famine, and a disaffected people ascribed the calamities of +nature to the guilt or folly of their rulers. ^17 + +[Footnote 15: The charge of the deacon against Narses (l. ii. c. +5) may be groundless; but the weak apology of the Cardinal +(Baron. Annal Eccles. A.D. 567, No. 8 - 12) is rejected by the +best critics - Pagi (tom. ii. p. 639, 640,) Muratori, (Annali d' +Italia, tom. v. p. 160 - 163,) and the last editors, Horatius +Blancus, (Script. Rerum Italic. tom. i. p. 427, 428,) and Philip +Argelatus, (Sigon. Opera, tom. ii. p. 11, 12.) The Narses who +assisted at the coronation of Justin (Corippus, l. iii. 221) is +clearly understood to be a different person.] + +[Footnote 16: The death of Narses is mentioned by Paul, l. ii. c. +11. Anastas. in Vit. Johan. iii. p. 43. Agnellus, Liber +Pontifical. Raven. in Script. Rer. Italicarum, tom. ii. part i. +p. 114, 124. Yet I cannot believe with Agnellus that Narses was +ninety-five years of age. Is it probable that all his exploits +were performed at fourscore?] + +[Footnote 17: The designs of Narses and of the Lombards for the +invasion of Italy are exposed in the last chapter of the first +book, and the seven last chapters of the second book, of Paul the +deacon.] + + Whatever might be the grounds of his security, Alboin +neither expected nor encountered a Roman army in the field. He +ascended the Julian Alps, and looked down with contempt and +desire on the fruitful plains to which his victory communicated +the perpetual appellation of Lombardy. A faithful chieftain, and +a select band, were stationed at Forum Julii, the modern Friuli, +to guard the passes of the mountains. The Lombards respected the +strength of Pavia, and listened to the prayers of the Trevisans: +their slow and heavy multitudes proceeded to occupy the palace +and city of Verona; and Milan, now rising from her ashes, was +invested by the powers of Alboin five months after his departure +from Pannonia. Terror preceded his march: he found every where, +or he left, a dreary solitude; and the pusillanimous Italians +presumed, without a trial, that the stranger was invincible. +Escaping to lakes, or rocks, or morasses, the affrighted crowds +concealed some fragments of their wealth, and delayed the moment +of their servitude. Paulinus, the patriarch of Aquileia, removed +his treasures, sacred and profane, to the Isle of Grado, ^18 and +his successors were adopted by the infant republic of Venice, +which was continually enriched by the public calamities. +Honoratus, who filled the chair of St. Ambrose, had credulously +accepted the faithless offers of a capitulation; and the +archbishop, with the clergy and nobles of Milan, were driven by +the perfidy of Alboin to seek a refuge in the less accessible +ramparts of Genoa. Along the maritime coast, the courage of the +inhabitants was supported by the facility of supply, the hopes of +relief, and the power of escape; but from the Trentine hills to +the gates of Ravenna and Rome the inland regions of Italy became, +without a battle or a siege, the lasting patrimony of the +Lombards. The submission of the people invited the Barbarian to +assume the character of a lawful sovereign, and the helpless +exarch was confined to the office of announcing to the emperor +Justin the rapid and irretrievable loss of his provinces and +cities. ^19 One city, which had been diligently fortified by the +Goths, resisted the arms of a new invader; and while Italy was +subdued by the flying detachments of the Lombards, the royal camp +was fixed above three years before the western gate of Ticinum, +or Pavia. The same courage which obtains the esteem of a +civilized enemy provokes the fury of a savage, and the impatient +besieger had bound himself by a tremendous oath, that age, and +sex, and dignity, should be confounded in a general massacre. +The aid of famine at length enabled him to execute his bloody +vow; but, as Alboin entered the gate, his horse stumbled, fell, +and could not be raised from the ground. One of his attendants +was prompted by compassion, or piety, to interpret this +miraculous sign of the wrath of Heaven: the conqueror paused and +relented; he sheathed his sword, and peacefully reposing himself +in the palace of Theodoric, proclaimed to the trembling multitude +that they should live and obey. Delighted with the situation of +a city which was endeared to his pride by the difficulty of the +purchase, the prince of the Lombards disdained the ancient +glories of Milan; and Pavia, during some ages, was respected as +the capital of the kingdom of Italy. ^20 + +[Footnote 18: Which from this translation was called New +Aquileia, (Chron. Venet. p. 3.) The patriarch of Grado soon +became the first citizen of the republic, (p. 9, &c.,) but his +seat was not removed to Venice till the year 1450. He is now +decorated with titles and honors; but the genius of the church +has bowed to that of the state, and the government of a Catholic +city is strictly Presbyterian. Thomassin, Discipline de +l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 156, 157, 161 - 165. Amelot de la Houssaye, +Gouvernement de Venise, tom. i. p. 256 - 261.] + +[Footnote 19: Paul has given a description of Italy, as it was +then divided into eighteen regions, (l. ii. c. 14 - 24.) The +Dissertatio Chorographica de Italia Medii Aevi, by Father +Beretti, a Benedictine monk, and regius professor at Pavia, has +been usefully consulted.] + +[Footnote 20: For the conquest of Italy, see the original +materials of Paul, (l. p. 7 - 10, 12, 14, 25, 26, 27,) the +eloquent narrative of Sigonius, tom. il. de Regno Italiae, l. i. +p. 13 - 19,) and the correct and critical review el Muratori, +(Annali d' Italia, tom. v. p. 164 - 180.)] + + The reign of the founder was splendid and transient; and, +before he could regulate his new conquests, Alboin fell a +sacrifice to domestic treason and female revenge. In a palace +near Verona, which had not been erected for the Barbarians, he +feasted the companions of his arms; intoxication was the reward +of valor, and the king himself was tempted by appetite, or +vanity, to exceed the ordinary measure of his intemperance. +After draining many capacious bowls of Rhaetian or Falernian +wine, he called for the skull of Cunimund, the noblest and most +precious ornament of his sideboard. The cup of victory was +accepted with horrid applause by the circle of the Lombard +chiefs. "Fill it again with wine," exclaimed the inhuman +conqueror, "fill it to the brim: carry this goblet to the queen, +and request in my name that she would rejoice with her father." +In an agony of grief and rage, Rosamond had strength to utter, +"Let the will of my lord be obeyed!" and, touching it with her +lips, pronounced a silent imprecation, that the insult should be +washed away in the blood of Alboin. Some indulgence might be due +to the resentment of a daughter, if she had not already violated +the duties of a wife. Implacable in her enmity, or inconstant in +her love, the queen of Italy had stooped from the throne to the +arms of a subject, and Helmichis, the king's armor-bearer, was +the secret minister of her pleasure and revenge. Against the +proposal of the murder, he could no longer urge the scruples of +fidelity or gratitude; but Helmichis trembled when he revolved +the danger as well as the guilt, when he recollected the +matchless strength and intrepidity of a warrior whom he had so +often attended in the field of battle. He pressed and obtained, +that one of the bravest champions of the Lombards should be +associated to the enterprise; but no more than a promise of +secrecy could be drawn from the gallant Peredeus, and the mode of +seduction employed by Rosamond betrays her shameless +insensibility both to honor and love. She supplied the place of +one of her female attendants who was beloved by Peredeus, and +contrived some excuse for darkness and silence, till she could +inform her companion that he had enjoyed the queen of the +Lombards, and that his own death, or the death of Alboin, must be +the consequence of such treasonable adultery. In this +alternative he chose rather to be the accomplice than the victim +of Rosamond, ^21 whose undaunted spirit was incapable of fear or +remorse. She expected and soon found a favorable moment, when +the king, oppressed with wine, had retired from the table to his +afternoon slumbers. His faithless spouse was anxious for his +health and repose: the gates of the palace were shut, the arms +removed, the attendants dismissed, and Rosamond, after lulling +him to rest by her tender caresses, unbolted the chamber door, +and urged the reluctant conspirators to the instant execution of +the deed. On the first alarm, the warrior started from his +couch: his sword, which he attempted to draw, had been fastened +to the scabbard by the hand of Rosamond; and a small stool, his +only weapon, could not long protect him from the spears of the +assassins. The daughter of Cunimund smiled in his fall: his body +was buried under the staircase of the palace; and the grateful +posterity of the Lombards revered the tomb and the memory of +their victorious leader. + +[Footnote 21: The classical reader will recollect the wife and +murder of Candaules, so agreeably told in the first book of +Herodotus. The choice of Gyges, may serve as the excuse of +Peredeus; and this soft insinuation of an odious idea has been +imitated by the best writers of antiquity, (Graevius, ad Ciceron. +Orat. pro Miloue c. 10)] + + +Chapter XLV: State Of Italy Under The Lombards. + + +Part II. + + The ambitious Rosamond aspired to reign in the name of her +lover; the city and palace of Verona were awed by her power; and +a faithful band of her native Gepidae was prepared to applaud the +revenge, and to second the wishes, of their sovereign. But the +Lombard chiefs, who fled in the first moments of consternation +and disorder, had resumed their courage and collected their +powers; and the nation, instead of submitting to her reign, +demanded, with unanimous cries, that justice should be executed +on the guilty spouse and the murderers of their king. She sought +a refuge among the enemies of her country; and a criminal who +deserved the abhorrence of mankind was protected by the selfish +policy of the exarch. With her daughter, the heiress of the +Lombard throne, her two lovers, her trusty Gepidae, and the +spoils of the palace of Verona, Rosamond descended the Adige and +the Po, and was transported by a Greek vessel to the safe harbor +of Ravenna. Longinus beheld with delight the charms and the +treasures of the widow of Alboin: her situation and her past +conduct might justify the most licentious proposals; and she +readily listened to the passion of a minister, who, even in the +decline of the empire, was respected as the equal of kings. The +death of a jealous lover was an easy and grateful sacrifice; and, +as Helmichis issued from the bath, he received the deadly potion +from the hand of his mistress. The taste of the liquor, its +speedy operation, and his experience of the character of +Rosamond, convinced him that he was poisoned: he pointed his +dagger to her breast, compelled her to drain the remainder of the +cup, and expired in a few minutes, with the consolation that she +could not survive to enjoy the fruits of her wickedness. The +daughter of Alboin and Rosamond, with the richest spoils of the +Lombards, was embarked for Constantinople: the surprising +strength of Peredeus amused and terrified the Imperial court: ^* +his blindness and revenge exhibited an imperfect copy of the +adventures of Samson. By the free suffrage of the nation, in the +assembly of Pavia, Clepho, one of their noblest chiefs, was +elected as the successor of Alboin. Before the end of eighteen +months, the throne was polluted by a second murder: Clepho was +stabbed by the hand of a domestic; the regal office was suspended +above ten years during the minority of his son Autharis; and +Italy was divided and oppressed by a ducal aristocracy of thirty +tyrants. ^22 + +[Footnote *: He killed a lion. His eyes were put out by the +timid Justin. Peredeus requesting an interview, Justin +substituted two patricians, whom the blinded Barbarian stabbed to +the heart with two concealed daggers. See Le Beau, vol. x. p. +99. - M.] + +[Footnote 22: See the history of Paul, l. ii. c. 28 - 32. I have +borrowed some interesting circumstances from the Liber +Pontificalis of Agnellus, in Script. Rer. Ital. tom. ii. p. 124. +Of all chronological guides, Muratori is the safest.] + + When the nephew of Justinian ascended the throne, he +proclaimed a new aera of happiness and glory. The annals of the +second Justin ^23 are marked with disgrace abroad and misery at +home. In the West, the Roman empire was afflicted by the loss of +Italy, the desolation of Africa, and the conquests of the +Persians. Injustice prevailed both in the capital and the +provinces: the rich trembled for their property, the poor for +their safety, the ordinary magistrates were ignorant or venal, +the occasional remedies appear to have been arbitrary and +violent, and the complaints of the people could no longer be +silenced by the splendid names of a legislator and a conqueror. +The opinion which imputes to the prince all the calamities of his +times may be countenanced by the historian as a serious truth or +a salutary prejudice. Yet a candid suspicion will arise, that the +sentiments of Justin were pure and benevolent, and that he might +have filled his station without reproach, if the faculties of his +mind had not been impaired by disease, which deprived the emperor +of the use of his feet, and confined him to the palace, a +stranger to the complaints of the people and the vices of the +government. The tardy knowledge of his own impotence determined +him to lay down the weight of the diadem; and, in the choice of a +worthy substitute, he showed some symptoms of a discerning and +even magnanimous spirit. The only son of Justin and Sophia died +in his infancy; their daughter Arabia was the wife of Baduarius, +^24 superintendent of the palace, and afterwards commander of the +Italian armies, who vainly aspired to confirm the rights of +marriage by those of adoption. While the empire appeared an +object of desire, Justin was accustomed to behold with jealousy +and hatred his brothers and cousins, the rivals of his hopes; nor +could he depend on the gratitude of those who would accept the +purple as a restitution, rather than a gift. Of these +competitors, one had been removed by exile, and afterwards by +death; and the emperor himself had inflicted such cruel insults +on another, that he must either dread his resentment or despise +his patience. This domestic animosity was refined into a +generous resolution of seeking a successor, not in his family, +but in the republic; and the artful Sophia recommended Tiberius, +^25 his faithful captain of the guards, whose virtues and fortune +the emperor might cherish as the fruit of his judicious choice. +The ceremony of his elevation to the rank of Caesar, or Augustus, +was performed in the portico of the palace, in the presence of +the patriarch and the senate. Justin collected the remaining +strength of his mind and body; but the popular belief that his +speech was inspired by the Deity betrays a very humble opinion +both of the man and of the times. ^26 "You behold," said the +emperor, "the ensigns of supreme power. You are about to receive +them, not from my hand, but from the hand of God. Honor them, +and from them you will derive honor. Respect the empress your +mother: you are now her son; before, you were her servant. +Delight not in blood; abstain from revenge; avoid those actions +by which I have incurred the public hatred; and consult the +experience, rather than the example, of your predecessor. As a +man, I have sinned; as a sinner, even in this life, I have been +severely punished: but these servants, (and we pointed to his +ministers,) who have abused my confidence, and inflamed my +passions, will appear with me before the tribunal of Christ. I +have been dazzled by the splendor of the diadem: be thou wise and +modest; remember what you have been, remember what you are. You +see around us your slaves, and your children: with the authority, +assume the tenderness, of a parent. Love your people like +yourself; cultivate the affections, maintain the discipline, of +the army; protect the fortunes of the rich, relieve the +necessities of the poor." ^27 The assembly, in silence and in +tears, applauded the counsels, and sympathized with the +repentance, of their prince the patriarch rehearsed the prayers +of the church; Tiberius received the diadem on his knees; and +Justin, who in his abdication appeared most worthy to reign, +addressed the new monarch in the following words: "If you +consent, I live; if you command, I die: may the God of heaven and +earth infuse into your heart whatever I have neglected or +forgotten." The four last years of the emperor Justin were passed +in tranquil obscurity: his conscience was no longer tormented by +the remembrance of those duties which he was incapable of +discharging; and his choice was justified by the filial reverence +and gratitude of Tiberius. + +[Footnote 23: The original authors for the reign of Justin the +younger are Evagrius, Hist. Eccles. l. v. c. 1 - 12; Theophanes, +in Chonograph. p. 204 - 210; Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 70 - +72; Cedrenus, in Compend. p. 388 - 392.] + +[Footnote 24: Dispositorque novus sacrae Baduarius aulae. +Successor soceri mox factus Cura-palati. - Cerippus. + +Baduarius is enumerated among the descendants and allies of the +house of Justinian. A family of noble Venetians (Casa Badoero) +built churches and gave dukes to the republic as early as the +ninth century; and, if their descent be admitted, no kings in +Europe can produce a pedigree so ancient and illustrious. +Ducange, Fam. Byzantin, p. 99 Amelot de la Houssaye, Gouvernement +de Venise, tom. ii. p. 555.] + +[Footnote 25: The praise bestowed on princes before their +elevation is the purest and most weighty. Corippus has +celebrated Tiberius at the time of the accession of Justin, (l. +i. 212 - 222.) Yet even a captain of the guards might attract the +flattery of an African exile.] + +[Footnote 26: Evagrius (l. v. c. 13) has added the reproach to +his ministers He applies this speech to the ceremony when +Tiberius was invested with the rank of Caesar. The loose +expression, rather than the positive error, of Theophanes, &c., +has delayed it to his Augustan investitura immediately before the +death of Justin.] + +[Footnote 27: Theophylact Simocatta (l. iii. c. 11) declares that +he shall give to posterity the speech of Justin as it was +pronounced, without attempting to correct the imperfections of +language or rhetoric. Perhaps the vain sophist would have been +incapable of producing such sentiments.] + Among the virtues of Tiberius, ^28 his beauty (he was one of +the tallest and most comely of the Romans) might introduce him to +the favor of Sophia; and the widow of Justin was persuaded, that +she should preserve her station and influence under the reign of +a second and more youthful husband. But, if the ambitious +candidate had been tempted to flatter and dissemble, it was no +longer in his power to fulfil her expectations, or his own +promise. The factions of the hippodrome demanded, with some +impatience, the name of their new empress: both the people and +Sophia were astonished by the proclamation of Anastasia, the +secret, though lawful, wife of the emperor Tiberius. Whatever +could alleviate the disappointment of Sophia, Imperial honors, a +stately palace, a numerous household, was liberally bestowed by +the piety of her adopted son; on solemn occasions he attended and +consulted the widow of his benefactor; but her ambition disdained +the vain semblance of royalty, and the respectful appellation of +mother served to exasperate, rather than appease, the rage of an +injured woman. While she accepted, and repaid with a courtly +smile, the fair expressions of regard and confidence, a secret +alliance was concluded between the dowager empress and her +ancient enemies; and Justinian, the son of Germanus, was employed +as the instrument of her revenge. The pride of the reigning +house supported, with reluctance, the dominion of a stranger: the +youth was deservedly popular; his name, after the death of +Justin, had been mentioned by a tumultuous faction; and his own +submissive offer of his head with a treasure of sixty thousand +pounds, might be interpreted as an evidence of guilt, or at least +of fear. Justinian received a free pardon, and the command of +the eastern army. The Persian monarch fled before his arms; and +the acclamations which accompanied his triumph declared him +worthy of the purple. His artful patroness had chosen the month +of the vintage, while the emperor, in a rural solitude, was +permitted to enjoy the pleasures of a subject. On the first +intelligence of her designs, he returned to Constantinople, and +the conspiracy was suppressed by his presence and firmness. From +the pomp and honors which she had abused, Sophia was reduced to a +modest allowance: Tiberius dismissed her train, intercepted her +correspondence, and committed to a faithful guard the custody of +her person. But the services of Justinian were not considered by +that excellent prince as an aggravation of his offences: after a +mild reproof, his treason and ingratitude were forgiven; and it +was commonly believed, that the emperor entertained some thoughts +of contracting a double alliance with the rival of his throne. +The voice of an angel (such a fable was propagated) might reveal +to the emperor, that he should always triumph over his domestic +foes; but Tiberius derived a firmer assurance from the innocence +and generosity of his own mind. + +[Footnote 28: For the character and reign of Tiberius, see +Evagrius, l v. c. 13. Theophylact, l. iii. c. 12, &c. +Theophanes, in Chron. p. 2 0 - 213. Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiv. p. +72. Cedrenus, p. 392. Paul Warnefrid, de Gestis Langobard. l. +iii. c. 11, 12. The deacon of Forum Juli appears to have +possessed some curious and authentic facts.] + + With the odious name of Tiberius, he assumed the more +popular appellation of Constantine, and imitated the purer +virtues of the Antonines. After recording the vice or folly of so +many Roman princes, it is pleasing to repose, for a moment, on a +character conspicuous by the qualities of humanity, justice, +temperance, and fortitude; to contemplate a sovereign affable in +his palace, pious in the church, impartial on the seat of +judgment, and victorious, at least by his generals, in the +Persian war. The most glorious trophy of his victory consisted +in a multitude of captives, whom Tiberius entertained, redeemed, +and dismissed to their native homes with the charitable spirit of +a Christian hero. The merit or misfortunes of his own subjects +had a dearer claim to his beneficence, and he measured his bounty +not so much by their expectations as by his own dignity. This +maxim, however dangerous in a trustee of the public wealth, was +balanced by a principle of humanity and justice, which taught him +to abhor, as of the basest alloy, the gold that was extracted +from the tears of the people. For their relief, as often as they +had suffered by natural or hostile calamities, he was impatient +to remit the arrears of the past, or the demands of future taxes: +he sternly rejected the servile offerings of his ministers, which +were compensated by tenfold oppression; and the wise and +equitable laws of Tiberius excited the praise and regret of +succeeding times. Constantinople believed that the emperor had +discovered a treasure: but his genuine treasure consisted in the +practice of liberal economy, and the contempt of all vain and +superfluous expense. The Romans of the East would have been +happy, if the best gift of Heaven, a patriot king, had been +confirmed as a proper and permanent blessing. But in less than +four years after the death of Justin, his worthy successor sunk +into a mortal disease, which left him only sufficient time to +restore the diadem, according to the tenure by which he held it, +to the most deserving of his fellow-citizens. He selected +Maurice from the crowd, a judgment more precious than the purple +itself: the patriarch and senate were summoned to the bed of the +dying prince: he bestowed his daughter and the empire; and his +last advice was solemnly delivered by the voice of the quaestor. +Tiberius expressed his hope that the virtues of his son and +successor would erect the noblest mausoleum to his memory. His +memory was embalmed by the public affliction; but the most +sincere grief evaporates in the tumult of a new reign, and the +eyes and acclamations of mankind were speedily directed to the +rising sun. + The emperor Maurice derived his origin from ancient Rome; +^29 but his immediate parents were settled at Arabissus in +Cappadocia, and their singular felicity preserved them alive to +behold and partake the fortune of their august son. The youth of +Maurice was spent in the profession of arms: Tiberius promoted +him to the command of a new and favorite legion of twelve +thousand confederates; his valor and conduct were signalized in +the Persian war; and he returned to Constantinople to accept, as +his just reward, the inheritance of the empire. Maurice ascended +the throne at the mature age of forty-three years; and he reigned +above twenty years over the East and over himself; ^30 expelling +from his mind the wild democracy of passions, and establishing +(according to the quaint expression of Evagrius) a perfect +aristocracy of reason and virtue. Some suspicion will degrade +the testimony of a subject, though he protests that his secret +praise should never reach the ear of his sovereign, ^31 and some +failings seem to place the character of Maurice below the purer +merit of his predecessor. His cold and reserved demeanor might +be imputed to arrogance; his justice was not always exempt from +cruelty, nor his clemency from weakness; and his rigid economy +too often exposed him to the reproach of avarice. But the +rational wishes of an absolute monarch must tend to the happiness +of his people. Maurice was endowed with sense and courage to +promote that happiness, and his administration was directed by +the principles and example of Tiberius. The pusillanimity of the +Greeks had introduced so complete a separation between the +offices of king and of general, that a private soldier, who had +deserved and obtained the purple, seldom or never appeared at the +head of his armies. Yet the emperor Maurice enjoyed the glory of +restoring the Persian monarch to his throne; his lieutenants +waged a doubtful war against the Avars of the Danube; and he cast +an eye of pity, of ineffectual pity, on the abject and +distressful state of his Italian provinces. + +[Footnote 29: It is therefore singular enough that Paul (l. iii. +c. 15) should distinguish him as the first Greek emperor - primus +ex Graecorum genere in Imperio constitutus. His immediate +predecessors had in deed been born in the Latin provinces of +Europe: and a various reading, in Graecorum Imperio, would apply +the expression to the empire rather than the prince.] +[Footnote 30: Consult, for the character and reign of Maurice, +the fifth and sixth books of Evagrius, particularly l. vi. c. l; +the eight books of his prolix and florid history by Theophylact +Simocatta; Theophanes, p. 213, &c.; Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiv. p. +73; Cedrenus, p. 394.] + +[Footnote 31: Evagrius composed his history in the twelfth year +of Maurice; and he had been so wisely indiscreet that the emperor +know and rewarded his favorable opinion, (l. vi. c. 24.)] + + From Italy the emperors were incessantly tormented by tales +of misery and demands of succor, which extorted the humiliating +confession of their own weakness. The expiring dignity of Rome +was only marked by the freedom and energy of her complaints: "If +you are incapable," she said, "of delivering us from the sword of +the Lombards, save us at least from the calamity of famine." +Tiberius forgave the reproach, and relieved the distress: a +supply of corn was transported from Egypt to the Tyber; and the +Roman people, invoking the name, not of Camillus, but of St. +Peter repulsed the Barbarians from their walls. But the relief +was accidental, the danger was perpetual and pressing; and the +clergy and senate, collecting the remains of their ancient +opulence, a sum of three thousand pounds of gold, despatched the +patrician Pamphronius to lay their gifts and their complaints at +the foot of the Byzantine throne. The attention of the court, +and the forces of the East, were diverted by the Persian war: but +the justice of Tiberius applied the subsidy to the defence of the +city; and he dismissed the patrician with his best advice, either +to bribe the Lombard chiefs, or to purchase the aid of the kings +of France. Notwithstanding this weak invention, Italy was still +afflicted, Rome was again besieged, and the suburb of Classe, +only three miles from Ravenna, was pillaged and occupied by the +troops of a simple duke of Spoleto. Maurice gave audience to a +second deputation of priests and senators: the duties and the +menaces of religion were forcibly urged in the letters of the +Roman pontiff; and his nuncio, the deacon Gregory, was alike +qualified to solicit the powers either of heaven or of the earth. + +The emperor adopted, with stronger effect, the measures of his +predecessor: some formidable chiefs were persuaded to embrace the +friendship of the Romans; and one of them, a mild and faithful +Barbarian, lived and died in the service of the exarchs: the +passes of the Alps were delivered to the Franks; and the pope +encouraged them to violate, without scruple, their oaths and +engagements to the misbelievers. Childebert, the great-grandson +of Clovis, was persuaded to invade Italy by the payment of fifty +thousand pieces; but, as he had viewed with delight some +Byzantine coin of the weight of one pound of gold, the king of +Austrasia might stipulate, that the gift should be rendered more +worthy of his acceptance, by a proper mixture of these +respectable medals. The dukes of the Lombards had provoked by +frequent inroads their powerful neighbors of Gaul. As soon as +they were apprehensive of a just retaliation, they renounced +their feeble and disorderly independence: the advantages of real +government, union, secrecy, and vigor, were unanimously +confessed; and Autharis, the son of Clepho, had already attained +the strength and reputation of a warrior. Under the standard of +their new king, the conquerors of Italy withstood three +successive invasions, one of which was led by Childebert himself, +the last of the Merovingian race who descended from the Alps. +The first expedition was defeated by the jealous animosity of the +Franks and Alemanni. In the second they were vanquished in a +bloody battle, with more loss and dishonor than they had +sustained since the foundation of their monarchy. Impatient for +revenge, they returned a third time with accumulated force, and +Autharis yielded to the fury of the torrent. The troops and +treasures of the Lombards were distributed in the walled towns +between the Alps and the Apennine. A nation, less sensible of +danger than of fatigue and delay, soon murmured against the folly +of their twenty commanders; and the hot vapors of an Italian sun +infected with disease those tramontane bodies which had already +suffered the vicissitudes of intemperance and famine. The powers +that were inadequate to the conquest, were more than sufficient +for the desolation, of the country; nor could the trembling +natives distinguish between their enemies and their deliverers. +If the junction of the Merovingian and Imperial forces had been +effected in the neighborhood of Milan, perhaps they might have +subverted the throne of the Lombards; but the Franks expected six +days the signal of a flaming village, and the arms of the Greeks +were idly employed in the reduction of Modena and Parma, which +were torn from them after the retreat of their transalpine +allies. The victorious Autharis asserted his claim to the +dominion of Italy. At the foot of the Rhaetian Alps, he subdued +the resistance, and rifled the hidden treasures, of a sequestered +island in the Lake of Comum. At the extreme point of the +Calabria, he touched with his spear a column on the sea-shore of +Rhegium, ^32 proclaiming that ancient landmark to stand the +immovable boundary of his kingdom. ^33 + +[Footnote 32: The Columna Rhegina, in the narrowest part of the +Faro of Messina, one hundred stadia from Rhegium itself, is +frequently mentioned in ancient geography. Cluver. Ital. Antiq. +tom. ii. p. 1295. Lucas Holsten. Annotat. ad Cluver. p. 301. +Wesseling, Itinerar. p. 106.] +[Footnote 33: The Greek historians afford some faint hints of the +wars of Italy (Menander, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 124, 126. +Theophylact, l. iii. c. 4.) The Latins are more satisfactory; and +especially Paul Warnefrid, (l iii. c. 13 - 34,) who had read the +more ancient histories of Secundus and Gregory of Tours. +Baronius produces some letters of the popes, &c.; and the times +are measured by the accurate scale of Pagi and Muratori.] + + During a period of two hundred years, Italy was unequally +divided between the kingdom of the Lombards and the exarchate of +Ravenna. The offices and professions, which the jealousy of +Constantine had separated, were united by the indulgence of +Justinian; and eighteen successive exarchs were invested, in the +decline of the empire, with the full remains of civil, of +military, and even of ecclesiastical, power. Their immediate +jurisdiction, which was afterwards consecrated as the patrimony +of St. Peter, extended over the modern Romagna, the marshes or +valleys of Ferrara and Commachio, ^34 five maritime cities from +Rimini to Ancona, and a second inland Pentapolis, between the +Adriatic coast and the hills of the Apennine. Three subordinate +provinces, of Rome, of Venice, and of Naples, which were divided +by hostile lands from the palace of Ravenna, acknowledged, both +in peace and war, the supremacy of the exarch. The duchy of Rome +appears to have included the Tuscan, Sabine, and Latin conquests, +of the first four hundred years of the city, and the limits may +be distinctly traced along the coast, from Civita Vecchia to +Terracina, and with the course of the Tyber from Ameria and Narni +to the port of Ostia. The numerous islands from Grado to Chiozza +composed the infant dominion of Venice: but the more accessible +towns on the Continent were overthrown by the Lombards, who +beheld with impotent fury a new capital rising from the waves. +The power of the dukes of Naples was circumscribed by the bay and +the adjacent isles, by the hostile territory of Capua, and by the +Roman colony of Amalphi, ^35 whose industrious citizens, by the +invention of the mariner's compass, have unveiled the face of the +globe. The three islands of Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily, still +adhered to the empire; and the acquisition of the farther +Calabria removed the landmark of Autharis from the shore of +Rhegium to the Isthmus of Consentia. In Sardinia, the savage +mountaineers preserved the liberty and religion of their +ancestors; and the husbandmen of Sicily were chained to their +rich and cultivated soil. Rome was oppressed by the iron sceptre +of the exarchs, and a Greek, perhaps a eunuch, insulted with +impunity the ruins of the Capitol. But Naples soon acquired the +privilege of electing her own dukes: ^36 the independence of +Amalphi was the fruit of commerce; and the voluntary attachment +of Venice was finally ennobled by an equal alliance with the +Eastern empire. On the map of Italy, the measure of the +exarchate occupies a very inadequate space, but it included an +ample proportion of wealth, industry, and population. The most +faithful and valuable subjects escaped from the Barbarian yoke; +and the banners of Pavia and Verona, of Milan and Padua, were +displayed in their respective quarters by the new inhabitants of +Ravenna. The remainder of Italy was possessed by the Lombards; +and from Pavia, the royal seat, their kingdom was extended to the +east, the north, and the west, as far as the confines of the +Avars, the Bavarians, and the Franks of Austrasia and Burgundy. +In the language of modern geography, it is now represented by the +Terra Firma of the Venetian republic, Tyrol, the Milanese, +Piedmont, the coast of Genoa, Mantua, Parma, and Modena, the +grand duchy of Tuscany, and a large portion of the ecclesiastical +state from Perugia to the Adriatic. The dukes, and at length the +princes, of Beneventum, survived the monarchy, and propagated the +name of the Lombards. From Capua to Tarentum, they reigned near +five hundred years over the greatest part of the present kingdom +of Naples. ^37 + +[Footnote 34: The papal advocates, Zacagni and Fontanini, might +justly claim the valley or morass of Commachio as a part of the +exarchate. But the ambition of including Modena, Reggio, Parma, +and Placentia, has darkened a geographical question somewhat +doubtful and obscure Even Muratori, as the servant of the house +of Este, is not free from partiality and prejudice.] +[Footnote 35: See Brenckman, Dissert. Ima de Republica +Amalphitana, p. 1 - 42, ad calcem Hist. Pandect. Florent.] + +[Footnote 36: Gregor. Magn. l. iii. epist. 23, 25.] + +[Footnote 37: I have described the state of Italy from the +excellent Dissertation of Beretti. Giannone (Istoria Civile, +tom. i. p. 374 - 387) has followed the learned Camillo Pellegrini +in the geography of the kingdom of Naples. After the loss of the +true Calabria, the vanity of the Greeks substituted that name +instead of the more ignoble appellation of Bruttium; and the +change appears to have taken place before the time of +Charlemagne, (Eginard, p. 75.)] + + In comparing the proportion of the victorious and the +vanquished people, the change of language will afford the most +probably inference. According to this standard, it will appear, +that the Lombards of Italy, and the Visigoths of Spain, were less +numerous than the Franks or Burgundians; and the conquerors of +Gaul must yield, in their turn, to the multitude of Saxons and +Angles who almost eradicated the idioms of Britain. The modern +Italian has been insensibly formed by the mixture of nations: the +awkwardness of the Barbarians in the nice management of +declensions and conjugations reduced them to the use of articles +and auxiliary verbs; and many new ideas have been expressed by +Teutonic appellations. Yet the principal stock of technical and +familiar words is found to be of Latin derivation; ^38 and, if we +were sufficiently conversant with the obsolete, the rustic, and +the municipal dialects of ancient Italy, we should trace the +origin of many terms which might, perhaps, be rejected by the +classic purity of Rome. A numerous army constitutes but a small +nation, and the powers of the Lombards were soon diminished by +the retreat of twenty thousand Saxons, who scorned a dependent +situation, and returned, after many bold and perilous adventures, +to their native country. ^39 The camp of Alboin was of formidable +extent, but the extent of a camp would be easily circumscribed +within the limits of a city; and its martial in habitants must be +thinly scattered over the face of a large country. When Alboin +descended from the Alps, he invested his nephew, the first duke +of Friuli, with the command of the province and the people: but +the prudent Gisulf would have declined the dangerous office, +unless he had been permitted to choose, among the nobles of the +Lombards, a sufficient number of families ^40 to form a perpetual +colony of soldiers and subjects. In the progress of conquest, the +same option could not be granted to the dukes of Brescia or +Bergamo, ot Pavia or Turin, of Spoleto or Beneventum; but each of +these, and each of their colleagues, settled in his appointed +district with a band of followers who resorted to his standard in +war and his tribunal in peace. Their attachment was free and +honorable: resigning the gifts and benefits which they had +accepted, they might emigrate with their families into the +jurisdiction of another duke; but their absence from the kingdom +was punished with death, as a crime of military desertion. ^41 +The posterity of the first conquerors struck a deeper root into +the soil, which, by every motive of interest and honor, they were +bound to defend. A Lombard was born the soldier of his king and +his duke; and the civil assemblies of the nation displayed the +banners, and assumed the appellation, of a regular army. Of this +army, the pay and the rewards were drawn from the conquered +provinces; and the distribution, which was not effected till +after the death of Alboin, is disgraced by the foul marks of +injustice and rapine. Many of the most wealthy Italians were +slain or banished; the remainder were divided among the +strangers, and a tributary obligation was imposed (under the name +of hospitality) of paying to the Lombards a third part of the +fruits of the earth. Within less than seventy years, this +artificial system was abolished by a more simple and solid +tenure. ^42 Either the Roman landlord was expelled by his strong +and insolent guest, or the annual payment, a third of the +produce, was exchanged by a more equitable transaction for an +adequate proportion of landed property. Under these foreign +masters, the business of agriculture, in the cultivation of corn, +wines, and olives, was exercised with degenerate skill and +industry by the labor of the slaves and natives. But the +occupations of a pastoral life were more pleasing to the idleness +of the Barbarian. In the rich meadows of Venetia, they restored +and improved the breed of horses, for which that province had +once been illustrious; ^43 and the Italians beheld with +astonishment a foreign race of oxen or buffaloes. ^44 The +depopulation of Lombardy, and the increase of forests, afforded +an ample range for the pleasures of the chase. ^45 That +marvellous art which teaches the birds of the air to acknowledge +the voice, and execute the commands, of their master, had been +unknown to the ingenuity of the Greeks and Romans. ^46 +Scandinavia and Scythia produce the boldest and most tractable +falcons: ^47 they were tamed and educated by the roving +inhabitants, always on horseback and in the field. This favorite +amusement of our ancestors was introduced by the Barbarians into +the Roman provinces; and the laws of Italy esteemed the sword and +the hawk as of equal dignity and importance in the hands of a +noble Lombard. ^48 + +[Footnote 38: Maffei (Verona Illustrata, part i. p. 310 - 321) +and Muratori (Antichita Italiane, tom. ii. Dissertazione xxxii. +xxxiii. p. 71 - 365) have asserted the native claims of the +Italian idiom; the former with enthusiasm, the latter with +discretion; both with learning, ingenuity, and truth. + Note: Compare the admirable sketch of the degeneracy of the +Latin language and the formation of the Italian in Hallam, Middle +Ages, vol. iii. p. 317 329. - M.] + +[Footnote 39: Paul, de Gest. Langobard. l. iii. c. 5, 6, 7.] +[Footnote 40: Paul, l. ii. c. 9. He calls these families or +generations by the Teutonic name of Faras, which is likewise used +in the Lombard laws. The humble deacon was not insensible of the +nobility of his own race. See l. iv. c. 39.] + +[Footnote 41: Compare No. 3 and 177 of the Laws of Rotharis.] +[Footnote 42: Paul, l. ii. c. 31, 32, l. iii. c. 16. The Laws of +Rotharis, promulgated A.D. 643, do not contain the smallest +vestige of this payment of thirds; but they preserve many curious +circumstances of the state of Italy and the manners of the +Lombards.] + +[Footnote 43: The studs of Dionysius of Syracuse, and his +frequent victories in the Olympic games, had diffused among the +Greeks the fame of the Venetian horses; but the breed was extinct +in the time of Strabo, (l. v. p. 325.) Gisulf obtained from his +uncle generosarum equarum greges. Paul, l. ii. c. 9. The +Lombards afterwards introduced caballi sylvatici - wild horses. +Paul, l. iv. c. 11.] + +[Footnote 44: Tunc (A.D. 596) primum, bubali in Italiam delati +Italiae populis miracula fuere, (Paul Warnefrid, l. iv. c. 11.) +The buffaloes, whose native climate appears to be Africa and +India, are unknown to Europe, except in Italy, where they are +numerous and useful. The ancients were ignorant of these +animals, unless Aristotle (Hist. Anim. l. ii. c. 1, p. 58, Paris, +1783) has described them as the wild oxen of Arachosia. See +Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. xi. and Supplement, tom. vi. Hist. +Generale des Voyages, tom. i. p. 7, 481, ii. 105, iii. 291, iv. +234, 461, v. 193, vi. 491, viii. 400, x. 666. Pennant's +Quadrupedes, p. 24. Dictionnaire d'Hist. Naturelle, par Valmont +de Bomare, tom. ii. p. 74. Yet I must not conceal the suspicion +that Paul, by a vulgar error, may have applied the name of +bubalus to the aurochs, or wild bull, of ancient Germany.] + +[Footnote 45: Consult the xxist Dissertation of Muratori.] +[Footnote 46: Their ignorance is proved by the silence even of +those who professedly treat of the arts of hunting and the +history of animals. Aristotle, (Hist. Animal. l. ix. c. 36, tom. +i. p. 586, and the Notes of his last editor, M. Camus, tom. ii. +p. 314,) Pliny, (Hist. Natur. l. x. c. 10,) Aelian (de Natur. +Animal. l. ii. c. 42,) and perhaps Homer, (Odyss. xxii. 302 - +306,) describe with astonishment a tacit league and common chase +between the hawks and the Thracian fowlers.] + +[Footnote 47: Particularly the gerfaut, or gyrfalcon, of the size +of a small eagle. See the animated description of M. de Buffon, +Hist. Naturelle, tom. xvi. p. 239, &c.] + +[Footnote 48: Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. part ii. p. 129. +This is the xvith law of the emperor Lewis the Pious. His father +Charlemagne had falconers in his household as well as huntsmen, +(Memoires sur l'ancienne Chevalerie, par M. de St. Palaye, tom. +iii. p. 175.) I observe in the laws of Rotharis a more early +mention of the art of hawking, (No. 322;) and in Gaul, in the +fifth century, it is celebrated by Sidonius Apollinaris among the +talents of Avitus, (202 - 207.) + + Note: See Beckman, Hist. of Inventions, vol. i. p. 319 - M.] + + + +Chapter XLV: State Of Italy Under The Lombards. + + +Part III. + + So rapid was the influence of climate and example, that the +Lombards of the fourth generation surveyed with curiosity and +affright the portraits of their savage forefathers. ^49 Their +heads were shaven behind, but the shaggy locks hung over their +eyes and mouth, and a long beard represented the name and +character of the nation. Their dress consisted of loose linen +garments, after the fashion of the Anglo-Saxons, which were +decorated, in their opinion, with broad stripes or variegated +colors. The legs and feet were clothed in long hose, and open +sandals; and even in the security of peace a trusty sword was +constantly girt to their side. Yet this strange apparel, and +horrid aspect, often concealed a gentle and generous disposition; +and as soon as the rage of battle had subsided, the captives and +subjects were sometimes surprised by the humanity of the victor. +The vices of the Lombards were the effect of passion, of +ignorance, of intoxication; their virtues are the more laudable, +as they were not affected by the hypocrisy of social manners, nor +imposed by the rigid constraint of laws and education. I should +not be apprehensive of deviating from my subject, if it were in +my power to delineate the private life of the conquerors of +Italy; and I shall relate with pleasure the adventurous gallantry +of Autharis, which breathes the true spirit of chivalry and +romance. ^50 After the loss of his promised bride, a Merovingian +princess, he sought in marriage the daughter of the king of +Bavaria; and Garribald accepted the alliance of the Italian +monarch. Impatient of the slow progress of negotiation, the +ardent lover escaped from his palace, and visited the court of +Bavaria in the train of his own embassy. At the public audience, +the unknown stranger advanced to the throne, and informed +Garribald that the ambassador was indeed the minister of state, +but that he alone was the friend of Autharis, who had trusted him +with the delicate commission of making a faithful report of the +charms of his spouse. Theudelinda was summoned to undergo this +important examination; and, after a pause of silent rapture, he +hailed her as the queen of Italy, and humbly requested that, +according to the custom of the nation, she would present a cup of +wine to the first of her new subjects. By the command of her +father she obeyed: Autharis received the cup in his turn, and, in +restoring it to the princess, he secretly touched her hand, and +drew his own finger over his face and lips. In the evening, +Theudelinda imparted to her nurse the indiscreet familiarity of +the stranger, and was comforted by the assurance, that such +boldness could proceed only from the king her husband, who, by +his beauty and courage, appeared worthy of her love. The +ambassadors were dismissed: no sooner did they reach the confines +of Italy than Autharis, raising himself on his horse, darted his +battle-axe against a tree with incomparable strength and +dexterity. "Such," said he to the astonished Bavarians, "such +are the strokes of the king of the Lombards." On the approach of +a French army, Garribald and his daughter took refuge in the +dominions of their ally; and the marriage was consummated in the +palace of Verona. At the end of one year, it was dissolved by +the death of Autharis: but the virtues of Theudelinda ^51 had +endeared her to the nation, and she was permitted to bestow, with +her hand, the sceptre of the Italian kingdom. +[Footnote 49: The epitaph of Droctulf (Paul, l. iii. c. 19) may +be applied to many of his countrymen: - + +Terribilis visu facies, sed corda benignus Longaque robusto +pectore barba fuit. + +The portraits of the old Lombards might still be seen in the +palace of Monza, twelve miles from Milan, which had been founded +or restored by Queen Theudelinda, (l. iv. 22, 23.) See Muratori, +tom. i. disserta, xxiii. p. 300.] +[Footnote 50: The story of Autharis and Theudelinda is related by +Paul, l. iii. 29, 34; and any fragment of Bavarian antiquity +excites the indefatigable diligence of the count de Buat, Hist. +des Peuples de l'Europe, ton. xi. p. 595 - 635, tom. xii. p. 1 - +53.] + +[Footnote 51: Giannone (Istoria Civile de Napoli, tom. i. p. 263) +has justly censured the impertinence of Boccaccio, (Gio. iii. +Novel. 2,) who, without right, or truth, or pretence, has given +the pious queen Theudelinda to the arms of a muleteer.] + + From this fact, as well as from similar events, ^52 it is +certain that the Lombards possessed freedom to elect their +sovereign, and sense to decline the frequent use of that +dangerous privilege. The public revenue arose from the produce +of land and the profits of justice. When the independent dukes +agreed that Autharis should ascend the throne of his father, they +endowed the regal office with a fair moiety of their respective +domains. The proudest nobles aspired to the honors of servitude +near the person of their prince: he rewarded the fidelity of his +vassals by the precarious gift of pensions and benefices; and +atoned for the injuries of war by the rich foundation of +monasteries and churches. In peace a judge, a leader in war, he +never usurped the powers of a sole and absolute legislator. The +king of Italy convened the national assemblies in the palace, or +more probably in the fields, of Pavia: his great council was +composed of the persons most eminent by their birth and +dignities; but the validity, as well as the execution, of their +decrees depended on the approbation of the faithful people, the +fortunate army of the Lombards. About fourscore years after the +conquest of Italy, their traditional customs were transcribed in +Teutonic Latin, ^53 and ratified by the consent of the prince and +people: some new regulations were introduced, more suitable to +their present condition; the example of Rotharis was imitated by +the wisest of his successors; and the laws of the Lombards have +been esteemed the least imperfect of the Barbaric codes. ^54 +Secure by their courage in the possession of liberty, these rude +and hasty legislators were incapable of balancing the powers of +the constitution, or of discussing the nice theory of political +government. Such crimes as threatened the life of the sovereign, +or the safety of the state, were adjudged worthy of death; but +their attention was principally confined to the defence of the +person and property of the subject. According to the strange +jurisprudence of the times, the guilt of blood might be redeemed +by a fine; yet the high price of nine hundred pieces of gold +declares a just sense of the value of a simple citizen. Less +atrocious injuries, a wound, a fracture, a blow, an opprobrious +word, were measured with scrupulous and almost ridiculous +diligence; and the prudence of the legislator encouraged the +ignoble practice of bartering honor and revenge for a pecuniary +compensation. The ignorance of the Lombards in the state of +Paganism or Christianity gave implicit credit to the malice and +mischief of witchcraft, but the judges of the seventeenth century +might have been instructed and confounded by the wisdom of +Rotharis, who derides the absurd superstition, and protects the +wretched victims of popular or judicial cruelty. ^55 The same +spirit of a legislator, superior to his age and country, may be +ascribed to Luitprand, who condemns, while he tolerates, the +impious and inveterate abuse of duels, ^56 observing, from his +own experience, that the juster cause had often been oppressed by +successful violence. Whatever merit may be discovered in the +laws of the Lombards, they are the genuine fruit of the reason of +the Barbarians, who never admitted the bishops of Italy to a seat +in their legislative councils. But the succession of their kings +is marked with virtue and ability; the troubled series of their +annals is adorned with fair intervals of peace, order, and +domestic happiness; and the Italians enjoyed a milder and more +equitable government, than any of the other kingdoms which had +been founded on the ruins of the Western empire. ^57 +[Footnote 52: Paul, l. iii. c. 16. The first dissertations of +Muratori, and the first volume of Giannone's history, may be +consulted for the state of the kingdom of Italy.] + +[Footnote 53: The most accurate edition of the Laws of the +Lombards is to be found in the Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, tom. +i. part ii. p. 1 - 181, collated from the most ancient Mss. and +illustrated by the critical notes of Muratori.] + +[Footnote 54: Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. c. 1. Les +loix des Bourguignons sont assez judicieuses; celles de Rotharis +et des autres princes Lombards le sont encore plus.] + +[Footnote 55: See Leges Rotharis, No. 379, p. 47. Striga is used +as the name of a witch. It is of the purest classic origin, +(Horat. epod. v. 20. Petron. c. 134;) and from the words of +Petronius, (quae striges comederunt nervos tuos?) it may be +inferred that the prejudice was of Italian rather than Barbaric +extraction.] + +[Footnote 56: Quia incerti sumus de judicio Dei, et multos +audivimus per pugnam sine justa causa suam causam perdere. Sed +propter consuetudinom gentem nostram Langobardorum legem impiam +vetare non possumus. See p. 74, No. 65, of the Laws of +Luitprand, promulgated A.D. 724.] + +[Footnote 57: Read the history of Paul Warnefrid; particularly l. +iii. c. 16. Baronius rejects the praise, which appears to +contradict the invectives of Pope Gregory the Great; but Muratori +(Annali d' Italia, tom. v. p. 217) presumes to insinuate that the +saint may have magnified the faults of Arians and enemies.] + + Amidst the arms of the Lombards, and under the despotism of +the Greeks, we again inquire into the fate of Rome, ^58 which had +reached, about the close of the sixth century, the lowest period +of her depression. By the removal of the seat of empire, and the +successive loss of the provinces, the sources of public and +private opulence were exhausted: the lofty tree, under whose +shade the nations of the earth had reposed, was deprived of its +leaves and branches, and the sapless trunk was left to wither on +the ground. The ministers of command, and the messengers of +victory, no longer met on the Appian or Flaminian way; and the +hostile approach of the Lombards was often felt, and continually +feared. The inhabitants of a potent and peaceful capital, who +visit without an anxious thought the garden of the adjacent +country, will faintly picture in their fancy the distress of the +Romans: they shut or opened their gates with a trembling hand, +beheld from the walls the flames of their houses, and heard the +lamentations of their brethren, who were coupled together like +dogs, and dragged away into distant slavery beyond the sea and +the mountains. Such incessant alarms must annihilate the +pleasures and interrupt the labors of a rural life; and the +Campagna of Rome was speedily reduced to the state of a dreary +wilderness, in which the land is barren, the waters are impure, +and the air is infectious. Curiosity and ambition no longer +attracted the nations to the capital of the world: but, if chance +or necessity directed the steps of a wandering stranger, he +contemplated with horror the vacancy and solitude of the city, +and might be tempted to ask, Where is the senate, and where are +the people? In a season of excessive rains, the Tyber swelled +above its banks, and rushed with irresistible violence into the +valleys of the seven hills. A pestilential disease arose from +the stagnation of the deluge, and so rapid was the contagion, +that fourscore persons expired in an hour in the midst of a +solemn procession, which implored the mercy of Heaven. ^59 A +society in which marriage is encouraged and industry prevails +soon repairs the accidental losses of pestilence and war: but, as +the far greater part of the Romans was condemned to hopeless +indigence and celibacy, the depopulation was constant and +visible, and the gloomy enthusiasts might expect the approaching +failure of the human race. ^60 Yet the number of citizens still +exceeded the measure of subsistence: their precarious food was +supplied from the harvests of Sicily or Egypt; and the frequent +repetition of famine betrays the inattention of the emperor to a +distant province. The edifices of Rome were exposed to the same +ruin and decay: the mouldering fabrics were easily overthrown by +inundations, tempests, and earthquakes: and the monks, who had +occupied the most advantageous stations, exulted in their base +triumph over the ruins of antiquity. ^61 It is commonly believed, +that Pope Gregory the First attacked the temples and mutilated +the statues of the city; that, by the command of the Barbarian, +the Palatine library was reduced to ashes, and that the history +of Livy was the peculiar mark of his absurd and mischievous +fanaticism. The writings of Gregory himself reveal his +implacable aversion to the monuments of classic genius; and he +points his severest censure against the profane learning of a +bishop, who taught the art of grammar, studied the Latin poets, +and pronounced with the same voice the praises of Jupiter and +those of Christ. But the evidence of his destructive rage is +doubtful and recent: the Temple of Peace, or the theatre of +Marcellus, have been demolished by the slow operation of ages, +and a formal proscription would have multiplied the copies of +Virgil and Livy in the countries which were not subject to the +ecclesiastical dictator. ^62 + +[Footnote 58: The passages of the homilies of Gregory, which +represent the miserable state of the city and country, are +transcribed in the Annals of Baronius, A.D. 590, No. 16, A.D. +595, No. 2, &c., &c.] + +[Footnote 59: The inundation and plague were reported by a +deacon, whom his bishop, Gregory of Tours, had despatched to Rome +for some relics The ingenious messenger embellished his tale and +the river with a great dragon and a train of little serpents, +(Greg. Turon. l. x. c. 1.)] + +[Footnote 60: Gregory of Rome (Dialog. l. ii. c. 15) relates a +memorable prediction of St. Benedict. Roma a Gentilibus non +exterminabitur sed tempestatibus, coruscis turbinibus ac terrae +motu in semetipsa marces cet. Such a prophecy melts into true +history, and becomes the evidence of the fact after which it was +invented.] + +[Footnote 61: Quia in uno se ore cum Jovis laudibus, Christi +laudes non capiunt, et quam grave nefandumque sit episcopis +canere quod nec laico religioso conveniat, ipse considera, (l. +ix. ep. 4.) The writings of Gregory himself attest his innocence +of any classic taste or literature] +[Footnote 62: Bayle, (Dictionnaire Critique, tom. ii. 598, 569,) +in a very good article of Gregoire I., has quoted, for the +buildings and statues, Platina in Gregorio I.; for the Palatine +library, John of Salisbury, (de Nugis Curialium, l. ii. c. 26;) +and for Livy, Antoninus of Florence: the oldest of the three +lived in the xiith century.] + + Like Thebes, or Babylon, or Carthage, the names of Rome +might have been erased from the earth, if the city had not been +animated by a vital principle, which again restored her to honor +and dominion. A vague tradition was embraced, that two Jewish +teachers, a tent-maker and a fisherman, had formerly been +executed in the circus of Nero, and at the end of five hundred +years, their genuine or fictitious relics were adored as the +Palladium of Christian Rome. The pilgrims of the East and West +resorted to the holy threshold; but the shrines of the apostles +were guarded by miracles and invisible terrors; and it was not +without fear that the pious Catholic approached the object of his +worship. It was fatal to touch, it was dangerous to behold, the +bodies of the saints; and those who, from the purest motives, +presumed to disturb the repose of the sanctuary, were affrighted +by visions, or punished with sudden death. The unreasonable +request of an empress, who wished to deprive the Romans of their +sacred treasure, the head of St. Paul, was rejected with the +deepest abhorrence; and the pope asserted, most probably with +truth, that a linen which had been sanctified in the neighborhood +of his body, or the filings of his chain, which it was sometimes +easy and sometimes impossible to obtain, possessed an equal +degree of miraculous virtue. ^63 But the power as well as virtue +of the apostles resided with living energy in the breast of their +successors; and the chair of St. Peter was filled under the reign +of Maurice by the first and greatest of the name of Gregory. ^64 +His grandfather Felix had himself been pope, and as the bishops +were already bound by the laws of celibacy, his consecration must +have been preceded by the death of his wife. The parents of +Gregory, Sylvia, and Gordian, were the noblest of the senate, and +the most pious of the church of Rome; his female relations were +numbered among the saints and virgins; and his own figure, with +those of his father and mother, were represented near three +hundred years in a family portrait, ^65 which he offered to the +monastery of St. Andrew. The design and coloring of this picture +afford an honorable testimony that the art of painting was +cultivated by the Italians of the sixth century; but the most +abject ideas must be entertained of their taste and learning, +since the epistles of Gregory, his sermons, and his dialogues, +are the work of a man who was second in erudition to none of his +contemporaries: ^66 his birth and abilities had raised him to the +office of praefect of the city, and he enjoyed the merit of +renouncing the pomps and vanities of this world. His ample +patrimony was dedicated to the foundation of seven monasteries, +^67 one in Rome, ^68 and six in Sicily; and it was the wish of +Gregory that he might be unknown in this life, and glorious only +in the next. Yet his devotion (and it might be sincere) pursued +the path which would have been chosen by a crafty and ambitious +statesman. The talents of Gregory, and the splendor which +accompanied his retreat, rendered him dear and useful to the +church; and implicit obedience has always been inculcated as the +first duty of a monk. As soon as he had received the character +of deacon, Gregory was sent to reside at the Byzantine court, the +nuncio or minister of the apostolic see; and he boldly assumed, +in the name of St. Peter, a tone of independent dignity, which +would have been criminal and dangerous in the most illustrious +layman of the empire. He returned to Rome with a just increase of +reputation, and, after a short exercise of the monastic virtues, +he was dragged from the cloister to the papal throne, by the +unanimous voice of the clergy, the senate, and the people. He +alone resisted, or seemed to resist, his own elevation; and his +humble petition, that Maurice would be pleased to reject the +choice of the Romans, could only serve to exalt his character in +the eyes of the emperor and the public. When the fatal mandate +was proclaimed, Gregory solicited the aid of some friendly +merchants to convey him in a basket beyond the gates of Rome, and +modestly concealed himself some days among the woods and +mountains, till his retreat was discovered, as it is said, by a +celestial light. +[Footnote 63: Gregor. l. iii. epist. 24, edict. 12, &c. From the +epistles of Gregory, and the viiith volume of the Annals of +Baronius, the pious reader may collect the particles of holy iron +which were inserted in keys or crosses of gold, and distributed +in Britain, Gaul, Spain, Africa, Constantinople, and Egypt. The +pontifical smith who handled the file must have understood the +miracles which it was in his own power to operate or withhold; a +circumstance which abates the superstition of Gregory at the +expense of his veracity.] +[Footnote 64: Besides the epistles of Gregory himself, which are +methodized by Dupin, (Bibliotheque Eccles. tom. v. p. 103 - 126,) +we have three lives of the pope; the two first written in the +viiith and ixth centuries, (de Triplici Vita St. Greg. Preface to +the ivth volume of the Benedictine edition,) by the deacons Paul +(p. 1 - 18) and John, (p. 19 - 188,) and containing much +original, though doubtful, evidence; the third, a long and +labored compilation by the Benedictine editors, (p. 199 - 305.) +The annals of Baronius are a copious but partial history. His +papal prejudices are tempered by the good sense of Fleury, (Hist. +Eccles. tom. viii.,) and his chronology has been rectified by the +criticism of Pagi and Muratori.] + +[Footnote 65: John the deacon has described them like an +eye-witness, (l. iv. c. 83, 84;) and his description is +illustrated by Angelo Rocca, a Roman antiquary, (St. Greg. Opera, +tom. iv. p. 312 - 326;) who observes that some mosaics of the +popes of the viith century are still preserved in the old +churches of Rome, (p. 321 - 323) The same walls which represented +Gregory's family are now decorated with the martyrdom of St. +Andrew, the noble contest of Dominichino and Guido.] + +[Footnote 66: Disciplinis vero liberalibus, hoc est grammatica, +rhetorica, dialectica ita apuero est institutus, ut quamvis eo +tempore florerent adhuc Romae studia literarum, tamen nulli in +urbe ipsa secundus putaretur. Paul. Diacon. in Vit. St. Gregor. +c. 2.] + +[Footnote 67: The Benedictines (Vit. Greg. l. i. p. 205 - 208) +labor to reduce the monasteries of Gregory within the rule of +their own order; but, as the question is confessed to be +doubtful, it is clear that these powerful monks are in the wrong. + +See Butler's Lives of the Saints, vol. iii. p. 145; a work of +merit: the sense and learning belong to the author - his +prejudices are those of his profession.] + +[Footnote 68: Monasterium Gregorianum in ejusdem Beati Gregorii +aedibus ad clivum Scauri prope ecclesiam SS. Johannis et Pauli in +honorem St. Andreae, (John, in Vit. Greg. l. i. c. 6. Greg. l. +vii. epist. 13.) This house and monastery were situate on the +side of the Caelian hill which fronts the Palatine; they are now +occupied by the Camaldoli: San Gregorio triumphs, and St. Andrew +has retired to a small chapel Nardini, Roma Antica, l. iii. c. 6, +p. 100. Descrizzione di Roma, tom. i. p. 442 - 446.] + + The pontificate of Gregory the Great, which lasted thirteen +years, six months, and ten days, is one of the most edifying +periods of the history of the church. His virtues, and even his +faults, a singular mixture of simplicity and cunning, of pride +and humility, of sense and superstition, were happily suited to +his station and to the temper of the times. In his rival, the +patriarch of Constantinople, he condemned the anti-Christian +title of universal bishop, which the successor of St. Peter was +too haughty to concede, and too feeble to assume; and the +ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Gregory was confined to the triple +character of Bishop of Rome, Primate of Italy, and Apostle of the +West. He frequently ascended the pulpit, and kindled, by his +rude, though pathetic, eloquence, the congenial passions of his +audience: the language of the Jewish prophets was interpreted and +applied; and the minds of a people, depressed by their present +calamities, were directed to the hopes and fears of the invisible +world. His precepts and example defined the model of the Roman +liturgy; ^69 the distribution of the parishes, the calendar of +the festivals, the order of processions, the service of the +priests and deacons, the variety and change of sacerdotal +garments. Till the last days of his life, he officiated in the +canon of the mass, which continued above three hours: the +Gregorian chant ^70 has preserved the vocal and instrumental +music of the theatre, and the rough voices of the Barbarians +attempted to imitate the melody of the Roman school. ^71 +Experience had shown him the efficacy of these solemn and pompous +rites, to soothe the distress, to confirm the faith, to mitigate +the fierceness, and to dispel the dark enthusiasm of the vulgar, +and he readily forgave their tendency to promote the reign of +priesthood and superstition. The bishops of Italy and the +adjacent islands acknowledged the Roman pontiff as their special +metropolitan. Even the existence, the union, or the translation +of episcopal seats was decided by his absolute discretion: and +his successful inroads into the provinces of Greece, of Spain, +and of Gaul, might countenance the more lofty pretensions of +succeeding popes. He interposed to prevent the abuses of popular +elections; his jealous care maintained the purity of faith and +discipline; and the apostolic shepherd assiduously watched over +the faith and discipline of the subordinate pastors. Under his +reign, the Arians of Italy and Spain were reconciled to the +Catholic church, and the conquest of Britain reflects less glory +on the name of Caesar, than on that of Gregory the First. +Instead of six legions, forty monks were embarked for that +distant island, and the pontiff lamented the austere duties which +forbade him to partake the perils of their spiritual warfare. In +less than two years, he could announce to the archbishop of +Alexandria, that they had baptized the king of Kent with ten +thousand of his Anglo-Saxons, and that the Roman missionaries, +like those of the primitive church, were armed only with +spiritual and supernatural powers. The credulity or the prudence +of Gregory was always disposed to confirm the truths of religion +by the evidence of ghosts, miracles, and resurrections; ^72 and +posterity has paid to his memory the same tribute which he freely +granted to the virtue of his own or the preceding generation. +The celestial honors have been liberally bestowed by the +authority of the popes, but Gregory is the last of their own +order whom they have presumed to inscribe in the calendar of +saints. + +[Footnote 69: The Lord's Prayer consists of half a dozen lines; +the Sacramentarius and Antiphonarius of Gregory fill 880 folio +pages, (tom. iii. p. i. p. 1 - 880;) yet these only constitute a +part of the Ordo Romanus, which Mabillon has illustrated and +Fleury has abridged, (Hist. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 139 - 152.)] + +[Footnote 70: I learn from the Abbe Dobos, (Reflexions sur la +Poesie et la Peinture, tom. iii. p. 174, 175,) that the +simplicity of the Ambrosian chant was confined to four modes, +while the more perfect harmony of the Gregorian comprised the +eight modes or fifteen chords of the ancient music. He observes +(p. 332) that the connoisseurs admire the preface and many +passages of the Gregorian office.] + +[Footnote 71: John the deacon (in Vit. Greg. l. ii. c. 7) +expresses the early contempt of the Italians for tramontane +singing. Alpina scilicet corpora vocum suarum tonitruis altisone +perstrepentia, susceptae modulationis dulcedinem proprie non +resultant: quia bibuli gutturis barbara feritas dum inflexionibus +et repercussionibus mitem nititur edere cantilenam, naturali +quodam fragore, quasi plaustra per gradus confuse sonantia, +rigidas voces jactat, &c. In the time of Charlemagne, the +Franks, though with some reluctance, admitted the justice of the +reproach. Muratori, Dissert. xxv.] +[Footnote 72: A French critic (Petrus Gussanvillus, Opera, tom. +ii. p. 105 - 112) has vindicated the right of Gregory to the +entire nonsense of the Dialogues. Dupin (tom. v. p. 138) does +not think that any one will vouch for the truth of all these +miracles: I should like to know how many of them he believed +himself.] + + Their temporal power insensibly arose from the calamities of +the times: and the Roman bishops, who have deluged Europe and +Asia with blood, were compelled to reign as the ministers of +charity and peace. I. The church of Rome, as it has been +formerly observed, was endowed with ample possessions in Italy, +Sicily, and the more distant provinces; and her agents, who were +commonly sub-deacons, had acquired a civil, and even criminal, +jurisdiction over their tenants and husbandmen. The successor of +St. Peter administered his patrimony with the temper of a +vigilant and moderate landlord; ^73 and the epistles of Gregory +are filled with salutary instructions to abstain from doubtful or +vexatious lawsuits; to preserve the integrity of weights and +measures; to grant every reasonable delay; and to reduce the +capitation of the slaves of the glebe, who purchased the right of +marriage by the payment of an arbitrary fine. ^74 The rent or the +produce of these estates was transported to the mouth of the +Tyber, at the risk and expense of the pope: in the use of wealth +he acted like a faithful steward of the church and the poor, and +liberally applied to their wants the inexhaustible resources of +abstinence and order. The voluminous account of his receipts and +disbursements was kept above three hundred years in the Lateran, +as the model of Christian economy. On the four great festivals, +he divided their quarterly allowance to the clergy, to his +domestics, to the monasteries, the churches, the places of +burial, the almshouses, and the hospitals of Rome, and the rest +of the diocese. On the first day of every month, he distributed +to the poor, according to the season, their stated portion of +corn, wine, cheese, vegetables, oil, fish, fresh provisions, +clothes, and money; and his treasurers were continually summoned +to satisfy, in his name, the extraordinary demands of indigence +and merit. The instant distress of the sick and helpless, of +strangers and pilgrims, was relieved by the bounty of each day, +and of every hour; nor would the pontiff indulge himself in a +frugal repast, till he had sent the dishes from his own table to +some objects deserving of his compassion. The misery of the +times had reduced the nobles and matrons of Rome to accept, +without a blush, the benevolence of the church: three thousand +virgins received their food and raiment from the hand of their +benefactor; and many bishops of Italy escaped from the Barbarians +to the hospitable threshold of the Vatican. Gregory might justly +be styled the Father of his Country; and such was the extreme +sensibility of his conscience, that, for the death of a beggar +who had perished in the streets, he interdicted himself during +several days from the exercise of sacerdotal functions. II. The +misfortunes of Rome involved the apostolical pastor in the +business of peace and war; and it might be doubtful to himself, +whether piety or ambition prompted him to supply the place of his +absent sovereign. Gregory awakened the emperor from a long +slumber; exposed the guilt or incapacity of the exarch and his +inferior ministers; complained that the veterans were withdrawn +from Rome for the defence of Spoleto; encouraged the Italians to +guard their cities and altars; and condescended, in the crisis of +danger, to name the tribunes, and to direct the operations, of +the provincial troops. But the martial spirit of the pope was +checked by the scruples of humanity and religion: the imposition +of tribute, though it was employed in the Italian war, he freely +condemned as odious and oppressive; whilst he protected, against +the Imperial edicts, the pious cowardice of the soldiers who +deserted a military for a monastic life If we may credit his own +declarations, it would have been easy for Gregory to exterminate +the Lombards by their domestic factions, without leaving a king, +a duke, or a count, to save that unfortunate nation from the +vengeance of their foes As a Christian bishop, he preferred the +salutary offices of peace; his mediation appeased the tumult of +arms: but he was too conscious of the arts of the Greeks, and the +passions of the Lombards, to engage his sacred promise for the +observance of the truce. Disappointed in the hope of a general +and lasting treaty, he presumed to save his country without the +consent of the emperor or the exarch. The sword of the enemy was +suspended over Rome; it was averted by the mild eloquence and +seasonable gifts of the pontiff, who commanded the respect of +heretics and Barbarians. The merits of Gregory were treated by +the Byzantine court with reproach and insult; but in the +attachment of a grateful people, he found the purest reward of a +citizen, and the best right of a sovereign. ^75 +[Footnote 73: Baronius is unwilling to expatiate on the care of +the patrimonies, lest he should betray that they consisted not of +kingdoms, but farms. The French writers, the Benedictine +editors, (tom. iv. l. iii. p. 272, &c.,) and Fleury, (tom. viii. +p. 29, &c.,) are not afraid of entering into these humble, though +useful, details; and the humanity of Fleury dwells on the social +virtues of Gregory.] + +[Footnote 74: I much suspect that this pecuniary fine on the +marriages of villains produced the famous, and often fabulous +right, de cuissage, de marquette, &c. With the consent of her +husband, a handsome bride might commute the payment in the arms +of a young landlord, and the mutual favor might afford a +precedent of local rather than legal tyranny] +[Footnote 75: The temporal reign of Gregory I. is ably exposed by +Sigonius in the first book, de Regno Italiae. See his works, +tom. ii. p. 44 - 75] + + +Chapter XLVI: Troubles In Persia. + + +Part I. + + Revolutions On Persia After The Death Of Chosroes On +Nushirvan. - His Son Hormouz, A Tyrant, Is Deposed. - Usurpation +Of Baharam. - Flight And Restoration Of Chosroes II. - His +Gratitude To The Romans. - The Chagan Of The Avars. - Revolt Of +The Army Against Maurice. - His Death. - Tyranny Of Phocas. - +Elevation Of Heraclius. - The Persian War. - Chosroes Subdues +Syria, Egypt, And Asia Minor. - Siege Of Constantinople By The +Persians And Avars. - Persian Expeditions. - Victories And +Triumph Of Heraclius. + + The conflict of Rome and Persia was prolonged from the death +of Craesus to the reign of Heraclius. An experience of seven +hundred years might convince the rival nations of the +impossibility of maintaining their conquests beyond the fatal +limits of the Tigris and Euphrates. Yet the emulation of Trajan +and Julian was awakened by the trophies of Alexander, and the +sovereigns of Persia indulged the ambitious hope of restoring the +empire of Cyrus. ^1 Such extraordinary efforts of power and +courage will always command the attention of posterity; but the +events by which the fate of nations is not materially changed, +leave a faint impression on the page of history, and the patience +of the reader would be exhausted by the repetition of the same +hostilities, undertaken without cause, prosecuted without glory, +and terminated without effect. The arts of negotiation, unknown +to the simple greatness of the senate and the Caesars, were +assiduously cultivated by the Byzantine princes; and the +memorials of their perpetual embassies ^2 repeat, with the same +uniform prolixity, the language of falsehood and declamation, the +insolence of the Barbarians, and the servile temper of the +tributary Greeks. Lamenting the barren superfluity of materials, +I have studied to compress the narrative of these uninteresting +transactions: but the just Nushirvan is still applauded as the +model of Oriental kings, and the ambition of his grandson +Chosroes prepared the revolution of the East, which was speedily +accomplished by the arms and the religion of the successors of +Mahomet. + +[Footnote 1: Missis qui ... reposcerent ... veteres Persarum ac +Macedonum terminos, seque invasurum possessa Cyro et post +Alexandro, per vaniloquentiam ac minas jaciebat. Tacit. Annal. +vi. 31. Such was the language of the Arsacides. I have +repeatedly marked the lofty claims of the Sassanians.] +[Footnote 2: See the embassies of Menander, extracted and +preserved in the tenth century by the order of Constantine +Porphyrogenitus.] + In the useless altercations, that precede and justify the +quarrels of princes, the Greeks and the Barbarians accused each +other of violating the peace which had been concluded between the +two empires about four years before the death of Justinian. The +sovereign of Persia and India aspired to reduce under his +obedience the province of Yemen or Arabia ^3 Felix; the distant +land of myrrh and frankincense, which had escaped, rather than +opposed, the conquerors of the East. After the defeat of Abrahah +under the walls of Mecca, the discord of his sons and brothers +gave an easy entrance to the Persians: they chased the strangers +of Abyssinia beyond the Red Sea; and a native prince of the +ancient Homerites was restored to the throne as the vassal or +viceroy of the great Nushirvan. ^4 But the nephew of Justinian +declared his resolution to avenge the injuries of his Christian +ally the prince of Abyssinia, as they suggested a decent pretence +to discontinue the annual tribute, which was poorly disguised by +the name of pension. The churches of Persarmenia were oppressed +by the intolerant spirit of the Magi; ^* they secretly invoked +the protector of the Christians, and, after the pious murder of +their satraps, the rebels were avowed and supported as the +brethren and subjects of the Roman emperor. The complaints of +Nushirvan were disregarded by the Byzantine court; Justin yielded +to the importunities of the Turks, who offered an alliance +against the common enemy; and the Persian monarchy was threatened +at the same instant by the united forces of Europe, of Aethiopia, +and of Scythia. At the age of fourscore the sovereign of the +East would perhaps have chosen the peaceful enjoyment of his +glory and greatness; but as soon as war became inevitable, he +took the field with the alacrity of youth, whilst the aggressor +trembled in the palace of Constantinople. Nushirvan, or +Chosroes, conducted in person the siege of Dara; and although +that important fortress had been left destitute of troops and +magazines, the valor of the inhabitants resisted above five +months the archers, the elephants, and the military engines of +the Great King. In the mean while his general Adarman advanced +from Babylon, traversed the desert, passed the Euphrates, +insulted the suburbs of Antioch, reduced to ashes the city of +Apamea, and laid the spoils of Syria at the feet of his master, +whose perseverance in the midst of winter at length subverted the +bulwark of the East. But these losses, which astonished the +provinces and the court, produced a salutary effect in the +repentance and abdication of the emperor Justin: a new spirit +arose in the Byzantine councils; and a truce of three years was +obtained by the prudence of Tiberius. That seasonable interval +was employed in the preparations of war; and the voice of rumor +proclaimed to the world, that from the distant countries of the +Alps and the Rhine, from Scythia, Maesia, Pannonia, Illyricum, +and Isauria, the strength of the Imperial cavalry was reenforced +with one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. Yet the king of +Persia, without fear, or without faith, resolved to prevent the +attack of the enemy; again passed the Euphrates, and dismissing +the ambassadors of Tiberius, arrogantly commanded them to await +his arrival at Caesarea, the metropolis of the Cappadocian +provinces. The two armies encountered each other in the battle +of Melitene: ^* the Barbarians, who darkened the air with a cloud +of arrows, prolonged their line, and extended their wings across +the plain; while the Romans, in deep and solid bodies, expected +to prevail in closer action, by the weight of their swords and +lances. A Scythian chief, who commanded their right wing, +suddenly turned the flank of the enemy, attacked their rear-guard +in the presence of Chosroes, penetrated to the midst of the camp, +pillaged the royal tent, profaned the eternal fire, loaded a +train of camels with the spoils of Asia, cut his way through the +Persian host, and returned with songs of victory to his friends, +who had consumed the day in single combats, or ineffectual +skirmishes. The darkness of the night, and the separation of the +Romans, afforded the Persian monarch an opportunity of revenge; +and one of their camps was swept away by a rapid and impetuous +assault. But the review of his loss, and the consciousness of +his danger, determined Chosroes to a speedy retreat: he burnt, in +his passage, the vacant town of Melitene; and, without consulting +the safety of his troops, boldly swam the Euphrates on the back +of an elephant. After this unsuccessful campaign, the want of +magazines, and perhaps some inroad of the Turks, obliged him to +disband or divide his forces; the Romans were left masters of the +field, and their general Justinian, advancing to the relief of +the Persarmenian rebels, erected his standard on the banks of the +Araxes. The great Pompey had formerly halted within three days' +march of the Caspian: ^5 that inland sea was explored, for the +first time, by a hostile fleet, ^6 and seventy thousand captives +were transplanted from Hyrcania to the Isle of Cyprus. On the +return of spring, Justinian descended into the fertile plains of +Assyria; the flames of war approached the residence of Nushirvan; +the indignant monarch sunk into the grave; and his last edict +restrained his successors from exposing their person in battle +against the Romans. ^* Yet the memory of this transient affront +was lost in the glories of a long reign; and his formidable +enemies, after indulging their dream of conquest, again solicited +a short respite from the calamities of war. ^7 + +[Footnote 3: The general independence of the Arabs, which cannot +be admitted without many limitations, is blindly asserted in a +separate dissertation of the authors of the Universal History, +vol. xx. p. 196 - 250. A perpetual miracle is supposed to have +guarded the prophecy in favor of the posterity of Ishmael; and +these learned bigots are not afraid to risk the truth of +Christianity on this frail and slippery foundation. + + Note: It certainly appears difficult to extract a prediction +of the perpetual independence of the Arabs from the text in +Genesis, which would have received an ample fulfilment during +centuries of uninvaded freedom. But the disputants appear to +forget the inseparable connection in the prediction between the +wild, the Bedoween habits of the Ismaelites, with their national +independence. The stationary and civilized descendant of Ismael +forfeited, as it were, his birthright, and ceased to be a genuine +son of the "wild man" The phrase, "dwelling in the presence of +his brethren," is interpreted by Rosenmuller (in loc.) and +others, according to the Hebrew geography, "to the East" of his +brethren, the legitimate race of Abraham - M.] +[Footnote 4: D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. p. 477. Pocock, +Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 64, 65. Father Pagi (Critica, tom. ii. +p. 646) has proved that, after ten years' peace, the Persian war, +which continued twenty years, was renewed A.D. 571. Mahomet was +born A.D. 569, in the year of the elephant, or the defeat of +Abrahah, (Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 89, 90, 98;) and +this account allows two years for the conquest of Yemen. + + Note: Abrahah, according to some accounts, was succeeded by +his son Taksoum, who reigned seventeen years; his brother +Mascouh, who was slain in battle against the Persians, twelve. +But this chronology is irreconcilable with the Arabian conquests +of Nushirvan the Great. Either Seif, or his son Maadi Karb, was +the native prince placed on the throne by the Persians. St. +Martin, vol. x. p. 78. See likewise Johannsen, Hist. Yemanae. - +M.] +[Footnote *: Persarmenia was long maintained in peace by the +tolerant administration of Mejej, prince of the Gnounians. On +his death he was succeeded by a persecutor, a Persian, named +Ten-Schahpour, who attempted to propagate Zoroastrianism by +violence. Nushirvan, on an appeal to the throne by the Armenian +clergy, replaced Ten-Schahpour, in 552, by Veschnas-Vahram. The +new marzban, or governor, was instructed to repress the bigoted +Magi in their persecutions of the Armenians, but the Persian +converts to Christianity were still exposed to cruel sufferings. +The most distinguished of them, Izdbouzid, was crucified at Dovin +in the presence of a vast multitude. The fame of this martyr +spread to the West. Menander, the historian, not only, as +appears by a fragment published by Mai, related this event in his +history, but, according to M. St. Martin, wrote a tragedy on the +subject. This, however, is an unwarrantable inference from the +phrase which merely means that he related the tragic event in his +history. An epigram on the same subject, preserved in the +Anthology, Jacob's Anth. Palat. i. 27, belongs to the historian. +Yet Armenia remained in peace under the government of +Veschnas-Vahram and his successor Varazdat. The tyranny of his +successor Surena led to the insurrection under Vartan, the +Mamigonian, who revenged the death of his brother on the marzban +Surena, surprised Dovin, and put to the sword the governor, the +soldiers, and the Magians. From St. Martin, vol x. p. 79 - 89. - +M.] + +[Footnote *: Malathiah. It was in the lesser Armenia. - M.] +[Footnote 5: He had vanquished the Albanians, who brought into +the field 12,000 horse and 60,000 foot; but he dreaded the +multitude of venomous reptiles, whose existence may admit of some +doubt, as well as that of the neighboring Amazons. Plutarch, in +Pompeio, tom. ii. p. 1165, 1166.] +[Footnote 6: In the history of the world I can only perceive two +navies on the Caspian: 1. Of the Macedonians, when Patrocles, the +admiral of the kings of Syria, Seleucus and Antiochus, descended +most probably the River Oxus, from the confines of India, (Plin. +Hist. Natur. vi. 21.) 2. Of the Russians, when Peter the First +conducted a fleet and army from the neighborhood of Moscow to the +coast of Persia, (Bell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 325 - 352.) He +justly observes, that such martial pomp had never been displayed +on the Volga.] +[Footnote *: This circumstance rests on the statements of +Evagrius and Theophylaci Simocatta. They are not of sufficient +authority to establish a fact so improbable. St. Martin, vol. x. +p. 140. - M.] + +[Footnote 7: For these Persian wars and treaties, see Menander, +in Excerpt. Legat. p. 113 - 125. Theophanes Byzant. apud +Photium, cod. lxiv p. 77, 80, 81. Evagrius, l. v. c. 7 - 15. +Theophylact, l. iii. c. 9 - 16 Agathias, l. iv. p. 140.] + + The throne of Chosroes Nushirvan was filled by Hormouz, or +Hormisdas, the eldest or the most favored of his sons. With the +kingdoms of Persia and India, he inherited the reputation and +example of his father, the service, in every rank, of his wise +and valiant officers, and a general system of administration, +harmonized by time and political wisdom to promote the happiness +of the prince and people. But the royal youth enjoyed a still +more valuable blessing, the friendship of a sage who had presided +over his education, and who always preferred the honor to the +interest of his pupil, his interest to his inclination. In a +dispute with the Greek and Indian philosophers, Buzurg ^8 had +once maintained, that the most grievous misfortune of life is old +age without the remembrance of virtue; and our candor will +presume that the same principle compelled him, during three +years, to direct the councils of the Persian empire. His zeal +was rewarded by the gratitude and docility of Hormouz, who +acknowledged himself more indebted to his preceptor than to his +parent: but when age and labor had impaired the strength, and +perhaps the faculties, of this prudent counsellor, he retired +from court, and abandoned the youthful monarch to his own +passions and those of his favorites. By the fatal vicissitude of +human affairs, the same scenes were renewed at Ctesiphon, which +had been exhibited at Rome after the death of Marcus Antoninus. +The ministers of flattery and corruption, who had been banished +by his father, were recalled and cherished by the son; the +disgrace and exile of the friends of Nushirvan established their +tyranny; and virtue was driven by degrees from the mind of +Hormouz, from his palace, and from the government of the state. +The faithful agents, the eyes and ears of the king, informed him +of the progress of disorder, that the provincial governors flew +to their prey with the fierceness of lions and eagles, and that +their rapine and injustice would teach the most loyal of his +subjects to abhor the name and authority of their sovereign. The +sincerity of this advice was punished with death; the murmurs of +the cities were despised, their tumults were quelled by military +execution: the intermediate powers between the throne and the +people were abolished; and the childish vanity of Hormouz, who +affected the daily use of the tiara, was fond of declaring, that +he alone would be the judge as well as the master of his kingdom. + +In every word, and in every action, the son of Nushirvan +degenerated from the virtues of his father. His avarice +defrauded the troops; his jealous caprice degraded the satraps; +the palace, the tribunals, the waters of the Tigris, were stained +with the blood of the innocent, and the tyrant exulted in the +sufferings and execution of thirteen thousand victims. As the +excuse of his cruelty, he sometimes condescended to observe, that +the fears of the Persians would be productive of hatred, and that +their hatred must terminate in rebellion but he forgot that his +own guilt and folly had inspired the sentiments which he +deplored, and prepared the event which he so justly apprehended. +Exasperated by long and hopeless oppression, the provinces of +Babylon, Susa, and Carmania, erected the standard of revolt; and +the princes of Arabia, India, and Scythia, refused the customary +tribute to the unworthy successor of Nushirvan. The arms of the +Romans, in slow sieges and frequent inroads, afflicted the +frontiers of Mesopotamia and Assyria: one of their generals +professed himself the disciple of Scipio; and the soldiers were +animated by a miraculous image of Christ, whose mild aspect +should never have been displayed in the front of battle. ^9 At +the same time, the eastern provinces of Persia were invaded by +the great khan, who passed the Oxus at the head of three or four +hundred thousand Turks. The imprudent Hormouz accepted their +perfidious and formidable aid; the cities of Khorassan or +Bactriana were commanded to open their gates the march of the +Barbarians towards the mountains of Hyrcania revealed the +correspondence of the Turkish and Roman arms; and their union +must have subverted the throne of the house of Sassan. + +[Footnote 8: Buzurg Mihir may be considered, in his character and +station, as the Seneca of the East; but his virtues, and perhaps +his faults, are less known than those of the Roman, who appears +to have been much more loquacious. The Persian sage was the +person who imported from India the game of chess and the fables +of Pilpay. Such has been the fame of his wisdom and virtues, +that the Christians claim him as a believer in the gospel; and +the Mahometans revere Buzurg as a premature Mussulman. +D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 218.] + +[Footnote 9: See the imitation of Scipio in Theophylact, l. i. c. +14; the image of Christ, l. ii. c. 3. Hereafter I shall speak +more amply of the Christian images - I had almost said idols. +This, if I am not mistaken, is the oldest of divine manufacture; +but in the next thousand years, many others issued from the same +workshop.] + + Persia had been lost by a king; it was saved by a hero. +After his revolt, Varanes or Bahram is stigmatized by the son of +Hormouz as an ungrateful slave; the proud and ambiguous reproach +of despotism, since he was truly descended from the ancient +princes of Rei, ^10 one of the seven families whose splendid, as +well as substantial, prerogatives exalted them above the heads of +the Persian nobility. ^11 At the siege of Dara, the valor of +Bahram was signalized under the eyes of Nushirvan, and both the +father and son successively promoted him to the command of +armies, the government of Media, and the superintendence of the +palace. The popular prediction which marked him as the deliverer +of Persia, might be inspired by his past victories and +extraordinary figure: the epithet Giubin ^* is expressive of the +quality of dry wood: he had the strength and stature of a giant; +and his savage countenance was fancifully compared to that of a +wild cat. While the nation trembled, while Hormouz disguised his +terror by the name of suspicion, and his servants concealed their +disloyalty under the mask of fear, Bahram alone displayed his +undaunted courage and apparent fidelity: and as soon as he found +that no more than twelve thousand soldiers would follow him +against the enemy; he prudently declared, that to this fatal +number Heaven had reserved the honors of the triumph. ^! The +steep and narrow descent of the Pule Rudbar, ^12 or Hyrcanian +rock, is the only pass through which an army can penetrate into +the territory of Rei and the plains of Media. From the +commanding heights, a band of resolute men might overwhelm with +stones and darts the myriads of the Turkish host: their emperor +and his son were transpierced with arrows; and the fugitives were +left, without counsel or provisions, to the revenge of an injured +people. The patriotism of the Persian general was stimulated by +his affection for the city of his forefathers: in the hour of +victory, every peasant became a soldier, and every soldier a +hero; and their ardor was kindled by the gorgeous spectacle of +beds, and thrones, and tables of massy gold, the spoils of Asia, +and the luxury of the hostile camp. A prince of a less malignant +temper could not easily have forgiven his benefactor; and the +secret hatred of Hormouz was envenomed by a malicious report, +that Bahram had privately retained the most precious fruits of +his Turkish victory. But the approach of a Roman army on the +side of the Araxes compelled the implacable tyrant to smile and +to applaud; and the toils of Bahram were rewarded with the +permission of encountering a new enemy, by their skill and +discipline more formidable than a Scythian multitude. Elated by +his recent success, he despatched a herald with a bold defiance +to the camp of the Romans, requesting them to fix a day of +battle, and to choose whether they would pass the river +themselves, or allow a free passage to the arms of the great +king. The lieutenant of the emperor Maurice preferred the safer +alternative; and this local circumstance, which would have +enhanced the victory of the Persians, rendered their defeat more +bloody and their escape more difficult. But the loss of his +subjects, and the danger of his kingdom, were overbalanced in the +mind of Hormouz by the disgrace of his personal enemy; and no +sooner had Bahram collected and reviewed his forces, than he +received from a royal messenger the insulting gift of a distaff, +a spinning-wheel, and a complete suit of female apparel. Obedient +to the will of his sovereign he showed himself to the soldiers in +this unworthy disguise they resented his ignominy and their own; +a shout of rebellion ran through the ranks; and the general +accepted their oath of fidelity and vows of revenge. A second +messenger, who had been commanded to bring the rebel in chains, +was trampled under the feet of an elephant, and manifestos were +diligently circulated, exhorting the Persians to assert their +freedom against an odious and contemptible tyrant. The defection +was rapid and universal; his loyal slaves were sacrificed to the +public fury; the troops deserted to the standard of Bahram; and +the provinces again saluted the deliverer of his country. + +[Footnote 10: Ragae, or Rei, is mentioned in the Apocryphal book +of Tobit as already flourishing, 700 years before Christ, under +the Assyrian empire. Under the foreign names of Europus and +Arsacia, this city, 500 stadia to the south of the Caspian gates, +was successively embellished by the Macedonians and Parthians, +(Strabo, l. xi. p. 796.) Its grandeur and populousness in the +ixth century are exaggerated beyond the bounds of credibility; +but Rei has been since ruined by wars and the unwholesomeness of +the air. Chardin, Voyage en Perse, tom. i. p. 279, 280. +D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Oriental. p. 714.] +[Footnote 11: Theophylact. l. iii. c. 18. The story of the seven +Persians is told in the third book of Herodotus; and their noble +descendants are often mentioned, especially in the fragments of +Ctesias. Yet the independence of Otanes (Herodot. l. iii. c. 83, +84) is hostile to the spirit of despotism, and it may not seem +probable that the seven families could survive the revolutions of +eleven hundred years. They might, however, be represented by the +seven ministers, (Brisson, de Regno Persico, l. i. p. 190;) and +some Persian nobles, like the kings of Pontus (Polyb l. v. p. +540) and Cappadocia, (Diodor. Sicul. l. xxxi. tom. ii. p. 517,) +might claim their descent from the bold companions of Darius.] + +[Footnote *: He is generally called Baharam Choubeen, Baharam, +the stick- like, probably from his appearance. Malcolm, vol. i. +p. 120. - M.] +[Footnote !: The Persian historians say, that Hormouz entreated +his general to increase his numbers; but Baharam replied, that +experience had taught him that it was the quality, not the number +of soldiers, which gave success. * * * No man in his army was +under forty years, and none above fifty. Malcolm, vol. i. p. 121 +- M.] + +[Footnote 12: See an accurate description of this mountain by +Olearius, (Voyage en Perse, p. 997, 998,) who ascended it with +much difficulty and danger in his return from Ispahan to the +Caspian Sea.] + + As the passes were faithfully guarded, Hormouz could only +compute the number of his enemies by the testimony of a guilty +conscience, and the daily defection of those who, in the hour of +his distress, avenged their wrongs, or forgot their obligations. +He proudly displayed the ensigns of royalty; but the city and +palace of Modain had already escaped from the hand of the tyrant. +Among the victims of his cruelty, Bindoes, a Sassanian prince, +had been cast into a dungeon; his fetters were broken by the zeal +and courage of a brother; and he stood before the king at the +head of those trusty guards, who had been chosen as the ministers +of his confinement, and perhaps of his death. Alarmed by the +hasty intrusion and bold reproaches of the captive, Hormouz +looked round, but in vain, for advice or assistance; discovered +that his strength consisted in the obedience of others; and +patiently yielded to the single arm of Bindoes, who dragged him +from the throne to the same dungeon in which he himself had been +so lately confined. At the first tumult, Chosroes, the eldest of +the sons of Hormouz, escaped from the city; he was persuaded to +return by the pressing and friendly invitation of Bindoes, who +promised to seat him on his father's throne, and who expected to +reign under the name of an inexperienced youth. In the just +assurance, that his accomplices could neither forgive nor hope to +be forgiven, and that every Persian might be trusted as the judge +and enemy of the tyrant, he instituted a public trial without a +precedent and without a copy in the annals of the East. The son +of Nushirvan, who had requested to plead in his own defence, was +introduced as a criminal into the full assembly of the nobles and +satraps. ^13 He was heard with decent attention as long as he +expatiated on the advantages of order and obedience, the danger +of innovation, and the inevitable discord of those who had +encouraged each other to trample on their lawful and hereditary +sovereign. By a pathetic appeal to their humanity, he extorted +that pity which is seldom refused to the fallen fortunes of a +king; and while they beheld the abject posture and squalid +appearance of the prisoner, his tears, his chains, and the marks +of ignominious stripes, it was impossible to forget how recently +they had adored the divine splendor of his diadem and purple. +But an angry murmur arose in the assembly as soon as he presumed +to vindicate his conduct, and to applaud the victories of his +reign. He defined the duties of a king, and the Persian nobles +listened with a smile of contempt; they were fired with +indignation when he dared to vilify the character of Chosroes; +and by the indiscreet offer of resigning the sceptre to the +second of his sons, he subscribed his own condemnation, and +sacrificed the life of his own innocent favorite. The mangled +bodies of the boy and his mother were exposed to the people; the +eyes of Hormouz were pierced with a hot needle; and the +punishment of the father was succeeded by the coronation of his +eldest son. Chosroes had ascended the throne without guilt, and +his piety strove to alleviate the misery of the abdicated +monarch; from the dungeon he removed Hormouz to an apartment of +the palace, supplied with liberality the consolations of sensual +enjoyment, and patiently endured the furious sallies of his +resentment and despair. He might despise the resentment of a +blind and unpopular tyrant, but the tiara was trembling on his +head, till he could subvert the power, or acquire the friendship, +of the great Bahram, who sternly denied the justice of a +revolution, in which himself and his soldiers, the true +representatives of Persia, had never been consulted. The offer +of a general amnesty, and of the second rank in his kingdom, was +answered by an epistle from Bahram, friend of the gods, conqueror +of men, and enemy of tyrants, the satrap of satraps, general of +the Persian armies, and a prince adorned with the title of eleven +virtues. ^14 He commands Chosroes, the son of Hormouz, to shun +the example and fate of his father, to confine the traitors who +had been released from their chains, to deposit in some holy +place the diadem which he had usurped, and to accept from his +gracious benefactor the pardon of his faults and the government +of a province. The rebel might not be proud, and the king most +assuredly was not humble; but the one was conscious of his +strength, the other was sensible of his weakness; and even the +modest language of his reply still left room for treaty and +reconciliation. Chosroes led into the field the slaves of the +palace and the populace of the capital: they beheld with terror +the banners of a veteran army; they were encompassed and +surprised by the evolutions of the general; and the satraps who +had deposed Hormouz, received the punishment of their revolt, or +expiated their first treason by a second and more criminal act of +disloyalty. The life and liberty of Chosroes were saved, but he +was reduced to the necessity of imploring aid or refuge in some +foreign land; and the implacable Bindoes, anxious to secure an +unquestionable title, hastily returned to the palace, and ended, +with a bowstring, the wretched existence of the son of Nushirvan. +^15 + +[Footnote 13: The Orientals suppose that Bahram convened this +assembly and proclaimed Chosroes; but Theophylact is, in this +instance, more distinct and credible. + + Note: Yet Theophylact seems to have seized the opportunity +to indulge his propensity for writing orations; and the orations +read rather like those of a Grecian sophist than of an Eastern +assembly. - M.] + +[Footnote 14: See the words of Theophylact, l. iv. c. 7., &c. In +answer, Chosroes styles himself in genuine Oriental bombast.] + +[Footnote 15: Theophylact (l. iv. c. 7) imputes the death of +Hormouz to his son, by whose command he was beaten to death with +clubs. I have followed the milder account of Khondemir and +Eutychius, and shall always be content with the slightest +evidence to extenuate the crime of parricide. + Note: Malcolm concurs in ascribing his death to Bundawee, +(Bindoes,) vol. i. p. 123. The Eastern writers generally impute +the crime to the uncle St. Martin, vol. x. p. 300. - M.] + + While Chosroes despatched the preparations of his retreat, +he deliberated with his remaining friends, ^16 whether he should +lurk in the valleys of Mount Caucasus, or fly to the tents of the +Turks, or solicit the protection of the emperor. The long +emulation of the successors of Artaxerxes and Constantine +increased his reluctance to appear as a suppliant in a rival +court; but he weighed the forces of the Romans, and prudently +considered that the neighborhood of Syria would render his escape +more easy and their succors more effectual. Attended only by his +concubines, and a troop of thirty guards, he secretly departed +from the capital, followed the banks of the Euphrates, traversed +the desert, and halted at the distance of ten miles from +Circesium. About the third watch of the night, the Roman praefect +was informed of his approach, and he introduced the royal +stranger to the fortress at the dawn of day. From thence the +king of Persia was conducted to the more honorable residence of +Hierapolis; and Maurice dissembled his pride, and displayed his +benevolence, at the reception of the letters and ambassadors of +the grandson of Nushirvan. They humbly represented the +vicissitudes of fortune and the common interest of princes, +exaggerated the ingratitude of Bahram, the agent of the evil +principle, and urged, with specious argument, that it was for the +advantage of the Romans themselves to support the two monarchies +which balance the world, the two great luminaries by whose +salutary influence it is vivified and adorned. The anxiety of +Chosroes was soon relieved by the assurance, that the emperor had +espoused the cause of justice and royalty; but Maurice prudently +declined the expense and delay of his useless visit to +Constantinople. In the name of his generous benefactor, a rich +diadem was presented to the fugitive prince, with an inestimable +gift of jewels and gold; a powerful army was assembled on the +frontiers of Syria and Armenia, under the command of the valiant +and faithful Narses, ^17 and this general, of his own nation, and +his own choice, was directed to pass the Tigris, and never to +sheathe his sword till he had restored Chosroes to the throne of +his ancestors. ^* The enterprise, however splendid, was less +arduous than it might appear. Persia had already repented of her +fatal rashness, which betrayed the heir of the house of Sassan to +the ambition of a rebellious subject: and the bold refusal of the +Magi to consecrate his usurpation, compelled Bahram to assume the +sceptre, regardless of the laws and prejudices of the nation. +The palace was soon distracted with conspiracy, the city with +tumult, the provinces with insurrection; and the cruel execution +of the guilty and the suspected served to irritate rather than +subdue the public discontent. No sooner did the grandson of +Nushirvan display his own and the Roman banners beyond the +Tigris, than he was joined, each day, by the increasing +multitudes of the nobility and people; and as he advanced, he +received from every side the grateful offerings of the keys of +his cities and the heads of his enemies. As soon as Modain was +freed from the presence of the usurper, the loyal inhabitants +obeyed the first summons of Mebodes at the head of only two +thousand horse, and Chosroes accepted the sacred and precious +ornaments of the palace as the pledge of their truth and the +presage of his approaching success. After the junction of the +Imperial troops, which Bahram vainly struggled to prevent, the +contest was decided by two battles on the banks of the Zab, and +the confines of Media. The Romans, with the faithful subjects of +Persia, amounted to sixty thousand, while the whole force of the +usurper did not exceed forty thousand men: the two generals +signalized their valor and ability; but the victory was finally +determined by the prevalence of numbers and discipline. With the +remnant of a broken army, Bahram fled towards the eastern +provinces of the Oxus: the enmity of Persia reconciled him to the +Turks; but his days were shortened by poison, perhaps the most +incurable of poisons; the stings of remorse and despair, and the +bitter remembrance of lost glory. Yet the modern Persians still +commemorate the exploits of Bahram; and some excellent laws have +prolonged the duration of his troubled and transitory reign. ^* + +[Footnote 16: After the battle of Pharsalia, the Pompey of Lucan +(l. viii. 256 - 455) holds a similar debate. He was himself +desirous of seeking the Parthians: but his companions abhorred +the unnatural alliance and the adverse prejudices might operate +as forcibly on Chosroes and his companions, who could describe, +with the same vehemence, the contrast of laws, religion, and +manners, between the East and West.] + +[Footnote 17: In this age there were three warriors of the name +of Narses, who have been often confounded, (Pagi, Critica, tom. +ii. p. 640:) 1. A Persarmenian, the brother of Isaac and +Armatius, who, after a successful action against Belisarius, +deserted from his Persian sovereign, and afterwards served in the +Italian war. - 2. The eunuch who conquered Italy. - 3. The +restorer of Chosroes, who is celebrated in the poem of Corippus +(l. iii. 220 - 327) as excelsus super omnia vertico agmina .... +habitu modestus .... morum probitate placens, virtute verendus; +fulmineus, cautus, vigilans, &c.] +[Footnote *: The Armenians adhered to Chosroes. St. Martin, vol. +x. p. 312. - M.] + +[Footnote *: According to Mivkhond and the Oriental writers, +Bahram received the daughter of the Khakan in marriage, and +commanded a body of Turks in an invasion of Persia. Some say +that he was assassinated; Malcolm adopts the opinion that he was +poisoned. His sister Gourdieh, the companion of his flight, is +celebrated in the Shah Nameh. She was afterwards one of the +wives of Chosroes. St. Martin. vol. x. p. 331. - M.] + + The restoration of Chosroes was celebrated with feasts and +executions; and the music of the royal banquet was often +disturbed by the groans of dying or mutilated criminals. A +general pardon might have diffused comfort and tranquillity +through a country which had been shaken by the late revolutions; +yet, before the sanguinary temper of Chosroes is blamed, we +should learn whether the Persians had not been accustomed either +to dread the rigor, or to despise the weakness, of their +sovereign. The revolt of Bahram, and the conspiracy of the +satraps, were impartially punished by the revenge or justice of +the conqueror; the merits of Bindoes himself could not purify his +hand from the guilt of royal blood: and the son of Hormouz was +desirous to assert his own innocence, and to vindicate the +sanctity of kings. During the vigor of the Roman power, several +princes were seated on the throne of Persia by the arms and the +authority of the first Caesars. But their new subjects were soon +disgusted with the vices or virtues which they had imbibed in a +foreign land; the instability of their dominion gave birth to a +vulgar observation, that the choice of Rome was solicited and +rejected with equal ardor by the capricious levity of Oriental +slaves. But the glory of Maurice was conspicuous in the long and +fortunate reign of his son and his ally. A band of a thousand +Romans, who continued to guard the person of Chosroes, proclaimed +his confidence in the fidelity of the strangers; his growing +strength enabled him to dismiss this unpopular aid, but he +steadily professed the same gratitude and reverence to his +adopted father; and till the death of Maurice, the peace and +alliance of the two empires were faithfully maintained. Yet the +mercenary friendship of the Roman prince had been purchased with +costly and important gifts; the strong cities of Martyropolis and +Dara ^* were restored, and the Persarmenians became the willing +subjects of an empire, whose eastern limit was extended, beyond +the example of former times, as far as the banks of the Araxes, +and the neighborhood of the Caspian. A pious hope was indulged, +that the church as well as the state might triumph in this +revolution: but if Chosroes had sincerely listened to the +Christian bishops, the impression was erased by the zeal and +eloquence of the Magi: if he was armed with philosophic +indifference, he accommodated his belief, or rather his +professions, to the various circumstances of an exile and a +sovereign. The imaginary conversion of the king of Persia was +reduced to a local and superstitious veneration for Sergius, ^19 +one of the saints of Antioch, who heard his prayers and appeared +to him in dreams; he enriched the shrine with offerings of gold +and silver, and ascribed to this invisible patron the success of +his arms, and the pregnancy of Sira, a devout Christian and the +best beloved of his wives. ^20 The beauty of Sira, or Schirin, +^21 her wit, her musical talents, are still famous in the +history, or rather in the romances, of the East: her own name is +expressive, in the Persian tongue, of sweetness and grace; and +the epithet of Parviz alludes to the charms of her royal lover. +Yet Sira never shared the passions which she inspired, and the +bliss of Chosroes was tortured by a jealous doubt, that while he +possessed her person, she had bestowed her affections on a meaner +favorite. ^22 + +[Footnote 18: Experimentis cognitum est Barbaros malle Roma +petere reges quam habere. These experiments are admirably +represented in the invitation and expulsion of Vonones, (Annal. +ii. 1 - 3,) Tiridates, (Annal. vi. 32-44,) and Meherdates, +(Annal. xi. 10, xii. 10-14.) The eye of Tacitus seems to have +transpierced the camp of the Parthians and the walls of the +harem.] +[Footnote *: Concerning Nisibis, see St. Martin and his Armenian +authorities, vol. x p. 332, and Memoires sur l'Armenie, tom. i. +p. 25. - M.] +[Footnote 19: Sergius and his companion Bacchus, who are said to +have suffered in the persecution of Maximian, obtained divine +honor in France, Italy, Constantinople, and the East. Their tomb +at Rasaphe was famous for miracles, and that Syrian town acquired +the more honorable name of Sergiopolis. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. +tom. v. p. 481 - 496. Butler's Saints, vol. x. p. 155.] + +[Footnote 20: Evagrius (l. vi. c. 21) and Theophylact (l. v. c. +13, 14) have preserved the original letters of Chosroes, written +in Greek, signed with his own hand, and afterwards inscribed on +crosses and tables of gold, which were deposited in the church of +Sergiopolis. They had been sent to the bishop of Antioch, as +primate of Syria. + + Note: St. Martin thinks that they were first written in +Syriac, and then translated into the bad Greek in which they +appear, vol. x. p. 334. - M.] +[Footnote 21: The Greeks only describe her as a Roman by birth, a +Christian by religion: but she is represented as the daughter of +the emperor Maurice in the Persian and Turkish romances which +celebrate the love of Khosrou for Schirin, of Schirin for Ferhad, +the most beautiful youth of the East, D'Herbelot, Biblioth. +Orient. p. 789, 997, 998. + + Note: Compare M. von Hammer's preface to, and poem of, +Schirin in which he gives an account of the various Persian +poems, of which he has endeavored to extract the essence in his +own work. - M.] + +[Footnote 22: The whole series of the tyranny of Hormouz, the +revolt of Bahram, and the flight and restoration of Chosroes, is +related by two contemporary Greeks - more concisely by Evagrius, +(l. vi. c. 16, 17, 18, 19,) and most diffusely by Theophylact +Simocatta, (l. iii. c. 6 - 18, l. iv. c. 1 - 16, l. v. c. 1 - +15:) succeeding compilers, Zonaras and Cedrenus, can only +transcribe and abridge. The Christian Arabs, Eutychius (Annal. +tom. ii. p. 200 - 208) and Abulpharagius (Dynast. p. 96 - 98) +appear to have consulted some particular memoirs. The great +Persian historians of the xvth century, Mirkhond and Khondemir, +are only known to me by the imperfect extracts of Schikard, +(Tarikh, p. 150 - 155,) Texeira, or rather Stevens, (Hist. of +Persia, p. 182 - 186,) a Turkish Ms. translated by the Abbe +Fourmount, (Hist. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. vii. p. +325 - 334,) and D'Herbelot, (aux mots Hormouz, p. 457 - 459. +Bahram, p. 174. Khosrou Parviz, p. 996.) Were I perfectly +satisfied of their authority, I could wish these Oriental +materials had been more copious.] + + +Chapter XLVI: Troubles In Persia. + + +Part II. + + While the majesty of the Roman name was revived in the East, +the prospect of Europe is less pleasing and less glorious. By +the departure of the Lombards, and the ruin of the Gepidae, the +balance of power was destroyed on the Danube; and the Avars +spread their permanent dominion from the foot of the Alps to the +sea-coast of the Euxine. The reign of Baian is the brightest +aera of their monarchy; their chagan, who occupied the rustic +palace of Attila, appears to have imitated his character and +policy; ^23 but as the same scenes were repeated in a smaller +circle, a minute representation of the copy would be devoid of +the greatness and novelty of the original. The pride of the +second Justin, of Tiberius, and Maurice, was humbled by a proud +Barbarian, more prompt to inflict, than exposed to suffer, the +injuries of war; and as often as Asia was threatened by the +Persian arms, Europe was oppressed by the dangerous inroads, or +costly friendship, of the Avars. When the Roman envoys +approached the presence of the chagan, they were commanded to +wait at the door of his tent, till, at the end perhaps of ten or +twelve days, he condescended to admit them. If the substance or +the style of their message was offensive to his ear, he insulted, +with real or affected fury, their own dignity, and that of their +prince; their baggage was plundered, and their lives were only +saved by the promise of a richer present and a more respectful +address. But his sacred ambassadors enjoyed and abused an +unbounded license in the midst of Constantinople: they urged, +with importunate clamors, the increase of tribute, or the +restitution of captives and deserters: and the majesty of the +empire was almost equally degraded by a base compliance, or by +the false and fearful excuses with which they eluded such +insolent demands. The chagan had never seen an elephant; and his +curiosity was excited by the strange, and perhaps fabulous, +portrait of that wonderful animal. At his command, one of the +largest elephants of the Imperial stables was equipped with +stately caparisons, and conducted by a numerous train to the +royal village in the plains of Hungary. He surveyed the enormous +beast with surprise, with disgust, and possibly with terror; and +smiled at the vain industry of the Romans, who, in search of such +useless rarities, could explore the limits of the land and sea. +He wished, at the expense of the emperor, to repose in a golden +bed. The wealth of Constantinople, and the skilful diligence of +her artists, were instantly devoted to the gratification of his +caprice; but when the work was finished, he rejected with scorn a +present so unworthy the majesty of a great king. ^24 These were +the casual sallies of his pride; but the avarice of the chagan +was a more steady and tractable passion: a rich and regular +supply of silk apparel, furniture, and plate, introduced the +rudiments of art and luxury among the tents of the Scythians; +their appetite was stimulated by the pepper and cinnamon of +India; ^25 the annual subsidy or tribute was raised from +fourscore to one hundred and twenty thousand pieces of gold; and +after each hostile interruption, the payment of the arrears, with +exorbitant interest, was always made the first condition of the +new treaty. In the language of a Barbarian, without guile, the +prince of the Avars affected to complain of the insincerity of +the Greeks; ^26 yet he was not inferior to the most civilized +nations in the refinement of dissimulation and perfidy. As the +successor of the Lombards, the chagan asserted his claim to the +important city of Sirmium, the ancient bulwark of the Illyrian +provinces. ^27 The plains of the Lower Hungary were covered with +the Avar horse and a fleet of large boats was built in the +Hercynian wood, to descend the Danube, and to transport into the +Save the materials of a bridge. But as the strong garrison of +Singidunum, which commanded the conflux of the two rivers, might +have stopped their passage and baffled his designs, he dispelled +their apprehensions by a solemn oath that his views were not +hostile to the empire. He swore by his sword, the symbol of the +god of war, that he did not, as the enemy of Rome, construct a +bridge upon the Save. "If I violate my oath," pursued the +intrepid Baian, "may I myself, and the last of my nation, perish +by the sword! May the heavens, and fire, the deity of the +heavens, fall upon our heads! May the forests and mountains bury +us in their ruins! and the Save returning, against the laws of +nature, to his source, overwhelm us in his angry waters!" After +this barbarous imprecation, he calmly inquired, what oath was +most sacred and venerable among the Christians, what guilt or +perjury it was most dangerous to incur. The bishop of Singidunum +presented the gospel, which the chagan received with devout +reverence. "I swear," said he, "by the God who has spoken in +this holy book, that I have neither falsehood on my tongue, nor +treachery in my heart." As soon as he rose from his knees, he +accelerated the labor of the bridge, and despatched an envoy to +proclaim what he no longer wished to conceal. "Inform the +emperor," said the perfidious Baian, "that Sirmium is invested on +every side. Advise his prudence to withdraw the citizens and +their effects, and to resign a city which it is now impossible to +relieve or defend." Without the hope of relief, the defence of +Sirmium was prolonged above three years: the walls were still +untouched; but famine was enclosed within the walls, till a +merciful capitulation allowed the escape of the naked and hungry +inhabitants. Singidunum, at the distance of fifty miles, +experienced a more cruel fate: the buildings were razed, and the +vanquished people was condemned to servitude and exile. Yet the +ruins of Sirmium are no longer visible; the advantageous +situation of Singidunum soon attracted a new colony of +Sclavonians, and the conflux of the Save and Danube is still +guarded by the fortifications of Belgrade, or the White City, so +often and so obstinately disputed by the Christian and Turkish +arms. ^28 From Belgrade to the walls of Constantinople a line may +be measured of six hundred miles: that line was marked with +flames and with blood; the horses of the Avars were alternately +bathed in the Euxine and the Adriatic; and the Roman pontiff, +alarmed by the approach of a more savage enemy, ^29 was reduced +to cherish the Lombards, as the protectors of Italy. The despair +of a captive, whom his country refused to ransom, disclosed to +the Avars the invention and practice of military engines. ^30 But +in the first attempts they were rudely framed, and awkwardly +managed; and the resistance of Diocletianopolis and Beraea, of +Philippopolis and Adrianople, soon exhausted the skill and +patience of the besiegers. The warfare of Baian was that of a +Tartar; yet his mind was susceptible of a humane and generous +sentiment: he spared Anchialus, whose salutary waters had +restored the health of the best beloved of his wives; and the +Romans confessed, that their starving army was fed and dismissed +by the liberality of a foe. His empire extended over Hungary, +Poland, and Prussia, from the mouth of the Danube to that of the +Oder; ^31 and his new subjects were divided and transplanted by +the jealous policy of the conqueror. ^32 The eastern regions of +Germany, which had been left vacant by the emigration of the +Vandals, were replenished with Sclavonian colonists; the same +tribes are discovered in the neighborhood of the Adriatic and of +the Baltic, and with the name of Baian himself, the Illyrian +cities of Neyss and Lissa are again found in the heart of +Silesia. In the disposition both of his troops and provinces the +chagan exposed the vassals, whose lives he disregarded, ^33 to +the first assault; and the swords of the enemy were blunted +before they encountered the native valor of the Avars. + +[Footnote 23: A general idea of the pride and power of the chagan +may be taken from Menander (Excerpt. Legat. p. 118, &c.) and +Theophylact, (l. i. c. 3, l. vii. c. 15,) whose eight books are +much more honorable to the Avar than to the Roman prince. The +predecessors of Baian had tasted the liberality of Rome, and he +survived the reign of Maurice, (Buat, Hist. des Peuples Barbares, +tom. xi. p. 545.) The chagan who invaded Italy, A.D. 611, +(Muratori, Annali, tom. v. p. 305,) was then invenili aetate +florentem, (Paul Warnefrid, de Gest. Langobard. l v c 38,) the +son, perhaps, or the grandson, of Baian.] +[Footnote 24: Theophylact, l. i. c. 5, 6.] + +[Footnote 25: Even in the field, the chagan delighted in the use +of these aromatics. He solicited, as a gift, and received. +Theophylact, l. vii. c. 13. The Europeans of the ruder ages +consumed more spices in their meat and drink than is compatible +with the delicacy of a modern palate. Vie Privee des Francois, +tom. ii. p. 162, 163.] + +[Footnote 26: Theophylact, l. vi. c. 6, l. vii. c. 15. The Greek +historian confesses the truth and justice of his reproach] + +[Footnote 27: Menander (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 126 - 132, 174, +175) describes the perjury of Baian and the surrender of Sirmium. + +We have lost his account of the siege, which is commended by +Theophylact, l. i. c. 3. + Note: Compare throughout Schlozer Nordische Geschichte, p. +362 - 373 - M.] +[Footnote 28: See D'Anville, in the Memoires de l'Acad. des +Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 412 - 443. The Sclavonic name of +Belgrade is mentioned in the xth century by Constantine +Porphyrogenitus: the Latin appellation of Alba Croeca is used by +the Franks in the beginning of the ixth, (p. 414.)] +[Footnote 29: Baron. Annal. Eccles. A. B. 600, No. 1. Paul +Warnefrid (l. iv. c. 38) relates their irruption into Friuli, and +(c. 39) the captivity of his ancestors, about A.D. 632. The +Sclavi traversed the Adriatic cum multitudine navium, and made a +descent in the territory of Sipontum, (c. 47.)] +[Footnote 30: Even the helepolis, or movable turret. +Theophylact, l. ii. 16, 17.] + +[Footnote 31: The arms and alliances of the chagan reached to the +neighborhood of a western sea, fifteen months' journey from +Constantinople. The emperor Maurice conversed with some itinerant +harpers from that remote country, and only seems to have mistaken +a trade for a nation Theophylact, l. vi. c. 2.] +[Footnote 32: This is one of the most probable and luminous +conjectures of the learned count de Buat, (Hist. des Peuples +Barbares, tom. xi. p. 546 - 568.) The Tzechi and Serbi are found +together near Mount Caucasus, in Illyricum, and on the lower +Elbe. Even the wildest traditions of the Bohemians, &c., afford +some color to his hypothesis.] + +[Footnote 33: See Fredegarius, in the Historians of France, tom. +ii. p. 432. Baian did not conceal his proud insensibility.] + + The Persian alliance restored the troops of the East to the +defence of Europe: and Maurice, who had supported ten years the +insolence of the chagan, declared his resolution to march in +person against the Barbarians. In the space of two centuries, +none of the successors of Theodosius had appeared in the field: +their lives were supinely spent in the palace of Constantinople; +and the Greeks could no longer understand, that the name of +emperor, in its primitive sense, denoted the chief of the armies +of the republic. The martial ardor of Maurice was opposed by the +grave flattery of the senate, the timid superstition of the +patriarch, and the tears of the empress Constantina; and they all +conjured him to devolve on some meaner general the fatigues and +perils of a Scythian campaign. Deaf to their advice and +entreaty, the emperor boldly advanced ^34 seven miles from the +capital; the sacred ensign of the cross was displayed in the +front; and Maurice reviewed, with conscious pride, the arms and +numbers of the veterans who had fought and conquered beyond the +Tigris. Anchialus was the last term of his progress by sea and +land; he solicited, without success, a miraculous answer to his +nocturnal prayers; his mind was confounded by the death of a +favorite horse, the encounter of a wild boar, a storm of wind and +rain, and the birth of a monstrous child; and he forgot that the +best of omens is to unsheathe our sword in the defence of our +country. ^35 Under the pretence of receiving the ambassadors of +Persia, the emperor returned to Constantinople, exchanged the +thoughts of war for those of devotion, and disappointed the +public hope by his absence and the choice of his lieutenants. +The blind partiality of fraternal love might excuse the promotion +of his brother Peter, who fled with equal disgrace from the +Barbarians, from his own soldiers and from the inhabitants of a +Roman city. That city, if we may credit the resemblance of name +and character, was the famous Azimuntium, ^36 which had alone +repelled the tempest of Attila. The example of her warlike youth +was propagated to succeeding generations; and they obtained, from +the first or the second Justin, an honorable privilege, that +their valor should be always reserved for the defence of their +native country. The brother of Maurice attempted to violate this +privilege, and to mingle a patriot band with the mercenaries of +his camp; they retired to the church, he was not awed by the +sanctity of the place; the people rose in their cause, the gates +were shut, the ramparts were manned; and the cowardice of Peter +was found equal to his arrogance and injustice. The military +fame of Commentiolus ^37 is the object of satire or comedy rather +than of serious history, since he was even deficient in the vile +and vulgar qualification of personal courage. His solemn +councils, strange evolutions, and secret orders, always supplied +an apology for flight or delay. If he marched against the enemy, +the pleasant valleys of Mount Haemus opposed an insuperable +barrier; but in his retreat, he explored, with fearless +curiosity, the most difficult and obsolete paths, which had +almost escaped the memory of the oldest native. The only blood +which he lost was drawn, in a real or affected malady, by the +lancet of a surgeon; and his health, which felt with exquisite +sensibility the approach of the Barbarians, was uniformly +restored by the repose and safety of the winter season. A prince +who could promote and support this unworthy favorite must derive +no glory from the accidental merit of his colleague Priscus. ^38 +In five successive battles, which seem to have been conducted +with skill and resolution, seventeen thousand two hundred +Barbarians were made prisoners: near sixty thousand, with four +sons of the chagan, were slain: the Roman general surprised a +peaceful district of the Gepidae, who slept under the protection +of the Avars; and his last trophies were erected on the banks of +the Danube and the Teyss. Since the death of Trajan the arms of +the empire had not penetrated so deeply into the old Dacia: yet +the success of Priscus was transient and barren; and he was soon +recalled by the apprehension that Baian, with dauntless spirit +and recruited forces, was preparing to avenge his defeat under +the walls of Constantinople. ^39 + +[Footnote 34: See the march and return of Maurice, in +Theophylact, l. v. c. 16 l. vi. c. 1, 2, 3. If he were a writer +of taste or genius, we might suspect him of an elegant irony: but +Theophylact is surely harmless.] +[Footnote 35: Iliad, xii. 243. This noble verse, which unites the +spirit of a hero with the reason of a sage, may prove that Homer +was in every light superior to his age and country.] + +[Footnote 36: Theophylact, l. vii. c. 3. On the evidence of this +fact, which had not occurred to my memory, the candid reader will +correct and excuse a note in Chapter XXXIV., note 86 of this +History, which hastens the decay of Asimus, or Azimuntium; +another century of patriotism and valor is cheaply purchased by +such a confession.] + +[Footnote 37: See the shameful conduct of Commentiolus, in +Theophylact, l. ii. c. 10 - 15, l. vii. c. 13, 14, l. viii. c. 2, +4.] + +[Footnote 38: See the exploits of Priscus, l. viii. c. 23.] +[Footnote 39: The general detail of the war against the Avars may +be traced in the first, second, sixth, seventh, and eighth books +of the history of the emperor Maurice, by Theophylact Simocatta. +As he wrote in the reign of Heraclius, he had no temptation to +flatter; but his want of judgment renders him diffuse in trifles, +and concise in the most interesting facts.] + The theory of war was not more familiar to the camps of +Caesar and Trajan, than to those of Justinian and Maurice. ^40 +The iron of Tuscany or Pontus still received the keenest temper +from the skill of the Byzantine workmen. The magazines were +plentifully stored with every species of offensive and defensive +arms. In the construction and use of ships, engines, and +fortifications, the Barbarians admired the superior ingenuity of +a people whom they had so often vanquished in the field. The +science of tactics, the order, evolutions, and stratagems of +antiquity, was transcribed and studied in the books of the Greeks +and Romans. But the solitude or degeneracy of the provinces +could no longer supply a race of men to handle those weapons, to +guard those walls, to navigate those ships, and to reduce the +theory of war into bold and successful practice. The genius of +Belisarius and Narses had been formed without a master, and +expired without a disciple Neither honor, nor patriotism, nor +generous superstition, could animate the lifeless bodies of +slaves and strangers, who had succeeded to the honors of the +legions: it was in the camp alone that the emperor should have +exercised a despotic command; it was only in the camps that his +authority was disobeyed and insulted: he appeased and inflamed +with gold the licentiousness of the troops; but their vices were +inherent, their victories were accidental, and their costly +maintenance exhausted the substance of a state which they were +unable to defend. After a long and pernicious indulgence, the +cure of this inveterate evil was undertaken by Maurice; but the +rash attempt, which drew destruction on his own head, tended only +to aggravate the disease. A reformer should be exempt from the +suspicion of interest, and he must possess the confidence and +esteem of those whom he proposes to reclaim. The troops of +Maurice might listen to the voice of a victorious leader; they +disdained the admonitions of statesmen and sophists; and, when +they received an edict which deducted from their pay the price of +their arms and clothing, they execrated the avarice of a prince +insensible of the dangers and fatigues from which he had escaped. + +The camps both of Asia and Europe were agitated with frequent and +furious seditions; ^41 the enraged soldiers of Edessa pursued +with reproaches, with threats, with wounds, their trembling +generals; they overturned the statues of the emperor, cast stones +against the miraculous image of Christ, and either rejected the +yoke of all civil and military laws, or instituted a dangerous +model of voluntary subordination. The monarch, always distant +and often deceived, was incapable of yielding or persisting, +according to the exigence of the moment. But the fear of a +general revolt induced him too readily to accept any act of +valor, or any expression of loyalty, as an atonement for the +popular offence; the new reform was abolished as hastily as it +had been announced, and the troops, instead of punishment and +restraint, were agreeably surprised by a gracious proclamation of +immunities and rewards. But the soldiers accepted without +gratitude the tardy and reluctant gifts of the emperor: their +insolence was elated by the discovery of his weakness and their +own strength; and their mutual hatred was inflamed beyond the +desire of forgiveness or the hope of reconciliation. The +historians of the times adopt the vulgar suspicion, that Maurice +conspired to destroy the troops whom he had labored to reform; +the misconduct and favor of Commentiolus are imputed to this +malevolent design; and every age must condemn the inhumanity of +avarice ^42 of a prince, who, by the trifling ransom of six +thousand pieces of gold, might have prevented the massacre of +twelve thousand prisoners in the hands of the chagan. In the +just fervor of indignation, an order was signified to the army of +the Danube, that they should spare the magazines of the province, +and establish their winter quarters in the hostile country of the +Avars. The measure of their grievances was full: they pronounced +Maurice unworthy to reign, expelled or slaughtered his faithful +adherents, and, under the command of Phocas, a simple centurion, +returned by hasty marches to the neighborhood of Constantinople. +After a long series of legal succession, the military disorders +of the third century were again revived; yet such was the novelty +of the enterprise, that the insurgents were awed by their own +rashness. They hesitated to invest their favorite with the +vacant purple; and, while they rejected all treaty with Maurice +himself, they held a friendly correspondence with his son +Theodosius, and with Germanus, the father-in-law of the royal +youth. So obscure had been the former condition of Phocas, that +the emperor was ignorant of the name and character of his rival; +but as soon as he learned, that the centurion, though bold in +sedition, was timid in the face of danger, "Alas!" cried the +desponding prince, "if he is a coward, he will surely be a +murderer." + +[Footnote 40: Maurice himself composed xii books on the military +art, which are still extant, and have been published (Upsal, +1664) by John Schaeffer, at the end of the Tactics of Arrian, +(Fabricius, Bibliot Graeca, l. iv. c. 8, tom. iii. p. 278,) who +promises to speak more fully of his work in its proper place.] + +[Footnote 41: See the mutinies under the reign of Maurice, in +Theophylact l iii c. 1 - 4, .vi. c. 7, 8, 10, l. vii. c. 1 l. +viii. c. 6, &c.] +[Footnote 42: Theophylact and Theophanes seem ignorant of the +conspiracy and avarice of Maurice. These charges, so unfavorable +to the memory of that emperor, are first mentioned by the author +of the Paschal Chronicle, (p. 379, 280;) from whence Zonaras +(tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 77, 78) has transcribed them. Cedrenus (p. +399) has followed another computation of the ransom.] + Yet if Constantinople had been firm and faithful, the +murderer might have spent his fury against the walls; and the +rebel army would have been gradually consumed or reconciled by +the prudence of the emperor. In the games of the Circus, which +he repeated with unusual pomp, Maurice disguised, with smiles of +confidence, the anxiety of his heart, condescended to solicit the +applause of the factions, and flattered their pride by accepting +from their respective tribunes a list of nine hundred blues and +fifteen hundred greens, whom he affected to esteem as the solid +pillars of his throne Their treacherous or languid support +betrayed his weakness and hastened his fall: the green faction +were the secret accomplices of the rebels, and the blues +recommended lenity and moderation in a contest with their Roman +brethren The rigid and parsimonious virtues of Maurice had long +since alienated the hearts of his subjects: as he walked barefoot +in a religious procession, he was rudely assaulted with stones, +and his guards were compelled to present their iron maces in the +defence of his person. A fanatic monk ran through the streets +with a drawn sword, denouncing against him the wrath and the +sentence of God; and a vile plebeian, who represented his +countenance and apparel, was seated on an ass, and pursued by the +imprecations of the multitude. ^43 The emperor suspected the +popularity of Germanus with the soldiers and citizens: he feared, +he threatened, but he delayed to strike; the patrician fled to +the sanctuary of the church; the people rose in his defence, the +walls were deserted by the guards, and the lawless city was +abandoned to the flames and rapine of a nocturnal tumult. In a +small bark, the unfortunate Maurice, with his wife and nine +children, escaped to the Asiatic shore; but the violence of the +wind compelled him to land at the church of St. Autonomus, ^44 +near Chalcedon, from whence he despatched Theodosius, he eldest +son, to implore the gratitude and friendship of the Persian +monarch. For himself, he refused to fly: his body was tortured +with sciatic pains, ^45 his mind was enfeebled by superstition; +he patiently awaited the event of the revolution, and addressed a +fervent and public prayer to the Almighty, that the punishment of +his sins might be inflicted in this world rather than in a future +life. After the abdication of Maurice, the two factions disputed +the choice of an emperor; but the favorite of the blues was +rejected by the jealousy of their antagonists, and Germanus +himself was hurried along by the crowds who rushed to the palace +of Hebdomon, seven miles from the city, to adore the majesty of +Phocas the centurion. A modest wish of resigning the purple to +the rank and merit of Germanus was opposed by his resolution, +more obstinate and equally sincere; the senate and clergy obeyed +his summons; and, as soon as the patriarch was assured of his +orthodox belief, he consecrated the successful usurper in the +church of St. John the Baptist. On the third day, amidst the +acclamations of a thoughtless people, Phocas made his public +entry in a chariot drawn by four white horses: the revolt of the +troops was rewarded by a lavish donative; and the new sovereign, +after visiting the palace, beheld from his throne the games of +the hippodrome. In a dispute of precedency between the two +factions, his partial judgment inclined in favor of the greens. +"Remember that Maurice is still alive," resounded from the +opposite side; and the indiscreet clamor of the blues admonished +and stimulated the cruelty of the tyrant. The ministers of death +were despatched to Chalcedon: they dragged the emperor from his +sanctuary; and the five sons of Maurice were successively +murdered before the eyes of their agonizing parent. At each +stroke, which he felt in his heart, he found strength to rehearse +a pious ejaculation: "Thou art just, O Lord! and thy judgments +are righteous." And such, in the last moments, was his rigid +attachment to truth and justice, that he revealed to the soldiers +the pious falsehood of a nurse who presented her own child in the +place of a royal infant. ^46 The tragic scene was finally closed +by the execution of the emperor himself, in the twentieth year of +his reign, and the sixty-third of his age. The bodies of the +father and his five sons were cast into the sea; their heads were +exposed at Constantinople to the insults or pity of the +multitude; and it was not till some signs of putrefaction had +appeared, that Phocas connived at the private burial of these +venerable remains. In that grave, the faults and errors of +Maurice were kindly interred. His fate alone was remembered; and +at the end of twenty years, in the recital of the history of +Theophylact, the mournful tale was interrupted by the tears of +the audience. ^47 + +[Footnote 43: In their clamors against Maurice, the people of +Constantinople branded him with the name of Marcionite or +Marcionist; a heresy (says Theophylact, l. viii. c. 9). Did they +only cast out a vague reproach - or had the emperor really +listened to some obscure teacher of those ancient Gnostics?] + +[Footnote 44: The church of St. Autonomous (whom I have not the +honor to know) was 150 stadia from Constantinople, (Theophylact, +l. viii. c. 9.) The port of Eutropius, where Maurice and his +children were murdered, is described by Gyllius (de Bosphoro +Thracio, l. iii. c. xi.) as one of the two harbors of Chalcedon.] + +[Footnote 45: The inhabitants of Constantinople were generally +subject; and Theophylact insinuates, (l. viii. c. 9,) that if it +were consistent with the rules of history, he could assign the +medical cause. Yet such a digression would not have been more +impertinent than his inquiry (l. vii. c. 16, 17) into the annual +inundations of the Nile, and all the opinions of the Greek +philosophers on that subject.] + +[Footnote 46: From this generous attempt, Corneille has deduced +the intricate web of his tragedy of Heraclius, which requires +more than one representation to be clearly understood, (Corneille +de Voltaire, tom. v. p. 300;) and which, after an interval of +some years, is said to have puzzled the author himself, +(Anecdotes Dramatiques, tom. i. p. 422.)] + +[Footnote 47: The revolt of Phocas and death of Maurice are told +by Theophylact Simocatta, (l. viii. c. 7 - 12,) the Paschal +Chronicle, (p. 379, 380,) Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 238 - +244,) Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 77 - 80,) and Cedrenus, (p. +399 - 404.)] + + Such tears must have flowed in secret, and such compassion +would have been criminal, under the reign of Phocas, who was +peaceably acknowledged in the provinces of the East and West. +The images of the emperor and his wife Leontia were exposed in +the Lateran to the veneration of the clergy and senate of Rome, +and afterwards deposited in the palace of the Caesars, between +those of Constantine and Theodosius. As a subject and a +Christian, it was the duty of Gregory to acquiesce in the +established government; but the joyful applause with which he +salutes the fortune of the assassin, has sullied, with indelible +disgrace, the character of the saint. The successor of the +apostles might have inculcated with decent firmness the guilt of +blood, and the necessity of repentance; he is content to +celebrate the deliverance of the people and the fall of the +oppressor; to rejoice that the piety and benignity of Phocas have +been raised by Providence to the Imperial throne; to pray that +his hands may be strengthened against all his enemies; and to +express a wish, perhaps a prophecy, that, after a long and +triumphant reign, he may be transferred from a temporal to an +everlasting kingdom. ^48 I have already traced the steps of a +revolution so pleasing, in Gregory's opinion, both to heaven and +earth; and Phocas does not appear less hateful in the exercise +than in the acquisition of power The pencil of an impartial +historian has delineated the portrait of a monster: ^49 his +diminutive and deformed person, the closeness of his shaggy +eyebrows, his red hair, his beardless chin, and his cheek +disfigured and discolored by a formidable scar. Ignorant of +letters, of laws, and even of arms, he indulged in the supreme +rank a more ample privilege of lust and drunkenness; and his +brutal pleasures were either injurious to his subjects or +disgraceful to himself. Without assuming the office of a prince, +he renounced the profession of a soldier; and the reign of Phocas +afflicted Europe with ignominious peace, and Asia with desolating +war. His savage temper was inflamed by passion, hardened by +fear, and exasperated by resistance of reproach. The flight of +Theodosius to the Persian court had been intercepted by a rapid +pursuit, or a deceitful message: he was beheaded at Nice, and the +last hours of the young prince were soothed by the comforts of +religion and the consciousness of innocence. Yet his phantom +disturbed the repose of the usurper: a whisper was circulated +through the East, that the son of Maurice was still alive: the +people expected their avenger, and the widow and daughters of the +late emperor would have adopted as their son and brother the +vilest of mankind. In the massacre of the Imperial family, ^50 +the mercy, or rather the discretion, of Phocas had spared these +unhappy females, and they were decently confined to a private +house. But the spirit of the empress Constantina, still mindful +of her father, her husband, and her sons, aspired to freedom and +revenge. At the dead of night, she escaped to the sanctuary of +St. Sophia; but her tears, and the gold of her associate +Germanus, were insufficient to provoke an insurrection. Her life +was forfeited to revenge, and even to justice: but the patriarch +obtained and pledged an oath for her safety: a monastery was +allotted for her prison, and the widow of Maurice accepted and +abused the lenity of his assassin. The discovery or the +suspicion of a second conspiracy, dissolved the engagements, and +rekindled the fury, of Phocas. A matron who commanded the respect +and pity of mankind, the daughter, wife, and mother of emperors, +was tortured like the vilest malefactor, to force a confession of +her designs and associates; and the empress Constantina, with her +three innocent daughters, was beheaded at Chalcedon, on the same +ground which had been stained with the blood of her husband and +five sons. After such an example, it would be superfluous to +enumerate the names and sufferings of meaner victims. Their +condemnation was seldom preceded by the forms of trial, and their +punishment was embittered by the refinements of cruelty: their +eyes were pierced, their tongues were torn from the root, the +hands and feet were amputated; some expired under the lash, +others in the flames; others again were transfixed with arrows; +and a simple speedy death was mercy which they could rarely +obtain. The hippodrome, the sacred asylum of the pleasures and +the liberty of the Romans, was polluted with heads and limbs, and +mangled bodies; and the companions of Phocas were the most +sensible, that neither his favor, nor their services, could +protect them from a tyrant, the worthy rival of the Caligulas and +Domitians of the first age of the empire. ^51 + +[Footnote 48: Gregor. l. xi. epist. 