Chapter IV: Pre-Imperial Career of Theodora: the Consort of Justinian (7)

[1041] Chrysostom mentions the fact with exultation. Objectors fear that the race may die out as the result of the widespread celibacy, but the Saint knows better; the women who remain will be rendered more fecund by the Deity, and thus the numerical complement of mankind will be maintained. He also knows that there is a countless host of heaven, asexual, who are propagated in a passionless manner by divine ordination; In Epist. Rom. Hom. xiii, 7 (in Migne, ix, 517); De Virginitate, 14, _et seq._ (in Migne, i, 544); cf. Ambrose, De Virginitate, 3; Rufinus, Hist. Monach., 7 (in Migne, 413).

[1042] Monks are enjoined by Theodosius I “deserta loca et vastas solitudines sequi atque habitare”; Cod. Theod., XVI, iii.

[1043] The literature of early monkish life, descriptive and laudatory, is very extensive; see Gieseler, Eccles. Hist., i, 95, 96, etc. The most striking picture will be found in Evagrius, i, 21; iv, 33, etc. He is lost in admiration of them; they suppressed their natural appetites so rigidly that they looked like corpses wandering away from their graves. Some lived in dens and caves where they could neither stand nor lie. Some dwelt in the open air almost naked, exposed to excessive heat or cold. Others rejected human food and took to grazing like cattle, shunning human beings as if they were wild beasts. Both sexes embraced such lives of unremitting castigation. Some of the males made a practice of repairing from time to time to the cities in order to demonstrate their sexual frigidity by bathing in the public baths amongst nude women. They applied themselves to prayer, of course, until they brought themselves to the verge of exhaustion; cf. Sozomen, vi, 28, _et seq._ One Apelles had a conflict with the devil similar to that related of the English St. Dunstan.

[1044] The celebrated Simeon Stylites was the inventor of this sublime method of serving the Deity. From 420 he lived on columns near Antioch for thirty-seven years; Evagrius, i, 13; see Gieseler, i, _loc. cit._, for reference to fuller accounts, separate biographies, etc.

[1045] He was contemporary with Athanasius, who wrote an extant life of him; see Sozomen, i, 13, etc.

[1046] Sozomen, iii, 14.

[1047] Socrates, iv, 23; Sozomen, i, 12, _et seq._ Previous to Christianity there were at least two communities of Jewish ascetics in the near East, the Essenes, who dwelt west of the Dead Sea, and the Therapeutae, who lived by Lake Moeris, near Alexandria. The first have been described briefly by Pliny (Hist. Nat., v, 15) and the second by Philo Judaeus in a separate tract (De Vita Contemplativa) respecting the authorship and date of which, however, opinion continually fluctuates; I do not know whether at present it is on the crest of the wave or in the trough of the sea. These solitaries consisted of males and females, and were recruited regularly by persons who became sick of the world and determined to fly far from the madding crowd. About them generally see Neander, Church Hist., Introd.

[1048] Socrates, iv, 21; Gregory Nazianz., Laud. Basil (in Migne, ii, 577).

[1049] Nicephorus, Cal., xv, 23; see p. 78. Not psalmody, however, says Card. Hardouin, but restless application to work. Manufacture of fictitious documents he insinuates, doubtless.

[1050] Cod., XII, i, 63; Orosius, vii, 33; Jerome, Chron., an. 375; cf. Socrates, iv, 24.

[1051] The histories of monachism are numerous and voluminous, especially those composed some two or three centuries ago. Helyot’s Hist. des Ordres Mon., Paris, 1714, etc., in 8 vols., may be read for amusement as well as instruction.

[1052] Epicurus, the unavowed disciple of Leucippus and Democritus, the earliest atomists, conceived the coalescence of the particles to result from their rushing onwards always under the influence of a certain natural deflection which led to their meeting continually so as to become conjoined. As an Academic, and, therefore, a sceptic, Carneades could not accept this or any other theory, but in criticizing its fortuity, he remarked that it might have been perfected, or, at least, made more intelligible if Epicurus had conferred some faculty of will or intention on his atoms; Cicero, De Finibus, i, 6; De Fato, 11. With our increased knowledge of physics, we may now venture to supply the deficiency in accordance with the suggestion of Carneades. Not even in the process of crystallization can the motion of the atoms or molecules be considered as fortuitous, since they seem to be borne towards each other under the influence of some irresistible desire. The recent investigators strongly uphold the vitality of the process.

[1053] The question of abiogenesis or spontaneous generation, remains still indeterminate. Substances in transitional stages between the vital and the non-vital state have not been observed; perhaps because such matter is too inconspicuous to have been discovered so far and recognized, or, it may be, that the swarm of germs by descent is now so great, that the incipiently organic at once becomes their prey, and forms, perhaps, their constant pabulum. If identical atoms underlie all kinds of matter, and the recent _début_ of electrons brings the proof appreciably nearer that it is so, we are still at a loss to explain why they should at one time, by their association, exhibit vital phenomena, and at another reveal to us their versatility in aggregating under the species of gold, sulphur, etc. The statement in the text might run that the chemical compounds combine with each other in greater complexity to form the elements of protoplasm.

[1054] That the effective origin of evolution consists in will capable of responding to a stimulus, being an essential attribute of matter, is a conclusion to which we are led necessarily by a consideration of the subject. When an amoeba protrudes a process, incited from within or without by some desire, it is already on the way to evolve itself into a higher form; and when a hygienist essays to preserve or prolong life by his studies in bacteriology, etc., in his immeasurably higher sphere, he literally does no more. The earlier evolutionists, Huxley, for example, were inclined to hold that the potency of cosmic evolution became evanescent progressively with the elaboration of purposive intelligence and social institutions, but such a view is manifestly erroneous, and would not now, I presume, be maintained by any contemporary scientists.

