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.

23 (return) [ 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.]

24 (return) [ Theophylact, l. i. c. 5, 6.]

25 (return) [ 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.]

26 (return) [ Theophylact, l. vi. c. 6, l. vii. c. 15. The Greek
historian confesses the truth and justice of his reproach]

27 (return) [ 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.]

28 (return) [ 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.)]

29 (return) [ 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.)]

30 (return) [ Even the helepolis, or movable turret. Theophylact,
l. ii. 16, 17.]

31 (return) [ 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.]

32 (return) [ 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.]

33 (return) [ 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

34 (return) [ 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.]

35 (return) [ 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.]

36 (return) [ 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.]

37 (return) [ See the shameful conduct of Commentiolus, in
Theophylact, l. ii. c. 10—15, l. vii. c. 13, 14, l. viii. c. 2,
4.]

38 (return) [ See the exploits of Priscus, l. viii. c. 23.]

39 (return) [ 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.”

40 (return) [ 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.]

41 (return) [ 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.]

42 (return) [ 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

43 (return) [ 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?]

44 (return) [ 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.]

45 (return) [ 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.]

46 (return) [ 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.)]

47 (return) [ 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 or
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

48 (return) [ 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.]

49 (return) [ 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.]

50 (return) [ 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.]

51 (return) [ 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.]