38, indict. vi. Benignitatem +vestrae pietatis ad Imperiale fastigium pervenisse gaudemus. +Laetentur coeli et exultet terra, et de vestris benignis actibus +universae republicae populus nunc usque vehementer afflictus +hilarescat, &c. This base flattery, the topic of Protestant +invective, is justly censured by the philosopher Bayle, +(Dictionnaire Critique, Gregoire I. Not. H. tom. ii. p. 597 598.) +Cardinal Baronius justifies the pope at the expense of the fallen +emperor.] +[Footnote 49: The images of Phocas were destroyed; but even the +malice of his enemies would suffer one copy of such a portrait or +caricature (Cedrenus, p. 404) to escape the flames.] + +[Footnote 50: The family of Maurice is represented by Ducange, +(Familiae By zantinae, p. 106, 107, 108;) his eldest son +Theodosius had been crowned emperor, when he was no more than +four years and a half old, and he is always joined with his +father in the salutations of Gregory. With the Christian +daughters, Anastasia and Theocteste, I am surprised to find the +Pagan name of Cleopatra.] + +[Footnote 51: Some of the cruelties of Phocas are marked by +Theophylact, l. viii. c. 13, 14, 15. George of Pisidia, the poet +of Heraclius, styles him (Bell. Avaricum, p. 46, Rome, 1777). +The latter epithet is just - but the corrupter of life was easily +vanquished.] + + +Chapter XLVI: Troubles In Persia. + + +Part III. + + A daughter of Phocas, his only child, was given in marriage +to the patrician Crispus, ^52 and the royal images of the bride +and bridegroom were indiscreetly placed in the circus, by the +side of the emperor. The father must desire that his posterity +should inherit the fruit of his crimes, but the monarch was +offended by this premature and popular association: the tribunes +of the green faction, who accused the officious error of their +sculptors, were condemned to instant death: their lives were +granted to the prayers of the people; but Crispus might +reasonably doubt, whether a jealous usurper could forget and +pardon his involuntary competition. The green faction was +alienated by the ingratitude of Phocas and the loss of their +privileges; every province of the empire was ripe for rebellion; +and Heraclius, exarch of Africa, persisted above two years in +refusing all tribute and obedience to the centurion who disgraced +the throne of Constantinople. By the secret emissaries of +Crispus and the senate, the independent exarch was solicited to +save and to govern his country; but his ambition was chilled by +age, and he resigned the dangerous enterprise to his son +Heraclius, and to Nicetas, the son of Gregory, his friend and +lieutenant. The powers of Africa were armed by the two +adventurous youths; they agreed that the one should navigate the +fleet from Carthage to Constantinople, that the other should lead +an army through Egypt and Asia, and that the Imperial purple +should be the reward of diligence and success. A faint rumor of +their undertaking was conveyed to the ears of Phocas, and the +wife and mother of the younger Heraclius were secured as the +hostages of his faith: but the treacherous heart of Crispus +extenuated the distant peril, the means of defence were neglected +or delayed, and the tyrant supinely slept till the African navy +cast anchor in the Hellespont. Their standard was joined at +Abidus by the fugitives and exiles who thirsted for revenge; the +ships of Heraclius, whose lofty masts were adorned with the holy +symbols of religion, ^53 steered their triumphant course through +the Propontis; and Phocas beheld from the windows of the palace +his approaching and inevitable fate. The green faction was +tempted, by gifts and promises, to oppose a feeble and fruitless +resistance to the landing of the Africans: but the people, and +even the guards, were determined by the well-timed defection of +Crispus; and they tyrant was seized by a private enemy, who +boldly invaded the solitude of the palace. Stripped of the +diadem and purple, clothed in a vile habit, and loaded with +chains, he was transported in a small boat to the Imperial galley +of Heraclius, who reproached him with the crimes of his +abominable reign. "Wilt thou govern better?" were the last words +of the despair of Phocas. After suffering each variety of insult +and torture, his head was severed from his body, the mangled +trunk was cast into the flames, and the same treatment was +inflicted on the statues of the vain usurper, and the seditious +banner of the green faction. The voice of the clergy, the +senate, and the people, invited Heraclius to ascend the throne +which he had purified from guilt and ignominy; after some +graceful hesitation, he yielded to their entreaties. His +coronation was accompanied by that of his wife Eudoxia; and their +posterity, till the fourth generation, continued to reign over +the empire of the East. The voyage of Heraclius had been easy +and prosperous; the tedious march of Nicetas was not accomplished +before the decision of the contest: but he submitted without a +murmur to the fortune of his friend, and his laudable intentions +were rewarded with an equestrian statue, and a daughter of the +emperor. It was more difficult to trust the fidelity of Crispus, +whose recent services were recompensed by the command of the +Cappadocian army. His arrogance soon provoked, and seemed to +excuse, the ingratitude of his new sovereign. In the presence of +the senate, the son-in-law of Phocas was condemned to embrace the +monastic life; and the sentence was justified by the weighty +observation of Heraclius, that the man who had betrayed his +father could never be faithful to his friend. ^54 +[Footnote 52: In the writers, and in the copies of those writers, +there is such hesitation between the names of Priscus and +Crispus, (Ducange, Fam Byzant. p. 111,) that I have been tempted +to identify the son-in-law of Phocas with the hero five times +victorious over the Avars.] + +[Footnote 53: According to Theophanes. Cedrenus adds, which +Heraclius bore as a banner in the first Persian expedition. See +George Pisid. Acroas L 140. The manufacture seems to have +flourished; but Foggini, the Roman editor, (p. 26,) is at a loss +to determine whether this picture was an original or a copy.] +[Footnote 54: See the tyranny of Phocas and the elevation of +Heraclius, in Chron. Paschal. p. 380 - 383. Theophanes, p. 242 - +250. Nicephorus, p. 3 - 7. Cedrenus, p. 404 - 407. Zonaras, +tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 80 - 82.] + Even after his death the republic was afflicted by the +crimes of Phocas, which armed with a pious cause the most +formidable of her enemies. According to the friendly and equal +forms of the Byzantine and Persian courts, he announced his +exaltation to the throne; and his ambassador Lilius, who had +presented him with the heads of Maurice and his sons, was the +best qualified to describe the circumstances of the tragic scene. +^55 However it might be varnished by fiction or sophistry, +Chosroes turned with horror from the assassin, imprisoned the +pretended envoy, disclaimed the usurper, and declared himself the +avenger of his father and benefactor. The sentiments of grief +and resentment, which humanity would feel, and honor would +dictate, promoted on this occasion the interest of the Persian +king; and his interest was powerfully magnified by the national +and religious prejudices of the Magi and satraps. In a strain of +artful adulation, which assumed the language of freedom, they +presumed to censure the excess of his gratitude and friendship +for the Greeks; a nation with whom it was dangerous to conclude +either peace or alliance; whose superstition was devoid of truth +and justice, and who must be incapable of any virtue, since they +could perpetrate the most atrocious of crimes, the impious murder +of their sovereign. ^56 For the crime of an ambitious centurion, +the nation which he oppressed was chastised with the calamities +of war; and the same calamities, at the end of twenty years, were +retaliated and redoubled on the heads of the Persians. ^57 The +general who had restored Chosroes to the throne still commanded +in the East; and the name of Narses was the formidable sound with +which the Assyrian mothers were accustomed to terrify their +infants. It is not improbable, that a native subject of Persia +should encourage his master and his friend to deliver and possess +the provinces of Asia. It is still more probable, that Chosroes +should animate his troops by the assurance that the sword which +they dreaded the most would remain in its scabbard, or be drawn +in their favor. The hero could not depend on the faith of a +tyrant; and the tyrant was conscious how little he deserved the +obedience of a hero. Narses was removed from his military +command; he reared an independent standard at Hierapolis, in +Syria: he was betrayed by fallacious promises, and burnt alive in +the market-place of Constantinople. Deprived of the only chief +whom they could fear or esteem, the bands which he had led to +victory were twice broken by the cavalry, trampled by the +elephants, and pierced by the arrows of the Barbarians; and a +great number of the captives were beheaded on the field of battle +by the sentence of the victor, who might justly condemn these +seditious mercenaries as the authors or accomplices of the death +of Maurice. Under the reign of Phocas, the fortifications of +Merdin, Dara, Amida, and Edessa, were successively besieged, +reduced, and destroyed, by the Persian monarch: he passed the +Euphrates, occupied the Syrian cities, Hierapolis, Chalcis, and +Berrhaea or Aleppo, and soon encompassed the walls of Antioch +with his irresistible arms. The rapid tide of success discloses +the decay of the empire, the incapacity of Phocas, and the +disaffection of his subjects; and Chosroes provided a decent +apology for their submission or revolt, by an impostor, who +attended his camp as the son of Maurice ^58 and the lawful heir +of the monarchy. + +[Footnote 55: Theophylact, l. viii. c. 15. The life of Maurice +was composed about the year 628 (l. viii. c. 13) by Theophylact +Simocatta, ex-praefect, a native of Egypt. Photius, who gives an +ample extract of the work, (cod. lxv. p. 81 - 100,) gently +reproves the affectation and allegory of the style. His preface +is a dialogue between Philosophy and History; they seat +themselves under a plane-tree, and the latter touches her lyre.] + +[Footnote 56: Christianis nec pactum esse, nec fidem nec foedus +.... . quod si ulla illis fides fuisset, regem suum non +occidissent. Eutych. Annales tom. ii. p. 211, vers. Pocock.] + +[Footnote 57: We must now, for some ages, take our leave of +contemporary historians, and descend, if it be a descent, from +the affectation of rhetoric to the rude simplicity of chronicles +and abridgments. Those of Theophanes (Chronograph. p. 244 - 279) +and Nicephorus (p. 3 - 16) supply a regular, but imperfect, +series of the Persian war; and for any additional facts I quote +my special authorities. Theophanes, a courtier who became a +monk, was born A.D. 748; Nicephorus patriarch of Constantinople, +who died A.D. 829, was somewhat younger: they both suffered in +the cause of images Hankius, de Scriptoribus Byzantinis, p. 200 - +246.] + +[Footnote 58: The Persian historians have been themselves +deceived: but Theophanes (p. 244) accuses Chosroes of the fraud +and falsehood; and Eutychius believes (Annal. tom. ii. p. 212) +that the son of Maurice, who was saved from the assassins, lived +and died a monk on Mount Sinai.] + + The first intelligence from the East which Heraclius +received, ^59 was that of the loss of Antioch; but the aged +metropolis, so often overturned by earthquakes, and pillaged by +the enemy, could supply but a small and languid stream of +treasure and blood. The Persians were equally successful, and +more fortunate, in the sack of Caesarea, the capital of +Cappadocia; and as they advanced beyond the ramparts of the +frontier, the boundary of ancient war, they found a less +obstinate resistance and a more plentiful harvest. The pleasant +vale of Damascus has been adorned in every age with a royal city: +her obscure felicity has hitherto escaped the historian of the +Roman empire: but Chosroes reposed his troops in the paradise of +Damascus before he ascended the hills of Libanus, or invaded the +cities of the Phoenician coast. The conquest of Jerusalem, ^60 +which had been meditated by Nushirvan, was achieved by the zeal +and avarice of his grandson; the ruin of the proudest monument of +Christianity was vehemently urged by the intolerant spirit of the +Magi; and he could enlist for this holy warfare with an army of +six-and- twenty thousand Jews, whose furious bigotry might +compensate, in some degree, for the want of valor and discipline. +^* After the reduction of Galilee, and the region beyond the +Jordan, whose resistance appears to have delayed the fate of the +capital, Jerusalem itself was taken by assault. The sepulchre of +Christ, and the stately churches of Helena and Constantine, were +consumed, or at least damaged, by the flames; the devout +offerings of three hundred years were rifled in one sacrilegious +day; the Patriarch Zachariah, and the true cross, were +transported into Persia; and the massacre of ninety thousand +Christians is imputed to the Jews and Arabs, who swelled the +disorder of the Persian march. The fugitives of Palestine were +entertained at Alexandria by the charity of John the Archbishop, +who is distinguished among a crowd of saints by the epithet of +almsgiver: ^61 and the revenues of the church, with a treasure of +three hundred thousand pounds, were restored to the true +proprietors, the poor of every country and every denomination. +But Egypt itself, the only province which had been exempt, since +the time of Diocletian, from foreign and domestic war, was again +subdued by the successors of Cyrus. Pelusium, the key of that +impervious country, was surprised by the cavalry of the Persians: +they passed, with impunity, the innumerable channels of the +Delta, and explored the long valley of the Nile, from the +pyramids of Memphis to the confines of Aethiopia. Alexandria +might have been relieved by a naval force, but the archbishop and +the praefect embarked for Cyprus; and Chosroes entered the second +city of the empire, which still preserved a wealthy remnant of +industry and commerce. His western trophy was erected, not on +the walls of Carthage, ^62 but in the neighborhood of Tripoli; +the Greek colonies of Cyrene were finally extirpated; and the +conqueror, treading in the footsteps of Alexander, returned in +triumph through the sands of the Libyan desert. In the same +campaign, another army advanced from the Euphrates to the +Thracian Bosphorus; Chalcedon surrendered after a long siege, and +a Persian camp was maintained above ten years in the presence of +Constantinople. The sea-coast of Pontus, the city of Ancyra, and +the Isle of Rhodes, are enumerated among the last conquests of +the great king; and if Chosroes had possessed any maritime power, +his boundless ambition would have spread slavery and desolation +over the provinces of Europe. + +[Footnote 59: Eutychius dates all the losses of the empire under +the reign of Phocas; an error which saves the honor of Heraclius, +whom he brings not from Carthage, but Salonica, with a fleet +laden with vegetables for the relief of Constantinople, (Annal. +tom. ii. p. 223, 224.) The other Christians of the East, +Barhebraeus, (apud Asseman, Bibliothec. Oriental. tom. iii. p. +412, 413,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 13 - 16,) Abulpharagius, +(Dynast. p. 98, 99,) are more sincere and accurate. The years of +the Persian war are disposed in the chronology of Pagi.] + +[Footnote 60: On the conquest of Jerusalem, an event so +interesting to the church, see the Annals of Eutychius, (tom. ii. +p. 212 - 223,) and the lamentations of the monk Antiochus, (apud +Baronium, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 614, No. 16 - 26,) whose one +hundred and twenty-nine homilies are still extant, if what no one +reads may be said to be extant.] + +[Footnote *: See Hist. of Jews, vol. iii. p. 240. - M.] + +[Footnote 61: The life of this worthy saint is composed by +Leontius, a contemporary bishop; and I find in Baronius (Annal. +Eccles. A.D. 610, No. 10, &c.) and Fleury (tom. viii. p. 235 - +242) sufficient extracts of this edifying work.)] + +[Footnote 62: The error of Baronius, and many others who have +carried the arms of Chosroes to Carthage instead of Chalcedon, is +founded on the near resemblance of the Greek words, in the text +of Theophanes, &c., which have been sometimes confounded by +transcribers, and sometimes by critics.] + From the long-disputed banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, +the reign of the grandson of Nushirvan was suddenly extended to +the Hellespont and the Nile, the ancient limits of the Persian +monarchy. But the provinces, which had been fashioned by the +habits of six hundred years to the virtues and vices of the Roman +government, supported with reluctance the yoke of the Barbarians. +The idea of a republic was kept alive by the institutions, or at +least by the writings, of the Greeks and Romans, and the subjects +of Heraclius had been educated to pronounce the words of liberty +and law. But it has always been the pride and policy of Oriental +princes to display the titles and attributes of their +omnipotence; to upbraid a nation of slaves with their true name +and abject condition, and to enforce, by cruel and insolent +threats, the rigor of their absolute commands. The Christians of +the East were scandalized by the worship of fire, and the impious +doctrine of the two principles: the Magi were not less intolerant +than the bishops; and the martyrdom of some native Persians, who +had deserted the religion of Zoroaster, ^63 was conceived to be +the prelude of a fierce and general persecution. By the +oppressive laws of Justinian, the adversaries of the church were +made the enemies of the state; the alliance of the Jews, +Nestorians, and Jacobites, had contributed to the success of +Chosroes, and his partial favor to the sectaries provoked the +hatred and fears of the Catholic clergy. Conscious of their fear +and hatred, the Persian conqueror governed his new subjects with +an iron sceptre; and, as if he suspected the stability of his +dominion, he exhausted their wealth by exorbitant tributes and +licentious rapine despoiled or demolished the temples of the +East; and transported to his hereditary realms the gold, the +silver, the precious marbles, the arts, and the artists of the +Asiatic cities. In the obscure picture of the calamities of the +empire, ^64 it is not easy to discern the figure of Chosroes +himself, to separate his actions from those of his lieutenants, +or to ascertain his personal merit in the general blaze of glory +and magnificence. He enjoyed with ostentation the fruits of +victory, and frequently retired from the hardships of war to the +luxury of the palace. But in the space of twenty-four years, he +was deterred by superstition or resentment from approaching the +gates of Ctesiphon: and his favorite residence of Artemita, or +Dastagerd, was situate beyond the Tigris, about sixty miles to +the north of the capital. ^65 The adjacent pastures were covered +with flocks and herds: the paradise or park was replenished with +pheasants, peacocks, ostriches, roebucks, and wild boars, and the +noble game of lions and tigers was sometimes turned loose for the +bolder pleasures of the chase. Nine hundred and sixty elephants +were maintained for the use or splendor of the great king: his +tents and baggage were carried into the field by twelve thousand +great camels and eight thousand of a smaller size; ^66 and the +royal stables were filled with six thousand mules and horses, +among whom the names of Shebdiz and Barid are renowned for their +speed or beauty. ^* Six thousand guards successively mounted +before the palace gate; the service of the interior apartments +was performed by twelve thousand slaves, and in the number of +three thousand virgins, the fairest of Asia, some happy concubine +might console her master for the age or the indifference of Sira. + +The various treasures of gold, silver, gems, silks, and +aromatics, were deposited in a hundred subterraneous vaults and +the chamber Badaverd denoted the accidental gift of the winds +which had wafted the spoils of Heraclius into one of the Syrian +harbors of his rival. The vice of flattery, and perhaps of +fiction, is not ashamed to compute the thirty thousand rich +hangings that adorned the walls; the forty thousand columns of +silver, or more probably of marble, and plated wood, that +supported the roof; and the thousand globes of gold suspended in +the dome, to imitate the motions of the planets and the +constellations of the zodiac. ^67 While the Persian monarch +contemplated the wonders of his art and power, he received an +epistle from an obscure citizen of Mecca, inviting him to +acknowledge Mahomet as the apostle of God. He rejected the +invitation, and tore the epistle. "It is thus," exclaimed the +Arabian prophet, "that God will tear the kingdom, and reject the +supplications of Chosroes." ^68 ^! Placed on the verge of the two +great empires of the East, Mahomet observed with secret joy the +progress of their mutual destruction; and in the midst of the +Persian triumphs, he ventured to foretell, that before many years +should elapse, victory should again return to the banners of the +Romans. ^69 + +[Footnote 63: The genuine acts of St. Anastasius are published in +those of the with general council, from whence Baronius (Annal. +Eccles. A.D. 614, 626, 627) and Butler (Lives of the Saints, vol. +i. p. 242 - 248) have taken their accounts. The holy martyr +deserted from the Persian to the Roman army, became a monk at +Jerusalem, and insulted the worship of the Magi, which was then +established at Caesarea in Palestine.] + +[Footnote 64: Abulpharagius, Dynast. p. 99. Elmacin, Hist. +Saracen. p. 14.] +[Footnote 65: D'Anville, Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, +tom. xxxii. p. 568 - 571.] + +[Footnote 66: The difference between the two races consists in +one or two humps; the dromedary has only one; the size of the +proper camel is larger; the country he comes from, Turkistan or +Bactriana; the dromedary is confined to Arabia and Africa. +Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. xi. p. 211, &c. Aristot. Hist. +Animal. tom. i. l. ii. c. 1, tom. ii. p. 185.] + +[Footnote *: The ruins of these scenes of Khoosroo's magnificence +have been visited by Sir R. K. Porter. At the ruins of Tokht i +Bostan, he saw a gorgeous picture of a hunt, singularly +illustrative of this passage. Travels, vol. ii. p. 204. Kisra +Shirene, which he afterwards examined, appears to have been the +palace of Dastagerd. Vol. ii. p. 173 - 175. - M.] +[Footnote 67: Theophanes, Chronograph. p. 268. D'Herbelot, +Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 997. The Greeks describe the decay, +the Persians the splendor, of Dastagerd; but the former speak +from the modest witness of the eye, the latter from the vague +report of the ear.] + +[Footnote 68: The historians of Mahomet, Abulfeda (in Vit. +Mohammed, p. 92, 93) and Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. +247,) date this embassy in the viith year of the Hegira, which +commences A.D. 628, May 11. Their chronology is erroneous, since +Chosroes died in the month of February of the same year, (Pagi, +Critica, tom. ii. p. 779.) The count de Boulainvilliers (Vie de +Mahomed, p. 327, 328) places this embassy about A.D. 615, soon +after the conquest of Palestine. Yet Mahomet would scarcely have +ventured so soon on so bold a step.] + +[Footnote !: Khoosroo Purveez was encamped on the banks of the +Karasoo River when he received the letter of Mahomed. He tore +the letter and threw it into the Karasoo. For this action, the +moderate author of the Zeenut-ul- Tuarikh calls him a wretch, and +rejoices in all his subsequent misfortunes. These impressions +still exist. I remarked to a Persian, when encamped near the +Karasoo, in 1800, that the banks were very high, which must make +it difficult to apply its waters to irrigation. "It once +fertilized the whole country," said the zealous Mahomedan, "but +its channel sunk with honor from its banks, when that madman, +Khoosroo, threw our holy Prophet's letter into its stream; which +has ever since been accursed and useless. Malcolm's Persia, vol. +i. p. 126 - M.] + +[Footnote 69: See the xxxth chapter of the Koran, entitled the +Greeks. Our honest and learned translator, Sale, (p. 330, 331,) +fairly states this conjecture, guess, wager, of Mahomet; but +Boulainvilliers, (p. 329 - 344,) with wicked intentions, labors +to establish this evident prophecy of a future event, which must, +in his opinion, embarrass the Christian polemics.] + At the time when this prediction is said to have been +delivered, no prophecy could be more distant from its +accomplishment, since the first twelve years of Heraclius +announced the approaching dissolution of the empire. If the +motives of Chosroes had been pure and honorable, he must have +ended the quarrel with the death of Phocas, and he would have +embraced, as his best ally, the fortunate African who had so +generously avenged the injuries of his benefactor Maurice. The +prosecution of the war revealed the true character of the +Barbarian; and the suppliant embassies of Heraclius to beseech +his clemency, that he would spare the innocent, accept a tribute, +and give peace to the world, were rejected with contemptuous +silence or insolent menace. Syria, Egypt, and the provinces of +Asia, were subdued by the Persian arms, while Europe, from the +confines of Istria to the long wall of Thrace, was oppressed by +the Avars, unsatiated with the blood and rapine of the Italian +war. They had coolly massacred their male captives in the sacred +field of Pannonia; the women and children were reduced to +servitude, and the noblest virgins were abandoned to the +promiscuous lust of the Barbarians. The amorous matron who opened +the gates of Friuli passed a short night in the arms of her royal +lover; the next evening, Romilda was condemned to the embraces of +twelve Avars, and the third day the Lombard princess was impaled +in the sight of the camp, while the chagan observed with a cruel +smile, that such a husband was the fit recompense of her lewdness +and perfidy. ^70 By these implacable enemies, Heraclius, on +either side, was insulted and besieged: and the Roman empire was +reduced to the walls of Constantinople, with the remnant of +Greece, Italy, and Africa, and some maritime cities, from Tyre to +Trebizond, of the Asiatic coast. After the loss of Egypt, the +capital was afflicted by famine and pestilence; and the emperor, +incapable of resistance, and hopeless of relief, had resolved to +transfer his person and government to the more secure residence +of Carthage. His ships were already laden with the treasures of +the palace; but his flight was arrested by the patriarch, who +armed the powers of religion in the defence of his country; led +Heraclius to the altar of St. Sophia, and extorted a solemn oath, +that he would live and die with the people whom God had intrusted +to his care. The chagan was encamped in the plains of Thrace; +but he dissembled his perfidious designs, and solicited an +interview with the emperor near the town of Heraclea. Their +reconciliation was celebrated with equestrian games; the senate +and people, in their gayest apparel, resorted to the festival of +peace; and the Avars beheld, with envy and desire, the spectacle +of Roman luxury. On a sudden the hippodrome was encompassed by +the Scythian cavalry, who had pressed their secret and nocturnal +march: the tremendous sound of the chagan's whip gave the signal +of the assault, and Heraclius, wrapping his diadem round his arm, +was saved with extreme hazard, by the fleetness of his horse. So +rapid was the pursuit, that the Avars almost entered the golden +gate of Constantinople with the flying crowds: ^71 but the +plunder of the suburbs rewarded their treason, and they +transported beyond the Danube two hundred and seventy thousand +captives. On the shore of Chalcedon, the emperor held a safer +conference with a more honorable foe, who, before Heraclius +descended from his galley, saluted with reverence and pity the +majesty of the purple. The friendly offer of Sain, the Persian +general, to conduct an embassy to the presence of the great king, +was accepted with the warmest gratitude, and the prayer for +pardon and peace was humbly presented by the Praetorian praefect, +the praefect of the city, and one of the first ecclesiastics of +the patriarchal church. ^72 But the lieutenant of Chosroes had +fatally mistaken the intentions of his master. "It was not an +embassy," said the tyrant of Asia, "it was the person of +Heraclius, bound in chains, that he should have brought to the +foot of my throne. I will never give peace to the emperor of +Rome, till he had abjured his crucified God, and embraced the +worship of the sun." Sain was flayed alive, according to the +inhuman practice of his country; and the separate and rigorous +confinement of the ambassadors violated the law of nations, and +the faith of an express stipulation. Yet the experience of six +years at length persuaded the Persian monarch to renounce the +conquest of Constantinople, and to specify the annual tribute or +ransom of the Roman empire; a thousand talents of gold, a +thousand talents of silver, a thousand silk robes, a thousand +horses, and a thousand virgins. Heraclius subscribed these +ignominious terms; but the time and space which he obtained to +collect such treasures from the poverty of the East, was +industriously employed in the preparations of a bold and +desperate attack. +[Footnote 70: Paul Warnefrid, de Gestis Langobardorum, l. iv. c. +38, 42. Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. v. p. 305, &c.] + +[Footnote 71: The Paschal Chronicle, which sometimes introduces +fragments of history into a barren list of names and dates, gives +the best account of the treason of the Avars, p. 389, 390. The +number of captives is added by Nicephorus.] + +[Footnote 72: Some original pieces, such as the speech or letter +of the Roman ambassadors, (p. 386 - 388,) likewise constitute the +merit of the Paschal Chronicle, which was composed, perhaps at +Alexandria, under the reign of Heraclius.] + + Of the characters conspicuous in history, that of Heraclius +is one of the most extraordinary and inconsistent. In the first +and last years of a long reign, the emperor appears to be the +slave of sloth, of pleasure, or of superstition, the careless and +impotent spectator of the public calamities. But the languid +mists of the morning and evening are separated by the brightness +of the meridian sun; the Arcadius of the palace arose the Caesar +of the camp; and the honor of Rome and Heraclius was gloriously +retrieved by the exploits and trophies of six adventurous +campaigns. It was the duty of the Byzantine historians to have +revealed the causes of his slumber and vigilance. At this +distance we can only conjecture, that he was endowed with more +personal courage than political resolution; that he was detained +by the charms, and perhaps the arts, of his niece Martina, with +whom, after the death of Eudocia, he contracted an incestuous +marriage; ^73 and that he yielded to the base advice of the +counsellors, who urged, as a fundamental law, that the life of +the emperor should never be exposed in the field. ^74 Perhaps he +was awakened by the last insolent demand of the Persian +conqueror; but at the moment when Heraclius assumed the spirit of +a hero, the only hopes of the Romans were drawn from the +vicissitudes of fortune, which might threaten the proud +prosperity of Chosroes, and must be favorable to those who had +attained the lowest period of depression. ^75 To provide for the +expenses of war, was the first care of the emperor; and for the +purpose of collecting the tribute, he was allowed to solicit the +benevolence of the eastern provinces. But the revenue no longer +flowed in the usual channels; the credit of an arbitrary prince +is annihilated by his power; and the courage of Heraclius was +first displayed in daring to borrow the consecrated wealth of +churches, under the solemn vow of restoring, with usury, whatever +he had been compelled to employ in the service of religion and +the empire. The clergy themselves appear to have sympathized +with the public distress; and the discreet patriarch of +Alexandria, without admitting the precedent of sacrilege, +assisted his sovereign by the miraculous or seasonable revelation +of a secret treasure. ^76 Of the soldiers who had conspired with +Phocas, only two were found to have survived the stroke of time +and of the Barbarians; ^77 the loss, even of these seditious +veterans, was imperfectly supplied by the new levies of +Heraclius, and the gold of the sanctuary united, in the same +camp, the names, and arms, and languages of the East and West. +He would have been content with the neutrality of the Avars; and +his friendly entreaty, that the chagan would act, not as the +enemy, but as the guardian, of the empire, was accompanied with a +more persuasive donative of two hundred thousand pieces of gold. +Two days after the festival of Easter, the emperor, exchanging +his purple for the simple garb of a penitent and warrior, ^78 +gave the signal of his departure. To the faith of the people +Heraclius recommended his children; the civil and military powers +were vested in the most deserving hands, and the discretion of +the patriarch and senate was authorized to save or surrender the +city, if they should be oppressed in his absence by the superior +forces of the enemy. +[Footnote 73: Nicephorus, (p. 10, 11,) is happy to observe, that +of two sons, its incestuous fruit, the elder was marked by +Providence with a stiff neck, the younger with the loss of +hearing.] + +[Footnote 74: George of Pisidia, (Acroas. i. 112 - 125, p. 5,) +who states the opinions, acquits the pusillanimous counsellors of +any sinister views. Would he have excused the proud and +contemptuous admonition of Crispus?] +[Footnote 75: George Pisid. Acroas. i. 51, &c. p: 4. + + The Orientals are not less fond of remarking this strange +vicissitude; and I remember some story of Khosrou Parviz, not +very unlike the ring of Polycrates of Samos.] + +[Footnote 76: Baronius gravely relates this discovery, or rather +transmutation, of barrels, not of honey, but of gold, (Annal. +Eccles. A.D. 620, No. 3, &c.) Yet the loan was arbitrary, since +it was collected by soldiers, who were ordered to leave the +patriarch of Alexandria no more than one hundred pounds of gold. +Nicephorus, (p. 11,) two hundred years afterwards, speaks with +ill humor of this contribution, which the church of +Constantinople might still feel.] + +[Footnote 77: Theophylact Symocatta, l. viii. c. 12. This +circumstance need not excite our surprise. The muster-roll of a +regiment, even in time of peace, is renewed in less than twenty +or twenty-five years.] +[Footnote 78: He changed his purple for black, buckskins, and +dyed them red in the blood of the Persians, (Georg. Pisid. +Acroas. iii. 118, 121, 122 See the notes of Foggini, p. 35.)] + + The neighboring heights of Chalcedon were covered with tents +and arms: but if the new levies of Heraclius had been rashly led +to the attack, the victory of the Persians in the sight of +Constantinople might have been the last day of the Roman empire. +As imprudent would it have been to advance into the provinces of +Asia, leaving their innumerable cavalry to intercept his convoys, +and continually to hang on the lassitude and disorder of his +rear. But the Greeks were still masters of the sea; a fleet of +galleys, transports, and store-ships, was assembled in the +harbor; the Barbarians consented to embark; a steady wind carried +them through the Hellespont the western and southern coast of +Asia Minor lay on their left hand; the spirit of their chief was +first displayed in a storm, and even the eunuchs of his train +were excited to suffer and to work by the example of their +master. He landed his troops on the confines of Syria and +Cilicia, in the Gulf of Scanderoon, where the coast suddenly +turns to the south; ^79 and his discernment was expressed in the +choice of this important post. ^80 From all sides, the scattered +garrisons of the maritime cities and the mountains might repair +with speed and safety to his Imperial standard. The natural +fortifications of Cilicia protected, and even concealed, the camp +of Heraclius, which was pitched near Issus, on the same ground +where Alexander had vanquished the host of Darius. The angle +which the emperor occupied was deeply indented into a vast +semicircle of the Asiatic, Armenian, and Syrian provinces; and to +whatsoever point of the circumference he should direct his +attack, it was easy for him to dissemble his own motions, and to +prevent those of the enemy. In the camp of Issus, the Roman +general reformed the sloth and disorder of the veterans, and +educated the new recruits in the knowledge and practice of +military virtue. Unfolding the miraculous image of Christ, he +urged them to revenge the holy altars which had been profaned by +the worshippers of fire; addressing them by the endearing +appellations of sons and brethren, he deplored the public and +private wrongs of the republic. The subjects of a monarch were +persuaded that they fought in the cause of freedom; and a similar +enthusiasm was communicated to the foreign mercenaries, who must +have viewed with equal indifference the interest of Rome and of +Persia. Heraclius himself, with the skill and patience of a +centurion, inculcated the lessons of the school of tactics, and +the soldiers were assiduously trained in the use of their +weapons, and the exercises and evolutions of the field. The +cavalry and infantry in light or heavy armor were divided into +two parties; the trumpets were fixed in the centre, and their +signals directed the march, the charge, the retreat or pursuit; +the direct or oblique order, the deep or extended phalanx; to +represent in fictitious combat the operations of genuine war. +Whatever hardships the emperor imposed on the troops, he +inflicted with equal severity on himself; their labor, their +diet, their sleep, were measured by the inflexible rules of +discipline; and, without despising the enemy, they were taught to +repose an implicit confidence in their own valor and the wisdom +of their leader. Cilicia was soon encompassed with the Persian +arms; but their cavalry hesitated to enter the defiles of Mount +Taurus, till they were circumvented by the evolutions of +Heraclius, who insensibly gained their rear, whilst he appeared +to present his front in order of battle. By a false motion, +which seemed to threaten Armenia, he drew them, against their +wishes, to a general action. They were tempted by the artful +disorder of his camp; but when they advanced to combat, the +ground, the sun, and the expectation of both armies, were +unpropitious to the Barbarians; the Romans successfully repeated +their tactics in a field of battle, ^81 and the event of the day +declared to the world, that the Persians were not invincible, and +that a hero was invested with the purple. Strong in victory and +fame, Heraclius boldly ascended the heights of Mount Taurus, +directed his march through the plains of Cappadocia, and +established his troops, for the winter season, in safe and +plentiful quarters on the banks of the River Halys. ^82 His soul +was superior to the vanity of entertaining Constantinople with an +imperfect triumph; but the presence of the emperor was +indispensably required to soothe the restless and rapacious +spirit of the Avars. + +[Footnote 79: George of Pisidia, (Acroas. ii. 10, p. 8) has fixed +this important point of the Syrian and Cilician gates. They are +elegantly described by Xenophon, who marched through them a +thousand years before. A narrow pass of three stadia between +steep, high rocks, and the Mediterranean, was closed at each end +by strong gates, impregnable to the land, accessible by sea, +(Anabasis, l. i. p. 35, 36, with Hutchinson's Geographical +Dissertation, p. vi.) The gates were thirty-five parasangs, or +leagues, from Tarsus, (Anabasis, l. i. p. 33, 34,) and eight or +ten from Antioch. Compare Itinerar. Wesseling, p. 580, 581. +Schultens, Index Geograph. ad calcem Vit. Saladin. p. 9. Voyage +en Turquie et en Perse, par M. Otter, tom. i. p. 78, 79.] +[Footnote 80: Heraclius might write to a friend in the modest +words of Cicero: Castra habuimus ea ipsa quae contra Darium +habuerat apud Issum Alexander, imperator haud paulo melior quam +aut tu aut ego." Ad Atticum, v. 20. Issus, a rich and +flourishing city in the time of Xenophon, was ruined by the +prosperity of Alexandria or Scanderoon, on the other side of the +bay.] +[Footnote 81: Foggini (Annotat. p. 31) suspects that the Persians +were deceived by the of Aelian, (Tactic. c. 48,) an intricate +spiral motion of the army. He observes (p. 28) that the military +descriptions of George of Pisidia are transcribed in the Tactics +of the emperor Leo.] + +[Footnote 82: George of Pisidia, an eye-witness, (Acroas. ii. +122, &c.,) described in three acroaseis, or cantos, the first +expedition of Heraclius. The poem has been lately (1777) +published at Rome; but such vague and declamatory praise is far +from corresponding with the sanguine hopes of Pagi, D'Anville, +&c.] + + Since the days of Scipio and Hannibal, no bolder enterprise +has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the +deliverance of the empire ^83 He permitted the Persians to +oppress for a while the provinces, and to insult with impunity +the capital of the East; while the Roman emperor explored his +perilous way through the Black Sea, ^84 and the mountains of +Armenia, penetrated into the heart of Persia, ^85 and recalled +the armies of the great king to the defence of their bleeding +country. With a select band of five thousand soldiers, Heraclius +sailed from Constantinople to Trebizond; assembled his forces +which had wintered in the Pontic regions; and, from the mouth of +the Phasis to the Caspian Sea, encouraged his subjects and allies +to march with the successor of Constantine under the faithful and +victorious banner of the cross. When the legions of Lucullus and +Pompey first passed the Euphrates, they blushed at their easy +victory over the natives of Armenia. But the long experience of +war had hardened the minds and bodies of that effeminate peeple; +their zeal and bravery were approved in the service of a +declining empire; they abhorred and feared the usurpation of the +house of Sassan, and the memory of persecution envenomed their +pious hatred of the enemies of Christ. The limits of Armenia, as +it had been ceded to the emperor Maurice, extended as far as the +Araxes: the river submitted to the indignity of a bridge, ^86 and +Heraclius, in the footsteps of Mark Antony, advanced towards the +city of Tauris or Gandzaca, ^87 the ancient and modern capital of +one of the provinces of Media. At the head of forty thousand +men, Chosroes himself had returned from some distant expedition +to oppose the progress of the Roman arms; but he retreated on the +approach of Heraclius, declining the generous alternative of +peace or of battle. Instead of half a million of inhabitants, +which have been ascribed to Tauris under the reign of the Sophys, +the city contained no more than three thousand houses; but the +value of the royal treasures was enhanced by a tradition, that +they were the spoils of Croesus, which had been transported by +Cyrus from the citadel of Sardes. The rapid conquests of +Heraclius were suspended only by the winter season; a motive of +prudence, or superstition, ^88 determined his retreat into the +province of Albania, along the shores of the Caspian; and his +tents were most probably pitched in the plains of Mogan, ^89 the +favorite encampment of Oriental princes. In the course of this +successful inroad, he signalized the zeal and revenge of a +Christian emperor: at his command, the soldiers extinguished the +fire, and destroyed the temples, of the Magi; the statues of +Chosroes, who aspired to divine honors, were abandoned to the +flames; and the ruins of Thebarma or Ormia, ^90 which had given +birth to Zoroaster himself, made some atonement for the injuries +of the holy sepulchre. A purer spirit of religion was shown in +the relief and deliverance of fifty thousand captives. Heraclius +was rewarded by their tears and grateful acclamations; but this +wise measure, which spread the fame of his benevolence, diffused +the murmurs of the Persians against the pride and obstinacy of +their own sovereign. +[Footnote 83: Theophanes (p. 256) carries Heraclius swiftly into +Armenia. Nicephorus, (p. 11,) though he confounds the two +expeditions, defines the province of Lazica. Eutychius (Annal. +tom. ii. p. 231) has given the 5000 men, with the more probable +station of Trebizond.] + +[Footnote 84: From Constantinople to Trebizond, with a fair wind, +four or five days; from thence to Erzerom, five; to Erivan, +twelve; to Taurus, ten; in all, thirty-two. Such is the +Itinerary of Tavernier, (Voyages, tom. i. p. 12 - 56,) who was +perfectly conversant with the roads of Asia. Tournefort, who +travelled with a pacha, spent ten or twelve days between +Trebizond and Erzerom, (Voyage du Levant, tom. iii. lettre +xviii.;) and Chardin (Voyages, tom. i. p. 249 - 254) gives the +more correct distance of fifty-three parasangs, each of 5000 +paces, (what paces?) between Erivan and Tauris.] +[Footnote 85: The expedition of Heraclius into Persia is finely +illustrated by M. D'Anville, (Memoires de l'Academie des +Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 559 - 573.) He discovers the +situation of Gandzaca, Thebarma, Dastagerd, &c., with admirable +skill and learning; but the obscure campaign of 624 he passes +over in silence.] + +[Footnote 86: Et pontem indignatus Araxes. - Virgil, Aeneid, +viii. 728. The River Araxes is noisy, rapid, vehement, and, with +the melting of the snows, irresistible: the strongest and most +massy bridges are swept away by the current; and its indignation +is attested by the ruins of many arches near the old town of +Zulfa. Voyages de Chardin, tom. i. p. 252.] + +[Footnote 87: Chardin, tom. i. p. 255 - 259. With the Orientals, +(D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. p. 834,) he ascribes the +foundation of Tauris, or Tebris, to Zobeide, the wife of the +famous Khalif Haroun Alrashid; but it appears to have been more +ancient; and the names of Gandzaca, Gazaca, Gaza, are expressive +of the royal treasure. The number of 550,000 inhabitants is +reduced by Chardin from 1,100,000, the popular estimate.] + +[Footnote 88: He opened the gospel, and applied or interpreted +the first casual passage to the name and situation of Albania. +Theophanes, p. 258.] +[Footnote 89: The heath of Mogan, between the Cyrus and the +Araxes, is sixty parasangs in length and twenty in breadth, +(Olearius, p. 1023, 1024,) abounding in waters and fruitful +pastures, (Hist. de Nadir Shah, translated by Mr. Jones from a +Persian Ms., part ii. p. 2, 3.) See the encampments of Timur, +(Hist. par Sherefeddin Ali, l. v. c. 37, l. vi. c. 13,) and the +coronation of Nadir Shah, (Hist. Persanne, p. 3 - 13 and the +English Life by Mr. Jones, p. 64, 65.)] + +[Footnote 90: Thebarma and Ormia, near the Lake Spauta, are +proved to be the same city by D'Anville, (Memoires de l'Academie, +tom. xxviii. p. 564, 565.) It is honored as the birthplace of +Zoroaster, according to the Persians, (Schultens, Index Geograph. +p. 48;) and their tradition is fortified by M. Perron d'Anquetil, +(Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. tom. xxxi. p. 375,) with some +texts from his, or their, Zendavesta. + + Note: D'Anville (Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. tom. xxxii. +p. 560) labored to prove the identity of these two cities; but +according to M. St. Martin, vol. xi. p. 97, not with perfect +success. Ourmiah. called Ariema in the ancient Pehlvi books, is +considered, both by the followers of Zoroaster and by the +Mahometans, as his birthplace. It is situated in the southern +part of Aderbidjan. - M.] + + +Chapter XLVI: Troubles In Persia. + + +Part IV. + + Amidst the glories of the succeeding campaign, Heraclius is +almost lost to our eyes, and to those of the Byzantine +historians. ^91 From the spacious and fruitful plains of Albania, +the emperor appears to follow the chain of Hyrcanian Mountains, +to descend into the province of Media or Irak, and to carry his +victorious arms as far as the royal cities of Casbin and Ispahan, +which had never been approached by a Roman conqueror. Alarmed by +the danger of his kingdom, the powers of Chosroes were already +recalled from the Nile and the Bosphorus, and three formidable +armies surrounded, in a distant and hostile land, the camp of the +emperor. The Colchian allies prepared to desert his standard; +and the fears of the bravest veterans were expressed, rather than +concealed, by their desponding silence. "Be not terrified," said +the intrepid Heraclius, "by the multitude of your foes. With the +aid of Heaven, one Roman may triumph over a thousand Barbarians. +But if we devote our lives for the salvation of our brethren, we +shall obtain the crown of martyrdom, and our immortal reward will +be liberally paid by God and posterity." These magnanimous +sentiments were supported by the vigor of his actions. He +repelled the threefold attack of the Persians, improved the +divisions of their chiefs, and, by a well-concerted train of +marches, retreats, and successful actions, finally chased them +from the field into the fortified cities of Media and Assyria. +In the severity of the winter season, Sarbaraza deemed himself +secure in the walls of Salban: he was surprised by the activity +of Heraclius, who divided his troops, and performed a laborious +march in the silence of the night. The flat roofs of the houses +were defended with useless valor against the darts and torches of +the Romans: the satraps and nobles of Persia, with their wives +and children, and the flower of their martial youth, were either +slain or made prisoners. The general escaped by a precipitate +flight, but his golden armor was the prize of the conqueror; and +the soldiers of Heraclius enjoyed the wealth and repose which +they had so nobly deserved. On the return of spring, the emperor +traversed in seven days the mountains of Curdistan, and passed +without resistance the rapid stream of the Tigris. Oppressed by +the weight of their spoils and captives, the Roman army halted +under the walls of Amida; and Heraclius informed the senate of +Constantinople of his safety and success, which they had already +felt by the retreat of the besiegers. The bridges of the +Euphrates were destroyed by the Persians; but as soon as the +emperor had discovered a ford, they hastily retired to defend the +banks of the Sarus, ^92 in Cilicia. That river, an impetuous +torrent, was about three hundred feet broad; the bridge was +fortified with strong turrets; and the banks were lined with +Barbarian archers. After a bloody conflict, which continued till +the evening, the Romans prevailed in the assault; and a Persian +of gigantic size was slain and thrown into the Sarus by the hand +of the emperor himself. The enemies were dispersed and dismayed; +Heraclius pursued his march to Sebaste in Cappadocia; and at the +expiration of three years, the same coast of the Euxine applauded +his return from a long and victorious expedition. ^93 + +[Footnote 91: I cannot find, and (what is much more,) M. +D'Anville does not attempt to seek, the Salban, Tarantum, +territory of the Huns, &c., mentioned by Theophanes, (p. 260 - +262.) Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 231, 232,) an insufficient +author, names Asphahan; and Casbin is most probably the city of +Sapor. Ispahan is twenty-four days' journey from Tauris, and +Casbin half way between, them (Voyages de Tavernier, tom. i. p. +63 - 82.)] +[Footnote 92: At ten parasangs from Tarsus, the army of the +younger Cyrus passed the Sarus, three plethra in breadth: the +Pyramus, a stadium in breadth, ran five parasangs farther to the +east, (Xenophon, Anabas. l. i. p 33, 34.) + Note: Now the Sihan. - M.] + +[Footnote 93: George of Pisidia (Bell. Abaricum, 246 - 265, p. +49) celebrates with truth the persevering courage of the three +campaigns against the Persians.] + + Instead of skirmishing on the frontier, the two monarchs who +disputed the empire of the East aimed their desperate strokes at +the heart of their rival. The military force of Persia was wasted +by the marches and combats of twenty years, and many of the +veterans, who had survived the perils of the sword and the +climate, were still detained in the fortresses of Egypt and +Syria. But the revenge and ambition of Chosroes exhausted his +kingdom; and the new levies of subjects, strangers, and slaves, +were divided into three formidable bodies. ^94 The first army of +fifty thousand men, illustrious by the ornament and title of the +golden spears, was destined to march against Heraclius; the +second was stationed to prevent his junction with the troops of +his brother Theodorus; and the third was commanded to besiege +Constantinople, and to second the operations of the chagan, with +whom the Persian king had ratified a treaty of alliance and +partition. Sarbar, the general of the third army, penetrated +through the provinces of Asia to the well-known camp of +Chalcedon, and amused himself with the destruction of the sacred +and profane buildings of the Asiatic suburbs, while he +impatiently waited the arrival of his Scythian friends on the +opposite side of the Bosphorus. On the twenty-ninth of June, +thirty thousand Barbarians, the vanguard of the Avars, forced the +long wall, and drove into the capital a promiscuous crowd of +peasants, citizens, and soldiers. Fourscore thousand ^95 of his +native subjects, and of the vassal tribes of Gepidae, Russians, +Bulgarians, and Sclavonians, advanced under the standard of the +chagan; a month was spent in marches and negotiations, but the +whole city was invested on the thirty-first of July, from the +suburbs of Pera and Galata to the Blachernae and seven towers; +and the inhabitants descried with terror the flaming signals of +the European and Asiatic shores. In the mean while, the +magistrates of Constantinople repeatedly strove to purchase the +retreat of the chagan; but their deputies were rejected and +insulted; and he suffered the patricians to stand before his +throne, while the Persian envoys, in silk robes, were seated by +his side. "You see," said the haughty Barbarian, "the proofs of +my perfect union with the great king; and his lieutenant is ready +to send into my camp a select band of three thousand warriors. +Presume no longer to tempt your master with a partial and +inadequate ransom your wealth and your city are the only presents +worthy of my acceptance. For yourselves, I shall permit you to +depart, each with an under-garment and a shirt; and, at my +entreaty, my friend Sarbar will not refuse a passage through his +lines. Your absent prince, even now a captive or a fugitive, has +left Constantinople to its fate; nor can you escape the arms of +the Avars and Persians, unless you could soar into the air like +birds, unless like fishes you could dive into the waves." ^96 +During ten successive days, the capital was assaulted by the +Avars, who had made some progress in the science of attack; they +advanced to sap or batter the wall, under the cover of the +impenetrable tortoise; their engines discharged a perpetual +volley of stones and darts; and twelve lofty towers of wood +exalted the combatants to the height of the neighboring ramparts. + +But the senate and people were animated by the spirit of +Heraclius, who had detached to their relief a body of twelve +thousand cuirassiers; the powers of fire and mechanics were used +with superior art and success in the defence of Constantinople; +and the galleys, with two and three ranks of oars, commanded the +Bosphorus, and rendered the Persians the idle spectators of the +defeat of their allies. The Avars were repulsed; a fleet of +Sclavonian canoes was destroyed in the harbor; the vassals of the +chagan threatened to desert, his provisions were exhausted, and +after burning his engines, he gave the signal of a slow and +formidable retreat. The devotion of the Romans ascribed this +signal deliverance to the Virgin Mary; but the mother of Christ +would surely have condemned their inhuman murder of the Persian +envoys, who were entitled to the rights of humanity, if they were +not protected by the laws of nations. ^97 +[Footnote 94: Petavius (Annotationes ad Nicephorum, p. 62, 63, +64) discriminates the names and actions of five Persian generals +who were successively sent against Heraclius.] + +[Footnote 95: This number of eight myriads is specified by George +of Pisidia, (Bell. Abar. 219.) The poet (50 - 88) clearly +indicates that the old chagan lived till the reign of Heraclius, +and that his son and successor was born of a foreign mother. Yet +Foggini (Annotat. p. 57) has given another interpretation to this +passage.] + +[Footnote 96: A bird, a frog, a mouse, and five arrows, had been +the present of the Scythian king to Darius, (Herodot. l. iv. c. +131, 132.) Substituez une lettre a ces signes (says Rousseau, +with much good taste) plus elle sera menacante moins elle +effrayera; ce ne sera qu'une fanfarronade dont Darius n'eut fait +que rire, (Emile, tom. iii. p. 146.) Yet I much question whether +the senate and people of Constantinople laughed at this message +of the chagan.] + +[Footnote 97: The Paschal Chronicle (p. 392 - 397) gives a minute +and authentic narrative of the siege and deliverance of +Constantinople Theophanes (p. 264) adds some circumstances; and a +faint light may be obtained from the smoke of George of Pisidia, +who has composed a poem (de Bello Abarico, p. 45 - 54) to +commemorate this auspicious event.] + + After the division of his army, Heraclius prudently retired +to the banks of the Phasis, from whence he maintained a defensive +war against the fifty thousand gold spears of Persia. His +anxiety was relieved by the deliverance of Constantinople; his +hopes were confirmed by a victory of his brother Theodorus; and +to the hostile league of Chosroes with the Avars, the Roman +emperor opposed the useful and honorable alliance of the Turks. +At his liberal invitation, the horde of Chozars ^98 transported +their tents from the plains of the Volga to the mountains of +Georgia; Heraclius received them in the neighborhood of Teflis, +and the khan with his nobles dismounted from their horses, if we +may credit the Greeks, and fell prostrate on the ground, to adore +the purple of the Caesars. Such voluntary homage and important +aid were entitled to the warmest acknowledgments; and the +emperor, taking off his own diadem, placed it on the head of the +Turkish prince, whom he saluted with a tender embrace and the +appellation of son. After a sumptuous banquet, he presented +Ziebel with the plate and ornaments, the gold, the gems, and the +silk, which had been used at the Imperial table, and, with his +own hand, distributed rich jewels and ear-rings to his new +allies. In a secret interview, he produced the portrait of his +daughter Eudocia, ^99 condescended to flatter the Barbarian with +the promise of a fair and august bride; obtained an immediate +succor of forty thousand horse, and negotiated a strong diversion +of the Turkish arms on the side of the Oxus. ^100 The Persians, +in their turn, retreated with precipitation; in the camp of +Edessa, Heraclius reviewed an army of seventy thousand Romans and +strangers; and some months were successfully employed in the +recovery of the cities of Syria, Mesopotamia and Armenia, whose +fortifications had been imperfectly restored. Sarbar still +maintained the important station of Chalcedon; but the jealousy +of Chosroes, or the artifice of Heraclius, soon alienated the +mind of that powerful satrap from the service of his king and +country. A messenger was intercepted with a real or fictitious +mandate to the cadarigan, or second in command, directing him to +send, without delay, to the throne, the head of a guilty or +unfortunate general. The despatches were transmitted to Sarbar +himself; and as soon as he read the sentence of his own death, he +dexterously inserted the names of four hundred officers, +assembled a military council, and asked the cadarigan whether he +was prepared to execute the commands of their tyrant. The +Persians unanimously declared, that Chosroes had forfeited the +sceptre; a separate treaty was concluded with the government of +Constantinople; and if some considerations of honor or policy +restrained Sarbar from joining the standard of Heraclius, the +emperor was assured that he might prosecute, without +interruption, his designs of victory and peace. + +[Footnote 98: The power of the Chozars prevailed in the viith, +viiith, and ixth centuries. They were known to the Greeks, the +Arabs, and under the name of Kosa, to the Chinese themselves. De +Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. part ii. p. 507 - 509. + + Note: Moses of Chorene speaks of an invasion of Armenia by +the Khazars in the second century, l. ii. c. 62. M. St. Martin +suspects them to be the same with the Hunnish nation of the +Acatires or Agazzires. They are called by the Greek historians +Eastern Turks; like the Madjars and other Hunnish or Finnish +tribes, they had probably received some admixture from the +genuine Turkish races. Ibn. Hankal (Oriental Geography) says +that their language was like the Bulgarian, and considers them a +people of Finnish or Hunnish race. Klaproth, Tabl. Hist. p. 268 +- 273. Abel Remusat, Rech. sur les Langues Tartares, tom. i. p. +315, 316. St. Martin, vol. xi. p. 115. - M] + +[Footnote 99: Epiphania, or Eudocia, the only daughter of +Heraclius and his first wife Eudocia, was born at Constantinople +on the 7th of July, A.D. 611, baptized the 15th of August, and +crowned (in the oratory of St. Stephen in the palace) the 4th of +October of the same year. At this time she was about fifteen. +Eudocia was afterwards sent to her Turkish husband, but the news +of his death stopped her journey, and prevented the consummation, +(Ducange, Familiae Byzantin. p. 118.)] + +[Footnote 100: Elmcain (Hist. Saracen. p. 13 - 16) gives some +curious and probable facts; but his numbers are rather too high - +300,000 Romans assembled at Edessa - 500,000 Persians killed at +Nineveh. The abatement of a cipher is scarcely enough to restore +his sanity] + + Deprived of his firmest support, and doubtful of the +fidelity of his subjects, the greatness of Chosroes was still +conspicuous in its ruins. The number of five hundred thousand +may be interpreted as an Oriental metaphor, to describe the men +and arms, the horses and elephants, that covered Media and +Assyria against the invasion of Heraclius. Yet the Romans boldly +advanced from the Araxes to the Tigris, and the timid prudence of +Rhazates was content to follow them by forced marches through a +desolate country, till he received a peremptory mandate to risk +the fate of Persia in a decisive battle. Eastward of the Tigris, +at the end of the bridge of Mosul, the great Nineveh had formerly +been erected: ^101 the city, and even the ruins of the city, had +long since disappeared; ^102 the vacant space afforded a spacious +field for the operations of the two armies. But these operations +are neglected by the Byzantine historians, and, like the authors +of epic poetry and romance, they ascribe the victory, not to the +military conduct, but to the personal valor, of their favorite +hero. On this memorable day, Heraclius, on his horse Phallas, +surpassed the bravest of his warriors: his lip was pierced with a +spear; the steed was wounded in the thigh; but he carried his +master safe and victorious through the triple phalanx of the +Barbarians. In the heat of the action, three valiant chiefs were +successively slain by the sword and lance of the emperor: among +these was Rhazates himself; he fell like a soldier, but the sight +of his head scattered grief and despair through the fainting +ranks of the Persians. His armor of pure and massy gold, the +shield of one hundred and twenty plates, the sword and belt, the +saddle and cuirass, adorned the triumph of Heraclius; and if he +had not been faithful to Christ and his mother, the champion of +Rome might have offered the fourth opime spoils to the Jupiter of +the Capitol. ^103 In the battle of Nineveh, which was fiercely +fought from daybreak to the eleventh hour, twenty-eight +standards, besides those which might be broken or torn, were +taken from the Persians; the greatest part of their army was cut +in pieces, and the victors, concealing their own loss, passed the +night on the field. They acknowledged, that on this occasion it +was less difficult to kill than to discomfit the soldiers of +Chosroes; amidst the bodies of their friends, no more than two +bow-shot from the enemy the remnant of the Persian cavalry stood +firm till the seventh hour of the night; about the eighth hour +they retired to their unrifled camp, collected their baggage, and +dispersed on all sides, from the want of orders rather than of +resolution. The diligence of Heraclius was not less admirable in +the use of victory; by a march of forty-eight miles in +four-and-twenty hours, his vanguard occupied the bridges of the +great and the lesser Zab; and the cities and palaces of Assyria +were open for the first time to the Romans. By a just gradation +of magnificent scenes, they penetrated to the royal seat of +Dastagerd, ^* and, though much of the treasure had been removed, +and much had been expended, the remaining wealth appears to have +exceeded their hopes, and even to have satiated their avarice. +Whatever could not be easily transported, they consumed with +fire, that Chosroes might feel the anguish of those wounds which +he had so often inflicted on the provinces of the empire: and +justice might allow the excuse, if the desolation had been +confined to the works of regal luxury, if national hatred, +military license, and religious zeal, had not wasted with equal +rage the habitations and the temples of the guiltless subject. +The recovery of three hundred Roman standards, and the +deliverance of the numerous captives of Edessa and Alexandria, +reflect a purer glory on the arms of Heraclius. From the palace +of Dastagerd, he pursued his march within a few miles of Modain +or Ctesiphon, till he was stopped, on the banks of the Arba, by +the difficulty of the passage, the rigor of the season, and +perhaps the fame of an impregnable capital. The return of the +emperor is marked by the modern name of the city of Sherhzour: he +fortunately passed Mount Zara, before the snow, which fell +incessantly thirty-four days; and the citizens of Gandzca, or +Tauris, were compelled to entertain the soldiers and their horses +with a hospitable reception. ^104 + +[Footnote 101: Ctesias (apud Didor. Sicul. tom. i. l. ii. p. 115, +edit. Wesseling) assigns 480 stadia (perhaps only 32 miles) for +the circumference of Nineveh. Jonas talks of three days' +journey: the 120,000 persons described by the prophet as +incapable of discerning their right hand from their left, may +afford about 700,000 persons of all ages for the inhabitants of +that ancient capital, (Goguet, Origines des Loix, &c., tom. iii. +part i. p. 92, 93,) which ceased to exist 600 years before +Christ. The western suburb still subsisted, and is mentioned +under the name of Mosul in the first age of the Arabian khalifs.] + +[Footnote 102: Niebuhr (Voyage en Arabie, &c., tom. ii. p. 286) +passed over Nineveh without perceiving it. He mistook for a +ridge of hills the old rampart of brick or earth. It is said to +have been 100 feet high, flanked with 1500 towers, each of the +height of 200 feet.] + +[Footnote 103: Rex regia arma fero (says Romulus, in the first +consecration) .... bina postea (continues Livy, i. 10) inter tot +bella, opima parta sunt spolia, adeo rara ejus fortuna decoris. +If Varro (apud Pomp Festum, p. 306, edit. Dacier) could justify +his liberality in granting the opime spoils even to a common +soldier who had slain the king or general of the enemy, the honor +would have been much more cheap and common] + +[Footnote *: Macdonald Kinneir places Dastagerd at Kasr e Shirin, +the palace of Sira on the banks of the Diala between Holwan and +Kanabee. Kinnets Geograph. Mem. p. 306. - M.] + +[Footnote 104: In describing this last expedition of Heraclius, +the facts, the places, and the dates of Theophanes (p. 265 - 271) +are so accurate and authentic, that he must have followed the +original letters of the emperor, of which the Paschal Chronicle +has preserved (p. 398 - 402) a very curious specimen.] + + When the ambition of Chosroes was reduced to the defence of +his hereditary kingdom, the love of glory, or even the sense of +shame, should have urged him to meet his rival in the field. In +the battle of Nineveh, his courage might have taught the Persians +to vanquish, or he might have fallen with honor by the lance of a +Roman emperor. The successor of Cyrus chose rather, at a secure +distance, to expect the event, to assemble the relics of the +defeat, and to retire, by measured steps, before the march of +Heraclius, till he beheld with a sigh the once loved mansions of +Dastagerd. Both his friends and enemies were persuaded, that it +was the intention of Chosroes to bury himself under the ruins of +the city and palace: and as both might have been equally adverse +to his flight, the monarch of Asia, with Sira, ^* and three +concubines, escaped through a hole in the wall nine days before +the arrival of the Romans. The slow and stately procession in +which he showed himself to the prostrate crowd, was changed to a +rapid and secret journey; and the first evening he lodged in the +cottage of a peasant, whose humble door would scarcely give +admittance to the great king. ^105 His superstition was subdued +by fear: on the third day, he entered with joy the fortifications +of Ctesiphon; yet he still doubted of his safety till he had +opposed the River Tigris to the pursuit of the Romans. The +discovery of his flight agitated with terror and tumult the +palace, the city, and the camp of Dastagerd: the satraps +hesitated whether they had most to fear from their sovereign or +the enemy; and the females of the harem were astonished and +pleased by the sight of mankind, till the jealous husband of +three thousand wives again confined them to a more distant +castle. At his command, the army of Dastagerd retreated to a new +camp: the front was covered by the Arba, and a line of two +hundred elephants; the troops of the more distant provinces +successively arrived, and the vilest domestics of the king and +satraps were enrolled for the last defence of the throne. It was +still in the power of Chosroes to obtain a reasonable peace; and +he was repeatedly pressed by the messengers of Heraclius to spare +the blood of his subjects, and to relieve a humane conqueror from +the painful duty of carrying fire and sword through the fairest +countries of Asia. But the pride of the Persian had not yet sunk +to the level of his fortune; he derived a momentary confidence +from the retreat of the emperor; he wept with impotent rage over +the ruins of his Assyrian palaces, and disregarded too long the +rising murmurs of the nation, who complained that their lives and +fortunes were sacrificed to the obstinacy of an old man. That +unhappy old man was himself tortured with the sharpest pains both +of mind and body; and, in the consciousness of his approaching +end, he resolved to fix the tiara on the head of Merdaza, the +most favored of his sons. But the will of Chosroes was no longer +revered, and Siroes, ^* who gloried in the rank and merit of his +mother Sira, had conspired with the malecontents to assert and +anticipate the rights of primogeniture. ^106 Twenty-two satraps +(they styled themselves patriots) were tempted by the wealth and +honors of a new reign: to the soldiers, the heir of Chosroes +promised an increase of pay; to the Christians, the free exercise +of their religion; to the captives, liberty and rewards; and to +the nation, instant peace and the reduction of taxes. It was +determined by the conspirators, that Siroes, with the ensigns of +royalty, should appear in the camp; and if the enterprise should +fail, his escape was contrived to the Imperial court. But the new +monarch was saluted with unanimous acclamations; the flight of +Chosroes (yet where could he have fled?) was rudely arrested, +eighteen sons were massacred ^* before his face, and he was +thrown into a dungeon, where he expired on the fifth day. The +Greeks and modern Persians minutely describe how Chosroes was +insulted, and famished, and tortured, by the command of an +inhuman son, who so far surpassed the example of his father: but +at the time of his death, what tongue would relate the story of +the parricide? what eye could penetrate into the tower of +darkness? According to the faith and mercy of his Christian +enemies, he sunk without hope into a still deeper abyss; ^107 and +it will not be denied, that tyrants of every age and sect are the +best entitled to such infernal abodes. The glory of the house of +Sassan ended with the life of Chosroes: his unnatural son enjoyed +only eight months the fruit of his crimes: and in the space of +four years, the regal title was assumed by nine candidates, who +disputed, with the sword or dagger, the fragments of an exhausted +monarchy. Every province, and each city of Persia, was the scene +of independence, of discord, and of blood; and the state of +anarchy prevailed about eight years longer, ^!! till the factions +were silenced and united under the common yoke of the Arabian +caliphs. ^108 + +[Footnote *: The Schirin of Persian poetry. The love of Chosru +and Schirin rivals in Persian romance that of Joseph with Zuleika +the wife of Potiphar, of Solomon with the queen of Sheba, and +that of Mejnoun and Leila. The number of Persian poems on the +subject may be seen in M. von Hammer's preface to his poem of +Schirin. - M] + +[Footnote 105: The words of Theophanes are remarkable. Young +princes who discover a propensity to war should repeatedly +transcribe and translate such salutary texts.] + +[Footnote *: His name was Kabad (as appears from an official +letter in the Paschal Chronicle, p. 402.) St. Martin considers +the name Siroes, Schirquieh of Schirwey, derived from the word +schir, royal. St. Martin, xi. 153. - M.] +[Footnote 106: The authentic narrative of the fall of Chosroes is +contained in the letter of Heraclius (Chron. Paschal. p. 398) and +the history of Theophanes, (p. 271.)] + +[Footnote *: According to Le Beau, this massacre was perpetrated +at Mahuza in Babylonia, not in the presence of Chosroes. The +Syrian historian, Thomas of Maraga, gives Chosroes twenty-four +sons; Mirkhond, (translated by De Sacy,) fifteen; the inedited +Modjmel-alte-warikh, agreeing with Gibbon, eighteen, with their +names. Le Beau and St. Martin, xi. 146. - M.] + +[Footnote 107: On the first rumor of the death of Chosroes, an +Heracliad in two cantos was instantly published at Constantinople +by George of Pisidia, (p. 97 - 105.) A priest and a poet might +very properly exult in the damnation of the public enemy but such +mean revenge is unworthy of a king and a conqueror; and I am +sorry to find so much black superstition in the letter of +Heraclius: he almost applauds the parricide of Siroes as an act +of piety and justice. + Note: The Mahometans show no more charity towards the memory +of Chosroes or Khoosroo Purveez. All his reverses are ascribed +to the just indignation of God, upon a monarch who had dared, +with impious and accursed hands, to tear the letter of the Holy +Prophet Mahomed. Compare note, p. 231. - M.] +[Footnote !!: Yet Gibbon himself places the flight and death of +Yesdegird Ill., the last king of Persia, in 651. The famous era +of Yesdegird dates from his accession, June 16 632. - M.] + +[Footnote 108: The best Oriental accounts of this last period of +the Sassanian kings are found in Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. +251 - 256,) who dissembles the parricide of Siroes, D'Herbelot +(Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 789,) and Assemanni, (Bibliothec. +Oriental. tom. iii. p. 415 - 420.)] + As soon as the mountains became passable, the emperor +received the welcome news of the success of the conspiracy, the +death of Chosroes, and the elevation of his eldest son to the +throne of Persia. The authors of the revolution, eager to +display their merits in the court or camp of Tauris, preceded the +ambassadors of Siroes, who delivered the letters of their master +to his brother the emperor of the Romans. ^109 In the language of +the usurpers of every age, he imputes his own crimes to the +Deity, and, without degrading his equal majesty, he offers to +reconcile the long discord of the two nations, by a treaty of +peace and alliance more durable than brass or iron. The +conditions of the treaty were easily defined and faithfully +executed. In the recovery of the standards and prisoners which +had fallen into the hands of the Persians, the emperor imitated +the example of Augustus: their care of the national dignity was +celebrated by the poets of the times, but the decay of genius may +be measured by the distance between Horace and George of Pisidia: +the subjects and brethren of Heraclius were redeemed from +persecution, slavery, and exile; but, instead of the Roman +eagles, the true wood of the holy cross was restored to the +importunate demands of the successor of Constantine. The victor +was not ambitious of enlarging the weakness of the empire; the +son of Chosroes abandoned without regret the conquests of his +father; the Persians who evacuated the cities of Syria and Egypt +were honorably conducted to the frontier, and a war which had +wounded the vitals of the two monarchies, produced no change in +their external and relative situation. The return of Heraclius +from Tauris to Constantinople was a perpetual triumph; and after +the exploits of six glorious campaigns, he peaceably enjoyed the +Sabbath of his toils. After a long impatience, the senate, the +clergy, and the people, went forth to meet their hero, with tears +and acclamations, with olive branches and innumerable lamps; he +entered the capital in a chariot drawn by four elephants; and as +soon as the emperor could disengage himself from the tumult of +public joy, he tasted more genuine satisfaction in the embraces +of his mother and his son. ^110 +[Footnote 109: The letter of Siroes in the Paschal Chronicle (p. +402) unfortunately ends before he proceeds to business. The +treaty appears in its execution in the histories of Theophanes +and Nicephorus. + + Note: M. Mai. Script. Vet. Nova Collectio, vol. i. P. 2, p. +223, has added some lines, but no clear sense can be made out of +the fragment. - M.] +[Footnote 110: The burden of Corneille's song, + +"Montrez Heraclius au peuple qui l'attend," + +is much better suited to the present occasion. See his triumph +in Theophanes (p. 272, 273) and Nicephorus, (p. 15, 16.) The life +of the mother and tenderness of the son are attested by George of +Pisidia, (Bell. Abar. 255, &c., p. 49.) The metaphor of the +Sabbath is used somewhat profanely by these Byzantine +Christians.] + + The succeeding year was illustrated by a triumph of a very +different kind, the restitution of the true cross to the holy +sepulchre. Heraclius performed in person the pilgrimage of +Jerusalem, the identity of the relic was verified by the discreet +patriarch, ^111 and this august ceremony has been commemorated by +the annual festival of the exaltation of the cross. Before the +emperor presumed to tread the consecrated ground, he was +instructed to strip himself of the diadem and purple, the pomp +and vanity of the world: but in the judgment of his clergy, the +persecution of the Jews was more easily reconciled with the +precepts of the gospel. ^* He again ascended his throne to +receive the congratulations of the ambassadors of France and +India: and the fame of Moses, Alexander, and Hercules, ^112 was +eclipsed in the popular estimation, by the superior merit and +glory of the great Heraclius. Yet the deliverer of the East was +indigent and feeble. Of the Persian spoils, the most valuable +portion had been expended in the war, distributed to the +soldiers, or buried, by an unlucky tempest, in the waves of the +Euxine. The conscience of the emperor was oppressed by the +obligation of restoring the wealth of the clergy, which he had +borrowed for their own defence: a perpetual fund was required to +satisfy these inexorable creditors; the provinces, already wasted +by the arms and avarice of the Persians, were compelled to a +second payment of the same taxes; and the arrears of a simple +citizen, the treasurer of Damascus, were commuted to a fine of +one hundred thousand pieces of gold. The loss of two hundred +thousand soldiers ^113 who had fallen by the sword, was of less +fatal importance than the decay of arts, agriculture, and +population, in this long and destructive war: and although a +victorious army had been formed under the standard of Heraclius, +the unnatural effort appears to have exhausted rather than +exercised their strength. While the emperor triumphed at +Constantinople or Jerusalem, an obscure town on the confines of +Syria was pillaged by the Saracens, and they cut in pieces some +troops who advanced to its relief; an ordinary and trifling +occurrence, had it not been the prelude of a mighty revolution. +These robbers were the apostles of Mahomet; their fanatic valor +had emerged from the desert; and in the last eight years of his +reign, Heraclius lost to the Arabs the same provinces which he +had rescued from the Persians. + +[Footnote 111: See Baronius, (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 628, No. 1 - +4,) Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 240 - 248,) Nicephorus, (Brev. +p. 15.) The seals of the case had never been broken; and this +preservation of the cross is ascribed (under God) to the devotion +of Queen Sira.] + +[Footnote *: If the clergy imposed upon the kneeling and penitent +emperor the persecution of the Jews, it must be acknowledge that +provocation was not wanting; for how many of them had been +eye-witnesses of, perhaps sufferers in, the horrible atrocities +committed on the capture of the city! Yet we have no authentic +account of great severities exercised by Heraclius. The law of +Hadrian was reenacted, which prohibited the Jews from approaching +within three miles of the city - a law, which, in the present +exasperated state of the Christians, might be a measure of +security of mercy, rather than of oppression. Milman, Hist. of +the Jews, iii. 242. - M.] + +[Footnote 112: George of Pisidia, Acroas. iii. de Expedit. contra +Persas, 415, &c., and Heracleid. Acroas. i. 65 - 138. I neglect +the meaner parallels of Daniel, Timotheus, &c.; Chosroes and the +chagan were of course compared to Belshazzar, Pharaoh, the old +serpent, &c.] + +[Footnote 13: Suidas (in Excerpt. Hist. Byzant. p. 46) gives this +number; but either the Persian must be read for the Isaurian war, +or this passage does not belong to the emperor Heraclius.] + + +Chapter XLVII: Ecclesiastical Discord. + + +Part I. + + Theological History Of The Doctrine Of The Incarnation. - +The Human And Divine Nature Of Christ. - Enmity Of The Patriarchs +Of Alexandria And Constantinople. - St. Cyril And Nestorius. - +Third General Council Of Ephesus. - Heresy Of Eutyches. - Fourth +General Council Of Chalcedon. - Civil And Ecclesiastical Discord. +- Intolerance Of Justinian. - The Three Chapters. - The +Monothelite Controversy. - State Of The Oriental Sects: - I. The +Nestorians. - II. The Jacobites. - III. The Maronites. - IV. +The Armenians. - V. The Copts And Abyssinians. + + After the extinction of paganism, the Christians in peace +and piety might have enjoyed their solitary triumph. But the +principle of discord was alive in their bosom, and they were more +solicitous to explore the nature, than to practice the laws, of +their founder. I have already observed, that the disputes of the +Trinity were succeeded by those of the Incarnation; alike +scandalous to the church, alike pernicious to the state, still +more minute in their origin, still more durable in their effects. + +It is my design to comprise in the present chapter a religious +war of two hundred and fifty years, to represent the +ecclesiastical and political schism of the Oriental sects, and to +introduce their clamorous or sanguinary contests, by a modest +inquiry into the doctrines of the primitive church. ^1 + +[Footnote 1: By what means shall I authenticate this previous +inquiry, which I have studied to circumscribe and compress? - If +I persist in supporting each fact or reflection by its proper and +special evidence, every line would demand a string of +testimonies, and every note would swell to a critical +dissertation. But the numberless passages of antiquity which I +have seen with my own eyes, are compiled, digested and +illustrated by Petavius and Le Clerc, by Beausobre and Mosheim. +I shall be content to fortify my narrative by the names and +characters of these respectable guides; and in the contemplation +of a minute or remote object, I am not ashamed to borrow the aid +of the strongest glasses: 1. The Dogmata Theologica of Petavius +are a work of incredible labor and compass; the volumes which +relate solely to the Incarnation (two folios, vth and vith, of +837 pages) are divided into xvi. books - the first of history, +the remainder of controversy and doctrine. The Jesuit's learning +is copious and correct; his Latinity is pure, his method clear, +his argument profound and well connected; but he is the slave of +the fathers, the scourge of heretics, and the enemy of truth and +candor, as often as they are inimical to the Catholic cause. 