[1055] Our means of astronomical research are not sufficiently definite to enable us to explain conclusively the appearance of previously unobserved stars (_e.g._ Nova Persei, 1901), but there is good reason to suppose that these new lights sometimes signal to us the catastrophe of millions of beings more or less similar to ourselves. We are, however, well acquainted with the convulsions of nature, which often bring swift destruction to thousands of those dwelling on this small globe; for instance, the Mont Pelée eruption of 1903, which claimed some 40,000 victims. It might indeed be imagined from the occurrence of such disasters that animated nature is merely a kind of surface disease of the earth, which undergoes a spontaneous cure from time to time by means of earthquakes, floods, volcanic action, etc. Certainly, if we are the only result of the activities of this solar system, there would seem to be much superfluous expenditure of power and materials. The conception of God, when cleared of all irrelevancy, is merely that of a perpetual source of energy; and that we must find in the medium we exist in or nowhere. It is nugatory to talk of beginnings and endings when dealing with the infinite, unless as regards phases of phenomena; if there had to be an end of the universe, there would never have been a beginning.

[1056] Amongst some follies, the Stoic philosophers, in their pantheistic conception of nature, reached the highest level which has yet been attained in the expression of theocratic dogma. With them, the universe is the very body of the divine essence, and the good and wise man is in no way inferior to the sublimest manifestation of it. He is rightly called a god upon earth, and his intellect is an efflux of the Deity. “Back to the Porch for your ideas of God and nature,” the modern philosopher may cry to his age. “You are gods yourselves, and nature is your realm to conquer and hold in subjection.” The religion of the future will be more akin to Stoicism than to any other doctrine which has been formulated by thinkers in the past—a high ethical code upheld by a pride of race and a devotion to the evolution of humanity. The Stoic would not now be ready to make his own quietus with a bare bodkin should the currents turn awry. He would stand to his post till the last hour, working for the advancement of science. “Les stoiciens n’étaient occupés qu’a travailler au bonheur des hommes, à exercer les devoirs de la société: il semblait qu’ils regardassant cet esprit sacré qu’ils croyaient être en eux-mêmes, comme une espèce de providence favorable qui veillait sur le genre humain”; Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois, xxiv, 10. See Plutarch, De Stoic. Repug., 13; Adv. Stoicos, 33; Seneca, De Provid., 1; Epist., cvi; cxvii, etc.; Epictetus, ii, 8, 9; Lactantius, Div. Inst., i, 5, 27, etc.

[1057] Accepting the identity of the evolutionary process at all grades of its prepotency, we may suppose that future advancement will be the result of deliberate effort; and that the more determinate such effort, the more rapid must be the progress. While the aptitude of our faculties must be increased by their being constantly exercised in study and research, the knowledge attainable by such work may ultimately win for us some controlling influence over our physiological constitution. The wild dreams of mediaeval alchemists now seem to us less unreal since we have had experience of the properties of radium; and the vision of an _elixir vitae_, which illuded those investigators, appears more realizable in the light of recent research. The arrest of senility may come within the range of the future therapeutist; and a new Demeter may subject the modern Triptolemus to some alchemical fire, to render him proof against mortality. Less remotely, the systematic administration of sexual associations would exert a powerful influence over mental and bodily development; and it would be physiologically correct if famous stallions should stand to cover brood mares in the human as well as in the equine world. The Spartans realized something of this in practice; Plutarch, Lycurgus. The tendency to equalization of the sexes which has been growing of late years, is undoubtedly a forward movement on the path of evolution. The possibility of man in the future being endowed with greatly increased intellectual power must not be lost sight of. Exceptional gifts of genius, in some cases uniquely manifested, and the occurrence of “prodigies,” especially in relation to mathematics, music, and art, teach that the mental faculties of the human race may yet be evolved in a much higher degree. The limitations imagined by Greg, which are, perhaps, generally entertained, must now be contemplated with suspended judgement: “Two glorious futures lie before us: the progress of the race here, the progress of the man hereafter. History indicates that the individual man needs to be translated in order to excel the past. He appears to have reached his perfection centuries ago.... What sculptor has surpassed Phidias? What poet has transcended Homer?” etc.; Enigmas of Life, 1891, p. 177. This is an evident misconception of the pace at which evolution moves; such short periods count for nothing. In evolutionary time, Homer and Phidias are our contemporaries. We know nothing of the final state of such beings as ourselves after they have passed through some millions of years, to which most probably the life of this planet must extend. They may well attain to some condition resembling that of the “gods” of Epicurus, who existed with a “quasi corpus, quasi sanguis,” etc. The chemist and biologist have a wide field before them in which they will yet make many conquests.

[1058] Compare the account of the soldier Ammianus with those of the church historians; Socrates, iii; Sozomen, v; Philostorgius (an Arian), vii; Theodoret, iii, etc. These are honest writers and, although they often relied on mere hearsay, most of the matter they bring forward is historical. On the other hand the Church History of Eusebius, who was infinitely above them in abilities and learning, contains little but popular report and legend. It is improbable that Julian inflicted any physical persecution on the Christians, but no doubt his subordinates did so on the strength of his attitude towards them and he afterwards got all the credit of it.

[1059] It is generally suggested that the constant immigration of barbarians and their wholesale collocation in the army must have gradually undermined the civilization of the Empire. But a great state is able to digest an enormous quantity of such accretions; and in the pride of their recent elevation such new citizens would have become more Roman than the Romans themselves. The great Transatlantic Republic has been built up during three centuries by the immigration of alien barbarians. For a good summary of the peaceful settlement of barbarians in the Roman territories see Bury, _op. cit._, i, p. 31.

[1060] See Gieseler (_op. cit._, i, 99), where the assimilation of heathenism is well summarized and instanced. Augustine (_c._ 400) draws a striking picture of the impostors, who, in the garb of monks, tramped the country selling sham relics, phylacteries, etc.; De Op. Monach., 28, 31, etc.; Epist. ad Jan. (118). Jerome, in his diatribe against Vigilantius, unwittingly makes a display of the gross superstition which that earnest reformer sought to suppress. Bayle’s article on Vigilantius (Dictionnaire, etc.) is a full and interesting account of the subject, but there is more still in Gilly’s V. and his Times, Lond., 1844.

