|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
CHAPTER III
BIRTH AND FORTUNES OF THE ELDER JUSTIN.
THE ORIGINS OF JUSTINIAN
THE function of a government is to administer the affairs
of mankind in accordance with the spirit of the age. Not from the political
arena, but from the laboratory emanates that expansion of knowledge
which surely, though fitfully, changes the aspect and methods of civilization
both in peace and war. An impulse which controls the passions of millions
may originate with some obscure investigator who reveals a more immediate
means to individual or national advantage; and the executive of government
is called on to create legislative facilities for the utilization of
the new discovery. During the modern period such influences have been
continuous and paramount. In the course of a single century a transformation
of the world has been achieved by fruitful research, greater than in
all previously recorded time. The Georgian era contrasts less strongly
with the times of Aristotle and Cicero than with the present day; and
the rapid progress of the nineteenth century almost throws the age of
Johnson and Gibbon into the shadow of medievalism.
Far back in the prehistoric past a bridge was thrown
across the chasm which separates savage from civilized life by the discovery
of a process for the smelting of metallic ore; and the birth of all
the arts may be dated from the time when some primitive race passed
from the age of stone into that of bronze or iron. To the ancient world
that first step in science must have appeared also to be the last; and
ages rolled away during which man learned no more than to employ effectively
the materials thus acquired. If the expectation that diligent research
may be rewarded by some signal increase of knowledge be excluded from
the sphere of human activity, individual aspirations must be restricted
to whatever is social and national; and those desirous of distinction
have no choice but to devote themselves to art or politics. Within these
channels were confined the energies of the people of antiquity; in some
states the leading characteristic was civic adornment; in others the
cultivation of martial efficiency; to rise to despotic power was the
usual ambition of a democratic statesman; to attain to an imperial position
that of a flourishing state. Wars of aggression were constantly undertaken,
and defensive wars uniformly became so whenever superiority was manifested.
Such conflicts in the past have had no permanent influence on the advancement
of mankind; and from time to time have been equally conducive to the
spread of civilization or barbarism. During the classical period the
arts and learning of Athens were attendant on the success of the Grecian
or the Roman arms; in the Middle Ages the Goth, the Hun, the Saracen,
and the Tartar closed in on the Roman Empire and nullified the work
of those enlightened nations. At the present day the advance of civilization,
though independent of conquest, is often hastened by aggression; and
there seems no likelihood that it will ever again recede from a territory
where it has once been established. At all times scarcity of the necessaries
of life, real or conventional, tends to initiate a contest; nor is it
possible to foresee an age when, in the absence of a struggle for existence,
the world will subside into a condition of perpetual peace.
In the sixth century, among the Byzantines, the public
mind was still oppressed with a sense of the supreme importance of religion.
That orthodox Christianity must prevail remained the passion of the
day; and in the view of each dissentient sect their creed alone was
orthodox. Hence government became an instrument of hierarchy, politics
synonymous with sectarianism, and the chief business of the state was
to eradicate heresy. Medievalism was created by this spirit; in the
East the Emperor became a pope; in the West the Pope was to become a
sovereign. The conception of being ruled from the steps of an altar
was foreign to the genius of classical antiquity, and Christianity almost
effected a reversal of the political spirit of the ancient world.
In the midsummer of 518 occurred the death of Anastasius,
one of the few capable and moderate Emperors whom the Byzantines produced.
Although imbued with a heresy by his mother, and zealous for its acceptance,
he refrained from persecution, and declared that he would not shed a
drop of blood to effect the removal of his
ecclesiastical opponents. All his efforts were conciliatory, and he
would have obliterated disunion in the Church if his influence could
have induced fanaticism to accord in the Henoticon of Zeno. He dealt impartially with the Demes, but inclined slightly
to one faction, the Green, in formal compliance with traditional usage
in the Circus. He relieved oppressive taxation, restrained extravagance,
and, though practising thrift, responded liberally to every genuine
application. His administration was much admired by those who were free
from sectarian prejudice; and even the bigoted adherents of the Chalcedonian
synod cannot avoid being eulogistic when recounting some of his measures.
Within the Byzantine province of Dardania,
to the south of modern Servia, was situated the municipal town of Scupi, in a plain almost contained by a mountainous amphitheatre,
consisting of the Scardus chain, and its connections
with the greater ranges of Pindus and Haemus. Among its dependent villages,
lying along the banks of the Axius or Vardar,
the river of the plain, were the hamlets of Bederiana and Tauresium. Under Roman rule the language
and manners of Latium became indigenous to this region; and, although
the barbarians in their periodical inroads poured through the passes
of Scardus on the north-west to spread themselves over Thrace
and Macedonia, the Latinized stock still maintained its ground in the
fifth century. Throughout the Empire it was a usual practice for sons
of the free peasantry to abandon agricultural penury, and, without a
change of clothing, provided only with a wallet containing a few days
provisions, to betake themselves on foot to the capital, in the hope
of chancing on better fortune' About the year 470, when Leo the Thracian
occupied the throne, a young herdsman of Bederiana,
bearing the classical name of Justin, resolved on this enterprise, and
arrived at Constantinople with two companions whose lot had been similar
to his own. There they presented themselves for enlistment in the army,
and, as the three youths were distinguished by a fine physique, they
were gladly accepted, and enrolled among the palace guards. Two of them
are lost to our view for ever afterwards in the obscurity of a private
soldier's life, but Justin, though wholly illiterate, entered on a successful
military career. At the end of a score of years he reappears under Anastasius,
with the rank of a general, and intrusted with a subordinate command
in the Isaurian war. A decade later he is again heard of among those
who prosecuted the siege of Amida, which led
to its recovery from the Persians; and before the death of the Emperor
he becomes conspicuous at headquarters, with the dignities of a Patrician,
a Senator, and of Commander of the household troops. While holding this
office he was also deputed to a command at sea, and took an active part in repelling the naval attack of Vitalian.
During the vicissitudes of his life in the camp, Justin
remained unmarried and childless, but he became the purchaser of a barbarian
captive, named Lupicina, whom he retained
as a concubine, and never afterwards repudiated. While, however, he
was rising to a position of importance and affluence, he was not unmindful
of those relatives from whom he had separated at his native place. At Tauresium dwelt a sister, the wife of one Sabbatius, and the mother of two children, a son and a daughter.
As soon as young Sabbatius, for the nephew
of Justin bore his father's name, had arrived at a suitable age, he
was invited to the capital by his uncle, who became his guardian, and
had him educated in a manner befitting a youth of high rank. On the
completion of his studies, it was natural that Sabbatius should be claimed for military service, wherein his guardian's influence
was centred, and he was drafted forthwith into the ranks of the Candidati or bodyguards of the Emperor. Finally Justin
legally adopted Sabbatius and in token of
the fact the latter assumed the derivative name of Justinian.
On the death of Anastasius, as at his accession, the
Grand Chamberlain appeared to be master of the situation. But the chief
eunuch of the day, Amantius, was less influential
than his predecessor, Urbicius, who, with
the Empress Ariadne as an ally, had invested the popular silentiary with the purple; and the means he devised to ensure the acceptance of
his candidate were the actual cause of his rejection. He decided to
bribe the palace guards to proclaim his favourite, Count Theocritus,
and placed a large sum of money in the hands of Justin for that purpose,
but the procedure only served to render those soldiers conscious of
their power to elect an emperor, and they immediately acclaimed their
own commandant as the fittest occupant of the throne. The venerable
Justin, for he was now long past three score, did not decline; the Senate
bowed to the nomination of the guards, and the former herdsman took
his place in line with the successors of Augustus.
The Emperor Justin was a rude soldier, devoid of administrative
capacity except in relation to military affairs, and so illiterate that
he could only append his sign-manual to a document by passing his pen
through the openings in a plate perforated so as to indicate the first four letters of his name. After his coronation he
married Lupicina; and the populace, while accepting her as his consort,
renamed her Euphemia. On his accession Justin promoted his nephew to
the rank of Patrician and Nobilissimus; and
Justinian became so closely associated with his uncle that he was generally
regarded as the predominant partner in ruling the state. But the Emperor
was jealous of his authority, and when the Senate petitioned that the
younger man should be formally recognized as his colleague, he grasped
his robe and answered, "Be on your guard against any young man
having the right to wear this garment". Owing to the suddenness
of their elevation both princes were ignorant of the routine of government,
a circumstance which rendered the position of Proclus, the Quaestor
or private adviser of the crown, peculiarly influential during this
reign.
The first act of Justin, who adhered to the orthodox
creed, was to reverse the temporizing religious policy of Anastasius;
and he at once prepared an edict to render the Council of Chalcedon
compulsory in all the churches. Amantius,
Theocritus, and their party saw in this measure an opportunity of disputing
the unforeseen succession, the overthrow of which they were eager to
accomplish. A conspiracy was hastily organized, and the malcontents
assembled in one of the principal churches, where they entered on a
public denunciation of the new dynasty. The movement, however, was ill
supported, and Justin with military promptness seized the chiefs of
the opposition, executed several, including the eunuch and his satellite,
and banished the others to some distant part. The edict was then issued and a ruthless persecution instituted against all recalcitrants throughout the Asiatic provinces, where ecclesiastics
of every grade professing the monophysite heresy were put to death in great numbers. At the same time the Emperor
recalled those extremists whom Anastasius had been unable to mollify
and restored them to their former or to similar appointments. One danger still remained which might at any moment subvert the newly
erected throne; the powerful Vitalian was
at large, apparently, if not in reality, master of the forces in Thrace
and Illyria. Emissaries were therefore dispatched to him with an invitation
to reside at Constantinople as the chief military supporter of the government.
He accepted the proposals, stipulating that an assurance of good faith
should previously be given with religious formalities. The parties met
in the church of St. Euphemia, at Chalcedon, and there Justin, Justinian,
and Vitalian pledged themselves to each other
with solemn oaths while they partook of the Christian sacraments. The
rebel general was, however, too weighty a personage to subside into
the position of a tame subordinate, and his masterful presence threatened
to nullify the authority of the Emperor and his nephew. His ascendancy
was endured for more than a twelve month, and the consulship of 520
was conceded to him. But while he celebrated the games in the Hippodrome
popular enthusiasm in his favour rose to a dangerous height. The Court
became alarmed, and a hasty resolution was arrived at to do away with
him. In the interval of the display he repaired to the palace with two
of his lieutenants to be entertained at a collation, and on entering
the banqueting hall they were attacked by a company of Justinian's satellites,
and Vitalian fell pierced with a multitude
of wounds. Shortly afterwards Justinian succeeded to his place and was
created a Master of Soldiers, with the virtual rank of commander-in-chief
of the Imperial forces. The next year he was raised to the consulship
and, in order to consolidate his popularity, he determined to signalize
the occasion by those lavish festivities which were recorded from time
to time among the wonders of the age. But times had changed since the
Roman public might be edified or disgraced by those spectacles in which
human and animal combatants fought to the death, in mimic land and sea
warfare or hunting encounters, to the number of many thousands; and
the chronicler, in referring to a half-hundred of lions and leopards, evolutions of mail-clad horses, and an increased
largess of scattered coin, in addition to the usual races, bear-baiting,
and theatrical shows, thinks he indicates sufficiently how far the Consul
of the day surpassed the ordinary expectations of the Byzantine populace.
Having finally won over the capital by these gratifications, Justinian
in his military capacity departed on a tour for the inspection of garrisons
and fortresses throughout the East. During this period he made the palace of Hormisdas his official residence.
The reign of Justin was uneventful politically, the age
of the Autocrator and his incapacity for state
affairs precluding the initiation of any reforms of importance; whilst,
although the foreign relations of the Empire were often in a state of
tension, no considerable hostilities were undertaken. At home official
activity was chiefly engrossed with the planning of police precautions
for the repression of sedition. During three or four years all the chief
cities were agitated by the turbulence of the Blue faction, which sought
to suppress their rivals of the Green by stoning, assassination, and
wrecking of their dwellings. At length, in 523, the rioters were subdued
by the appointment of special Praefects, whose severity of character
did not shrink from making the culprits pay the extreme penalty of the
law. With its neighbours of the East and West the Empire might have
existed at this period on terms of perfect amity but for the disturbing
influence of religion. Incensed at Justin's oppressive treatment of
the Arians, Theodoric, the Gothic king, declared that he would exterminate
the Catholics in Italy if freedom of belief were not granted to his
co-religionists; and he compelled Pope John I to lead an embassy to
Constantinople with the object of pleading the cause of those heretics
at the Byzantine court. John, the first of his line to visit New Rome,
was received with enthusiasm by the orthodox Emperor; but, if the head
of the Western Church urged his appeal with sincerity, Justin at least
proved obdurate, and no concession to the Arians could be extorted from
his bigotry. The Pope returned to Ravenna, the regal seat of the barbarian
king, to expiate his abortive mission by being incarcerated for the
last few months of his life; and the death of Theodoric shortly afterwards,
before he had time to execute his threats, saved Italy from becoming
the scene of brutal reprisals.
The interspace between the Caspian Sea and the Euxine,
the modern Transcaucasia, was inhabited by semi-savage races, over whom
Rome and Persia preferred almost equal claims to suzerainty. A perpetual
source of friction between the two powers in this region arose from
the necessity of guarding the Caspian Gates, now the Pass of Darial,
a practicable gorge through the Caucasus, often traversed by the Scythian
hordes when carrying their devastations to the south. Alexander is said
to have blocked the entry with an iron barrier, and subsequently the
pass was kept by the Romans until the Sassanian dynasty became predominant
in those parts. The utility to both nations, however, of maintaining
the defence, caused the Persians, after the collapse of Julian’s expedition,
to demand that the Romans should share the expense. Theodosius I bought off the claims, but by the time of Anastasius a Hunnish king, in friendly league with that emperor, had obtained possession
of the forts. On his death they passed to the Persians, with the consent
of Anastasius, who engaged vaguely to contribute annually. Justin tried
to evade this payment, but the Persian monarch declined to be put off,
and, as often as the Emperor fell into arrears, proceeded to recover
the amount by distraint. His chosen bailiff, whenever he put in an execution,
was a ferocious sheik of the Saracens, named Alamundar, who raided Syria up to the walls of Antioch, massacring
the population indiscriminately, and holding captives of substance against
their being replevied by the Romans. On one occasion he burst into the
city of Emesa, and finding there four hundred virgins congregated in a church,
he sacrificed them all on the same day to Al Uzza, the Arabian Venus.
In two states of the Caucasian region, both under kingly
rule, Christianity had gained a footing about the time of Constantine.
Lazica, previously Colchis, the subject of heroic legends, and now Mingrelia,
occupied the coast of the Black Sea north and south of the river Phasis. On its eastern border, watered by the Cyrus, lay Iberia,
at present known as Georgia. In 522 the young king of the Lazi, alarmed lest the Persian religion should be forced on
him, fled to Constantinople, and prayed for Christian baptism under
the immediate countenance of the Emperor. Justin assented, and not only
sustained him at the sacred font, but afterwards united him to a Roman
wife, the daughter of one of the patricians of his court. Before his
departure Tzathus was formally invested with
ornaments and robes of state, expressly designed to denote the closeness
of his relationship to Justin and to Rome. A letter of remonstrance
against surreptitiously tampering with the allegiance of Persian subjects
soon resulted from these proceedings; but Justin denied their political significance, and dwelt with fanatical insistence
on the exigences of the faith, and the urgency of resisting heathen
error.
The throne of Persia was still occupied by Cavades, and that monarch now began to think seriously of
going to war with Rome. On reviewing his resources he decided to enlist the Hunnish tribes, who
dwelt beyond the Caucasus, as allies against the Empire. One of the
most powerful chiefs agreed to his proposals, and met him by prearrangement
with a large following of his nation, but during the conference messengers
arrived who protested that a short time previously the Hun had been
induced by a large subsidy to pledge his support to the Byzantines,
"We are at peace", said Justin, "and should not allow
ourselves to be duped by these dogs". In reply to an amicable inquiry
the barbarian boasted shamelessly of the circumstance, whereupon Cavades,
convinced of his treachery, at once ordered him to be cut down by his
guards. Forthwith a night attack was secretly planned against his forces,
who, without becoming aware of the author of the calamity, were dispersed
and slain to the number of many thousands.
More friendly counsels now began to prevail with the
Persian, as it occurred to him that he might compose his differences
with the Emperor to his own advantage. He was extremely anxious to secure
the succession to his favourite son Chosroes, to the exclusion of his
two elder brothers. There was reason to fear, however, that on his decease,
by the intervention of the Court or the populace, one of the senior
princes might be raised to the throne. Cavades,
therefore, proposed to Justin that he should adopt Chosroes, considering
that no party would have the temerity to dispute the tiara with a ward
of the Empire. Justin and Justinian were elated at the prospect of exercising
a controlling influence in Persian affairs, but the Quaestor Proclus
quickly intervened, and by specious arguments, led them to see the matter
in a totally different light. The adoption of the Sassanian prince,
he urged with heat, would convey to him a title to inherit the crown
of the Empire, Justinian might be ousted from the succession, and Justin
would live in dread of being the last of the Roman emperors. An evasive
course was resolved on, and a commission was dispatched to meet the
Persian delegates in the vicinity of Nisibis. Chosroes himself advanced
to the Tigris in the expectation of being escorted to Constantinople
by the Roman envoys. The representatives of the two nations met without
cordiality, and the Persians, contrary to their instructions, began
by taunting the Byzantines with having usurped their rights in Lazica.
The Romans then announced that the Emperor could not adopt a foreigner
with legal formalities, but only by an act of arms, such as was customary
among barbarians. The suggestion was taken as a deliberate insult by
the Persians; the colloquy came to an end abruptly, and Chosroes returned
to his father, vowing vengeance against the Romans.
It was now evident that war at no distant date could
scarcely be averted, but a further embroilment with respect to religion
provoked overt hostilities, which rendered a positive conflict inevitable.
Having experienced that defection to Rome was a natural sequence of
Christianity being promulgated in his dependencies, Cavades determined to enforce Magism among the Iberians. But, at the first intimation,
the king of that people made an earnest appeal to Justin,
and prepared to take up arms in defence of his faith. The Emperor
responded by sending two of his generals, provided with a large sum
of money, to levy auxiliaries for the Iberians, among the Huns who inhabited
the northern shores of the Euxine. Such was the practical overture to
a war with Persia, which was to last for several years, without any
appreciable gain to either side. During the reign of Justin, however,
hostilities were carried on in a desultory manner, and no battle of
any magnitude was fought. Military detachments were told off to ravage
Persian territory to the north, in the vicinity of the frontier. They
were opposed by similar bands of the enemy, and from time to time indecisive
skirmishes took place. As to Iberia, that country was abandoned for
the time being, the forces raised being insufficient to withstand the
Persian host, and the king with all the native magnates retreated into
Lazica by a narrow pass, called the Iberian Gates, which was then fortified
by a Byzantine garrison. During these operations the first mention occurs
of some names which became associated later on with the most notable events in the annals of the age. An advance into Persarmenia was conducted by two young officers,
specially deputed by Justinian, named Sittas and Belisarius. After the lapse of a few months (in
527) the latter was transferred to a more important command at Daras. There, among the civil members of his staff, he received
the future historian Procopius as his legal adviser or assessor. About
the same time occurred the death of Justin, whose reign lasted for nine
years and a few weeks.
If the sea of politics remained comparatively unruffled
in Justin's time, nature made amends for the lack of excitement by showing
herself physically in her most active mode. His reign opened with the
appearance of a remarkable comet, the most dreaded portent of impending
disaster. Nor were the forebodings belied, as the provinces on both
continents were afflicted progressively with violent earthquakes, intensified
by volcanic phenomena. In Europe, Dyrrachium,
the birthplace of Anastasius, recently adorned by him at great cost,
was overthrown; and Corinth shortly after experienced a similar fate.
In Asia, Anazarbus, the capital of Cilicia,
suffered; the central half of Pompeiopolis sunk into the earth; and Edessa was ruined by a flood of the river Scirtus. The withdrawal of large sums from the Imperial treasury
was entailed by the restoration of these cities. This series of calamities
culminated in the almost total destruction of Antioch, where the seismological disturbances persisted for more
than a year, the eighth of Justin's reign, and upwards of a quarter
of a million of the inhabitants perished. The ground was rifted in all
directions with great gaps which ejected flames; the houses caught fire
or collapsed with their occupants into the yawning chasms; and a hill
of considerable size, overhanging the city, was shattered with such
violence that the streets and buildings in that quarter lay buried beneath
a uniform surface formed by the debris. The preliminary shocks were
generally disregarded, and the climax, which occurred during the dinner
hour, was so sudden and widespread, that the bulk of the population
was overwhelmed before they had a chance to escape. Then only the residue
of the citizens made a rush for the open country, carrying with them
whatever valuables they could seize on in their hasty flight. As soon,
however, as they had arrived at a safe distance, they found themselves
beset by bands of rustics, who had gathered together from every side
in order to plunder the fugitives. Conspicuous among the despoilers
was a certain Thomas, a man with the rank of a silentiary,
and wealthy enough to keep a private guard. Posting himself daily in
a convenient position, he directed his retainers in the operation of
stripping systematically all who came in their way. It is satisfactory
to learn from the contemporary historian that all these wretches were
soon overtaken by a miserable death, as the penalty of their inhumanity;
but as we are assured that, without legal intervention, their retribution
emanated from an indignant providence, which had impelled, or, at least,
lain dormant during the catastrophe, we must conclude that the Nemesis
was desiderated rather than real. The assertion, however, need not be
questioned that the said Thomas died suddenly, to the great joy of the
survivors, on the fourth day of his nefarious enterprise. Great consolation
was also derived from the preternatural appearance of a cross in the
clouds; and all burst into tears and supplications at this signal proof
of the compassion felt for them by a beneficent Deity. In two or three
weeks after the crisis, nature assumed her wonted quiescence, and the
deserted city began to be re-peopled by the returning inhabitants. The
work of restoration at once commenced; and it is recorded that many
persons were then rescued by being dug out of the ruins, under which
they had been buried; among them numbers of women, who in the meantime
had passed safely through the pangs of childbirth. As soon as the news
of the downfall of Antioch was carried to Constantinople, the capital
was thrown into a state of consternation, and all public festivities
for the season of Whitsuntide, which was at hand, were renounced. The
Emperor, discarding all regal pomp, debased himself in sackcloth and
ashes, and led a suppliant procession of the Senate, wearing mourning
garments, to the church of St. John at the Hebdomon.
Commissioners were immediately dispatched with ample funds for reparation,
and the ruined city again became visible on the face of the earth with
a rapidity which, in the words of a writer of the period, gave the impression
that it had reappeared suddenly out of the infernal regions. But the
earthquakes continued and ultimately, as a safeguard against further
visitations of the kind, Antioch was demised to the special care of
the Deity by being renamed Theopolis, or the
City of God.
Nearly all these particulars are due to John Malala, who, from the amount of detail he supplies about
his native city, may be called the historian of Antioch. From him we
learn that the Olympic games continued to be celebrated at Antioch,
but were finally suppressed in 521 by Justin.
The desultory war with Persia was maintained all the
time under the chief command of Licelarius,
a Thracian. But that general, while pushing hostilities over the border
into the vicinity of Nisibis, managed so unskilfully that his whole
forces were seized with a panic and fled back to Roman territory without
ever having sighted an enemy. As an immediate result Licelarius was disgraced and Belisarius promoted to fill his place. The youth,
as he must be called, fulfilled the expectations he inspired and thenceforward
entered on that career of achievement which was to render him the military
hero of his age.
On the 1st of April, 527, Justin formally associated his nephew to the throne, with the rank of Augustus. He lived exactly four months afterwards, and on the 1st of August in the same year the sole reign of Justinian began.
PRE-IMPERIAL CAREER OF THEODORA
|
||
|
|
|
|
|