2. +The Arminian Le Clerc, who has composed in a quarto volume +(Amsterdam, 1716) the ecclesiastical history of the two first +centuries, was free both in his temper and situation; his sense +is clear, but his thoughts are narrow; he reduces the reason or +folly of ages to the standard of his private judgment, and his +impartiality is sometimes quickened, and sometimes tainted by his +opposition to the fathers. See the heretics (Cerinthians, lxxx. +Ebionites, ciii. Carpocratians, cxx. Valentiniins, cxxi. +Basilidians, cxxiii. Marcionites, cxli., &c.) under their proper +dates. 3. The Histoire Critique du Manicheisme (Amsterdam, 1734, +1739, in two vols. in 4to., with a posthumous dissertation sur +les Nazarenes, Lausanne, 1745) of M. de Beausobre is a treasure +of ancient philosophy and theology. The learned historian spins +with incomparable art the systematic thread of opinion, and +transforms himself by turns into the person of a saint, a sage, +or a heretic. Yet his refinement is sometimes excessive; he +betrays an amiable partiality in favor of the weaker side, and, +while he guards against calumny, he does not allow sufficient +scope for superstition and fanaticism. A copious table of +contents will direct the reader to any point that he wishes to +examine. 4. Less profound than Petavius, less independent than +Le Clerc, less ingenious than Beausobre, the historian Mosheim is +full, rational, correct, and moderate. In his learned work, De +Rebus Christianis ante Constantinum (Helmstadt 1753, in 4to.,) +see the Nazarenes and Ebionites, p. 172 - 179, 328 - 332. The +Gnostics in general, p. 179, &c. Cerinthus, p. 196 - 202. +Basilides, p. 352 - 361. Carpocrates, p. 363 - 367. Valentinus, +p. 371 - 389 Marcion, p. 404 - 410. The Manichaeans, p. 829 - +837, &c.] + I. A laudable regard for the honor of the first proselyte +has countenanced the belief, the hope, the wish, that the +Ebionites, or at least the Nazarenes, were distinguished only by +their obstinate perseverance in the practice of the Mosaic rites. + +Their churches have disappeared, their books are obliterated: +their obscure freedom might allow a latitude of faith, and the +softness of their infant creed would be variously moulded by the +zeal or prudence of three hundred years. Yet the most charitable +criticism must refuse these sectaries any knowledge of the pure +and proper divinity of Christ. Educated in the school of Jewish +prophecy and prejudice, they had never been taught to elevate +their hopes above a human and temporal Messiah. ^2 If they had +courage to hail their king when he appeared in a plebeian garb, +their grosser apprehensions were incapable of discerning their +God, who had studiously disguised his celestial character under +the name and person of a mortal. ^3 The familiar companions of +Jesus of Nazareth conversed with their friend and countryman, +who, in all the actions of rational and animal life, appeared of +the same species with themselves. His progress from infancy to +youth and manhood was marked by a regular increase in stature and +wisdom; and after a painful agony of mind and body, he expired on +the cross. He lived and died for the service of mankind: but the +life and death of Socrates had likewise been devoted to the cause +of religion and justice; and although the stoic or the hero may +disdain the humble virtues of Jesus, the tears which he shed over +his friend and country may be esteemed the purest evidence of his +humanity. The miracles of the gospel could not astonish a people +who held with intrepid faith the more splendid prodigies of the +Mosaic law. The prophets of ancient days had cured diseases, +raised the dead, divided the sea, stopped the sun, and ascended +to heaven in a fiery chariot. And the metaphorical style of the +Hebrews might ascribe to a saint and martyr the adoptive title of +Son of God. + +[Footnote 2: Jew Tryphon, (Justin. Dialog. p. 207) in the name of +his countrymen, and the modern Jews, the few who divert their +thoughts from money to religion, still hold the same language, +and allege the literal sense of the prophets. + + Note: See on this passage Bp. Kaye, Justin Martyr, p. 25. - +M. + Note: Most of the modern writers, who have closely examined +this subject, and who will not be suspected of any theological +bias, Rosenmuller on Isaiah ix. 5, and on Psalm xlv. 7, and +Bertholdt, Christologia Judaeorum, c. xx., rightly ascribe much +higher notions of the Messiah to the Jews. In fact, the dispute +seems to rest on the notion that there was a definite and +authorized notion of the Messiah, among the Jews, whereas it was +probably so vague, as to admit every shade of difference, from +the vulgar expectation of a mere temporal king, to the +philosophic notion of an emanation from the Deity. - M.] +[Footnote 3: Chrysostom (Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, tom. v. c. 9, +p. 183) and Athanasius (Petav. Dogmat. Theolog. tom. v. l. i. c. +2, p. 3) are obliged to confess that the Divinity of Christ is +rarely mentioned by himself or his apostles.] + + Yet in the insufficient creed of the Nazarenes and the +Ebionites, a distinction is faintly noticed between the heretics, +who confounded the generation of Christ in the common order of +nature, and the less guilty schismatics, who revered the +virginity of his mother, and excluded the aid of an earthly +father. The incredulity of the former was countenanced by the +visible circumstances of his birth, the legal marriage of the +reputed parents, Joseph and Mary, and his lineal claim to the +kingdom of David and the inheritance of Judah. But the secret +and authentic history has been recorded in several copies of the +Gospel according to St. Matthew, ^4 which these sectaries long +preserved in the original Hebrew, ^5 as the sole evidence of +their faith. The natural suspicions of the husband, conscious of +his own chastity, were dispelled by the assurance (in a dream) +that his wife was pregnant of the Holy Ghost: and as this distant +and domestic prodigy could not fall under the personal +observation of the historian, he must have listened to the same +voice which dictated to Isaiah the future conception of a virgin. +The son of a virgin, generated by the ineffable operation of the +Holy Spirit, was a creature without example or resemblance, +superior in every attribute of mind and body to the children of +Adam. Since the introduction of the Greek or Chaldean +philosophy, ^6 the Jews ^7 were persuaded of the preexistence, +transmigration, and immortality of souls; and providence was +justified by a supposition, that they were confined in their +earthly prisons to expiate the stains which they had contracted +in a former state. ^8 But the degrees of purity and corruption +are almost immeasurable. It might be fairly presumed, that the +most sublime and virtuous of human spirits was infused into the +offspring of Mary and the Holy Ghost; ^9 that his abasement was +the result of his voluntary choice; and that the object of his +mission was, to purify, not his own, but the sins of the world. +On his return to his native skies, he received the immense reward +of his obedience; the everlasting kingdom of the Messiah, which +had been darkly foretold by the prophets, under the carnal images +of peace, of conquest, and of dominion. Omnipotence could +enlarge the human faculties of Christ to the extend of is +celestial office. In the language of antiquity, the title of God +has not been severely confined to the first parent, and his +incomparable minister, his only-begotten son, might claim, +without presumption, the religious, though secondary, worship of +a subject of a subject world. + +[Footnote 4: The two first chapters of St. Matthew did not exist +in the Ebionite copies, (Epiphan. Haeres. xxx. 13;) and the +miraculous conception is one of the last articles which Dr. +Priestley has curtailed from his scanty creed. + + Note: The distinct allusion to the facts related in the two +first chapters of the Gospel, in a work evidently written about +the end of the reign of Nero, the Ascensio Isaiae, edited by +Archbishop Lawrence, seems convincing evidence that they are +integral parts of the authentic Christian history. - M.] + +[Footnote 5: It is probable enough that the first of the Gospels +for the use of the Jewish converts was composed in the Hebrew or +Syriac idiom: the fact is attested by a chain of fathers - +Papias, Irenaeus, Origen, Jerom, &c. It is devoutly believed by +the Catholics, and admitted by Casaubon, Grotius, and Isaac +Vossius, among the Protestant critics. But this Hebrew Gospel of +St. Matthew is most unaccountably lost; and we may accuse the +diligence or fidelity of the primitive churches, who have +preferred the unauthorized version of some nameless Greek. +Erasmus and his followers, who respect our Greek text as the +original Gospel, deprive themselves of the evidence which +declares it to be the work of an apostle. See Simon, Hist. +Critique, &c., tom. iii. c. 5 - 9, p. 47 - 101, and the +Prolegomena of Mill and Wetstein to the New Testament. + + Note: Surely the extinction of the Judaeo-Christian +community related from Mosheim by Gibbon himself (c. xv.) +accounts both simply and naturally for the loss of a composition, +which had become of no use - nor does it follow that the Greek +Gospel of St. Matthew is unauthorized. - M.] +[Footnote 6: The metaphysics of the soul are disengaged by Cicero +(Tusculan. l. i.) and Maximus of Tyre (Dissertat. xvi.) from the +intricacies of dialogue, which sometimes amuse, and often +perplex, the readers of the Phoedrus, the Phoedon, and the Laws +of Plato.] + +[Footnote 7: The disciples of Jesus were persuaded that a man +might have sinned before he was born, (John, ix. 2,) and the +Pharisees held the transmigration of virtuous souls, (Joseph. de +Bell. Judaico, l. ii. c. 7;) and a modern Rabbi is modestly +assured, that Hermes, Pythagoras, Plato, &c., derived their +metaphysics from his illustrious countrymen.] +[Footnote 8: Four different opinions have been entertained +concerning the origin of human souls: 1. That they are eternal +and divine. 2. That they were created in a separate state of +existence, before their union with the body. 3. That they have +been propagated from the original stock of Adam, who contained in +himself the mental as well as the corporeal seed of his +posterity. 4. That each soul is occasionally created and +embodied in the moment of conception. - The last of these +sentiments appears to have prevailed among the moderns; and our +spiritual history is grown less sublime, without becoming more +intelligible.] + +[Footnote 9: It was one of the fifteen heresies imputed to +Origen, and denied by his apologist, (Photius, Bibliothec. cod. +cxvii. p. 296.) Some of the Rabbis attribute one and the same +soul to the persons of Adam, David, and the Messiah.] + + II. The seeds of the faith, which had slowly arisen in the +rocky and ungrateful soil of Judea, were transplanted, in full +maturity, to the happier climes of the Gentiles; and the +strangers of Rome or Asia, who never beheld the manhood, were the +more readily disposed to embrace the divinity, of Christ. The +polytheist and the philosopher, the Greek and the Barbarian, were +alike accustomed to conceive a long succession, an infinite chain +of angels or daemons, or deities, or aeons, or emanations, +issuing from the throne of light. Nor could it seem strange or +incredible, that the first of these aeons, the Logos, or Word of +God, of the same substance with the Father, should descend upon +earth, to deliver the human race from vice and error, and to +conduct them in the paths of life and immortality. But the +prevailing doctrine of the eternity and inherent pravity of +matter infected the primitive churches of the East. Many among +the Gentile proselytes refused to believe that a celestial +spirit, an undivided portion of the first essence, had been +personally united with a mass of impure and contaminated flesh; +and, in their zeal for the divinity, they piously abjured the +humanity, of Christ. While his blood was still recent on Mount +Calvary, ^10 the Docetes, a numerous and learned sect of +Asiatics, invented the phantastic system, which was afterwards +propagated by the Marcionites, the Manichaeans, and the various +names of the Gnostic heresy. ^11 They denied the truth and +authenticity of the Gospels, as far as they relate the conception +of Mary, the birth of Christ, and the thirty years that preceded +the exercise of his ministry. He first appeared on the banks of +the Jordan in the form of perfect manhood; but it was a form +only, and not a substance; a human figure created by the hand of +Omnipotence to imitate the faculties and actions of a man, and to +impose a perpetual illusion on the senses of his friends and +enemies. Articulate sounds vibrated on the ears of the +disciples; but the image which was impressed on their optic nerve +eluded the more stubborn evidence of the touch; and they enjoyed +the spiritual, not the corporeal, presence of the Son of God. +The rage of the Jews was idly wasted against an impassive +phantom; and the mystic scenes of the passion and death, the +resurrection and ascension, of Christ were represented on the +theatre of Jerusalem for the benefit of mankind. If it were +urged, that such ideal mimicry, such incessant deception, was +unworthy of the God of truth, the Docetes agreed with too many of +their orthodox brethren in the justification of pious falsehood. +In the system of the Gnostics, the Jehovah of Israel, the Creator +of this lower world, was a rebellious, or at least an ignorant, +spirit. The Son of God descended upon earth to abolish his +temple and his law; and, for the accomplishment of this salutary +end, he dexterously transferred to his own person the hope and +prediction of a temporal Messiah. + +[Footnote 10: Apostolis adhuc in seculo superstitibus, apud +Judaeam Christi sanguine recente, Phantasma domini corpus +asserebatur. Hieronym, advers. Lucifer. c. 8. The epistle of +Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, and even the Gospel according to St. +John, are levelled against the growing error of the Docetes, who +had obtained too much credit in the world, 1 John, iv. 1 - 5.)] +[Footnote 11: About the year 200 of the Christian aera, Irenaeus +and Hippolytus efuted the thirty-two sects, which had multiplied +to fourscore in the time of Epiphanius, (Phot. Biblioth. cod. +cxx. cxxi. cxxii.) The five books of Irenaeus exist only in +barbarous Latin; but the original might perhaps be found in some +monastery of Greece.] + + One of the most subtile disputants of the Manichaean school +has pressed the danger and indecency of supposing, that the God +of the Christians, in the state of a human foetus, emerged at the +end of nine months from a female womb. The pious horror of his +antagonists provoked them to disclaim all sensual circumstances +of conception and delivery; to maintain that the divinity passed +through Mary like a sunbeam through a plate of glass; and to +assert, that the seal of her virginity remained unbroken even at +the moment when she became the mother of Christ. But the +rashness of these concessions has encouraged a milder sentiment +of those of the Docetes, who taught, not that Christ was a +phantom, but that he was clothed with an impassible and +incorruptible body. Such, indeed, in the more orthodox system, he +has acquired since his resurrection, and such he must have always +possessed, if it were capable of pervading, without resistance or +injury, the density of intermediate matter. Devoid of its most +essential properties, it might be exempt from the attributes and +infirmities of the flesh. A foetus that could increase from an +invisible point to its full maturity; a child that could attain +the stature of perfect manhood without deriving any nourishment +from the ordinary sources, might continue to exist without +repairing a daily waste by a daily supply of external matter. +Jesus might share the repasts of his disciples without being +subject to the calls of thirst or hunger; and his virgin purity +was never sullied by the involuntary stains of sensual +concupiscence. Of a body thus singularly constituted, a question +would arise, by what means, and of what materials, it was +originally framed; and our sounder theology is startled by an +answer which was not peculiar to the Gnostics, that both the form +and the substance proceeded from the divine essence. The idea of +pure and absolute spirit is a refinement of modern philosophy: +the incorporeal essence, ascribed by the ancients to human souls, +celestial beings, and even the Deity himself, does not exclude +the notion of extended space; and their imagination was satisfied +with a subtile nature of air, or fire, or aether, incomparably +more perfect than the grossness of the material world. If we +define the place, we must describe the figure, of the Deity. Our +experience, perhaps our vanity, represents the powers of reason +and virtue under a human form. The Anthropomorphites, who +swarmed among the monks of Egypt and the Catholics of Africa, +could produce the express declaration of Scripture, that man was +made after the image of his Creator. ^12 The venerable Serapion, +one of the saints of the Nitrian deserts, relinquished, with many +a tear, his darling prejudice; and bewailed, like an infant, his +unlucky conversion, which had stolen away his God, and left his +mind without any visible object of faith or devotion. ^13 + +[Footnote 12: The pilgrim Cassian, who visited Egypt in the +beginning of the vth century, observes and laments the reign of +anthropomorphism among the monks, who were not conscious that +they embraced the system of Epicurus, (Cicero, de Nat. Deorum, i. +18, 34.) Ab universo propemodum genere monachorum, qui per totam +provinciam Egyptum morabantur, pro simplicitatis errore susceptum +est, ut e contraric memoratum pontificem (Theophilus) velut +haeresi gravissima depravatum, pars maxima seniorum ab universo +fraternitatis corpore decerneret detestandum, (Cassian, +Collation. x. 2.) As long as St. Augustin remained a Manichaean, +he was scandalized by the anthropomorphism of the vulgar +Catholics.] + +[Footnote 13: Ita est in oratione senex mente confusus, eo quod +illam imaginem Deitatis, quam proponere sibi in oratione +consueverat, aboleri de suo corde sentiret, ut in amarissimos +fletus, crebrosque singultus repente prorumpens, in terram +prostratus, cum ejulatu validissimo proclamaret; "Heu me miserum! +tulerunt a me Deum meum, et quem nunc teneam non habeo, vel quem +adorem, aut interpallam am nescio." Cassian, Collat. x. 2.] + + III. Such were the fleeting shadows of the Docetes. A more +substantial, though less simple, hypothesis, was contrived by +Cerinthus of Asia, ^14 who dared to oppose the last of the +apostles. Placed on the confines of the Jewish and Gentile +world, he labored to reconcile the Gnostic with the Ebionite, by +confessing in the same Messiah the supernatural union of a man +and a God; and this mystic doctrine was adopted with many +fanciful improvements by Carpocrates, Basilides, and Valentine, +^15 the heretics of the Egyptian school. In their eyes, Jesus of +Nazareth was a mere mortal, the legitimate son of Joseph and +Mary: but he was the best and wisest of the human race, selected +as the worthy instrument to restore upon earth the worship of the +true and supreme Deity. When he was baptized in the Jordan, the +Christ, the first of the aeons, the Son of God himself, descended +on Jesus in the form of a dove, to inhabit his mind, and direct +his actions during the allotted period of his ministry. When the +Messiah was delivered into the hands of the Jews, the Christ, an +immortal and impassible being, forsook his earthly tabernacle, +flew back to the pleroma or world of spirits, and left the +solitary Jesus to suffer, to complain, and to expire. But the +justice and generosity of such a desertion are strongly +questionable; and the fate of an innocent martyr, at first +impelled, and at length abandoned, by his divine companion, might +provoke the pity and indignation of the profane. Their murmurs +were variously silenced by the sectaries who espoused and +modified the double system of Cerinthus. It was alleged, that +when Jesus was nailed to the cross, he was endowed with a +miraculous apathy of mind and body, which rendered him insensible +of his apparent sufferings. It was affirmed, that these +momentary, though real, pangs would be abundantly repaid by the +temporal reign of a thousand years reserved for the Messiah in +his kingdom of the new Jerusalem. It was insinuated, that if he +suffered, he deserved to suffer; that human nature is never +absolutely perfect; and that the cross and passion might serve to +expiate the venial transgressions of the son of Joseph, before +his mysterious union with the Son of God. ^16 + +[Footnote 14: St. John and Cerinthus (A.D. 80. Cleric. Hist. +Eccles. p. 493) accidentally met in the public bath of Ephesus; +but the apostle fled from the heretic, lest the building should +tumble on their heads. This foolish story, reprobated by Dr. +Middleton, (Miscellaneous Works, vol. ii.,) is related, however, +by Irenaeus, (iii. 3,) on the evidence of Polycarp, and was +probably suited to the time and residence of Cerinthus. The +obsolete, yet probably the true, reading of 1 John, iv. 3 alludes +to the double nature of that primitive heretic. + + Note: Griesbach asserts that all the Greek Mss., all the +translators, and all the Greek fathers, support the common +reading. - Nov. Test. in loc. - M] +[Footnote 15: The Valentinians embraced a complex, and almost +incoherent, system. 1. Both Christ and Jesus were aeons, though +of different degrees; the one acting as the rational soul, the +other as the divine spirit of the Savior. 2. At the time of the +passion, they both retired, and left only a sensitive soul and a +human body. 3. Even that body was aethereal, and perhaps +apparent. - Such are the laborious conclusions of Mosheim. But I +much doubt whether the Latin translator understood Irenaeus, and +whether Irenaeus and the Valetinians understood themselves.] + +[Footnote 16: The heretics abused the passionate exclamation of +"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Rousseau, who has +drawn an eloquent, but indecent, parallel between Christ and +Socrates, forgets that not a word of impatience or despair +escaped from the mouth of the dying philosopher. In the Messiah, +such sentiments could be only apparent; and such ill-sounding +words were properly explained as the application of a psalm and +prophecy.] + IV. All those who believe the immateriality of the soul, a +specious and noble tenet, must confess, from their present +experience, the incomprehensible union of mind and matter. A +similar union is not inconsistent with a much higher, or even +with the highest, degree of mental faculties; and the incarnation +of an aeon or archangel, the most perfect of created spirits, +does not involve any positive contradiction or absurdity. In the +age of religious freedom, which was determined by the council of +Nice, the dignity of Christ was measured by private judgment +according to the indefinite rule of Scripture, or reason, or +tradition. But when his pure and proper divinity had been +established on the ruins of Arianism, the faith of the Catholics +trembled on the edge of a precipice where it was impossible to +recede, dangerous to stand, dreadful to fall and the manifold +inconveniences of their creed were aggravated by the sublime +character of their theology. They hesitated to pronounce; that +God himself, the second person of an equal and consubstantial +trinity, was manifested in the flesh; ^17 that a being who +pervades the universe, had been confined in the womb of Mary; +that his eternal duration had been marked by the days, and +months, and years of human existence; that the Almighty had been +scourged and crucified; that his impassible essence had felt pain +and anguish; that his omniscience was not exempt from ignorance; +and that the source of life and immortality expired on Mount +Calvary. These alarming consequences were affirmed with +unblushing simplicity by Apollinaris, ^18 bishop of Laodicea, and +one of the luminaries of the church. The son of a learned +grammarian, he was skilled in all the sciences of Greece; +eloquence, erudition, and philosophy, conspicuous in the volumes +of Apollinaris, were humbly devoted to the service of religion. +The worthy friend of Athanasius, the worthy antagonist of Julian, +he bravely wrestled with the Arians and Polytheists, and though +he affected the rigor of geometrical demonstration, his +commentaries revealed the literal and allegorical sense of the +Scriptures. A mystery, which had long floated in the looseness of +popular belief, was defined by his perverse diligence in a +technical form; and he first proclaimed the memorable words, "One +incarnate nature of Christ," which are still reechoed with +hostile clamors in the churches of Asia, Egypt, and Aethiopia. He +taught that the Godhead was united or mingled with the body of a +man; and that the Logos, the eternal wisdom, supplied in the +flesh the place and office of a human soul. Yet as the profound +doctor had been terrified at his own rashness, Apollinaris was +heard to mutter some faint accents of excuse and explanation. He +acquiesced in the old distinction of the Greek philosophers +between the rational and sensitive soul of man; that he might +reserve the Logos for intellectual functions, and employ the +subordinate human principle in the meaner actions of animal life. + +With the moderate Docetes, he revered Mary as the spiritual, +rather than as the carnal, mother of Christ, whose body either +came from heaven, impassible and incorruptible, or was absorbed, +and as it were transformed, into the essence of the Deity. The +system of Apollinaris was strenuously encountered by the Asiatic +and Syrian divines whose schools are honored by the names of +Basil, Gregory and Chrysostom, and tainted by those of Diodorus, +Theodore, and Nestorius. But the person of the aged bishop of +Laedicea, his character and dignity, remained inviolate; and his +rivals, since we may not suspect them of the weakness of +toleration, were astonished, perhaps, by the novelty of the +argument, and diffident of the final sentence of the Catholic +church. Her judgment at length inclined in their favor; the +heresy of Apollinaris was condemned, and the separate +congregations of his disciples were proscribed by the Imperial +laws. But his principles were secretly entertained in the +monasteries of Egypt, and his enemies felt the hatred of +Theophilus and Cyril, the successive patriarchs of Alexandria. +[Footnote 17: This strong expression might be justified by the +language of St. Paul, (1 Tim. iii. 16;) but we are deceived by +our modern Bibles. The word which was altered to God at +Constantinople in the beginning of the vith century: the true +reading, which is visible in the Latin and Syriac versions, still +exists in the reasoning of the Greek, as well as of the Latin +fathers; and this fraud, with that of the three witnesses of St. +John, is admirably detected by Sir Isaac Newton. (See his two +letters translated by M. de Missy, in the Journal Britannique, +tom. xv. p. 148 - 190, 351 - 390.) I have weighed the arguments, +and may yield to the authority of the first of philosophers, who +was deeply skilled in critical and theological studies. + Note: It should be Griesbach in loc. The weight of +authority is so much against the common reading in both these +points, that they are no longer urged by prudent +controversialists. Would Gibbon's deference for the first of +philosophers have extended to all his theological conclusions? - +M.] +[Footnote 18: For Apollinaris and his sect, see Socrates, l. ii. +c. 46, l. iii. c. 16 Sazomen, l. v. c. 18, 1. vi. c. 25, 27. +Theodoret, l. v. 3, 10, 11. Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, +tom. vii. p. 602 - 638. Not. p. 789 - 794, in 4to. Venise, 1732. + +The contemporary saint always mentions the bishop of Laodicea as +a friend and brother. The style of the more recent historians is +harsh and hostile: yet Philostorgius compares him (l. viii. c. 11 +- 15) to Basil and Gregory.] + + V. The grovelling Ebionite, and the fantastic Docetes, were +rejected and forgotten: the recent zeal against the errors of +Apollinaris reduced the Catholics to a seeming agreement with the +double nature of Cerinthus. But instead of a temporary and +occasional alliance, they established, and we still embrace, the +substantial, indissoluble, and everlasting union of a perfect God +with a perfect man, of the second person of the trinity with a +reasonable soul and human flesh. In the beginning of the fifth +century, the unity of the two natures was the prevailing doctrine +of the church. On all sides, it was confessed, that the mode of +their coexistence could neither be represented by our ideas, nor +expressed by our language. Yet a secret and incurable discord +was cherished, between those who were most apprehensive of +confounding, and those who were most fearful of separating, the +divinity, and the humanity, of Christ. Impelled by religious +frenzy, they fled with adverse haste from the error which they +mutually deemed most destructive of truth and salvation. On +either hand they were anxious to guard, they were jealous to +defend, the union and the distinction of the two natures, and to +invent such forms of speech, such symbols of doctrine, as were +least susceptible of doubt or ambiguity. The poverty of ideas and +language tempted them to ransack art and nature for every +possible comparison, and each comparison mislead their fancy in +the explanation of an incomparable mystery. In the polemic +microscope, an atom is enlarged to a monster, and each party was +skilful to exaggerate the absurd or impious conclusions that +might be extorted from the principles of their adversaries. To +escape from each other, they wandered through many a dark and +devious thicket, till they were astonished by the horrid phantoms +of Cerinthus and Apollinaris, who guarded the opposite issues of +the theological labyrinth. As soon as they beheld the twilight of +sense and heresy, they started, measured back their steps, and +were again involved in the gloom of impenetrable orthodoxy. To +purge themselves from the guilt or reproach of damnable error, +they disavowed their consequences, explained their principles, +excused their indiscretions, and unanimously pronounced the +sounds of concord and faith. Yet a latent and almost invisible +spark still lurked among the embers of controversy: by the breath +of prejudice and passion, it was quickly kindled to a mighty +flame, and the verbal disputes ^19 of the Oriental sects have +shaken the pillars of the church and state. + +[Footnote 19: I appeal to the confession of two Oriental +prelates, Gregory Abulpharagius the Jacobite primate of the East, +and Elias the Nestorian metropolitan of Damascus, (see Asseman, +Bibliothec. Oriental. tom. ii. p. 291, tom. iii. p. 514, &c.,) +that the Melchites, Jacobites, Nestorians, &c., agree in the +doctrine, and differ only in the expression. Our most learned +and rational divines - Basnage, Le Clerc, Beausobre, La Croze, +Mosheim, Jablonski - are inclined to favor this charitable +judgment; but the zeal of Petavius is loud and angry, and the +moderation of Dupin is conveyed in a whisper.] + The name of Cyril of Alexandria is famous in controversial +story, and the title of saint is a mark that his opinions and his +party have finally prevailed. In the house of his uncle, the +archbishop Theophilus, he imbibed the orthodox lessons of zeal +and dominion, and five years of his youth were profitably spent +in the adjacent monasteries of Nitria. Under the tuition of the +abbot Serapion, he applied himself to ecclesiastical studies, +with such indefatigable ardor, that in the course of one +sleepless night, he has perused the four Gospels, the Catholic +Epistles, and the Epistle to the Romans. Origen he detested; but +the writings of Clemens and Dionysius, of Athanasius and Basil, +were continually in his hands: by the theory and practice of +dispute, his faith was confirmed and his wit was sharpened; he +extended round his cell the cobwebs of scholastic theology, and +meditated the works of allegory and metaphysics, whose remains, +in seven verbose folios, now peaceably slumber by the side of +their rivals. ^20 Cyril prayed and fasted in the desert, but his +thoughts (it is the reproach of a friend) ^21 were still fixed on +the world; and the call of Theophilus, who summoned him to the +tumult of cities and synods, was too readily obeyed by the +aspiring hermit. With the approbation of his uncle, he assumed +the office, and acquired the fame, of a popular preacher. His +comely person adorned the pulpit; the harmony of his voice +resounded in the cathedral; his friends were stationed to lead or +second the applause of the congregation; ^22 and the hasty notes +of the scribes preserved his discourses, which in their effect, +though not in their composition, might be compared with those of +the Athenian orators. The death of Theophilus expanded and +realized the hopes of his nephew. The clergy of Alexandria was +divided; the soldiers and their general supported the claims of +the archdeacon; but a resistless multitude, with voices and with +hands, asserted the cause of their favorite; and after a period +of thirty-nine years, Cyril was seated on the throne of +Athanasius. ^23 + +[Footnote 20: La Croze (Hist. du Christianisme des Indes, tom. i. +p. 24) avows his contempt for the genius and writings of Cyril. +De tous les on vrages des anciens, il y en a peu qu'on lise avec +moins d'utilite: and Dupin, (Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. +iv. p. 42 - 52,) in words of respect, teaches us to despise +them.] + +[Footnote 21: Of Isidore of Pelusium, (l. i. epist. 25, p. 8.) As +the letter is not of the most creditable sort, Tillemont, less +sincere than the Bollandists, affects a doubt whether this Cyril +is the nephew of Theophilus, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 268.)] + +[Footnote 22: A grammarian is named by Socrates (l. vii. c. 13).] + +[Footnote 23: See the youth and promotion of Cyril, in Socrates, +(l. vii. c. 7) and Renaudot, (Hist. Patriarchs. Alexandrin. p. +106, 108.) The Abbe Renaudot drew his materials from the Arabic +history of Severus, bishop of Hermopolis Magma, or Ashmunein, in +the xth century, who can never be trusted, unless our assent is +extorted by the internal evidence of facts.] + +Chapter XLVII: Ecclesiastical Discord. + +Part II. + + The prize was not unworthy of his ambition. At a distance +from the court, and at the head of an immense capital, the +patriarch, as he was now styled, of Alexandria had gradually +usurped the state and authority of a civil magistrate. The +public and private charities of the city were blindly obeyed by +his numerous and fanatic parabolani, ^24 familiarized in their +daily office with scenes of death; and the praefects of Egypt +were awed or provoked by the temporal power of these Christian +pontiffs. Ardent in the prosecution of heresy, Cyril +auspiciously opened his reign by oppressing the Novatians, the +most innocent and harmless of the sectaries. The interdiction of +their religious worship appeared in his eyes a just and +meritorious act; and he confiscated their holy vessels, without +apprehending the guilt of sacrilege. The toleration, and even the +privileges of the Jews, who had multiplied to the number of forty +thousand, were secured by the laws of the Caesars and Ptolemies, +and a long prescription of seven hundred years since the +foundation of Alexandria. Without any legal sentence, without +any royal mandate, the patriarch, at the dawn of day, led a +seditious multitude to the attack of the synagogues. Unarmed and +unprepared, the Jews were incapable of resistance; their houses +of prayer were levelled with the ground, and the episcopal +warrior, after-rewarding his troops with the plunder of their +goods, expelled from the city the remnant of the unbelieving +nation. Perhaps he might plead the insolence of their +prosperity, and their deadly hatred of the Christians, whose +blood they had recently shed in a malicious or accidental tumult. + +Such crimes would have deserved the animadversion of the +magistrate; but in this promiscuous outrage, the innocent were +confounded with the guilty, and Alexandria was impoverished by +the loss of a wealthy and industrious colony. The zeal of Cyril +exposed him to the penalties of the Julian law; but in a feeble +government and a superstitious age, he was secure of impunity, +and even of praise. Orestes complained; but his just complaints +were too quickly forgotten by the ministers of Theodosius, and +too deeply remembered by a priest who affected to pardon, and +continued to hate, the praefect of Egypt. As he passed through +the streets, his chariot was assaulted by a band of five hundred +of the Nitrian monks his guards fled from the wild beasts of the +desert; his protestations that he was a Christian and a Catholic +were answered by a volley of stones, and the face of Orestes was +covered with blood. The loyal citizens of Alexandria hastened to +his rescue; he instantly satisfied his justice and revenge +against the monk by whose hand he had been wounded, and Ammonius +expired under the rod of the lictor. At the command of Cyril his +body was raised from the ground, and transported, in solemn +procession, to the cathedral; the name of Ammonius was changed to +that of Thaumasius the wonderful; his tomb was decorated with the +trophies of martyrdom, and the patriarch ascended the pulpit to +celebrate the magnanimity of an assassin and a rebel. Such +honors might incite the faithful to combat and die under the +banners of the saint; and he soon prompted, or accepted, the +sacrifice of a virgin, who professed the religion of the Greeks, +and cultivated the friendship of Orestes. Hypatia, the daughter +of Theon the mathematician, ^25 was initiated in her father's +studies; her learned comments have elucidated the geometry of +Apollonius and Diophantus, and she publicly taught, both at +Athens and Alexandria, the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. In +the bloom of beauty, and in the maturity of wisdom, the modest +maid refused her lovers and instructed her disciples; the persons +most illustrious for their rank or merit were impatient to visit +the female philosopher; and Cyril beheld, with a jealous eye, the +gorgeous train of horses and slaves who crowded the door of her +academy. A rumor was spread among the Christians, that the +daughter of Theon was the only obstacle to the reconciliation of +the praefect and the archbishop; and that obstacle was speedily +removed. On a fatal day, in the holy season of Lent, Hypatia was +torn from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged to the church, and +inhumanly butchered by the hands of Peter the reader, and a troop +of savage and merciless fanatics: her flesh was scraped from her +bones with sharp cyster shells, ^26 and her quivering limbs were +delivered to the flames. The just progress of inquiry and +punishment was stopped by seasonable gifts; but the murder of +Hypatia has imprinted an indelible stain on the character and +religion of Cyril of Alexandria. ^27 +[Footnote 24: The Parabolani of Alexandria were a charitable +corporation, instituted during the plague of Gallienus, to visit +the sick and to bury the dead. They gradually enlarged, abused, +and sold the privileges of their order. Their outrageous conduct +during the reign of Cyril provoked the emperor to deprive the +patriarch of their nomination, and to restrain their number to +five or six hundred. But these restraints were transient and +ineffectual. See the Theodosian Code, l. xvi. tit. ii. and +Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 276 - 278.] + +[Footnote 25: For Theon and his daughter Hypatia. see Fabricius, +Bibliothec. tom. viii. p. 210, 211. Her article in the Lexicon +of Suidas is curious and original. Hesychius (Meursii Opera, +tom. vii. p. 295, 296) observes, that he was persecuted; and an +epigram in the Greek Anthology (l. i. c. 76, p. 159, edit. +Brodaei) celebrates her knowledge and eloquence. She is +honorably mentioned (Epist. 10, 15 16, 33 - 80, 124, 135, 153) by +her friend and disciple the philosophic bishop Synesius.] + +[Footnote 26: Oyster shells were plentifully strewed on the +sea-beach before the Caesareum. I may therefore prefer the +literal sense, without rejecting the metaphorical version of +tegulae, tiles, which is used by M. de Valois ignorant, and the +assassins were probably regardless, whether their victim was yet +alive.] + +[Footnote 27: These exploits of St. Cyril are recorded by +Socrates, (l. vii. c. 13, 14, 15;) and the most reluctant bigotry +is compelled to copy an historian who coolly styles the murderers +of Hypatia. At the mention of that injured name, I am pleased to +observe a blush even on the cheek of Baronius, (A.D. 415, No. +48.)] + + Superstition, perhaps, would more gently expiate the blood +of a virgin, than the banishment of a saint; and Cyril had +accompanied his uncle to the iniquitous synod of the Oak. When +the memory of Chrysostom was restored and consecrated, the nephew +of Theophilus, at the head of a dying faction, still maintained +the justice of his sentence; nor was it till after a tedious +delay and an obstinate resistance, that he yielded to the consent +of the Catholic world. ^28 His enmity to the Byzantine pontiffs +^29 was a sense of interest, not a sally of passion: he envied +their fortunate station in the sunshine of the Imperial court; +and he dreaded their upstart ambition. which oppressed the +metropolitans of Europe and Asia, invaded the provinces of +Antioch and Alexandria, and measured their diocese by the limits +of the empire. The long moderation of Atticus, the mild usurper +of the throne of Chrysostom, suspended the animosities of the +Eastern patriarchs; but Cyril was at length awakened by the +exaltation of a rival more worthy of his esteem and hatred. After +the short and troubled reign of Sisinnius, bishop of +Constantinople, the factions of the clergy and people were +appeased by the choice of the emperor, who, on this occasion, +consulted the voice of fame, and invited the merit of a stranger. + +Nestorius, ^30 native of Germanicia, and a monk of Antioch, was +recommended by the austerity of his life, and the eloquence of +his sermons; but the first homily which he preached before the +devout Theodosius betrayed the acrimony and impatience of his +zeal. "Give me, O Caesar!" he exclaimed, "give me the earth +purged of heretics, and I will give you in exchange the kingdom +of heaven. Exterminate with me the heretics; and with you I will +exterminate the Persians." On the fifth day as if the treaty had +been already signed, the patriarch of Constantinople discovered, +surprised, and attacked a secret conventicle of the Arians: they +preferred death to submission; the flames that were kindled by +their despair, soon spread to the neighboring houses, and the +triumph of Nestorius was clouded by the name of incendiary. On +either side of the Hellespont his episcopal vigor imposed a rigid +formulary of faith and discipline; a chronological error +concerning the festival of Easter was punished as an offence +against the church and state. Lydia and Caria, Sardes and +Miletus, were purified with the blood of the obstinate +Quartodecimans; and the edict of the emperor, or rather of the +patriarch, enumerates three-and-twenty degrees and denominations +in the guilt and punishment of heresy. ^31 But the sword of +persecution which Nestorius so furiously wielded was soon turned +against his own breast. Religion was the pretence; but, in the +judgment of a contemporary saint, ambition was the genuine motive +of episcopal warfare. ^32 + +[Footnote 28: He was deaf to the entreaties of Atticus of +Constantinople, and of Isidore of Pelusium, and yielded only (if +we may believe Nicephorus, l. xiv. c. 18) to the personal +intercession of the Virgin. Yet in his last years he still +muttered that John Chrysostom had been justly condemned, +(Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 278 - 282. Baronius Annal. +Eccles. A.D. 412, No. 46 - 64.)] + +[Footnote 29: See their characters in the history of Socrates, +(l. vii. c. 25 - 28;) their power and pretensions, in the huge +compilation of Thomassin, (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 80 +- 91.)] + +[Footnote 30: His elevation and conduct are described by +Socrates, (l. vii. c. 29 31;) and Marcellinus seems to have +applied the eloquentiae satis, sapi entiae parum, of Sallust.] + +[Footnote 31: Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. v. leg. 65, with the +illustrations of Baronius, (A.D. 428, No. 25, &c.,) Godefroy, (ad +locum,) and Pagi, Critica, tom. ii. p. 208.)] + +[Footnote 32: Isidore of Pelusium, (l. iv. Epist. 57.) His words +are strong and scandalous. Isidore is a saint, but he never +became a bishop; and I half suspect that the pride of Diogenes +trampled on the pride of Plato.] + In the Syrian school, Nestorius had been taught to abhor the +confusion of the two natures, and nicely to discriminate the +humanity of his master Christ from the divinity of the Lord +Jesus. ^33 The Blessed Virgin he revered as the mother of Christ, +but his ears were offended with the rash and recent title of +mother of God, ^34 which had been insensibly adopted since the +origin of the Arian controversy. From the pulpit of +Constantinople, a friend of the patriarch, and afterwards the +patriarch himself, repeatedly preached against the use, or the +abuse, of a word ^35 unknown to the apostles, unauthorized by the +church, and which could only tend to alarm the timorous, to +mislead the simple, to amuse the profane, and to justify, by a +seeming resemblance, the old genealogy of Olympus. ^36 In his +calmer moments Nestorius confessed, that it might be tolerated or +excused by the union of the two natures, and the communication of +their idioms: ^37 but he was exasperated, by contradiction, to +disclaim the worship of a new-born, an infant Deity, to draw his +inadequate similes from the conjugal or civil partnerships of +life, and to describe the manhood of Christ as the robe, the +instrument, the tabernacle of his Godhead. At these blasphemous +sounds, the pillars of the sanctuary were shaken. The +unsuccessful competitors of Nestorius indulged their pious or +personal resentment, the Byzantine clergy was secretly displeased +with the intrusion of a stranger: whatever is superstitious or +absurd, might claim the protection of the monks; and the people +were interested in the glory of their virgin patroness. ^38 The +sermons of the archbishop, and the service of the altar, were +disturbed by seditious clamor; his authority and doctrine were +renounced by separate congregations; every wind scattered round +the empire the leaves of controversy; and the voice of the +combatants on a sonorous theatre reechoed in the cells of +Palestine and Egypt. It was the duty of Cyril to enlighten the +zeal and ignorance of his innumerable monks: in the school of +Alexandria, he had imbibed and professed the incarnation of one +nature; and the successor of Athanasius consulted his pride and +ambition, when he rose in arms against another Arius, more +formidable and more guilty, on the second throne of the +hierarchy. After a short correspondence, in which the rival +prelates disguised their hatred in the hollow language of respect +and charity, the patriarch of Alexandria denounced to the prince +and people, to the East and to the West, the damnable errors of +the Byzantine pontiff. From the East, more especially from +Antioch, he obtained the ambiguous counsels of toleration and +silence, which were addressed to both parties while they favored +the cause of Nestorius. But the Vatican received with open arms +the messengers of Egypt. The vanity of Celestine was flattered by +the appeal; and the partial version of a monk decided the faith +of the pope, who with his Latin clergy was ignorant of the +language, the arts, and the theology of the Greeks. At the head +of an Italian synod, Celestine weighed the merits of the cause, +approved the creed of Cyril, condemned the sentiments and person +of Nestorius, degraded the heretic from his episcopal dignity, +allowed a respite of ten days for recantation and penance, and +delegated to his enemy the execution of this rash and illegal +sentence. But the patriarch of Alexandria, while he darted the +thunders of a god, exposed the errors and passions of a mortal; +and his twelve anathemas ^39 still torture the orthodox slaves, +who adore the memory of a saint, without forfeiting their +allegiance to the synod of Chalcedon. These bold assertions are +indelibly tinged with the colors of the Apollinarian heresy; but +the serious, and perhaps the sincere professions of Nestorius +have satisfied the wiser and less partial theologians of the +present times. ^40 +[Footnote 33: La Croze (Christianisme des Indes, tom. i. p. 44 - +53. Thesaurus Epistolicus, La Crozianus, tom. iii. p. 276 - 280) +has detected the use, which, in the ivth, vth, and vith +centuries, discriminates the school of Diodorus of Tarsus and his +Nestorian disciples.] + +[Footnote 34: Deipara; as in zoology we familiarly speak of +oviparous and viviparous animals. It is not easy to fix the +invention of this word, which La Croze (Christianisme des Indes, +tom. i. p. 16) ascribes to Eusebius of Caesarea and the Arians. +The orthodox testimonies are produced by Cyril and Petavius, +(Dogmat. Theolog. tom. v. l. v. c. 15, p. 254, &c.;) but the +veracity of the saint is questionable, and the epithet so easily +slides from the margin to the text of a Catholic Ms] + +[Footnote 35: Basnage, in his Histoire de l'Eglise, a work of +controversy, (tom l. p. 505,) justifies the mother, by the blood, +of God, (Acts, xx. 28, with Mill's various readings.) But the +Greek Mss. are far from unanimous; and the primitive style of the +blood of Christ is preserved in the Syriac version, even in those +copies which were used by the Christians of St. Thomas on the +coast of Malabar, (La Croze, Christianisme des Indes, tom. i. p. +347.) The jealousy of the Nestorians and Monophysites has guarded +the purity of their text.] + +[Footnote 36: The Pagans of Egypt already laughed at the new +Cybele of the Christians, (Isidor. l. i. epist. 54;) a letter was +forged in the name of Hypatia, to ridicule the theology of her +assassin, (Synodicon, c. 216, in iv. tom. Concil. p. 484.) In the +article of Nestorius, Bayle has scattered some loose philosophy +on the worship of the Virgin Mary.] + +[Footnote 37: The item of the Greeks, a mutual loan or transfer +of the idioms or properties of each nature to the other - of +infinity to man, passibility to God, &c. Twelve rules on this +nicest of subjects compose the Theological Grammar of Petavius, +(Dogmata Theolog. tom. v. l. iv. c. 14, 15, p 209, &c.)] +[Footnote 38: See Ducange, C. P. Christiana, l. i. p. 30, &c.] +[Footnote 39: Concil. tom. iii. p. 943. They have never been +directly approved by the church, (Tillemont. Mem. Eccles. tom. +xiv. p. 368 - 372.) I almost pity the agony of rage and sophistry +with which Petavius seems to be agitated in the vith book of his +Dogmata Theologica] + +[Footnote 40: Such as the rational Basnage (ad tom. i. Variar. +Lection. Canisine in Praefat. c. 2, p. 11 - 23) and La Croze, the +universal scholar, (Christianisme des Indes, tom. i. p. 16 - 20. +De l'Ethiopie, p. 26, 27. The saur. Epist. p. 176, &c., 283, +285.) His free sentence is confirmed by that of his friends +Jablonski (Thesaur. Epist. tom. i. p. 193 - 201) and Mosheim, +(idem. p. 304, Nestorium crimine caruisse est et mea sententia;) +and three more respectable judges will not easily be found. +Asseman, a learned and modest slave, can hardly discern +(Bibliothec. Orient. tom. iv. p. 190 - 224) the guilt and error +of the Nestorians.] + + Yet neither the emperor nor the primate of the East were +disposed to obey the mandate of an Italian priest; and a synod of +the Catholic, or rather of the Greek church, was unanimously +demanded as the sole remedy that could appease or decide this +ecclesiastical quarrel. ^41 Ephesus, on all sides accessible by +sea and land, was chosen for the place, the festival of Pentecost +for the day, of the meeting; a writ of summons was despatched to +each metropolitan, and a guard was stationed to protect and +confine the fathers till they should settle the mysteries of +heaven, and the faith of the earth. Nestorius appeared not as a +criminal, but as a judge; be depended on the weight rather than +the number of his prelates, and his sturdy slaves from the baths +of Zeuxippus were armed for every service of injury or defence. +But his adversary Cyril was more powerful in the weapons both of +the flesh and of the spirit. Disobedient to the letter, or at +least to the meaning, of the royal summons, he was attended by +fifty Egyptian bishops, who expected from their patriarch's nod +the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He had contracted an intimate +alliance with Memnon, bishop of Ephesus. The despotic primate of +Asia disposed of the ready succors of thirty or forty episcopal +votes: a crowd of peasants, the slaves of the church, was poured +into the city to support with blows and clamors a metaphysical +argument; and the people zealously asserted the honor of the +Virgin, whose body reposed within the walls of Ephesus. ^42 The +fleet which had transported Cyril from Alexandria was laden with +the riches of Egypt; and he disembarked a numerous body of +mariners, slaves, and fanatics, enlisted with blind obedience +under the banner of St. Mark and the mother of God. The fathers, +and even the guards, of the council were awed by this martial +array; the adversaries of Cyril and Mary were insulted in the +streets, or threatened in their houses; his eloquence and +liberality made a daily increase in the number of his adherents; +and the Egyptian soon computed that he might command the +attendance and the voices of two hundred bishops. ^43 But the +author of the twelve anathemas foresaw and dreaded the opposition +of John of Antioch, who, with a small, but respectable, train of +metropolitans and divines, was advancing by slow journeys from +the distant capital of the East. Impatient of a delay, which he +stigmatized as voluntary and culpable, ^44 Cyril announced the +opening of the synod sixteen days after the festival of +Pentecost. Nestorius, who depended on the near approach of his +Eastern friends, persisted, like his predecessor Chrysostom, to +disclaim the jurisdiction, and to disobey the summons, of his +enemies: they hastened his trial, and his accuser presided in the +seat of judgment. Sixty-eight bishops, twenty-two of metropolitan +rank, defended his cause by a modest and temperate protest: they +were excluded from the councils of their brethren. Candidian, in +the emperor's name, requested a delay of four days; the profane +magistrate was driven with outrage and insult from the assembly +of the saints. The whole of this momentous transaction was +crowded into the compass of a summer's day: the bishops delivered +their separate opinions; but the uniformity of style reveals the +influence or the hand of a master, who has been accused of +corrupting the public evidence of their acts and subscriptions. +^45 Without a dissenting voice, they recognized in the epistles +of Cyril the Nicene creed and the doctrine of the fathers: but +the partial extracts from the letters and homilies of Nestorius +were interrupted by curses and anathemas: and the heretic was +degraded from his episcopal and ecclesiastical dignity. The +sentence, maliciously inscribed to the new Judas, was affixed and +proclaimed in the streets of Ephesus: the weary prelates, as they +issued from the church of the mother of God, were saluted as her +champions; and her victory was celebrated by the illuminations, +the songs, and the tumult of the night. + +[Footnote 41: The origin and progress of the Nestorian +controversy, till the synod of Ephesus, may be found in Socrates, +(l. vii. c. 32,) Evagrius, (l. i. c. 1, 2,) Liberatus, (Brev. c. +1 - 4,) the original Acts, (Concil. tom. iii. p. 551 - 991, edit. +Venice, 1728,) the Annals of Baronius and Pagi, and the faithful +collections of Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv p. 283 - 377.)] +[Footnote 42: The Christians of the four first centuries were +ignorant of the death and burial of Mary. The tradition of +Ephesus is affirmed by the synod, (Concil. tom. iii. p. 1102;) +yet it has been superseded by the claim of Jerusalem; and her +empty sepulchre, as it was shown to the pilgrims, produced the +fable of her resurrection and assumption, in which the Greek and +Latin churches have piously acquiesced. See Baronius (Annal. +Eccles. A.D. 48, No. 6, &c.) and Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. i. +p. 467 - 477.)] +[Footnote 43: The Acts of Chalcedon (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1405, +1408) exhibit a lively picture of the blind, obstinate servitude +of the bishops of Egypt to their patriarch.] + +[Footnote 44: Civil or ecclesiastical business detained the +bishops at Antioch till the 18th of May. Ephesus was at the +distance of thirty days' journey; and ten days more may be fairly +allowed for accidents and repose. The march of Xenophon over the +same ground enumerates above 260 parasangs or leagues; and this +measure might be illustrated from ancient and modern itineraries, +if I knew how to compare the speed of an army, a synod, and a +caravan. John of Antioch is reluctantly acquitted by Tillemont +himself, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 386 - 389.)] + +[Footnote 45: Evagrius, l. i. c. 7. The same imputation was +urged by Count Irenaeus, (tom. iii. p. 1249;) and the orthodox +critics do not find it an easy task to defend the purity of the +Greek or Latin copies of the Acts.] + On the fifth day, the triumph was clouded by the arrival and +indignation of the Eastern bishops. In a chamber of the inn, +before he had wiped the dust from his shoes, John of Antioch gave +audience to Candidian, the Imperial minister; who related his +ineffectual efforts to prevent or to annul the hasty violence of +the Egyptian. With equal haste and violence, the Oriental synod +of fifty bishops degraded Cyril and Memnon from their episcopal +honors, condemned, in the twelve anathemas, the purest venom of +the Apollinarian heresy, and described the Alexandrian primate as +a monster, born and educated for the destruction of the church. +^46 His throne was distant and inaccessible; but they instantly +resolved to bestow on the flock of Ephesus the blessing of a +faithful shepherd. By the vigilance of Memnon, the churches were +shut against them, and a strong garrison was thrown into the +cathedral. The troops, under the command of Candidian, advanced +to the assault; the outguards were routed and put to the sword, +but the place was impregnable: the besiegers retired; their +retreat was pursued by a vigorous sally; they lost their horses, +and many of their soldiers were dangerously wounded with clubs +and stones. Ephesus, the city of the Virgin, was defiled with +rage and clamor, with sedition and blood; the rival synods darted +anathemas and excommunications from their spiritual engines; and +the court of Theodosius was perplexed by the adverse and +contradictory narratives of the Syrian and Egyptian factions. +During a busy period of three months, the emperor tried every +method, except the most effectual means of indifference and +contempt, to reconcile this theological quarrel. He attempted to +remove or intimidate the leaders by a common sentence, of +acquittal or condemnation; he invested his representatives at +Ephesus with ample power and military force; he summoned from +either party eight chosen deputies to a free and candid +conference in the neighborhood of the capital, far from the +contagion of popular frenzy. But the Orientals refused to yield, +and the Catholics, proud of their numbers and of their Latin +allies, rejected all terms of union or toleration. The patience +of the meek Theodosius was provoked; and he dissolved in anger +this episcopal tumult, which at the distance of thirteen +centuries assumes the venerable aspect of the third oecumenical +council. ^47 "God is my witness," said the pious prince, "that I +am not the author of this confusion. His providence will discern +and punish the guilty. Return to your provinces, and may your +private virtues repair the mischief and scandal of your meeting." +They returned to their provinces; but the same passions which had +distracted the synod of Ephesus were diffused over the Eastern +world. After three obstinate and equal campaigns, John of +Antioch and Cyril of Alexandria condescended to explain and +embrace: but their seeming reunion must be imputed rather to +prudence than to reason, to the mutual lassitude rather than to +the Christian charity of the patriarchs. + +[Footnote 46: After the coalition of John and Cyril these +invectives were mutually forgotten. The style of declamation +must never be confounded with the genuine sense which respectable +enemies entertain of each other's merit, (Concil tom. iii. p. +1244.)] + +[Footnote 47: See the acts of the synod of Ephesus in the +original Greek, and a Latin version almost contemporary, (Concil. +tom. iii. p. 991 - 1339, with the Synodicon adversus Tragoediam +Irenaei, tom. iv. p. 235 - 497,) the Ecclesiastical Histories of +Socrates (l. vii. c. 34) and Evagrius, (l i. c. 3, 4, 5,) and the +Breviary of Liberatus, (in Concil. tom. vi. p. 419 - 459, c. 5, +6,) and the Memoires Eccles. of Tillemont, (tom. xiv p. 377 - +487.)] + The Byzantine pontiff had instilled into the royal ear a +baleful prejudice against the character and conduct of his +Egyptian rival. An epistle of menace and invective, ^48 which +accompanied the summons, accused him as a busy, insolent, and +envious priest, who perplexed the simplicity of the faith, +violated the peace of the church and state, and, by his artful +and separate addresses to the wife and sister of Theodosius, +presumed to suppose, or to scatter, the seeds of discord in the +Imperial family. At the stern command of his sovereign. Cyril +had repaired to Ephesus, where he was resisted, threatened, and +confined, by the magistrates in the interest of Nestorius and the +Orientals; who assembled the troops of Lydia and Ionia to +suppress the fanatic and disorderly train of the patriarch. +Without expecting the royal license, he escaped from his guards, +precipitately embarked, deserted the imperfect synod, and retired +to his episcopal fortress of safety and independence. But his +artful emissaries, both in the court and city, successfully +labored to appease the resentment, and to conciliate the favor, +of the emperor. The feeble son of Arcadius was alternately +swayed by his wife and sister, by the eunuchs and women of the +palace: superstition and avarice were their ruling passions; and +the orthodox chiefs were assiduous in their endeavors to alarm +the former, and to gratify the latter. Constantinople and the +suburbs were sanctified with frequent monasteries, and the holy +abbots, Dalmatius and Eutyches, ^49 had devoted their zeal and +fidelity to the cause of Cyril, the worship of Mary, and the +unity of Christ. From the first moment of their monastic life, +they had never mingled with the world, or trod the profane ground +of the city. But in this awful moment of the danger of the +church, their vow was superseded by a more sublime and +indispensable duty. At the head of a long order of monks and +hermits, who carried burning tapers in their hands, and chanted +litanies to the mother of God, they proceeded from their +monasteries to the palace. The people was edified and inflamed +by this extraordinary spectacle, and the trembling monarch +listened to the prayers and adjurations of the saints, who boldly +pronounced, that none could hope for salvation, unless they +embraced the person and the creed of the orthodox successor of +Athanasius. At the same time, every avenue of the throne was +assaulted with gold. Under the decent names of eulogies and +benedictions, the courtiers of both sexes were bribed according +to the measure of their power and rapaciousness. But their +incessant demands despoiled the sanctuaries of Constantinople and +Alexandria; and the authority of the patriarch was unable to +silence the just murmur of his clergy, that a debt of sixty +thousand pounds had already been contracted to support the +expense of this scandalous corruption. ^50 Pulcheria, who +relieved her brother from the weight of an empire, was the +firmest pillar of orthodoxy; and so intimate was the alliance +between the thunders of the synod and the whispers of the court, +that Cyril was assured of success if he could displace one +eunuch, and substitute another in the favor of Theodosius. Yet +the Egyptian could not boast of a glorious or decisive victory. +The emperor, with unaccustomed firmness, adhered to his promise +of protecting the innocence of the Oriental bishops; and Cyril +softened his anathemas, and confessed, with ambiguity and +reluctance, a twofold nature of Christ, before he was permitted +to satiate his revenge against the unfortunate Nestorius. ^51 + +[Footnote 48: I should be curious to know how much Nestorius paid +for these expressions, so mortifying to his rival.] + +[Footnote 49: Eutyches, the heresiarch Eutyches, is honorably +named by Cyril as a friend, a saint, and the strenuous defender +of the faith. His brother, the abbot Dalmatus, is likewise +employed to bind the emperor and all his chamberlains terribili +conjuratione. Synodicon. c. 203, in Concil. tom. iv p. 467.] + +[Footnote 50: Clerici qui hic sunt contristantur, quod ecclesia +Alexandrina nudata sit hujus causa turbelae: et debet praeter +illa quae hinc transmissa sint auri libras mille quingentas. Et +nunc ei scriptum est ut praestet; sed de tua ecclesia praesta +avaritiae quorum nosti, &c. This curious and original letter, +from Cyril's archdeacon to his creature the new bishop of +Constantinople, has been unaccountably preserved in an old Latin +version, (Synodicon, c. 203, Concil. tom. iv. p. 465 - 468.) The +mask is almost dropped, and the saints speak the honest language +of interest and confederacy.] + +[Footnote 51: The tedious negotiations that succeeded the synod +of Ephesus are diffusely related in the original acts, (Concil. +tom. iii. p. 1339 - 1771, ad fin. vol. and the Synodicon, in tom. +iv.,) Socrates, (l. vii. c. 28, 35, 40, 41,) Evagrius, (l. i. c. +6, 7, 8, 12,) Liberatus, (c. 7 - 10, 7-10,) Tillemont, (Mem. +Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 487 - 676.) The most patient reader will +thank me for compressing so much nonsense and falsehood in a few +lines.] + The rash and obstinate Nestorius, before the end of the +synod, was oppressed by Cyril, betrayed by the court, and faintly +supported by his Eastern friends. A sentiment or fear or +indignation prompted him, while it was yet time, to affect the +glory of a voluntary abdication: ^52 his wish, or at least his +request, was readily granted; he was conducted with honor from +Ephesus to his old monastery of Antioch; and, after a short +pause, his successors, Maximian and Proclus, were acknowledged as +the lawful bishops of Constantinople. But in the silence of his +cell, the degraded patriarch could no longer resume the innocence +and security of a private monk. The past he regretted, he was +discontented with the present, and the future he had reason to +dread: the Oriental bishops successively disengaged their cause +from his unpopular name, and each day decreased the number of the +schismatics who revered Nestorius as the confessor of the faith. +After a residence at Antioch of four years, the hand of +Theodosius subscribed an edict, ^53 which ranked him with Simon +the magician, proscribed his opinions and followers, condemned +his writings to the flames, and banished his person first to +Petra, in Arabia, and at length to Oasis, one of the islands of +the Libyan desert. ^54 Secluded from the church and from the +world, the exile was still pursued by the rage of bigotry and +war. A wandering tribe of the Blemmyes or Nubians invaded his +solitary prison: in their retreat they dismissed a crowd of +useless captives: but no sooner had Nestorius reached the banks +of the Nile, than he would gladly have escaped from a Roman and +orthodox city, to the milder servitude of the savages. His +flight was punished as a new crime: the soul of the patriarch +inspired the civil and ecclesiastical powers of Egypt; the +magistrates, the soldiers, the monks, devoutly tortured the enemy +of Christ and St. Cyril; and, as far as the confines of +Aethiopia, the heretic was alternately dragged and recalled, till +his aged body was broken by the hardships and accidents of these +reiterated journeys. Yet his mind was still independent and +erect; the president of Thebais was awed by his pastoral letters; +he survived the Catholic tyrant of Alexandria, and, after sixteen +years' banishment, the synod of Chalcedon would perhaps have +restored him to the honors, or at least to the communion, of the +church. The death of Nestorius prevented his obedience to their +welcome summons; ^55 and his disease might afford some color to +the scandalous report, that his tongue, the organ of blasphemy, +had been eaten by the worms. He was buried in a city of Upper +Egypt, known by the names of Chemnis, or Panopolis, or Akmim; ^56 +but the immortal malice of the Jacobites has persevered for ages +to cast stones against his sepulchre, and to propagate the +foolish tradition, that it was never watered by the rain of +heaven, which equally descends on the righteous and the ungodly. +^57 Humanity may drop a tear on the fate of Nestorius; yet +justice must observe, that he suffered the persecution which he +had approved and inflicted. ^58 + +[Footnote 52: Evagrius, l. i. c. 7. The original letters in the +Synodicon (c. 15, 24, 25, 26) justify the appearance of a +voluntary resignation, which is asserted by Ebed-Jesu, a +Nestorian writer, apud Asseman. Bibliot. Oriental. tom. iii. p. +299, 302.] + +[Footnote 53: See the Imperial letters in the Acts of the Synod +of Ephesus, (Concil. tom. iii. p. 1730 - 1735.) The odious name +of Simonians, which was affixed to the disciples of this. Yet +these were Christians! who differed only in names and in +shadows.] + +[Footnote 54: The metaphor of islands is applied by the grave +civilians (Pandect. l. xlviii. tit. 22, leg. 7) to those happy +spots which are discriminated by water and verdure from the +Libyan sands. Three of these under the common name of Oasis, or +Alvahat: 1. The temple of Jupiter Ammon. 2. The middle Oasis, +three days' journey to the west of Lycopolis. 3. The southern, +where Nestorius was banished in the first climate, and only three +days' journey from the confines of Nubia. See a learned note of +Michaelis, (ad Descript. Aegypt. Abulfedae, p. 21-34.) + + Note: 1. The Oasis of Sivah has been visited by Mons. +Drovetti and Mr. Browne. 2. The little Oasis, that of El Kassar, +was visited and described by Belzoni. 