[1061] The first victims of ecclesiastical rancour were the Priscillianists, who arose in Spain about 380. They were tainted with Manichaeism, and two bishops persuaded the tyrant of Gaul, Maximus, to put several of them to death in 385. Generally the Fathers of the Church were shocked at this execution, but the utility of subjecting heretics to the capital penalty was soon perceived and the practice thenceforward became an intrinsic part of Christian discipline. The result is well known to students of Church history and the religious wars waged against the Paulicians, Albigenses, Huguenots, etc., and the horrors of the Inquisition are familiar subjects in popular literature. During three centuries in Spain (1471-1781), the first and the last scene of the judicial slaughter of heretics, nearly 250,000 persons were dealt with by the Inquisitors, a circumstance which Galton considers to have been equivalent to the suppression of national genius and to account for “the superstitious and unintelligent Spanish race of the present day”; see Hereditary Genius, 1869, p. 359. The same reasoning would, of course, apply to any process, such as is occurring in Russia at the present day, by which the more active and effective members of a community are being constantly weeded out. Paganism was not, of course, absolutely free from intolerance; and the cases of Socrates, Anaxagoras, etc., will occur to every one. Even Cleanthes, the Stoic, denounced Aristarchus of Samos for running counter to the popular religion when he put forth some astronomical anticipations of the Copernican system; Plutarch, De Facie in Orbe Lunae, 6. Even Cicero in his “Laws” (ii, 8) decidedly proscribes nonconformity with the state religion. Polytheism was tolerant because it was comprehensive and could easily assimilate all kindred beliefs. Thus a hospitable reception was ensured to any new arrival who was fairly accredited as a member of the Olympian family.

[1062] Seven Crusades to Palestine were undertaken between 1096 and 1270. During that period more than 7,000,000 persons are said to have started from Western Europe on their way to the East. Perhaps the weeding out of the worst fanatics in this way may have conduced to subsequent progress.

[1063] Dante (1265-1321) may be considered as the first prominent figure of the Renaissance; Wycliffe (1325-84) of the Reformation, but Arnold of Brescia (_c._ 1100-55) has some claim to the credit of being the first Protestant.

[1064] In the daily press of March 15, 1896, we read the utterance of a R. C. prelate when speaking of the Anglican clergy: “Do they claim the power to produce the actual living Jesus Christ by transubstantiation on the altar, according to the claims of the priesthood of the Eastern and Western Churches?” Persons who address a public audience in the Metropolis in this manner are not considered to be insane nor are they classed as charlatans. Concomitantly with such proceedings we find that the greatest of English encyclopaedias is published with introductory articles in which it is allowed that the old religion is now a mere phantasm on the stage of reality. At the present moment every form of religious belief rests secure and stable on the broad back of popular ignorance; and it remains for posterity in ages to come to solve the problem as to how long humanity will have to wait for the evolution of that elevation of mind which will decline to pay the tribute of hypocrisy and reticence for the assurance of a stipend.

[1065] Sooner or later the progress of colonization is always resisted by the aborigines, but the numbers of them who fall in war would soon be regenerated and their gradual extinction is due to the restrictions imposed on them by civilization or to their becoming addicted to its vices. The decrease of the U. S. Indians (303,000, 1880; 266,000, 1900; previous decrease unknown) and of the Maoris (100,000, 1780; 46,000, 1901) is partly due to conflicts with the whites, but that of the Hawaiians (200,000, 1780; 31,000, 1900) results solely from the immigration of higher races. Similarly the Tasmanians have become extinct in the last half of the nineteenth century. The peaceful pioneer of civilization, perhaps a missionary, is more deadly to the native races than periodical invasions by an armed force.

[1066] The ecclesiastical dictatorship of the Byzantine emperors, for which the term “Caesarpapism” has been coined, is specially illustrated by Gfrörer, Byzant. Geschichte, Graz, 1874, ii, 17, _et seq._

[1067] All the chronographers connect his death with a thunderstorm, and it appears at least probable that he was affected with brontophobia in his later years. He is even said to have built a chamber to retire into, for fear of being struck by lightning; Cedrenus, etc.

[1068] Theodore Lect., ii, 7, etc.

[1069] It appears that he set up a private chair or stand in one of the churches, from which he used to address a crowd to gain converts for his doctrine. He was ejected thence by the same Patriarch, who shortly afterwards had to crown him; Theophanes, an. 5982; Suidas, _sb._ φατρία; see p. 104.

[1070] Evagrius, iii, 34.

[1071] He tried to obtain its acceptance in 496, and again 508; Victor Ton., an. 496; Theophanes, an. 6001, etc. He even tried to convert the Pope, Anastasius II; Theodore Lect., ii, 17.

[1072] He favoured the Reds, a mere appendix of the Greens, and so kept himself free from any absolute partisanship; Jn. Malala, xvi. Rambaud (_op. cit._, 4, 5) is successful in proving by texts that the Demes did not represent definitely any political or religious party; and the notion of comparing them to a sort of popular house, with “supporters of the government,” and an “opposition” cannot be substantiated. They were rivals in the games and threefold rivals for the Emperor’s favour, in the Hippodrome, for interpreting his will to the people, and for conveying to him the popular sentiment. Thus they had a place in the administration, but not one that can be paralleled in any modern constitution. They were practically indifferent to creed or policy. The numbers recruited under each colour at CP. might be from 900 to 1,500; Theophylact Sim., viii, 7.

[1073] See p. 155. But the exactions of Marinus the Syrian, P.P. who committed the local supervision of the taxes to so-called _vindices_ of his own creation, instead of to the Decurions, ultimately branded A. with the opprobrium of being a grasping character: Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 36, 46, 49; Evagrius, iii, 42, etc.

[1074] The large sum he left in the Treasury has already been alluded to; see p. 163.

[1075] The closest personal view of him is to be got from Cyril Scythop., Vit. S. Saba, 50, _et seq._ He was surnamed Dicorus (double-pupil), because his eyes differed in colour.

[1076] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 10; De Aedific., iii, 2, etc.; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 47, _et passim_.

[1077] Especially Evagrius and Cyril Scythop., both of whom condemned him as a heretic.

[1078] Marcellinus Com., an. 518. Now Uskiub, a flourishing Turkish town, nearly on the same site. The whole district has recently been explored by Evans; Antiquarian Researches in Illyricum, Archaeologia, xlix, 1885.

[1079] The Balkans. See generally Tozer’s Travels in the Turkish Highlands, 1869, i, 16, etc.

[1080] Procopius, De Aedific., iv, 1. It seems that they are still represented by villages called Taor and Bader; see Tozer, _op. cit._, ii. Append.

