 Chapter 41, Part 4 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 4. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. From the moment the Bellisarius had determined to sustain a siege, his assiduous care provided Rome against the danger of famine, more dreadful than the Gothic arms. An extraordinary supply of corn was imported from Sicily. The harvests of Campania and Tuscany were forcibly swept for the use of the city. And the rights of private property were infringed by the strong plea of the public safety. It might easily be foreseen that the enemy would intercept the aqueducts, and the cessation of the water mills was the first inconvenience, which was speedily removed by mooring large vessels and fixing millstones in the current of the river. The stream was soon embarrassed by the trunks of trees and polluted with dead bodies, yet so effectual were the precautions of the Roman general that the waters of the Tiber still continued to give motions to the mills and drink to the inhabitants. The most distant quarters were supplied from domestic wells, and a besieged city might support, without impatience, the privation of her public baths. A large portion of Rome, from the Prenestine Gate to the Church of St. Peter, was never invested by the Goths. Their excursions were restrained by the activity of the Moorish troops. The navigation of the Tiber, and the Latin, Appian, and Ostean ways were left free and unmolested for the introduction of corn and cattle, or the retreat of the inhabitants who sought a refuge in Campania or Sicily. Anxious to relieve himself from a useless and devouring multitude, Belisarius issued his peremptory orders for the instant departure of the women, the children, and the slaves. Required his soldiers to dismiss their male and female attendants and regulated their allowance that one moiety might be given in provisions and the other in money. His foresight was justified by the increase of the public distress as soon as the Goths had occupied two important posts in the neighborhood of Rome. By the loss of the port, or as it is now called the city of Porto, he was deprived of the country on the right of the Tiber and the best communication with the sea. And he reflected with grief and anger that 300 men, could he have spared such a feeble band, might have defended its impregnable works. Seven miles from the capital, between the Appian and the Latin ways, two principal aqueducts crossing, and again crossing each other, enclosed within their solid and lofty arches, a fortified space, where Vitigays established a camp of 7,000 Goths to intercept the convoys of Sicily and Campania. The granaries of Rome were insensibly exhausted. The adjacent country had been wasted with fire and sword. Such scanty supplies as might yet be obtained by hasty excursions were the reward of valor and the purchase of wealth. The forage of the horses and the bread of the soldiers never failed, but in the last months of the siege, the people was exposed to the miseries of scarcity, unwholesome food and contagious disorders. Belisarius saw and pitied their sufferings, but he had foreseen, and he watched, the decay of their loyalty and the progress of their discontent. Adversity had awakened the Romans from the dreams of grandeur and freedom and taught them from the humbling lesson that it was of small moment to their real happiness whether the name of their master was derived from the Gothic or the Latin language. The lieutenant of Justinian listened to their just complaints, but he rejected with disdain the idea of flight or capitulation, repressed their clamorous impatience for battle, amused them with the prospect of sure and speedy relief and secured himself and the city from the effects of their despair or treachery. Twice in each month he changed the stations of the officers to whom the custody of the gates was committed. The various precautions of patrols, watchwords, lights and music were repeatedly employed to discover whatever passed on the ramparts. Outguards were posted beyond the ditch and the trusty vigilance of dogs supplied the more doubtful fidelity of mankind. A letter was intercepted which assured the king of the Goths that the Esenarian gate adjoining to the Lateran church should be secretly opened to his troops. On the proof or suspicion of treason several senators were banished and the Pope Silverius was summoned to attend the representative of his sovereign at his headquarters in the Pinkian Palace. The ecclesiastics who followed their bishop were detained in the first or second apartment and he alone was admitted to the presence of Belisarius. The conqueror of Rome and Carthage was modestly seated at the feet of Antonina who reclined on a stately couch. The general was silent but the voice and reproach and menace issued from the mouth of his imperious wife. Accused by credible witnesses and the evidence of his own subscription the successor of Saint Peter was despoiled of his pontifical ornaments clad in the mean habit of a monk and embarked without delay for a distant exile in the east. At the emperor's command the clergy of Rome proceeded to the choice of a new bishop and after a solemn invocation of the Holy Ghost elected the deacon Vigilius who had purchased the papal throne by a bribe of 200 pounds of gold. The prophet and consequently the guilt of this simony was imputed to Belisarius but the hero obeyed the orders of his wife Antonina served the passions of the emperors and Theodora lavished her treasures in the vain hope of obtaining a pontif hostile or indifferent to the council of Chalcedon. The epistle of Belisarius to the emperor announced his victory, his danger and his resolution. According to your commands we have entered the dominions of the Goths and reduced to your obedience Sicily, Campania and the city of Rome but the loss of these conquests will be more disgraceful than their acquisition was glorious. Hitherto we have successfully fought against the multitudes of the barbarians but their multitudes may finally prevail. Victory is the gift of providence but the reputation of kings and generals depends on the success or failure of their designs. Permit me to speak with freedom if you wish that we should live, send us subsidence if you desire that we should conquer, send us arms, horses and men. The Romans have received us as friends and deliverers but in our present distressed they will either be betrayed by their confidence or we shall be impressed by their treachery and hatred. For myself, my life is consecrated to your service it is yours to reflect whether my death in this situation will contribute to the glory and prosperity of your reign. Perhaps that reign would have been equally prosperous if the peaceful master of the east had abstained from the conquest of Africa and Italy but as Justinian was ambitious of fame he made some efforts that were feeble and languid to support and rescue his victorious general. A reinforcement of 1600s Glevanians and Huns were led by Martin and Valerian and as they had reposed during the winter season the strength of the men and horses was not impaired by the fatigue of his sea voyage and they distinguished their valour in the first sally against the besiegers. About the time of the summer solstice Euthalius landed at Terakena with large sums of money for the payment of the troops he cautiously proceeded along the Appian way and this convoy entered Rome through the gate Capena while Belisarius on the other side diverted the attention of the Goths by a vigorous and successful skirmish. These seasonable aids, the use and reputation of which were dexterously managed by the Roman general revived the courage or at least the hopes of the soldiers and people. The historian Procopius was dispatched with an important commission to collect the troops and provisions which Campania could furnish or Constantinople had sent and the secretary of Belisarius was soon followed by Antonina herself who boldly traversed the posts of the enemy and returned with the Oriental suckers to the relief of her husband and the besieged city. A fleet of 3,000 Isorians cast anchor in the Bay of Naples and afterwards at Ostia above 2,000 horse of whom apart were Thracians landed at Tarentum and after the junction of the 500 soldiers of Campania and a train of wagons laden with wine and flour they directed their march on the Appian way from Capua to the neighborhood of Rome. The horses that arrived by land and sea were reunited at the mouth of the Tiber. Antonina convened a council of war. It was resolved to surmount with sails and oars the adverse stream of the river and the Goths were apprehensive of disturbing by any rash hostilities the negotiation to which Belisarius had craftily listened. They credulously believed that they saw no more than the vanguard of a fleet and army which had already covered the Ionian sea and the plains of Campania The decision was supported by the Hati language of the Roman general when he gives audience to the ambassadors of Vitigés. After a specious discourse to vindicate the justice of his cause they declared that for the sake of peace they were disposed to renounce the possession of Sicily. The emperor is not less generous replied his lieutenant with a disdainful smile In return for a gift which you no longer possess he presents you with an ancient province of the empire he resigns to the Goths the sovereignty of the British island Belisarius rejected with equal firmness and contempt the offer of a tribute but he allowed the Gothic ambassadors to seek their fate from the mouth of Justinian himself and consented with seeming reluctance to a truce of three months from the winter solstice to the equinox of spring Prudence might not safely trust either the oaths or hostages of the barbarians but the conscious superiority of the Roman chief was expressed in the distribution of his troops as soon as fear or hunger compelled the Goths to evacuate Alba, Porto, and Quentum Cali their place was instantly supplied the garrisons of Narni, Spalletto, and Peruzia were reinforced and the seven camps of the besiegers were gradually encompassed by the calamities of a siege. The prayers and pilgrimage of Datius Bishop of Milan were not without effect and he obtained 1,000 thracians and Essorians to assist the revolt of Liguria against her Aryan tyrant at the same time, John the Sanguinary the nephew of Vitalian was detached with 2,000 chosen horse first to Alba on the Foucaian lake and afterwards to the frontiers of Pisenum on the Hadriatic Sea in that province, says Belisarius the Goths have deposited their families and treasures without a guard or suspicion of danger doubtless they will violate the truths let them feel your presence before they hear of your motions spare the Italians suffer not any fortified place to remain hostile in your rear and faithfully reserve the spoil for an equal and common partition it would not be reasonable, he added with a laugh that whilst we are toiling to the destruction of the drones our more fortunate brethren should rifle and enjoy the honey the whole nation of the Ostrogoths had been assembled for the attack and was almost entirely consumed in the siege of Rome if any credit be due to an intelligent spectator one third at least of their enormous host was destroyed in frequent and bloody combats under the walls of the city the bad fame and pernicious qualities of the summer air might already be imputed to the decay of agriculture and population and the evils of famine and pestilence were aggravated by their own licentiousness and the unfriendly disposition of the country while Vittiges struggled with his fortune while he hesitated between shame and ruin his retreat was hastened by domestic alarms the king of the Goths was informed by trembling messengers that John the Sanguinary spread the devastations of war from the Apennines to the Hadriatic that the rich spoils and innumerable captives of Piscinum were lodged in the fortifications of Rimini and this formidable chief had defeated his uncle insulted his capital and seduced by secret correspondence the fidelity of his wife the imperious daughter of Amalassantha yet before he retired Vittiges made a last effort either to storm or to surprise the city a secret passage was discovered in one of the aqueducts two citizens of the Vatican were tempted by bribes to intoxicate the guards of the Aurelian Gate an attack was meditated on the walls beyond the Tiber in a place which was not fortified with towers and the barbarians advanced with torches and scaling ladders to the assault of the Pinkian Gate but every attempt was defeated by the intrepid vigilance of Belisarius and his band of veterans who in the most perilous moments did not regret the absence of their companions and the Goths, a like destitute of hope and substance clamorously urged their departure before the truce should expire and the Roman cavalry should again be united one year and nine days after the commencement of the siege an army so lately strong in triumphant birthed their tents and tumultuously repass the Milvian Bridge they repass not with impunity their thronging multitudes, oppressed in a narrow passage were driven headlong into the Tiber by their own fears of the enemy and the Roman general, sallying from the Pinkian Gate inflicted a severe and disgraceful wound on their retreat the slow length of a sickly and desponding host was heavily dragged along the Flominian Way from whence the barbarians were sometimes compelled to deviate lest they should encounter the hostile garrisons that guarded the high road to Rimini and Ravenna yet so powerful was this flying army that Vitigay spared ten thousand men for the defense of the cities which he was most solicitous to preserve and detached his nephew, Urius, with an adequate force for the chastisement of the rebellious Milan at the head of his principal army he besieged Rimini only 33 miles distant from the Gothic capital a feeble rampart and a shallow ditch were maintained by the skill and valor of John the Sanguinary who shared the danger and fatigue of the meanest soldier and emulated on a theater less illustrious the military virtues of his great commander the towers and battering engines of the barbarians were rendered useless, their attacks were repulsed and the tedious blockade, which reduced the garrison to the last extremity of hunger afforded time for the union in March of the Roman forces a fleet which had surprised Ancona sailed along the coast of the Hadriatic to the relief of the besieged city the eunuch, Narces, landed in Paesinum with two thousand Heruli the rock of the Apennine was forced ten thousand veterans moved around the foot of the mountains under the command of Belisarius himself and a new army, whose encampment blazed with innumerable lights appeared to advance along the Flominian way overwhelmed with astonishment and despair the Gauls abandoned the siege of Rimini their tents, their standards and their leaders and Vitigays, who gave or followed the example of flight never halted till he found a shelter under the walls and morasses of Ravenna to these walls and to some fortresses destitute of any mutual support, the Gothic monarchy was now reduced the provinces of Italy had embraced the party of the emperor and his army, gradually recruited to the number of twenty thousand men must have achieved an easy and rapid conquest if their invincible powers had not been weakened by the discord of the Roman chiefs before the end of the siege an act of blood ambiguous and indiscreet, sullied the fair fame of Belisarius Presidius, a loyal Italian, as he fled from Ravenna to Rome was rudely stopped by Constantine, the military governor of Spoleto and despoiled even in a church of two daggers richly and laid in gold and precious stones as soon as the public danger had subsided Presidius complained of the loss and injury his complaint was heard but the order of restitution was disobeyed by the pride and avarice of the offender exasperated by the delay Presidius boldly arrested the general's horse as he passed through the forum and in the spirit of a citizen demanded the common benefit of the Roman laws the honor of Belisarius was engaged he summoned a council, claimed the obedience of a subordinate officer and was provoked by an insolent reply to call hastily for the presence of his guards Constantine, viewing their entrance as the signal of death drew his sword and rushed on the general who nimbly alluded the stroke and was protected by his friends while the desperate assassin was disarmed dragged into a neighboring chamber and executed, or rather murdered by the guards at the arbitrary command of Belisarius in this hasty act of violence the guilt of Constantine was no longer remembered the despair and death of that valiant officer was secretly imputed to the revenge of Antonina and each of his colleagues, of the same rapine, was apprehensive of the same fate the fear of a common enemy suspended the effects of their envy and discontent but, in the confidence of approaching victory they instigated a powerful rival to oppose the conqueror of Rome and Africa from the domestic service of the palace and the administration of the private revenue Narciss, the eunuch, was suddenly exalted to the head of an army and the spirit of a hero and the spirit and glory of Belisarius served only to perplex the operations of the Gothic war to his prudent counsels the relief of Remini was ascribed by the leaders of the discontented faction who exhorted Narciss to assume an independent and separate command the epistle of Justinian had indeed enjoined his obedience to the general but the dangerous exception as far as may be advantageous to the public service rendered some freedom of judgment to the discreet favorite who had so lately departed from the sacred and familiar conversation of a sovereign in the exercise of this doubtful right the eunuch perpetually dissented from the opinions of Belisarius and, after yielding with reluctance to the siege of Urbino he deserted his colleagues in the night and marched away to the conquest of the Amelian province the fierce and formidable bands of the Heruli were attached to the person of Narciss 10,000 Romans and Confederates were persuaded to march under his banners every malcontent embraced the fair opportunity of revenging his private or imaginary wrongs and the remaining troops of Belisarius were divided and dispersed from the garrisons of Sicily to the shores of the Hadriatic his skill and perseverance overcame every obstacle Urbino was taken the sieges of Faisuli, Orvieto and Alximum were undertaken and vigorously prosecuted and the eunuch Narciss was at length recalled the domestic cares of the palace all dissensions were healed and all opposition was subdued by the temperate authority of the Roman general to whom his enemies cannot refuse their esteem and Belisarius inculcated the salutary lesson that the forces of the state should compose one body and be animated by one soul but in the interval of discord the Goths were permitted to breathe an important season was lost Milan was destroyed and the northern provinces of Italy were afflicted by an inundation of the Franks when Justinian first meditated the conquest of Italy he sent ambassadors to the king of the Franks and abjured them by the common ties of allegiance and religion to join in the holy enterprise against the Aryans the Goths, as their once were more urgent employed a more effectual mode of persuasion they strove by the gift of lands and money to purchase the friendship or at least the neutrality of a light and perfidious nation but the arms of Belisarius and the revolt of the Italians had no sooner shaken the Gothic monarchy than Theodobart of Austrasia the most powerful and warlike of the Merovingian kings was persuaded to succor their distress by an indirect and seasonable aid without expecting the consent of their sovereign Burgundians, his recent subjects descended from the Alps and joined the troops which Vitigay's had sent to chastise the revolt of Milan after an obstinate siege the capital of Ligoria was reduced by famine but no capitulation could be obtained except for the safer treat of the Roman garrison Datius, the orthodox bishop who had seduced his countrymen to rebellion and ruined escaped to the luxury and honors of the Byzantine court the clergy, perhaps the arian clergy were slaughtered at the foot of their own altars by the defenders of the Catholic faith 300,000 males were reported to be slain the female sex and the more precious spoil was resigned to the Burgundians and the houses or at least the walls of Milan were leveled to the ground the Goths in their last moments were revenged by the destruction of a city second only to Rome in size and opulence of the city's buildings or the number of its inhabitants and Bellasaria sympathized alone in the fate of his deserted and devoted friends encouraged by this successful inroad Theodoburt himself in the ensuing spring invaded the plains of Italy with an army of 100,000 barbarians the king and some chosen followers were mounted on horseback and armed with lances the infantry without bows or spears were satisfied with a shield and a double-edged battle axe which in their hands became a deadly and unerring weapon Italy trembled at the march of the Franks and both the Gothic Prince and the Roman general, alike ignorant of their designs, solicited with hope and terror the friendship of these dangerous allies Till he had secured the passage of the Po on the bridge of Pavia the grandson of Clovis dissembled his intentions which he at length declared by assaulting almost at the same instant the hostile camps of the Romans and Goths Instead of uniting their arms, they fled with equal precipitation and the fertile though desolate provinces of Liguria and Emilia were abandoned to a licentious host of barbarians whose rage was not mitigated by any thoughts of settlement or conquest Among the cities which they ruined Genua, not yet constructed a marble is particularly enumerated and the deaths of thousands of the regular practice of war appear to have excited less horror than some idolatrous sacrifices of women and children which were performed with impunity in the camp of the most Christian king If it were not a melancholy truth that the first and most cruel sufferings must be the lot of the innocent and helpless history might exalt in the misery of the conquerors who, in the midst of riches were left destitute of bread or wine reduced to drink the waters of the Po and to feed on the flesh of distempered cattle The dysentery swept away one-third of their army and the clamors of his subjects who were impatient to pass the Alps disposed the Atiber to listen with respect to the mild exhortations of Belisarius The memory of this inglorious and destructive warfare was perpetuated on the metals of Gaul and Justinian, without unsheathing his sword assumed the title of Conqueror of the Franks The Merovingian Prince was infended by the vanity of the Emperor He affected to pity the fallen fortune of the Goths and his insidious offer to a federal union was fortified by the promise or menace of his descending from the Alps at the head of 500,000 men His plan of conquest were boundless and perhaps chimerical The king of Alstrazia threatened to chastise Justinian and to march to the gates of Constantinople He was overthrown in slain by a wild bull as he hunted in the Belgic or German forests End of Chapter 41 Part 4 Chapter 41 Part 6 of the Decline and Fall with the Roman Empire Volume 4 This is the LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org As soon as Belisarius was delivered to the foreign and domestic enemies he seriously applied his forces to the final reduction of Italy In the siege of Osimo the general was nearly transpirced with an arrow if the mortal stroke had not been intercepted by one of his guards who lost, in that pious office the use of his hand The Goths of Osimo 4,000 warriors with those Faisuli and the Caltian Alps were among the last to maintain their independence and their gallant resistance which almost tired the patients deserved the esteem of the conqueror His prudence refused to subscribe the safe conduct which they asked to join their brethren of Ravenna but they saved by an honorable capitulation one moiety at least of their wealth with the free alternative of retiring peacefully to their estates or enlisting to serve the emperor in his Persian wars The multitudes which yet adhered to the standard of vitigays far surpassed the number of the Roman troops but neither the prayers nor defiance nor the extreme danger of his most faithful subjects could tempt the Gothic king beyond the fortifications of Ravenna These fortifications were indeed impregnable to the assaults of art or violence and when Belisarius invested the capital he was soon convinced that famine only could tame the stubborn spirit of the barbarians The sea, the land and the channels of the Po were guarded by the vigilance of the Roman general and his morality extended the rites of war to the practice of poisoning the waters and secretly firing the granaries of a besieged city When he pressed the blockade of Ravenna he was surprised by the arrival of two ambassadors from Constance and Opel with the Treaty of Peace which Justinian had imprudently signed without deigning to consult the author of his victory By this disgraceful and precarious agreement Italy and the Gothic treasure were divided and the provinces beyond the Po were left with the regal title to the successor of Theodoric The ambassadors were eager to accomplish their salutary commission The captive Viteges accepted with transport the unexpected offer of a crown Honor was less prevalent among the Goths than the want and appetite of food and the Roman chiefs who murmured at the continuance of the war professed implicit submission to the commands of the Emperor If Belisarius had possessed only the courage of a soldier the laurel would have been snatched from his hand by timid and envious councils but in this decisive moment he resolved with the magnanimity of a statesman to sustain alone the danger and merit of generous disobedience Each of his officers gave a written opinion that the siege of Ravenna was impracticable and hopeless The general then rejected the Treaty of Partition and declared his resolution of leading Viteges in chains to the feet of Justinian The Goths retired with doubt and dismay this preemptory refusal deprived them of the only signature which they could trust and filled their minds with a just apprehension that a sagacious enemy had discovered the full extent of their deplorable state They compared the fame and fortune of Belisarius with the weakness of their ill-fated king and the comparisons suggested an extraordinary project to which Viteges with apparent resignation was compelled to acquiesce Partition would ruin the strength Exile would disgrace the honour of the nation but they offered their arms their treasures and the fortifications of Ravenna if Belisarius would disclaim the authority of a master accept the choice of the Goths and assume, as he had deserved the Kingdom of Italy If the false luster of a diadem could have attempted the loyalty of a faithful subject his prudence must have foreseen the inconstancy of the barbarians and his rational ambition would prefer the safe and honourable station of a Roman general Even the patience and seeming satisfaction with which he entertained a proposal of treason might be susceptible of malignant interpretation but the lieutenant of Justinian was conscious of his own rectitude he entered into a dark and crooked path as it might lead to the voluntary submission of the Goths and his dexterous policy persuaded them that he was disposed to comply with their wishes without engaging an oath or a promise for the performance of a treaty which he secretly abhorred The day of the surrender of Ravenna was stipulated by the Gothic ambassadors a fleet laden with provisions sailed as a welcome guest into the deepest recesses of the harbor the gates were open to the fancied king of Italy in Belisarius without meeting an enemy and marched through the streets of an impregnable city the Romans were astonished by their success the multitudes of tall and robust barbarians were confounded by the image of their own patience and the masculine females spitting in the faces of their sons and husbands most bitterly reproached them for betraying their dominion and freedom to these pygmies of the south contemptible in their numbers diminutive in their stature before the Goths could recover from the first surprise and claim the accomplishment of their doubtful hopes the victor established his power in Ravenna beyond the danger of repentance and revolt Vittiges who perhaps had attempted to escape was honorably guarded in his palace the flower of the Gothic youth was selected for the service of the emperor the remainder of the people was dismissed to their peaceful habitations in the southern provinces and a colony of Italians was invited to replenish the depopulated city the submission of the capital was imitated in the towns and villages for Italy which had not been subdued or even visited by the Romans and the independent Goths who remained in arms at Pavia and Verona were ambitious only to become the subjects of Belisarius but his inflexible loyalty rejected and his indifference with the Romans and his indifference with the Romans and the Romans his inflexible loyalty rejected even as the substitute of Justinian their oaths of allegiance and he was not offended by the reproach of their deputies that he rather chose to be a slave than a king after the second victory of Belisarius Envy again whispered Justinian listened and the hero was recalled the remnant of the Gothic war was no longer worthy of his presence a gracious sovereign was impatient to reward his services to insult his wisdom and he alone was capable of defending the east against the innumerable armies of Persia Belisarius understood the suspicion accepted the excuse embarked at Ravenna his spoils and trophies and proved by his ready obedience that such an abrupt removal from the government of Italy was not less unjust than it might have been in discreet the emperor received with honorable courtesy both Viteges and his more noble consort and as the king of the Goths conformed to the Athanasian faith he obtained with the rich inheritance of the land in Asia the rank of senator in patrician every spectator admired without peril the strengthened stature of the young barbarians they adored the majesty of the throne and promised to shed their blood in the service of their benefactor Justinian deposited in the Byzantine palace the treasures of the Gothic monarchy a flattering senate was sometimes admitted to gaze on the magnificent spectacle but it was enviously secluded from the public view and the conqueror of Italy renounced without a murmur perhaps without a sigh the well-earned honors of a second triumph his glory was indeed exalted above all external pomp and the faint and hollow praises of the court were supplied even in a servile age by the respect and admiration of his country whenever he appeared in the streets in public places of Constantinople Bellisarius attracted and satisfied the eyes of the people his lofty stature and majestic countenance fulfilled their expectations of a hero the meanest of his fellow citizens were emboldened by his gentle and gracious demeanor and the martial train which attended his footsteps left his person more accessible than in a day of battle seven thousand horsemen matchless for beauty and valor and at the private expense of the general their prowess was always conspicuous in single combants or in the foremost ranks in both parties confessed that in the siege of Rome the guards of Bellisarius had alone vanquished the barbarian host their numbers were continually augmented by the bravest and most faithful of the enemy and his fortunate captives the vandals, the moors, and the Goths emulated the attachment of his domestic followers by the union of liberality and justice he acquired the love of the soldiers without alienating the affections of the people the sick and wounded were relieved with medicines and money and still more efficaciously by the healing visits and smiles of their commander the loss of a weapon or a horse was instantly repaired and each deed of valor was rewarded by the rich and honorable gifts of a bracelet or a collar which were rendered more precious by the judgment of Bellisarius he was endeared to the husband men by the peace and plenty which they enjoyed under the shadow of his standard instead of being injured the country was enriched by the march of the Roman armies and such was the rigid discipline of their camp that not an apple was gathered from the tree not a path could be traced in the fields of corn Bellisarius was chased in sober in the license of a military life none could boast that they had seen him intoxicated with wine the most beautiful captives of gothic or vandal race were offered to his embraces but he turned aside from their charms and the husband of Antonina was never suspected of violating the laws of conjugal fidelity the spectator and historian of his exploits has observed that amidst the perils of war he was daring without rashness prudent without fear slow or rapid according to the exigencies of the moment that in the deepest he was animated by real or apparent hope but that he was modest and humble in the most prosperous fortune by these virtues he equalled or excelled the ancient masters of the military art victory by sea and land attended his arms he subdued Africa, Italy and the adjacent islands led away captives the successors of Gensuric and Theodoric filled Constantinople with the spoils of their palaces and in the space of six years recovered half the provinces of the western empire in his fame and merit in wealth and power he remained without a rival the first of the Roman subjects the voice of envy could only magnify his dangerous importance and the emperor might applaud his own discerning spirit which had discovered and raised the genius of Belisarius it was the custom of the Roman triumphs that a slave should be placed behind the chariot to remind the conqueror of the instability of fortune Procopius in his anecdotes has assumed that servile and ungrateful office the generous reader may cast away the libel but the evidence of facts will adhere to his memory and he will reluctantly confess that the fame and even the virtue of Belisarius were polluted by the lust and cruelty of his wife and that the hero deserved an appellation which may not drop from the pen of the decent historian the mother of Antonina was a theatrical prostitute and both her father and grandfather exercised at Thessalonica and Constantinople the vile though lucrative profession of charioteers in the various situations of their fortune she became the companion the enemy, the servant and the favorite of the emperor Theodora these loose and ambitious females had been connected by similar pleasures they were separated by the jealousy of vice and at length reconciled by the partnership of guilt before her marriage with Belisarius Antonina had one husband and many lovers Photius, the son of her former ineptuals, was of an age to distinguish himself at the siege of Naples and it was not till the autumn of her age and beauty that she indulged a scandalous attachment to a thracian youth Theodosius had been educated in the Aeonomian heresy the African voyage was consecrated by the baptism and auspicious name of the first soldier who embarked and the proselytite was adopted into the family of his spiritual parents Belisarius and Antonina before they touched the shores of Africa this holy kindred degenerated into sensual love and as Antonina soon overleaped the bounds of modesty and caution the Roman general was alone ignorant of his own dishonor During their residence at Carthage he surprised the two lovers in a subterraneous chamber solitary, warm and almost naked anger flashed from his eyes with the help of this young man said the unblushing Antonina I was secreting our most precious effects from the knowledge of Justinian The youth resumed his garments and the pious husband consented to disbelieve the evidence of his own senses This pleasing and perhaps voluntary delusion Belisarius was awakened at Syracuse by the officious information of Macedonia and that female attendant after requiring an oath for her security produced two chamberlains who like herself had often beheld the adulteries of Antonina A hasty flight into Asia saved the odotius from the justice of an injured husband who had signified to one of his guards the order of his death and her artful seductions assured the credulous hero of her innocence and he stooped against his faith and judgment to abandon those imprudent friends who had presumed to accuse or doubt the chastity of his wife The revenge of a guilty woman is implacable and bloody The unfortunate Macedonia with the two witnesses were secretly arrested by the minister of her cruelty their tongues were cut out their bodies were hacked into small pieces and their remains were cast into the sea of Syracuse A rash though judicious saying of Constantine I would sooner have punished the adulterous than the boy was deeply remembered by Antonina and two years later when despair had armed that officer against his general her sanguinary advice decided and hastened his execution Even the indignation of Fotius was not forgiven by his mother The exile of her son and her lover and Theodotius condescended to accept the pressing and humble invitation of the conqueror of Italy In the absolute direction of his household and in the important commissions of peace and war the favorite youth most rapidly acquired a fortune of 400,000 pounds sterling and after their return to Constantine and Opel the passions of Antonina at least continued ardent and unabated But fear, devotion perhaps inspired Theodotius with more serious thoughts He dreaded the busy scandal of the capital and the indiscreet fondness of the wife of Belisarius escaped from her embraces and retiring to Ephesus shaved his head and took refuge in the sanctuary of a monastic life The despair of the new Ariadne could scarcely have been excused by the death of her husband She wept, she tore her hair she filled the palace with her cries and lost the dearest of friends a tender, a faithful a laborious friend But her warm entreaties fortified by the prayers of Belisarius were insufficient to draw the holy monk from the solitude of Ephesus It was not till the general moved forward for the Parthian war that Theodotius could be tempted to return to Constantinople and the short interval before the departure of Antonina herself was boldly devoted to love and pleasure A philosopher may pity and forgive the infirmities of female nature from which he receives no real injury but contemptible is the husband who feels and yet endures his own infamy in that of his wife Antonina pursued her son with implacable hatred and the gallant Fodius was exposed to her secret persecutions in the camp beyond the Tigris Enraged by his own wrongs and the dishonor of his blood he swayed in his turn the sentiments of nature and revealed to Belisarius the turpitude of a woman who had violated all the duties of a mother and a wife From the surprise and indignation of the Roman general his formal credulity appears to have been sincere He embraced the knees of the son of Antonina adjured him to remember his obligations rather than his birth and confirmed at the altar there are holy vows of revenge and mutual defense Antonina was impaired by absence and when she met her husband on his return from the Persian confines Belisarius in his first and transient emotions confined her person and threatened her life Fodius was more resolved to punish and less prompt to pardon he flew to Ephesus extorted from a trusty eunuch of his mother the full confession of her guilt and arrested Theodosius and his treasures in this church of Saint John the Apostle and concealed his captives whose execution was only delayed in a secure and sequestered fortress of Cilicia Cite daring outrage against public justice could not pass with impunity and the cause of Antonina was espoused by the Empress whose favor she had deserved by the recent services of the disgrace of a prefect and the exile and murder of a pope at the end of the campaigns Belisarius was recalled as usual with the imperial mandate his mind was not prepared for rebellion his obedience however adverse to the dictates of honor was consonant to the wishes of his heart and when he embraced his wife at the command and perhaps in the presence of the Empress the tender husband was disposed to forgive or to be forgiven the bounty of Theodora reserved for her companion a more precious favor I have found, she said my dearest patrician a pearl of inestimable value it has not been viewed by any mortal eye but the sight and possession of this jewel are destined for my friend as soon as the curiosity and impatience of Antonina were kindled the door of a bed chamber was thrown open and she beheld her lover whom the diligence of the eunuchs had discovered in his secret prison her silent wonder burst into passionate exclamations of gratitude and joy and she named Theodora her queen her benefactress and her savior the monk of Ephesus was nourished in the palace with luxury and ambition but instead of assuming as he was promised the command of the Roman armies Theodosius expired in the first fatigues of an amorous interview the grief of Antonina can only be assuaged by the sufferings of her son a youth of consular rank and a sickly constitution was punished without a trial like a malefactor and a slave yet such was the constancy of his mind that Photeus sustained the tortures of the scourge and the rack without violating the faith which he had sworn to Bellisarius after this fruitless cruelty the son of Antonina while his mother feasted with the empress was buried in her subterraneous prisons which admitted not the distinction of night and day he twice escaped to the most venerable town of Constantinople the churches of St. Sophia and of the Virgin but his tyrants were insensible of religion and of pity and the helpless youth amidst the clamors of the clergy and people was twice dragged from the altar to the dungeon his third attempt was more successful at the end of three years the prophet Zechariah or some mortal friend indicated the means of an escape he eluded the spies and guards he preached the holy sepulcher of Jerusalem embraced the profession of a monk and the abbot Photeus was employed after the death of Justinian to reconcile and regulate the churches of Egypt the son of Antonina suffered all that an enemy can inflict her patient husband imposed on himself the more exquisite misery of violating his promise and deserting his friend in the succeeding campaign Bellisarius was again sent he saved the east but he offended Theodora and perhaps the emperor himself the malady of Justinian had countenanced the rumor of his death and the Roman general on the supposition of that probable event spoke the free language of a citizen and a soldier his colleague Muses who concurred in the same sentiments lost his rank, his liberty and his health by the persecution of the empress but the disgrace of Bellisarius was created by the dignity of his own character and the influence of his wife who might wish to humble but could not wish to ruin the partner of her fortunes even his removal was colored by the assurance that the sinking state of Italy would be retrieved by the single presence of its conqueror but no sooner had he returned alone and defenseless than a hostile commission was sent to the east to seize his treasures incriminate his actions the guards and veterans who followed his private banner were distributed among the chiefs of the army and even the eunuchs presumed to cast lots for the partition of his martial domestics when he passed with the small and soared retinue through the streets of Constantinople his forlorn appearance excited the amazement and compassion of the people Justinian and Theodora received him with cold in gratitude the servile crowd with insolence and contempt and in the evening he retired with trembling steps to his deserted palace an indisposition feign or real had confined Antonina to her apartment and she walked disdainfully silent in the adjacent portico while Belisarius threw himself on his bed and expected in an agony of grief and terror the death which he had so often braved under the walls of Rome long after sunset a messenger was announced from the Empress he opened with anxious curiosity the letter which contained the sentence of his fate you cannot be ignorant how much you have deserved my displeasure I am not insensible of the services of Antonina to her merits and intercession I have granted your life and permit you to retain a part of your treasures which might be justly forfeited to the State let your gratitude where it is due be displayed not in words but in your future behavior I know not how to believe or to relate the transports with which the hero is said to have received this ignominious pardon he fell prostrate before his wife he kissed the feet of his saviour and he devoutly promised to live the grateful and submissive slave of Antonina a fine of 120,000 pounds sterling was levied on the fortunes of Belisarius and with the office of count or master of the royal stables he accepted the conduct of the Italian war at his departure from Constantinople his friends and even the public were persuaded that as soon as he regained his freedom he would renounce his dissimulation and that his wife Theodora and perhaps the emperor himself would be sacrificed to the just revenge of a virtuous rebel their hopes were deceived and the unconquerable patience and loyalty of Belisarius appear either below or above the character of a man and of Chapter 41 Part 6 Establishment of the Lombards On the Danube Tribes and inroads of the Sclavonians Origen, Empire and embassies of the Turks The Flight of the Avars Chosros the First or Nisirvin King of Persia His prosperous reign and wars with Romans The Kokian or Lastic War The Ethiopians Our estimate of personal merit is relative to the common faculties of mankind The aspiring efforts of genius or virtue either in active or speculative life are measured not so much by their real elevation as by the height to which they ascend above the level of their age and country and the same stature which in people of giants would pass unnoticed must appear conspicuous in a race of pygmies. Leonidas and his 300 companions devoted their lives at Thermopylae but the education of the infant the boy and the man had prepared and almost ensured this memorable sacrifice and each Spartan would approve rather than admire an active duty of which himself and eight thousand of his fellow citizens were equally capable The great Pompey might inscribe on his trophies that he had defeated in battle two millions of enemies and reduced 1500 cities from the lake Mayotus to the Red Sea but the fortune of Rome and its eagles the nations were oppressed by their own fears and the invincible legions which he had commanded had been formed by the habits of conquest and the discipline of ages In this view the character of Belisarius may be deservedly placed above the heroes of the ancient republics His imperfections flowed from the contagion of the times His virtues were his own the free gift of nature or reflection He raised himself without a master and so inadequate were the arms committed to his hand that his sole advantage was derived from the pride and presumption of his adversaries Under his command the subjects of Justinian often deserved to be called Romans but the un-war-like appellation of Greeks was imposed as a term of reproach by the haughty Goths who affected to blush that they might dispute the kingdom of Italy with a nation of tragedy, panemimes and pirates The fact of Asia has indeed been found less congenial than that of Europe to military spirit Those populist countries were innervated by luxury despotism and superstition and the monks were more expensive and more numerous than the soldiers of the East The regular force of the empire had once amounted to 645,000 men It was reduced in the time of Justinian to 150,000 and this number, large as it may seem was thinly scattered over the sea and land in Spain and Italy, in Africa and Egypt on the banks of the Danube the coast of the Yucsin and the frontiers of Persia The citizen was exhausted yet the soldier was unpaid His poverty was mischievously soothed by the privilege of repeating an indolence and the tardy payments were detained and intercepted by the fraud of those agents who usurp without courage or danger the emoluments of war public and private distress recruited the armies of the state but in the field and still more in the presence of the enemy their numbers were always defective The want of national spirit was supplied by the precarious faith and disorderly service of barbarian mercenaries Even military honor which has often survived the loss of virtue and freedom was almost totally extinct The generals who were multiplied beyond the example of former times labored only to prevent the success or to sully the reputation of their colleagues and they had been taught by experience that if merit sometimes provoked the jealousy, error, or even guilt would obtain the indulgence of a gracious emperor In such an age the triumphs of Bilisarius and afterwards of Narciss shine with incomparable lustre but they are encompassed with the darkest shades of disgrace While the lieutenant of Justinians subdued the kingdoms of the Goths and Vandals, the emperor timid though ambitious balanced the forces of the barbarians fomented their divisions by flattery and falsehood and invited by his presence and liberality the repetition of injuries The keys of Carthage, Rome, and Ravenna were presented to their conqueror while Antioch was destroyed by the Persians and Justinian trembled for the safety of Constantinople Even the Gothic victories of Bilisarius were prejudicial to the state since they abolished the important barrier of the upper Danube which had been so faithfully guarded by Theodoric and his daughter For the defense of Italy the Goths evacuated Pannonia and Noricum which they left in peaceful and flourishing condition the sovereignty was claimed by the emperor of the Romans the actual possession was abandoned On the opposite banks of the Danube the plains of Upper Hungary and the Transylvanian Hills were possessed since the death of Attila by the tribes of the Gepidae who respected the Gothic arms and despised not indeed the gold of the Romans but the secret motive of their annual subsidies The vacant fortifications of the river were instantly occupied by these barbarians their standards were planted on the walls of Sirmium and Belgrade The chronicle tone of their apology aggravated this insult on the majesty of the empire So extensive O. Caesar are your dominions so numerous are your cities that you are continually seeking for nations to whom either in peace or in war you may relinquish these useless possessions The Gepidae are your brave and faithful allies and if they have anticipated your gifts they have shown a just confidence in your bounty by the mode of revenge which Justinian embraced Instead of asserting the rights of a sovereign for the protection of his subjects the emperor invited a strange people to invade and possess the Roman provinces between the Danube and the Alps and the ambition of the Gepidae was checked by the rising power and fame of the Lombards This corrupt appellation has been diffused in the 13th century by the merchants and bankers the Italian prosperity of the warriors but the original name of Legobards is expressive only of the peculiar length and fashion of their beards I am not disposed either to question or to justify their Scandinavian origin nor to pursue the migrations of the Lombards through unknown regions and marvelous adventures About the time of Augustus and Trajan a ray of historic light breaks on the darkness of their antiquities and they are discovered for the first time between the Elba and the odor Fierce, beyond the example of the Germans they delighted to propagate the tremendous belief that their heads were formed like the heads of dogs and that they drank the blood of their enemies whom they vanquished in battle The smallness of their numbers was recruited by the adoption of their bravest slaves and alone, amidst their powerful neighbors they defended by arms their high spirited independence In the tempests of the north where so many names and nations this little bark of the Lombards still floated on the surface they gradually descended towards the south and the Danube and at the end of four hundred years they again appear with their ancient valor and renown Their manners were not less ferocious The assassination of a royal guest was executed in the presence and by the command of the king's daughter who had been provoked by some words of insult and disappointed by his diminutive stature and a tribute, the price of blood was imposed upon the Lombards by his brother, the king of the Heruli Adversity revived a sense of moderation and justice and the insolence of conquest was chastised by the signal defeat and irreparable dispersion of the Heruli who were seated in the southern provinces of Poland The victories of the Lombards recommended them to the friendship of the emperors and at the solicitations of the Justinian they passed the Danube to reduce, according to their treaty the cities of Noricum and the fortresses of Pannonia But the spirit of Rapines soon tempted them beyond these ample limits They wandered along the coast of the Hadriatic as far as Deraquium and presumed with familiar rudeness to enter the towns and houses of the Roman allies and to seize the captives who had escaped from their audacious hands These acts of hostility as it might be pretended of some loose adventurers were disowned by the nation and excused by the emperor but the arms of the Lombards were more seriously engaged by a contest of thirty years which was terminated only by the extirpation of the Gepide The hostile nations often pleaded their cause before the throne of Constantinople and the crafty Justinian to whom the barbarians were almost equally odious pronounced a partial and ambiguous sentence and dexterously protected the war by slow and ineffectual suckers Their strength was formidable since the Lombards who sent into the field several myriads of soldiers still claimed as the weaker side the protection of the Romans Their spirit was intrepid yet such is the uncertainty of courage that the two armies were suddenly struck with a panic they fled from each other and the rival kings remained with their guards in the midst of an empty plane A short truce was obtained but their mutual resentment again kindled and the remembrance of their shame rendered the next encounter more desperate and bloody Forty thousand of the barbarians perished in the decisive battle which broke the power of the Gepide transferred the fears and wishes of Justinian and first displayed the character of Albion the youthful prince of the Lombards and the future conqueror of Italy The wild people who dwelled or wandered in the plains of Russia Lithuania and Poland might be reduced in the age of Justinian under the two great families of the Bulgarians and the Sclavonians According to the Greek writers the former who touched the Yuxin and the Lake Meotis derived from the Huns their name or descent and it is needless to renew the simple and well known picture of tartar manors They were bold and dexterous archers who drank the milk and feasted on the flesh and indefagable horses whose flocks and herds followed or rather guided the motions of their roving camps to whose inroads no country was remote or impervious and who were practiced in flight though incapable of fear The nation was divided into two powerful and hostile tribes who pursued each other with fraternal hatred They eagerly disputed the friendship or rather the gifts of the emperor and the distinctions which nature had fixed between the faithful dog and the rapacious wolf was applied by an ambassador who received only verbal instructions from the mouth of his illiterate prince The Bulgarians of whatever species were equally attracted by Roman wealth They assumed a vague dominion over the Sclavonian name and their rapid marches could only be stopped by the Baltic sea or the extreme cold and poverty of the north But the same race of Sclavonians appears to have maintained in every age the possession of the same countries Their numerous tribes however distant or adverse used one common language It was harsh and irregular and were known by the resemblance of their form which deviated from the swarthy tartar and approached without attaining the lofty stature and fair complexion of the German 4600 villages were scattered over the provinces of Russia and Poland The forests were hastily built of rough timber in a country deficient both in stone and iron Erected or rather concealed in the depth of forests on the banks of rivers or on the edges of morasses we may not perhaps without flattery compare them to the architecture of the beaver which they resembled in a double sense to the land and water for the escape of the savage inhabitant an animal less cleanly less diligent and less social and more marvelous quadruped The fertility of the soil rather than the labor of the natives supplied the rustic plenty of the sclavonians Their sheep and horned cattle were large and numerous and the fields which they sowed with millet or panic afforded in place of bread, a course and less nutritive food The incessant repeen of their neighbors compelled them to bury this treasure in the earth but on the appearance of a stranger it was freely imparted by a people character as qualified by the epithets of chased, patient and hospitable As their supreme god they adored an invisible master of the thunder The rivers and the nymphs obtained their subordinate honors and the popular worship was expressed in vows and sacrifice The sclavonians disdained to obey a despot, a prince or even a magistrate but their experience was too narrow their passions too headstrong to follow the law or general defense Some voluntary respect was yielded to age and valor but each tribe or village existed as a separate republic and all must be persuaded where none could be compelled They fought on foot almost naked and except an unwieldy shield without any defensive armor their weapons of offense were a bow a quiver of small poisoned arrows and a long rope which they dexterously threw from a distance and entangled their enemy in a running noose In the field the sclavonian infantry was dangerous by their speed, agility and hardiness They swam, they dived, they remained underwater drawing their breath through a hollow cane and a river or lake was often the scene of their unsuspected ambuscade But these were the achievements of spies or stragglers The military art was unknown to the sclavonians Their name was obscure and their conquests were inglorious I have marked the faint and general outline of the sclavonians and Bulgarians without attempting to define their intermediate boundaries which were not accurately known or respected by the barbarians themselves Their importance was measured by their vicinity to the empire and the level country of Moldova and Wallachia was occupied by the aunties a sclavonian tribe which swelled the titles of Justinian with an epithet of conquest Against the aunties he erected the fortifications of the lower Danube and labored to secure the alliance of a people seated in the direct channel of northern inundation an interval of 200 miles between the mountains of Transylvania and the Yuxin Sea But the aunties wanted power and inclination to stem the fury of the torrent and the light-armed sclavonians from a hundred tribes pursued with almost equal speed the footsteps of the Bulgarian horse The payment of one piece of gold for each soldier procured a safe and easy retreat through the country of the Gepide who commanded the passage of the upper Danube The hopes or fears of the barbarians, their intense union or discord, the accident of a frozen or shallow stream the prospect of harvest or vintage the prosperity or distress of the Romans were the causes which produced the uniform repetition of annual visits tedious in the narrative and destructive in the event The same year and possibly the same month in which Ravenna surrendered was marked by the invasion of the Huns or Bulgarians so dreadful that it almost effaced the memory of their past inroads They spread from the suburbs of Constantinople to the Ionian Gulf destroyed 32 cities or castles erased Potidaea, which Athens had built and Philip had besieged and repass the Danube dragging at their horses' heels 20,000 of the subjects of Justinian In a subsequent inroad they pierced the walls of Thracian Chersonesis, extirpated the habitations and the inhabitants boldly traversed the Hell's Pond and returned to their companions laden with the spoils of Asia Another party, which seemed a multitude in the eyes of the Romans penetrated without opposition from the Straits of Thermopylae to the Isthmus of Corinth and the last ruin of Greece to the Minut for the attention of history The works which the Emperor raised for the protection but at the expense of his subjects served only to disclose the weakness of some neglected part and the walls which by flattery had been deemed impregnable were either deserted by the garrison or scaled by the barbarians 3,000 Sclavonians who incidentally divided themselves into two bands discovered the weakness and misery of Rome and the Helbrus vanquished the Roman generals who dared to oppose their progress and plundered with impunity the cities of Illyricum and Thrace each of which had arms and numbers to overwhelm their contemptible assailants Whatever praise the boldness of the Sclavonians may deserve it is sullied by the wanton and deliberate cruelty which they are accused of exercising on their prisoners Without distinction of rank or age or sex the captives were either killed alive or suspended between four posts and beaten with clubs till they expired or enclosed in some spacious building and left to perish in the flames with the spoil and cattle which might impede the march of these savage victors Perhaps a more impartial narrative would reduce the number and qualify the nature of these horrid acts and they might sometimes be excused by the cruel laws of retaliation In the siege of Torperus whose obstinate defense had enraged the Sclavonians they massacred 15,000 males but they spared the women and children the most valuable captives were always reserved for labor or ransom the servitude was not rigorous and the terms of their deliverance were speedy and moderate but the subject or the historian of Justinian exhaled his just indignation in the language of complaint and reproach and Procopius has confidently affirmed that in a reign of 32 years each annual in-road was consumed 200,000 of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire the entire population of Turkish Europe which nearly corresponds with the provinces of Justinian would perhaps be incapable of supplying six millions of persons the result of this incredible estimate In the midst of these obscure calamities Europe felt the shock of revolution which first revealed to the world the name and nation of the Turks like Romulus the founder of that marshal people was suckled by a she-wolf who afterwards made him the father of a numerous progeny and the representation of that animal in the banners of the Turks preserved the memory or rather suggested the idea of a fable which was invented without any mutual in-course by the shepherds of Ladium and those of Scythia at the equal distance of 2,000 miles from the Caspian the icy, the Chinese and the Bengal seas the mountains is conspicuous the center and perhaps the summit of Asia which in the language of different nations has been styled Emmaus and Cuff and Alti and the Golden Mountains and the girdle of the earth the sides of the hills were productive of minerals and iron forges for the purpose of war were exercised by the Turks the most despised portion of the slaves of the great Khan of the Gogan but their servitude could last a leader, bold and eloquent should arise to persuade his countrymen that the same arms which they forged for their masters might become in their own hands the instruments of freedom and victory they sallied from the mountains a scepter was the reward of his advice and the annual ceremony in which a piece of iron was heated in the fire and a smith's hammer was successively handled by the prince and his nobles recorded for ages the humble profession and the national pride of the Turkish nation Bertizena their first leader signaled their valor and his own in successful combats against the neighboring tribes but when he presumed to ask in marriage the daughter of the great Khan the insolent demand of a slave and a mechanic was contemptuously rejected the disgrace was expiated by a more noble alliance with a princess of China and the decisive battle which almost extirpated the nation of Gogan established in Tartary a more powerful empire of the Turks they reigned over the north but they confessed the vanity of conquest by their faithful attachment to the mountain of their fathers the royal encampment seldom lost sight of Mount Altai from whence the river Artis descends to water the rich pastures of the cowmux which nourished the largest sheep and oxen in the world this soil is fruitful and the climate mild and temperate the happy region was ignorant of earthquake and pestilence the emperor's throne was turned towards the east and a golden wolf on the top of a spear seemed to guard the entrance of his tent one of the successors of Bertizena was tempted by the luxury and superstition of China but his design of building cities and temples was defeated by the simple wisdom of a barbarian counselor the Turks he said are not equal in number to one hundredth part of the inhabitants of China if we balance their power and include their armies it is because we wander without any fixed habitations in the exercise of war and hunting are we strong we advance and conquer are we feeble, we retire and are concealed should the Turks confine themselves within the walls of cities the loss of a battle would be the destruction of their empire the Bonzas preach only patience humility and the renunciation of the world such a king is not the religion of heroes they entertained with less reluctance the doctrines of Zoroaster but the greatest part of the nation acquiesced without inquiry in the opinions or rather in the practice of their ancestors the honors of sacrifice were reserved for the supreme deity they acknowledged in rude hymns their obligations to the air, the fire the water and the earth and their priests derived some profit from the art of divination their unwritten laws were rigorous and impartial theft was punished with a tenfold restitution adultery, treason and murder with death and no chastisement could be inflicted too severe for the rare and inexpeable guilt of cowardice as the subject nations marched under the standard of the Turks their cavalry, both men and women were proudly computed by millions one of their effective armies consisted of 400,000 soldiers and in less than 50 years they were connected in peace and war with the Romans the Persians and the Chinese in their northern limits some vestige may be discovered of the form and situation of Kamchatka of a people of hunters and fishermen whose sledges were drawn by dogs and whose habitations were buried in the earth the Turks were ignorant of astronomy but the observation taken by some learned Chinese with a nomen of 8 feet fixes the royal camp in the latitude of 49 degrees and marks their extreme progress within 3 or at least 10 degrees of the polar circle among their southern conquest the most splendid was that of the Nephthalites or white huns a polite and warlike people who possessed the commercial cities of Bokhara and Samarkand who had vanquished the Persian monarch and carried their victorious arms along the banks and perhaps to the mouth of the Indus on the side of the west the Turkish cavalry advanced to the lake Mayotis they passed that lake on the ice the Khan who dwelt at the foot of Mount Altai issued his commands for the siege of Bosphorus a city in the voluntary subject of Rome and whose princes had formally been friends of Athens to the east the Turks invaded China as often as the vigor of the government was relaxed and I am taught to read in the history of the times that they mowed down their patient enemies like hemp or grass and that the mandarins applauded the wisdom of an emperor who repulsed these barbarians with golden lances this extent of savage empire compelled the Turkish monarch to establish three subordinate princes of his own blood who soon forgot their gratitude and allegiance the conquerors were innervated by luxury which is always fatal except to an industrious people the policy of China solicited the vanquished nations to resume their independence and the power of the Turks was limited to a period of 200 years the revival of their name and dominion in the southern countries of Asia are the events of a later age and the dynasties which succeeded to their native realms may sleep in oblivion since their history bears no relation to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire End of Chapter 42 Part 1 Chapter 42 Part 2 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 4 This is a Librivox recording all Librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librivox.org The decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 4 by Edward Gibbon Chapter 42 The State of the Barbaric World Part 2 In the rapid career of conquest the Turks attacked and subdued the nation of the Ogars or Varkhanites on the banks of the river Till which derived the epithet of black from its dark water or gloomy forests The Ogars were slain with 300,000 of its subjects and their bodies were scattered over the space of four days' journey Their surviving countrymen acknowledged the strength and mercy of the Turks and a small portion, about 20,000 warriors perverted exile to servitude They followed the well-known road of the Volga cherished the error of the nations who confounded them with the Abars and spread the terror of that false though famous appellation by its lawful proprietors from the Yoke of the Turks After a long and victorious march the new Abars arrived at the foot of Mount Caucasus in the country of the Illini and Circassians where they first heard of the splendor and weakness of the Roman Empire They humbly requested their confederate the Prince of the Illani to lead them to this sort of riches and their ambassador with the permission of the governor of La Zika was transported by the Yuxing Sea to Constantinople The whole city was poured forth to behold with curiosity and terror the aspect of a strange people Their long hair, which hung in tresses down their backs was gracefully bound with ribbons but the rest of their habit appeared to imitate the fashion of the Huns When they were admitted to the audience of Justinian Candish, the first of the ambassadors addressed the Roman Emperor in these terms You see before you, O mighty Prince the representatives of the strongest nations, the invincible the irresistible Avars We are willing to devote ourselves to your service We are able to vanquish and destroy all the enemies who now disturb your repose But we expect, as the price of our alliance as the reward of our valor precious gifts, annual subsidies and fruitful possessions At the time of this embassy Justinian had reigned above 30 He had lived above 75 years His mind, as well as his body was feeble and languid and the conqueror of Africa and Italy careless of the permanent interest of his people, aspired only to end his days in the bosom even of inglorious peace In a studied oration he imparted to the senate his resolution to disassemble the insult and to purchase the friendship of the Avars and the whole senate, like the Mandarin's of China, applauded the incomparable wisdom and foresight of their sovereign They were immediately prepared to captivate the barbarians, silken garments soft and splendid beds and chains and collars encrusted with gold The ambassadors, content with such liberal reception departed from Constantinople and Valentin, one of the emperor's guards was sent with a similar character to their camp at the foot of Mount Caucasus As their destruction or their success must alike be advantageous to the empire he persuaded them to invade the enemies of Rome and they were easily tempted by gifts and promises to gratify their ruling inclinations These fugitives, who fled before the Turkish arms, passed the Teneis and Boristhenes and boldly advanced into the heart of Poland and Germany, violating the law of nations and abusing the rights of victory Before ten years had elapsed their camps were seated on the Danube and the Elbe Many Bulgarian and Slavonian names were obliterated from the earth However of their tribes are found as tributaries and vassals under the standard of the Abars The Chegin, the peculiar title of their king, still affected to cultivate the friendship of the emperor and Justinian entertained some thoughts of fixing them in Pannonia to balance the prevailing power of the Lombards But the virtue or treachery of an Abar betrayed the secret enmity and ambitious designs of their countrymen and they loudly complained of the timid though jealous policy of detaining their ambassadors and denying the arms which they had been allowed to purchase in the capital of the empire Perhaps the apparent change in the dispositions of the emperors may be ascribed to the embassy which was recede from the conquerors of the Abars The immense distance which eluded their arms could not extinguish their resentment The Turkish ambassadors pursued the footsteps of the vanquished to the Yike the Volga, Mount Caucasus the Yukseen and Constantinople The length appeared before the successor of Constantin to request that he would not espouse the cause of rebels and fugitives Even commerce had some share in this remarkable negotiation and the Sogdoites who were now the tributaries of the Turks embraced the ferrication of opening by the north of the Caspian a new road for the importation of Chinese silk into the Roman empire The Persian who preferred the navigation of Ceylon had stopped the caravans of Bokhara and Samarkand Their silk was contemptuously burnt Some Turkish ambassadors died in Persia with the suspicion of poison and the great Khan permitted his faithful vassal, Manayek the prince of the Sogdoites to propose at the Byzantine court a treaty of alliance against their common enemies Their splendid apparel and rich presence the fruit of oriental luxury distinguished Manayek and his colleagues from the rude savages of the north Their letters in the Cithian character and language announced to people who had attained the rudiments of science They enumerated the conquests They offered the friendship in military aid of the Turks and their sincerity was attested by direful implications if they were guilty of falsehood against their own head and the head of disable their master The Greek prince entertained with hospitable regard the ambassadors of a remote and powerful monarch The sight of silkworms and looms disappointed the hopes of the Sogdoites who seemed to renounce the fugitive avars but he accepted the alliance of the Turks and the ratification of the treaty was carried by a Roman minister to the foot of Mount Altai Under the successors of Justinian the friendship of the two nations was cultivated by frequent and cordial intercourse The most favored vassals were permitted to imitate the example of the great Khan and 106 Turks who on various occasions had visited Constantinople at the same time for their native country The duration and length of the journey from the Byzantine to Mount Altai are not specified It might have been difficult to mark a road through the nameless deserts, the mountains rivers and morasses of tartary but a curious account has been preserved of the reception of the Roman ambassadors at the royal camp After they had been purified with fire and incense, according to a rite still practiced under the sons of Genghis they were introduced to the presence of the Roman Emperor In a valley of the Golden Mountain they found the great Khan in his tent seated in a chair with wheels to which a horse might be occasionally harnessed As soon as they had delivered their presence which were received by the proper officers they exposed in a florid oration the wishes of the Roman Emperor that victory might attend the arms of the Turks that their reign might be long and prosperous and that a strict alliance without envy or deceit might forever be maintained by the few most powerful nations of the earth The answer of Disable corresponded with these friendly professions and the ambassadors receded by his side at a banquet which slashed the greater part of the day The tent was surrounded with silk hangings and a tartar liquor was served on the table which possessed at least the intoxicating qualities of wine The entertainment of the succeeding day was more sumptuous The silk hangings of the second tent were embroidered in various figures and the royal seat, the cups and the vases were of gold A third pavilion was supported by columns of gilt wood A bed of pure and massy gold was raised on four peacocks of the same metal and before the entrance of the tent dishes, basins, and statues of solid silver and admirable art were ostentatiously piled in wagons the monuments of valor rather than of industry When Disable led his armies against the frontiers of Persia his Roman allies followed many days the march of the Turkish camp nor were they dismissed till they had enjoyed their presidency over the envoy of the great king whose loud and intemperate clamors interrupted the silence of the royal banquet The power and ambition of Chosros cemented the union of the Turks and Romans who touched his dominions on either side but those distant nations, regardless of each other, consulted the dictates of interest without recollecting the obligations of oaths and treaties While the successor of Disable celebrated his father's obsequies he was saluted by the ambassadors of the emperor Tiberius who proposed an invasion of Persia and sustained with firmness the angry and perhaps the just reproaches of the haughty barbarian You see my ten fingers said the great Khan and he applied them to his mouth You Romans speak with as many tongues but they are tongues of deceit and perjury To me you hold one language and the subject's another and the nations are successively deluded by your perfidious eloquence You precipitate your allies into war and danger You enjoy their labors and you neglect your benefactors hasten your return inform your master that a Turk is incapable of uttering or forgiving falsehood and that he shall speedily meet the punishment which he deserves While he solicits my friendship with flattering and hollow words he is sunk to a confederate Condescente march against those contemptible slaves they will tremble at the sound of our whips they will be trampled like a nest of ants under the feet of my innumerable cavalry I am not ignorant of the road which they have followed to invade your empire nor can I be deceived by the vain pretense that Mount Caucasus is the impregnable barrier of the Romans I know the course of the Nester the Danube and the Hebris the most war-like nations have yielded to the arms of the Turks and from the rising to the setting sun the earth is my inheritance notwithstanding this menace a sense of mutual advantage soon renewed the alliance of the Turks and Romans but the pride of the great Khan survived his resentment and when he announced an important conquest to his friend, the Emperor Maurice he styled himself the master of the seven races and the lord of the seven climates of the world disputes have often arisen between the sovereigns of Asia for the title king of the world the test has proved that it could not belong to either of the competitors the kingdom of the Turks was bound by the auxis or Gihan and Toran was separated by that great river from the rival monarchy of Iran or Persia which in a similar compass contained perhaps a larger measure of power and population the Persians who alternately invaded and repulsed the Turks and Romans were still ruled by the house of Sasan which ascended the throne 300 years before the accession of Constantinian his contemporary, Cavities or Kobad, had been successful in war against the emperor Anastasius but the reign of that prince was distracted by civil and religious troubles a prisoner in the hands of his subjects an exile among the enemies of Persia he recovered his liberty by prostituting the honor of his wife and regained his kingdom with the dangerous and mercenary aid of the barbarians who had slain his father the peoples were suspicious that Kobad never forgave the authors of his expulsion or even those of his restoration the people was diluted and inflamed by the fanaticism of Mazdak who asserted the community of women and the equality of mankind whilst he appropriated the richest lands and most beautiful females to the use of his sectaries the view of these disorders which had been fomented by his laws and example embittered the declining age and his fears were increased by the consciousness of his design to reverse the natural and customary order of succession in favor of his third and most favored son so famous under the names of Chosros and Nisheirvin to render the youth more illustrious in the eyes of the nations Kobad was desirous that he should be adopted by the emperor Justin the hope of peace inclined the Byzantine court to accept this singular proposal and Chosros might have acquired a specious claim to the inheritance of his Roman parent but the future mischief was diverted by the advice of the questor Proclus a difficulty was started whether the adoption should be performed as a civil or military right the treaty was abruptly dissolved and the sense of this indignity sunk deep into the mind of Chosros who had already advanced to the Tigris on his road to Constantinople his father did not long survive the disappointment of his wishes the testament of their deceased sovereign was read in the assembly of the nobles and a powerful faction prepared for the event and regardless of the priority of age exalted Chosros to the throne of Persia he filled that throne during a prosperous reign of forty-eight years and the justice of Nisheirvin is celebrated as the theme of immortal praise by the nations of the east but the justice of kings is understood by themselves and even by their subjects with an ample indulgence for the gratification of passion and interest the virtue of Chosros was that of a conqueror who in the measures of peace and war is excited by ambition and restrained by prudence who confounds the greatness with the happiness of a nation and calmly devotes the lives of thousands to the fame or even the amusement of a single man in his domestic administration the just Nisheirvin would merit in our feelings the appellation of a tyrant his two elder brothers had been deprived of their fair expectations of the diadem their future life between the supreme rank and the condition of subjects was anxious to themselves and formidable to their master fear as well as revenge might tempt them to rebel the slightest evidence of a conspiracy satisfied the author of their wrongs and the repose of Chosros was secured by the death of these unhappy princes with their families and adherents one guiltless youth was saved and dismissed by the compassion of a veteran general and this act of humanity which was revealed by his son overbalanced the merit of reducing twelve nations to the obedience of Persia the zeal and prudence of mebetis had fixed the diadem on the head of Chosros himself but he delayed to attend the royal summons till he had performed the duties of a military review he was instantly commanded to repair to the iron tripod which stood before the gate of the palace where it was death to relieve or approach the victim and mebetis languished several days before his sentence was pronounced by the inflexible pride and calm ingratitude of the son of Kobad but the people more especially in the east is disposed to forgive and even to applaud the cruelty which strikes at the loftiest heads at the slaves of ambition whose voluntary choice has exposed them to live in the smiles and to perish by the frown of a capricious monarch in the execution of the laws which he had no temptation to violate in the punishment of crimes which attacked his own dignity as well as the happiness of individuals Nashirvin or Chosros deserved the appellation of just his government was firm rigorous and impartial it was the first labor of his reign to abolish the dangerous theory of common or equal possessions the lands and women which the sectaries of Mazdaq has usurped were restored to their lawful owners the temperate chastisement of the fanatics or imposters confirmed the domestic rights of society instead of listening with blind confidence to a favorite minister he established four viziers over the four great provinces of his empire Assyria, Medea, Persia and Bactriana in the choice of judges, prefects and counselors he strove to remove the mask which is always worn in the presence of kings he wished to substitute the natural order of talents for the accidental distinctions of birth and fortune he professed in specious language his intention to prefer those men who carried the poor in their bosoms and to banish corruption from the seat of justice as dogs were excluded from the temples of the Magi the code of the laws of the first Artaxerces was revived and published as the rule of the magistrates but the assurance of speedy punishment was the best security of their virtue their behavior was inspected by a thousand their words were overheard by a thousand years the secret or public agents of the throne and the provinces from the Indian to the Arabian confines were enlightened by the frequent visits of a sovereign who affected to emulate his celestial brother in his rapid and salutary career education and agriculture he viewed as the two objects most deserving of his care in every city of Persia, orphans and the children of the poor were retained and instructed at the public expense the daughters were given in marriage to the richest citizens of their own rank and the sons, according to their different talents were employed in mechanic trades or promoted to more honorable service the deserted villages were relieved by his bounty to the peasants and farmers who found incapable of culting their land he distributed cattle, seed and the instruments of husbandry and the rare and inestimal treasure of fresh water was parsimoniously managed and skillfully dispersed over the arid territory of Persia the prosperity of that kingdom was the effect and evidence of his virtues his vices are those of oriental despotism but in the long competition between Troussros and Justinian the advantage both of merit and fortune is almost always on the side of the barbarian to the praise of justice Nashirvan united the reputation of knowledge and the seven Greek philosophers who visited his court were invited and deceived by the strange appearance that a disciple of Plato was seated on the Persian throne did they expect that a prince strenuously exercised in the toils of war and government should agitate with dexterity like their own the obtuse and profound questions which amused the ledger of the schools of Athens could they hope that the precepts of philosophy should direct the life and control the passions of a despot whose infancy had been taught to consider his absolute and fluctuating will was the only rule of moral obligation the studies of Troussros were ostentatious and superficial but his example awakened the curiosity of an ingenious people and the light of science was diffused over the dominions of Persia at Gandhi's Sapor in the neighborhood of the royal city of Susa an academy of physics was founded which insensibly became a liberal school of poetry philosophy and rhetoric the annals of the monarchy were composed while recent and authentic history might afford some useful lessons both to the prince and people the darkness of the first ages was embellished by the giants, the dragons and the fabulous heroes of oriental romance every learned or confident strager was enriched by the bounty and flattered by the conversation of the monarch he nobly rewarded a Greek physician by the deliverance of three thousand captives and the Sophists who contended for his favor exasperated by the wealth and insolence of Uranius their more successful rival Nashirvan believed or at least respected the religion of the Magi and some traces of persecution may be discovered in his reign yet he allowed himself freely to compare the tenets of the various sects and the theological disputes in which he frequently presided diminished the authority of the priest and enlightened the minds of the people at his command the most celebrated writers of Greece and India were translated into the Persian language a smooth and elegant idiom recommended by Muhammad to the use of paradise though it is branded with the epithets of savage and unmusical by the ignorance and presumption of Agathias yet the Greek historian might reasonably wonder that it should be found possible to execute an entire version of Plato and Aristotle in a foreign dialect which had not been framed to express the spirit of freedom and the subtleties of philosophic disquisition and if the reason of the Staggerite might be equally dark or equally intelligible in every tongue the dramatic art and verbal augmentation of the disciple of Socrates appear to be indissolubly mingled with the grace and perfection of his Attic style in the search of universal knowledge Nashirvan was informed that the moral and political fables of Pilpe and ancient Brockman were preserved with jealous reverence among the treasures of the kings of India the physician Paroses was secretly dispatched to the banks of the Ganges with instructions to procure at any price the communication of this valuable work his dexterity obtained a transcript his learned diligence accomplished the translation and the fables of Pilpe were read and admired in the assembly of Nashirvan and his nobles the Indian original and the Persian copy have long since disappeared but this venerable monument has been saved by the curiosity of the Arabian caliphs revived in modern Persia the Turkish, the Syriac, the Hebrew and the Greek idioms and transfused through successive versions into the modern languages of Europe in their present form the peculiar character, the manners and religions of the Hindus are completely obliterated and the intrinsic merit of the fables of Pilpe is far inferior to the concise elegance of Phaedrus and the native graces of Lafontaine fifteen moral and political sentences are illustrated in a series of apologies but the composition is intricate the narrative prolex and the precept obvious and barren yet the Brockman may assure the merit of inventing a pleasing fiction which adorns the nakedness of truth and alleviates perhaps to a royal ear the harshness of instruction with similar design to admonish kings that they are strong only in the strength of their subjects the same Indians invented the game of chess which was likewise introduced into Persia under the reign of Nisirvan End of Chapter 42 Part 2