3. The great Oasis, and +its splendid ruins, have been well described in the travels of +Sir A. Edmonstone. To these must be added another Western Oasis +also visited by Sir A. Edmonstone. - M.] + +[Footnote 55: The invitation of Nestorius to the synod of +Chalcedon, is related by Zacharias, bishop of Melitene (Evagrius, +l. ii. c. 2. Asseman. Biblioth. Orient. tom. ii. p. 55,) and the +famous Xenaias or Philoxenus, bishop of Hierapolis, (Asseman. +Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 40, &c.,) denied by Evagrius and +Asseman, and stoutly maintained by La Croze, (Thesaur. Epistol. +tom. iii. p. 181, &c.) The fact is not improbable; yet it was the +interest of the Monophysites to spread the invidious report, and +Eutychius (tom. ii. p. 12) affirms, that Nestorius died after an +exile of seven years, and consequently ten years before the synod +of Chalcedon.] +[Footnote 56: Consult D'Anville, (Memoire sur l'Egypte, p. 191,) +Pocock. (Description of the East, vol. i. p. 76,) Abulfeda, +Descript. Aegypt, p. 14,) and his commentator Michaelis, (Not. p. +78 - 83,) and the Nubian Geographer, (p. 42,) who mentions, in +the xiith century, the ruins and the sugar-canes of Akmim.] + +[Footnote 57: Eutychius (Annal. tom. ii. p. 12) and Gregory +Bar-Hebraeus, of Abulpharagius, (Asseman, tom. ii. p. 316,) +represent the credulity of the xth and xiith centuries.] + +[Footnote 58: We are obliged to Evagrius (l. i. c. 7) for some +extracts from the letters of Nestorius; but the lively picture of +his sufferings is treated with insult by the hard and stupid +fanatic.] + + +Chapter XLVII: Ecclesiastical Discord. + + +Part III. + + The death of the Alexandrian primate, after a reign of +thirty-two years, abandoned the Catholics to the intemperance of +zeal and the abuse of victory. ^59 The monophysite doctrine (one +incarnate nature) was rigorously preached in the churches of +Egypt and the monasteries of the East; the primitive creed of +Apollinarius was protected by the sanctity of Cyril; and the name +of Eutyches, his venerable friend, has been applied to the sect +most adverse to the Syrian heresy of Nestorius. His rival +Eutyches was the abbot, or archimandrite, or superior of three +hundred monks, but the opinions of a simple and illiterate +recluse might have expired in the cell, where he had slept above +seventy years, if the resentment or indiscretion of Flavian, the +Byzantine pontiff, had not exposed the scandal to the eyes of the +Christian world. His domestic synod was instantly convened, +their proceedings were sullied with clamor and artifice, and the +aged heretic was surprised into a seeming confession, that Christ +had not derived his body from the substance of the Virgin Mary. +From their partial decree, Eutyches appealed to a general +council; and his cause was vigorously asserted by his godson +Chrysaphius, the reigning eunuch of the palace, and his +accomplice Dioscorus, who had succeeded to the throne, the creed, +the talents, and the vices, of the nephew of Theophilus. By the +special summons of Theodosius, the second synod of Ephesus was +judiciously composed of ten metropolitans and ten bishops from +each of the six dioceses of the Eastern empire: some exceptions +of favor or merit enlarged the number to one hundred and +thirty-five; and the Syrian Barsumas, as the chief and +representative of the monks, was invited to sit and vote with the +successors of the apostles. But the despotism of the Alexandrian +patriarch again oppressed the freedom of debate: the same +spiritual and carnal weapons were again drawn from the arsenals +of Egypt: the Asiatic veterans, a band of archers, served under +the orders of Dioscorus; and the more formidable monks, whose +minds were inaccessible to reason or mercy, besieged the doors of +the cathedral. The general, and, as it should seem, the +unconstrained voice of the fathers, accepted the faith and even +the anathemas of Cyril; and the heresy of the two natures was +formally condemned in the persons and writings of the most +learned Orientals. "May those who divide Christ be divided with +the sword, may they be hewn in pieces, may they be burned alive!" +were the charitable wishes of a Christian synod. ^60 The +innocence and sanctity of Eutyches were acknowledged without +hesitation; but the prelates, more especially those of Thrace and +Asia, were unwilling to depose their patriarch for the use or +even the abuse of his lawful jurisdiction. They embraced the +knees of Dioscorus, as he stood with a threatening aspect on the +footstool of his throne, and conjured him to forgive the +offences, and to respect the dignity, of his brother. "Do you +mean to raise a sedition?" exclaimed the relentless tyrant. +"Where are the officers?" At these words a furious multitude of +monks and soldiers, with staves, and swords, and chains, burst +into the church; the trembling bishops hid themselves behind the +altar, or under the benches, and as they were not inspired with +the zeal of martyrdom, they successively subscribed a blank +paper, which was afterwards filled with the condemnation of the +Byzantine pontiff. Flavian was instantly delivered to the wild +beasts of this spiritual amphitheatre: the monks were stimulated +by the voice and example of Barsumas to avenge the injuries of +Christ: it is said that the patriarch of Alexandria reviled, and +buffeted, and kicked, and trampled his brother of Constantinople: +^61 it is certain, that the victim, before he could reach the +place of his exile, expired on the third day of the wounds and +bruises which he had received at Ephesus. This second synod has +been justly branded as a gang of robbers and assassins; yet the +accusers of Dioscorus would magnify his violence, to alleviate +the cowardice and inconstancy of their own behavior. + +[Footnote 59: Dixi Cyrillum dum viveret, auctoritate sua +effecisse, ne Eutychianismus et Monophysitarum error in nervum +erumperet: idque verum puto ...aliquo ... honesto modo cecinerat. + +The learned but cautious Jablonski did not always speak the whole +truth. Cum Cyrillo lenius omnino egi, quam si tecum aut cum +aliis rei hujus probe gnaris et aequis rerum aestimatoribus +sermones privatos conferrem, (Thesaur. Epistol. La Crozian. tom. +i. p. 197, 198) an excellent key to his dissertations on the +Nestorian controversy!] + +[Footnote 60: At the request of Dioscorus, those who were not +able to roar, stretched out their hands. At Chalcedon, the +Orientals disclaimed these exclamations: but the Egyptians more +consistently declared. (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1012.)] + +[Footnote 61: (Eusebius, bishop of Dorylaeum): and this testimony +of Evagrius (l. ii. c. 2) is amplified by the historian Zonaras, +(tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 44,) who affirms that Dioscorus kicked like +a wild ass. But the language of Liberatus (Brev. c. 12, in +Concil. tom. vi. p. 438) is more cautious; and the Acts of +Chalcedon, which lavish the names of homicide, Cain, &c., do not +justify so pointed a charge. The monk Barsumas is more +particularly accused, (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1418.)] + + The faith of Egypt had prevailed: but the vanquished party +was supported by the same pope who encountered without fear the +hostile rage of Attila and Genseric. The theology of Leo, his +famous tome or epistle on the mystery of the incarnation, had +been disregarded by the synod of Ephesus: his authority, and that +of the Latin church, was insulted in his legates, who escaped +from slavery and death to relate the melancholy tale of the +tyranny of Dioscorus and the martyrdom of Flavian. His +provincial synod annulled the irregular proceedings of Ephesus; +but as this step was itself irregular, he solicited the +convocation of a general council in the free and orthodox +provinces of Italy. From his independent throne, the Roman +bishop spoke and acted without danger as the head of the +Christians, and his dictates were obsequiously transcribed by +Placidia and her son Valentinian; who addressed their Eastern +colleague to restore the peace and unity of the church. But the +pageant of Oriental royalty was moved with equal dexterity by the +hand of the eunuch; and Theodosius could pronounce, without +hesitation, that the church was already peaceful and triumphant, +and that the recent flame had been extinguished by the just +punishment of the Nestorians. Perhaps the Greeks would be still +involved in the heresy of the Monophysites, if the emperor's +horse had not fortunately stumbled; Theodosius expired; his +orthodox sister Pulcheria, with a nominal husband, succeeded to +the throne; Chrysaphius was burnt, Dioscorus was disgraced, the +exiles were recalled, and the tome of Leo was subscribed by the +Oriental bishops. Yet the pope was disappointed in his favorite +project of a Latin council: he disdained to preside in the Greek +synod, which was speedily assembled at Nice in Bithynia; his +legates required in a peremptory tone the presence of the +emperor; and the weary fathers were transported to Chalcedon +under the immediate eye of Marcian and the senate of +Constantinople. A quarter of a mile from the Thracian Bosphorus, +the church of St. Euphemia was built on the summit of a gentle +though lofty ascent: the triple structure was celebrated as a +prodigy of art, and the boundless prospect of the land and sea +might have raised the mind of a sectary to the contemplation of +the God of the universe. Six hundred and thirty bishops were +ranged in order in the nave of the church; but the patriarchs of +the East were preceded by the legates, of whom the third was a +simple priest; and the place of honor was reserved for twenty +laymen of consular or senatorian rank. The gospel was +ostentatiously displayed in the centre, but the rule of faith was +defined by the Papal and Imperial ministers, who moderated the +thirteen sessions of the council of Chalcedon. ^62 Their partial +interposition silenced the intemperate shouts and execrations, +which degraded the episcopal gravity; but, on the formal +accusation of the legates, Dioscorus was compelled to descend +from his throne to the rank of a criminal, already condemned in +the opinion of his judges. The Orientals, less adverse to +Nestorius than to Cyril, accepted the Romans as their deliverers: +Thrace, and Pontus, and Asia, were exasperated against the +murderer of Flavian, and the new patriarchs of Constantinople and +Antioch secured their places by the sacrifice of their +benefactor. The bishops of Palestine, Macedonia, and Greece, +were attached to the faith of Cyril; but in the face of the +synod, in the heat of the battle, the leaders, with their +obsequious train, passed from the right to the left wing, and +decided the victory by this seasonable desertion. Of the +seventeen suffragans who sailed from Alexandria, four were +tempted from their allegiance, and the thirteen, falling +prostrate on the ground, implored the mercy of the council, with +sighs and tears, and a pathetic declaration, that, if they +yielded, they should be massacred, on their return to Egypt, by +the indignant people. A tardy repentance was allowed to expiate +the guilt or error of the accomplices of Dioscorus: but their +sins were accumulated on his head; he neither asked nor hoped for +pardon, and the moderation of those who pleaded for a general +amnesty was drowned in the prevailing cry of victory and revenge. + +To save the reputation of his late adherents, some personal +offences were skilfully detected; his rash and illegal +excommunication of the pope, and his contumacious refusal (while +he was detained a prisoner) to attend to the summons of the +synod. Witnesses were introduced to prove the special facts of +his pride, avarice, and cruelty; and the fathers heard with +abhorrence, that the alms of the church were lavished on the +female dancers, that his palace, and even his bath, was open to +the prostitutes of Alexandria, and that the infamous Pansophia, +or Irene, was publicly entertained as the concubine of the +patriarch. ^63 + +[Footnote 62: The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon (Concil. tom. +iv. p. 761 - 2071) comprehend those of Ephesus, (p. 890 - 1189,) +which again comprise the synod of Constantinople under Flavian, +(p. 930 - 1072;) and at requires some attention to disengage this +double involution. The whole business of Eutyches, Flavian, and +Dioscorus, is related by Evagrius (l. i. c. 9 - 12, and l. ii. c. +1, 2, 3, 4,) and Liberatus, (Brev. c. 11, 12, 13, 14.) Once more, +and almost for the last time, I appeal to the diligence of +Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xv. p. 479-719.) The annals of +Baronius and Pagi will accompany me much further on my long and +laborious journey.] + +[Footnote 63: (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1276.) A specimen of the wit +and malice of the people is preserved in the Greek Anthology, (l. +ii. c. 5, p. 188, edit. Wechel,) although the application was +unknown to the editor Brodaeus. The nameless epigrammatist +raises a tolerable pun, by confounding the episcopal salutation +of "Peace be to all!" with the genuine or corrupted name of the +bishop's concubine: + + I am ignorant whether the patriarch, who seems to have been +a jealous lover, is the Cimon of a preceding epigram, was viewed +with envy aud wonder by Priapus himself.] + + For these scandalous offences, Dioscorus was deposed by the +synod, and banished by the emperor; but the purity of his faith +was declared in the presence, and with the tacit approbation, of +the fathers. Their prudence supposed rather than pronounced the +heresy of Eutyches, who was never summoned before their tribunal; +and they sat silent and abashed, when a bold Monophysite casting +at their feet a volume of Cyril, challenged them to anathematize +in his person the doctrine of the saint. If we fairly peruse the +acts of Chalcedon as they are recorded by the orthodox party, ^64 +we shall find that a great majority of the bishops embraced the +simple unity of Christ; and the ambiguous concession that he was +formed Of or From two natures, might imply either their previous +existence, or their subsequent confusion, or some dangerous +interval between the conception of the man and the assumption of +the God. The Roman theology, more positive and precise, adopted +the term most offensive to the ears of the Egyptians, that Christ +existed In two natures; and this momentous particle ^65 (which +the memory, rather than the understanding, must retain) had +almost produced a schism among the Catholic bishops. The tome of +Leo had been respectfully, perhaps sincerely, subscribed; but +they protested, in two successive debates, that it was neither +expedient nor lawful to transgress the sacred landmarks which had +been fixed at Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus, according to the +rule of Scripture and tradition. At length they yielded to the +importunities of their masters; but their infallible decree, +after it had been ratified with deliberate votes and vehement +acclamations, was overturned in the next session by the +opposition of the legates and their Oriental friends. It was in +vain that a multitude of episcopal voices repeated in chorus, +"The definition of the fathers is orthodox and immutable! The +heretics are now discovered! Anathema to the Nestorians! Let +them depart from the synod! Let them repair to Rome." ^66 The +legates threatened, the emperor was absolute, and a committee of +eighteen bishops prepared a new decree, which was imposed on the +reluctant assembly. In the name of the fourth general council, +the Christ in one person, but in two natures, was announced to +the Catholic world: an invisible line was drawn between the +heresy of Apollinaris and the faith of St. Cyril; and the road to +paradise, a bridge as sharp as a razor, was suspended over the +abyss by the master-hand of the theological artist. During ten +centuries of blindness and servitude, Europe received her +religious opinions from the oracle of the Vatican; and the same +doctrine, already varnished with the rust of antiquity, was +admitted without dispute into the creed of the reformers, who +disclaimed the supremacy of the Roman pontiff. The synod of +Chalcedon still triumphs in the Protestant churches; but the +ferment of controversy has subsided, and the most pious +Christians of the present day are ignorant, or careless, of their +own belief concerning the mystery of the incarnation. + +[Footnote 64: Those who reverence the infallibility of synods, +may try to ascertain their sense. The leading bishops were +attended by partial or careless scribes, who dispersed their +copies round the world. Our Greek Mss. are sullied with the +false and prescribed reading of (Concil. tom. iii. p. 1460:) the +authentic translation of Pope Leo I. does not seem to have been +executed, and the old Latin versions materially differ from the +present Vulgate, which was revised (A.D. 550) by Rusticus, a +Roman priest, from the best Mss. at Constantinople, (Ducange, C. +P. Christiana, l. iv. p. 151,) a famous monastery of Latins, +Greeks, and Syrians. See Concil. tom. iv. p. 1959 - 2049, and +Pagi, Critica, tom. ii. p. 326, &c.] + +[Footnote 65: It is darkly represented in the microscope of +Petavius, (tom. v. l. iii. c. 5;) yet the subtle theologian is +himself afraid - ne quis fortasse supervacaneam, et nimis anxiam +putet hujusmodi vocularum inquisitionem, et ab instituti +theologici gravitate alienam, (p. 124.)] + +[Footnote 66: (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1449.) Evagrius and Liberatus +present only the placid face of the synod, and discreetly slide +over these embers, suppositos cineri doloso.] + + Far different was the temper of the Greeks and Egyptians +under the orthodox reigns of Leo and Marcian. Those pious +emperors enforced with arms and edicts the symbol of their faith; +^67 and it was declared by the conscience or honor of five +hundred bishops, that the decrees of the synod of Chalcedon might +be lawfully supported, even with blood. The Catholics observed +with satisfaction, that the same synod was odious both to the +Nestorians and the Monophysites; ^68 but the Nestorians were less +angry, or less powerful, and the East was distracted by the +obstinate and sanguinary zeal of the Monophysites. Jerusalem was +occupied by an army of monks; in the name of the one incarnate +nature, they pillaged, they burnt, they murdered; the sepulchre +of Christ was defiled with blood; and the gates of the city were +guarded in tumultuous rebellion against the troops of the +emperor. After the disgrace and exile of Dioscorus, the Egyptians +still regretted their spiritual father; and detested the +usurpation of his successor, who was introduced by the fathers of +Chalcedon. The throne of Proterius was supported by a guard of +two thousand soldiers: he waged a five years' war against the +people of Alexandria; and on the first intelligence of the death +of Marcian, he became the victim of their zeal. On the third day +before the festival of Easter, the patriarch was besieged in the +cathedral, and murdered in the baptistery. The remains of his +mangled corpse were delivered to the flames, and his ashes to the +wind; and the deed was inspired by the vision of a pretended +angel: an ambitious monk, who, under the name of Timothy the Cat, +^69 succeeded to the place and opinions of Dioscorus. This +deadly superstition was inflamed, on either side, by the +principle and the practice of retaliation: in the pursuit of a +metaphysical quarrel, many thousands ^70 were slain, and the +Christians of every degree were deprived of the substantial +enjoyments of social life, and of the invisible gifts of baptism +and the holy communion. Perhaps an extravagant fable of the +times may conceal an allegorical picture of these fanatics, who +tortured each other and themselves. "Under the consulship of +Venantius and Celer," says a grave bishop, "the people of +Alexandria, and all Egypt, were seized with a strange and +diabolical frenzy: great and small, slaves and freedmen, monks +and clergy, the natives of the land, who opposed the synod of +Chalcedon, lost their speech and reason, barked like dogs, and +tore, with their own teeth the flesh from their hands and arms." +^71 +[Footnote 67: See, in the Appendix to the Acts of Chalcedon, the +confirmation of the Synod by Marcian, (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1781, +1783;) his letters to the monks of Alexandria, (p. 1791,) of +Mount Sinai, (p. 1793,) of Jerusalem and Palestine, (p. 1798;) +his laws against the Eutychians, (p. 1809, 1811, 1831;) the +correspondence of Leo with the provincial synods on the +revolution of Alexandria, (p. 1835 - 1930.)] + +[Footnote 68: Photius (or rather Eulogius of Alexandria) +confesses, in a fine passage, the specious color of this double +charge against Pope Leo and his synod of Chalcedon, (Bibliot. +cod. ccxxv. p. 768.) He waged a double war against the enemies of +the church, and wounded either foe with the darts of his +adversary. Against Nestorius he seemed to introduce +Monophysites; against Eutyches he appeared to countenance the +Nestorians. The apologist claims a charitable interpretation for +the saints: if the same had been extended to the heretics, the +sound of the controversy would have been lost in the air] +[Footnote 69: From his nocturnal expeditions. In darkness and +disguise he crept round the cells of the monastery, and whispered +the revelation to his slumbering brethren, (Theodor. Lector. l. +i.)] + +[Footnote 70: Such is the hyperbolic language of the Henoticon.] +[Footnote 71: See the Chronicle of Victor Tunnunensis, in the +Lectiones Antiquae of Canisius, republished by Basnage, tom. +326.] + + The disorders of thirty years at length produced the famous +Henoticon ^72 of the emperor Zeno, which in his reign, and in +that of Anastasius, was signed by all the bishops of the East, +under the penalty of degradation and exile, if they rejected or +infringed this salutary and fundamental law. The clergy may +smile or groan at the presumption of a layman who defines the +articles of faith; yet if he stoops to the humiliating task, his +mind is less infected by prejudice or interest, and the authority +of the magistrate can only be maintained by the concord of the +people. It is in ecclesiastical story, that Zeno appears least +contemptible; and I am not able to discern any Manichaean or +Eutychian guilt in the generous saying of Anastasius. That it +was unworthy of an emperor to persecute the worshippers of Christ +and the citizens of Rome. The Henoticon was most pleasing to the +Egyptians; yet the smallest blemish has not been described by the +jealous, and even jaundiced eyes of our orthodox schoolmen, and +it accurately represents the Catholic faith of the incarnation, +without adopting or disclaiming the peculiar terms of tenets of +the hostile sects. A solemn anathema is pronounced against +Nestorius and Eutyches; against all heretics by whom Christ is +divided, or confounded, or reduced to a phantom. Without +defining the number or the article of the word nature, the pure +system of St. Cyril, the faith of Nice, Constantinople, and +Ephesus, is respectfully confirmed; but, instead of bowing at the +name of the fourth council, the subject is dismissed by the +censure of all contrary doctrines, if any such have been taught +either elsewhere or at Chalcedon. Under this ambiguous +expression, the friends and the enemies of the last synod might +unite in a silent embrace. The most reasonable Christians +acquiesced in this mode of toleration; but their reason was +feeble and inconstant, and their obedience was despised as timid +and servile by the vehement spirit of their brethren. On a +subject which engrossed the thoughts and discourses of men, it +was difficult to preserve an exact neutrality; a book, a sermon, +a prayer, rekindled the flame of controversy; and the bonds of +communion were alternately broken and renewed by the private +animosity of the bishops. The space between Nestorius and +Eutyches was filled by a thousand shades of language and opinion; +the acephali ^73 of Egypt, and the Roman pontiffs, of equal +valor, though of unequal strength, may be found at the two +extremities of the theological scale. The acephali, without a +king or a bishop, were separated above three hundred years from +the patriarchs of Alexandria, who had accepted the communion of +Constantinople, without exacting a formal condemnation of the +synod of Chalcedon. For accepting the communion of Alexandria, +without a formal approbation of the same synod, the patriarchs of +Constantinople were anathematized by the popes. Their inflexible +despotism involved the most orthodox of the Greek churches in +this spiritual contagion, denied or doubted the validity of their +sacraments, ^74 and fomented, thirty-five years, the schism of +the East and West, till they finally abolished the memory of four +Byzantine pontiffs, who had dared to oppose the supremacy of St. +Peter. ^75 Before that period, the precarious truce of +Constantinople and Egypt had been violated by the zeal of the +rival prelates. Macedonius, who was suspected of the Nestorian +heresy, asserted, in disgrace and exile, the synod of Chalcedon, +while the successor of Cyril would have purchased its overthrow +with a bribe of two thousand pounds of gold. +[Footnote 72: The Henoticon is transcribed by Evagrius, (l. iii. +c. 13,) and translated by Liberatus, (Brev. c. 18.) Pagi +(Critica, tom. ii. p. 411) and (Bibliot. Orient. tom. i. p. 343) +are satisfied that it is free from heresy; but Petavius (Dogmat. +Theolog. tom. v. l. i. c. 13, p. 40) most unaccountably affirms +Chalcedonensem ascivit. An adversary would prove that he had +never read the Henoticon.] + +[Footnote 73: See Renaudot, (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 123, 131, +145, 195, 247.) They were reconciled by the care of Mark I. (A.D. +799 - 819;) he promoted their chiefs to the bishoprics of +Athribis and Talba, (perhaps Tava. See D'Anville, p. 82,) and +supplied the sacraments, which had failed for want of an +episcopal ordination.] + +[Footnote 74: De his quos baptizavit, quos ordinavit Acacius, +majorum traditione confectam et veram, praecipue religiosae +solicitudini congruam praebemus sine difficultate medicinam, +(Galacius, in epist. i. ad Euphemium, Concil. tom. v. 286.) The +offer of a medicine proves the disease, and numbers must have +perished before the arrival of the Roman physician. Tillemont +himself (Mem. Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 372, 642, &c.) is shocked at +the proud, uncharitable temper of the popes; they are now glad, +says he, to invoke St. Flavian of Antioch, St. Elias of +Jerusalem, &c., to whom they refused communion whilst upon earth. + +But Cardinal Baronius is firm and hard as the rock of St. Peter.] + +[Footnote 75: Their names were erased from the diptych of the +church: ex venerabili diptycho, in quo piae memoriae transitum ad +coelum habentium episcoporum vocabula continentur, (Concil. tom. +iv. p. 1846.) This ecclesiastical record was therefore equivalent +to the book of life.] + In the fever of the times, the sense, or rather the sound of +a syllable, was sufficient to disturb the peace of an empire. +The Trisagion ^76 (thrice holy,) "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of +Hosts!" is supposed, by the Greeks, to be the identical hymn +which the angels and cherubim eternally repeat before the throne +of God, and which, about the middle of the fifth century, was +miraculously revealed to the church of Constantinople. The +devotion of Antioch soon added, "who was crucified for us!" and +this grateful address, either to Christ alone, or to the whole +Trinity, may be justified by the rules of theology, and has been +gradually adopted by the Catholics of the East and West. But it +had been imagined by a Monophysite bishop; ^77 the gift of an +enemy was at first rejected as a dire and dangerous blasphemy, +and the rash innovation had nearly cost the emperor Anastasius +his throne and his life. ^78 The people of Constantinople was +devoid of any rational principles of freedom; but they held, as a +lawful cause of rebellion, the color of a livery in the races, or +the color of a mystery in the schools. The Trisagion, with and +without this obnoxious addition, was chanted in the cathedral by +two adverse choirs, and when their lungs were exhausted, they had +recourse to the more solid arguments of sticks and stones; the +aggressors were punished by the emperor, and defended by the +patriarch; and the crown and mitre were staked on the event of +this momentous quarrel. The streets were instantly crowded with +innumerable swarms of men, women, and children; the legions of +monks, in regular array, marched, and shouted, and fought at +their head, "Christians! this is the day of martyrdom: let us not +desert our spiritual father; anathema to the Manichaean tyrant! +he is unworthy to reign." Such was the Catholic cry; and the +galleys of Anastasius lay upon their oars before the palace, till +the patriarch had pardoned his penitent, and hushed the waves of +the troubled multitude. The triumph of Macedonius was checked by +a speedy exile; but the zeal of his flock was again exasperated +by the same question, "Whether one of the Trinity had been +crucified?" On this momentous occasion, the blue and green +factions of Constantinople suspended their discord, and the civil +and military powers were annihilated in their presence. The keys +of the city, and the standards of the guards, were deposited in +the forum of Constantine, the principal station and camp of the +faithful. Day and night they were incessantly busied either in +singing hymns to the honor of their God, or in pillaging and +murdering the servants of their prince. The head of his favorite +monk, the friend, as they styled him, of the enemy of the Holy +Trinity, was borne aloft on a spear; and the firebrands, which +had been darted against heretical structures, diffused the +undistinguishing flames over the most orthodox buildings. The +statues of the emperor were broken, and his person was concealed +in a suburb, till, at the end of three days, he dared to implore +the mercy of his subjects. Without his diadem, and in the +posture of a suppliant, Anastasius appeared on the throne of the +circus. The Catholics, before his face, rehearsed their genuine +Trisagion; they exulted in the offer, which he proclaimed by the +voice of a herald, of abdicating the purple; they listened to the +admonition, that, since all could not reign, they should +previously agree in the choice of a sovereign; and they accepted +the blood of two unpopular ministers, whom their master, without +hesitation, condemned to the lions. These furious but transient +seditions were encouraged by the success of Vitalian, who, with +an army of Huns and Bulgarians, for the most part idolaters, +declared himself the champion of the Catholic faith. In this +pious rebellion he depopulated Thrace, besieged Constantinople, +exterminated sixty-five thousand of his fellow-Christians, till +he obtained the recall of the bishops, the satisfaction of the +pope, and the establishment of the council of Chalcedon, an +orthodox treaty, reluctantly signed by the dying Anastasius, and +more faithfully performed by the uncle of Justinian. And such +was the event of the first of the religious wars which have been +waged in the name and by the disciples, of the God of peace. ^79 + +[Footnote 76: Petavius (Dogmat. Theolog. tom. v. l. v. c. 2, 3, +4, p. 217 - 225) and Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 713, +&c., 799) represent the history and doctrine of the Trisagion. +In the twelve centuries between Isaiah and St. Proculs's boy, +who was taken up into heaven before the bishop and people of +Constantinople, the song was considerably improved. The boy +heard the angels sing, "Holy God! Holy strong! Holy immortal!"] + +[Footnote 77: Peter Gnapheus, the fuller, (a trade which he had +exercised in his monastery,) patriarch of Antioch. His tedious +story is discussed in the Annals of Pagi (A.D. 477 - 490) and a +dissertation of M. de Valois at the end of his Evagrius.] + +[Footnote 78: The troubles under the reign of Anastasius must be +gathered from the Chronicles of Victor, Marcellinus, and +Theophanes. As the last was not published in the time of +Baronius, his critic Pagi is more copious, as well as more +correct.] + +[Footnote 79: The general history, from the council of Chalcedon +to the death of Anastasius, may be found in the Breviary of +Liberatus, (c. 14 - 19,) the iid and iiid books of Evagrius, the +abstract of the two books of Theodore the Reader, the Acts of the +Synods, and the Epistles of the Pope, (Concil. tom. v.) The +series is continued with some disorder in the xvth and xvith +tomes of the Memoires Ecclesiastiques of Tillemont. And here I +must take leave forever of that incomparable guide - whose +bigotry is overbalanced by the merits of erudition, diligence, +veracity, and scrupulous minuteness. He was prevented by death +from completing, as he designed, the vith century of the church +and empire.] + + +Chapter XLVII: Ecclesiastical Discord. + + +Part III. + + Justinian has been already seen in the various lights of a +prince, a conqueror, and a lawgiver: the theologian ^80 still +remains, and it affords an unfavorable prejudice, that his +theology should form a very prominent feature of his portrait. +The sovereign sympathized with his subjects in their +superstitious reverence for living and departed saints: his Code, +and more especially his Novels, confirm and enlarge the +privileges of the clergy; and in every dispute between a monk and +a layman, the partial judge was inclined to pronounce, that +truth, and innocence, and justice, were always on the side of the +church. In his public and private devotions, the emperor was +assiduous and exemplary; his prayers, vigils, and fasts, +displayed the austere penance of a monk; his fancy was amused by +the hope, or belief, of personal inspiration; he had secured the +patronage of the Virgin and St. Michael the archangel; and his +recovery from a dangerous disease was ascribed to the miraculous +succor of the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damian. The capital and +the provinces of the East were decorated with the monuments of +his religion; ^81 and though the far greater part of these costly +structures may be attributed to his taste or ostentation, the +zeal of the royal architect was probably quickened by a genuine +sense of love and gratitude towards his invisible benefactors. +Among the titles of Imperial greatness, the name of Pious was +most pleasing to his ear; to promote the temporal and spiritual +interest of the church was the serious business of his life; and +the duty of father of his country was often sacrificed to that of +defender of the faith. The controversies of the times were +congenial to his temper and understanding and the theological +professors must inwardly deride the diligence of a stranger, who +cultivated their art and neglected his own. "What can ye fear," +said a bold conspirator to his associates, "from your bigoted +tyrant? Sleepless and unarmed, he sits whole nights in his +closet, debating with reverend graybeards, and turning over the +pages of ecclesiastical volumes." ^82 The fruits of these +lucubrations were displayed in many a conference, where Justinian +might shine as the loudest and most subtile of the disputants; in +many a sermon, which, under the name of edicts and epistles, +proclaimed to the empire the theology of their master. While the +Barbarians invaded the provinces, while the victorious legion +marched under the banners of Belisarius and Narses, the successor +of Trajan, unknown to the camp, was content to vanquish at the +head of a synod. Had he invited to these synods a disinterested +and rational spectator, Justinian might have learned, "that +religious controversy is the offspring of arrogance and folly; +that true piety is most laudably expressed by silence and +submission; that man, ignorant of his own nature, should not +presume to scrutinize the nature of his God; and that it is +sufficient for us to know, that power and benevolence are the +perfect attributes of the Deity." ^83 + +[Footnote 80: The strain of the Anecdotes of Procopius, (c. 11, +13, 18, 27, 28,) with the learned remarks of Alemannus, is +confirmed, rather than contradicted, by the Acts of the Councils, +the fourth book of Evagrius, and the complaints of the African +Facundus, in his xiith book - de tribus capitulis, "cum videri +doctus appetit importune ...spontaneis quaestionibus ecclesiam +turbat." See Procop. de Bell. Goth. l. iii. c. 35.] +[Footnote 81: Procop. de Edificiis, l. i. c. 6, 7, &c., passim.] +[Footnote 82: Procop. de Bell. Goth. l. iii. c. 32. In the life +of St. Eutychius (apud Aleman. ad Procop. Arcan. c. 18) the same +character is given with a design to praise Justinian.] + +[Footnote 83: For these wise and moderate sentiments, Procopius +(de Bell. Goth. l. i. c. 3) is scourged in the preface of +Alemannus, who ranks him among the political Christians - sed +longe verius haeresium omnium sentinas, prorsusque Atheos - +abominable Atheists, who preached the imitation of God's mercy to +man, (ad Hist. Arcan. c. 13.)] + + Toleration was not the virtue of the times, and indulgence +to rebels has seldom been the virtue of princes. But when the +prince descends to the narrow and peevish character of a +disputant, he is easily provoked to supply the defect of argument +by the plenitude of power, and to chastise without mercy the +perverse blindness of those who wilfully shut their eyes against +the light of demonstration. The reign of Justinian was a uniform +yet various scene of persecution; and he appears to have +surpassed his indolent predecessors, both in the contrivance of +his laws and the rigor of their execution. The insufficient term +of three months was assigned for the conversion or exile of all +heretics; ^84 and if he still connived at their precarious stay, +they were deprived, under his iron yoke, not only of the benefits +of society, but of the common birth-right of men and Christians. +At the end of four hundred years, the Montanists of Phrygia ^85 +still breathed the wild enthusiasm of perfection and prophecy +which they had imbibed from their male and female apostles, the +special organs of the Paraclete. On the approach of the Catholic +priests and soldiers, they grasped with alacrity the crown of +martyrdom the conventicle and the congregation perished in the +flames, but these primitive fanatics were not extinguished three +hundred years after the death of their tyrant. Under the +protection of their Gothic confederates, the church of the Arians +at Constantinople had braved the severity of the laws: their +clergy equalled the wealth and magnificence of the senate; and +the gold and silver which were seized by the rapacious hand of +Justinian might perhaps be claimed as the spoils of the +provinces, and the trophies of the Barbarians. A secret remnant +of Pagans, who still lurked in the most refined and most rustic +conditions of mankind, excited the indignation of the Christians, +who were perhaps unwilling that any strangers should be the +witnesses of their intestine quarrels. A bishop was named as the +inquisitor of the faith, and his diligence soon discovered, in +the court and city, the magistrates, lawyers, physicians, and +sophists, who still cherished the superstition of the Greeks. +They were sternly informed that they must choose without delay +between the displeasure of Jupiter or Justinian, and that their +aversion to the gospel could no longer be distinguished under the +scandalous mask of indifference or impiety. The patrician +Photius, perhaps, alone was resolved to live and to die like his +ancestors: he enfranchised himself with the stroke of a dagger, +and left his tyrant the poor consolation of exposing with +ignominy the lifeless corpse of the fugitive. His weaker +brethren submitted to their earthly monarch, underwent the +ceremony of baptism, and labored, by their extraordinary zeal, to +erase the suspicion, or to expiate the guilt, of idolatry. The +native country of Homer, and the theatre of the Trojan war, still +retained the last sparks of his mythology: by the care of the +same bishop, seventy thousand Pagans were detected and converted +in Asia, Phrygia, Lydia, and Caria; ninety-six churches were +built for the new proselytes; and linen vestments, Bibles, and +liturgies, and vases of gold and silver, were supplied by the +pious munificence of Justinian. ^86 The Jews, who had been +gradually stripped of their immunities, were oppressed by a +vexatious law, which compelled them to observe the festival of +Easter the same day on which it was celebrated by the Christians. +^87 And they might complain with the more reason, since the +Catholics themselves did not agree with the astronomical +calculations of their sovereign: the people of Constantinople +delayed the beginning of their Lent a whole week after it had +been ordained by authority; and they had the pleasure of fasting +seven days, while meat was exposed for sale by the command of the +emperor. The Samaritans of Palestine ^88 were a motley race, an +ambiguous sect, rejected as Jews by the Pagans, by the Jews as +schismatics, and by the Christians as idolaters. The abomination +of the cross had already been planted on their holy mount of +Garizim, ^89 but the persecution of Justinian offered only the +alternative of baptism or rebellion. They chose the latter: +under the standard of a desperate leader, they rose in arms, and +retaliated their wrongs on the lives, the property, and the +temples, of a defenceless people. The Samaritans were finally +subdued by the regular forces of the East: twenty thousand were +slain, twenty thousand were sold by the Arabs to the infidels of +Persia and India, and the remains of that unhappy nation atoned +for the crime of treason by the sin of hypocrisy. It has been +computed that one hundred thousand Roman subjects were extirpated +in the Samaritan war, ^90 which converted the once fruitful +province into a desolate and smoking wilderness. But in the +creed of Justinian, the guilt of murder could not be applied to +the slaughter of unbelievers; and he piously labored to establish +with fire and sword the unity of the Christian faith. ^91 + +[Footnote 84: This alternative, a precious circumstance, is +preserved by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 63, edit. Venet. 1733,) +who deserves more credit as he draws towards his end. After +numbering the heretics, Nestorians, Eutychians, &c., ne +expectent, says Justinian, ut digni venia judicen tur: jubemus, +enim ut ...convicti et aperti haeretici justae et idoneae +animadversioni subjiciantur. Baronius copies and applauds this +edict of the Code, (A.D. 527, No. 39, 40.)] + +[Footnote 85: See the character and principles of the Montanists, +in Mosheim, Rebus Christ. ante Constantinum, p. 410 - 424.] + +[Footnote 86: Theophan. Chron. p. 153. John, the Monophysite +bishop of Asia, is a more authentic witness of this transaction, +in which he was himself employed by the emperor, (Asseman. Bib. +Orient. tom. ii. p. 85.)] +[Footnote 87: Compare Procopius (Hist. Arcan. c. 28, and Aleman's +Notes) with Theophanes, (Chron. p. 190.) The council of Nice has +intrusted the patriarch, or rather the astronomers, of +Alexandria, with the annual proclamation of Easter; and we still +read, or rather we do not read, many of the Paschal epistles of +St. Cyril. Since the reign of Monophytism in Egypt, the +Catholics were perplexed by such a foolish prejudice as that +which so long opposed, among the Protestants, the reception of +the Gregorian style.] +[Footnote 88: For the religion and history of the Samaritans, +consult Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, a learned and impartial +work.] + +[Footnote 89: Sichem, Neapolis, Naplous, the ancient and modern +seat of the Samaritans, is situate in a valley between the barren +Ebal, the mountain of cursing to the north, and the fruitful +Garizim, or mountain of cursing to the south, ten or eleven +hours' travel from Jerusalem. See Maundrel, Journey from Aleppo +&c.] + +[Footnote 90: Procop. Anecdot. c. 11. Theophan. Chron. p. 122. +John Malala Chron. tom. ii. p. 62. I remember an observation, +half philosophical. half superstitious, that the province which +had been ruined by the bigotry of Justinian, was the same through +which the Mahometans penetrated into the empire.] + +[Footnote 91: The expression of Procopius is remarkable. +Anecdot. c. 13.] + With these sentiments, it was incumbent on him, at least, to +be always in the right. In the first years of his +administration, he signalized his zeal as the disciple and patron +of orthodoxy: the reconciliation of the Greeks and Latins +established the tome of St. Leo as the creed of the emperor and +the empire; the Nestorians and Eutychians were exposed. on either +side, to the double edge of persecution; and the four synods of +Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, were ratified by +the code of a Catholic lawgiver. ^92 But while Justinian strove +to maintain the uniformity of faith and worship, his wife +Theodora, whose vices were not incompatible with devotion, had +listened to the Monophysite teachers; and the open or clandestine +enemies of the church revived and multiplied at the smile of +their gracious patroness. The capital, the palace, the nuptial +bed, were torn by spiritual discord; yet so doubtful was the +sincerity of the royal consorts, that their seeming disagreement +was imputed by many to a secret and mischievous confederacy +against the religion and happiness of their people. ^93 The +famous dispute of the Three Chapters, ^94 which has filled more +volumes than it deserves lines, is deeply marked with this +subtile and disingenuous spirit. It was now three hundred years +since the body of Origen ^95 had been eaten by the worms: his +soul, of which he held the preexistence, was in the hands of its +Creator; but his writings were eagerly perused by the monks of +Palestine. In these writings, the piercing eye of Justinian +descried more than ten metaphysical errors; and the primitive +doctor, in the company of Pythagoras and Plato, was devoted by +the clergy to the eternity of hell-fire, which he had presumed to +deny. Under the cover of this precedent, a treacherous blow was +aimed at the council of Chalcedon. The fathers had listened +without impatience to the praise of Theodore of Mopsuestia; ^96 +and their justice or indulgence had restored both Theodore of +Cyrrhus, and Ibas of Edessa, to the communion of the church. But +the characters of these Oriental bishops were tainted with the +reproach of heresy; the first had been the master, the two others +were the friends, of Nestorius; their most suspicious passages +were accused under the title of the three chapters; and the +condemnation of their memory must involve the honor of a synod, +whose name was pronounced with sincere or affected reverence by +the Catholic world. If these bishops, whether innocent or +guilty, were annihilated in the sleep of death, they would not +probably be awakened by the clamor which, after the a hundred +years, was raised over their grave. If they were already in the +fangs of the daemon, their torments could neither be aggravated +nor assuaged by human industry. If in the company of saints and +angels they enjoyed the rewards of piety, they must have smiled +at the idle fury of the theological insects who still crawled on +the surface of the earth. The foremost of these insects, the +emperor of the Romans, darted his sting, and distilled his venom, +perhaps without discerning the true motives of Theodora and her +ecclesiastical faction. The victims were no longer subject to +his power, and the vehement style of his edicts could only +proclaim their damnation, and invite the clergy of the East to +join in a full chorus of curses and anathemas. The East, with +some hesitation, consented to the voice of her sovereign: the +fifth general council, of three patriarchs and one hundred and +sixty-five bishops, was held at Constantinople; and the authors, +as well as the defenders, of the three chapters were separated +from the communion of the saints, and solemnly delivered to the +prince of darkness. But the Latin churches were more jealous of +the honor of Leo and the synod of Chalcedon: and if they had +fought as they usually did under the standard of Rome, they might +have prevailed in the cause of reason and humanity. But their +chief was a prisoner in the hands of the enemy; the throne of St. +Peter, which had been disgraced by the simony, was betrayed by +the cowardice, of Vigilius, who yielded, after a long and +inconsistent struggle, to the despotism of Justinian and the +sophistry of the Greeks. His apostasy provoked the indignation +of the Latins, and no more than two bishops could be found who +would impose their hands on his deacon and successor Pelagius. +Yet the perseverance of the popes insensibly transferred to their +adversaries the appellation of schismatics; the Illyrian, +African, and Italian churches were oppressed by the civil and +ecclesiastical powers, not without some effort of military force; +^97 the distant Barbarians transcribed the creed of the Vatican, +and, in the period of a century, the schism of the three chapters +expired in an obscure angle of the Venetian province. ^98 But the +religious discontent of the Italians had already promoted the +conquests of the Lombards, and the Romans themselves were +accustomed to suspect the faith and to detest the government of +their Byzantine tyrant. + +[Footnote 92: See the Chronicle of Victor, p. 328, and the +original evidence of the laws of Justinian. During the first +years of his reign, Baronius himself is in extreme good humor +with the emperor, who courted the popes, till he got them into +his power.] + +[Footnote 93: Procopius, Anecdot. c. 13. Evagrius, l. iv. c. 10. + +If the ecclesiastical never read the secret historian, their +common suspicion proves at least the general hatred.] + +[Footnote 94: On the subject of the three chapters, the original +acts of the vth general council of Constantinople supply much +useless, though authentic, knowledge, (Concil. tom. vi. p. 1 - +419.) The Greek Evagrius is less copious and correct (l. iv. c. +38) than the three zealous Africans, Facundus, (in his twelve +books, de tribus capitulis, which are most correctly published by +Sirmond,) Liberatus, (in his Breviarium, c. 22, 23, 24,) and +Victor Tunnunensis in his Chronicle, (in tom. i. Antiq. Lect. +Canisii, 330 - 334.) The Liber Pontificalis, or Anastasius, (in +Vigilio, Pelagio, &c.,) is original Italian evidence. The modern +reader will derive some information from Dupin (Bibliot. Eccles. +tom. v. p. 189 - 207) and Basnage, (Hist. de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. +519 - 541;) yet the latter is too firmly resolved to depreciate +the authority and character of the popes.] + +[Footnote 95: Origen had indeed too great a propensity to imitate +the old philosophers, (Justinian, ad Mennam, in Concil. tom. vi. +p. 356.) His moderate opinions were too repugnant to the zeal of +the church, and he was found guilty of the heresy of reason.] + +[Footnote 96: Basnage (Praefat. p. 11 - 14, ad tom. i. Antiq. +Lect. Canis.) has fairly weighed the guilt and innocence of +Theodore of Mopsuestia. If he composed 10,000 volumes, as many +errors would be a charitable allowance. In all the subsequent +catalogues of heresiarchs, he alone, without his two brethren, is +included; and it is the duty of Asseman (Bibliot. Orient. tom. +iv. p. 203 - 207) to justify the sentence.] + +[Footnote 97: See the complaints of Liberatus and Victor, and the +exhortations of Pope Pelagius to the conqueror and exarch of +Italy. Schisma . . per potestates publicas opprimatur, &c., +(Concil. tom. vi. p. 467, &c.) An army was detained to suppress +the sedition of an Illyrian city. See Procopius, (de Bell. Goth. +l. iv. c. 25:). He seems to promise an ecclesiastical history. +It would have been curious and impartial.] +[Footnote 98: The bishops of the patriarchate of Aquileia were +reconciled by Pope Honorius, A.D. 638, (Muratori, Annali d' +Italia, tom. v. p. 376;) but they again relapsed, and the schism +was not finally extinguished till 698. Fourteen years before, the +church of Spain had overlooked the vth general council with +contemptuous silence, (xiii. Concil. Toretan. in Concil. tom. +vii. p. 487 - 494.)] + + Justinian was neither steady nor consistent in the nice +process of fixing his volatile opinions and those of his +subjects. In his youth he was, offended by the slightest +deviation from the orthodox line; in his old age he transgressed +the measure of temperate heresy, and the Jacobites, not less than +the Catholics, were scandalized by his declaration, that the body +of Christ was incorruptible, and that his manhood was never +subject to any wants and infirmities, the inheritance of our +mortal flesh. This fantastic opinion was announced in the last +edicts of Justinian; and at the moment of his seasonable +departure, the clergy had refused to subscribe, the prince was +prepared to persecute, and the people were resolved to suffer or +resist. A bishop of Treves, secure beyond the limits of his +power, addressed the monarch of the East in the language of +authority and affection. "Most gracious Justinian, remember your +baptism and your creed. Let not your gray hairs be defiled with +heresy. Recall your fathers from exile, and your followers from +perdition. You cannot be ignorant, that Italy and Gaul, Spain and +Africa, already deplore your fall, and anathematize your name. +Unless, without delay, you destroy what you have taught; unless +you exclaim with a loud voice, I have erred, I have sinned, +anathema to Nestorius, anathema to Eutyches, you deliver your +soul to the same flames in which they will eternally burn." He +died and made no sign. ^99 His death restored in some degree the +peace of the church, and the reigns of his four successors, +Justin Tiberius, Maurice, and Phocas, are distinguished by a +rare, though fortunate, vacancy in the ecclesiastical history of +the East. ^100 + +[Footnote 99: Nicetus, bishop of Treves, (Concil. tom. vi. p. 511 +- 513:) he himself, like most of the Gallican prelates, (Gregor. +Epist. l. vii. 5 in Concil. tom. vi. p. 1007,) was separated from +the communion of the four patriarchs by his refusal to condemn +the three chapters. Baronius almost pronounces the damnation of +Justinian, (A.D. 565, No. 6.)] +[Footnote 100: After relating the last heresy of Justinian, (l. +iv. c. 39, 40, 41,) and the edict of his successor, (l. v. c. 3,) +the remainder of the history of Evagrius is filled with civil, +instead of ecclesiastical events.] + The faculties of sense and reason are least capable of +acting on themselves; the eye is most inaccessible to the sight, +the soul to the thought; yet we think, and even feel, that one +will, a sole principle of action, is essential to a rational and +conscious being. When Heraclius returned from the Persian war, +the orthodox hero consulted his bishops, whether the Christ whom +he adored, of one person, but of two natures, was actuated by a +single or a double will. They replied in the singular, and the +emperor was encouraged to hope that the Jacobites of Egypt and +Syria might be reconciled by the profession of a doctrine, most +certainly harmless, and most probably true, since it was taught +even by the Nestorians themselves. ^101 The experiment was tried +without effect, and the timid or vehement Catholics condemned +even the semblance of a retreat in the presence of a subtle and +audacious enemy. The orthodox (the prevailing) party devised new +modes of speech, and argument, and interpretation: to either +nature of Christ they speciously applied a proper and distinct +energy; but the difference was no longer visible when they +allowed that the human and the divine will were invariably the +same. ^102 The disease was attended with the customary symptoms: +but the Greek clergy, as if satiated with the endless controversy +of the incarnation, instilled a healing counsel into the ear of +the prince and people. They declared themselves Monothelites, +(asserters of the unity of will,) but they treated the words as +new, the questions as superfluous; and recommended a religious +silence as the most agreeable to the prudence and charity of the +gospel. This law of silence was successively imposed by the +ecthesis or exposition of Heraclius, the type or model of his +grandson Constans; ^103 and the Imperial edicts were subscribed +with alacrity or reluctance by the four patriarchs of Rome, +Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch. But the bishop and +monks of Jerusalem sounded the alarm: in the language, or even in +the silence, of the Greeks, the Latin churches detected a latent +heresy: and the obedience of Pope Honorius to the commands of his +sovereign was retracted and censured by the bolder ignorance of +his successors. They condemned the execrable and abominable +heresy of the Monothelites, who revived the errors of Manes, +Apollinaris, Eutyches, &c.; they signed the sentence of +excommunication on the tomb of St. Peter; the ink was mingled +with the sacramental wine, the blood of Christ; and no ceremony +was omitted that could fill the superstitious mind with horror +and affright. As the representative of the Western church, Pope +Martin and his Lateran synod anathematized the perfidious and +guilty silence of the Greeks: one hundred and five bishops of +Italy, for the most part the subjects of Constans, presumed to +reprobate his wicked type, and the impious ecthesis of his +grandfather; and to confound the authors and their adherents with +the twenty-one notorious heretics, the apostates from the church, +and the organs of the devil. Such an insult under the tamest +reign could not pass with impunity. Pope Martin ended his days +on the inhospitable shore of the Tauric Chersonesus, and his +oracle, the abbot Maximus, was inhumanly chastised by the +amputation of his tongue and his right hand. ^104 But the same +invincible spirit survived in their successors; and the triumph +of the Latins avenged their recent defeat, and obliterated the +disgrace of the three chapters. The synods of Rome were +confirmed by the sixth general council of Constantinople, in the +palace and the presence of a new Constantine, a descendant of +Heraclius. The royal convert converted the Byzantine pontiff and +a majority of the bishops; ^105 the dissenters, with their chief, +Macarius of Antioch, were condemned to the spiritual and temporal +pains of heresy; the East condescended to accept the lessons of +the West; and the creed was finally settled, which teaches the +Catholics of every age, that two wills or energies are harmonized +in the person of Christ. The majesty of the pope and the Roman +synod was represented by two priests, one deacon, and three +bishops; but these obscure Latins had neither arms to compel, nor +treasures to bribe, nor language to persuade; and I am ignorant +by what arts they could determine the lofty emperor of the Greeks +to abjure the catechism of his infancy, and to persecute the +religion of his fathers. Perhaps the monks and people of +Constantinople ^106 were favorable to the Lateran creed, which is +indeed the least reasonable of the two: and the suspicion is +countenanced by the unnatural moderation of the Greek clergy, who +appear in this quarrel to be conscious of their weakness. While +the synod debated, a fanatic proposed a more summary decision, by +raising a dead man to life: the prelates assisted at the trial; +but the acknowledged failure may serve to indicate, that the +passions and prejudices of the multitude were not enlisted on the +side of the Monothelites. In the next generation, when the son +of Constantine was deposed and slain by the disciple of Macarius, +they tasted the feast of revenge and dominion: the image or +monument of the sixth council was defaced, and the original acts +were committed to the flames. But in the second year, their +patron was cast headlong from the throne, the bishops of the East +were released from their occasional conformity, the Roman faith +was more firmly replanted by the orthodox successors of Bardanes, +and the fine problems of the incarnation were forgotten in the +more popular and visible quarrel of the worship of images. ^107 + +[Footnote 101: This extraordinary, and perhaps inconsistent, +doctrine of the Nestorians, had been observed by La Croze, +(Christianisme des Indes, tom. i. p. 19, 20,) and is more fully +exposed by Abulpharagius, (Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 292. +Hist. Dynast. p. 91, vers. Latin. Pocock.) and Asseman himself, +(tom. iv. p. 218.) They seem ignorant that they might allege the +positive authority of the ecthesis. (the common reproach of the +Monophysites) (Concil. tom. vii. p. 205.)] + +[Footnote 102: See the Orthodox faith in Petavius, (Dogmata +Theolog. tom. v. l. ix. c. 6 - 10, p. 433 - 447:) all the depths +of this controversy in the Greek dialogue between Maximus and +Pyrrhus, (acalcem tom. viii. Annal. Baron. p. 755 - 794,) which +relates a real conference, and produced as short-lived a +conversion.] + +[Footnote 103: Impiissimam ecthesim .... scelerosum typum +(Concil. tom. vii p. 366) diabolicae operationis genimina, (fors. +germina, or else the Greek in the original. Concil. p. 363, +364,) are the expressions of the xviiith anathema. The epistle of +Pope Martin to Amandus, Gallican bishop, stigmatizes the +Monothelites and their heresy with equal virulence, (p. 392.)] +[Footnote 104: The sufferings of Martin and Maximus are described +with simplicity in their original letters and acts, (Concil. tom. +vii. p. 63 - 78. Baron. Annal. Eccles. A.D. 656, No. 2, et annos +subsequent.) Yet the chastisement of their disobedience had been +previously announced in the Type of Constans, (Concil. tom. vii. +p. 240.)] + +[Footnote 105: Eutychius (Annal. tom. ii. p. 368) most +erroneously supposes that the 124 bishops of the Roman synod +transported themselves to Constantinople; and by adding them to +the 168 Greeks, thus composes the sixth council of 292 fathers.] + +[Footnote 106: The Monothelite Constans was hated by all, (says +Theophanes, Chron. p. 292). When the Monothelite monk failed in +his miracle, the people shouted, (Concil. tom. vii. p. 1032.) But +this was a natural and transient emotion; and I much fear that +the latter is an anticipation of the good people of +Constantinople.] + +[Footnote 107: The history of Monothelitism may be found in the +Acts of the Synods of Rome (tom. vii. p. 77 - 395, 601 - 608) and +Constantinople, (p. 609 - 1429.) Baronius extracted some original +documents from the Vatican library; and his chronology is +rectified by the diligence of Pagi. Even Dupin (Bibliotheque +Eccles. tom. vi. p. 57 - 71) and Basnage (Hist. de l'Eglise, tom. +i. p. 451 - 555) afford a tolerable abridgment.] + + Before the end of the seventh century, the creed of the +incarnation, which had been defined at Rome and Constantinople, +was uniformly preached in the remote islands of Britain and +Ireland; ^108 the same ideas were entertained, or rather the same +words were repeated, by all the Christians whose liturgy was +performed in the Greek or the Latin tongue. Their numbers, and +visible splendor, bestowed an imperfect claim to the appellation +of Catholics: but in the East, they were marked with the less +honorable name of Melchites, or Royalists; ^109 of men, whose +faith, instead of resting on the basis of Scripture, reason, or +tradition, had been established, and was still maintained, by the +arbitrary power of a temporal monarch. Their adversaries might +allege the words of the fathers of Constantinople, who profess +themselves the slaves of the king; and they might relate, with +malicious joy, how the decrees of Chalcedon had been inspired and +reformed by the emperor Marcian and his virgin bride. The +prevailing faction will naturally inculcate the duty of +submission, nor is it less natural that dissenters should feel +and assert the principles of freedom. Under the rod of +persecution, the Nestorians and Monophysites degenerated into +rebels and fugitives; and the most ancient and useful allies of +Rome were taught to consider the emperor not as the chief, but as +the enemy of the Christians. Language, the leading principle +which unites or separates the tribes of mankind, soon +discriminated the sectaries of the East, by a peculiar and +perpetual badge, which abolished the means of intercourse and the +hope of reconciliation. The long dominion of the Greeks, their +colonies, and, above all, their eloquence, had propagated a +language doubtless the most perfect that has been contrived by +the art of man. Yet the body of the people, both in Syria and +Egypt, still persevered in the use of their national idioms; with +this difference, however, that the Coptic was confined to the +rude and illiterate peasants of the Nile, while the Syriac, ^110 +from the mountains of Assyria to the Red Sea, was adapted to the +higher topics of poetry and argument. Armenia and Abyssinia were +infected by the speech or learning of the Greeks; and their +Barbaric tongues, which have been revived in the studies of +modern Europe, were unintelligible to the inhabitants of the +Roman empire. The Syriac and the Coptic, the Armenian and the +Aethiopic, are consecrated in the service of their respective +churches: and their theology is enriched by domestic versions +^111 both of the Scriptures and of the most popular fathers. +After a period of thirteen hundred and sixty years, the spark of +controversy, first kindled by a sermon of Nestorius, still burns +in the bosom of the East, and the hostile communions still +maintain the faith and discipline of their founders. In the most +abject state of ignorance, poverty, and servitude, the Nestorians +and Monophysites reject the spiritual supremacy of Rome, and +cherish the toleration of their Turkish masters, which allows +them to anathematize, on the one hand, St. Cyril and the synod of +Ephesus: on the other, Pope Leo and the council of Chalcedon. The +weight which they cast into the downfall of the Eastern empire +demands our notice, and the reader may be amused with the various +prospect of, I. The Nestorians; II. The Jacobites; ^112 III. +The Maronites; IV. The Armenians; V. The Copts; and, VI. The +Abyssinians. To the three former, the Syriac is common; but of +the latter, each is discriminated by the use of a national idiom. + +Yet the modern natives of Armenia and Abyssinia would be +incapable of conversing with their ancestors; and the Christians +of Egypt and Syria, who reject the religion, have adopted the +language of the Arabians. The lapse of time has seconded the +sacerdotal arts; and in the East, as well as in the West, the +Deity is addressed in an obsolete tongue, unknown to the majority +of the congregation. + +[Footnote 108: In the Lateran synod of 679, Wilfred, an +Anglo-Saxon bishop, subscribed pro omni Aquilonari parte +Britanniae et Hiberniae, quae ab Anglorum et Britonum, necnon +Scotorum et Pictorum gentibus colebantur, (Eddius, in Vit. St. +Wilfrid. c. 31, apud Pagi, Critica, tom. iii. p. 88.) Theodore +(magnae insulae Britanniae archiepiscopus et philosophus) was +long expected at Rome, (Concil. tom. vii. p. 714,) but he +contented himself with holding (A.D. 680) his provincial synod of +Hatfield, in which he received the decrees of Pope Martin and the +first Lateran council against the Monothelites, (Concil. tom. +vii. p. 597, &c.) Theodore, a monk of Tarsus in Cilicia, had been +named to the primacy of Britain by Pope Vitalian, (A.D. 688; see +Baronius and Pagi,) whose esteem for his learning and piety was +tainted by some distrust of his national character - ne quid +contrarium veritati fidei, Graecorum more, in ecclesiam cui +praeesset introduceret. The Cilician was sent from Rome to +Canterbury under the tuition of an African guide, (Bedae Hist. +Eccles. Anglorum. l. iv. c. 1.) He adhered to the Roman doctrine; +and the same creed of the incarnation has been uniformly +transmitted from Theodore to the modern primates, whose sound +understanding is perhaps seldom engaged with that abstruse +mystery.] +[Footnote 109: This name, unknown till the xth century, appears +to be of Syriac origin. It was invented by the Jacobites, and +eagerly adopted by the Nestorians and Mahometans; but it was +accepted without shame by the Catholics, and is frequently used +in the Annals of Eutychius, (Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. +p. 507, &c., tom. iii. p. 355. Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. +Alexandrin. p. 119.), was the acclamation of the fathers of +Constantinople, (Concil. tom. vii. p. 765.)] + +[Footnote 110: The Syriac, which the natives revere as the +primitive language, was divided into three dialects. 1. The +Aramoean, as it was refined at Edessa and the cities of +Mesopotamia. 2. The Palestine, which was used in Jerusalem, +Damascus, and the rest of Syria. 3. The Nabathoean, the rustic +idiom of the mountains of Assyria and the villages of Irak, +(Gregor, Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 11.) On the Syriac, sea +Ebed-Jesu, (Asseman. tom. iii. p. 326, &c.,) whose prejudice +alone could prefer it to the Arabic.] +[Footnote 111: I shall not enrich my ignorance with the spoils of +Simon, Walton, Mill, Wetstein, Assemannus, Ludolphus, La Croze, +whom I have consulted with some care. It appears, 1. That, of +all the versions which are celebrated by the fathers, it is +doubtful whether any are now extant in their pristine integrity. +2. That the Syriac has the best claim, and that the consent of +the Oriental sects is a proof that it is more ancient than their +schism.] +[Footnote 112: In the account of the Monophysites and Nestorians, +I am deeply indebted to the Bibliotheca Orientalis +Clementino-Vaticana of Joseph Simon Assemannus. That learned +Maronite was despatched, in the year 1715, by Pope Clement XI. to +visit the monasteries of Egypt and Syria, in search of Mss. His +four folio volumes, published at Rome 1719 - 1728, contain a part +only, though perhaps the most valuable, of his extensive project. + +As a native and as a scholar, he possessed the Syriac literature; +and though a dependent of Rome, he wishes to be moderate and +candid.] + + +Chapter XLVII: Ecclesiastical Discord. + + +Part III. + + I. Both in his native and his episcopal province, the +heresy of the unfortunate Nestorius was speedily obliterated. +The Oriental bishops, who at Ephesus had resisted to his face the +arrogance of Cyril, were mollified by his tardy concessions. The +same prelates, or their successors, subscribed, not without a +murmur, the decrees of Chalcedon; the power of the Monophysites +reconciled them with the Catholics in the conformity of passion, +of interest, and, insensibly, of belief; and their last reluctant +sigh was breathed in the defence of the three chapters. Their +dissenting brethren, less moderate, or more sincere, were crushed +by the penal laws; and, as early as the reign of Justinian, it +became difficult to find a church of Nestorians within the limits +of the Roman empire. Beyond those limits they had discovered a +new world, in which they might hope for liberty, and aspire to +conquest. In Persia, notwithstanding the resistance of the Magi, +Christianity had struck a deep root, and the nations of the East +reposed under its salutary shade. The catholic, or primate, +resided in the capital: in his synods, and in their dioceses, his +metropolitans, bishops, and clergy, represented the pomp and +order of a regular hierarchy: they rejoiced in the increase of +proselytes, who were converted from the Zendavesta to the gospel, +from the secular to the monastic life; and their zeal was +stimulated by the presence of an artful and formidable enemy. +The Persian church had been founded by the missionaries of Syria; +and their language, discipline, and doctrine, were closely +interwoven with its original frame. The catholics were elected +and ordained by their own suffragans; but their filial dependence +on the patriarchs of Antioch is attested by the canons of the +Oriental church. ^113 In the Persian school of Edessa, ^114 the +rising generations of the faithful imbibed their theological +idiom: they studied in the Syriac version the ten thousand +volumes of Theodore of Mopsuestia; and they revered the apostolic +faith and holy martyrdom of his disciple Nestorius, whose person +and language were equally unknown to the nations beyond the +Tigris. The first indelible lesson of Ibas, bishop of Edessa, +taught them to execrate the Egyptians, who, in the synod of +Ephesus, had impiously confounded the two natures of Christ. The +flight of the masters and scholars, who were twice expelled from +the Athens of Syria, dispersed a crowd of missionaries inflamed +by the double zeal of religion and revenge. And the rigid unity +of the Monophysites, who, under the reigns of Zeno and +Anastasius, had invaded the thrones of the East, provoked their +antagonists, in a land of freedom, to avow a moral, rather than a +physical, union of the two persons of Christ. Since the first +preaching of the gospel, the Sassanian kings beheld with an eye +of suspicion a race of aliens and apostates, who had embraced the +religion, and who might favor the cause, of the hereditary foes +of their country. The royal edicts had often prohibited their +dangerous correspondence with the Syrian clergy: the progress of +the schism was grateful to the jealous pride of Perozes, and he +listened to the eloquence of an artful prelate, who painted +Nestorius as the friend of Persia, and urged him to secure the +fidelity of his Christian subjects, by granting a just preference +to the victims and enemies of the Roman tyrant. The Nestorians +composed a large majority of the clergy and people: they were +encouraged by the smile, and armed with the sword, of despotism; +yet many of their weaker brethren were startled at the thought of +breaking loose from the communion of the Christian world, and the +blood of seven thousand seven hundred Monophysites, or Catholics, +confirmed the uniformity of faith and discipline in the churches +of Persia. ^115 Their ecclesiastical institutions are +distinguished by a liberal principle of reason, or at least of +policy: the austerity of the cloister was relaxed and gradually +forgotten; houses of charity were endowed for the education of +orphans and foundlings; the law of celibacy, so forcibly +recommended to the Greeks and Latins, was disregarded by the +Persian clergy; and the number of the elect was multiplied by the +public and reiterated nuptials of the priests, the bishops, and +even the patriarch himself. To this standard of natural and +religious freedom, myriads of fugitives resorted from all the +provinces of the Eastern empire; the narrow bigotry of Justinian +was punished by the emigration of his most industrious subjects; +they transported into Persia the arts both of peace and war: and +those who deserved the favor, were promoted in the service, of a +discerning monarch. The arms of Nushirvan, and his fiercer +grandson, were assisted with advice, and money, and troops, by +the desperate sectaries who still lurked in their native cities +of the East: their zeal was rewarded with the gift of the +Catholic churches; but when those cities and churches were +recovered by Heraclius, their open profession of treason and +heresy compelled them to seek a refuge in the realm of their +foreign ally. But the seeming tranquillity of the Nestorians was +often endangered, and sometimes overthrown. They were involved +in the common evils of Oriental despotism: their enmity to Rome +could not always atone for their attachment to the gospel: and a +colony of three hundred thousand Jacobites, the captives of +Apamea and Antioch, was permitted to erect a hostile altar in the +face of the catholic, and in the sunshine of the court. In his +last treaty, Justinian introduced some conditions which tended to +enlarge and fortify the toleration of Christianity in Persia. +The emperor, ignorant of the rights of conscience, was incapable +of pity or esteem for the heretics who denied the authority of +the holy synods: but he flattered himself that they would +gradually perceive the temporal benefits of union with the empire +and the church of Rome; and if he failed in exciting their +gratitude, he might hope to provoke the jealousy of their +sovereign. In a later age the Lutherans have been burnt at +Paris, and protected in Germany, by the superstition and policy +of the most Christian king. + +[Footnote 113: See the Arabic canons of Nice in the translation +of Abraham Ecchelensis, No. 37, 38, 39, 40. Concil. tom. ii. p. +335, 336, edit. Venet. These vulgar titles, Nicene and Arabic, +are both apocryphal. The council of Nice enacted no more than +twenty canons, (Theodoret. Hist. Eccles. l. i. c. 8;) and the +remainder, seventy or eighty, were collected from the synods of +the Greek church. The Syriac edition of Maruthas is no longer +extant, (Asseman. Bibliot. Oriental. tom. i. p. 195, tom. iii. p. +74,) and the Arabic version is marked with many recent +interpolations. Yet this Code contains many curious relics of +ecclesiastical discipline; and since it is equally revered by all +the Eastern communions, it was probably finished before the +schism of the Nestorians and Jacobites, (Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. +tom. xi. p. 363 - 367.)] + +[Footnote 114: Theodore the Reader (l. ii. c. 5, 49, ad calcem +Hist. Eccles.) has noticed this Persian school of Edessa. Its +ancient splendor, and the two aeras of its downfall, (A.D. 431 +and 489) are clearly discussed by Assemanni, (Biblioth. Orient. +tom. ii. p. 402, iii. p. 376, 378, iv. p. 70, 924.)] +[Footnote 115: A dissertation on the state of the Nestorians has +swelled in the bands of Assemanni to a folio volume of 950 pages, +and his learned researches are digested in the most lucid order. +Besides this ivth volume of the Bibliotheca Orientalis, the +extracts in the three preceding tomes (tom. i. p. 203, ii. p. 321 +- 463, iii. 64 - 70, 378 - 395, &c., 405 - 408, 580 - 589) may be +usefully consulted.] + + The desire of gaining souls for God and subjects for the +church, has excited in every age the diligence of the Christian +priests. From the conquest of Persia they carried their +spiritual arms to the north, the east, and the south; and the +simplicity of the gospel was fashioned and painted with the +colors of the Syriac theology. In the sixth century, according +to the report of a Nestorian traveller, ^116 Christianity was +successfully preached to the Bactrians, the Huns, the Persians, +the Indians, the Persarmenians, the Medes, and the Elamites: the +Barbaric churches, from the Gulf of Persia to the Caspian Sea, +were almost infinite; and their recent faith was conspicuous in +the number and sanctity of their monks and martyrs. The pepper +coast of Malabar, and the isles of the ocean, Socotora and +Ceylon, were peopled with an increasing multitude of Christians; +and the bishops and clergy of those sequestered regions derived +their ordination from the Catholic of Babylon. In a subsequent +age the zeal of the Nestorians overleaped the limits which had +confined the ambition and curiosity both of the Greeks and +Persians. The missionaries of Balch and Samarcand pursued +without fear the footsteps of the roving Tartar, and insinuated +themselves into the camps of the valleys of Imaus and the banks +of the Selinga. They exposed a metaphysical creed to those +illiterate shepherds: to those sanguinary warriors, they +recommended humanity and repose. Yet a khan, whose power they +vainly magnified, is said to have received at their hands the +rites of baptism, and even of ordination; and the fame of Prester +or Presbyter John ^117 has long amused the credulity of Europe. +The royal convert was indulged in the use of a portable altar; +but he despatched an embassy to the patriarch, to inquire how, in +the season of Lent, he should abstain from animal food, and how +he might celebrate the Eucharist in a desert that produced +neither corn nor wine. In their progress by sea and land, the +Nestorians entered China by the port of Canton and the northern +residence of Sigan. Unlike the senators of Rome, who assumed +with a smile the characters of priests and augurs, the mandarins, +who affect in public the reason of philosophers, are devoted in +private to every mode of popular superstition. They cherished +and they confounded the gods of Palestine and of India; but the +propagation of Christianity awakened the jealousy of the state, +and, after a short vicissitude of favor and persecution, the +foreign sect expired in ignorance and oblivion. ^118 Under the +reign of the caliphs, the Nestorian church was diffused from +China to Jerusalem and Cyrus; and their numbers, with those of +the Jacobites, were computed to surpass the Greek and Latin +communions. ^119 Twenty-five metropolitans or archbishops +composed their hierarchy; but several of these were dispensed, by +the distance and danger of the way, from the duty of personal +attendance, on the easy condition that every six years they +should testify their faith and obedience to the catholic or +patriarch of Babylon, a vague appellation which has been +successively applied to the royal seats of Seleucia, Ctesiphon, +and Bagdad. These remote branches are long since withered; and +the old patriarchal trunk ^120 is now divided by the Elijahs of +Mosul, the representatives almost on lineal descent of the +genuine and primitive succession; the Josephs of Amida, who are +reconciled to the church of Rome: ^121 and the Simeons of Van or +Ormia, whose revolt, at the head of forty thousand families, was +promoted in the sixteenth century by the Sophis of Persia. The +number of three hundred thousand is allowed for the whole body of +the Nestorians, who, under the name of Chaldeans or Assyrians, +are confounded with the most learned or the most powerful nation +of Eastern antiquity. + +[Footnote 116: See the Topographia Christiana of Cosmas, surnamed +Indicopleustes, or the Indian navigator, l. iii. p. 178, 179, l. +xi. p. 337. The entire work, of which some curious extracts may +be found in Photius, (cod. xxxvi. p. 9, 10, edit. Hoeschel,) +Thevenot, (in the 1st part of his Relation des Voyages, &c.,) and +Fabricius, (Bibliot. Graec. l. iii. c. 25, tom. ii. p. 603 - +617,) has been published by Father Montfaucon at Paris, 1707, in +the Nova Collectio Patrum, (tom. ii. p. 113 - 346.) It was the +design of the author to confute the impious heresy of those who +maintained that the earth is a globe, and not a flat, oblong +table, as it is represented in the Scriptures, (l. ii. p. 138.) +But the nonsense of the monk is mingled with the practical +knowledge of the traveller, who performed his voyage A.D. 522, +and published his book at Alexandria, A.D. 547, (l. ii. p. 140, +141. Montfaucon, Praefat. c. 2.) The Nestorianism of Cosmas, +unknown to his learned editor, was detected by La Croze, +(Christianisme des Indes, tom. i. p. 40 - 55,) and is confirmed +by Assemanni, (Bibliot. Orient. tom. iv. p. 605, 606.)] + +[Footnote 117: In its long progress to Mosul, Jerusalem, Rome, +&c., the story of Prester John evaporated in a monstrous fable, +of which some features have been borrowed from the Lama of +Thibet, (Hist. Genealogique des Tartares, P. ii. p. 42. Hist. de +Gengiscan, p. 31, &c.,) and were ignorantly transferred by the +Portuguese to the emperor of Abyssinia, (Ludolph. Hist. Aethiop. +Comment. l. ii. c. 1.) Yet it is probable that in the xith and +xiith centuries, Nestorian Christianity was professed in the +horde of the Keraites, (D'Herbelot, p. 256, 915, 959. Assemanni, +tom. iv. p. 468 - 504.) + Note: The extent to which Nestorian Christianity prevailed +among the Tartar tribes is one of the most curious questions in +Oriental history. M. Schmidt (Geschichte der Ost Mongolen, notes, +p. 383) appears to question the Christianity of Ong Chaghan, and +his Keraite subjects. - M.] +[Footnote 118: The Christianity of China, between the seventh and +the thirteenth century, is invincibly proved by the consent of +Chinese, Arabian, Syriac, and Latin evidence, (Assemanni, +Biblioth. Orient. tom. iv. p. 502 - 552. Mem. de l'Academie des +Inscript. tom. xxx. p. 802 - 819.) The inscription of Siganfu +which describes the fortunes of the Nestorian church, from the +first mission, A.D. 636, to the current year 781, is accused of +forgery by La Croze, Voltaire, &c., who become the dupes of their +own cunning, while they are afraid of a Jesuitical fraud. + + Note: This famous monument, the authenticity of which many +have attempted to impeach, rather from hatred to the Jesuits, by +whom it was made known, than by a candid examination of its +contents, is now generally considered above all suspicion. The +Chinese text and the facts which it relates are equally strong +proofs of its authenticity. This monument was raised as a +memorial of the establishment of Christianity in China. It is +dated the year 1092 of the era of the Greeks, or the Seleucidae, +A.D. 781, in the time of the Nestorian patriarch Anan-jesu. It +was raised by Iezdbouzid, priest and chorepiscopus of Chumdan, +that is, of the capital of the Chinese empire, and the son of a +priest who came from Balkh in Tokharistan. Among the various +arguments which may be urged in favor of the authenticity of this +monument, and which has not yet been advanced, may be reckoned +the name of the priest by whom it was raised. The name is +Persian, and at the time the monument was discovered, it would +have been impossible to have imagined it; for there was no work +extant from whence the knowledge of it could be derived. I do +not believe that ever since this period, any book has been +published in which it can be found a second time. It is very +celebrated amongst the Armenians, and is derived from a martyr, a +Persian by birth, of the royal race, who perished towards the +middle of the seventh century, and rendered his name celebrated +among the Christian nations of the East. St. Martin, vol. i. p. +69. M. Remusat has also strongly expressed his conviction of the +authenticity of this monument. Melanges Asiatiques, P. i. p. 33. +Yet M. Schmidt (Geschichte der Ost Mongolen, p. 384) denies that +there is any satisfactory proof that much a monument was ever +found in China, or that it was not manufactured in Europe. But if +the Jesuits had attempted such a forgery, would it not have been +more adapted to further their peculiar views? - M.] + +[Footnote 119: Jacobitae et Nestorianae plures quam Graeci et +Latini Jacob a Vitriaco, Hist. Hierosol. l. ii. c. 76, p. 1093, +in the Gesta Dei per Francos. The numbers are given by Thomassin, +Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 172.] +[Footnote 120: The division of the patriarchate may be traced in +the Bibliotheca Orient. of Assemanni, tom. i. p. 523 - 549, tom. +ii. p. 457, &c., tom. iii. p. 603, p. 621 - 623, tom. iv. p. 164 +- 169, p. 423, p. 622 - 629, &c.] + +[Footnote 121: The pompous language of Rome on the submission of +a Nestorian patriarch, is elegantly represented in the viith book +of Fra Paola, Babylon, Nineveh, Arbela, and the trophies of +Alexander, Tauris, and Ecbatana, the Tigris and Indus.] + + According to the legend of antiquity, the gospel was +preached in India by St. Thomas. ^122 At the end of the ninth +century, his shrine, perhaps in the neighborhood of Madras, was +devoutly visited by the ambassadors of Alfred; and their return +with a cargo of pearls and spices rewarded the zeal of the +English monarch, who entertained the largest projects of trade +and discovery. ^123 When the Portuguese first opened the +navigation of India, the Christians of St. Thomas had been seated +for ages on the coast of Malabar, and the difference of their +character and color attested the mixture of a foreign race. In +arms, in arts, and possibly in virtue, they excelled the natives +of Hindostan; the husbandmen cultivated the palm-tree, the +merchants were enriched by the pepper trade, the soldiers +preceded the nairs or nobles of Malabar, and their hereditary +privileges were respected by the gratitude or the fear of the +king of Cochin and the Zamorin himself. They acknowledged a +Gentoo of sovereign, but they were governed, even in temporal +concerns, by the bishop of Angamala. He still asserted his +ancient title of metropolitan of India, but his real jurisdiction +was exercised in fourteen hundred churches, and he was intrusted +with the care of two hundred thousand souls. Their religion would +have rendered them the firmest and most cordial allies of the +Portuguese; but the inquisitors soon discerned in the Christians +of St. Thomas the unpardonable guilt of heresy and schism. +Instead of owning themselves the subjects of the Roman pontiff, +the spiritual and temporal monarch of the globe, they adhered, +like their ancestors, to the communion of the Nestorian +patriarch; and the bishops whom he ordained at Mosul, traversed +the dangers of the sea and land to reach their diocese on the +coast of Malabar. In their Syriac liturgy the names of Theodore +and Nestorius were piously commemorated: they united their +adoration of the two persons of Christ; the title of Mother of +God was offensive to their ear, and they measured with scrupulous +avarice the honors of the Virgin Mary, whom the superstition of +the Latins had almost exalted to the rank of a goddess. When her +image was first presented to the disciples of St. Thomas, they +indignantly exclaimed, "We are Christians, not idolaters!" and +their simple devotion was content with the veneration of the +cross. Their separation from the Western world had left them in +ignorance of the improvements, or corruptions, of a thousand +years; and their conformity with the faith and practice of the +fifth century would equally disappoint the prejudices of a Papist +or a Protestant. It was the first care of the ministers of Rome +to intercept all correspondence with the Nestorian patriarch, and +several of his bishops expired in the prisons of the holy office. + +The flock, without a shepherd, was assaulted by the power of the +Portuguese, the arts of the Jesuits, and the zeal of Alexis de +Menezes, archbishop of Goa, in his personal visitation of the +coast of Malabar. The synod of Diamper, at which he presided, +consummated the pious work of the reunion; and rigorously imposed +the doctrine and discipline of the Roman church, without +forgetting auricular confession, the strongest engine of +ecclesiastical torture. The memory of Theodore and Nestorius was +condemned, and Malabar was reduced under the dominion of the +pope, of the primate, and of the Jesuits who invaded the see of +Angamala or Cranganor. Sixty years of servitude and hypocrisy +were patiently endured; but as soon as the Portuguese empire was +shaken by the courage and industry of the Dutch, the Nestorians +asserted, with vigor and effect, the religion of their fathers. +The Jesuits were incapable of defending the power which they had +abused; the arms of forty thousand Christians were pointed +against their falling tyrants; and the Indian archdeacon assumed +the character of bishop till a fresh supply of episcopal gifts +and Syriac missionaries could be obtained from the patriarch of +Babylon. Since the expulsion of the Portuguese, the Nestorian +creed is freely professed on the coast of Malabar. The trading +companies of Holland and England are the friends of toleration; +but if oppression be less mortifying than contempt, the +Christians of St. Thomas have reason to complain of the cold and +silent indifference of their brethren of Europe. ^124 + +[Footnote 122: The Indian missionary, St. Thomas, an apostle, a +Manichaean, or an Armenian merchant, (La Croze, Christianisme des +Indes, tom. i. p. 57 - 70,) was famous, however, as early as the +time of Jerom, (ad Marcellam, epist. 