[1081] See Tozer’s narrative of his journey through the Pass from Prisrend to Uskiub; _loc. cit._

[1082] Novel. vii, 1. The extensive remains of the Latin occupation still to be seen are described by Evans, _op. cit._

[1083] Procopius, De Bel. Vand., ii, 16.

[1084] _Ibid._, Anecdot., 6. The names of the other two are given as Zimarchus and Ditybistus, but I see no reason to call them his brothers as is sometimes done. Justin was cowherd, or swineherd, or field labourer according to Zonaras, xiv, 5.

[1085] Procopius, _loc. cit._

[1086] According to Alemannus (pp. 361, 461), however, Zimarchus as a centenarian (!) was active in important posts; Theophanes, an. 6054-5. cf. Jn. Malala, xviii, p. 490

[1087] Jn. Antioch. (Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec., v, p. 31); Procopius, _loc. cit._

[1088] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 8.

[1089] Theodore Lect., ii, 37; Const. Porph. De Cerim., i, 93, etc. His title was Count of the Excubitors.

[1090] Jn. of Antioch., _loc. cit._, p. 35.

[1091] Procopius, Anecdot., 6.

[1092] _Ibid._, De Aedific., iv, 1.

[1093] _Ibid._, Anecdot., 12; Theophanes, an. 6024. The name seems to have been common at this epoch; see Socrates, v, 21, etc.

[1094] The girl’s name was Vigilantia; Procopius, De Bel. Vand., ii, 24, etc. Probably her mother’s name.

[1095] Corp. Insc. Lat., v, 8120.

[1096] Inferred from subsequent history. The point is discussed by Ludewig, _op. cit._, viii, 5; cf. Alemannus, p. 437, _et seq._

[1097] Victor Ton., an. 520; Const. Porph., _op. cit._, i, 93.

[1098] The circumstances and date of the adoption are not recorded, but that it must have taken place appears evident from Cod., II, ii, 9; Novel. xxviii, 4, etc. Ludewig argues against it in the face of facts.

[1099] Almost certainly: the correct form would have been Justinus Sabbatianus, but the Byzantines were ignorant or varied old rules _ad lib._ There seems to have been no classical Justinian, but two of that name flit across the stage under Honorius; Zosimus, v, 30; vi, 2.

[1100] See pp. 103, 104.

[1101] From Chron. Paschal. and Theophanes it might be argued that there was an interregnum, but the contemporary accounts of Peter Magister (Const. Porph., _loc. cit._) and Cyril Scythop. (_op. cit._, 60) prove that Anastasius died early in the morning on July 9, and that Justin was elevated on the same day. Some give Justin the credit of having betrayed the cause of the eunuch by his astuteness, but it appears rather that his greatness was thrust upon him; Jn. Malala, xvii; Evagrius, iv, 12; Zonaras, xiv, 51, etc.

[1102] The official record of the election by Peter Magister (_loc. supra cit._) has been preserved. It was Justin’s own duty to announce publicly that the throne was vacant. The Circus was immediately filled and, as there was no known claimant to the succession, a wild scene ensued. First one of Justin’s subordinates was set up on a shield by a company of the guards, but the Blues, disapproving, made a rush and dispersed the throng. Then a patrician general was seized on by a body of the Scholars, but the Excubitors attacked them and were dragging the unlucky officer away to lynch him when he was rescued by the Candidate Justinian, who was watching the tumult. Upon this the crowd scurried round Justinian himself, but he declined the dangerous distinction, being doubtless aware that a decisive election was maturing behind the scenes among responsible representatives. Still, however, the attempts to create an emperor went on, until at last the doors of the Cathisma were thrown open and Justin appeared, supported by the Patriarch, the Senate, and the chief military officers. All then perceived that an emperor had been chosen by legitimate methods, and both factions with the rest of the populace applauded the new monarch in the usual way: “Justin Augustus, may you be victorious! Reign as you have lived!” etc. It will be observed that Justin did not ascend the throne as the emperor of the Blues or the Greens, but that both Demes joined in their acquiescence. This apparently was always the case unless some party usurper, such as Phocas, managed to seize the reins of power; see Theophanes, an. 6094.

[1103] Procopius, Anecdot., 6. Nearly all the chronographers note his illiteracy. A certain Marinus painted in one of the public baths a sequence of pictures in which he portrayed the career of Justin from his youth upwards. For this he was taken to task by the Emperor, but he extricated himself by explaining that his intention was an ethical one, in order to teach the people that in the Byzantine Empire a man might raise himself by his talents from the dunghill to the first position in the state; Zachariah Mytil., viii, 1.

[1104] Theodore Lect., ii, 37, etc. The name Lupicina was, of course, the popular sobriquet for a prostitute, being connected with _lupa_, _lupanar_, etc.

[1105] Victor Ton., an. 523; Cyril Scythop., _op. cit._, 68.

[1106] Marcellinus Com., an. 527. He also took over his uncle’s post of Count of the Excubitors; Hormisdas, Epist., 37.

[1107] Procopius, Anecdot., 6; De Bel. Vand., i, 9; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 51, etc.

[1108] Zonaras, xiv, 5.

[1109] Procopius, Anecdot., 6. He was probably the _ex officio_ president of the Consistorium. It was generally anticipated that Anastasius would have chosen a successor from one of his three nephews, Hypatius, Pompeius, and Probus, all of whom he had raised to important positions. His failure to do so is accounted for seriously by a singular story. Being undecided as to which of them he should select to inherit the Empire, he arranged that they should dine together at the Palace on a certain day in an apartment by themselves. Here he provided three couches, on which, according to custom, they would take a siesta after the meal. One of these he designated in his own mind as the Imperial bed, and kept watch in order to see which of them would occupy it. As it happened, however, two of the three threw themselves down together on the same couch, and the significant position remained vacant. Judging that a higher power had ruled the event, he then prayed that his successor might be revealed to him as the first person who should enter to him next morning. This proved to be that very likely officer of his household, Justin, a result which appears to have satisfied him; Anon. Vales., 13. Such relations cannot be rejected in this age on the grounds that so-and-so had too much good sense, etc. On the contrary, they serve to indicate the mental calibre of the time. The slaughter of several “Theos” as possible successors by Valens (Ammianus, xxix, 1) may be remembered, and Zeno is said to have executed an unfortunate silentiary anent of a silly prediction; Jn. Malala, xv; Theophanes, an. 5982. But Justin and Justinian, being arrested on two occasions, as it is said, were providentially preserved by visions which enjoined their release; Procopius, Anecdot., 8; Cedrenus, i, p. 635, etc.

[1110] Procopius, Anecdot., 6; Jn. Malala, xvii (the fuller transcript by Mommsen, Hermes, vi, 1885, p. 375); Zachariah Mytil., viii, 1, etc. The cruel fate of Theocritus is specially indicated by Marcellinus Com., an. 519. Before the death of Anastasius, Amantius was indulged with a pre-vision of his destiny, having seen himself in a dream on the point of being devoured by a great pig, symbolizing, of course, Justin the swineherd.

[1111] The massacres of Monophysites in Asia Minor are described at length with the names of numerous sufferers by Michael Melit. (Langlois). Among them, two stylites with their pillars were hurled to the ground.

[1112] Jn. Malala, xvii, etc.

[1113] _Ibid._ It was proposed that he should become one of the two Masters of the Forces _in praesenti_.

[1114] Zachariah Mytil., viii, 2. This was the church in which the great Council of Chalcedon was held. Evagrius gives a picturesque description of it.

[1115] Zachariah Mytil., viii, 2; Procopius, Anecdot., 6. After this Justinian spoke of him as his “most distinguished brother”; Hormisdas, Epist., 55.

[1116] In the government of the Church he showed great activity, traces of which will be found in Concil. and Baronius, etc., during these years.

[1117] Jn. Malala, especially in Hermes, _loc. cit._

[1118] Procopius, _loc. cit._; Evagrius, iv, 3; Victor Ton., an. 523. As to the _Delphicum_, or banqueting room, see Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 21.

[1119] Marcellinus Com., an. 520. Theophanes says he was killed in an _émeute_ by the Byzantines to avenge those who perished through his insurrection under Anastasius, but this is evidently a report circulated later on to cover Justinian’s guilt. Zonaras mentions both versions of the murder.

[1120] Const. Porph., De Them., i, 12.

[1121] Memorials of this consulate still exist, and samples of the diptychs are preserved at Paris and Milan; Corp. Insc. Lat., _loc. cit._ Unfortunately they are simple in design and do not attempt a likeness of Justinian. From them we learn that at this time he had assumed the names of Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus; for reproductions see Molinier, Hist. gen. des Arts, etc., Paris, 1896, and Diehl, _op. cit._ Perhaps the later diptych in Gori represents him; see p. 50. As to the adulatory attempts to fasten the name of Anicius on Justin and his nephew in order to connect them with the most distinguished Roman family of the age, see Ludewig and Isambert (_op. cit._), who have discussed the question at length. Justinian and St. Benedict, a contemporary, are brought into relationship and presented as scions of the same race as the existing royal house of Hapsburg.

[1122] Marcellinus Com., an. 521. Trajan, after his conquest of the Dacians, exhibited 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals in the Colosseum; Dion Cass., lxviii, 15. Under Claudius I a naval battle for sport on Lake Fucinus brought 100 ships, manned by 19,000 combatants, into play; Tacitus, Ann., xii, 56; Dion Cass., lx, 33. Real warfare among the Grecian states was often on a less extensive scale. Justinian’s display cost about £150,000, his first considerable draught on the savings of Anastasius.

[1123] Const. Porph., De Them., i, 12.

[1124] Procopius, De Aedific., i, 4; Codinus, p. 87; see p. 37. cf. Chron. Paschal., an. 605

[1125] A history of the reign of Justin is enumerated among the works of Hesychius of Miletus, but nothing remains to us but the jottings, more or less brief, of the chroniclers. Nicephorus Callistus (_c._ 1400) has rolled into one nearly all previous Church historians.

[1126] Jn. Malala, xvii; cf. Marcellinus Com., an. 523, etc. Theodotus, the P.U. of CP. was especially severe in his repressive measures and went too far in executing a man of rank. On the strength of a serious illness of Justinian it seems likely that he even aimed at the purple, but Justinian recovered and immediately brought him to trial for his excesses. By the influence of Proclus he escaped with exile; Procopius, Anecdot., 9; Jn. Malala, xvii; cf. Alemannus, p. 368.

[1127] Paulus Diaconus, Hist. Miscel., xvii.

[1128] _Ibid._; Marcellinus Com., an. 525; Theophanes, an. 6016, etc.

[1129] Paulus Diac., _loc. cit._; Anon. Vales., 16. These writers, however, represent Justin as conceding everything demanded, although the statement is at variance with the general tenor of their own account, and there is no trace of a wave of leniency in the literature of the East. That John got the credit of having betrayed his trust in the interests of orthodoxy is shown by a spurious letter in which he is seen urging the Italian bishops from his prison to persecute the Arians; Labbe, Concil., viii, 605.

[1130] Pliny (Hist. Nat., vi, 15) adverts to the common error of calling them Caspian, instead of Caucasian. Properly the Caspian, also Albanian Gates (now Pass of Derbend), were situated at the abutment of the Caucasus on the sea of that name. There were other Caspian Gates south of that sea in Hyrcania.

[1131] On the Russian military road from Vladikavkaz to Tiflis. It rises to 8,000 feet.

[1132] Pliny, Hist. Nat., vi, 12; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 10. An old way of blocking dangerous passes; Xenophon, Anab., i, 4.

[1133] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 52, _et seq._

[1134] _Ibid._, Procopius, _loc. cit._

[1135] Jn. Lydus, _loc. cit._

[1136] Zachariah Mytil., viii, 5. Cavades demanded 500 lb. of gold (£20,000) each year.

[1137] Al Mundhir (Nöldeke).

[1138] Zachariah Mytil., _loc. cit._; cf. Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 17.

[1139] Zachariah Mytil., _loc. cit._ This account seems to emanate from a contemporary native of Syria; cf. Procopius, De Bel. Pers., ii, 28. Al Lât and Al Uzzâ, names of a lascivious duality, held sway at Mecca till overthrown by Mahomet. This Arab, like most of his tribe, appears to have possessed a subtle wit, a circumstance which was utilized for the invention of a skit pointed at the Monophysites. It was related that two bishops of that sect, paying him a visit in the hope of converting him to Christianity, found him apparently in a state of great despair. On being questioned, Alamundar replied that he was shocked at having just heard of the death of the archangel Michael. The missionaries assured him that the death of an angel was an impossibility. “How then,” exclaimed the Arab, “can you pretend that Christ, being very God, died on the cross, if he had but one divine nature?” The bishops retired discomfited; Theodore Lect., ii, 35, etc.

[1140] Rufinus, x, 10; Socrates, i, 20, etc. A Christian captive, a female, won over the royal family by miraculous cures, etc.

[1141] In the classical period Iberia was the usual name for Spain among the Greeks.

[1142] Jn. Malala, xvii, etc. The tables (see p. 90) of his cloak, were embroidered with the likeness of Justin.

[1143] Jn. Malala, xvii, etc.

[1144] See p. 176.

[1145] Jn. Malala, _loc. cit._, etc.

[1146] Khosrau (Nöldeke); also called Nushirvan (Anosharwán), as Zotenberg always names him in his translation of Tabari.

[1147] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 11. He even tried to make out that it was a cunningly devised plot to annex the Empire to Persia. The power of Proclus, who seems to have been an alarmist, is clearly brought out by this incident.

[1148] Procopius, _loc. cit._ Theophanes (followed by Clinton, Fast. Rom.) places this affair in 521, a date which removes it altogether out of its setting; 525 is the most likely year.

[1149] Hypatius and Probus, the nephews of Anastasius.

[1150] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 12.

[1151] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 12. As, however, the Roman guard could only be victualled by the active co-operation of the Lazi, and after a short time they proved too lazy to bring in provisions to the fort, it was evacuated and left to the Persians; _ibid._

[1152] _Ibid._

[1153] “Sidus cometes effulsit; de quo vulgi opinio est tanquam mutationem regnis portendat,” etc.; Tacitus, Ann., xiv, 22; cf. xv, 47. As Milton expresses it:

Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet burn’d,
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes pestilence and war.
Paradise Lost, ii.

[1154] The fullest account of these calamities is given by Jn. Malala, xvii.

[1155] Cedrenus and Zonaras place it in this reign. Jn. Malala a little later.

[1156] This was not the first occurrence of the kind, and all the chronographers are anxious to record that a slab now came to light with a punning inscription or prophecy, which may be rendered in English as, “The river Skip will skip some evil skippings for the townspeople”; as anxious as they are to note the peregrinations of a Cilician giantess, over seven feet high, who tramped the Empire, begging a penny at all the workshops for showing herself. After its restoration Edessa was called Justinopolis in legal acts.

[1157] Procopius puts it as high as 300,000; De Bel. Pers., ii, 14.

[1158] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 54.

[1159] Zachariah Mytil., viii, 4.

[1160] Nearly all these particulars are due to John Malala, who, from the amount of detail he supplies about his native city, may be called the historian of Antioch. From him we learn that the Olympic games continued to be celebrated at Antioch, but were finally suppressed in 521 by Justin, for reasons similar to those which about half a century ago led to the abolition of Donnybrook Fair.

[1161] Cedrenus, i, p. 641. Perhaps he is only speaking figuratively.

[1162] Jn. Lydus, _loc. cit._

[1163] Evagrius, iv, 6. Jn. Malala (xviii, p. 443) puts the re-christening in 528. He adds that Justinian remitted three years’ taxes to several of the towns then damaged by earthquakes.

[1164] His death is said to have resulted from the recrudescence of an old wound in the foot at the age of seventy-five (Jn. Malala) or seventy-seven (Chron. Paschal.). The higher number is to be preferred, as Procopius says that at his accession he was τυμβογέρων, that is, an old man “with one foot in the grave”; Anecdot., 6; cf. Alemannus, p. 385.

[1165] The age of Justinian is not satisfactorily known, but Cedrenus and Zonaras give him forty-five years at his coronation. I need only allude to the reputed life of Justinian by his so-called tutor, Bogomil or Theophilus, quoted implicitly by Alemannus, a historical puzzle for nearly three centuries, but at last solved a few years ago; see Bryce, English Hist. Rev., 1887. It is little more than a MS. leaflet (in the Barberini library at Rome), and proves to be devoid of any sort of authenticity. The chief non-corroborated statement is that Justinian spent some time at Ravenna, as a hostage, with Theodoric the Goth. Justinian himself was, in fact, a barbarian of some tribe, and the bogus name given him, _Uprauda_, seems to have some affinity with “upright” and “Justinian.”

[1166] The characters of Helen, Andromache, and Penelope, as they appear in the Iliad and Odyssey, have taken a place permanently in modern literature.

[1167] See Plutarch’s account of the legislation of Lycurgus. A king of Sparta was fined by the Ephors for marrying a wife of poor physique for money, instead of choosing a strapping young lady with a view to having a vigorous family; _ibid._, Agesilaus; Athenaeus, xiii, 20. The Spartans applauded the adulterous union of Acrotatus and Chelidonis, because they seemed to be physically well matched for the production of offspring; Plutarch, Pyrrhus. In fact Lycurgus thought that wives might properly be lent to suitable mates for breeding purposes. As an example of noble character in the female, the conduct of Chelonis is recorded: also the resolution and bravery of the female relatives of Cleomenes when they all met their death at Alexandria; _ibid._, Agis; Cleomenes.

[1168] On the Athenian women in general, see Becker-Göll, Charicles, Excurs.

[1169] To a female visitor from another country it seemed that the Lacedaemonian women ruled the men; Plutarch, Lycurgus; cf. Aristotle, Politics, ii, 9. He makes out that things were muddled at Sparta, owing to interference by the women.

[1170] Herodotus, vii, 99; viii, 87, etc. Several of her ruses in war are mentioned by Polyaenus, Stratagems, viii, 53.

[1171] Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxxvi, 5, etc. The fragments of it to a large amount are now in a special room of the British Museum, together with attempted restorations in the solid and on the flat. It was delightfully situated on the Bay of Halicarnassus, a sight in itself, and a point of sight for a splendid prospect of sea, contained in a circuit of rising coast, covered with specimens of Greek architecture. Herodotus himself hailed from this town.

[1172] Polyaenus, Stratagems, viii, 60.

[1173] Athenaeus, xiii, 10.

[1174] Diodorus Sic., xix, 52; 11; 51; Justin, xiv, 5, 6, etc.

[1175] Laodicea in Phrygia (and elsewhere), by Seleucus after his mother Laodice; Thessalonica by Cassander, and Nice (Nicaea) in Bithynia, of ecclesiastical fame, by Lysimachus, from their wives. These were generals and successors of Alexander, _c._ 320 B.C.

[1176] The most illustrious lady of this age was Phila, wife of Demetrius Poliorcetes (her third marriage). She acted the part of political adviser and ambassadress; and was amiable and pacific as well as intellectual; Plutarch, Demetrius; Diodorus Sic., xx, 93. A flatterer of D. raised a temple to her, and called it the Philaeum; Athenaeus, vi, 65.

[1177] Justin, xxxix, 1, 2.

[1178] _Ibid._, 4. These queens flourished _c._ 100 B.C.

[1179] Justin, xxvi, 3. He was called Demetrius the Handsome, son of the D. above-named, but not by Phila. She stood at the door of the chamber, while the ministers of her vengeance were operating within, calling out to them to spare her mother (_c._ 250 B.C.). Her own fate was to be put to death by her son, Ptolemy IV of Egypt, in 221 B.C.

[1180] That is, her hair cut off and suspended in the temple of Aphrodite to propitiate divine favour for her husband (Ptolemy III), during his Syrian war, _c._ 245 B.C. It became a constellation according to the adulators of the day, as is shown in the poem of Catullus, a translation from the Greek of Callimachus.

[1181] The constitution of the Roman family can be apprehended readily by running through the consecutive expositions in Muirhead’s Private Law of Rome, Edin., 1886, pp. 24, 64, 115, 248, 345, 514. In law the mother and children were practically the slaves of the _paterfamilias_: he could divorce his wife at pleasure, and yet 500 years elapsed before a husband made use of this power, so potent was the high ethical code which sustained the Republic.

[1182] The story or legend of Cloelia used to be well known. Being delivered as a hostage, with a number of other maidens, to Porsena, she encouraged them to escape, and headed the band in swimming across the Tiber. But they were all punctiliously returned (_c._ 508 B.C.); Livy, ii, 13; Plutarch, Publicola, etc.

[1183] Portia, daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus, the assassin of Caesar, aspired to be the confidante of her husband, but, distrusting her feminine nature, she refrained from soliciting him to trust her, until, by stabbing herself in the thigh, she felt satisfied of possessing sufficient masculine strength of mind to become the repository of state secrets (44 B.C.); Plutarch, Brutus, etc. See Shakespeare’s delineation of her in _Julius Caesar_, where she recounts her action to Brutus.

[1184] The accomplishments of Cornelia, the fifth wife of Pompey, are given in detail by Plutarch. She was well read in literature, played the lyre, had made progress in geometry, and fortified herself by the study of philosophy. Julia, the mother of Mark Antony, is called “a most learned woman” by Cicero, Catiline, iv, 6. Greek culture was fashionable at this time among the Romans. But an earlier Cornelia (_c._ 330 B.C.) became famous in infamy as the centre of a female society for poisoning men of note; Livy, viii, 18.

[1185] Tacitus, Ann., xiii, 5.

[1186] Hist. Aug. Heliogabalus, 2, _et seq._ She “lived the life of a prostitute,” and she also instituted a “petty senate” of females, which prescribed the fashions of the day to women. Manners, dress, jewellery, style of carriages, choice of draught-animals, horses, asses, or oxen, etc., were the subject of their jurisdiction.

[1187] _Ibid._, 17, _et seq._ Both were murdered, and their bodies dragged through the streets by the Praetorian guard, before their reign had lasted quite four years.

[1188] She was a daughter of the great Theodosius. The turning-point in the fall of the Western Empire was the sacking of Rome by Alaric in 410. From about 425 her authority was paramount at Ravenna, the provisional capital or rather refuge of the mouldering government. Most information about her is contained in Zosimus, vi, 12, and Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 3, _et seq._

[1189] I have several times had occasion to mention this princess. There is no consecutive history of this period, but merely scraps to be collected from brief chronicles, Church historians, and fragments of lost works, etc.

[1190] See pp. 103, 302.

[1191] Const. Porph., i, 93; see p. 303.

[1192] Jn. Malala, xv.; Theophanes, an. 5967, _et seq._

[1193] Tacitus, Ann., iv, 19; the case of Sosia Galla. Cf. the account of Salonina and her gorgeous appearance, riding in the van of the army with her husband Caecina; _ibid._, Hist., ii, 20.

[1194] Tacitus, Ann., iii, 33.

[1195] _Ibid._, i, 69.

[1196] _Ibid._, ii, 55, 74; iii, 17, etc. As she acted with the secret approval of the Court, she was acquitted at a mock trial (20), but a dozen years later, on the death of her accessories, she anticipated her fate by suicide; _ibid._, vi, 26.

[1197] _Ibid._, iii, 33. Plutarch (De Mul. Virt.), has collected twenty-seven instances of the notable doings of women, and Polyaenus (Stratagemata, viii) has repeated most of them, and added almost as many more. The latter record extends up to about 170.

[1198] Herodotus, i, 199. This applies to Babylon and Cyprus, but there were several other places, and the custom was carried by the Semites as far west as Sicca Veneria, in Numidia, N. Africa; Valerius Max., ii, 6 (15). See the commentators on the passage of Herodotus; Strabo, XVI, i, 20, etc. At all times the simplicity of devout females was liable to be abused, several instances of which are recounted. For example, an ancient rite ordained that a Phrygian damsel should on the eve of her marriage bathe in the Scamander, whilst invoking the river-god to accept her virginity. In this custom on one occasion a youth of the neighbourhood found his opportunity. Hearing of the nuptials of a young lady who was socially unapproachable to him, but of whom he had long been enamoured, he bedizened himself with reeds and water-flowers and posted himself in a recess to await her coming. On her entering the water he came forward thus in the guise of the divinity she was supposed to meet, and the guileless maid permitted him to embrace her without resistance, devoutly unconscious of anything being wrong. Subsequently, as she was walking in the bridal procession, her eyes fell upon him among the spectators, whereupon she made him a profound obeisance and pointed him out to those who accompanied her as the genius of the sacred stream; Aeschines, Epist., 10. This was an isolated and comparatively blameless case, but later on some of the semi-Christian charlatans managed such matters wholesale; see the account of Marcus in Irenaeus, i, 13.

[1199] Strabo, VIII, vi, 20

[1200] Athenaeus, xiii, 25. St. Augustine was of the same opinion: “Aufer meretrices de rebus humanis, turbaveris omnia libidinibus”; De Ordine, ii, 4 (in Migne, i, 1000).

[1201] Athenaeus, xiii, 46. Nicarete of Megara is noted as being a disciple of Stilpo of the same town, a philosopher who achieved a great and lasting reputation; _ibid._, 70; Diogenes Laert. in Vita, “A wife is legally countenanced in sulking and keeping to the house, but a hetaira knows that it is only by her social talents that she can attach friends to herself”; Athenaeus, xiii, 7.

[1202] The names of these biographers are preserved, viz., Aristophanes of Byzantium, Apollodorus, Antiphanes, Ammonius, and Gorgias of Athens, but their works are lost; Athenaeus, xiii, 21, 46. The first-named composed as many as 135 lives, and Apollodorus exceeded even this number. The gist of their writings, however, seems to have been preserved by Athenaeus in his thirteenth book; and among the moderns, Jacobs has attempted to reconstruct all the principal biographies; Attische Museum, 1798-1805. The accounts of them are almost wholly made up of anecdotes as to their witty remarks and rejoinders. But at least one modern author has written biographies of courtesans; see Devaux-Mousk, Fleurs du Persil, Paris, 1887 (with portraits and autographs).

[1203] Plutarch, Pericles, etc. At the same time it was not beneath her to become a procuress, and it is said that all Greece was supplied with girls by her agency. It was even maintained that the immediate cause of the Pelopennesian war was the abduction of one of these girls imported from Megara; Athenaeus, xiii, 25; Plutarch, _loc. cit._ Parallels to Aspasia are not altogether wanting in very recent times. Thus of Cora Pearl (_née_ Crouch, of Plymouth) we read: “For some time she excited the greatest interest among all classes of Parisian society, and ladies imitated her dress and manners”; Dict. Nat. Biog., _sb. nom._

[1204] Memorabilia, iii, 11.

[1205] Diogenes Laert., Epicurus; Cicero, De Nat. Deor., i, 33; see an imaginary letter of hers in Alciphron, ii, 2.

[1206] Athenaeus, xiii, 37, 38, 56. Timotheus, when it was thrown in his teeth that his mother was a prostitute, replied that he was very much obliged to her for making him the son of Conon. The son of Pericles by Aspasia was legitimated and became a general.

[1207] _Ibid._, 40, 38. Hieronymus, the last king of Syracuse, is said to have married a common prostitute, but their issue did not succeed to any crown; _ibid._ In modern times the assumption of the premiership of Bavaria by the notorious Lola Montez (_née_ Gilbert of Limerick) will be remembered. “She now ruled the kingdom of Bavaria, and, singular to say, ruled it with wisdom and ability. Her audacity confounded alike the policy of the Jesuits and of Metternich”; Dict. Nat. Biog., _sb. nom._ Her _régime_ did not, however, last more than a year, being unable to stem the tide of revolution in 1848. More fortunate was the _castrato_ singer, Farinelli, who retained a position differing little from that of prime minister under Philip V of Spain and his successor for nearly twenty-five years. The reign of courtesans in the seventeenth century, when the aristocratic blood of France and England was enriched by “legitimated princes” and peers under Louis XIV and Charles II is too well known to need comment here; but the acquisition of governmental power at the hands of Louis XV by Jeanne Vaubernier (Countess Du Barry), a low-class strumpet, doubtless helped decidedly to bring that disgraceful epoch to a close; see Voltaire’s _Louis XIV_ and _Louis XV_, etc.

[1208] Athenaeus, xiii, 38; Alciphron, ii, 1.

[1209] Athenaeus, xiii, 60. Here, again, a parallel is afforded by Cora Pearl. During the war of 1870 she transformed her house into an “ambulance,” where she spent her time and money to the amount of £1,000 in nursing wounded soldiers. Afterwards she claimed to be reimbursed, but £60 only was granted to her by the government; see her Mémoires, Paris, 1886. Ultimately she was expelled from Paris.

[1210] _Ibid._, xiii, 7, 31.

[1211] _Ibid._, xiii, 70; Polyaenus, viii, 45, etc.

[1212] Athenaeus, xiii, 34.

[1213] _Ibid._, xiii, 54. A figurative memorial, a lioness tearing a ram; Pausanias, ii, 2.

[1214] _Ibid._, xiii, 59; Aelian, Var. Hist., ix, 32. Crates, the Cynic, said that it was an advertisement of the profligacy of Greece.

[1215] Athenaeus, xiii, 69; and another at Babylon, the seat of his governorship. Plutarch (Phocion) says it cost about £7,000, and was poor value for the money, but Pausanias extols it; i, 37.

[1216] Athenaeus, xiii, 34.

[1217] _Ibid._, vi, 62. Plutarch tells us that he fined the Athenians £70,000, which he handed over to Lamia and the rest of his harem to buy _soap_!

[1218] A _licentia stupri_ was issued to each woman by the _aediles_; Tacitus, Ann., ii, 85.

[1219] Plutarch, Sulla.

[1220] _Ibid._, Pompey.

[1221] Plutarch, Lucullus.

[1222] In the year 19 Rome was shocked by Vistilia, a married woman of noble birth, applying for a licence. She was banished, and a law passed to prevent the repetition of such an occurrence; Tacitus, Ann., ii, 85. Half a century later probably no notice would have been taken, but the ethics of the day varied regularly with the character of the reigning emperor.

[1223] Dion Cass., lxvi, 14. As a proof of the meanness of Vespasian, he relates that Titus expostulated with his father on the unseemliness of maintaining a tax on the collection of urine, whereupon the Emperor, drawing a handful of gold from his pocket, tendered it to his son, saying, “Smell, does it stink?” cf. Suetonius, 23.