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 inheritance of Leo and of the East was peaceably devolved on his infant grandson, the.
GOTHIC KINGDOM OF ITALY
The danger and furious contests of a schism were mildly restrained, and the last decree of the senate was enacted to. Three hundred pulpits deplored the persecution of the church; and if the chapel of St.
REIGN OF JUSTINIAN
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
After reigning for some time, the delight and contempt of the capital, she condescended to. A material difference may be observed in the games of antiquity: themost eminent of the Greeks were actors, the Romans were merely.
A material difference may be observed in the games of antiquity: the most eminent of the Greeks were actors, the Romans were merely
A sedition, which almost laid Constantinople in ashes, was excited by the mutual hatred and momentary reconciliation of the two factions. 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.
That empire, after Rome was barbarous, still embraced the nations whom she had conquered beyond the Adriatic, and as far as the frontiers of
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;. Amidst their pious occupations, they viewed with a curious eye the common dress of the Chinese, the.
The humanity of his predecessors had always remitted, in some
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
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.
Even such a tax was less intolerable than the privilege of
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. 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.
The ample jurisdiction required by the farmers of the revenue to
The testament of Eulalius, count of the domestics, declared the emperor his sole heir, on condition, however, that he should discharge his
Among the forms of rapine, a philosopher may be permitted to namethe conversion of Pagan or heretical riches to the use of the faithful; but in.
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 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. 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.
The edifices of Justinian were cemented with the blood and treasure of his people; but those stately structures appeared to announce the
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 nave or body of the church was filled by the congregation of the faithful; but the two sexes were prudently. 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.
Eight columns of porphyry, which Aurelian had placed in the temple of the sun, were offered by the piety of. Sophia might be tempted to suppose that it was the residence, or even the workmanship, of the Deity. A level was formed by raising part of a deep valley to the height of the mountain.
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. Westward of the Euphrates, a sandy desert extends above six hundred miles to the Red Sea. The city was surrounded with two walls, and the interval between them, of fifty paces, afforded a retreat to the cattle of the besieged.
Justinian suppressed the schools of Athens and the consulship of Rome, which had given so many sages and heroes to mankind. Both these
The pride of the adverse sects had fixed an unattainable term of moral happiness and. 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;. 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;.
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. 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. The surviving sects of the Platonists, whom Plato would have blushed to acknowledge, extravagantly mingled a sublime theory with the practice of superstition.
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. The revolutions of the consular office, which may be viewed in the successive lights of a substance, a shadow, and a name, have been. 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.
CONQUESTS OF JUSTINIAN, CHARACT OF BALISARIUS
According to military practice, the bread or biscuit of the Romans was twice prepared in the oven, and the diminution. The defeat of the Vandals, and the freedom of Africa, were announced to the city on the eve of St. Our horses, our ships, Carthage itself, and all Africa, are in the power of the enemy.
The Romans entered the camp without resistance; and the wildest scenes of disorder were veiled in the darkness and confusion of the night. But the purest reward of Belisarius was in the faithful execution of a treaty for which his honor had been pledged to the King of the Vandals. Peter; and the threshold of the holy apostles was respected during the siege by a Christian enemy.
On the other side of the Tyber, Belisarius advanced from the Pincian and Salarian gates. Prudence might not safely trust either the oaths or hostages of the Barbarians, and the conscious. The sea, the land, and the channels of the Po, were guarded by the vigilance of the Roman general;.
By the union of liberality and justice, he acquired the love of the soldiers, without. The despair of the new Ariadne could scarcely have been excused by the death of her husband.
STATE OF THE BARBARIC WORLD
The fertility of the soil, rather than the labor of the natives, supplied the rustic. In a subsequent inroad they pierced the wall of the Thracian Chersonesus, extirpated the habitations and the inhabitants, boldly. Has he not violated the privileges of Armenia, the independence of Colchos, and the wild liberty of the Tzanian mountains.
Chosroes was deluded by the address, and awed by the genius, of the lieutenant of Justinian. 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. But this honorable connection was soon corrupted by the avarice and ambition of the Romans.
Gubazes laid his person and diadem at the feet of the king of Persia; his Colchians imitated the. The instant demolition of the works of Petra confessed the astonishment and apprehension of the conqueror. Their general was distinguished among the heroes of the East by his wisdom in council, and his valor in the field.
But the long continuance of his sufferings extorted from him a naked representation of the truth; and truth was an. This gigantic style was supported by the pomp and eloquence of Isdigune, one of the royal chamberlains.
LAST VICTORY AND DEATH OF BELISARIUS, DEATH OF JUSTINIAN
A personal injury, the unjust execution or murder of his brother, rendered Antalas the enemy of the Romans. The nation of the Vandals had disappeared: they once amounted to a hundred and sixty thousand warriors, without. The gates of Verona were secretly opened to Artabazus, at the head of one hundred Persians in the service of the empire.
At the distance of sixty furlongs the Roman generals halted to regulate the division of the spoil. After the reduction of Naples and Cumae, the provinces of Lucania, Apulia, and Calabria, submitted to the king of the Goths. The rapid success of Totila may be partly ascribed to the revolution which three years’ experience had produced in the sentiments of the Italians.
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. Barbarian; and his own epistle exhibits a genuine and lively picture of the distress of a noble mind. From the distress of the people he extracted a profitable trade, and secretly rejoiced in the continuance of the siege.