148.) Marco-Polo was +informed on the spot that he suffered martyrdom in the city of +Malabar, or Meliapour, a league only from Madras, (D'Anville, +Eclaircissemens sur l'Inde, p. 125,) where the Portuguese founded +an episcopal church under the name of St. Thome, and where the +saint performed an annual miracle, till he was silenced by the +profane neighborhood of the English, (La Croze, tom. ii. p. 7 - +16.)] + +[Footnote 123: Neither the author of the Saxon Chronicle (A.D. +833) not William of Malmesbury (de Gestis Regum Angliae, l. ii. +c. 4, p. 44) were capable, in the twelfth century, of inventing +this extraordinary fact; they are incapable of explaining the +motives and measures of Alfred; and their hasty notice serves +only to provoke our curiosity. William of Malmesbury feels the +difficulty of the enterprise, quod quivis in hoc saeculo miretur; +and I almost suspect that the English ambassadors collected their +cargo and legend in Egypt. The royal author has not enriched his +Orosius (see Barrington's Miscellanies) with an Indian, as well +as a Scandinavian, voyage.] +[Footnote 124: Concerning the Christians of St. Thomas, see +Assemann. Bibliot Orient. tom. iv. p. 391 - 407, 435 - 451; +Geddes's Church History of Malabar; and, above all, La Croze, +Histoire du Christianisme des Indes, in 2 vols. 12mo., La Haye, +1758, a learned and agreeable work. They have drawn from the +same source, the Portuguese and Italian narratives; and the +prejudices of the Jesuits are sufficiently corrected by those of +the Protestants. + Note: The St. Thome Christians had excited great interest in +the ancient mind of the admirable Bishop Heber. See his curious +and, to his friends, highly characteristic letter to Mar +Athanasius, Appendix to Journal. The arguments of his friend and +coadjutor, Mr. Robinson, (Last Days of Bishop Heber,) have not +convinced me that the Christianity of India is older than the +Nestorian dispersion. - M] + + II. The history of the Monophysites is less copious and +interesting than that of the Nestorians. Under the reigns of +Zeno and Anastasius, their artful leaders surprised the ear of +the prince, usurped the thrones of the East, and crushed on its +native soil the school of the Syrians. The rule of the +Monophysite faith was defined with exquisite discretion by +Severus, patriarch of Antioch: he condemned, in the style of the +Henoticon, the adverse heresies of Nestorius; and Eutyches +maintained against the latter the reality of the body of Christ, +and constrained the Greeks to allow that he was a liar who spoke +truth. ^125 But the approximation of ideas could not abate the +vehemence of passion; each party was the more astonished that +their blind antagonist could dispute on so trifling a difference; +the tyrant of Syria enforced the belief of his creed, and his +reign was polluted with the blood of three hundred and fifty +monks, who were slain, not perhaps without provocation or +resistance, under the walls of Apamea. ^126 The successor of +Anastasius replanted the orthodox standard in the East; Severus +fled into Egypt; and his friend, the eloquent Xenaias, ^127 who +had escaped from the Nestorians of Persia, was suffocated in his +exile by the Melchites of Paphlagonia. Fifty-four bishops were +swept from their thrones, eight hundred ecclesiastics were cast +into prison, ^128 and notwithstanding the ambiguous favor of +Theodora, the Oriental flocks, deprived of their shepherds, must +insensibly have been either famished or poisoned. In this +spiritual distress, the expiring faction was revived, and united, +and perpetuated, by the labors of a monk; and the name of James +Baradaeus ^129 has been preserved in the appellation of +Jacobites, a familiar sound, which may startle the ear of an +English reader. From the holy confessors in their prison of +Constantinople, he received the powers of bishop of Edessa and +apostle of the East, and the ordination of fourscore thousand +bishops, priests, and deacons, is derived from the same +inexhaustible source. The speed of the zealous missionary was +promoted by the fleetest dromedaries of a devout chief of the +Arabs; the doctrine and discipline of the Jacobites were secretly +established in the dominions of Justinian; and each Jacobite was +compelled to violate the laws and to hate the Roman legislator. +The successors of Severus, while they lurked in convents or +villages, while they sheltered their proscribed heads in the +caverns of hermits, or the tents of the Saracens, still asserted, +as they now assert, their indefeasible right to the title, the +rank, and the prerogatives of patriarch of Antioch: under the +milder yoke of the infidels, they reside about a league from +Merdin, in the pleasant monastery of Zapharan, which they have +embellished with cells, aqueducts, and plantations. The +secondary, though honorable, place is filled by the maphrian, +who, in his station at Mosul itself, defies the Nestorian +catholic with whom he contests the primacy of the East. Under +the patriarch and the maphrian, one hundred and fifty archbishops +and bishops have been counted in the different ages of the +Jacobite church; but the order of the hierarchy is relaxed or +dissolved, and the greater part of their dioceses is confined to +the neighborhood of the Euphrates and the Tigris. The cities of +Aleppo and Amida, which are often visited by the patriarch, +contain some wealthy merchants and industrious mechanics, but the +multitude derive their scanty sustenance from their daily labor: +and poverty, as well as superstition, may impose their excessive +fasts: five annual lents, during which both the clergy and laity +abstain not only from flesh or eggs, but even from the taste of +wine, of oil, and of fish. Their present numbers are esteemed +from fifty to fourscore thousand souls, the remnant of a populous +church, which was gradually decreased under the impression of +twelve centuries. Yet in that long period, some strangers of +merit have been converted to the Monophysite faith, and a Jew was +the father of Abulpharagius, ^130 primate of the East, so truly +eminent both in his life and death. In his life he was an +elegant writer of the Syriac and Arabic tongues, a poet, +physician, and historian, a subtile philosopher, and a moderate +divine. In his death, his funeral was attended by his rival the +Nestorian patriarch, with a train of Greeks and Armenians, who +forgot their disputes, and mingled their tears over the grave of +an enemy. The sect which was honored by the virtues of +Abulpharagius appears, however, to sink below the level of their +Nestorian brethren. The superstition of the Jacobites is more +abject, their fasts more rigid, ^131 their intestine divisions +are more numerous, and their doctors (as far as I can measure the +degrees of nonsense) are more remote from the precincts of +reason. Something may possibly be allowed for the rigor of the +Monophysite theology; much more for the superior influence of the +monastic order. In Syria, in Egypt, in Ethiopia, the Jacobite +monks have ever been distinguished by the austerity of their +penance and the absurdity of their legends. Alive or dead, they +are worshipped as the favorites of the Deity; the crosier of +bishop and patriarch is reserved for their venerable hands; and +they assume the government of men, while they are yet reeking +with the habits and prejudices of the cloister. ^132 +[Footnote 125: Is the expression of Theodore, in his Treatise of +the Incarnation, p. 245, 247, as he is quoted by La Croze, (Hist. +du Christianisme d'Ethiopie et d'Armenie, p. 35,) who exclaims, +perhaps too hastily, "Quel pitoyable raisonnement!" Renaudot has +touched (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 127 - 138) the Oriental +accounts of Severus; and his authentic creed may be found in the +epistle of John the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch, in the xth +century, to his brother Mannas of Alexandria, (Asseman. Bibliot. +Orient. tom. ii. p. 132 - 141.)] + +[Footnote 126: Epist. Archimandritarum et Monachorum Syriae +Secundae ad Papam Hormisdam, Concil. tom. v. p. 598 - 602. The +courage of St. Sabas, ut leo animosus, will justify the suspicion +that the arms of these monks were not always spiritual or +defensive, (Baronius, A.D. 513, No. 7, &c.)] +[Footnote 127: Assemanni (Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 10 - 46) +and La Croze (Christianisme d'Ethiopie, p. 36 - 40) will supply +the history of Xenaias, or Philoxenus, bishop of Mabug, or +Hierapolis, in Syria. He was a perfect master of the Syriac +language, and the author or editor of a version of the New +Testament.] + +[Footnote 128: The names and titles of fifty-four bishops who +were exiled by Justin, are preserved in the Chronicle of +Dionysius, (apud Asseman. tom. ii. p. 54.) Severus was personally +summoned to Constantinople - for his trial, says Liberatus (Brev. +c. 19) - that his tongue might be cut out, says Evagrius, (l. iv. +c. iv.) The prudent patriarch did not stay to examine the +difference. This ecclesiastical revolution is fixed by Pagi to +the month of September of the year 518, (Critica, tom. ii. p. +506.)] + +[Footnote 129: The obscure history of James or Jacobus Baradaeus, +or Zanzalust may be gathered from Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. +144, 147,) Renau dot, (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 133,) and +Assemannus, (Bibliot. Orient. tom. i. p. 424, tom. ii. p. 62 - +69, 324 - 332, 414, tom. iii. p. 385 - 388.) He seems to be +unknown to the Greeks. The Jacobites themselves had rather +deduce their name and pedigree from St. James the apostle.] + +[Footnote 130: The account of his person and writings is perhaps +the most curious article in the Bibliotheca of Assemannus, (tom. +ii. p. 244 - 321, under the name of Gregorius Bar-Hebroeus.) La +Croze (Christianisme d'Ethiopie, p. 53 - 63) ridicules the +prejudice of the Spaniards against the Jewish blood which +secretly defiles their church and state.] + +[Footnote 131: This excessive abstinence is censured by La Croze, +(p. 352,) and even by the Syrian Assemannus, (tom. i. p. 226, +tom. ii. p. 304, 305.)] +[Footnote 132: The state of the Monophysites is excellently +illustrated in a dissertation at the beginning of the iid volume +of Assemannus, which contains 142 pages. The Syriac Chronicle of +Gregory Bar-Hebraeus, or Abulpharagius, (Bibliot. Orient. tom. +ii. p. 321 - 463,) pursues the double series of the Nestorian +Catholics and the Maphrians of the Jacobites.] + + III. In the style of the Oriental Christians, the +Monothelites of every age are described under the appellation of +Maronites, ^133 a name which has been insensibly transferred from +a hermit to a monastery, from a monastery to a nation. Maron, a +saint or savage of the fifth century, displayed his religious +madness in Syria; the rival cities of Apamea and Emesa disputed +his relics, a stately church was erected on his tomb, and six +hundred of his disciples united their solitary cells on the banks +of the Orontes. In the controversies of the incarnation they +nicely threaded the orthodox line between the sects of Nestorians +and Eutyches; but the unfortunate question of one will or +operation in the two natures of Christ, was generated by their +curious leisure. Their proselyte, the emperor Heraclius, was +rejected as a Maronite from the walls of Emesa, he found a refuge +in the monastery of his brethren; and their theological lessons +were repaid with the gift a spacious and wealthy domain. The +name and doctrine of this venerable school were propagated among +the Greeks and Syrians, and their zeal is expressed by Macarius, +patriarch of Antioch, who declared before the synod of +Constantinople, that sooner than subscribe the two wills of +Christ, he would submit to be hewn piecemeal and cast into the +sea. ^134 A similar or a less cruel mode of persecution soon +converted the unresisting subjects of the plain, while the +glorious title of Mardaites, ^135 or rebels, was bravely +maintained by the hardy natives of Mount Libanus. John Maron, +one of the most learned and popular of the monks, assumed the +character of patriarch of Antioch; his nephew, Abraham, at the +head of the Maronites, defended their civil and religious freedom +against the tyrants of the East. The son of the orthodox +Constantine pursued with pious hatred a people of soldiers, who +might have stood the bulwark of his empire against the common +foes of Christ and of Rome. An army of Greeks invaded Syria; the +monastery of St. Maron was destroyed with fire; the bravest +chieftains were betrayed and murdered, and twelve thousand of +their followers were transplanted to the distant frontiers of +Armenia and Thrace. Yet the humble nation of the Maronites had +survived the empire of Constantinople, and they still enjoy, +under their Turkish masters, a free religion and a mitigated +servitude. Their domestic governors are chosen among the ancient +nobility: the patriarch, in his monastery of Canobin, still +fancies himself on the throne of Antioch: nine bishops compose +his synod, and one hundred and fifty priests, who retain the +liberty of marriage, are intrusted with the care of one hundred +thousand souls. Their country extends from the ridge of Mount +Libanus to the shores of Tripoli; and the gradual descent +affords, in a narrow space, each variety of soil and climate, +from the Holy Cedars, erect under the weight of snow, ^136 to the +vine, the mulberry, and the olive-trees of the fruitful valley. +In the twelfth century, the Maronites, abjuring the Monothelite +error were reconciled to the Latin churches of Antioch and Rome, +^137 and the same alliance has been frequently renewed by the +ambition of the popes and the distress of the Syrians. But it +may reasonably be questioned, whether their union has ever been +perfect or sincere; and the learned Maronites of the college of +Rome have vainly labored to absolve their ancestors from the +guilt of heresy and schism. ^138 + +[Footnote 133: The synonymous use of the two words may be proved +from Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 191, 267, 332,) and many +similar passages which may be found in the methodical table of +Pocock. He was not actuated by any prejudice against the +Maronites of the xth century; and we may believe a Melchite, +whose testimony is confirmed by the Jacobites and Latins.] +[Footnote 134: Concil. tom. vii. p. 780. The Monothelite cause +was supported with firmness and subtilty by Constantine, a Syrian +priest of Apamea, (p. 1040, &c.)] + +[Footnote 135: Theophanes (Chron. p. 295, 296, 300, 302, 306) and +Cedrenus (p. 437, 440) relates the exploits of the Mardaites: the +name (Mard, in Syriac, rebellavit) is explained by La Roque, +(Voyage de la Syrie, tom. ii. p. 53;) and dates are fixed by +Pagi, (A.D. 676, No. 4 - 14, A.D. 685, No. 3, 4;) and even the +obscure story of the patriarch John Maron (Asseman. Bibliot. +Orient. tom. i. p. 496 - 520) illustrates from the year 686 to +707, the troubles of Mount Libanus. + + Note: Compare on the Mardaites Anquetil du Perron, in the +fiftieth volume of the Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions; and +Schlosser, Bildersturmendes Kaiser, p. 100. - M] + +[Footnote 136: In the last century twenty large cedars still +remained, (Voyage de la Roque, tom. i. p. 68 - 76;) at present +they are reduced to four or five, (Volney, tom. i. p. 264.) These +trees, so famous in Scripture, were guarded by excommunication: +the wood was sparingly borrowed for small crosses, &c.; an annual +mass was chanted under their shade; and they were endowed by the +Syrians with a sensitive power of erecting their branches to +repel the snow, to which Mount Libanus is less faithful than it +is painted by Tacitus: inter ardores opacum fidumque nivibus - a +daring metaphor, (Hist. v. 6.) + Note: Of the oldest and best looking trees, I counted eleven +or twelve twenty-five very large ones; and about fifty of +middling size; and more than three hundred smaller and young +ones. Burckhardt's Travels in Syria p. 19. - M] + +[Footnote 137: The evidence of William of Tyre (Hist. in Gestis +Dei per Francos, l. xxii. c. 8, p. 1022) is copied or confirmed +by Jacques de Vitra, (Hist. Hierosolym. l. ii. c. 77, p. 1093, +1094.) But this unnatural league expired with the power of the +Franks; and Abulpharagius (who died in 1286) considers the +Maronites as a sect of Monothelites, (Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. +p. 292.)] + +[Footnote 138: I find a description and history of the Maronites +in the Voyage de la Syrie et du Mont Liban par la Roque, (2 vols. +in 12mo., Amsterdam, 1723; particularly tom. i. p. 42 - 47, p. +174 - 184, tom. ii. p. 10 - 120.) In the ancient part, he copies +the prejudices of Nairon and the other Maronites of Rome, which +Assemannus is afraid to renounce and ashamed to support. +Jablonski, (Institut. Hist. Christ. tom. iii. p. 186.) Niebuhr, +(Voyage de l'Arabie, &c., tom. ii. p. 346, 370 - 381,) and, above +all, the judicious Volney, (Voyage en Egypte et en Syrie, tom. +ii. p. 8 - 31, Paris, 1787,) may be consulted.] + + IV. Since the age of Constantine, the Armenians ^139 had +signalized their attachment to the religion and empire of the +Christians. ^* The disorders of their country, and their +ignorance of the Greek tongue, prevented their clergy from +assisting at the synod of Chalcedon, and they floated eighty-four +years ^140 in a state of indifference or suspense, till their +vacant faith was finally occupied by the missionaries of Julian +of Halicarnassus, ^141 who in Egypt, their common exile, had been +vanquished by the arguments or the influence of his rival +Severus, the Monophysite patriarch of Antioch. The Armenians +alone are the pure disciples of Eutyches, an unfortunate parent, +who has been renounced by the greater part of his spiritual +progeny. They alone persevere in the opinion, that the manhood +of Christ was created, or existed without creation, of a divine +and incorruptible substance. Their adversaries reproach them +with the adoration of a phantom; and they retort the accusation, +by deriding or execrating the blasphemy of the Jacobites, who +impute to the Godhead the vile infirmities of the flesh, even the +natural effects of nutrition and digestion. The religion of +Armenia could not derive much glory from the learning or the +power of its inhabitants. The royalty expired with the origin of +their schism; and their Christian kings, who arose and fell in +the thirteenth century on the confines of Cilicia, were the +clients of the Latins and the vassals of the Turkish sultan of +Iconium. The helpless nation has seldom been permitted to enjoy +the tranquillity of servitude. From the earliest period to the +present hour, Armenia has been the theatre of perpetual war: the +lands between Tauris and Erivan were dispeopled by the cruel +policy of the Sophis; and myriads of Christian families were +transplanted, to perish or to propagate in the distant provinces +of Persia. Under the rod of oppression, the zeal of the Armenians +is fervent and intrepid; they have often preferred the crown of +martyrdom to the white turban of Mahomet; they devoutly hate the +error and idolatry of the Greeks; and their transient union with +the Latins is not less devoid of truth, than the thousand +bishops, whom their patriarch offered at the feet of the Roman +pontiff. ^142 The catholic, or patriarch, of the Armenians +resides in the monastery of Ekmiasin, three leagues from Erivan. +Forty-seven archbishops, each of whom may claim the obedience of +four or five suffragans, are consecrated by his hand; but the far +greater part are only titular prelates, who dignify with their +presence and service the simplicity of his court. As soon as +they have performed the liturgy, they cultivate the garden; and +our bishops will hear with surprise, that the austerity of their +life increases in just proportion to the elevation of their rank. + +In the fourscore thousand towns or villages of his spiritual +empire, the patriarch receives a small and voluntary tax from +each person above the age of fifteen; but the annual amount of +six hundred thousand crowns is insufficient to supply the +incessant demands of charity and tribute. Since the beginning of +the last century, the Armenians have obtained a large and +lucrative share of the commerce of the East: in their return from +Europe, the caravan usually halts in the neighborhood of Erivan, +the altars are enriched with the fruits of their patient +industry; and the faith of Eutyches is preached in their recent +congregations of Barbary and Poland. ^143 +[Footnote 139: The religion of the Armenians is briefly described +by La Croze, (Hist. du Christ. de l'Ethiopie et de l'Armenie, p. +269 - 402.) He refers to the great Armenian History of Galanus, +(3 vols. in fol. Rome, 1650 - 1661,) and commends the state of +Armenia in the iiid volume of the Nouveaux Memoires des Missions +du Levant. The work of a Jesuit must have sterling merit when it +is praised by La Croze.] + +[Footnote *: See vol. iii. ch. xx. p. 271. - M.] + +[Footnote 140: The schism of the Armenians is placed 84 years +after the council of Chalcedon, (Pagi, Critica, ad A.D. 535.) It +was consummated at the end of seventeen years; and it is from the +year of Christ 552 that we date the aera of the Armenians, (L'Art +de verifier les Dates, p. xxxv.)] +[Footnote 141: The sentiments and success of Julian of +Halicarnassus may be seen in Liberatus, (Brev. c. 19,) Renaudot, +(Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 132, 303,) and Assemannus, (Bibliot. +Orient. tom. ii. Dissertat. Monophysitis, l. viii. p. 286.)] + +[Footnote 142: See a remarkable fact of the xiith century in the +History of Nicetas Choniates, (p. 258.) Yet three hundred years +before, Photius (Epistol. ii. p. 49, edit. Montacut.) had gloried +in the conversion of the Armenians.] +[Footnote 143: The travelling Armenians are in the way of every +traveller, and their mother church is on the high road between +Constantinople and Ispahan; for their present state, see +Fabricius, (Lux Evangelii, &c., c. xxxviii. p. 40 - 51,) +Olearius, (l. iv. c. 40,) Chardin, (vol. ii. p. 232,) Teurnefort, +(lettre xx.,) and, above all, Tavernier, (tom. i. p. 28 - 37, 510 +- 518,) that rambling jeweller, who had read nothing, but had +seen so much and so well] + V. In the rest of the Roman empire, the despotism of the +prince might eradicate or silence the sectaries of an obnoxious +creed. But the stubborn temper of the Egyptians maintained their +opposition to the synod of Chalcedon, and the policy of Justinian +condescended to expect and to seize the opportunity of discord. +The Monophysite church of Alexandria ^144 was torn by the +disputes of the corruptibles and incorruptibles, and on the death +of the patriarch, the two factions upheld their respective +candidates. ^145 Gaian was the disciple of Julian, Theodosius had +been the pupil of Severus: the claims of the former were +supported by the consent of the monks and senators, the city and +the province; the latter depended on the priority of his +ordination, the favor of the empress Theodora, and the arms of +the eunuch Narses, which might have been used in more honorable +warfare. The exile of the popular candidate to Carthage and +Sardinia inflamed the ferment of Alexandria; and after a schism +of one hundred and seventy years, the Gaianites still revered the +memory and doctrine of their founder. The strength of numbers +and of discipline was tried in a desperate and bloody conflict; +the streets were filled with the dead bodies of citizens and +soldiers; the pious women, ascending the roofs of their houses, +showered down every sharp or ponderous utensil on the heads of +the enemy; and the final victory of Narses was owing to the +flames, with which he wasted the third capital of the Roman +world. But the lieutenant of Justinian had not conquered in the +cause of a heretic; Theodosius himself was speedily, though +gently, removed; and Paul of Tanis, an orthodox monk, was raised +to the throne of Athanasius. The powers of government were +strained in his support; he might appoint or displace the dukes +and tribunes of Egypt; the allowance of bread, which Diocletian +had granted, was suppressed, the churches were shut, and a nation +of schismatics was deprived at once of their spiritual and carnal +food. In his turn, the tyrant was excommunicated by the zeal and +revenge of the people: and none except his servile Melchites +would salute him as a man, a Christian, or a bishop. Yet such is +the blindness of ambition, that, when Paul was expelled on a +charge of murder, he solicited, with a bribe of seven hundred +pounds of gold, his restoration to the same station of hatred and +ignominy. His successor Apollinaris entered the hostile city in +military array, alike qualified for prayer or for battle. His +troops, under arms, were distributed through the streets; the +gates of the cathedral were guarded, and a chosen band was +stationed in the choir, to defend the person of their chief. He +stood erect on his throne, and, throwing aside the upper garment +of a warrior, suddenly appeared before the eyes of the multitude +in the robes of patriarch of Alexandria. Astonishment held them +mute; but no sooner had Apollinaris begun to read the tome of St. +Leo, than a volley of curses, and invectives, and stones, +assaulted the odious minister of the emperor and the synod. A +charge was instantly sounded by the successor of the apostles; +the soldiers waded to their knees in blood; and two hundred +thousand Christians are said to have fallen by the sword: an +incredible account, even if it be extended from the slaughter of +a day to the eighteen years of the reign of Apollinaris. Two +succeeding patriarchs, Eulogius ^146 and John, ^147 labored in +the conversion of heretics, with arms and arguments more worthy +of their evangelical profession. The theological knowledge of +Eulogius was displayed in many a volume, which magnified the +errors of Eutyches and Severus, and attempted to reconcile the +ambiguous language of St. Cyril with the orthodox creed of Pope +Leo and the fathers of Chalcedon. The bounteous alms of John the +eleemosynary were dictated by superstition, or benevolence, or +policy. Seven thousand five hundred poor were maintained at his +expense; on his accession he found eight thousand pounds of gold +in the treasury of the church; he collected ten thousand from the +liberality of the faithful; yet the primate could boast in his +testament, that he left behind him no more than the third part of +the smallest of the silver coins. The churches of Alexandria +were delivered to the Catholics, the religion of the Monophysites +was proscribed in Egypt, and a law was revived which excluded the +natives from the honors and emoluments of the state. + +[Footnote 144: The history of the Alexandrian patriarchs, from +Dioscorus to Benjamin, is taken from Renaudot, (p. 114 - 164,) +and the second tome of the Annals of Eutychius.] + +[Footnote 145: Liberat. Brev. c. 20, 23. Victor. Chron. p. 329 +330. Procop. Anecdot. c. 26, 27.] + +[Footnote 146: Eulogius, who had been a monk of Antioch, was more +conspicuous for subtilty than eloquence. He proves that the +enemies of the faith, the Gaianites and Theodosians, ought not to +be reconciled; that the same proposition may be orthodox in the +mouth of St. Cyril, heretical in that of Severus; that the +opposite assertions of St. Leo are equally true, &c. His +writings are no longer extant except in the Extracts of Photius, +who had perused them with care and satisfaction, ccviii. ccxxv. +ccxxvi. ccxxvii. ccxxx. cclxxx.] + +[Footnote 147: See the Life of John the eleemosynary by his +contemporary Leontius, bishop of Neapolis in Cyrus, whose Greek +text, either lost or hidden, is reflected in the Latin version of +Baronius, (A.D. 610, No.9, A.D. 620, No. 8.) Pagi (Critica, tom. +ii. p. 763) and Fabricius l. v c. 11, tom. vii. p. 454) have made +some critical observations] + + +Chapter XLVII: Ecclesiastical Discord. + + +Part V. + + A more important conquest still remained, of the patriarch, +the oracle and leader of the Egyptian church. Theodosius had +resisted the threats and promises of Justinian with the spirit of +an apostle or an enthusiast. "Such," replied the patriarch, "were +the offers of the tempter when he showed the kingdoms of the +earth. But my soul is far dearer to me than life or dominion. +The churches are in the hands of a prince who can kill the body; +but my conscience is my own; and in exile, poverty, or chains, I +will steadfastly adhere to the faith of my holy predecessors, +Athanasius, Cyril, and Dioscorus. Anathema to the tome of Leo and +the synod of Chalcedon! Anathema to all who embrace their creed! +Anathema to them now and forevermore! Naked came I out of my +mother's womb, naked shall I descend into the grave. Let those +who love God follow me and seek their salvation." After +comforting his brethren, he embarked for Constantinople, and +sustained, in six successive interviews, the almost irresistible +weight of the royal presence. His opinions were favorably +entertained in the palace and the city; the influence of Theodora +assured him a safe conduct and honorable dismission; and he ended +his days, though not on the throne, yet in the bosom, of his +native country. On the news of his death, Apollinaris indecently +feasted the nobles and the clergy; but his joy was checked by the +intelligence of a new election; and while he enjoyed the wealth +of Alexandria, his rivals reigned in the monasteries of Thebais, +and were maintained by the voluntary oblations of the people. A +perpetual succession of patriarchs arose from the ashes of +Theodosius; and the Monophysite churches of Syria and Egypt were +united by the name of Jacobites and the communion of the faith. +But the same faith, which has been confined to a narrow sect of +the Syrians, was diffused over the mass of the Egyptian or Coptic +nation; who, almost unanimously, rejected the decrees of the +synod of Chalcedon. A thousand years were now elapsed since +Egypt had ceased to be a kingdom, since the conquerors of Asia +and Europe had trampled on the ready necks of a people, whose +ancient wisdom and power ascend beyond the records of history. +The conflict of zeal and persecution rekindled some sparks of +their national spirit. They abjured, with a foreign heresy, the +manners and language of the Greeks: every Melchite, in their +eyes, was a stranger, every Jacobite a citizen; the alliance of +marriage, the offices of humanity, were condemned as a deadly sin +the natives renounced all allegiance to the emperor; and his +orders, at a distance from Alexandria, were obeyed only under the +pressure of military force. A generous effort might have edeemed +the religion and liberty of Egypt, and her six hundred +monasteries might have poured forth their myriads of holy +warriors, for whom death should have no terrors, since life had +no comfort or delight. But experience has proved the distinction +of active and passive courage; the fanatic who endures without a +groan the torture of the rack or the stake, would tremble and fly +before the face of an armed enemy. The pusillanimous temper of +the Egyptians could only hope for a change of masters; the arms +of Chosroes depopulated the land, yet under his reign the +Jacobites enjoyed a short and precarious respite. The victory of +Heraclius renewed and aggravated the persecution, and the +patriarch again escaped from Alexandria to the desert. In his +flight, Benjamin was encouraged by a voice, which bade him +expect, at the end of ten years, the aid of a foreign nation, +marked, like the Egyptians themselves, with the ancient rite of +circumcision. The character of these deliverers, and the nature +of the deliverance, will be hereafter explained; and I shall step +over the interval of eleven centuries to observe the present +misery of the Jacobites of Egypt. The populous city of Cairo +affords a residence, or rather a shelter, for their indigent +patriarch, and a remnant of ten bishops; forty monasteries have +survived the inroads of the Arabs; and the progress of servitude +and apostasy has reduced the Coptic nation to the despicable +number of twenty-five or thirty thousand families; ^148 a race of +illiterate beggars, whose only consolation is derived from the +superior wretchedness of the Greek patriarch and his diminutive +congregation. ^149 + +[Footnote 148: This number is taken from the curious Recherches +sur les Egyptiens et les Chinois, (tom. ii. p. 192, 193,) and +appears more probable than the 600,000 ancient, or 15,000 modern, +Copts of Gemelli Carreri Cyril Lucar, the Protestant patriarch of +Constantinople, laments that those heretics were ten times more +numerous than his orthodox Greeks, ingeniously applying Homer, +(Iliad, ii. 128,) the most perfect expression of contempt, +(Fabric. Lux Evangelii, 740.)] + +[Footnote 149: The history of the Copts, their religion, manners, +&c., may be found in the Abbe Renaudot's motley work, neither a +translation nor an original; the Chronicon Orientale of Peter, a +Jacobite; in the two versions of Abraham Ecchellensis, Paris, +1651; and John Simon Asseman, Venet. 1729. These annals descend +no lower than the xiiith century. The more recent accounts must +be searched for in the travellers into Egypt and the Nouveaux +Memoires des Missions du Levant. In the last century, Joseph +Abudacnus, a native of Cairo, published at Oxford, in thirty +pages, a slight Historia Jacobitarum, 147, post p.150] + + VI. The Coptic patriarch, a rebel to the Caesars, or a +slave to the khalifs, still gloried in the filial obedience of +the kings of Nubia and Aethiopia. He repaid their homage by +magnifying their greatness; and it was boldly asserted that they +could bring into the field a hundred thousand horse, with an +equal number of camels; ^150 that their hand could pour out or +restrain the waters of the Nile; ^151 and the peace and plenty of +Egypt was obtained, even in this world, by the intercession of +the patriarch. In exile at Constantinople, Theodosius +recommended to his patroness the conversion of the black nations +of Nubia, from the tropic of Cancer to the confines of Abyssinia. +^152 Her design was suspected and emulated by the more orthodox +emperor. The rival missionaries, a Melchite and a Jacobite, +embarked at the same time; but the empress, from a motive of love +or fear, was more effectually obeyed; and the Catholic priest was +detained by the president of Thebais, while the king of Nubia and +his court were hastily baptized in the faith of Dioscorus. The +tardy envoy of Justinian was received and dismissed with honor: +but when he accused the heresy and treason of the Egyptians, the +negro convert was instructed to reply that he would never abandon +his brethren, the true believers, to the persecuting ministers of +the synod of Chalcedon. ^153 During several ages, the bishops of +Nubia were named and consecrated by the Jacobite patriarch of +Alexandria: as late as the twelfth century, Christianity +prevailed; and some rites, some ruins, are still visible in the +savage towns of Sennaar and Dongola. ^154 But the Nubians at +length executed their threats of returning to the worship of +idols; the climate required the indulgence of polygamy, and they +have finally preferred the triumph of the Koran to the abasement +of the Cross. A metaphysical religion may appear too refined for +the capacity of the negro race: yet a black or a parrot might be +taught to repeat the words of the Chalcedonian or Monophysite +creed. + +[Footnote 150: About the year 737. See Renaudot, Hist. +Patriarch. Alex p. 221, 222. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 99.] + +[Footnote 151: Ludolph. Hist. Aethiopic. et Comment. l. i. c. 8. +Renaudot Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 480, &c. This opinion, +introduced into Egypt and Europe by the artifice of the Copts, +the pride of the Abyssinians, the fear and ignorance of the Turks +and Arabs, has not even the semblance of truth. The rains of +Aethiopia do not, in the increase of the Nile, consult the will +of the monarch. If the river approaches at Napata within three +days' journey of the Red Sea (see D'Anville's Maps,) a canal that +should divert its course would demand, and most probably surpass, +the power of the Caesars.] +[Footnote 152: The Abyssinians, who still preserve the features +and olive complexion of the Arabs, afford a proof that two +thousand years are not sufficient to change the color of the +human race. The Nubians, an African race, are pure negroes, as +black as those of Senegal or Congo, with flat noses, thick lips, +and woolly hair, (Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. v. p. 117, 143, +144, 166, 219, edit. in 12mo., Paris, 1769.) The ancients beheld, +without much attention, the extraordinary phenomenon which has +exercised the philosophers and theologians of modern times] + +[Footnote 153: Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. i. p. 329.] + +[Footnote 154: The Christianity of the Nubians (A.D. 1153) is +attested by the sheriff al Edrisi, falsely described under the +name of the Nubian geographer, (p. 18,) who represents them as a +nation of Jacobites. The rays of historical light that twinkle +in the history of Ranaudot (p. 178, 220 - 224, 281 - 286, 405, +434, 451, 464) are all previous to this aera. See the modern +state in the Lettres Edifiantes (Recueil, iv.) and Busching, +(tom. ix. p. 152 - 139, par Berenger.)] + + Christianity was more deeply rooted in the Abyssinian +empire; and, although the correspondence has been sometimes +interrupted above seventy or a hundred years, the mother-church +of Alexandria retains her colony in a state of perpetual +pupilage. Seven bishops once composed the Aethiopic synod: had +their number amounted to ten, they might have elected an +independent primate; and one of their kings was ambitious of +promoting his brother to the ecclesiastical throne. But the +event was foreseen, the increase was denied: the episcopal office +has been gradually confined to the abuna, ^155 the head and +author of the Abyssinian priesthood; the patriarch supplies each +vacancy with an Egyptian monk; and the character of a stranger +appears more venerable in the eyes of the people, less dangerous +in those of the monarch. In the sixth century, when the schism +of Egypt was confirmed, the rival chiefs, with their patrons, +Justinian and Theodora, strove to outstrip each other in the +conquest of a remote and independent province. The industry of +the empress was again victorious, and the pious Theodora has +established in that sequestered church the faith and discipline +of the Jacobites. ^156 Encompassed on all sides by the enemies of +their religion, the Aethiopians slept near a thousand years, +forgetful of the world, by whom they were forgotten. They were +awakened by the Portuguese, who, turning the southern promontory +of Africa, appeared in India and the Red Sea, as if they had +descended through the air from a distant planet. In the first +moments of their interview, the subjects of Rome and Alexandria +observed the resemblance, rather than the difference, of their +faith; and each nation expected the most important benefits from +an alliance with their Christian brethren. In their lonely +situation, the Aethiopians had almost relapsed into the savage +life. Their vessels, which had traded to Ceylon, scarcely +presumed to navigate the rivers of Africa; the ruins of Axume +were deserted, the nation was scattered in villages, and the +emperor, a pompous name, was content, both in peace and war, with +the immovable residence of a camp. Conscious of their own +indigence, the Abyssinians had formed the rational project of +importing the arts and ingenuity of Europe; ^157 and their +ambassadors at Rome and Lisbon were instructed to solicit a +colony of smiths, carpenters, tilers, masons, printers, surgeons, +and physicians, for the use of their country. But the public +danger soon called for the instant and effectual aid of arms and +soldiers, to defend an unwarlike people from the Barbarians who +ravaged the inland country and the Turks and Arabs who advanced +from the sea-coast in more formidable array. Aethiopia was saved +by four hundred and fifty Portuguese, who displayed in the field +the native valor of Europeans, and the artificial power of the +musket and cannon. In a moment of terror, the emperor had +promised to reconcile himself and his subjects to the Catholic +faith; a Latin patriarch represented the supremacy of the pope: +^158 the empire, enlarged in a tenfold proportion, was supposed +to contain more gold than the mines of America; and the wildest +hopes of avarice and zeal were built on the willing submission of +the Christians of Africa. + +[Footnote 155: The abuna is improperly dignified by the Latins +with the title of patriarch. The Abyssinians acknowledge only +the four patriarchs, and their chief is no more than a +metropolitan or national primate, (Ludolph. Hist. Aethiopic. et +Comment. l. iii. c. 7.) The seven bishops of Renaudot, (p. 511,) +who existed A.D. 1131, are unknown to the historian.] + +[Footnote 156: I know not why Assemannus (Bibliot. Orient. tom. +ii. p. 384) should call in question these probable missions of +Theodora into Nubia and Aethiopia. The slight notices of +Abyssinia till the year 1500 are supplied by Renaudot (p. 336 - +341, 381, 382, 405, 443, &c., 452, 456, 463, 475, 480, 511, 525, +559 - 564) from the Coptic writers. The mind of Ludolphus was a +perfect blank.] + +[Footnote 157: Ludolph. Hist. Aethiop. l. iv. c. 5. The most +necessary arts are now exercised by the Jews, and the foreign +trade is in the hands of the Armenians. What Gregory principally +admired and envied was the industry of Europe - artes et +opificia.] + +[Footnote 158: John Bermudez, whose relation, printed at Lisbon, +1569, was translated into English by Purchas, (Pilgrims, l. vii. +c. 7, p. 1149, &c.,) and from thence into French by La Croze, +(Christianisme d'Ethiopie, p. 92 - 265.) The piece is curious; +but the author may be suspected of deceiving Abyssinia, Rome, and +Portugal. His title to the rank of patriarch is dark and +doubtful, (Ludolph. Comment. No. 101, p. 473.)] + + But the vows which pain had extorted were forsworn on the +return of health. The Abyssinians still adhered with unshaken +constancy to the Monophysite faith; their languid belief was +inflamed by the exercise of dispute; they branded the Latins with +the names of Arians and Nestorians, and imputed the adoration of +four gods to those who separated the two natures of Christ. +Fremona, a place of worship, or rather of exile, was assigned to +the Jesuit missionaries. Their skill in the liberal and mechanic +arts, their theological learning, and the decency of their +manners, inspired a barren esteem; but they were not endowed with +the gift of miracles, ^159 and they vainly solicited a +reenforcement of European troops. The patience and dexterity of +forty years at length obtained a more favorable audience, and two +emperors of Abyssinia were persuaded that Rome could insure the +temporal and everlasting happiness of her votaries. The first of +these royal converts lost his crown and his life; and the rebel +army was sanctified by the abuna, who hurled an anathema at the +apostate, and absolved his subjects from their oath of fidelity. +The fate of Zadenghel was revenged by the courage and fortune of +Susneus, who ascended the throne under the name of Segued, and +more vigorously prosecuted the pious enterprise of his kinsman. +After the amusement of some unequal combats between the Jesuits +and his illiterate priests, the emperor declared himself a +proselyte to the synod of Chalcedon, presuming that his clergy +and people would embrace without delay the religion of their +prince. The liberty of choice was succeeded by a law, which +imposed, under pain of death, the belief of the two natures of +Christ: the Abyssinians were enjoined to work and to play on the +Sabbath; and Segued, in the face of Europe and Africa, renounced +his connection with the Alexandrian church. A Jesuit, Alphonso +Mendez, the Catholic patriarch of Aethiopia, accepted, in the +name of Urban VIII., the homage and abjuration of the penitent. +"I confess," said the emperor on his knees, "I confess that the +pope is the vicar of Christ, the successor of St. Peter, and the +sovereign of the world. To him I swear true obedience, and at +his feet I offer my person and kingdom." A similar oath was +repeated by his son, his brother, the clergy, the nobles, and +even the ladies of the court: the Latin patriarch was invested +with honors and wealth; and his missionaries erected their +churches or citadels in the most convenient stations of the +empire. The Jesuits themselves deplore the fatal indiscretion of +their chief, who forgot the mildness of the gospel and the policy +of his order, to introduce with hasty violence the liturgy of +Rome and the inquisition of Portugal. He condemned the ancient +practice of circumcision, which health, rather than superstition, +had first invented in the climate of Aethiopia. ^160 A new +baptism, a new ordination, was inflicted on the natives; and they +trembled with horror when the most holy of the dead were torn +from their graves, when the most illustrious of the living were +excommunicated by a foreign priest. In the defense of their +religion and liberty, the Abyssinians rose in arms, with +desperate but unsuccessful zeal. Five rebellions were +extinguished in the blood of the insurgents: two abunas were +slain in battle, whole legions were slaughtered in the field, or +suffocated in their caverns; and neither merit, nor rank, nor +sex, could save from an ignominious death the enemies of Rome. +But the victorious monarch was finally subdued by the constancy +of the nation, of his mother, of his son, and of his most +faithful friends. Segued listened to the voice of pity, of +reason, perhaps of fear: and his edict of liberty of conscience +instantly revealed the tyranny and weakness of the Jesuits. On +the death of his father, Basilides expelled the Latin patriarch, +and restored to the wishes of the nation the faith and the +discipline of Egypt. The Monophysite churches resounded with a +song of triumph, "that the sheep of Aethiopia were now delivered +from the hyaenas of the West;" and the gates of that solitary +realm were forever shut against the arts, the science, and the +fanaticism of Europe. ^161 + +[Footnote 159: Religio Romana ...nec precibus patrum nec +miraculis ab ipsis editis suffulciebatur, is the uncontradicted +assurance of the devout emperor Susneus to his patriarch Mendez, +(Ludolph. Comment. No. 126, p. 529;) and such assurances should +be preciously kept, as an antidote against any marvellous +legends.] + +[Footnote 160: I am aware how tender is the question of +circumcision. Yet I will affirm, 1. That the Aethiopians have a +physical reason for the circumcision of males, and even of +females, (Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains, tom. ii.) +2. That it was practised in Aethiopia long before the +introduction of Judaism or Christianity, Herodot. l. ii. c. 104. +Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 72, 73.) "Infantes circumcidunt ob +consuetudinemn, non ob Judaismum," says Gregory the Abyssinian +priest, (apud Fabric. Lux Christiana, p. 720.) Yet in the heat of +dispute, the Portuguese were sometimes branded with the name of +uncircumcised, (La Croze, p. 90. Ludolph. Hist. and Comment. l. +iii. c. l.)] + +[Footnote 161: The three Protestant historians, Ludolphus, (Hist. +Aethiopica, Francofurt. 1681; Commentarius, 1691; Relatio Nova, +&c., 1693, in folio,) Geddes, (Church History of Aethiopia, +London, 1696, in 8vo..) and La Croze, (Hist. du Christianisme +d'Ethiopie et d'Armenie, La Haye, 1739, in 12mo.,) have drawn +their principal materials from the Jesuits, especially from the +General History of Tellez, published in Portuguese at Coimbra, +1660. We might be surprised at their frankness; but their most +flagitious vice, the spirit of persecution, was in their eyes the +most meritorious virtue. Ludolphus possessed some, though a +slight, advantage from the Aethiopic language, and the personal +conversation of Gregory, a free-spirited Abyssinian priest, whom +he invited from Rome to the court of Saxe-Gotha. See the +Theologia Aethiopica of Gregory, in Fabric. Lux Evangelii, p. +716 - 734.) + + Note: The travels of Bruce, illustrated by those of Mr. +Salt, and the narrative of Nathaniel Pearce, have brought us +again acquainted with this remote region. Whatever may be their +speculative opinions the barbarous manners of the Ethiopians seem +to be gaining more and more the ascendency over the practice of +Christianity. - M.] + + +Chapter XLVIII: Succession And Characters Of The Greek Emperors. + + +Part I. + + Plan Of The Two Last Volumes. - Succession And Characters Of +The Greek Emperors Of Constantinople, From The Time Of Heraclius +To The Latin Conquest. + + I have now deduced from Trajan to Constantine, from +Constantine to Heraclius, the regular series of the Roman +emperors; and faithfully exposed the prosperous and adverse +fortunes of their reigns. Five centuries of the decline and fall +of the empire have already elapsed; but a period of more than +eight hundred years still separates me from the term of my +labors, the taking of Constantinople by the Turks. Should I +persevere in the same course, should I observe the same measure, +a prolix and slender thread would be spun through many a volume, +nor would the patient reader find an adequate reward of +instruction or amusement. At every step, as we sink deeper in +the decline and fall of the Eastern empire, the annals of each +succeeding reign would impose a more ungrateful and melancholy +task. These annals must continue to repeat a tedious and uniform +tale of weakness and misery; the natural connection of causes and +events would be broken by frequent and hasty transitions, and a +minute accumulation of circumstances must destroy the light and +effect of those general pictures which compose the use and +ornament of a remote history. From the time of Heraclius, the +Byzantine theatre is contracted and darkened: the line of empire, +which had been defined by the laws of Justinian and the arms of +Belisarius, recedes on all sides from our view; the Roman name, +the proper subject of our inquiries, is reduced to a narrow +corner of Europe, to the lonely suburbs of Constantinople; and +the fate of the Greek empire has been compared to that of the +Rhine, which loses itself in the sands, before its waters can +mingle with the ocean. The scale of dominion is diminished to +our view by the distance of time and place; nor is the loss of +external splendor compensated by the nobler gifts of virtue and +genius. In the last moments of her decay, Constantinople was +doubtless more opulent and populous than Athens at her most +flourishing aera, when a scanty sum of six thousand talents, or +twelve hundred thousand pounds sterling was possessed by +twenty-one thousand male citizens of an adult age. But each of +these citizens was a freeman, who dared to assert the liberty of +his thoughts, words, and actions, whose person and property were +guarded by equal law; and who exercised his independent vote in +the government of the republic. Their numbers seem to be +multiplied by the strong and various discriminations of +character; under the shield of freedom, on the wings of emulation +and vanity, each Athenian aspired to the level of the national +dignity; from this commanding eminence, some chosen spirits +soared beyond the reach of a vulgar eye; and the chances of +superior merit in a great and populous kingdom, as they are +proved by experience, would excuse the computation of imaginary +millions. The territories of Athens, Sparta, and their allies, +do not exceed a moderate province of France or England; but after +the trophies of Salamis and Platea, they expand in our fancy to +the gigantic size of Asia, which had been trampled under the feet +of the victorious Greeks. But the subjects of the Byzantine +empire, who assume and dishonor the names both of Greeks and +Romans, present a dead uniformity of abject vices, which are +neither softened by the weakness of humanity, nor animated by the +vigor of memorable crimes. The freemen of antiquity might repeat +with generous enthusiasm the sentence of Homer, "that on the +first day of his servitude, the captive is deprived of one half +of his manly virtue." But the poet had only seen the effects of +civil or domestic slavery, nor could he foretell that the second +moiety of manhood must be annihilated by the spiritual despotism +which shackles not only the actions, but even the thoughts, of +the prostrate votary. By this double yoke, the Greeks were +oppressed under the successors of Heraclius; the tyrant, a law of +eternal justice, was degraded by the vices of his subjects; and +on the throne, in the camp, in the schools, we search, perhaps +with fruitless diligence, the names and characters that may +deserve to be rescued from oblivion. Nor are the defects of the +subject compensated by the skill and variety of the painters. Of +a space of eight hundred years, the four first centuries are +overspread with a cloud interrupted by some faint and broken rays +of historic light: in the lives of the emperors, from Maurice to +Alexius, Basil the Macedonian has alone been the theme of a +separate work; and the absence, or loss, or imperfection of +contemporary evidence, must be poorly supplied by the doubtful +authority of more recent compilers. The four last centuries are +exempt from the reproach of penury; and with the Comnenian +family, the historic muse of Constantinople again revives, but +her apparel is gaudy, her motions are without elegance or grace. +A succession of priests, or courtiers, treads in each other's +footsteps in the same path of servitude and superstition: their +views are narrow, their judgment is feeble or corrupt; and we +close the volume of copious barrenness, still ignorant of the +causes of events, the characters of the actors, and the manners +of the times which they celebrate or deplore. The observation +which has been applied to a man, may be extended to a whole +people, that the energy of the sword is communicated to the pen; +and it will be found by experience, that the tone of history will +rise or fall with the spirit of the age. + + From these considerations, I should have abandoned without +regret the Greek slaves and their servile historians, had I not +reflected that the fate of the Byzantine monarchy is passively +connected with the most splendid and important revolutions which +have changed the state of the world. The space of the lost +provinces was immediately replenished with new colonies and +rising kingdoms: the active virtues of peace and war deserted +from the vanquished to the victorious nations; and it is in their +origin and conquests, in their religion and government, that we +must explore the causes and effects of the decline and fall of +the Eastern empire. Nor will this scope of narrative, the riches +and variety of these materials, be incompatible with the unity of +design and composition. As, in his daily prayers, the Mussulman +of Fez or Delhi still turns his face towards the temple of Mecca, +the historian's eye shall be always fixed on the city of +Constantinople. The excursive line may embrace the wilds of +Arabia and Tartary, but the circle will be ultimately reduced to +the decreasing limit of the Roman monarchy. + + On this principle I shall now establish the plan of the last +two volumes of the present work. The first chapter will contain, +in a regular series, the emperors who reigned at Constantinople +during a period of six hundred years, from the days of Heraclius +to the Latin conquest; a rapid abstract, which may be supported +by a general appeal to the order and text of the original +historians. In this introduction, I shall confine myself to the +revolutions of the throne, the succession of families, the +personal characters of the Greek princes, the mode of their life +and death, the maxims and influence of their domestic government, +and the tendency of their reign to accelerate or suspend the +downfall of the Eastern empire. Such a chronological review will +serve to illustrate the various argument of the subsequent +chapters; and each circumstance of the eventful story of the +Barbarians will adapt itself in a proper place to the Byzantine +annals. The internal state of the empire, and the dangerous +heresy of the Paulicians, which shook the East and enlightened +the West, will be the subject of two separate chapters; but these +inquiries must be postponed till our further progress shall have +opened the view of the world in the ninth and tenth centuries of +the Christian area. After this foundation of Byzantine history, +the following nations will pass before our eyes, and each will +occupy the space to which it may be entitled by greatness or +merit, or the degree of connection with the Roman world and the +present age. I. The Franks; a general appellation which +includes all the Barbarians of France, Italy, and Germany, who +were united by the sword and sceptre of Charlemagne. The +persecution of images and their votaries separated Rome and Italy +from the Byzantine throne, and prepared the restoration of the +Roman empire in the West. II. The Arabs or Saracens. Three +ample chapters will be devoted to this curious and interesting +object. In the first, after a picture of the country and its +inhabitants, I shall investigate the character of Mahomet; the +character, religion, and success of the prophet. In the second, +I shall lead the Arabs to the conquest of Syria, Egypt, and +Africa, the provinces of the Roman empire; nor can I check their +victorious career till they have overthrown the monarchies of +Persia and Spain. In the third, I shall inquire how +Constantinople and Europe were saved by the luxury and arts, the +division and decay, of the empire of the caliphs. A single +chapter will include, III. The Bulgarians, IV. Hungarians, and, +V. Russians, who assaulted by sea or by land the provinces and +the capital; but the last of these, so important in their present +greatness, will excite some curiosity in their origin and +infancy. VI. The Normans; or rather the private adventurers of +that warlike people, who founded a powerful kingdom in Apulia and +Sicily, shook the throne of Constantinople, displayed the +trophies of chivalry, and almost realized the wonders of romance. + +VII. The Latins; the subjects of the pope, the nations of the +West, who enlisted under the banner of the cross for the recovery +or relief of the holy sepulchre. The Greek emperors were +terrified and preserved by the myriads of pilgrims who marched to +Jerusalem with Godfrey of Bouillon and the peers of Christendom. +The second and third crusades trod in the footsteps of the first: +Asia and Europe were mingled in a sacred war of two hundred +years; and the Christian powers were bravely resisted, and +finally expelled by Saladin and the Mamelukes of Egypt. In these +memorable crusades, a fleet and army of French and Venetians were +diverted from Syria to the Thracian Bosphorus: they assaulted the +capital, they subverted the Greek monarchy: and a dynasty of +Latin princes was seated near threescore years on the throne of +Constantine. VII. The Greeks themselves, during this period of +captivity and exile, must be considered as a foreign nation; the +enemies, and again the sovereigns of Constantinople. Misfortune +had rekindled a spark of national virtue; and the Imperial series +may be continued with some dignity from their restoration to the +Turkish conquest. IX. The Moguls and Tartars. By the arms of +Zingis and his descendants, the globe was shaken from China to +Poland and Greece: the sultans were overthrown: the caliphs fell, +and the Caesars trembled on their throne. The victories of Timour +suspended above fifty years the final ruin of the Byzantine +empire. X. I have already noticed the first appearance of the +Turks; and the names of the fathers, of Seljuk and Othman, +discriminate the two successive dynasties of the nation, which +emerged in the eleventh century from the Scythian wilderness. +The former established a splendid and potent kingdom from the +banks of the Oxus to Antioch and Nice; and the first crusade was +provoked by the violation of Jerusalem and the danger of +Constantinople. From an humble origin, the Ottomans arose, the +scourge and terror of Christendom. Constantinople was besieged +and taken by Mahomet II., and his triumph annihilates the +remnant, the image, the title, of the Roman empire in the East. +The schism of the Greeks will be connected with their last +calamities, and the restoration of learning in the Western world. + +I shall return from the captivity of the new, to the ruins of +ancient Rome; and the venerable name, the interesting theme, will +shed a ray of glory on the conclusion of my labors. + + The emperor Heraclius had punished a tyrant and ascended his +throne; and the memory of his reign is perpetuated by the +transient conquest, and irreparable loss, of the Eastern +provinces. After the death of Eudocia, his first wife, he +disobeyed the patriarch, and violated the laws, by his second +marriage with his niece Martina; and the superstition of the +Greeks beheld the judgment of Heaven in the diseases of the +father and the deformity of his offspring. But the opinion of an +illegitimate birth is sufficient to distract the choice, and +loosen the obedience, of the people: the ambition of Martina was +quickened by maternal love, and perhaps by the envy of a step- +mother; and the aged husband was too feeble to withstand the arts +of conjugal allurements. Constantine, his eldest son, enjoyed in +a mature age the title of Augustus; but the weakness of his +constitution required a colleague and a guardian, and he yielded +with secret reluctance to the partition of the empire. The +senate was summoned to the palace to ratify or attest the +association of Heracleonas, the son of Martina: the imposition of +the diadem was consecrated by the prayer and blessing of the +patriarch; the senators and patricians adored the majesty of the +great emperor and the partners of his reign; and as soon as the +doors were thrown open, they were hailed by the tumultuary but +important voice of the soldiers. After an interval of five +months, the pompous ceremonies which formed the essence of the +Byzantine state were celebrated in the cathedral and the +hippodrome; the concord of the royal brothers was affectedly +displayed by the younger leaning on the arm of the elder; and the +name of Martina was mingled in the reluctant or venal +acclamations of the people. Heraclius survived this association +about two years: his last testimony declared his two sons the +equal heirs of the Eastern empire, and commanded them to honor +his widow Martina as their mother and their sovereign. + + When Martina first appeared on the throne with the name and +attributes of royalty, she was checked by a firm, though +respectful, opposition; and the dying embers of freedom were +kindled by the breath of superstitious prejudice. "We reverence," +exclaimed the voice of a citizen, "we reverence the mother of our +princes; but to those princes alone our obedience is due; and +Constantine, the elder emperor, is of an age to sustain, in his +own hands, the weight of the sceptre. Your sex is excluded by +nature from the toils of government. How could you combat, how +could you answer, the Barbarians, who, with hostile or friendly +intentions, may approach the royal city? May Heaven avert from +the Roman republic this national disgrace, which would provoke +the patience of the slaves of Persia!" Martina descended from the +throne with indignation, and sought a refuge in the female +apartment of the palace. The reign of Constantine the Third +lasted only one hundred and three days: he expired in the +thirtieth year of his age, and, although his life had been a long +malady, a belief was entertained that poison had been the means, +and his cruel step-mother the author, of his untimely fate. +Martina reaped indeed the harvest of his death, and assumed the +government in the name of the surviving emperor; but the +incestuous widow of Heraclius was universally abhorred; the +jealousy of the people was awakened, and the two orphans whom +Constantine had left became the objects of the public care. It +was in vain that the son of Martina, who was no more than fifteen +years of age, was taught to declare himself the guardian of his +nephews, one of whom he had presented at the baptismal font: it +was in vain that he swore on the wood of the true cross, to +defend them against all their enemies. On his death-bed, the +late emperor had despatched a trusty servant to arm the troops +and provinces of the East in the defence of his helpless +children: the eloquence and liberality of Valentin had been +successful, and from his camp of Chalcedon, he boldly demanded +the punishment of the assassins, and the restoration of the +lawful heir. The license of the soldiers, who devoured the +grapes and drank the wine of their Asiatic vineyards, provoked +the citizens of Constantinople against the domestic authors of +their calamities, and the dome of St. Sophia reechoed, not with +prayers and hymns, but with the clamors and imprecations of an +enraged multitude. At their imperious command, Heracleonas +appeared in the pulpit with the eldest of the royal orphans; +Constans alone was saluted as emperor of the Romans, and a crown +of gold, which had been taken from the tomb of Heraclius, was +placed on his head, with the solemn benediction of the patriarch. + +But in the tumult of joy and indignation, the church was +pillaged, the sanctuary was polluted by a promiscuous crowd of +Jews and Barbarians; and the Monothelite Pyrrhus, a creature of +the empress, after dropping a protestation on the altar, escaped +by a prudent flight from the zeal of the Catholics. A more +serious and bloody task was reserved for the senate, who derived +a temporary strength from the consent of the soldiers and people. + +The spirit of Roman freedom revived the ancient and awful +examples of the judgment of tyrants, and the Imperial culprits +were deposed and condemned as the authors of the death of +Constantine. But the severity of the conscript fathers was +stained by the indiscriminate punishment of the innocent and the +guilty: Martina and Heracleonas were sentenced to the amputation, +the former of her tongue, the latter of his nose; and after this +cruel execution, they consumed the remainder of their days in +exile and oblivion. The Greeks who were capable of reflection +might find some consolation for their servitude, by observing the +abuse of power when it was lodged for a moment in the hands of an +aristocracy. + + We shall imagine ourselves transported five hundred years +backwards to the age of the Antonines, if we listen to the +oration which Constans II. pronounced in the twelfth year of his +age before the Byzantine senate. After returning his thanks for +the just punishment of the assassins, who had intercepted the +fairest hopes of his father's reign, "By the divine Providence," +said the young emperor, "and by your righteous decree, Martina +and her incestuous progeny have been cast headlong from the +throne. Your majesty and wisdom have prevented the Roman state +from degenerating into lawless tyranny. I therefore exhort and +beseech you to stand forth as the counsellors and judges of the +common safety." The senators were gratified by the respectful +address and liberal donative of their sovereign; but these +servile Greeks were unworthy and regardless of freedom; and in +his mind, the lesson of an hour was quickly erased by the +prejudices of the age and the habits of despotism. He retained +only a jealous fear lest the senate or people should one day +invade the right of primogeniture, and seat his brother +Theodosius on an equal throne. By the imposition of holy orders, +the grandson of Heraclius was disqualified for the purple; but +this ceremony, which seemed to profane the sacraments of the +church, was insufficient to appease the suspicions of the tyrant, +and the death of the deacon Theodosius could alone expiate the +crime of his royal birth. ^* His murder was avenged by the +imprecations of the people, and the assassin, in the fullness of +power, was driven from his capital into voluntary and perpetual +exile. Constans embarked for Greece and, as if he meant to retort +the abhorrence which he deserved he is said, from the Imperial +galley, to have spit against the walls of his native city. After +passing the winter at Athens, he sailed to Tarentum in Italy, +visited Rome, ^* and concluded a long pilgrimage of disgrace and +sacrilegious rapine, by fixing his residence at Syracuse. But if +Constans could fly from his people, he could not fly from +himself. The remorse of his conscience created a phantom who +pursued him by land and sea, by day and by night; and the +visionary Theodosius, presenting to his lips a cup of blood, +said, or seemed to say, "Drink, brother, drink;" a sure emblem of +the aggravation of his guilt, since he had received from the +hands of the deacon the mystic cup of the blood of Christ. +Odious to himself and to mankind, Constans perished by domestic, +perhaps by episcopal, treason, in the capital of Sicily. A +servant who waited in the bath, after pouring warm water on his +head, struck him violently with the vase. He fell, stunned by +the blow, and suffocated by the water; and his attendants, who +wondered at the tedious delay, beheld with indifference the +corpse of their lifeless emperor. The troops of Sicily invested +with the purple an obscure youth, whose inimitable beauty eluded, +and it might easily elude, the declining art of the painters and +sculptors of the age. + +[Footnote *: His soldiers (according to Abulfaradji. Chron. Syr. +p. 112) called him another Cain. St. Martin, t. xi. p. 379. - +M.] +[Footnote *: He was received in Rome, and pillaged the churches. +He carried off the brass roof of the Pantheon to Syracuse, or, as +Schlosser conceives, to Constantinople Schlosser Geschichte der +bilder-sturmenden Kaiser p. 80 - M.] + Constans had left in the Byzantine palace three sons, the +eldest of whom had been clothed in his infancy with the purple. +When the father summoned them to attend his person in Sicily, +these precious hostages were detained by the Greeks, and a firm +refusal informed him that they were the children of the state. +The news of his murder was conveyed with almost supernatural +speed from Syracuse to Constantinople; and Constantine, the +eldest of his sons, inherited his throne without being the heir +of the public hatred. His subjects contributed, with zeal and +alacrity, to chastise the guilt and presumption of a province +which had usurped the rights of the senate and people; the young +emperor sailed from the Hellespont with a powerful fleet; and the +legions of Rome and Carthage were assembled under his standard in +the harbor of Syracuse. The defeat of the Sicilian tyrant was +easy, his punishment just, and his beauteous head was exposed in +the hippodrome: but I cannot applaud the clemency of a prince, +who, among a crowd of victims, condemned the son of a patrician, +for deploring with some bitterness the execution of a virtuous +father. The youth was castrated: he survived the operation, and +the memory of this indecent cruelty is preserved by the elevation +of Germanus to the rank of a patriarch and saint. After pouring +this bloody libation on his father's tomb, Constantine returned +to his capital; and the growth of his young beard during the +Sicilian voyage was announced, by the familiar surname of +Pogonatus, to the Grecian world. But his reign, like that of his +predecessor, was stained with fraternal discord. On his two +brothers, Heraclius and Tiberius, he had bestowed the title of +Augustus; an empty title, for they continued to languish, without +trust or power, in the solitude of the palace. At their secret +instigation, the troops of the Anatolian theme or province +approached the city on the Asiatic side, demanded for the royal +brothers the partition or exercise of sovereignty, and supported +their seditious claim by a theological argument. They were +Christians, (they cried,) and orthodox Catholics; the sincere +votaries of the holy and undivided Trinity. Since there are +three equal persons in heaven, it is reasonable there should be +three equal persons upon earth. The emperor invited these +learned divines to a friendly conference, in which they might +propose their arguments to the senate: they obeyed the summons, +but the prospect of their bodies hanging on the gibbet in the +suburb of Galata reconciled their companions to the unity of the +reign of Constantine. He pardoned his brothers, and their names +were still pronounced in the public acclamations: but on the +repetition or suspicion of a similar offence, the obnoxious +princes were deprived of their titles and noses, ^* in the +presence of the Catholic bishops who were assembled at +Constantinople in the sixth general synod. In the close of his +life, Pogonatus was anxious only to establish the right of +primogeniture: the heir of his two sons, Justinian and Heraclius, +was offered on the shrine of St. Peter, as a symbol of their +spiritual adoption by the pope; but the elder was alone exalted +to the rank of Augustus, and the assurance of the empire. + +[Footnote *: Schlosser (Geschichte der bilder sturmenden Kaiser, +p. 90) supposed that the young princes were mutilated after the +first insurrection; that after this the acts were still inscribed +with their names, the princes being closely secluded in the +palace. The improbability of this circumstance may be weighed +against Gibbon's want of authority for his statement. - M.] + After the decease of his father, the inheritance of the +Roman world devolved to Justinian II.; and the name of a +triumphant lawgiver was dishonored by the vices of a boy, who +imitated his namesake only in the expensive luxury of building. +His passions were strong; his understanding was feeble; and he +was intoxicated with a foolish pride, that his birth had given +him the command of millions, of whom the smallest community would +not have chosen him for their local magistrate. His favorite +ministers were two beings the least susceptible of human +sympathy, a eunuch and a monk: to the one he abandoned the +palace, to the other the finances; the former corrected the +emperor's mother with a scourge, the latter suspended the +insolvent tributaries, with their heads downwards, over a slow +and smoky fire. Since the days of Commodus and Caracalla, the +cruelty of the Roman princes had most commonly been the effect of +their fear; but Justinian, who possessed some vigor of character, +enjoyed the sufferings, and braved the revenge, of his subjects, +about ten years, till the measure was full, of his crimes and of +their patience. In a dark dungeon, Leontius, a general of +reputation, had groaned above three years, with some of the +noblest and most deserving of the patricians: he was suddenly +drawn forth to assume the government of Greece; and this +promotion of an injured man was a mark of the contempt rather +than of the confidence of his prince. As he was followed to the +port by the kind offices of his friends, Leontius observed, with +a sigh, that he was a victim adorned for sacrifice, and that +inevitable death would pursue his footsteps. They ventured to +reply, that glory and empire might be the recompense of a +generous resolution; that every order of men abhorred the reign +of a monster; and that the hands of two hundred thousand patriots +expected only the voice of a leader. The night was chosen for +their deliverance; and in the first effort of the conspirators, +the praefect was slain, and the prisons were forced open: the +emissaries of Leontius proclaimed in every street, "Christians, +to St. Sophia!" and the seasonable text of the patriarch, "This +is the day of the Lord!" was the prelude of an inflammatory +sermon. From the church the people adjourned to the hippodrome: +Justinian, in whose cause not a sword had been drawn, was dragged +before these tumultuary judges, and their clamors demanded the +instant death of the tyrant. But Leontius, who was already +clothed with the purple, cast an eye of pity on the prostrate son +of his own benefactor and of so many emperors. The life of +Justinian was spared; the amputation of his nose, perhaps of his +tongue, was imperfectly performed: the happy flexibility of the +Greek language could impose the name of Rhinotmetus; and the +mutilated tyrant was banished to Chersonae in Crim- Tartary, a +lonely settlement, where corn, wine, and oil, were imported as +foreign luxuries. + + On the edge of the Scythian wilderness, Justinian still +cherished the pride of his birth, and the hope of his +restoration. After three years' exile, he received the pleasing +intelligence that his injury was avenged by a second revolution, +and that Leontius in his turn had been dethroned and mutilated by +the rebel Apsimar, who assumed the more respectable name of +Tiberius. But the claim of lineal succession was still +formidable to a plebeian usurper; and his jealousy was stimulated +by the complaints and charges of the Chersonites, who beheld the +vices of the tyrant in the spirit of the exile. With a band of +followers, attached to his person by common hope or common +despair, Justinian fled from the inhospitable shore to the horde +of the Chozars, who pitched their tents between the Tanais and +Borysthenes. The khan entertained with pity and respect the +royal suppliant: Phanagoria, once an opulent city, on the Asiatic +side of the lake Moeotis, was assigned for his residence; and +every Roman prejudice was stifled in his marriage with the sister +of the Barbarian, who seems, however, from the name of Theodora, +to have received the sacrament of baptism. But the faithless +Chozar was soon tempted by the gold of Constantinople: and had +not the design been revealed by the conjugal love of Theodora, +her husband must have been assassinated or betrayed into the +power of his enemies. After strangling, with his own hands, the +two emissaries of the khan, Justinian sent back his wife to her +brother, and embarked on the Euxine in search of new and more +faithful allies. His vessel was assaulted by a violent tempest; +and one of his pious companions advised him to deserve the mercy +of God by a vow of general forgiveness, if he should be restored +to the throne. "Of forgiveness?" replied the intrepid tyrant: +"may I perish this instant - may the Almighty whelm me in the +waves - if I consent to spare a single head of my enemies!" He +survived this impious menace, sailed into the mouth of the +Danube, trusted his person in the royal village of the +Bulgarians, and purchased the aid of Terbelis, a pagan conqueror, +by the promise of his daughter and a fair partition of the +treasures of the empire. The Bulgarian kingdom extended to the +confines of Thrace; and the two princes besieged Constantinople +at the head of fifteen thousand horse. Apsimar was dismayed by +the sudden and hostile apparition of his rival whose head had +been promised by the Chozar, and of whose evasion he was yet +ignorant. After an absence of ten years, the crimes of Justinian +were faintly remembered, and the birth and misfortunes of their +hereditary sovereign excited the pity of the multitude, ever +discontented with the ruling powers; and by the active diligence +of his adherents, he was introduced into the city and palace of +Constantine. + + +Chapter XLVIII: Succession And Characters Of The Greek Emperors. + + +Part II. + + In rewarding his allies, and recalling his wife, Justinian +displayed some sense of honor and gratitude; ^* and Terbelis +retired, after sweeping away a heap of gold coin, which he +measured with his Scythian whip. But never was vow more +religiously performed than the sacred oath of revenge which he +had sworn amidst the storms of the Euxine. The two usurpers (for +I must reserve the name of tyrant for the conqueror) were dragged +into the hippodrome, the one from his prison, the other from his +palace. Before their execution, Leontius and Apsimar were cast +prostrate in chains beneath the throne of the emperor; and +Justinian, planting a foot on each of their necks, contemplated +above an hour the chariot-race, while the inconstant people +shouted, in the words of the Psalmist, "Thou shalt trample on the +asp and basilisk, and on the lion and dragon shalt thou set thy +foot!" The universal defection which he had once experienced +might provoke him to repeat the wish of Caligula, that the Roman +people had but one head. Yet I shall presume to observe, that +such a wish is unworthy of an ingenious tyrant, since his revenge +and cruelty would have been extinguished by a single blow, +instead of the slow variety of tortures which Justinian inflicted +on the victims of his anger. His pleasures were inexhaustible: +neither private virtue nor public service could expiate the guilt +of active, or even passive, obedience to an established +government; and, during the six years of his new reign, he +considered the axe, the cord, and the rack, as the only +instruments of royalty. But his most implacable hatred was +pointed against the Chersonites, who had insulted his exile and +violated the laws of hospitality. Their remote situation +afforded some means of defence, or at least of escape; and a +grievous tax was imposed on Constantinople, to supply the +preparations of a fleet and army. "All are guilty, and all must +perish," was the mandate of Justinian; and the bloody execution +was intrusted to his favorite Stephen, who was recommended by the +epithet of the savage. Yet even the savage Stephen imperfectly +accomplished the intentions of his sovereign. The slowness of +his attack allowed the greater part of the inhabitants to +withdraw into the country; and the minister of vengeance +contented himself with reducing the youth of both sexes to a +state of servitude, with roasting alive seven of the principal +citizens, with drowning twenty in the sea, and with reserving +forty-two in chains to receive their doom from the mouth of the +emperor. In their return, the fleet was driven on the rocky +shores of Anatolia; and Justinian applauded the obedience of the +Euxine, which had involved so many thousands of his subjects and +enemies in a common shipwreck: but the tyrant was still insatiate +of blood; and a second expedition was commanded to extirpate the +remains of the proscribed colony. In the short interval, the +Chersonites had returned to their city, and were prepared to die +in arms; the khan of the Chozars had renounced the cause of his +odious brother; the exiles of every province were assembled in +Tauris; and Bardanes, under the name of Philippicus, was invested +with the purple. The Imperial troops, unwilling and unable to +perpetrate the revenge of Justinian, escaped his displeasure by +abjuring his allegiance: the fleet, under their new sovereign, +steered back a more auspicious course to the harbors of Sinope +and Constantinople; and every tongue was prompt to pronounce, +every hand to execute, the death of the tyrant. Destitute of +friends, he was deserted by his Barbarian guards; and the stroke +of the assassin was praised as an act of patriotism and Roman +virtue. His son Tiberius had taken refuge in a church; his aged +grandmother guarded the door; and the innocent youth, suspending +round his neck the most formidable relics, embraced with one hand +the altar, with the other the wood of the true cross. But the +popular fury that dares to trample on superstition, is deaf to +the cries of humanity; and the race of Heraclius was extinguished +after a reign of one hundred years + +[Footnote *: Of fear rather than of more generous motives. +Compare Le Beau vol. xii. p. 64. - M.] + + Between the fall of the Heraclian and the rise of the +Isaurian dynasty, a short interval of six years is divided into +three reigns. Bardanes, or Philippicus, was hailed at +Constantinople as a hero who had delivered his country from a +tyrant; and he might taste some moments of happiness in the first +transports of sincere and universal joy. Justinian had left +behind him an ample treasure, the fruit of cruelty and rapine: +but this useful fund was soon and idly dissipated by his +successor. On the festival of his birthday, Philippicus +entertained the multitude with the games of the hippodrome; from +thence he paraded through the streets with a thousand banners and +a thousand trumpets; refreshed himself in the baths of Zeuxippus, +and returning to the palace, entertained his nobles with a +sumptuous banquet. At the meridian hour he withdrew to his +chamber, intoxicated with flattery and wine, and forgetful that +his example had made every subject ambitious, and that every +ambitious subject was his secret enemy. Some bold conspirators +introduced themselves in the disorder of the feast; and the +slumbering monarch was surprised, bound, blinded, and deposed, +before he was sensible of his danger. Yet the traitors were +deprived of their reward; and the free voice of the senate and +people promoted Artemius from the office of secretary to that of +emperor: he assumed the title of Anastasius the Second, and +displayed in a short and troubled reign the virtues both of peace +and war. But after the extinction of the Imperial line, the rule +of obedience was violated, and every change diffused the seeds of +new revolutions. In a mutiny of the fleet, an obscure and +reluctant officer of the revenue was forcibly invested with the +purple: after some months of a naval war, Anastasius resigned the +sceptre; and the conqueror, Theodosius the Third, submitted in +his turn to the superior ascendant of Leo, the general and +emperor of the Oriental troops. His two predecessors were +permitted to embrace the ecclesiastical profession: the restless +impatience of Anastasius tempted him to risk and to lose his life +in a treasonable enterprise; but the last days of Theodosius were +honorable and secure. The single sublime word, "Health," which +he inscribed on his tomb, expresses the confidence of philosophy +or religion; and the fame of his miracles was long preserved +among the people of Ephesus. This convenient shelter of the +church might sometimes impose a lesson of clemency; but it may be +questioned whether it is for the public interest to diminish the +perils of unsuccessful ambition. + + I have dwelt on the fall of a tyrant; I shall briefly +represent the founder of a new dynasty, who is known to posterity +by the invectives of his enemies, and whose public and private +life is involved in the ecclesiastical story of the Iconoclasts. +Yet in spite of the clamors of superstition, a favorable +prejudice for the character of Leo the Isaurian may be reasonably +drawn from the obscurity of his birth, and the duration of his +reign. - I. In an age of manly spirit, the prospect of an +Imperial reward would have kindled every energy of the mind, and +produced a crowd of competitors as deserving as they were +desirous to reign. Even in the corruption and debility of the +modern Greeks, the elevation of a plebeian from the last to the +first rank of society, supposes some qualifications above the +level of the multitude. He would probably be ignorant and +disdainful of speculative science; and, in the pursuit of +fortune, he might absolve himself from the obligations of +benevolence and justice; but to his character we may ascribe the +useful virtues of prudence and fortitude, the knowledge of +mankind, and the important art of gaining their confidence and +directing their passions. It is agreed that Leo was a native of +Isauria, and that Conon was his primitive name. The writers, +whose awkward satire is praise, describe him as an itinerant +pedler, who drove an ass with some paltry merchandise to the +country fairs; and foolishly relate that he met on the road some +Jewish fortune-tellers, who promised him the Roman empire, on +condition that he should abolish the worship of idols. A more +probable account relates the migration of his father from Asia +Minor to Thrace, where he exercised the lucrative trade of a +grazier; and he must have acquired considerable wealth, since the +first introduction of his son was procured by a supply of five +hundred sheep to the Imperial camp. His first service was in the +guards of Justinian, where he soon attracted the notice, and by +degrees the jealousy, of the tyrant. His valor and dexterity +were conspicuous in the Colchian war: from Anastasius he received +the command of the Anatolian legions, and by the suffrage of the +soldiers he was raised to the empire with the general applause of +the Roman world. - II. In this dangerous elevation, Leo the +Third supported himself against the envy of his equals, the +discontent of a powerful faction, and the assaults of his foreign +and domestic enemies. The Catholics, who accuse his religious +innovations, are obliged to confess that they were undertaken +with temper and conducted with firmness. Their silence respects +the wisdom of his administration and the purity of his manners. +After a reign of twenty-four years, he peaceably expired in the +palace of Constantinople; and the purple which he had acquired +was transmitted by the right of inheritance to the third +generation. ^* +[Footnote *: During the latter part of his reign, the hostilities +of the Saracens, who invested a Pergamenian, named Tiberius, with +the purple, and proclaimed him as the son of Justinian, and an +earthquake, which destroyed the walls of Constantinople, +compelled Leo greatly to increase the burdens of taxation upon +his subjects. A twelfth was exacted in addition to every aurena +as a wall tax. Theophanes p. 275 Schlosser, Bilder eturmeud +Kaiser, p. 197. - M.] + + In a long reign of thirty-four years, the son and successor +of Leo, Constantine the Fifth, surnamed Copronymus, attacked with +less temperate zeal the images or idols of the church. Their +votaries have exhausted the bitterness of religious gall, in +their portrait of this spotted panther, this antichrist, this +flying dragon of the serpent's seed, who surpassed the vices of +Elagabalus and Nero. His reign was a long butchery of whatever +was most noble, or holy, or innocent, in his empire. In person, +the emperor assisted at the execution of his victims, surveyed +their agonies, listened to their groans, and indulged, without +satiating, his appetite for blood: a plate of noses was accepted +as a grateful offering, and his domestics were often scourged or +mutilated by the royal hand. His surname was derived from his +pollution of his baptismal font. The infant might be excused; +but the manly pleasures of Copronymus degraded him below the +level of a brute; his lust confounded the eternal distinctions of +sex and species, and he seemed to extract some unnatural delight +from the objects most offensive to human sense. In his religion +the Iconoclast was a Heretic, a Jew, a Mahometan, a Pagan, and an +Atheist; and his belief of an invisible power could be discovered +only in his magic rites, human victims, and nocturnal sacrifices +to Venus and the daemons of antiquity. His life was stained with +the most opposite vices, and the ulcers which covered his body, +anticipated before his death the sentiment of hell-tortures. Of +these accusations, which I have so patiently copied, a part is +refuted by its own absurdity; and in the private anecdotes of the +life of the princes, the lie is more easy as the detection is +more difficult. Without adopting the pernicious maxim, that where +much is alleged, something must be true, I can however discern, +that Constantine the Fifth was dissolute and cruel. Calumny is +more prone to exaggerate than to invent; and her licentious +tongue is checked in some measure by the experience of the age +and country to which she appeals. Of the bishops and monks, the +generals and magistrates, who are said to have suffered under his +reign, the numbers are recorded, the names were conspicuous, the +execution was public, the mutilation visible and permanent. ^* +The Catholics hated the person and government of Copronymus; but +even their hatred is a proof of their oppression. They +dissembled the provocations which might excuse or justify his +rigor, but even these provocations must gradually inflame his +resentment and harden his temper in the use or the abuse of +despotism. Yet the character of the fifth Constantine was not +devoid of merit, nor did his government always deserve the curses +or the contempt of the Greeks. From the confession of his +enemies, I am informed of the restoration of an ancient aqueduct, +of the redemption of two thousand five hundred captives, of the +uncommon plenty of the times, and of the new colonies with which +he repeopled Constantinople and the Thracian cities. They +reluctantly praise his activity and courage; he was on horseback +in the field at the head of his legions; and, although the +fortune of his arms was various, he triumphed by sea and land, on +the Euphrates and the Danube, in civil and Barbarian war. +Heretical praise must be cast into the scale to counterbalance +the weight of orthodox invective. The Iconoclasts revered the +virtues of the prince: forty years after his death they still +prayed before the tomb of the saint. A miraculous vision was +propagated by fanaticism or fraud: and the Christian hero +appeared on a milk-white steed, brandishing his lance against the +Pagans of Bulgaria: "An absurd fable," says the Catholic +historian, "since Copronymus is chained with the daemons in the +abyss of hell." + +[Footnote *: He is accused of burning the library of +Constantinople, founded by Julian, with its president and twelve +professors. This eastern Sorbonne had discomfited the Imperial +theologians on the great question of image worship. Schlosser +observes that this accidental fire took place six years after the +emperor had laid the question of image-worship before the +professors. Bilder sturmand Kaiser, p. 294. Compare Le Heau. +vol. xl. p. 156. - M.] + + Leo the Fourth, the son of the fifth and the father of the +sixth Constantine, was of a feeble constitution both of mind ^* +and body, and the principal care of his reign was the settlement +of the succession. The association of the young Constantine was +urged by the officious zeal of his subjects; and the emperor, +conscious of his decay, complied, after a prudent hesitation, +with their unanimous wishes. The royal infant, at the age of +five years, was crowned with his mother Irene; and the national +consent was ratified by every circumstance of pomp and solemnity, +that could dazzle the eyes or bind the conscience of the Greeks. +An oath of fidelity was administered in the palace, the church, +and the hippodrome, to the several orders of the state, who +adjured the holy names of the Son, and mother of God. "Be +witness, O Christ! that we will watch over the safety of +Constantine the son of Leo, expose our lives in his service, and +bear true allegiance to his person and posterity." They pledged +their faith on the wood of the true cross, and the act of their +engagement was deposited on the altar of St. Sophia. The first +to swear, and the first to violate their oath, were the five sons +of Copronymus by a second marriage; and the story of these +princes is singular and tragic. The right of primogeniture +excluded them from the throne; the injustice of their elder +brother defrauded them of a legacy of about two millions +sterling; some vain titles were not deemed a sufficient +compensation for wealth and power; and they repeatedly conspired +against their nephew, before and after the death of his father. +Their first attempt was pardoned; for the second offence ^! they +were condemned to the ecclesiastical state; and for the third +treason, Nicephorus, the eldest and most guilty, was deprived of +his eyes, and his four brothers, Christopher, Nicetas, Anthemeus, +and Eudoxas, were punished, as a milder sentence, by the +amputation of their tongues. After five years' confinement, they +escaped to the church of St. Sophia, and displayed a pathetic +spectacle to the people. "Countrymen and Christians," cried +Nicephorus for himself and his mute brethren, "behold the sons of +your emperor, if you can still recognize our features in this +miserable state. A life, an imperfect life, is all that the +malice of our enemies has spared. It is now threatened, and we +now throw ourselves on your compassion." The rising murmur might +have produced a revolution, had it not been checked by the +presence of a minister, who soothed the unhappy princes with +flattery and hope, and gently drew them from the sanctuary to the +palace. They were speedily embarked for Greece, and Athens was +allotted for the place of their exile. In this calm retreat, and +in their helpless condition, Nicephorus and his brothers were +tormented by the thirst of power, and tempted by a Sclavonian +chief, who offered to break their prison, and to lead them in +arms, and in the purple, to the gates of Constantinople. But the +Athenian people, ever zealous in the cause of Irene, prevented +her justice or cruelty; and the five sons of Copronymus were +plunged in eternal darkness and oblivion. +[Footnote *: Schlosser thinks more highly of Leo's mind; but his +only proof of his superiority is the successes of his generals +against the Saracens, Schlosser, p. 256. - M.] + +[Footnote !: The second offence was on the accession of the young +Constantine - M.] + + For himself, that emperor had chosen a Barbarian wife, the +daughter of the khan of the Chozars; but in the marriage of his +heir, he preferred an Athenian virgin, an orphan, seventeen years +old, whose sole fortune must have consisted in her personal +accomplishments. The nuptials of Leo and Irene were celebrated +with royal pomp; she soon acquired the love and confidence of a +feeble husband, and in his testament he declared the empress +guardian of the Roman world, and of their son Constantine the +Sixth, who was no more than ten years of age. During his +childhood, Irene most ably and assiduously discharged, in her +public administration, the duties of a faithful mother; and her +zeal in the restoration of images has deserved the name and +honors of a saint, which she still occupies in the Greek +calendar. But the emperor attained the maturity of youth; the +maternal yoke became more grievous; and he listened to the +favorites of his own age, who shared his pleasures, and were +ambitious of sharing his power. Their reasons convinced him of +his right, their praises of his ability, to reign; and he +consented to reward the services of Irene by a perpetual +banishment to the Isle of Sicily. But her vigilance and +penetration easily disconcerted their rash projects: a similar, +or more severe, punishment was retaliated on themselves and their +advisers; and Irene inflicted on the ungrateful prince the +chastisement of a boy. After this contest, the mother and the son +were at the head of two domestic factions; and instead of mild +influence and voluntary obedience, she held in chains a captive +and an enemy. The empress was overthrown by the abuse of +victory; the oath of fidelity, which she exacted to herself +alone, was pronounced with reluctant murmurs; and the bold +refusal of the Armenian guards encouraged a free and general +declaration, that Constantine the Sixth was the lawful emperor of +the Romans. In this character he ascended his hereditary throne, +and dismissed Irene to a life of solitude and repose. But her +haughty spirit condescended to the arts of dissimulation: she +flattered the bishops and eunuchs, revived the filial tenderness +of the prince, regained his confidence, and betrayed his +credulity. The character of Constantine was not destitute of +sense or spirit; but his education had been studiously neglected; +and the ambitious mother exposed to the public censure the vices +which she had nourished, and the actions which she had secretly +advised: his divorce and second marriage offended the prejudices +of the clergy, and by his imprudent rigor he forfeited the +attachment of the Armenian guards. A powerful conspiracy was +formed for the restoration of Irene; and the secret, though +widely diffused, was faithfully kept above eight months, till the +emperor, suspicious of his danger, escaped from Constantinople, +with the design of appealing to the provinces and armies. By this +hasty flight, the empress was left on the brink of the precipice; +yet before she implored the mercy of her son, Irene addressed a +private epistle to the friends whom she had placed about his +person, with a menace, that unless they accomplished, she would +reveal, their treason. Their fear rendered them intrepid; they +seized the emperor on the Asiatic shore, and he was transported +to the porphyry apartment of the palace, where he had first seen +the light. In the mind of Irene, ambition had stifled every +sentiment of humanity and nature; and it was decreed in her +bloody council, that Constantine should be rendered incapable of +the throne: her emissaries assaulted the sleeping prince, and +stabbed their daggers with such violence and precipitation into +his eyes as if they meant to execute a mortal sentence. An +ambiguous passage of Theophanes persuaded the annalist of the +church that death was the immediate consequence of this barbarous +execution. The Catholics have been deceived or subdued by the +authority of Baronius; and Protestant zeal has reechoed the words +of a cardinal, desirous, as it should seem, to favor the +patroness of images. ^* Yet the blind son of Irene survived many +years, oppressed by the court and forgotten by the world; the +Isaurian dynasty was silently extinguished; and the memory of +Constantine was recalled only by the nuptials of his daughter +Euphrosyne with the emperor Michael the Second. + +[Footnote *: Gibbon has been attacked on account of this +statement, but is successfully defended by Schlosser. B S. Kaiser +p. 327. Compare Le Beau, c. xii p. 372. - M.] + + The most bigoted orthodoxy has justly execrated the +unnatural mother, who may not easily be paralleled in the history +of crimes. To her bloody deed superstition has attributed a +subsequent darkness of seventeen days; during which many vessels +in midday were driven from their course, as if the sun, a globe +of fire so vast and so remote, could sympathize with the atoms of +a revolving planet. On earth, the crime of Irene was left five +years unpunished; her reign was crowned with external splendor; +and if she could silence the voice of conscience, she neither +heard nor regarded the reproaches of mankind. The Roman world +bowed to the government of a female; and as she moved through the +streets of Constantinople, the reins of four milk-white steeds +were held by as many patricians, who marched on foot before the +golden chariot of their queen. But these patricians were for the +most part eunuchs; and their black ingratitude justified, on this +occasion, the popular hatred and contempt. Raised, enriched, +intrusted with the first dignities of the empire, they basely +conspired against their benefactress; the great treasurer +Nicephorus was secretly invested with the purple; her successor +was introduced into the palace, and crowned at St. Sophia by the +venal patriarch. In their first interview, she recapitulated +with dignity the revolutions of her life, gently accused the +perfidy of Nicephorus, insinuated that he owed his life to her +unsuspicious clemency, and for the throne and treasures which she +resigned, solicited a decent and honorable retreat. His avarice +refused this modest compensation; and, in her exile of the Isle +of Lesbos, the empress earned a scanty subsistence by the labors +of her distaff. + + Many tyrants have reigned undoubtedly more criminal than +Nicephorus, but none perhaps have more deeply incurred the +universal abhorrence of their people. His character was stained +with the three odious vices of hypocrisy, ingratitude, and +avarice: his want of virtue was not redeemed by any superior +talents, nor his want of talents by any pleasing qualifications. +Unskilful and unfortunate in war, Nicephorus was vanquished by +the Saracens, and slain by the Bulgarians; and the advantage of +his death overbalanced, in the public opinion, the destruction of +a Roman army. ^* His son and heir Stauracius escaped from the +field with a mortal wound; yet six months of an expiring life +were sufficient to refute his indecent, though popular +declaration, that he would in all things avoid the example of his +father. On the near prospect of his decease, Michael, the great +master of the palace, and the husband of his sister Procopia, was +named by every person of the palace and city, except by his +envious brother. Tenacious of a sceptre now falling from his +hand, he conspired against the life of his successor, and +cherished the idea of changing to a democracy the Roman empire. +But these rash projects served only to inflame the zeal of the +people and to remove the scruples of the candidate: Michael the +First accepted the purple, and before he sunk into the grave the +son of Nicephorus implored the clemency of his new sovereign. +Had Michael in an age of peace ascended an hereditary throne, he +might have reigned and died the father of his people: but his +mild virtues were adapted to the shade of private life, nor was +he capable of controlling the ambition of his equals, or of +resisting the arms of the victorious Bulgarians. While his want +of ability and success exposed him to the contempt of the +soldiers, the masculine spirit of his wife Procopia awakened +their indignation. Even the Greeks of the ninth century were +provoked by the insolence of a female, who, in the front of the +standards, presumed to direct their discipline and animate their +valor; and their licentious clamors advised the new Semiramis to +reverence the majesty of a Roman camp. After an unsuccessful +campaign, the emperor left, in their winter-quarters of Thrace, a +disaffected army under the command of his enemies; and their +artful eloquence persuaded the soldiers to break the dominion of +the eunuchs, to degrade the husband of Procopia, and to assert +the right of a military election. They marched towards the +capital: yet the clergy, the senate, and the people of +Constantinople, adhered to the cause of Michael; and the troops +and treasures of Asia might have protracted the mischiefs of +civil war. But his humanity (by the ambitious it will be termed +his weakness) protested that not a drop of Christian blood should +be shed in his quarrel, and his messengers presented the +conquerors with the keys of the city and the palace. They were +disarmed by his innocence and submission; his life and his eyes +were spared; and the Imperial monk enjoyed the comforts of +solitude and religion above thirty-two years after he had been +stripped of the purple and separated from his wife. + +[Footnote *: The Syrian historian Aboulfaradj. Chron. Syr. p. +133, 139, speaks of him as a brave, prudent, and pious prince, +formidable to the Arabs. St. Martin, c. xii. p. 402. Compare +Schlosser, p. 350. - M.] + + A rebel, in the time of Nicephorus, the famous and +unfortunate Bardanes, had once the curiosity to consult an +Asiatic prophet, who, after prognosticating his fall, announced +the fortunes of his three principal officers, Leo the Armenian, +Michael the Phrygian, and Thomas the Cappadocian, the successive +reigns of the two former, the fruitless and fatal enterprise of +the third. This prediction was verified, or rather was produced, +by the event. Ten years afterwards, when the Thracian camp +rejected the husband of Procopia, the crown was presented to the +same Leo, the first in military rank and the secret author of the +mutiny. As he affected to hesitate, "With this sword," said his +companion Michael, "I will open the gates of Constantinople to +your Imperial sway; or instantly plunge it into your bosom, if +you obstinately resist the just desires of your fellow-soldiers." +The compliance of the Armenian was rewarded with the empire, and +he reigned seven years and a half under the name of Leo the +Fifth. Educated in a camp, and ignorant both of laws and +letters, he introduced into his civil government the rigor and +even cruelty of military discipline; but if his severity was +sometimes dangerous to the innocent, it was always formidable to +the guilty. His religious inconstancy was taxed by the epithet +of Chameleon, but the Catholics have acknowledged by the voice of +a saint and confessors, that the life of the Iconoclast was +useful to the republic. The zeal of his companion Michael was +repaid with riches, honors, and military command; and his +subordinate talents were beneficially employed in the public +service. Yet the Phrygian was dissatisfied at receiving as a +favor a scanty portion of the Imperial prize which he had +bestowed on his equal; and his discontent, which sometimes +evaporated in hasty discourse, at length assumed a more +threatening and hostile aspect against a prince whom he +represented as a cruel tyrant. That tyrant, however, repeatedly +detected, warned, and dismissed the old companion of his arms, +till fear and resentment prevailed over gratitude; and Michael, +after a scrutiny into his actions and designs, was convicted of +treason, and sentenced to be burnt alive in the furnace of the +private baths. The devout humanity of the empress Theophano was +fatal to her husband and family. A solemn day, the twenty-fifth +of December, had been fixed for the execution: she urged, that +the anniversary of the Savior's birth would be profaned by this +inhuman spectacle, and Leo consented with reluctance to a decent +respite. But on the vigil of the feast his sleepless anxiety +prompted him to visit at the dead of night the chamber in which +his enemy was confined: he beheld him released from his chain, +and stretched on his jailer's bed in a profound slumber. Leo was +alarmed at these signs of security and intelligence; but though +he retired with silent steps, his entrance and departure were +noticed by a slave who lay concealed in a corner of the prison. +Under the pretence of requesting the spiritual aid of a +confessor, Michael informed the conspirators, that their lives +depended on his discretion, and that a few hours were left to +assure their own safety, by the deliverance of their friend and +country. On the great festivals, a chosen band of priests and +chanters was admitted into the palace by a private gate to sing +matins in the chapel; and Leo, who regulated with the same +strictness the discipline of the choir and of the camp, was +seldom absent from these early devotions. In the ecclesiastical +habit, but with their swords under their robes, the conspirators +mingled with the procession, lurked in the angles of the chapel, +and expected, as the signal of murder, the intonation of the +first psalm by the emperor himself. The imperfect light, and the +uniformity of dress, might have favored his escape, whilst their +assault was pointed against a harmless priest; but they soon +discovered their mistake, and encompassed on all sides the royal +victim. Without a weapon and without a friend, he grasped a +weighty cross, and stood at bay against the hunters of his life; +but as he asked for mercy, "This is the hour, not of mercy, but +of vengeance," was the inexorable reply. The stroke of a +well-aimed sword separated from his body the right arm and the +cross, and Leo the Armenian was slain at the foot of the altar. + A memorable reverse of fortune was displayed in Michael the +Second, who from a defect in his speech was surnamed the +Stammerer. He was snatched from the fiery furnace to the +sovereignty of an empire; and as in the tumult a smith could not +readily be found, the fetters remained on his legs several hours +after he was seated on the throne of the Caesars. The royal +blood which had been the price of his elevation, was unprofitably +spent: in the purple he retained the ignoble vices of his origin; +and Michael lost his provinces with as supine indifference as if +they had been the inheritance of his fathers. His title was +disputed by Thomas, the last of the military triumvirate, who +transported into Europe fourscore thousand Barbarians from the +banks of the Tigris and the shores of the Caspian. He formed the +siege of Constantinople; but the capital was defended with +spiritual and carnal weapons; a Bulgarian king assaulted the camp +of the Orientals, and Thomas had the misfortune, or the weakness, +to fall alive into the power of the conqueror. The hands and +feet of the rebel were amputated; he was placed on an ass, and, +amidst the insults of the people, was led through the streets, +which he sprinkled with his blood. The depravation of manners, +as savage as they were corrupt, is marked by the presence of the +emperor himself. Deaf to the lamentation of a fellow-soldier, he +incessantly pressed the discovery of more accomplices, till his +curiosity was checked by the question of an honest or guilty +minister: "Would you give credit to an enemy against the most +faithful of your friends?" After the death of his first wife, the +emperor, at the request of the senate, drew from her monastery +Euphrosyne, the daughter of Constantine the Sixth. Her august +birth might justify a stipulation in the marriage-contract, that +her children should equally share the empire with their elder +brother. But the nuptials of Michael and Euphrosyne were barren; +and she was content with the title of mother of Theophilus, his +son and successor. + + The character of Theophilus is a rare example in which +religious zeal has allowed, and perhaps magnified, the virtues of +a heretic and a persecutor. His valor was often felt by the +enemies, and his justice by the subjects, of the monarchy; but +the valor of Theophilus was rash and fruitless, and his justice +arbitrary and cruel. He displayed the banner of the cross +against the Saracens; but his five expeditions were concluded by +a signal overthrow: Amorium, the native city of his ancestors, +was levelled with the ground and from his military toils he +derived only the surname of the Unfortunate. The wisdom of a +sovereign is comprised in the institution of laws and the choice +of magistrates, and while he seems without action, his civil +government revolves round his centre with the silence and order +of the planetary system. But the justice of Theophilus was +fashioned on the model of the Oriental despots, who, in personal +and irregular acts of authority, consult the reason or passion of +the moment, without measuring the sentence by the law, or the +penalty by the offense. A poor woman threw herself at the +emperor's feet to complain of a powerful neighbor, the brother of +the empress, who had raised his palace-wall to such an +inconvenient height, that her humble dwelling was excluded from +light and air! On the proof of the fact, instead of granting, +like an ordinary judge, sufficient or ample damages to the +plaintiff, the sovereign adjudged to her use and benefit the +palace and the ground. Nor was Theophilus content with this +extravagant satisfaction: his zeal converted a civil trespass +into a criminal act; and the unfortunate patrician was stripped +and scourged in the public place of Constantinople. For some +venial offenses, some defect of equity or vigilance, the +principal ministers, a praefect, a quaestor, a captain of the +guards, were banished or mutilated, or scalded with boiling +pitch, or burnt alive in the hippodrome; and as these dreadful +examples might be the effects of error or caprice, they must have +alienated from his service the best and wisest of the citizens. +But the pride of the monarch was flattered in the exercise of +power, or, as he thought, of virtue; and the people, safe in +their obscurity, applauded the danger and debasement of their +superiors. This extraordinary rigor was justified, in some +measure, by its salutary consequences; since, after a scrutiny of +seventeen days, not a complaint or abuse could be found in the +court or city; and it might be alleged that the Greeks could be +ruled only with a rod of iron, and that the public interest is +the motive and law of the supreme judge. Yet in the crime, or +the suspicion, of treason, that judge is of all others the most +credulous and partial. Theophilus might inflict a tardy +vengeance on the assassins of Leo and the saviors of his father; +but he enjoyed the fruits of their crime; and his jealous tyranny +sacrificed a brother and a prince to the future safety of his +life. A Persian of the race of the Sassanides died in poverty +and exile at Constantinople, leaving an only son, the issue of a +plebeian marriage. At the age of twelve years, the royal birth +of Theophobus was revealed, and his merit was not unworthy of his +birth. He was educated in the Byzantine palace, a Christian and +a soldier; advanced with rapid steps in the career of fortune and +glory; received the hand of the emperor's sister; and was +promoted to the command of thirty thousand Persians, who, like +his father, had fled from the Mahometan conquerors. These +troops, doubly infected with mercenary and fanatic vices, were +desirous of revolting against their benefactor, and erecting the +standard of their native king but the loyal Theophobus rejected +their offers, disconcerted their schemes, and escaped from their +hands to the camp or palace of his royal brother. A generous +confidence might have secured a faithful and able guardian for +his wife and his infant son, to whom Theophilus, in the flower of +his age, was compelled to leave the inheritance of the empire. +But his jealousy was exasperated by envy and disease; he feared +the dangerous virtues which might either support or oppress their +infancy and weakness; and the dying emperor demanded the head of +the Persian prince. With savage delight he recognized the +familiar features of his brother: "Thou art no longer +Theophobus," he said; and, sinking on his couch, he added, with a +faltering voice, "Soon, too soon, I shall be no more Theophilus!" + + +Chapter XLVIII: Succession And Characters Of The Greek Emperors. + + +Part III. + + The Russians, who have borrowed from the Greeks the greatest +part of their civil and ecclesiastical policy, preserved, till +the last century, a singular institution in the marriage of the +Czar. They collected, not the virgins of every rank and of every +province, a vain and romantic idea, but the daughters of the +principal nobles, who awaited in the palace the choice of their +sovereign. It is affirmed, that a similar method was adopted in +the nuptials of Theophilus. With a golden apple in his hand, he +slowly walked between two lines of contending beauties: his eye +was detained by the charms of Icasia, and in the awkwardness of a +first declaration, the prince could only observe, that, in this +world, women had been the cause of much evil; "And surely, sir," +she pertly replied, "they have likewise been the occasion of much +good." This affectation of unseasonable wit displeased the +Imperial lover: he turned aside in disgust; Icasia concealed her +mortification in a convent; and the modest silence of Theodora +was rewarded with the golden apple. She deserved the love, but +did not escape the severity, of her lord. From the palace garden +he beheld a vessel deeply laden, and steering into the port: on +the discovery that the precious cargo of Syrian luxury was the +property of his wife, he condemned the ship to the flames, with a +sharp reproach, that her avarice had degraded the character of an +empress into that of a merchant. Yet his last choice intrusted +her with the guardianship of the empire and her son Michael, who +was left an orphan in the fifth year of his age. The restoration +of images, and the final extirpation of the Iconoclasts, has +endeared her name to the devotion of the Greeks; but in the +fervor of religious zeal, Theodora entertained a grateful regard +for the memory and salvation of her husband. After thirteen +years of a prudent and frugal administration, she perceived the +decline of her influence; but the second Irene imitated only the +virtues of her predecessor. Instead of conspiring against the +life or government of her son, she retired, without a struggle, +though not without a murmur, to the solitude of private life, +deploring the ingratitude, the vices, and the inevitable ruin, of +the worthless youth. + Among the successors of Nero and Elagabalus, we have not +hitherto found the imitation of their vices, the character of a +Roman prince who considered pleasure as the object of life, and +virtue as the enemy of pleasure. Whatever might have been the +maternal care of Theodora in the education of Michael the Third, +her unfortunate son was a king before he was a man. If the +ambitious mother labored to check the progress of reason, she +could not cool the ebullition of passion; and her selfish policy +was justly repaid by the contempt and ingratitude of the +headstrong youth. At the age of eighteen, he rejected her +authority, without feeling his own incapacity to govern the +empire and himself. With Theodora, all gravity and wisdom +retired from the court; their place was supplied by the alternate +dominion of vice and folly; and it was impossible, without +forfeiting the public esteem, to acquire or preserve the favor of +the emperor. The millions of gold and silver which had been +accumulated for the service of the state, were lavished on the +vilest of men, who flattered his passions and shared his +pleasures; and in a reign of thirteen years, the richest of +sovereigns was compelled to strip the palace and the churches of +their precious furniture. Like Nero, he delighted in the +amusements of the theatre, and sighed to be surpassed in the +accomplishments in which he should have blushed to excel. Yet +the studies of Nero in music and poetry betrayed some symptoms of +a liberal taste; the more ignoble arts of the son of Theophilus +were confined to the chariot-race of the hippodrome. The four +factions which had agitated the peace, still amused the idleness, +of the capital: for himself, the emperor assumed the blue livery; +the three rival colors were distributed to his favorites, and in +the vile though eager contention he forgot the dignity of his +person and the safety of his dominions. He silenced the +messenger of an invasion, who presumed to divert his attention in +the most critical moment of the race; and by his command, the +importunate beacons were extinguished, that too frequently spread +the alarm from Tarsus to Constantinople. The most skilful +charioteers obtained the first place in his confidence and +esteem; their merit was profusely rewarded the emperor feasted in +their houses, and presented their children at the baptismal font; +and while he applauded his own popularity, he affected to blame +the cold and stately reserve of his predecessors. The unnatural +lusts which had degraded even the manhood of Nero, were banished +from the world; yet the strength of Michael was consumed by the +indulgence of love and intemperance. ^* In his midnight revels, +when his passions were inflamed by wine, he was provoked to issue +the most sanguinary commands; and if any feelings of humanity +were left, he was reduced, with the return of sense, to approve +the salutary disobedience of his servants. But the most +extraordinary feature in the character of Michael, is the profane +mockery of the religion of his country. The superstition of the +Greeks might indeed excite the smile of a philosopher; but his +smile would have been rational and temperate, and he must have +condemned the ignorant folly of a youth who insulted the objects +of public veneration. A buffoon of the court was invested in the +robes of the patriarch: his twelve metropolitans, among whom the +emperor was ranked, assumed their ecclesiastical garments: they +used or abused the sacred vessels of the altar; and in their +bacchanalian feasts, the holy communion was administered in a +nauseous compound of vinegar and mustard. Nor were these impious +spectacles concealed from the eyes of the city. On the day of a +solemn festival, the emperor, with his bishops or buffoons, rode +on asses through the streets, encountered the true patriarch at +the head of his clergy; and by their licentious shouts and +obscene gestures, disordered the gravity of the Christian +procession. The devotion of Michael appeared only in some +offence to reason or piety: he received his theatrical crowns +from the statue of the Virgin; and an Imperial tomb was violated +for the sake of burning the bones of Constantine the Iconoclast. +By this extravagant conduct, the son of Theophilus became as +contemptible as he was odious: every citizen was impatient for +the deliverance of his country; and even the favorites of the +moment were apprehensive that a caprice might snatch away what a +caprice had bestowed. In the thirtieth year of his age, and in +the hour of intoxication and sleep, Michael the Third was +murdered in his chamber by the founder of a new dynasty, whom the +emperor had raised to an equality of rank and power. +[Footnote *: In a campaign against the Saracens, he betrayed both +imbecility and cowardice. Genesius, c. iv. p. 94. - M.] + + The genealogy of Basil the Macedonian (if it be not the +spurious offspring of pride and flattery) exhibits a genuine +picture of the revolution of the most illustrious families. The +Arsacides, the rivals of Rome, possessed the sceptre of the East +near four hundred years: a younger branch of these Parthian kings +continued to reign in Armenia; and their royal descendants +survived the partition and servitude of that ancient monarchy. +Two of these, Artabanus and Chlienes, escaped or retired to the +court of Leo the First: his bounty seated them in a safe and +hospitable exile, in the province of Macedonia: Adrianople was +their final settlement. During several generations they +maintained the dignity of their birth; and their Roman patriotism +rejected the tempting offers of the Persian and Arabian powers, +who recalled them to their native country. But their splendor +was insensibly clouded by time and poverty; and the father of +Basil was reduced to a small farm, which he cultivated with his +own hands: yet he scorned to disgrace the blood of the Arsacides +by a plebeian alliance: his wife, a widow of Adrianople, was +pleased to count among her ancestors the great Constantine; and +their royal infant was connected by some dark affinity of lineage +or country with the Macedonian Alexander. No sooner was he born, +than the cradle of Basil, his family, and his city, were swept +away by an inundation of the Bulgarians: he was educated a slave +in a foreign land; and in this severe discipline, he acquired the +hardiness of body and flexibility of mind which promoted his +future elevation. In the age of youth or manhood he shared the +deliverance of the Roman captives, who generously broke their +fetters, marched through Bulgaria to the shores of the Euxine, +defeated two armies of Barbarians, embarked in the ships which +had been stationed for their reception, and returned to +Constantinople, from whence they were distributed to their +respective homes. But the freedom of Basil was naked and +destitute: his farm was ruined by the calamities of war: after +his father's death, his manual labor, or service, could no longer +support a family of orphans and he resolved to seek a more +conspicuous theatre, in which every virtue and every vice may +lead to the paths of greatness. The first night of his arrival +at Constantinople, without friends or money, the weary pilgrim +slept on the steps of the church of St. Diomede: he was fed by +the casual hospitality of a monk; and was introduced to the +service of a cousin and namesake of the emperor Theophilus; who, +though himself of a diminutive person, was always followed by a +train of tall and handsome domestics. Basil attended his patron +to the government of Peloponnesus; eclipsed, by his personal +merit the birth and dignity of Theophilus, and formed a useful +connection with a wealthy and charitable matron of Patras. Her +spiritual or carnal love embraced the young adventurer, whom she +adopted as her son. Danielis presented him with thirty slaves; +and the produce of her bounty was expended in the support of his +brothers, and the purchase of some large estates in Macedonia. +His gratitude or ambition still attached him to the service of +Theophilus; and a lucky accident recommended him to the notice of +the court. A famous wrestler, in the train of the Bulgarian +ambassadors, had defied, at the royal banquet, the boldest and +most robust of the Greeks. The strength of Basil was praised; he +accepted the challenge; and the Barbarian champion was overthrown +at the first onset. A beautiful but vicious horse was condemned +to be hamstrung: it was subdued by the dexterity and courage of +the servant of Theophilus; and his conqueror was promoted to an +honorable rank in the Imperial stables. But it was impossible to +obtain the confidence of Michael, without complying with his +vices; and his new favorite, the great chamberlain of the palace, +was raised and supported by a disgraceful marriage with a royal +concubine, and the dishonor of his sister, who succeeded to her +place. The public administration had been abandoned to the +Caesar Bardas, the brother and enemy of Theodora; but the arts of +female influence persuaded Michael to hate and to fear his uncle: +he was drawn from Constantinople, under the pretence of a Cretan +expedition, and stabbed in the tent of audience, by the sword of +the chamberlain, and in the presence of the emperor. About a +month after this execution, Basil was invested with the title of +Augustus and the government of the empire. He supported this +unequal association till his influence was fortified by popular +esteem. His life was endangered by the caprice of the emperor; +and his dignity was profaned by a second colleague, who had rowed +in the galleys. Yet the murder of his benefactor must be +condemned as an act of ingratitude and treason; and the churches +which he dedicated to the name of St. Michael were a poor and +puerile expiation of his guilt. + The different ages of Basil the First may be compared with +those of Augustus. The situation of the Greek did not allow him +in his earliest youth to lead an army against his country; or to +proscribe the nobles of her sons; but his aspiring genius stooped +to the arts of a slave; he dissembled his ambition and even his +virtues, and grasped, with the bloody hand of an assassin, the +empire which he ruled with the wisdom and tenderness of a parent. + +A private citizen may feel his interest repugnant to his duty; +but it must be from a deficiency of sense or courage, that an +absolute monarch can separate his happiness from his glory, or +his glory from the public welfare. The life or panegyric of Basil +has indeed been composed and published under the long reign of +his descendants; but even their stability on the throne may be +justly ascribed to the superior merit of their ancestor. In his +character, his grandson Constantine has attempted to delineate a +perfect image of royalty: but that feeble prince, unless he had +copied a real model, could not easily have soared so high above +the level of his own conduct or conceptions. But the most solid +praise of Basil is drawn from the comparison of a ruined and a +flourishing monarchy, that which he wrested from the dissolute +Michael, and that which he bequeathed to the Mecedonian dynasty. +The evils which had been sanctified by time and example, were +corrected by his master-hand; and he revived, if not the national +spirit, at least the order and majesty of the Roman empire. His +application was indefatigable, his temper cool, his understanding +vigorous and decisive; and in his practice he observed that rare +and salutary moderation, which pursues each virtue, at an equal +distance between the opposite vices. His military service had +been confined to the palace: nor was the emperor endowed with the +spirit or the talents of a warrior. Yet under his reign the +Roman arms were again formidable to the Barbarians. As soon as +he had formed a new army by discipline and exercise, he appeared +in person on the banks of the Euphrates, curbed the pride of the +Saracens, and suppressed the dangerous though just revolt of the +Manichaeans. His indignation against a rebel who had long eluded +his pursuit, provoked him to wish and to pray, that, by the grace +of God, he might drive three arrows into the head of Chrysochir. +That odious head, which had been obtained by treason rather than +by valor, was suspended from a tree, and thrice exposed to the +dexterity of the Imperial archer; a base revenge against the +dead, more worthy of the times than of the character of Basil. +But his principal merit was in the civil administration of the +finances and of the laws. To replenish and exhausted treasury, +it was proposed to resume the lavish and ill-placed gifts of his +predecessor: his prudence abated one moiety of the restitution; +and a sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds was instantly +procured to answer the most pressing demands, and to allow some +space for the mature operations of economy. Among the various +schemes for the improvement of the revenue, a new mode was +suggested of capitation, or tribute, which would have too much +depended on the arbitrary discretion of the assessors. A +sufficient list of honest and able agents was instantly produced +by the minister; but on the more careful scrutiny of Basil +himself, only two could be found, who might be safely intrusted +with such dangerous powers; but they justified his esteem by +declining his confidence. But the serious and successful +diligence of the emperor established by degrees the equitable +balance of property and payment, of receipt and expenditure; a +peculiar fund was appropriated to each service; and a public +method secured the interest of the prince and the property of the +people. After reforming the luxury, he assigned two patrimonial +estates to supply the decent plenty, of the Imperial table: the +contributions of the subject were reserved for his defence; and +the residue was employed in the embellishment of the capital and +provinces. A taste for building, however costly, may deserve +some praise and much excuse: from thence industry is fed, art is +encouraged, and some object is attained of public emolument or +pleasure: the use of a road, an aqueduct, or a hospital, is +obvious and solid; and the hundred churches that arose by the +command of Basil were consecrated to the devotion of the age. In +the character of a judge he was assiduous and impartial; desirous +to save, but not afraid to strike: the oppressors of the people +were severely chastised; but his personal foes, whom it might be +unsafe to pardon, were condemned, after the loss of their eyes, +to a life of solitude and repentance. The change of language and +manners demanded a revision of the obsolete jurisprudence of +Justinian: the voluminous body of his Institutes, Pandects, Code, +and Novels, was digested under forty titles, in the Greek idiom; +and the Basilics, which were improved and completed by his son +and grandson, must be referred to the original genius of the +founder of their race. This glorious reign was terminated by an +accident in the chase. A furious stag entangled his horns in the +belt of Basil, and raised him from his horse: he was rescued by +an attendant, who cut the belt and slew the animal; but the fall, +or the fever, exhausted the strength of the aged monarch, and he +expired in the palace amidst the tears of his family and people. +If he struck off the head of the faithful servant for presuming +to draw his sword against his sovereign, the pride of despotism, +which had lain dormant in his life, revived in the last moments +of despair, when he no longer wanted or valued the opinion of +mankind. + + Of the four sons of the emperor, Constantine died before his +father, whose grief and credulity were amused by a flattering +impostor and a vain apparition. Stephen, the youngest, was +content with the honors of a patriarch and a saint; both Leo and +Alexander were alike invested with the purple, but the powers of +government were solely exercised by the elder brother. The name +of Leo the Sixth has been dignified with the title of +philosopher; and the union of the prince and the sage, of the +active and speculative virtues, would indeed constitute the +perfection of human nature. But the claims of Leo are far short +of this ideal excellence. Did he reduce his passions and +appetites under the dominion of reason? His life was spent in +the pomp of the palace, in the society of his wives and +concubines; and even the clemency which he showed, and the peace +which he strove to preserve, must be imputed to the softness and +indolence of his character. Did he subdue his prejudices, and +those of his subjects? His mind was tinged with the most puerile +superstition; the influence of the clergy, and the errors of the +people, were consecrated by his laws; and the oracles of Leo, +which reveal, in prophetic style, the fates of the empire, are +founded on the arts of astrology and divination. If we still +inquire the reason of his sage appellation, it can only be +replied, that the son of Basil was less ignorant than the greater +part of his contemporaries in church and state; that his +education had been directed by the learned Photius; and that +several books of profane and ecclesiastical science were composed +by the pen, or in the name, of the Imperial philosopher. But the +reputation of his philosophy and religion was overthrown by a +domestic vice, the repetition of his nuptials. The primitive +ideas of the merit and holiness of celibacy were preached by the +monks and entertained by the Greeks. Marriage was allowed as a +necessary means for the propagation of mankind; after the death +of either party, the survivor might satisfy, by a second union, +the weakness or the strength of the flesh: but a third marriage +was censured as a state of legal fornication; and a fourth was a +sin or scandal as yet unknown to the Christians of the East. In +the beginning of his reign, Leo himself had abolished the state +of concubines, and condemned, without annulling, third marriages: +but his patriotism and love soon compelled him to violate his own +laws, and to incur the penance, which in a similar case he had +imposed on his subjects. In his three first alliances, his +nuptial bed was unfruitful; the emperor required a female +companion, and the empire a legitimate heir. The beautiful Zoe +was introduced into the palace as a concubine; and after a trial +of her fecundity, and the birth of Constantine, her lover +declared his intention of legitimating the mother and the child, +by the celebration of his fourth nuptials. But the patriarch +Nicholas refused his blessing: the Imperial baptism of the young +prince was obtained by a promise of separation; and the +contumacious husband of Zoe was excluded from the communion of +the faithful. Neither the fear of exile, nor the desertion of his +brethren, nor the authority of the Latin church, nor the danger +of failure or doubt in the succession to the empire, could bend +the spirit of the inflexible monk. After the death of Leo, he was +recalled from exile to the civil and ecclesiastical +administration; and the edict of union which was promulgated in +the name of Constantine, condemned the future scandal of fourth +marriages, and left a tacit imputation on his own birth. + In the Greek language, purple and porphyry are the same +word: and as the colors of nature are invariable, we may learn, +that a dark deep red was the Tyrian dye which stained the purple +of the ancients. An apartment of the Byzantine palace was lined +with porphyry: it was reserved for the use of the pregnant +empresses; and the royal birth of their children was expressed by +the appellation of porphyrogenite, or born in the purple. +Several of the Roman princes had been blessed with an heir; but +this peculiar surname was first applied to Constantine the +Seventh. His life and titular reign were of equal duration; but +of fifty-four years, six had elapsed before his father's death; +and the son of Leo was ever the voluntary or reluctant subject of +those who oppressed his weakness or abused his confidence. His +uncle Alexander, who had long been invested with the title of +Augustus, was the first colleague and governor of the young +prince: but in a rapid career of vice and folly, the brother of +Leo already emulated the reputation of Michael; and when he was +extinguished by a timely death, he entertained a project of +castrating his nephew, and leaving the empire to a worthless +favorite. The succeeding years of the minority of Constantine +were occupied by his mother Zoe, and a succession or council of +seven regents, who pursued their interest, gratified their +passions, abandoned the republic, supplanted each other, and +finally vanished in the presence of a soldier. From an obscure +origin, Romanus Lecapenus had raised himself to the command of +the naval armies; and in the anarchy of the times, had deserved, +or at least had obtained, the national esteem. With a victorious +and affectionate fleet, he sailed from the mouth of the Danube +into the harbor of Constantinople, and was hailed as the +deliverer of the people, and the guardian of the prince. His +supreme office was at first defined by the new appellation of +father of the emperor; but Romanus soon disdained the subordinate +powers of a minister, and assumed with the titles of Caesar and +Augustus, the full independence of royalty, which he held near +five-and-twenty years. His three sons, Christopher, Stephen, and +Constantine were successively adorned with the same honors, and +the lawful emperor was degraded from the first to the fifth rank +in this college of princes. Yet, in the preservation of his life +and crown, he might still applaud his own fortune and the +clemency of the usurper. The examples of ancient and modern +history would have excused the ambition of Romanus: the powers +and the laws of the empire were in his hand; the spurious birth +of Constantine would have justified his exclusion; and the grave +or the monastery was open to receive the son of the concubine. +But Lecapenus does not appear to have possessed either the +virtues or the vices of a tyrant. The spirit and activity of his +private life dissolved away in the sunshine of the throne; and in +his licentious pleasures, he forgot the safety both of the +republic and of his family. Of a mild and religious character, +he respected the sanctity of oaths, the innocence of the youth, +the memory of his parents, and the attachment of the people. The +studious temper and retirement of Constantine disarmed the +jealousy of power: his books and music, his pen and his pencil, +were a constant source of amusement; and if he could improve a +scanty allowance by the sale of his pictures, if their price was +not enhanced by the name of the artist, he was endowed with a +personal talent, which few princes could employ in the hour of +adversity. + + The fall of Romanus was occasioned by his own vices and +those of his children. After the decease of Christopher, his +eldest son, the two surviving brothers quarrelled with each +other, and conspired against their father. At the hour of noon, +when all strangers were regularly excluded from the palace, they +entered his apartment with an armed force, and conveyed him, in +the habit of a monk, to a small island in the Propontis, which +was peopled by a religious community. The rumor of this domestic +revolution excited a tumult in the city; but Porphyrogenitus +alone, the true and lawful emperor, was the object of the public +care; and the sons of Lecapenus were taught, by tardy experience, +that they had achieved a guilty and perilous enterprise for the +benefit of their rival. Their sister Helena, the wife of +Constantine, revealed, or supposed, their treacherous design of +assassinating her husband at the royal banquet. His loyal +adherents were alarmed, and the two usurpers were prevented, +seized, degraded from the purple, and embarked for the same +island and monastery where their father had been so lately +confined. Old Romanus met them on the beach with a sarcastic +smile, and, after a just reproach of their folly and ingratitude, +presented his Imperial colleagues with an equal share of his +water and vegetable diet. In the fortieth year of his reign, +Constantine the Seventh obtained the possession of the Eastern +world, which he ruled or seemed to rule, near fifteen years. But +he was devoid of that energy of character which could emerge into +a life of action and glory; and the studies, which had amused and +dignified his leisure, were incompatible with the serious duties +of a sovereign. The emperor neglected the practice to instruct +his son Romanus in the theory of government; while he indulged +the habits of intemperance and sloth, he dropped the reins of the +administration into the hands of Helena his wife; and, in the +shifting scene of her favor and caprice, each minister was +regretted in the promotion of a more worthless successor. Yet +the birth and misfortunes of Constantine had endeared him to the +Greeks; they excused his failings; they respected his learning, +his innocence, and charity, his love of justice; and the ceremony +of his funeral was mourned with the unfeigned tears of his +subjects. The body, according to ancient custom, lay in state in +the vestibule of the palace; and the civil and military officers, +the patricians, the senate, and the clergy approached in due +order to adore and kiss the inanimate corpse of their sovereign. +Before the procession moved towards the Imperial sepulchre, a +herald proclaimed this awful admonition: "Arise, O king of the +world, and obey the summons of the King of kings!" + + The death of Constantine was imputed to poison; and his son +Romanus, who derived that name from his maternal grandfather, +ascended the throne of Constantinople. A prince who, at the age +of twenty, could be suspected of anticipating his inheritance, +must have been already lost in the public esteem; yet Romanus was +rather weak than wicked; and the largest share of the guilt was +transferred to his wife, Theophano, a woman of base origin +masculine spirit, and flagitious manners. The sense of personal +glory and public happiness, the true pleasures of royalty, were +unknown to the son of Constantine; and, while the two brothers, +Nicephorus and Leo, triumphed over the Saracens, the hours which +the emperor owed to his people were consumed in strenuous +idleness. In the morning he visited the circus; at noon he +feasted the senators; the greater part of the afternoon he spent +in the sphoeristerium, or tennis-court, the only theatre of his +victories; from thence he passed over to the Asiatic side of the +Bosphorus, hunted and killed four wild boars of the largest size, +and returned to the palace, proudly content with the labors of +the day. In strength and beauty he was conspicuous above his +equals: tall and straight as a young cypress, his complexion was +fair and florid, his eyes sparkling, his shoulders broad, his +nose long and aquiline. Yet even these perfections were +insufficient to fix the love of Theophano; and, after a reign of +four ^* years, she mingled for her husband the same deadly +draught which she had composed for his father. +[Footnote *: Three years and five months. Leo Diaconus in +Niebuhr. Byz p. 50 - M.] + + By his marriage with this impious woman, Romanus the younger +left two sons, Basil the Second and Constantine the Ninth, and +two daughters, Theophano and Anne. The eldest sister was given +to Otho the Second, emperor of the West; the younger became the +wife of Wolodomir, great duke and apostle of russia, and by the +marriage of her granddaughter with Henry the First, king of +France, the blood of the Macedonians, and perhaps of the +Arsacides, still flows in the veins of the Bourbon line. After +the death of her husband, the empress aspired to reign in the +name of her sons, the elder of whom was five, and the younger +only two, years of age; but she soon felt the instability of a +throne which was supported by a female who could not be esteemed, +and two infants who could not be feared. Theophano looked around +for a protector, and threw herself into the arms of the bravest +soldier; her heart was capacious; but the deformity of the new +favorite rendered it more than probable that interest was the +motive and excuse of her love. Nicephorus Phocus united, in the +popular opinion, the double merit of a hero and a saint. In the +former character, his qualifications were genuine and splendid: +the descendant of a race illustrious by their military exploits, +he had displayed in every station and in every province the +courage of a soldier and the conduct of a chief; and Nicephorus +was crowned with recent laurels, from the important conquest of +the Isle of Crete. His religion was of a more ambiguous cast; +and his hair-cloth, his fasts, his pious idiom, and his wish to +retire from the business of the world, were a convenient mask for +his dark and dangerous ambition. Yet he imposed on a holy +patriarch, by whose influence, and by a decree of the senate, he +was intrusted, during the minority of the young princes, with the +absolute and independent command of the Oriental armies. As soon +as he had secured the leaders and the troops, he boldly marched +to Constantinople, trampled on his enemies, avowed his +correspondence with the empress, and without degrading her sons, +assumed, with the title of Augustus, the preeminence of rank and +the plenitude of power. But his marriage with Theophano was +refused by the same patriarch who had placed the crown on his +head: by his second nuptials he incurred a year of canonical +penance; ^* a bar of spiritual affinity was opposed to their +celebration; and some evasion and perjury were required to +silence the scruples of the clergy and people. The popularity of +the emperor was lost in the purple: in a reign of six years he +provoked the hatred of strangers and subjects: and the hypocrisy +and avarice of the first Nicephorus were revived in his +successor. Hypocrisy I shall never justify or palliate; but I +will dare to observe, that the odious vice of avarice is of all +others most hastily arraigned, and most unmercifully condemned. +In a private citizen, our judgment seldom expects an accurate +scrutiny into his fortune and expense; and in a steward of the +public treasure, frugality is always a virtue, and the increase +of taxes too often an indispensable duty. In the use of his +patrimony, the generous temper of Nicephorus had been proved; and +the revenue was strictly applied to the service of the state: +each spring the emperor marched in person against the Saracens; +and every Roman might compute the employment of his taxes in +triumphs, conquests, and the security of the Eastern barrier. ^** + +[Footnote *: The canonical objection to the marriage was his +relation of Godfather sons. Leo Diac. p. 50. - M.] + +[Footnote **: He retook Antioch, and brought home as a trophy the +sword of "the most unholy and impious Mahomet." Leo Diac. p. 76. +- M.] + + +Chapter XLVIII: Succession And Characters Of The Greek Emperors. + + +Part IV. + + Among the warriors who promoted his elevation, and served +under his standard, a noble and valiant Armenian had deserved and +obtained the most eminent rewards. The stature of John Zimisces +was below the ordinary standard: but this diminutive body was +endowed with strength, beauty, and the soul of a hero. By the +jealousy of the emperor's brother, he was degraded from the +office of general of the East, to that of director of the posts, +and his murmurs were chastised with disgrace and exile. But +Zimisces was ranked among the numerous lovers of the empress: on +her intercession, he was permitted to reside at Chalcedon, in the +neighborhood of the capital: her bounty was repaid in his +clandestine and amorous visits to the palace; and Theophano +consented, with alacrity, to the death of an ugly and penurious +husband. Some bold and trusty conspirators were concealed in her +most private chambers: in the darkness of a winter night, +Zimisces, with his principal companions, embarked in a small +boat, traversed the Bosphorus, landed at the palace stairs, and +silently ascended a ladder of ropes, which was cast down by the +female attendants. Neither his own suspicions, nor the warnings +of his friends, nor the tardy aid of his brother Leo, nor the +fortress which he had erected in the palace, could protect +Nicephorus from a domestic foe, at whose voice every door was +open to the assassins. As he slept on a bear-skin on the ground, +he was roused by their noisy intrusion, and thirty daggers +glittered before his eyes. It is doubtful whether Zimisces +imbrued his hands in the blood of his sovereign; but he enjoyed +the inhuman spectacle of revenge. ^* The murder was protracted by +insult and cruelty: and as soon as the head of Nicephorus was +shown from the window, the tumult was hushed, and the Armenian +was emperor of the East. On the day of his coronation, he was +stopped on the threshold of St. Sophia, by the intrepid +patriarch; who charged his conscience with the deed of treason +and blood; and required, as a sign of repentance, that he should +separate himself from his more criminal associate. This sally of +apostolic zeal was not offensive to the prince, since he could +neither love nor trust a woman who had repeatedly violated the +most sacred obligations; and Theophano, instead of sharing his +imperial fortune, was dismissed with ignominy from his bed and +palace. In their last interview, she displayed a frantic and +impotent rage; accused the ingratitude of her lover; assaulted, +with words and blows, her son Basil, as he stood silent and +submissive in the presence of a superior colleague; and avowed +her own prostitution in proclaiming the illegitimacy of his +birth. The public indignation was appeased by her exile, and the +punishment of the meaner accomplices: the death of an unpopular +prince was forgiven; and the guilt of Zimisces was forgotten in +the splendor of his virtues. Perhaps his profusion was less +useful to the state than the avarice of Nicephorus; but his +gentle and generous behavior delighted all who approached his +person; and it was only in the paths of victory that he trod in +the footsteps of his predecessor. The greatest part of his reign +was employed in the camp and the field: his personal valor and +activity were signalized on the Danube and the Tigris, the +ancient boundaries of the Roman world; and by his double triumph +over the Russians and the Saracens, he deserved the titles of +savior of the empire, and conqueror of the East. In his last +return from Syria, he observed that the most fruitful lands of +his new provinces were possessed by the eunuchs. "And is it for +them," he exclaimed, with honest indignation, "that we have +fought and conquered? Is it for them that we shed our blood, and +exhaust the treasures of our people?" The complaint was reechoed +to the palace, and the death of Zimisces is strongly marked with +the suspicion of poison. + +[Footnote *: According to Leo Diaconus, Zimisces, after ordering +the wounded emperor to be dragged to his feet, and heaping him +with insult, to which the miserable man only replied by invoking +the name of the "mother of God," with his own hand plucked his +beard, while his accomplices beat out his teeth with the hilts of +their swords, and then trampling him to the ground, drove his +sword into his skull. Leo Diac, in Niebuhr Byz. Hist. l vii. c. +8. p. 88. - M.] + + Under this usurpation, or regency, of twelve years, the two +lawful emperors, Basil and Constantine, had silently grown to the +age of manhood. Their tender years had been incapable of +dominion: the respectful modesty of their attendance and +salutation was due to the age and merit of their guardians; the +childless ambition of those guardians had no temptation to +violate their right of succession: their patrimony was ably and +faithfully administered; and the premature death of Zimisces was +a loss, rather than a benefit, to the sons of Romanus. Their +want of experience detained them twelve years longer the obscure +and voluntary pupils of a minister, who extended his reign by +persuading them to indulge the pleasures of youth, and to disdain +the labors of government. In this silken web, the weakness of +Constantine was forever entangled; but his elder brother felt the +impulse of genius and the desire of action; he frowned, and the +minister was no more. Basil was the acknowledged sovereign of +Constantinople and the provinces of Europe; but Asia was +oppressed by two veteran generals, Phocas and Sclerus, who, +alternately friends and enemies, subjects and rebels, maintained +their independence, and labored to emulate the example of +successful usurpation. Against these domestic enemies the son of +Romanus first drew his sword, and they trembled in the presence +of a lawful and high-spirited prince. The first, in the front of +battle, was thrown from his horse, by the stroke of poison, or an +arrow; the second, who had been twice loaded with chains, ^* and +twice invested with the purple, was desirous of ending in peace +the small remainder of his days. As the aged suppliant +approached the throne, with dim eyes and faltering steps, leaning +on his two attendants, the emperor exclaimed, in the insolence of +youth and power, "And is this the man who has so long been the +object of our terror?" After he had confirmed his own authority, +and the peace of the empire, the trophies of Nicephorus and +Zimisces would not suffer their royal pupil to sleep in the +palace. His long and frequent expeditions against the Saracens +were rather glorious than useful to the empire; but the final +destruction of the kingdom of Bulgaria appears, since the time of +Belisarius, the most important triumph of the Roman arms. Yet, +instead of applauding their victorious prince, his subjects +detested the rapacious and rigid avarice of Basil; and in the +imperfect narrative of his exploits, we can only discern the +courage, patience, and ferociousness of a soldier. A vicious +education, which could not subdue his spirit, had clouded his +mind; he was ignorant of every science; and the remembrance of +his learned and feeble grandsire might encourage his real or +affected contempt of laws and lawyers, of artists and arts. Of +such a character, in such an age, superstition took a firm and +lasting possession; after the first license of his youth, Basil +the Second devoted his life, in the palace and the camp, to the +penance of a hermit, wore the monastic habit under his robes and +armor, observed a vow of continence, and imposed on his appetites +a perpetual abstinence from wine and flesh. In the sixty-eighth +year of his age, his martial spirit urged him to embark in person +for a holy war against the Saracens of Sicily; he was prevented +by death, and Basil, surnamed the Slayer of the Bulgarians, was +dismissed from the world with the blessings of the clergy and the +curse of the people. After his decease, his brother Constantine +enjoyed, about three years, the power, or rather the pleasures, +of royalty; and his only care was the settlement of the +succession. He had enjoyed sixty-six years the title of +Augustus; and the reign of the two brothers is the longest, and +most obscure, of the Byzantine history. +[Footnote *: Once by the caliph, once by his rival Phocas. +Compare De Beau l. p. 176. - M.] + + A lineal succession of five emperors, in a period of one +hundred and sixty years, had attached the loyalty of the Greeks +to the Macedonian dynasty, which had been thrice respected by the +usurpers of their power. After the death of Constantine the +Ninth, the last male of the royal race, a new and broken scene +presents itself, and the accumulated years of twelve emperors do +not equal the space of his single reign. His elder brother had +preferred his private chastity to the public interest, and +Constantine himself had only three daughters; Eudocia, who took +the veil, and Zoe and Theodora, who were preserved till a mature +age in a state of ignorance and virginity. When their marriage +was discussed in the council of their dying father, the cold or +pious Theodora refused to give an heir to the empire, but her +sister Zoe presented herself a willing victim at the altar. +Romanus Argyrus, a patrician of a graceful person and fair +reputation, was chosen for her husband, and, on his declining +that honor, was informed, that blindness or death was the second +alternative. The motive of his reluctance was conjugal affection +but his faithful wife sacrificed her own happiness to his safety +and greatness; and her entrance into a monastery removed the only +bar to the Imperial nuptials. After the decease of Constantine, +the sceptre devolved to Romanus the Third; but his labors at home +and abroad were equally feeble and fruitless; and the mature age, +the forty-eight years of Zoe, were less favorable to the hopes of +pregnancy than to the indulgence of pleasure. Her favorite +chamberlain was a handsome Paphlagonian of the name of Michael, +whose first trade had been that of a money-changer; and Romanus, +either from gratitude or equity, connived at their criminal +intercourse, or accepted a slight assurance of their innocence. +But Zoe soon justified the Roman maxim, that every adulteress is +capable of poisoning her husband; and the death of Romanus was +instantly followed by the scandalous marriage and elevation of +Michael the Fourth. The expectations of Zoe were, however, +disappointed: instead of a vigorous and grateful lover, she had +placed in her bed a miserable wretch, whose health and reason +were impaired by epileptic fits, and whose conscience was +tormented by despair and remorse. The most skilful physicians of +the mind and body were summoned to his aid; and his hopes were +amused by frequent pilgrimages to the baths, and to the tombs of +the most popular saints; the monks applauded his penance, and, +except restitution, (but to whom should he have restored?) +Michael sought every method of expiating his guilt. While he +groaned and prayed in sackcloth and ashes, his brother, the +eunuch John, smiled at his remorse, and enjoyed the harvest of a +crime of which himself was the secret and most guilty author. His +administration was only the art of satiating his avarice, and Zoe +became a captive in the palace of her fathers, and in the hands +of her slaves. When he perceived the irretrievable decline of +his brother's health, he introduced his nephew, another Michael, +who derived his surname of Calaphates from his father's +occupation in the careening of vessels: at the command of the +eunuch, Zoe adopted for her son the son of a mechanic; and this +fictitious heir was invested with the title and purple of the +Caesars, in the presence of the senate and clergy. So feeble was +the character of Zoe, that she was oppressed by the liberty and +power which she recovered by the death of the Paphlagonian; and +at the end of four days, she placed the crown on the head of +Michael the Fifth, who had protested, with tears and oaths, that +he should ever reign the first and most obedient of her subjects. + +The only act of his short reign was his base ingratitude to his +benefactors, the eunuch and the empress. The disgrace of the +former was pleasing to the public: but the murmurs, and at length +the clamors, of Constantinople deplored the exile of Zoe, the +daughter of so many emperors; her vices were forgotten, and +Michael was taught, that there is a period in which the patience +of the tamest slaves rises into fury and revenge. The citizens +of every degree assembled in a formidable tumult which lasted +three days; they besieged the palace, forced the gates, recalled +their mothers, Zoe from her prison, Theodora from her monastery, +and condemned the son of Calaphates to the loss of his eyes or of +his life. For the first time the Greeks beheld with surprise the +two royal sisters seated on the same throne, presiding in the +senate, and giving audience to the ambassadors of the nations. +But the singular union subsisted no more than two months; the two +sovereigns, their tempers, interests, and adherents, were +secretly hostile to each other; and as Theodora was still averse +to marriage, the indefatigable Zoe, at the age of sixty, +consented, for the public good, to sustain the embraces of a +third husband, and the censures of the Greek church. His name +and number were Constantine the Tenth, and the epithet of +Monomachus, the single combatant, must have been expressive of +his valor and victory in some public or private quarrel. But his +health was broken by the tortures of the gout, and his dissolute +reign was spent in the alternative of sickness and pleasure. A +fair and noble widow had accompanied Constantine in his exile to +the Isle of Lesbos, and Sclerena gloried in the appellation of +his mistress. After his marriage and elevation, she was invested +with the title and pomp of Augusta, and occupied a contiguous +apartment in the palace. The lawful consort (such was the +delicacy or corruption of Zoe) consented to this strange and +scandalous partition; and the emperor appeared in public between +his wife and his concubine. He survived them both; but the last +measures of Constantine to change the order of succession were +prevented by the more vigilant friends of Theodora; and after his +decease, she resumed, with the general consent, the possession of +her inheritance. In her name, and by the influence of four +eunuchs, the Eastern world was peaceably governed about nineteen +months; and as they wished to prolong their dominion, they +persuaded the aged princess to nominate for her successor Michael +the Sixth. The surname of Stratioticus declares his military +profession; but the crazy and decrepit veteran could only see +with the eyes, and execute with the hands, of his ministers. +Whilst he ascended the throne, Theodora sunk into the grave; the +last of the Macedonian or Basilian dynasty. I have hastily +reviewed, and gladly dismiss, this shameful and destructive +period of twenty-eight years, in which the Greeks, degraded below +the common level of servitude, were transferred like a herd of +cattle by the choice or caprice of two impotent females. + + From this night of slavery, a ray of freedom, or at least of +spirit, begins to emerge: the Greeks either preserved or revived +the use of surnames, which perpetuate the fame of hereditary +virtue: and we now discern the rise, succession, and alliances of +the last dynasties of Constantinople and Trebizond. The Comneni, +who upheld for a while the fate of the sinking empire, assumed +the honor of a Roman origin: but the family had been long since +transported from Italy to Asia. Their patrimonial estate was +situate in the district of Castamona, in the neighborhood of the +Euxine; and one of their chiefs, who had already entered the +paths of ambition, revisited with affection, perhaps with regret, +the modest though honorable dwelling of his fathers. The first +of their line was the illustrious Manuel, who in the reign of the +second Basil, contributed by war and treaty to appease the +troubles of the East: he left, in a tender age, two sons, Isaac +and John, whom, with the consciousness of desert, he bequeathed +to the gratitude and favor of his sovereign. The noble youths +were carefully trained in the learning of the monastery, the arts +of the palace, and the exercises of the camp: and from the +domestic service of the guards, they were rapidly promoted to the +command of provinces and armies. Their fraternal union doubled +the force and reputation of the Comneni, and their ancient +nobility was illustrated by the marriage of the two brothers, +with a captive princess of Bulgaria, and the daughter of a +patrician, who had obtained the name of Charon from the number of +enemies whom he had sent to the infernal shades. The soldiers had +served with reluctant loyalty a series of effeminate masters; the +elevation of Michael the Sixth was a personal insult to the more +deserving generals; and their discontent was inflamed by the +parsimony of the emperor and the insolence of the eunuchs. They +secretly assembled in the sanctuary of St. Sophia, and the votes +of the military synod would have been unanimous in favor of the +old and valiant Catacalon, if the patriotism or modesty of the +veteran had not suggested the importance of birth as well as +merit in the choice of a sovereign. Isaac Comnenus was approved +by general consent, and the associates separated without delay to +meet in the plains of Phrygia at the head of their respective +squadrons and detachments. The cause of Michael was defended in +a single battle by the mercenaries of the Imperial guard, who +were aliens to the public interest, and animated only by a +principle of honor and gratitude. After their defeat, the fears +of the emperor solicited a treaty, which was almost accepted by +the moderation of the Comnenian. But the former was betrayed by +his ambassadors, and the latter was prevented by his friends. +The solitary Michael submitted to the voice of the people; the +patriarch annulled their oath of allegiance; and as he shaved the +head of the royal monk, congratulated his beneficial exchange of +temporal royalty for the kingdom of heaven; an exchange, however, +which the priest, on his own account, would probably have +declined. By the hands of the same patriarch, Isaac Comnenus was +solemnly crowned; the sword which he inscribed on his coins might +be an offensive symbol, if it implied his title by conquest; but +this sword would have been drawn against the foreign and domestic +enemies of the state. The decline of his health and vigor +suspended the operation of active virtue; and the prospect of +approaching death determined him to interpose some moments +between life and eternity. But instead of leaving the empire as +the marriage portion of his daughter, his reason and inclination +concurred in the preference of his brother John, a soldier, a +patriot, and the father of five sons, the future pillars of an +hereditary succession. His first modest reluctance might be the +natural dictates of discretion and tenderness, but his obstinate +and successful perseverance, however it may dazzle with the show +of virtue, must be censured as a criminal desertion of his duty, +and a rare offence against his family and country. The purple +which he had refused was accepted by Constantine Ducas, a friend +of the Comnenian house, and whose noble birth was adorned with +the experience and reputation of civil policy. In the monastic +habit, Isaac recovered his health, and survived two years his +voluntary abdication. At the command of his abbot, he observed +the rule of St. Basil, and executed the most servile offices of +the convent: but his latent vanity was gratified by the frequent +and respectful visits of the reigning monarch, who revered in his +person the character of a benefactor and a saint. + If Constantine the Eleventh were indeed the subject most +worthy of empire, we must pity the debasement of the age and +nation in which he was chosen. In the labor of puerile +declamations he sought, without obtaining, the crown of +eloquence, more precious, in his opinion, than that of Rome; and +in the subordinate functions of a judge, he forgot the duties of +a sovereign and a warrior. Far from imitating the patriotic +indifference of the authors of his greatness, Ducas was anxious +only to secure, at the expense of the republic, the power and +prosperity of his children. His three sons, Michael the Seventh, +Andronicus the First, and Constantine the Twelfth, were invested, +in a tender age, with the equal title of Augustus; and the +succession was speedily opened by their father's death. His +widow, Eudocia, was intrusted with the administration; but +experience had taught the jealousy of the dying monarch to +protect his sons from the danger of her second nuptials; and her +solemn engagement, attested by the principal senators, was +deposited in the hands of the patriarch. Before the end of seven +months, the wants of Eudocia, or those of the state, called aloud +for the male virtues of a soldier; and her heart had already +chosen Romanus Diogenes, whom she raised from the scaffold to the +throne. The discovery of a treasonable attempt had exposed him +to the severity of the laws: his beauty and valor absolved him in +the eyes of the empress; and Romanus, from a mild exile, was +recalled on the second day to the command of the Oriental armies. + +Her royal choice was yet unknown to the public; and the promise +which would have betrayed her falsehood and levity, was stolen by +a dexterous emissary from the ambition of the patriarch. Xiphilin +at first alleged the sanctity of oaths, and the sacred nature of +a trust; but a whisper, that his brother was the future emperor, +relaxed his scruples, and forced him to confess that the public +safety was the supreme law. He resigned the important paper; and +when his hopes were confounded by the nomination of Romanus, he +could no longer regain his security, retract his declarations, +nor oppose the second nuptials of the empress. Yet a murmur was +heard in the palace; and the Barbarian guards had raised their +battle-axes in the cause of the house of Lucas, till the young +princes were soothed by the tears of their mother and the solemn +assurances of the fidelity of their guardian, who filled the +Imperial station with dignity and honor. Hereafter I shall +relate his valiant, but unsuccessful, efforts to resist the +progress of the Turks. His defeat and captivity inflicted a +deadly wound on the Byzantine monarchy of the East; and after he +was released from the chains of the sultan, he vainly sought his +wife and his subjects. His wife had been thrust into a +monastery, and the subjects of Romanus had embraced the rigid +maxim of the civil law, that a prisoner in the hands of the enemy +is deprived, as by the stroke of death, of all the public and +private rights of a citizen. In the general consternation, the +Caesar John asserted the indefeasible right of his three nephews: +Constantinople listened to his voice: and the Turkish captive was +proclaimed in the capital, and received on the frontier, as an +enemy of the republic. Romanus was not more fortunate in +domestic than in foreign war: the loss of two battles compelled +him to yield, on the assurance of fair and honorable treatment; +but his enemies were devoid of faith or humanity; and, after the +cruel extinction of his sight, his wounds were left to bleed and +corrupt, till in a few days he was relieved from a state of +misery. Under the triple reign of the house of Ducas, the two +younger brothers were reduced to the vain honors of the purple; +but the eldest, the pusillanimous Michael, was incapable of +sustaining the Roman sceptre; and his surname of Parapinaces +denotes the reproach which he shared with an avaricious favorite, +who enhanced the price, and diminished the measure, of wheat. In +the school of Psellus, and after the example of his mother, the +son of Eudocia made some proficiency in philosophy and rhetoric; +but his character was degraded, rather than ennobled, by the +virtues of a monk and the learning of a sophist. Strong in the +contempt of their sovereign and their own esteem, two generals, +at the head of the European and Asiatic legions, assumed the +purple at Adrianople and Nice. Their revolt was in the same +months; they bore the same name of Nicephorus; but the two +candidates were distinguished by the surnames of Bryennius and +Botaniates; the former in the maturity of wisdom and courage, the +latter conspicuous only by the memory of his past exploits. While +Botaniates advanced with cautious and dilatory steps, his active +competitor stood in arms before the gates of Constantinople. The +name of Bryennius was illustrious; his cause was popular; but his +licentious troops could not be restrained from burning and +pillaging a suburb; and the people, who would have hailed the +rebel, rejected and repulsed the incendiary of his country. This +change of the public opinion was favorable to Botaniates, who at +length, with an army of Turks, approached the shores of +Chalcedon. A formal invitation, in the name of the patriarch, +the synod, and the senate, was circulated through the streets of +Constantinople; and the general assembly, in the dome of St. +Sophia, debated, with order and calmness, on the choice of their +sovereign. The guards of Michael would have dispersed this +unarmed multitude; but the feeble emperor, applauding his own +moderation and clemency, resigned the ensigns of royalty, and was +rewarded with the monastic habit, and the title of Archbishop of +Ephesus. He left a son, a Constantine, born and educated in the +purple; and a daughter of the house of Ducas illustrated the +blood, and confirmed the succession, of the Comnenian dynasty. + + John Comnenus, the brother of the emperor Isaac, survived in +peace and dignity his generous refusal of the sceptre. By his +wife Anne, a woman of masculine spirit and a policy, he left +eight children: the three daughters multiplied the Comnenian +alliance with the noblest of the Greeks: of the five sons, Manuel +was stopped by a premature death; Isaac and Alexius restored the +Imperial greatness of their house, which was enjoyed without toil +or danger by the two younger brethren, Adrian and Nicephorus. +Alexius, the third and most illustrious of the brothers was +endowed by nature with the choicest gifts both of mind and body: +they were cultivated by a liberal education, and exercised in the +school of obedience and adversity. The youth was dismissed from +the perils of the Turkish war, by the paternal care of the +emperor Romanus: but the mother of the Comneni, with her aspiring +face, was accused of treason, and banished, by the sons of Ducas, +to an island in the Propontis. The two brothers soon emerged +into favor and action, fought by each other's side against the +rebels and Barbarians, and adhered to the emperor Michael, till +he was deserted by the world and by himself. In his first +interview with Botaniates, "Prince," said Alexius with a noble +frankness, "my duty rendered me your enemy; the decrees of God +and of the people have made me your subject. Judge of my future +loyalty by my past opposition." The successor of Michael +entertained him with esteem and confidence: his valor was +employed against three rebels, who disturbed the peace of the +empire, or at least of the emperors. Ursel, Bryennius, and +Basilacius, were formidable by their numerous forces and military +fame: they were successively vanquished in the field, and led in +chains to the foot of the throne; and whatever treatment they +might receive from a timid and cruel court, they applauded the +clemency, as well as the courage, of their conqueror. But the +loyalty of the Comneni was soon tainted by fear and suspicion; +nor is it easy to settle between a subject and a despot, the debt +of gratitude, which the former is tempted to claim by a revolt, +and the latter to discharge by an executioner. The refusal of +Alexius to march against a fourth rebel, the husband of his +sister, destroyed the merit or memory of his past services: the +favorites of Botaniates provoked the ambition which they +apprehended and accused; and the retreat of the two brothers +might be justified by the defence of their life and liberty. The +women of the family were deposited in a sanctuary, respected by +tyrants: the men, mounted on horseback, sallied from the city, +and erected the standard of civil war. The soldiers who had been +gradually assembled in the capital and the neighborhood, were +devoted to the cause of a victorious and injured leader: the ties +of common interest and domestic alliance secured the attachment +of the house of Ducas; and the generous dispute of the Comneni +was terminated by the decisive resolution of Isaac, who was the +first to invest his younger brother with the name and ensigns of +royalty. They returned to Constantinople, to threaten rather +than besiege that impregnable fortress; but the fidelity of the +guards was corrupted; a gate was surprised, and the fleet was +occupied by the active courage of George Palaeologus, who fought +against his father, without foreseeing that he labored for his +posterity. Alexius ascended the throne; and his aged competitor +disappeared in a monastery. An army of various nations was +gratified with the pillage of the city; but the public disorders +were expiated by the tears and fasts of the Comneni, who +submitted to every penance compatible with the possession of the +empire. + The life of the emperor Alexius has been delineated by a +favorite daughter, who was inspired by a tender regard for his +person and a laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. Conscious +of the just suspicions of her readers, the princess Anna Comnena +repeatedly protests, that, besides her personal knowledge, she +had searched the discourses and writings of the most respectable +veterans: and after an interval of thirty years, forgotten by, +and forgetful of, the world, her mournful solitude was +inaccessible to hope and fear; and that truth, the naked perfect +truth, was more dear and sacred than the memory of her parent. +Yet, instead of the simplicity of style and narrative which wins +our belief, an elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science +betrays in every page the vanity of a female author. The genuine +character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of virtues; +and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apology awakens our +jealousy, to question the veracity of the historian and the merit +of the hero. We cannot, however, refuse her judicious and +important remark, that the disorders of the times were the +misfortune and the glory of Alexius; and that every calamity +which can afflict a declining empire was accumulated on his reign +by the justice of Heaven and the vices of his predecessors. In +the East, the victorious Turks had spread, from Persia to the +Hellespont, the reign of the Koran and the Crescent: the West was +invaded by the adventurous valor of the Normans; and, in the +moments of peace, the Danube poured forth new swarms, who had +gained, in the science of war, what they had lost in the +ferociousness of manners. The sea was not less hostile than the +land; and while the frontiers were assaulted by an open enemy, +the palace was distracted with secret treason and conspiracy. On +a sudden, the banner of the Cross was displayed by the Latins; +Europe was precipitated on Asia; and Constantinople had almost +been swept away by this impetuous deluge. In the tempest, +Alexius steered the Imperial vessel with dexterity and courage. +At the head of his armies, he was bold in action, skilful in +stratagem, patient of fatigue, ready to improve his advantages, +and rising from his defeats with inexhaustible vigor. The +discipline of the camp was revived, and a new generation of men +and soldiers was created by the example and precepts of their +leader. In his intercourse with the Latins, Alexius was patient +and artful: his discerning eye pervaded the new system of an +unknown world and I shall hereafter describe the superior policy +with which he balanced the interests and passions of the +champions of the first crusade. In a long reign of thirty- seven +years, he subdued and pardoned the envy of his equals: the laws +of public and private order were restored: the arts of wealth and +science were cultivated: the limits of the empire were enlarged +in Europe and Asia; and the Comnenian sceptre was transmitted to +his children of the third and fourth generation. Yet the +difficulties of the times betrayed some defects in his character; +and have exposed his memory to some just or ungenerous reproach. +The reader may possibly smile at the lavish praise which his +daughter so often bestows on a flying hero: the weakness or +prudence of his situation might be mistaken for a want of +personal courage; and his political arts are branded by the +Latins with the names of deceit and dissimulation. The increase +of the male and female branches of his family adorned the throne, +and secured the succession; but their princely luxury and pride +offended the patricians, exhausted the revenue, and insulted the +misery of the people. Anna is a faithful witness that his +happiness was destroyed, and his health was broken, by the cares +of a public life; the patience of Constantinople was fatigued by +the length and severity of his reign; and before Alexius expired, +he had lost the love and reverence of his subjects. The clergy +could not forgive his application of the sacred riches to the +defence of the state; but they applauded his theological learning +and ardent zeal for the orthodox faith, which he defended with +his tongue, his pen, and his sword. His character was degraded +by the superstition of the Greeks; and the same inconsistent +principle of human nature enjoined the emperor to found a +hospital for the poor and infirm, and to direct the execution of +a heretic, who was burned alive in the square of St. Sophia. +Even the sincerity of his moral and religious virtues was +suspected by the persons who had passed their lives in his +familiar confidence. In his last hours, when he was pressed by +his wife Irene to alter the succession, he raised his head, and +breathed a pious ejaculation on the vanity of this world. The +indignant reply of the empress may be inscribed as an epitaph on +his tomb, "You die, as you have lived - A Hypocrite!" + + It was the wish of Irene to supplant the eldest of her +surviving sons, in favor of her daughter the princess Anne whose +philosophy would not have refused the weight of a diadem. But +the order of male succession was asserted by the friends of their +country; the lawful heir drew the royal signet from the finger of +his insensible or conscious father and the empire obeyed the +master of the palace. Anna Comnena was stimulated by ambition +and revenge to conspire against the life of her brother, and when +the design was prevented by the fears or scruples of her husband, +she passionately exclaimed that nature had mistaken the two +sexes, and had endowed Bryennius with the soul of a woman. The +two sons of Alexius, John and Isaac, maintained the fraternal +concord, the hereditary virtue of their race, and the younger +brother was content with the title of Sebastocrator, which +approached the dignity, without sharing the power, of the +emperor. In the same person the claims of primogeniture and +merit were fortunately united; his swarthy complexion, harsh +features, and diminutive stature, had suggested the ironical +surname of Calo-Johannes, or John the Handsome, which his +grateful subjects more seriously applied to the beauties of his +mind. After the discovery of her treason, the life and fortune +of Anne were justly forfeited to the laws. Her life was spared +by the clemency of the emperor; but he visited the pomp and +treasures of her palace, and bestowed the rich confiscation on +the most deserving of his friends. That respectable friend +Axuch, a slave of Turkish extraction, presumed to decline the +gift, and to intercede for the criminal: his generous master +applauded and imitated the virtue of his favorite, and the +reproach or complaint of an injured brother was the only +chastisement of the guilty princess. After this example of +clemency, the remainder of his reign was never disturbed by +conspiracy or rebellion: feared by his nobles, beloved by his +people, John was never reduced to the painful necessity of +punishing, or even of pardoning, his personal enemies. During +his government of twenty-five years, the penalty of death was +abolished in the Roman empire, a law of mercy most delightful to +the humane theorist, but of which the practice, in a large and +vicious community, is seldom consistent with the public safety. +Severe to himself, indulgent to others, chaste, frugal, +abstemious, the philosophic Marcus would not have disdained the +artless virtues of his successor, derived from his heart, and not +borrowed from the schools. He despised and moderated the stately +magnificence of the Byzantine court, so oppressive to the people, +so contemptible to the eye of reason. Under such a prince, +innocence had nothing to fear, and merit had every thing to hope; +and, without assuming the tyrannic office of a censor, he +introduced a gradual though visible reformation in the public and +private manners of Constantinople. The only defect of this +accomplished character was the frailty of noble minds, the love +of arms and military glory. Yet the frequent expeditions of John +the Handsome may be justified, at least in their principle, by +the necessity of repelling the Turks from the Hellespont and the +Bosphorus. The sultan of Iconium was confined to his capital, +the Barbarians were driven to the mountains, and the maritime +provinces of Asia enjoyed the transient blessings of their +deliverance. From Constantinople to Antioch and Aleppo, he +repeatedly marched at the head of a victorious army, and in the +sieges and battles of this holy war, his Latin allies were +astonished by the superior spirit and prowess of a Greek. As he +began to indulge the ambitious hope of restoring the ancient +limits of the empire, as he revolved in his mind, the Euphrates +and Tigris, the dominion of Syria, and the conquest of Jerusalem, +the thread of his life and of the public felicity was broken by a +singular accident. He hunted the wild boar in the valley of +Anazarbus, and had fixed his javelin in the body of the furious +animal; but in the struggle a poisoned arrow dropped from his +quiver, and a slight wound in his hand, which produced a +mortification, was fatal to the best and greatest of the +Comnenian princes. + + +Chapter XLVIII: Succession And Characters Of The Greek Emperors. + + +Part VI. + + A premature death had swept away the two eldest sons of John +the Handsome; of the two survivors, Isaac and Manuel, his +judgment or affection preferred the younger; and the choice of +their dying prince was ratified by the soldiers, who had +applauded the valor of his favorite in the Turkish war The +faithful Axuch hastened to the capital, secured the person of +Isaac in honorable confinement, and purchased, with a gift of two +hundred pounds of silver, the leading ecclesiastics of St. +Sophia, who possessed a decisive voice in the consecration of an +emperor. With his veteran and affectionate troops, Manuel soon +visited Constantinople; his brother acquiesced in the title of +Sebastocrator; his subjects admired the lofty stature and martial +graces of their new sovereign, and listened with credulity to the +flattering promise, that he blended the wisdom of age with the +activity and vigor of youth. By the experience of his +government, they were taught, that he emulated the spirit, and +shared the talents, of his father whose social virtues were +buried in the grave. A reign of thirty seven years is filled by +a perpetual though various warfare against the Turks, the +Christians, and the hordes of the wilderness beyond the Danube. +The arms of Manuel were exercised on Mount Taurus, in the plains +of Hungary, on the coast of Italy and Egypt, and on the seas of +Sicily and Greece: the influence of his negotiations extended +from Jerusalem to Rome and Russia; and the Byzantine monarchy, +for a while, became an object of respect or terror to the powers +of Asia and Europe. Educated in the silk and purple of the East, +Manuel possessed the iron temper of a soldier, which cannot +easily be paralleled, except in the lives of Richard the First of +England, and of Charles the Twelfth of Sweden. Such was his +strength and exercise in arms, that Raymond, surnamed the +Hercules of Antioch, was incapable of wielding the lance and +buckler of the Greek emperor. In a famous tournament, he entered +the lists on a fiery courser, and overturned in his first career +two of the stoutest of the Italian knights. The first in the +charge, the last in the retreat, his friends and his enemies +alike trembled, the former for his safety, and the latter for +their own. After posting an ambuscade in a wood, he rode forwards +in search of some perilous adventure, accompanied only by his +brother and the faithful Axuch, who refused to desert their +sovereign. Eighteen horsemen, after a short combat, fled before +them: but the numbers of the enemy increased; the march of the +reenforcement was tardy and fearful, and Manuel, without +receiving a wound, cut his way through a squadron of five hundred +Turks. In a battle against the Hungarians, impatient of the +slowness of his troops, he snatched a standard from the head of +the column, and was the first, almost alone, who passed a bridge +that separated him from the enemy. In the same country, after +transporting his army beyond the Save, he sent back the boats, +with an order under pain of death, to their commander, that he +should leave him to conquer or die on that hostile land. In the +siege of Corfu, towing after him a captive galley, the emperor +stood aloft on the poop, opposing against the volleys of darts +and stones, a large buckler and a flowing sail; nor could he have +escaped inevitable death, had not the Sicilian admiral enjoined +his archers to respect the person of a hero. In one day, he is +said to have slain above forty of the Barbarians with his own +hand; he returned to the camp, dragging along four Turkish +prisoners, whom he had tied to the rings of his saddle: he was +ever the foremost to provoke or to accept a single combat; and +the gigantic champions, who encountered his arm, were +transpierced by the lance, or cut asunder by the sword, of the +invincible Manuel. The story of his exploits, which appear as a +model or a copy of the romances of chivalry, may induce a +reasonable suspicion of the veracity of the Greeks: I will not, +to vindicate their credit, endanger my own: yet I may observe, +that, in the long series of their annals, Manuel is the only +prince who has been the subject of similar exaggeration. With +the valor of a soldier, he did no unite the skill or prudence of +a general; his victories were not productive of any permanent or +useful conquest; and his Turkish laurels were blasted in his last +unfortunate campaign, in which he lost his army in the mountains +of Pisidia, and owed his deliverance to the generosity of the +sultan. But the most singular feature in the character of +Manuel, is the contrast and vicissitude of labor and sloth, of +hardiness and effeminacy. In war he seemed ignorant of peace, in +peace he appeared incapable of war. In the field he slept in the +sun or in the snow, tired in the longest marches the strength of +his men and horses, and shared with a smile the abstinence or +diet of the camp. No sooner did he return to Constantinople, +than he resigned himself to the arts and pleasures of a life of +luxury: the expense of his dress, his table, and his palace, +surpassed the measure of his predecessors, and whole summer days +were idly wasted in the delicious isles of the Propontis, in the +incestuous love of his niece Theodora. The double cost of a +warlike and dissolute prince exhausted the revenue, and +multiplied the taxes; and Manuel, in the distress of his last +Turkish campaign, endured a bitter reproach from the mouth of a +desperate soldier. As he quenched his thirst, he complained that +the water of a fountain was mingled with Christian blood. "It is +not the first time," exclaimed a voice from the crowd, "that you +have drank, O emperor, the blood of your Christian subjects." +Manuel Comnenus was twice married, to the virtuous Bertha or +Irene of Germany, and to the beauteous Maria, a French or Latin +princess of Antioch. The only daughter of his first wife was +destined for Bela, a Hungarian prince, who was educated at +Constantinople under the name of Alexius; and the consummation of +their nuptials might have transferred the Roman sceptre to a race +of free and warlike Barbarians. But as soon as Maria of Antioch +had given a son and heir to the empire, the presumptive rights of +Bela were abolished, and he was deprived of his promised bride; +but the Hungarian prince resumed his name and the kingdom of his +fathers, and displayed such virtues as might excite the regret +and envy of the Greeks. The son of Maria was named Alexius; and +at the age of ten years he ascended the Byzantine throne, after +his father's decease had closed the glories of the Comnenian +line. + + The fraternal concord of the two sons of the great Alexius +had been sometimes clouded by an opposition of interest and +passion. By ambition, Isaac the Sebastocrator was excited to +flight and rebellion, from whence he was reclaimed by the +firmness and clemency of John the Handsome. The errors of Isaac, +the father of the emperors of Trebizond, were short and venial; +but John, the elder of his sons, renounced forever his religion. +Provoked by a real or imaginary insult of his uncle, he escaped +from the Roman to the Turkish camp: his apostasy was rewarded +with the sultan's daughter, the title of Chelebi, or noble, and +the inheritance of a princely estate; and in the fifteenth +century, Mahomet the Second boasted of his Imperial descent from +the Comnenian family. Andronicus, the younger brother of John, +son of Isaac, and grandson of Alexius Comnenus, is one of the +most conspicuous characters of the age; and his genuine +adventures might form the subject of a very singular romance. To +justify the choice of three ladies of royal birth, it is +incumbent on me to observe, that their fortunate lover was cast +in the best proportions of strength and beauty; and that the want +of the softer graces was supplied by a manly countenance, a lofty +stature, athletic muscles, and the air and deportment of a +soldier. The preservation, in his old age, of health and vigor, +was the reward of temperance and exercise. A piece of bread and +a draught of water was often his sole and evening repast; and if +he tasted of a wild boar or a stag, which he had roasted with his +own hands, it was the well-earned fruit of a laborious chase. +Dexterous in arms, he was ignorant of fear; his persuasive +eloquence could bend to every situation and character of life, +his style, though not his practice, was fashioned by the example +of St. Paul; and, in every deed of mischief, he had a heart to +resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute. In his +youth, after the death of the emperor John, he followed the +retreat of the Roman army; but, in the march through Asia Minor, +design or accident tempted him to wander in the mountains: the +hunter was encompassed by the Turkish huntsmen, and he remained +some time a reluctant or willing captive in the power of the +sultan. His virtues and vices recommended him to the favor of +his cousin: he shared the perils and the pleasures of Manuel; and +while the emperor lived in public incest with his niece Theodora, +the affections of her sister Eudocia were seduced and enjoyed by +Andronicus. Above the decencies of her sex and rank, she gloried +in the name of his concubine; and both the palace and the camp +could witness that she slept, or watched, in the arms of her +lover. She accompanied him to his military command of Cilicia, +the first scene of his valor and imprudence. He pressed, with +active ardor, the siege of Mopsuestia: the day was employed in +the boldest attacks; but the night was wasted in song and dance; +and a band of Greek comedians formed the choicest part of his +retinue. Andronicus was surprised by the sally of a vigilant +foe; but, while his troops fled in disorder, his invincible lance +transpierced the thickest ranks of the Armenians. On his return +to the Imperial camp in Macedonia, he was received by Manuel with +public smiles and a private reproof; but the duchies of Naissus, +Braniseba, and Castoria, were the reward or consolation of the +unsuccessful general. Eudocia still attended his motions: at +midnight, their tent was suddenly attacked by her angry brothers, +impatient to expiate her infamy in his blood: his daring spirit +refused her advice, and the disguise of a female habit; and, +boldly starting from his couch, he drew his sword, and cut his +way through the numerous assassins. It was here that he first +betrayed his ingratitude and treachery: he engaged in a +treasonable correspondence with the king of Hungary and the +German emperor; approached the royal tent at a suspicious hour +with a drawn sword, and under the mask of a Latin soldier, avowed +an intention of revenge against a mortal foe; and imprudently +praised the fleetness of his horse as an instrument of flight and +safety. The monarch dissembled his suspicions; but, after the +close of the campaign, Andronicus was arrested and strictly +confined in a tower of the palace of Constantinople. + + In this prison he was left about twelve years; a most +painful restraint, from which the thirst of action and pleasure +perpetually urged him to escape. Alone and pensive, he perceived +some broken bricks in a corner of the chamber, and gradually +widened the passage, till he had explored a dark and forgotten +recess. Into this hole he conveyed himself, and the remains of +his provisions, replacing the bricks in their former position, +and erasing with care the footsteps of his retreat. At the hour +of the customary visit, his guards were amazed by the silence and +solitude of the prison, and reported, with shame and fear, his +incomprehensible flight. The gates of the palace and city were +instantly shut: the strictest orders were despatched into the +provinces, for the recovery of the fugitive; and his wife, on the +suspicion of a pious act, was basely imprisoned in the same +tower. At the dead of night she beheld a spectre; she recognized +her husband: they shared their provisions; and a son was the +fruit of these stolen interviews, which alleviated the +tediousness of their confinement. In the custody of a woman, the +vigilance of the keepers was insensibly relaxed; and the captive +had accomplished his real escape, when he was discovered, brought +back to Constantinople, and loaded with a double chain. At +length he found the moment, and the means, of his deliverance. A +boy, his domestic servant, intoxicated the guards, and obtained +in wax the impression of the keys. By the diligence of his +friends, a similar key, with a bundle of ropes, was introduced +into the prison, in the bottom of a hogshead. Andronicus +employed, with industry and courage, the instruments of his +safety, unlocked the doors, descended from the tower, concealed +himself all day among the bushes, and scaled in the night the +garden-wall of the palace. A boat was stationed for his +reception: he visited his own house, embraced his children, cast +away his chain, mounted a fleet horse, and directed his rapid +course towards the banks of the Danube. At Anchialus in Thrace, +an intrepid friend supplied him with horses and money: he passed +the river, traversed with speed the desert of Moldavia and the +Carpathian hills, and had almost reached the town of Halicz, in +the Polish Russia, when he was intercepted by a party of +Walachians, who resolved to convey their important captive to +Constantinople. His presence of mind again extricated him from +danger. Under the pretence of sickness, he dismounted in the +night, and was allowed to step aside from the troop: he planted +in the ground his long staff, clothed it with his cap and upper +garment; and, stealing into the wood, left a phantom to amuse, +for some time, the eyes of the Walachians. From Halicz he was +honorably conducted to Kiow, the residence of the great duke: the +subtle Greek soon obtained the esteem and confidence of +Ieroslaus; his character could assume the manners of every +climate; and the Barbarians applauded his strength and courage in +the chase of the elks and bears of the forest. In this northern +region he deserved the forgiveness of Manuel, who solicited the +Russian prince to join his arms in the invasion of Hungary. The +influence of Andronicus achieved this important service: his +private treaty was signed with a promise of fidelity on one side, +and of oblivion on the other; and he marched, at the head of the +Russian cavalry, from the Borysthenes to the Danube. In his +resentment Manuel had ever sympathized with the martial and +dissolute character of his cousin; and his free pardon was sealed +in the assault of Zemlin, in which he was second, and second +only, to the valor of the emperor. + + No sooner was the exile restored to freedom and his country, +than his ambition revived, at first to his own, and at length to +the public, misfortune. A daughter of Manuel was a feeble bar to +the succession of the more deserving males of the Comnenian +blood; her future marriage with the prince of Hungary was +repugnant to the hopes or prejudices of the princes and nobles. +But when an oath of allegiance was required to the presumptive +heir, Andronicus alone asserted the honor of the Roman name, +declined the unlawful engagement, and boldly protested against +the adoption of a stranger. His patriotism was offensive to the +emperor, but he spoke the sentiments of the people, and was +removed from the royal presence by an honorable banishment, a +second command of the Cilician frontier, with the absolute +disposal of the revenues of Cyprus. In this station the +Armenians again exercised his courage and exposed his negligence; +and the same rebel, who baffled all his operations, was unhorsed, +and almost slain by the vigor of his lance. But Andronicus soon +discovered a more easy and pleasing conquest, the beautiful +Philippa, sister of the empress Maria, and daughter of Raymond of +Poitou, the Latin prince of Antioch. For her sake he deserted +his station, and wasted the summer in balls and tournaments: to +his love she sacrificed her innocence, her reputation, and the +offer of an advantageous marriage. But the resentment of Manuel +for this domestic affront interrupted his pleasures: Andronicus +left the indiscreet princess to weep and to repent; and, with a +band of desperate adventurers, undertook the pilgrimage of +Jerusalem. His birth, his martial renown, and professions of +zeal, announced him as the champion of the Cross: he soon +captivated both the clergy and the king; and the Greek prince was +invested with the lordship of Berytus, on the coast of Phoenicia. + +In his neighborhood resided a young and handsome queen, of his +own nation and family, great-granddaughter of the emperor Alexis, +and widow of Baldwin the Third, king of Jerusalem. She visited +and loved her kinsman. Theodora was the third victim of his +amorous seduction; and her shame was more public and scandalous +than that of her predecessors. The emperor still thirsted for +revenge; and his subjects and allies of the Syrian frontier were +repeatedly pressed to seize the person, and put out the eyes, of +the fugitive. In Palestine he was no longer safe; but the tender +Theodora revealed his danger, and accompanied his flight. The +queen of Jerusalem was exposed to the East, his obsequious +concubine; and two illegitimate children were the living +monuments of her weakness. Damascus was his first refuge; and, +in the characters of the great Noureddin and his servant Saladin, +the superstitious Greek might learn to revere the virtues of the +Mussulmans. As the friend of Noureddin he visited, most +probably, Bagdad, and the courts of Persia; and, after a long +circuit round the Caspian Sea and the mountains of Georgia, he +finally settled among the Turks of Asia Minor, the hereditary +enemies of his country. The sultan of Colonia afforded a +hospitable retreat to Andronicus, his mistress, and his band of +outlaws: the debt of gratitude was paid by frequent inroads in +the Roman province of Trebizond; and he seldom returned without +an ample harvest of spoil and of Christian captives. In the story +of his adventures, he was fond of comparing himself to David, who +escaped, by a long exile, the snares of the wicked. But the +royal prophet (he presumed to add) was content to lurk on the +borders of Judaea, to slay an Amalekite, and to threaten, in his +miserable state, the life of the avaricious Nabal. The +excursions of the Comnenian prince had a wider range; and he had +spread over the Eastern world the glory of his name and religion. + +By a sentence of the Greek church, the licentious rover had been +separated from the faithful; but even this excommunication may +prove, that he never abjured the profession of Chistianity. + + His vigilance had eluded or repelled the open and secret +persecution of the emperor; but he was at length insnared by the +captivity of his female companion. The governor of Trebizond +succeeded in his attempt to surprise the person of Theodora: the +queen of Jerusalem and her two children were sent to +Constantinople, and their loss imbittered the tedious solitude of +banishment. The fugitive implored and obtained a final pardon, +with leave to throw himself at the feet of his sovereign, who was +satisfied with the submission of this haughty spirit. Prostrate +on the ground, he deplored with tears and groans the guilt of his +past rebellion; nor would he presume to arise, unless some +faithful subject would drag him to the foot of the throne, by an +iron chain with which he had secretly encircled his neck. This +extraordinary penance excited the wonder and pity of the +assembly; his sins were forgiven by the church and state; but the +just suspicion of Manuel fixed his residence at a distance from +the court, at Oenoe, a town of Pontus, surrounded with rich +vineyards, and situate on the coast of the Euxine. The death of +Manuel, and the disorders of the minority, soon opened the +fairest field to his ambition. The emperor was a boy of twelve or +fourteen years of age, without vigor, or wisdom, or experience: +his mother, the empress Mary, abandoned her person and government +to a favorite of the Comnenian name; and his sister, another +Mary, whose husband, an Italian, was decorated with the title of +Caesar, excited a conspiracy, and at length an insurrection, +against her odious step-mother. The provinces were forgotten, the +capital was in flames, and a century of peace and order was +overthrown in the vice and weakness of a few months. A civil war +was kindled in Constantinople; the two factions fought a bloody +battle in the square of the palace, and the rebels sustained a +regular siege in the cathedral of St. Sophia. The patriarch +labored with honest zeal to heal the wounds of the republic, the +most respectable patriots called aloud for a guardian and +avenger, and every tongue repeated the praise of the talents and +even the virtues of Andronicus. In his retirement, he affected to +revolve the solemn duties of his oath: "If the safety or honor of +the Imperial family be threatened, I will reveal and oppose the +mischief to the utmost of my power." His correspondence with the +patriarch and patricians was seasoned with apt quotations from +the Psalms of David and the epistles of St. Paul; and he +patiently waited till he was called to her deliverance by the +voice of his country. In his march from Oenoe to Constantinople, +his slender train insensibly swelled to a crowd and an army: his +professions of religion and loyalty were mistaken for the +language of his heart; and the simplicity of a foreign dress, +which showed to advantage his majestic stature, displayed a +lively image of his poverty and exile. All opposition sunk +before him; he reached the straits of the Thracian Bosphorus; the +Byzantine navy sailed from the harbor to receive and transport +the savior of the empire: the torrent was loud and irresistible, +and the insects who had basked in the sunshine of royal favor +disappeared at the blast of the storm. It was the first care of +Andronicus to occupy the palace, to salute the emperor, to +confine his mother, to punish her minister, and to restore the +public order and tranquillity. He then visited the sepulchre of +Manuel: the spectators were ordered to stand aloof, but as he +bowed in the attitude of prayer, they heard, or thought they +heard, a murmur of triumph or revenge: "I no longer fear thee, my +old enemy, who hast driven me a vagabond to every climate of the +earth. Thou art safety deposited under a seven-fold dome, from +whence thou canst never arise till the signal of the last +trumpet. It is now my turn, and speedily will I trample on thy +ashes and thy posterity." From his subsequent tyranny we may +impute such feelings to the man and the moment; but it is not +extremely probable that he gave an articulate sound to his secret +thoughts. In the first months of his administration, his designs +were veiled by a fair semblance of hypocrisy, which could delude +only the eyes of the multitude; the coronation of Alexius was +performed with due solemnity, and his perfidious guardian, +holding in his hands the body and blood of Christ, most fervently +declared that he lived, and was ready to die, for the service of +his beloved pupil. But his numerous adherents were instructed to +maintain, that the sinking empire must perish in the hands of a +child, that the Romans could only be saved by a veteran prince, +bold in arms, skilful in policy, and taught to reign by the long +experience of fortune and mankind; and that it was the duty of +every citizen to force the reluctant modesty of Andronicus to +undertake the burden of the public care. The young emperor was +himself constrained to join his voice to the general acclamation, +and to solicit the association of a colleague, who instantly +degraded him from the supreme rank, secluded his person, and +verified the rash declaration of the patriarch, that Alexius +might be considered as dead, so soon as he was committed to the +custody of his guardian. But his death was preceded by the +imprisonment and execution of his mother. After blackening her +reputation, and inflaming against her the passions of the +multitude, the tyrant accused and tried the empress for a +treasonable correspondence with the king of Hungary. His own +son, a youth of honor and humanity, avowed his abhorrence of this +flagitious act, and three of the judges had the merit of +preferring their conscience to their safety: but the obsequious +tribunal, without requiring any reproof, or hearing any defence, +condemned the widow of Manuel; and her unfortunate son subscribed +the sentence of her death. Maria was strangled, her corpse was +buried in the sea, and her memory was wounded by the insult most +offensive to female vanity, a false and ugly representation of +her beauteous form. The fate of her son was not long deferred: +he was strangled with a bowstring; and the tyrant, insensible to +pity or remorse, after surveying the body of the innocent youth, +struck it rudely with his foot: "Thy father," he cried, "was a +knave, thy mother a whore, and thyself a fool!" + + The Roman sceptre, the reward of his crimes, was held by +Andronicus about three years and a half as the guardian or +sovereign of the empire. His government exhibited a singular +contrast of vice and virtue. When he listened to his passions, +he was the scourge; when he consulted his reason, the father, of +his people. In the exercise of private justice, he was equitable +and rigorous: a shameful and pernicious venality was abolished, +and the offices were filled with the most deserving candidates, +by a prince who had sense to choose, and severity to punish. He +prohibited the inhuman practice of pillaging the goods and +persons of shipwrecked mariners; the provinces, so long the +objects of oppression or neglect, revived in prosperity and +plenty; and millions applauded the distant blessings of his +reign, while he was cursed by the witnesses of his daily +cruelties. The ancient proverb, That bloodthirsty is the man who +returns from banishment to power, had been applied, with too much +truth, to 'Marius and Tiberius; and was now verified for the +third time in the life of Andronicus. His memory was stored with +a black list of the enemies and rivals, who had traduced his +merit, opposed his greatness, or insulted his misfortunes; and +the only comfort of his exile was the sacred hope and promise of +revenge. The necessary extinction of the young emperor and his +mother imposed the fatal obligation of extirpating the friends, +who hated, and might punish, the assassin; and the repetition of +murder rendered him less willing, and less able, to forgive. ^* A +horrid narrative of the victims whom he sacrificed by poison or +the sword, by the sea or the flames, would be less expressive of +his cruelty than the appellation of the halcyon days, which was +applied to a rare and bloodless week of repose: the tyrant strove +to transfer, on the laws and the judges, some portion of his +guilt; but the mask was fallen, and his subjects could no longer +mistake the true author of their calamities. The noblest of the +Greeks, more especially those who, by descent or alliance, might +dispute the Comnenian inheritance, escaped from the monster's +den: Nice and Prusa, Sicily or Cyprus, were their places of +refuge; and as their flight was already criminal, they aggravated +their offence by an open revolt, and the Imperial title. Yet +Andronicus resisted the daggers and swords of his most formidable +enemies: Nice and Prusa were reduced and chastised: the Sicilians +were content with the sack of Thessalonica; and the distance of +Cyprus was not more propitious to the rebel than to the tyrant. +His throne was subverted by a rival without merit, and a people +without arms. Isaac Angelus, a descendant in the female line +from the great Alexius, was marked as a victim by the prudence or +superstition of the emperor. ^! In a moment of despair, Angelus +defended his life and liberty, slew the executioner, and fled to +the church of St. Sophia. The sanctuary was insensibly filled +with a curious and mournful crowd, who, in his fate, +prognosticated their own. But their lamentations were soon +turned to curses, and their curses to threats: they dared to ask, +"Why do we fear? why do we obey? We are many, and he is one: +our patience is the only bond of our slavery." With the dawn of +day the city burst into a general sedition, the prisons were +thrown open, the coldest and most servile were roused to the +defence of their country, and Isaac, the second of the name, was +raised from the sanctuary to the throne. Unconscious of his +danger, the tyrant was absent; withdrawn from the toils of state, +in the delicious islands of the Propontis. He had contracted an +indecent marriage with Alice, or Agnes, daughter of Lewis the +Seventh, of France, and relict of the unfortunate Alexius; and +his society, more suitable to his temper than to his age, was +composed of a young wife and a favorite concubine. On the first +alarm, he rushed to Constantinople, impatient for the blood of +the guilty; but he was astonished by the silence of the palace, +the tumult of the city, and the general desertion of mankind. +Andronicus proclaimed a free pardon to his subjects; they neither +desired, nor would grant, forgiveness; he offered to resign the +crown to his son Manuel; but the virtues of the son could not +expiate his father's crimes. The sea was still open for his +retreat; but the news of the revolution had flown along the +coast; when fear had ceased, obedience was no more: the Imperial +galley was pursued and taken by an armed brigantine; and the +tyrant was dragged to the presence of Isaac Angelus, loaded with +fetters, and a long chain round his neck. His eloquence, and the +tears of his female companions, pleaded in vain for his life; +but, instead of the decencies of a legal execution, the new +monarch abandoned the criminal to the numerous sufferers, whom he +had deprived of a father, a husband, or a friend. His teeth and +hair, an eye and a hand, were torn from him, as a poor +compensation for their loss: and a short respite was allowed, +that he might feel the bitterness of death. Astride on a camel, +without any danger of a rescue, he was carried through the city, +and the basest of the populace rejoiced to trample on the fallen +majesty of their prince. After a thousand blows and outrages, +Andronicus was hung by the feet, between two pillars, that +supported the statues of a wolf and an a sow; and every hand that +could reach the public enemy, inflicted on his body some mark of +ingenious or brutal cruelty, till two friendly or furious +Italians, plunging their swords into his body, released him from +all human punishment. In this long and painful agony, "Lord, +have mercy upon me!" and "Why will you bruise a broken reed?" +were the only words that escaped from his mouth. Our hatred for +the tyrant is lost in pity for the man; nor can we blame his +pusillanimous resignation, since a Greek Christian was no longer +master of his life. + +[Footnote *: Fallmerayer (Geschichte des Kaiserthums von +Trapezunt, p. 29, 33) has highly drawn the character of +Andronicus. In his view the extermination of the Byzantine +factions and dissolute nobility was part of a deep-laid and +splendid plan for the regeneration of the empire. It was +necessary for the wise and benevolent schemes of the father of +his people to lop off those limbs which were infected with +irremediable pestilence - + +"and with necessity, The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish +deeds!!" - +Still the fall of Andronicus was a fatal blow to the Byzantine +empire. - M.] +[Footnote !: According to Nicetas, (p. 444,) Andronicus despised +the imbecile Isaac too much to fear him; he was arrested by the +officious zeal of Stephen, the instrument of the Emperor's +cruelties. - M.] + + I have been tempted to expatiate on the extraordinary +character and adventures of Andronicus; but I shall here +terminate the series of the Greek emperors since the time of +Heraclius. The branches that sprang from the Comnenian trunk had +insensibly withered; and the male line was continued only in the +posterity of Andronicus himself, who, in the public confusion, +usurped the sovereignty of Trebizond, so obscure in history, and +so famous in romance. A private citizen of Philadelphia, +Constantine Angelus, had emerged to wealth and honors, by his +marriage with a daughter of the emperor Alexius. His son +Andronicus is conspicuous only by his cowardice. His grandson +Isaac punished and succeeded the tyrant; but he was dethroned by +his own vices, and the ambition of his brother; and their discord +introduced the Latins to the conquest of Constantinople, the +first great period in the fall of the Eastern empire. + + If we compute the number and duration of the reigns, it will +be found, that a period of six hundred years is filled by sixty +emperors, including in the Augustan list some female sovereigns; +and deducting some usurpers who were never acknowledged in the +capital, and some princes who did not live to possess their +inheritance. The average proportion will allow ten years for +each emperor, far below the chronological rule of Sir Isaac +Newton, who, from the experience of more recent and regular +monarchies, has defined about eighteen or twenty years as the +term of an ordinary reign. The Byzantine empire was most +tranquil and prosperous when it could acquiesce in hereditary +succession; five dynasties, the Heraclian, Isaurian, Amorian, +Basilian, and Comnenian families, enjoyed and transmitted the +royal patrimony during their respective series of five, four, +three, six, and four generations; several princes number the +years of their reign with those of their infancy; and Constantine +the Seventh and his two grandsons occupy the space of an entire +century. But in the intervals of the Byzantine dynasties, the +succession is rapid and broken, and the name of a successful +candidate is speedily erased by a more fortunate competitor. +Many were the paths that led to the summit of royalty: the fabric +of rebellion was overthrown by the stroke of conspiracy, or +undermined by the silent arts of intrigue: the favorites of the +soldiers or people, of the senate or clergy, of the women and +eunuchs, were alternately clothed with the purple: the means of +their elevation were base, and their end was often contemptible +or tragic. A being of the nature of man, endowed with the same +faculties, but with a longer measure of existence, would cast +down a smile of pity and contempt on the crimes and follies of +human ambition, so eager, in a narrow span, to grasp at a +precarious and shortlived enjoyment. It is thus that the +experience of history exalts and enlarges the horizon of our +intellectual view. In a composition of some days, in a perusal +of some hours, six hundred years have rolled away, and the +duration of a life or reign is contracted to a fleeting moment: +the grave is ever beside the throne: the success of a criminal is +almost instantly followed by the loss of his prize and our +immortal reason survives and disdains the sixty phantoms of kings +who have passed before our eyes, and faintly dwell on our +remembrance. The observation that, in every age and climate, +ambition has prevailed with the same commanding energy, may abate +the surprise of a philosopher: but while he condemns the vanity, +he may search the motive, of this universal desire to obtain and +hold the sceptre of dominion. To the greater part of the +Byzantine series, we cannot reasonably ascribe the love of fame +and of mankind. The virtue alone of John Comnenus was beneficent +and pure: the most illustrious of the princes, who procede or +follow that respectable name, have trod with some dexterity and +vigor the crooked and bloody paths of a selfish policy: in +scrutinizing the imperfect characters of Leo the Isaurian, Basil +the First, and Alexius Comnenus, of Theophilus, the second Basil, +and Manuel Comnenus, our esteem and censure are almost equally +balanced; and the remainder of the Imperial crowd could only +desire and expect to be forgotten by posterity. Was personal +happiness the aim and object of their ambition? I shall not +descant on the vulgar topics of the misery of kings; but I may +surely observe, that their condition, of all others, is the most +pregnant with fear, and the least susceptible of hope. For these +opposite passions, a larger scope was allowed in the revolutions +of antiquity, than in the smooth and solid temper of the modern +world, which cannot easily repeat either the triumph of Alexander +or the fall of Darius. But the peculiar infelicity of the +Byzantine princes exposed them to domestic perils, without +affording any lively promise of foreign conquest. From the +pinnacle of greatness, Andronicus was precipitated by a death +more cruel and shameful than that of the malefactor; but the most +glorious of his predecessors had much more to dread from their +subjects than to hope from their enemies. The army was +licentious without spirit, the nation turbulent without freedom: +the Barbarians of the East and West pressed on the monarchy, and +the loss of the provinces was terminated by the final servitude +of the capital. + + The entire series of Roman emperors, from the first of the +Caesars to the last of the Constantines, extends above fifteen +hundred years: and the term of dominion, unbroken by foreign +conquest, surpasses the measure of the ancient monarchies; the +Assyrians or Medes, the successors of Cyrus, or those of +Alexander. + + + + + +End Of +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Volume 4: +The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire + |