CHAPTER IX

THE SUCCESSORS OF JUSTINIAN

 

 WITH the death of Justinian we enter on a period of transition. The magnificent dream of extending the Roman Empire to its ancient limits seemed all but realized, for by the campaigns of Belisarius and Narses, Africa, Spain, and Italy had been recovered. But the triumph had crippled the conqueror: already ruinous overdrafts had anticipated the resources which might have safeguarded the fruits of victory. Rome relaxed her grasp exhausted. Time was ringing out the old and ringing in the new. The next century was to fix in broad outlines the bounds within which for the future the empire was to be contained. Now, if we will, the Roman world becomes Byzantine. The secular struggle with Persia ends in the exaltation of the Cross over the worship of the sacred fire, the Sassanids fall before the Arab enthusiasts, and in the East Constantinople must meet changed conditions and an unexpected foe. In the West, while Spain is lost and but a harassed fraction of Italy remains, the outstanding fact is the settlement of the Slav tribes in the lands south of the Danube and their recognition of the overlordship of the Empire. A new Europe and a new Asia are forming: the period marks at once a climax and a beginning.

Accession of Justin II. 565

During his lifetime Justinian had clothed no colleague with the purple, but he had constantly relied upon Justin's counsel, and his intended succession was indicated by his appointment to the post of curopalates. Even on his lonely death-bed the Emperor made no sign, but the senators were agreed. It was their secret that Justinian's days were numbered, and they kept it well, prepared to forestall every rival. Through the long winter night Justin and his consort Sophia, seated at their window, looked over the sea and waited. Before the dawn the message came: the Emperor was dead and the Roman world expected a new monarch. The court poet paints Justin's tears as he refused the throne which the senators offered him—no paternas tristis in exsequias regalia signa recuso; the formalities satisfied, he was easily over persuaded, and walked through the silent city to the palace which was closely guarded by the household troops under the future emperor Tiberius (14 Nov. 565). Later, with the purple over his shoulders and wearing the gems which Belisarius had won from the Goths, Justin was raised aloft on the shield as the elect of the army; then the Church gave its approval: crowned with the diadem and blessed by the patriarch, he turned to the senate—during the old age of his uncle much had been neglected, the treasury exhausted and debts unpaid: all Justinian's thought and care had been set upon the world to come: the Empire shall rejoice to find the old wrongs righted under Justin's sway. In the company of Baduarius his son-in-law, newly appointed curopalates, and escorted by the senate, the Emperor then entered the circus where gifts were distributed, while the populace acclaimed their chosen ruler. The proceedings appear to have been carefully planned: Justin met the debts of those who had lent money to his uncle, and set free all prisoners. At midday he returned to the palace. The last honors to the dead had yet to be paid; in solemn procession, with candles burning and the choir of virgins answering to the chanting of the priests, the embalmed body of Justinian was borne through mourning crowds to its golden sepulcher in the church of the Twelve Apostles. Forthwith the city gave itself to rejoicing in honor of the Emperor's accession: amidst greenery and decorations, with dance and gaiety, the cloud of Justinian's gloomy closing years was dispelled, while Corippus sang, "The world renews its youth."

The In Laudem Justini of this poet laureate is indeed a document of great interest, for it paints the character and policy of Justin as he himself wished them to be portrayed. His conception of his imperial duty was the ideal of the unbending Roman whom nothing could affright. This spirit of exalted self-possession had been shown at its height when the senate was leader of the State, and it was not without a definite purpose that the role of the senate is given marked prominence in the poem of Corippus. Unfortunately for this lofty view of the Empire's task and of the obligations of the nobility, it was precisely in the excessive power of the corrupt aristocracy that the greatest dangers lay. Office was valued as an opportunity for extortion, and riches gained at the expense of the commonwealth secured immunity from punishment. When all the armies of the Empire were engaged in the struggle with Persia, the government was forced to permit the maintenance in the European provinces of bodies of local troops; this was apparently also the case in Egypt, and again and again we see from the pages of John of Nikiou that the command of such military force was employed as an engine of oppression against helpless provincials. An unscrupulous captain would openly defy law and authority, and had no hesitation in pillaging unoffending villagers. While freely admitting that these accounts of the condition of affairs in Egypt hardly justify inferences as to the character of the administration in other parts of the Empire, yet stories related by chroniclers who wrote in the capital suggest that elsewhere also the ordinary course of justice was powerless to prevent an aristocracy of office from pursuing unchecked its own personal advantage. Justin, who scorned to favour either of the popular parties amongst the demes, looked to the nobles to maintain his high standard — and was disappointed. Similar views underlay all his foreign policy: Rome could make no concessions, for concessions were unworthy of the mistress of the world before whom all barbarian tribes must bow in awe. "We will not purchase peace with gold but win it at the sword's point":

Justini nutu gentes et regna tremescunt,

Omnia terrificat rigidus vigor...

—Fastus non patimus.

Here lies the poignant tragedy of his reign. He would have had Rome inspired anew with the high ardours of her early prime; and she sank helpless under the buffets of her foes. For himself his will was that men should write of him:

Est virtus roburque tibi, praestantior aetas,

Prudens consilium, stabilis mens, sancta voluntas,

and yet within a few years his attendants, to stay his frenzied violence, were terrifying him, as a nurse her naughty child, with the dread name of a border sheikh upon the Arabian frontier. It is in fact of cardinal importance to realize that Justin at first shared the faith of Shakespeare's Bastard, "Come the three corners of the world in arms, and we shall shock them."

But if this policy were to be realized there must be no internal dissension and the theological strife of Justinian's last years must be set at rest. In concert with John, his courtier patriarch, Justin strove long and anxiously for union. John the patrician, on his embassy to Persia, was charged with the reconciliation of the Monophysites; exiled bishops were in due course to return to their sees, and Zechariah, archdeacon and court physician, drew up an edict which should heal the divisions between the friends and foes of the Council of Chalcedon. But the fanaticism of the monks at Callinicum defeated John's diplomacy, and the renewed efforts of the Emperor were rendered fruitless when Jacob Baradaeus refused to accept an invitation to the capital. Justin's temper could no longer brook opposition, and in the seventh year of his reign (571-572) he began in exasperation that fierce persecution of the Monophysites which is depicted for us by one of the sufferers in the pages of John of Ephesus.

Such then were the aims and policy of the new monarch. With the haughty pride of a Roman aristocrat, with his ill-timed obstinacy and imperious self-will, Justin flung defiance at his enemies; and he failed to make good the challenge.

Negotiations with Persia. 561-566

Seven days after his accession he gave audience to Targasiz, an Avar ambassador, who claimed the annual payment which Justinian had granted. Did they not merit a reward, the envoy argued, for driving from Thrace the tribes which had endangered the capital? — would it not indeed be perilous to refuse their request? Plea and threat were alike of no avail. Surrounded by the gorgeous pageantry of a court reception, Justin offered the barbarians the choice of peace or war: tribute he would not pay; it were prodigality to lavish on barbarians the gold which the Empire could ill spare. He met their murmurs with immediate action, shipped the Avars across the strait to Chalcedon, and only after six months dismissed them — three hundred strong — to their homes. For a time indeed the Emperor's proud words appeared to have had their effect, but in truth the Avars were busy in Thuringia waging successful war with the Frankish Sigebert; their revenge for Rome's insult was perforce postponed, and Justin was free to turn his attention to the East.

John Comentiolus, who bore to the Persian court the news of Justinian's death and of his nephew's accession, was given instructions to raise the question of Suania. Under the terms of the Fifty Years' Peace which had been concluded between the two empires in 561, Chosroes had agreed to evacuate Lazica; the Romans contended that Suania was part of Lazica and must also be relinquished. Persia had not admitted this construction of the agreement, and the question still remained undecided. Suania indeed was in itself of no particular value; its importance lay in its strategic situation, for through it the Persians could attack the Roman frontier in Colchis. The possession of Suania would secure Rome's position in the east of the Euxine. The embassy was detained upon its journey and John found that Saracen tribesmen who acknowledged Persia's overlordship had arrived before him at the court of Madain; Justinian had granted them money payments on condition that they should not ravage the Roman frontiers, but these payments Justin had discontinued, contending that they were originally voluntary gifts or that, even if they had been made under a binding engagement, the obligation ceased with the death of the giver. The unwisdom of the dead, even though he were an emperor, could not bind the living, and the days of weakness were now past. The Saracen claims were supported by Chosroes, but the matter was allowed to drop, while the Emperor by his envoy expressed his strong desire for peace with Persia and for the maintenance of the treaty between the two peoples. John casually remarked that, if Lazica was evacuated, Suania by right should also fall to Rome. The king apparently accepted this view, but professed himself bound to refer the question to his ministers. The latter were willing to yield the territory for a price, but added conditions so humiliating to the Empire that John felt himself unable to accept the proposed terms. The king's counselors in fact sought by diplo­matic delays to force Rome to take action in Suania, so that they might then object that the people themselves refused to be subject to the Empire. The plan succeeded, and John foolishly entered into correspondence with the king of Suania. By this intervention Persia had secured a subject for negotiation, and now promised that an ambassador should be sent to Constantinople to discuss the whole situation. Justin disgraced his envoy, and Zich, who, besides bearing the congratulations of Persia, was charged with proposals as to Suania, was stopped at Nisibis. Justin returned thanks for the greetings of Chosroes, but stated that as to any other matters Rome could not admit discussion. On Zich's death Mebodes was sent to Constantinople, and with him came the Saracen chiefs for whom he craved audience. Justin shewed himself so arbitrary and unapproachable that Mebodes, though abandoning his patronage of the Saracens, felt that no course was open to him save to ask for his dismissal. The question of Suania was not debated, and Ambros, the Arab chieftain, gave orders to his brother Camboses to attack Alamoundar, the head of the Saracen tribesmen who were allied to Rome. From the detailed account of these negotiations given by Menander the reader already traces in Justin's overbearing and irritable temper a loss of mental balance and a willful self-assertion which is almost childish in its unreasoning violence.

War with the Avars. 565-568

Meanwhile the Emperor could not feel secure so long as his cousin Justin, son of the patrician Germanus, was at the head of the forces on the Danube, guarding the passes against the Avars; the general was banished to Alexandria and there assassinated. It seems probable that Justin's masterful wife was mainly responsible for the murder. About the same time Aetherius and Addaeus, senators and patricians, were accused of treason and executed (3 Oct. 5661).

In the West the influence of the quaestor of the palace, Anastasius (a native of Africa), would naturally direct the Emperor's attention to that province. Through the praefect Thomas, peace was concluded with the Berber tribesmen and new forts were erected to repel assaults of the barbarians. But these measures were checked  by the outbreak of hostilities in Europe between the Lombards and the Gepids. In the war which ensued the Lombards gained the advantage, and the Gepids then sought to win the alliance of Justin by the splendor of their gifts. Baduarius, commanding in Scythia and Moesia, received orders to aid Kunimund, and the Roman forces won a victory over Alboin. The latter, looking around for allies in his turn, appealed to Baian, the Khagan of the Avars, who had just concluded a peace with Sigebert. The Lombards, Alboin urged, were fighting not so much against the Gepids as against their ally Justin, who but recently had refused the tribute which Justinian had conceded. Avars and Lombards united would be irresistible: when Scythia and Thrace were won, the way would be open for an attack upon Constantinople. Baian at first declined to listen to the Lombard envoys, but he finally agreed to give his assistance on condition that he should at once receive one-tenth of all the animals belonging to the Lombards, that half the spoil taken should be his, and that to him should fall the whole territory of the conquered Gepids. The latter were accused before Justin by a Lombard embassy of not having kept the promises which had been the price of the Roman alliance; this intervention secured the neutrality of the Emperor.

We know nothing of the struggle save its issue; the Gepids were defeated on the Danube and driven from their territory, while Kunimund was slain. But his grandson, Reptilanis carried the royal treasure in safety to Constantinople, while it would seem that the Roman troops occupied Sirmium before the Avars could seize the city. Justin dispatched Vitalian, the interpreter, and Komitas as ambassadors to Baian. They were kept in chains while the Avar leader attacked Bonus in Sirmium: this city, Baian claimed, was his by right; it had been in the hands of the Gepids, and should now devolve upon him as spoils of the victory. At the same time he offered conditions of peace which were remarkable for their extreme moderation — he only demanded a silver plate, some gold, and a Scythian toga; he would be disgraced before his allies if he went empty-handed away. These terms Bonus and the bishop of Sirmium felt that they had no authority to accept without the Emperor's approval. For answer Baian ordered 10,000 Kotrigur Huns to cross the Save and ravage Dalmatia, while he himself occupied the territory which had formerly belonged to the Gepids. But he was not anxious for war, and there followed a succession of attempts at negotiation; the Roman generals on the frontier were ready to grant the Avar's conditions, but the autocrat in the capital held fast to his doctrinaire conceptions of that which Rome's honor would not allow her to concede. Targitius and Vitalian were sent to Constantinople to demand the surrender of Sirmium, the payment to Baian of sums formerly received from Justinian by the Kotrigur and Utigur Huns who were now tributary to the Avars, and the delivery of the person of Usdibad, a Gepid fugitive. The Emperor met the proposals with high-sounding words and Bonus was bidden to prepare for war. No success can have attended the Roman arms, for in a second embassy Targitius added to his former demands the payment of arrears by the Empire. Bonus was clearly incapable, argued Justin, and Tiberius was accordingly sent to arrange terms. After some military successes, it would seem, he concurred with Apsich in a proposal that land should be furnished by the Romans for Avar settlement, while sons of Avar chieftains should be pledges for the good faith of their fellow-countrymen. Tiberius went to Constantinople to urge the acceptance of these terms, but Justin was not satisfied: let Baia surrender his own sons as hostages, he retorted, and once more dispatches to the officers in command ordered vigorous and aggressive action. Tiberius returned to be defeated by the Avars, and when yet another mission reached the palace, the Emperor realized that the honor of Rome must give place to the argument of force. Peace was concluded, and the Avars retired (end of 570 ?). The course of the negotiations throws into clear relief the views and aims of Justin, while the experience thus gained by Tiberius served to mould his policy as emperor.

568-570] The Turkish Embassy

For the rest of the reign the East absorbed the whole energy of the State. In order to understand clearly the causes which led to the war with Persia it is necessary to return to the year 568, when Constantinople was visited by an embassy from the Turks. This people, who had only recently made their appearance in Western Asia, had some ten years before overthrown the nation of the Ephthalites and were now themselves the leading power in the vast stretch of country between China and Persia. The western Chinese kingdom was at times their tributary, at other times their ally; with a vision of the possibilities which their geographical position offered they aspired to be the intermediaries through whose hands should pass the commerce of West and East. Naturally enough they first appealed to Persia, but the counsels of a renegade Ephthalite prevailed: the Turks were, he urged, a treacherous people, it would be an evil day for Persia if she accepted their alliance. Dizabul however, Khan of the Western Turks under the suzerainty of the great Mokan, only relinquished the project when he discovered that the members of a second embassy had been poisoned by Persian treachery. Then it was that his counselor Maniach advised that envoys should be sent to the Roman capital, the greatest emporium for the silk of China. It was a remarkable proposal; the emperors had often sought to open up a route to the East which would be free from Persia's interference — Justinian, for example, had with this object entered into relations with the Ethiopian court — but no great success had attended their efforts, and now it was a Turk who unfolded a scheme whereby the products of East and West should pass and re-pass without entering Persian territory, while the Turks drew boundless wealth as the middlemen between China and Rome. Obviously such a compact would not be acquiesced in by Persia, but Persia was the common foe: Turk and Roman must form an offensive and defensive alliance. Rome was troubled in her European provinces by the raids of Avar tribes and these tribesmen were fugitives from the Turk : Roman and Turk united could free the Empire from the scourge. Such was the project. The attitude of Rome's ministers was one of benevolent interest. They desired in­formation but were unwilling to commit themselves; an embassy was accordingly dispatched to assure Dizabul of their friendship, but when the Khan set off upon a campaign against Persia, Zemarchus with the Roman forces began the long march back to Constantinople.' On the journey he was forced to alter his route through fear of Persian ambushes in Suania; suspicions were clearly already aroused and it would seem that for a time the negotiations with the Turks were dropped. More than this was needed to induce Chosroes to declare war.

In 571 Persian Armenia revolted and appealed to the Empire. It would seem that Justin had been attempting to force upon his Armenian subjects acceptance of the orthodox Chalcedonian doctrine, and Chosroes in turn, on the advice of the magi, determined to impose the worship of the sacred fire upon the whole of Persarmenia. The Surena with 2000 armed horsemen was sent to Dovin with orders to establish a fire temple in the city. The Catholicos objected that the Armenians, though paying tribute to their Persian overlord, were yet free to practice their own religion. The building of the temple was however begun in spite of protests, but ten thousand armed Armenians implored the Surena to lay the matter before Chosroes, and in face of this force he was compelled to withdraw. Meanwhile, it appears, the Armenians had secured from Justin a promise that they would be welcomed within the boundaries of the Empire, and that religious toleration would be granted them. On the return of the Surena in command of 15,000 men with directions to carry into execution the original design, 20,000 Armenians scattered the Persian forces and killed the Surena, and his severed head was carried to the patrician Justinian who was in readiness on the frontier at Theodosiopolis. At the same time the Iberians, with their king Gorgenes, went over to the Romans. The fugitives were well received ; the nobles were given high positions and estates, while the Roman province was excused three years' tribute.

Justin determines on war with Persia. 572-575

It was just at this time (571-572) that a new payment to Persia fell due under the terms of the peace of 561-562, Chosroes having insisted that previous installments should be paid in advance. Sebocthes arrived (probably early in 572) to remind the Emperor of his obligations. In the judgment of Chosroes it was to Persia's present advantage that the peace should remain unbroken. The disagreeable question of Suania was shelved for the time, and Rome's claims were quietly ignored. Sebocthes preserved a studied silence in relation to the disturbances in Armenia and, when Justin mentioned that country, even appeared willing to recognize the rights of the Christian inhabitants. On dismissal, however, he was warned by the Emperor that if a finger was raised against Armenia it would be regarded as a hostile act. Justin indeed seems to have been anxious to force Persia to take the aggressive. He chose this moment of diplomatic tension to send the magistrianus Julian on a mission to Arethas, then reigning in Abyssinia over the Axumite kingdom. The envoy persuaded Arethas to break faith with his Persian suzerain, to send his merchandise through the country of the Homerites by way of the Nile to Egypt and to invade Persian territory. At the head of his Saracens the king made a successful foray, and dismissed Julian with costly gifts and high honor. Evidently Justin considered that Chosroes was only waiting until the Roman gold had been safely received, and that he would then declare war on the first favorable opportunity.

The Emperor determined to strike the first blow. The continuance of the peace entailed heavy periodical payments, and throughout his reign Justin was consistently opposed to enriching the Empire's enemies at the expense of the national treasury. Though the subsidies paid to Persia were to be devoted to the upkeep of the northern forts and the guarding of the passes against eastern invaders, it was easy for any unkindly critic to represent them as tribute paid by Rome to her rival. Again Justin had welcomed the Turkish overtures: the power which had overthrown the Ephthalites would, he thought, be a formidable ally in the coming struggle. Further, through the mistakes in diplomacy of his own envoy, Suania had remained subject to Chosroes, and it was now additionally necessary that the country should belong to the Empire, since Persian ambushes rendered insecure the trade route to Turkish territory from which so much was hoped. But above all the capital had been deeply stirred by the oppression of the Armenians: Justin was resolved to champion their cause and, as a Christian monarch, to challenge the persecutor in their defense. When the ambassadors of the Frankish Sigebert returned to Gaul early in 575 they were full of the sufferings of the Armenians ; it was to this cause, they told Gregory of Tours, that the war with Persia was due.

The Fall of Dara. 569-574

The decisive step was taken in the late summer of 572 when, without warning, Marcianus, a first cousin of the Emperor on his mother's side, invaded Arzanene. Justin had given orders for an immediate attack on Nisibis, but precious time was wasted in fruitless negotiations with the Persian marzipan, while Chosroes was informed of the danger, Nisibis victualled and the Christians expelled. Very early in 573 Marcianus, at the head of troops raised from Rome's Caucasian allies, won some slight successes, but dispatches from the capital insisted on the immediate investment of Nisibis; the army encamped before the city at the end of April 573. The Emperor however, suspecting his cousin's loyalty, appointed Acacius Archelaus as his successor. Although Nisibis was about to capitulate, the new commander on his arrival brutally overthrew the tent and standard of Marcianus, while the general himself with rude violence was hurried away to Dara. The army, thinking itself deserted, fled in wild confusion to Mardes, while Chosroes, who had hastened to relieve Nisibis, now advanced to besiege Dara. At the same time Adarmaanes marched into the defenseless province of Syria, captured Antioch, Apamea, and other towns, and rejoined Chosroes with a train of 292,000 prisoners. After an investment of more than five months, on 15 Nov. 573, Dara fell through the negligence or treachery, men said, of John, son of Timostratus. The city had been regarded as impregnable; men seeking security in troublous times had made it the treasure house of the Roman East, and the booty of the victors was immense.

On the news of this terrible disaster Justin ordered the shops to be shut and all trade to cease in the capital; he himself never recovered from the shock, but became a hopeless and violent imbecile. It seems that for five years (presumably since 569) Justin had been ailing and suffering from occasional mental weakness, but it was now clear that he was quite incapable of managing the Empire's affairs. Through the year 574 the Empress in concert with Tiberius, the comes excubitorum, carried on the government. They were faced with a difficult problem : Rome had been the aggressor, could she be the first to propose terms of peace? Persia however intervened, and sent a certain Jakobos, who knew both Greek and Persian, to conclude a treaty. Rome, Chosroes argued, could not be further humbled: she must accept the victor's conditions. The letter was sent to the Empress owing to Justin's incapacity, and it was her reply that Zacharias bore to the Persian court. Rome would pay 45,000 nomismata (metal value about £25,000) to secure peace for a year in the East, though Armenia was not included in this arrangement. If the Emperor recovered, a plenipotentiary should be sent to determine all matters in dispute and to end the war. But Justin did not recover, and by the masterful will of the Empress, Tiberius was adopted as the Emperor's son and created Caesar in the presence of the patriarch John and of the officials of the Court (Friday, 7 Dec. 574). It was a scene which deeply impressed the imagination of contemporary historians. Justin in a pathetic speech confessed with sincere contrition his failure, and in this brief interval of unclouded mental vision warned his successor of the dangers which surrounded the throne.

Policy of Tiberius II. 574

Tiberius, his position now established, at once busied himself with the work of reorganization. His assumption of power marks a change of policy which is of the highest importance. The new Caesar, himself by birth a Thracian, had seen service on the Danube, and realized that from the military standpoint the intransigent imperialism of Justin was too heroic an ideal for the exhausted Empire. Years before he had approved of terms of peace which would have given the Avars land on which to settle within Rome's frontiers. Greek influence was everywhere on the increase; at all costs it was the Greek-speaking Asiatic provinces which must be defended and retained. Persia was the formidable foe and it was her rivalry which was the dominating factor in the situation. Tiberius had indeed with practical insight comprehended Rome's true policy. Syrian chroniclers of a later day rightly appreciated this: to them Tiberius stands at the head of a new imperial line, they know him as the first of the Greek emperors. But if in his view the Empire, though maintaining its hold on such bulwark cities as Sirmium, was in the future to place no longer its chief reliance on those European provinces from which he had himself sprung, the administration must scrupulously abstain from arousing the hostility of the eastern nationalities: religious persecution must cease and it must be unnecessary for his subjects to seek under a foreign domination a wider tolerance and a more spacious freedom for the profession of their own faith. The Monophysites gratefully acknowledged that during his reign they found in the Emperor a champion against their ecclesiastical oppressors. This was not all: there are hints in our authorities which suggest that he regarded as ill-timed the aristocratic sympathies of Justin, and strove to increase the authority of the popular elements in the State. It is possible that the demesmen, suppressed by Justinian after the Nika sedition and cowed by Justin, owed to the policy of Tiberius some of the influence which they exercised towards the close of the reign of Maurice. Even at the risk of what might be judged financial improvidence, the autocrat must strive to win the esteem, if not the affection, of his subjects. Tiberius forthwith remitted a year's taxation and endeavored to restore the ravages which Adarmaanes had inflicted on Syria. At the same time he began to remodel the army, attracting to the service of the State sturdy barbarian soldiers wherever such could be found.

The Persian Flight from Melitene [575-577

Obviously the immediate question was the state of affairs in the East. In the spring of 575 Tiberius sent Trajan, quaestor and physician, with the former envoy Zacharias to obtain a cessation of hostilities for three years both in the East and Armenia; if that was not possible, then in the East excluding Armenia. Persia however insisted that no truce could be granted for any less period than five years, and the ambassadors therefore consented, subject to the approval of the Emperor, to accept a truce of five years in the East alone, Rome undertaking to pay annually 30,000 gold nomismata. These terms Tiberius rejected: he wanted a truce for two years if possible, but in no event would he accept an agreement which would tie his hands for more than three years: by that time he hoped to be able successfully to withstand Persia in the field. At last Chosroes agreed to a three years' treaty which was only to affect the East and was not to include Armenia. Meanwhile, before the result of the negotiations was known, Justinian, son of the murdered Justin, was appointed general of the East. Early in the summer, however, Chosroes with unexpected energy marched north and invaded Armenia; Persarmenia returned to its allegiance, and by way of the canton of Bagrevand he advanced into the Roman province and encamped before Theodosiopolis. This city, the key of Persarmenia and Iberia, he resolved to capture, and thence to proceed to Caesarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia. The siege, however, was soon abandoned, and near Sebaste the Persians met the Roman army under Justinian, who had now assumed command in Armenia. Personal jealousies paralyzed the action of the imperial troops, and the enemy was thus able to capture and burn Melitene. Then the fortune of war turned. Chosroes was forced to flee across the Euphrates and, with the Romans in hot pursuit, only escaped with great loss over the mountains of Karcha. Justinian followed up this advantage by spending the winter on Persian soil. His troops pillaged and plundered unchecked, and in the spring of 576 he took up his position on the frontier.

The shame of the flight from Melitene was a severe shock to Persian pride, and there seemed every prospect that now at last peace would be concluded. At Athraelon, near Dara, Mebodes met Rome's envoys John and Peter, patricians and senators, together with Zacharias and Theodore, count of the treasury. During the negotiations however Tamchosro defeated Justinian in Armenia (576). Elated by this victory, the Persians withdrew the concessions which they had already made. Still all through the years 576-577 the plenipotentiaries discussed terms; two points stood in the way of a final settlement: Persia claimed the right to punish those Armenian fugitives who in 571 had fled to the Empire, and these Rome absolutely declined to surrender, while Chosroes in turn persisted in his refusal to consider the cession of Dara which Tiberius demanded. In 578, when the three years' truce had all but expired, a new embassy headed by Trajan and Zacharias began the task afresh.

Meanwhile, in 578, to put a stop to the mutual dissensions of the Roman generals Tiberius appointed as commander-in-chief of the eastern troops Maurice, a Cappadocian of Arabissus, descended, it was said, from the aristocracy of old Rome, who had formerly served as the Emperor's, notarius and whom, on becoming Caesar, he had created comes excubitorum. With the means supplied to him by Tiberius, Maurice at once began to raise a formidable army; he enrolled men from his own native country, and enlisted recruits from Syria, Iberia, and the province of Hanzit. With these forces he successfully invaded Arzanene, captured the strong fortress of Aphoumon, and carried back with him thousands of Persians and much spoil.

In the autumn of this year (578) Justin, who had temporarily recovered his reason, crowned Tiberius Emperor (26 Sept.) and eight days later, on 4 Oct., his troubled life was ended.

Tiberius now as ever sought military triumphs only as a means to diplomatic ends. In consequence of the victories of the summer he had in his hands numerous important captives, some of them even connexions of the royal house. He at once dispatched Zacharias and a general, Theodore by name, giving them full powers to conclude peace and offering to return the prisoners of war. The Emperor professed himself prepared to surrender Iberia and Persarmenia (but not those refugees who had fled to the shelter of the Empire), to evacuate Arzanene and to restore the fortress of Aphoumon, while in return Dara was to be given back to the Empire. Tiberius was desirous of arriving at a speedy agreement, so that the enemy might not gain time for collecting reinforcements. Despite the delay of a counter mission from Persia there was every prospect that Rome's conditions would be accepted, when in the early spring of 579 Chosroes died and was succeeded on the throne by Ormizd. Though the Emperor was willing to offer the same terms, Ormizd procrastinated, while making every effort to provision Dara and Nisibis and to raise fresh levies. At length he definitely refused to surrender Dara and stipulated anew for an annual money payment (summer, 579). The military and diplomatic operations of the years 579-581, though interesting enough in themselves, did not really alter the general position of affairs.

Surrender of Sirmium. 580-582

Thus inconclusively dragged on the long hostilities between the rival powers in the East, but in Europe the Avars had grown discontented with the Empire's subsidies. Targitius was sent in 580 to receive the tribute, but immediately after the envoy's departure Baian started with his rude flotilla down the Danube and, marching over the neck of country between that river and the Save, appeared before Sirmium and there began to construct a bridge. When the Roman general in the neighboring fortress of Singidunum protested at this violation of the peace the Khagan claimed that his sole aim was to cross the Save in order to march through the territory of the Empire, re-cross the Danube with the help of the Roman fleet, and thus attack the common enemy, the Slav invaders, who had refused to render to the Avars their annual tribute. Sirmium was without stores of provisions and had no effective garrison. Tiberius had relied upon the continuance of the peace and all his available troops were in Armenia and Mesopotamia. When Baian's ambassador arrived in the capital, the Emperor could only temporize: he himself was preparing an expedition against the Slays, but for the present he would suggest that the moment was ill-chosen for a campaign, since the Turks were occupying the Chersonese (Bosporos had fallen into their hands in 576) and might shortly advance westward. The Avar envoy was not slow to appreciate the true position, but on the return journey he and the attendant Romans were slain by a band of Slav pillagers — this fact casually mentioned gives us some idea of the condition at this time of the open country-side in the Danubian provinces. Meanwhile Baian had been pressing forward the building of the bridge over the Save, and Solachos, the new Avar ambassador, now threw off the mask and demanded the evacuation of Sirmium. "I would, sooner give your master" Tiberius replied, "one of my two daughters to wife than I would of my own free will surrender Sirmium." The Danube and the Save were held by the enemy, and the Emperor had no army, but through Elyria and Dalmatia officers were sent to conduct the defense. On the islands of Casia and Carbonaria Theognis met the Khagan, but negotiations were fruitless. For two years, despite fearful hardships, the city resisted, but the governor was incompetent, and the troops under Theognis inadequate, and at last, some short time before his death, Tiberius, to save the citizens, sacrificed Sirmium. The inhabitants were granted life, but all their possessions were left in the hands of the barbarians, who also exacted the sum of 240,000 nomismata as payment for the three years' arrears (580-582) due under the terms of the former agreement which was still to remain in force.

It was during the investment of Sirmium that the Slays seized their golden hour. They poured over Thrace and Thessaly, scouring the Roman provinces as far as the Long Walls — a flood of murder and of ravage : the black horror of their onset still darkens the pages of John of Ephesus.

In the year which saw the fall of Sirmium (582) Tiberius died. Feeling that his end was near, on 5 Aug. he created Maurice Caesar and gave to him the name of Tiberius; at the same time the Emperor's elder daughter was named Constantina and betrothed to Maurice. Eight days later, before an assemblage of representatives of army, church, and people, Tiberius crowned the Caesar Emperor (13 Aug.) and on 14 Aug. 582, in the palace of the Hebdomon, he breathed his last. The marriage of Maurice followed hard on the funeral of his father-in-law. We would gladly have learned more of the policy and aims of Tiberius. We can but dimly divine in him a practical statesman who with sure prescience had seen what was possible of achievement and where the Empire's true future lay. He fought not for conquest but for peace, he struggled to win from Persia a recognition that Rome was her peer, that on a basis of security the Empire might work out its internal union and concentrate its strength around the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. "The sins of men" says the chronicler, "were the reason for his short reign. Men were not worthy of so good an emperor."

  Accession of Maurice5. 82-586

“Make your rule my fairest epitaph” were the words of Tiberius to Maurice, and the new monarch undertook his task in a spirit of high seriousness. At his accession Maurice appointed John Mystakon commander-in-chief of the eastern armies, and this position he held until 584, when he was superseded by Philippicus, the Emperor's brother-in-law. The details of the military operations during the years 582-585 cannot be given here; it may be sufficient to state that their general result was indecisive — most of the time was spent in the capture or defense of isolated fortresses or in raids upon the enemy's territory? No pitched battle of any importance occurred till 586. Philippicus had met Mebodes at Amida in order to discuss terms of peace, but Persia had demanded a money payment, and such a condition Maurice would not accept. The Roman general, finding that negotiations were useless, led his forces to Mount Izala, and at Solochon the armies engaged. The Persians were led by Kardarigan, while Mebodes commanded on the right wing and Aphraates, a cousin of Kardarigan, on the left. Philippicus was persuaded not to adventure his life in the forefront of the battle, so that the Roman centre was entrusted to Heraclius, the father of the future emperor. Vitalius faced Aphraates, while Wilfred, the praefect of Emesa, and Apsich the Hun opposed Mebodes. On a Sunday morning the engagement began: the right wing routed Aphraates, but was with difficulty recalled from its capture of the Persian baggage; the defeated troops now strengthened the enemy's centre and some of the Roman horse were forced to dismount to steady the ranks under Heraclius. But during a desperate hand-to-hand struggle the cavalry charged the Persians and the day was won: the left wing pursued the troops under Mebodes as far as Dara. Philippicus then began the siege of the fortress of Chlomara, but his position was turned by the forces under Kardarigan; a sudden panic seized the Roman commander, who fled precipitately under cover of night to Aphoumon. The enemy, suspecting treachery, advanced with caution, but encountered no resistance, while the seizure of the Roman baggage-train relieved them from threatened starvation. Across the Nymphius by Amida to Mount Izala Philippicus retreated: here the forts were strengthened and the command given to Heraclius, who in late autumn led a pillaging expedition across the Tigris.

Mutiny of the Eastern Army. 586-588

The flight of Philippicus may well have been due, at least in part, to a fresh attack of illness, for in 587 he was unable to take the field, and when he started for the capital, Heraclius was left, as commander in the East and at once began to restore order and discipline among the Roman troops.

Maurice's well-intentioned passion for economy had led him to issue an order that the soldiers' pay should be reduced by a quarter; Philippicus clearly felt that this was a highly dangerous and inexpedient measure —the army's anger might lead to the proclamation of a rival emperor; he delayed the publication of the edict, and it was probably with a view of explaining the whole situation to his master that, despite his illness, he set out for Constantinople. On his journey, however, he learned that he had been superseded and that Priscus had been appointed commander ­in-chief. If Maurice had ceased to trust his brother-in-law let the new general do what he could: Philippicus would no longer stay his hand. From Tarsus he ordered Heraclius to leave the army in the hands of Narses, governor of Constantina, and himself to retire to Armenia; he further directed the publication of the fatal edict.

Early in 588 Priscus arrived in Antioch. The Roman forces were to concentrate in Monokarton; and from Edessa he made his way, accompanied by the bishop of Damascus, towards the camp with the view of celebrating Easter amongst his men But when the troops came forth to meet him, his haughtiness and failure to observe the customary military usages disgusted the army and at this critical moment a report spread that their pay was to be reduced. A mutiny forced Priscus to take refuge in Constantina, and the fears of Philippicus proved well founded. Germanus, commander in the Lebanon district of Phoenicia, was against his own will proclaimed emperor, though he exacted an oath that the soldiers would not plunder the luckless provincials. A riot at Constantina, where the Emperor's statues were overthrown, drove the fugitive Priscus to Edessa, and thence he was hounded forth to seek shelter in the capital.

 Maurice's only course was to reappoint Philippicus to the supreme command in the East, but the army, which had elected its own officers, was not to be thus easily pacified: the troops solemnly swore that they would never receive the nominee of an emperor whom they no longer acknowledged. Meanwhile, as was but natural, Persia seized her opportunity and invested Constantina, but Germanus prevailed upon his men to take action and the city was relieved. The soldiers' resentment was lessened by the skilful diplomacy of Aristobulus, who brought gifts from Constantinople, and Germanus was able to invade Persia with a force of 4000 men. Though checked by Marouzas, he retired in safety to the Nymphius, and at Martyropolis Marouzas was defeated and killed by the united Roman forces: three thousand captives were taken, among them many prominent Persians, while the spoils and standards were sent to Maurice. This was the signal that the army was once more prepared to acknowledge the Emperor, and all would have been well had not Maurice felt it necessary to insist that Philippicus should again be accepted by the troops as their general. This however they refused to do, even when Andreas, captain of the imperial shield-bearers, was sent to them; and only after a year's cessation of hostilities (588-589) was the army, through the personal influence of Gregory, bishop of Antioch, persuaded to obey its former commander (Easter 590). Philippicus did not long enjoy his triumph. About this time Martyropolis fell by treachery into Persian hands, and with the spring of 5901 the Roman forces marched into Armenia to recover the city. When he failed in this Philippicus was superseded by Comentiolus, and although the latter was unsuccessful, Heraclius won a brilliant victory and captured the enemy's camp.

Chosroes restored by Maurice. 591-600

It is at first sight somewhat surprising that the Persians had remained inactive during the year 589, but we know that they were fully engaged with internal difficulties. The violence of Ormizd had, it seems, caused a dangerous revolt in Kusistan and Kerman, and in face of this peril Persia accepted an offer of help from the Turks. Once admitted into Khorasan, Schaweh Schah disregarded his promises and advanced southwards in the direction of the capital, but was met by Bahram Cobin, the governor of Media, and was defeated in the mountains of Ghilan. The power of the Turks was broken: they could no longer exact, but were bound to pay, an annual tribute. After this signal success Bahram Cobin undertook an invasion of Roman territory in the Caucasus district; the Persians encountered no resistance, for the imperial forces were concentrated in Armenia. Maurice sent Romanus to engage the enemy in Albania, and in the valley of one of the streams flowing into the Araxes Bahram was so severely worsted that he was in consequence removed from his command by Ormizd. Thus disgraced he determined to seize the crown for himself but veiled his real plan under the pretext of championing the cause of Chosroes, Ormizd's eldest son. At the same time a plot was formed in the palace, and Bahram was forestalled: the conspirators dethroned the king and Chosroes was crowned at Ctesiphon. But after the assassination of Ormizd the new monarch was unable to maintain his position: his troops deserted to Bahram, and he was forced to throw himself upon the mercy of the Emperor. As a helpless fugitive the King of kings arrived at Circesium and craved Rome's protection, offering in return to restore the lost Armenian provinces and to surrender Martyropolis and Dara. Despite the counsels of the senate, Maurice saw in this strange reversal of fortune a chance to terminate a war which was draining the Empire's strength: his resolve to accede to his enemy's request was at once a courageous and a statesmanlike action. He furnished Chosroes with men and money, Narses took command of the troops, and John Mystakon marched from Armenia to join the army. The two forces met at Sargana (probably Sirgan, in the plain of Ushnei) and in the neighborhood of Ganzaca (Takhti-Soleimân) defeated and put to flight Bahram, while Chosroes recovered his throne without further resistance. The new monarch kept his promises to Rome and surrounded himself with a Roman body-guard (591). By this interposition Maurice had restored the Empire's frontier  and had ended the long-drawn struggle in the East.

In 592 therefore he could transport his army into Europe, and was able to employ his whole military force in the Danubian provinces. Maurice himself went with the troops as far as Anchialus, when he was recalled by the presence of a Persian embassy in the capital. The chronology of the next few years is confused and it is impossible to give here a detailed account of the campaigns. Their general object was to maintain the Danube as the frontier line against the Avars and to restrict the forays of the Slays. In this Priscus met with considerable success, but Peter, Maurice's brother, who superseded him in 597, displayed hopeless incompetency and Priscus was reappointed. In 600 Comentiolus, who was, it would appear, in command against his own will, entered into communications with the Khagan in order to secure the discomfiture of the Roman forces: he was, in fact, anxious to prove that the attempt to defend the northern frontier was labor lost. He ultimately fled headlong to the capital and only the personal interference of the Emperor stifled the inquiry into his treachery. On this occasion the panic in Constantinople was such that the city guard were sent by Maurice to man the Long Walls.

600-602] Campaigns on the Danube Frontier

On the return of Comentiolus to the seat of war in the summer of 600, Priscus, in spite of his colleague's inactivity, won a considerable victory, but the autumn of 601 saw Peter once again in command and conducting unsuccessful negotiations for a peace. Towards the close of 602 the outlook was brighter, for conditions had changed in favor of Rome. The Antae had acted as her allies, and when Apsich was sent by the Khagan to punish this defection, numbers of the Avars themselves deserted and joined the forces under Peter. Maurice would seem to have thought that this was the moment to drive home the advantage which fortune offered, for if the soldiers could support themselves at the expense of the enemy, the harassed provincials and the overburdened exchequer might be spared the cost of their maintenance. Orders were sent that the troops were not to return, but should winter beyond the Danube. The army heard the news with consternation: barbarian tribes were ranging over the country on the further side of the river, the cavalry was worn out with the marches of the summer, their booty would purchase them the pleasures of civilized life. The Roman forces mutinied and, dis­obeying their superiors, crossed the river and reached Palastolum.

Peter withdrew from the camp in despair but meanwhile the officers had induced their men to face the barbarians once again, and the army had returned to Securisca (near Nikopol). Floods of rain, however, and extreme cold renewed the discontent; eight spokesmen, among whom was Phocas, covered the twenty miles between Peter and the camp and demanded that the army might return home to winter quarters. The commander-in-chief promised to give his answer on the following day: between the rebellious determination of the troops and the imperative dispatches of his brother he could see no loophole of escape; of one thing alone he was assured: that day would start a train of ills for Rome. True to his promise he joined his men and to their representatives he read the Emperor's letter. Before the tempest of opposition which this evoked the officers fled, and on the following day, when the soldiers had twice assembled to discuss the situation, Phocas was raised upon a hield and declared their leader. Peter carried the news with all speed to the capital; Maurice disguised his fears and reviewed the troops of the demes. The Blues, on whose support he relied, numbered 900, the Greens 1500. On the refusal of Phocas to receive the Emperor's ambassadors, the demesmen were ordered to man the city walls. Phocas had been chosen as champion of the army, not as emperor: the army had refused allegiance to Maurice personally but not to his house; accordingly the vacant throne was offered to Theodosius, the Emperor's eldest son, or, should he decline it, to his father-in-law Germanus, both of whom were hunting at the time in the neighborhood of the capital. They were at once recalled to Constantinople. Germanus, realizing that he was suspected of treason, armed his followers and surrounded by a body-guard took refuge in the Cathedral Church. He had won the sympathies of the populace, and when the Emperor attempted to remove him by force from St Sophia, riots broke out in the city, while the troops of the demes deserted their posts on the walls to join in the abuse of Emperor and patriarch. Maurice was denounced as a Marcianist and ribald songs were shouted against him through the streets. The house of the praetorian praefect, Constantine Lardys, was burned to the ground, and at the dead of night, with his wife and children, accompanied by Constantine, the Emperor, disguised as a private citizen, embarked for Asia (22 Nov. 602). A storm carried him out of his course and he only landed with difficulty at the shrine of Autonomus the Martyr; here an attack of gout held him prisoner, while the praetorian praefect was despatched with Theodosius to enlist the sympathy of Chosroes on behalf of his benefactor. The Emperor fled, the Greens determined to espouse the cause of Phocas and rejected the overtures of Germanus, who now made a bid for the crown and was prepared to purchase their support; they feared that, once his end was gained, his well-known partiality for the Blues would reassert itself. The disappointed candidate was driven to acknowledge his rival's claims. Phocas was invited to the Hebdomon (Makrikeui) and thither trooped out the citizens, the senate, and the patriarch. In the church of St John the Baptist the rude half-barbarian centurion was crowned sovereign of the Roman Empire, and entered the capital "in a golden shower" of royal gifts.

Maurice’s Death

But the usurper could not rest while Maurice was alive. On the day following the coronation of his wife Leontia, upon the Asian shore at the harbour of Eutropius five sons of the fallen Emperor were slain before their father's eyes, and then Maurice himself perished, calling upon God and repeating many times "Just art thou, 0 Lord, and just is thy judgment." From the beach men saw the bodies floating on the waters of the bay, while Lilius brought back to the capital the severed heads, where they were exposed to public view.

Maurice was a realist who suffered from an obstinate prejudice in favor of his own projects and his own nominees; he could diagnose the ills from which the Empire suffered, but did not always choose aright the moment for administering the remedy. He had served a stern apprenticeship in the eastern wars, and saw clearly that while Rome in many of her provinces was fighting for existence, the importance of the leader of armies outweighed that of the civil governor. In some temporary instances Justinian had entrusted to the praefect the duties of a general, and had thus broken through the sharp distinction between the two spheres drawn by the Diocletio-Constantinian reforms. Maurice however did not follow the principle of Justinian's tentative innovations: he chose to give to the military commander a position in the hierarchy of office superior to that of the civil administration, conferring on the old magistri militum of Africa and Italy the newly coined title of exarch this supreme authority was to be the Emperor's vicegerent against Berber and Lombard. It was the first step towards the creation of the system of military themes. It was doubtless also considerations of practical convenience and a recognition of the stubborn logic of facts which led to Maurice's scheme of provincial redistribution. Tripolitana was separated from Africa and joined like its neighbor Cyrenaica to the diocese of Egypt; Sitifensis and Caesariensis were fused into the single province of Mauretania Prima, while the fortress of Septum and the sorry remnants of Tingitana were united with the imperial possessions in Spain and the Balearic Isles to form the province of Mauretania II, thus solidifying under one government the scattered Roman territories in the extreme West. Similar motives probably determined the new arrangements (after the treaty with Persia in 591) on the Eastern frontier. It was again Maurice the realist who disregarded the counsels of his ministers and made full use of the unique opportunity which the flight of Chosroes offered to the Empire.

In Italy the incursion of the Lombards presented a problem with which the wars on the Danube and in Asia rendered it difficult for Maurice to cope. Frankish promises of help against the invaders were largely illusory, even though the young West-Gothic prince Athanagild was held in Constantinople as a pledge for the fulfilment by his Merovingian kinsfolk of their obligations. It was further unfortunate that the relations between pope and Emperor were none of the best ; many small disagreements culminated in the dispute concerning the title of oecumenical patriarch which John the Faster had adopted. The contention between Gregory and Maurice has certainly been given a factitious importance by later historians — the over-sensitive Gregory alone seems to have regarded the question as of any vital moment and his successors quietly acquiesced in the use of the offending word—but the disagreement doubtless hampered the Emperor's reforms; when he endeavored to prevent soldiers from deserting and retiring into monasteries, the pope seized on the measure as a new ground of complaint and raised violent protest in the name of the Church.

As general in Asia Maurice had restored the morale of the army, and throughout his life he was always anxious to effect improvements in military matters. He was the first Emperor to realize fully the im­portance of Armenia as a recruiting ground, and it may well be from this fact that late tradition traced his descent from that country. It was just in this sphere of military reform, however, that he displayed his fatal inability to judge the time when he could safely insist on an unpopular measure; his demand that the army should winter beyond the Danube cost him alike throne and life. It was further an ill-advised step when Maurice in his later years (598 or 599) reverted, as Justin had done before him, to a policy of religious persecution. By endeavoring to force Chalcedonian orthodoxy on Mesopotamia he effected little save the alienation of his subjects. It was left to Heraclius to follow Tiberius in choosing the better part and endeavoring by conciliation to introduce union amongst the warring parties. But the great blot on the reign of Maurice is his favoritism towards incapable officials; the ability of men like Narses and Priscus had to give place to the incompetency of Peter and the treachery of Comentiolus. Time and again their blunders were overlooked and new distinctions forced upon them. The fear that a victorious general of today might be the successful rival of to-morrow gave but a show of justification to this ruinous partiality.

But despite all criticisms Maurice remains a high-minded, conscientious, independent, hard-working ruler, and if other proof of his worth were lacking it is to be found in the universal hatred of his murderer.

 Phocas. 602-603

Other executions followed those of Maurice and his sons: Comentiolus and Peter were slain, while Alexander dragged Theodosius from the sanctuary of Autonomus and killed both him and the praefect Constantine. Constantina and her three daughters were confined in a private house. Phocas was master of the capital. But elsewhere throughout the Empire men refused to ratify the army's choice: through Anatolia and Cilicia, through the Roman province of Asia and in Palestine, through Illyricum and in Thessalonica civil war was raging on every side the citizens rose in rebellion against the assassin whom Pope Gregory and the older Rome delighted to honor; even in Constantinople itself a plot hatched by Germanus was only suppressed after a great part of the city had been destroyed by fire. The ex-empress as a result of these disorders was now immured with her daughters in a convent, while Philippicus and Germanus were forced to become priests.

A persistent rumor affirmed that Theodosius was still alive; for a time Phocas himself must have believed the report, for he put to death his agent Alexander; furthermore Chosroes was thus furnished with a fair-sounding pretext for an invasion of the Empire: he came as avenger of Maurice to whom he owed his throne, and as restorer of Maurice's heir. When in the spring of 603 Phocas despatched Lilius to the Persian court to announce his accession, the ambassador was thrown into chains, and in an arrogant letter Chosroes declared war on Rome. About this time also (603) Narses revolted, seized Edessa, and appealed to Persia for support. Germanus, now in command of the eastern army, marched to Edessa with orders to recover the city. In the spring of 604 Chosroes led his forces against the Empire, and while part encamped round Dara, he himself made for Edessa to attack the Romans who were themselves besieging Narses. As day broke the Persians fell upon Germanus, who was defeated and eleven days later died of his wounds in Constantina; his men fled in confusion. Chosroes, it would appear, entered Edessa, and (according to the Armenian historian Sebeos) Narses introduced to the Persian king a young man whom he represented to be Theodosius; the pretender was gladly welcomed by Chosroes, who then retired to Dara, where the Romans still resisted the besiegers. On the news of the death of Germanus Phocas realized that all the forces which he could raise were needed for the war in Asia. He increased the annual payments to the Avars, and withdrew the regiments from Thrace (605?). Some of the troops under the command of the eunuch Leontius were ordered to invest Edessa, though Narses soon escaped from this city and reached Hierapolis; the rest of the army marched against Persia, but at Arxamon, between Edessa and Nisibis, Chosroes won a great victory and took numerous captives; about this time, after a year and a half's siege, the walls of Dara were undermined, the fortress captured, and the inhabitants massacred. Laden with booty the Persian monarch returned to Ctesiphon, leaving Zongoes in command in Asia. Leontius was disgraced, and Phocas appointed his Cousin Domen­tiolus curopalates and general-in-chief. Narses was induced to surrender on condition that no harm should be done to him; Phocas disregarded the oath and Rome's best general was burned alive in the capital.

Meanwhile Armenia was devastated by civil war and Persian invasion: Karin opened its gates to the pretended son of Maurice, and Chosroes established a marzpam in Dovin. In the year after the siege of Dara (606) Sahrbaraz and Kardarigan entered Mesopotamia and the country bordering on the frontier of Syria; among the towns which surrendered were Amida and Resaina. In 607 Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia were overrun; in 608 Kardarigan, in conjunction it seems with Sahtn, marched north-west and while the latter occupied Cappadocia, spending a year (608-609) in Caesarea which was evacuated by the Christians, the former made forays into Paphlagonia and Galatia, penetrating even as far west as Chalcedon. In fact the Roman world at this time fell into a state of anarchy, and passions which had long smoldered burst into flame. Blues and Greens fought out their feuds in the streets of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, while on every side men easily persuaded themselves that Theodosius yet lived. Even in Constantinople Germanus thought that he could turn to his own profit the popular belief. Our authorities are unsatisfactory but it would seem that two distinct plots with different aims were set on foot. There was a conspiracy among the highest court officials headed by the praetorian praefect of the East, Theodorus: Elpidius, governor of the imperial arsenal, was willing to supply arms, and Phocas was to be slain in the Hippodrome. Theodorus himself would then be proclaimed emperor. Of this plan Germanus obtained warning, and for his part determined to anticipate the scheme by play­ing upon the public sympathy for the house of Maurice. While nominally championing the cause of Theodosius, he doubtless intended to secure for himself the supreme power. Through a certain Petronia he entered into communication with Constantina, but Petronia betrayed the secret to Phocas, Under torture Constantina accused Germanus of complicity and he in turn implicated others. The rival plot met with no better success. Anastasius, who had been present at the breakfast council where the project was discussed, repented of his treason and informed the Emperor. On 7 June 605 Phocas wreaked his vengeance on the court officials, and about the same time Germanus, Constantina, and her three daughters met their deaths.

Alarms and suspicions haunted the Emperor and terror goaded him to fresh excesses. In 607, it would seem, his daughter Domentzia was married to Priscus, the former general of Maurice, and when the demesmen raised statues to bride and bridegroom, Phocas saw in the act new treason and yet another attempt upon his throne. It was in vain that the authorities pleaded that they were but following long-established custom; it was only popular clamor that saved the demarchs Theophanes and Pamphilus from immediate execution. Even loyalty was proved dangerous, and anxiety for his personal safety made of a son-in-law a secret foe. The capital was full of plague and scarcity and executions: Comentiolus and all the remaining kindred of Maurice fell victims to the panic fear of Phocas. The Greens themselves turned against the Emperor, taunting him in the circus with his debauchery, and setting on fire the public buildings. Phocas retorted by depriving them of all political rights. He looked around for allies: at least he would win the sympathies of the orthodox in the East, as he had from the first enjoyed the support of Rome. Anastasius, Jacobite patriarch of Alexandria, was expelled: Syria and Egypt, he decreed, should choose no ecclesiastical dignitary without his authorization. Before the common attack, Monophysite Antioch and Alexandria determined to sink their differences. In 608 the patriarchs met in the Syrian capital. The local authorities interfered, but the Jacobite populace was joined by the Jews in their resistance to the imperial troops. The orthodox patriarch was slain and the rioters gained the day. Phocas despatched Cotton and Bonosus, count of the East, to Antioch; with hideous cruelty their mission was accomplished, and the Emperor's authority with difficulty re-established.

 Thence Bonosus departed for Jerusalem, where the faction fights of Blues and Greens had spread confusion throughout the city.

Africa revolts under Heraclius. 608

The tyrant was still master within the capital, but Africa was preparing the expedition which was to cause his overthrow. In 607, or at latest 608, Heraclius, formerly general of Maurice and now exarch, with his hipostratigos Gregory, was planning rebellion. The news reached the ears of Priscus, who had learned to fear his father-in-law's animosity, and negotiations were opened between the Senate and the Pentapolis: the aristocracy was ready to give its aid should a liberator reach the capital. Obviously such a promise was of small value, and Heraclius was forced to rely upon his own resources. But he was at this time advanced in life, and to his son Heraclius and to Gregory's son Nicetas was entrusted the execution of the plot. It is only of recent years, through the discovery of the chronicle of John of Nikiou, that we have been able to construct the history of the operations. First Nicetas was to invade Egypt and secure Alexandria, then Heraclius would take ship for Thessalonica, and from this harbor as his base he would direct his attack upon Constantinople.

During the year 608, 3000 men were raised in the Pentapolis, and these, together with Berber troops, were placed under the command of Bonakis (a spelling which doubtless hides a Roman name) who defeated without difficulty the imperial generals. Leontius, the praefect of Mareotis, was on the side of Heraclius, and the governor of Tripolis arrived with reinforcements. High officials were conspiring to support the rebels in Alexandria itself, when the plot was revealed to Theodore, the imperialist patriarch. When the news reached Phocas he forthwith ordered the praefect of Byzantium to convey fresh troops with all speed to Alexandria and the Delta fortresses, while Bonosus, who was contemplating a seizure of the patriarch of Jerusalem, was summoned to leave the Holy City and to march against Nicetas. On the latter's advance, Alexandria refused to surrender, but resist­ance was short-lived, and the patriarch and general met their deaths. Treasure, shipping, the island and fortress of Pharos, all fell into the hands of Nicetas, while Bonais received the submission of many of the Delta towns. At Caesarea, where Bonosus took ship, he heard of the capture of Alexandria, and while his cavalry pursued the land route, his fleet in two divisions sailed up the Nile by the Pelusiac channel and by the main eastern arm of the river. At first Bonosus carried all before him and inflicted a crushing defeat near Mantif on the generals of Heraclius, thereby reconquering the Delta for Phocas, but he was repulsed from Alexandria with heavy loss and suffered so severely in a fresh advance from his base at Nikiou that he was forced to abandon Egypt and to flee through Asia to Constantinople. The imperialist resistance was at an end and the new rule was established in Egypt (apparently end of 609).

Fall of Phocas. 609-610

We have no certain information as to what the younger Heraclius was doing during the year 609, but it seems not unlikely that it was at this time that he occupied Thessalonica, for here he could draw reinforcements from the European malcontents. It is at least clear that, when he finally started in 610 on his voyage to Constantinople, he gathered supporters from the sea-side towns and from the islands on his route. At the beginning of September, it would seem, he cast anchor at Abydus in Mysia, where he was joined by those whom Phocas had driven into exile. Crossing the Propontis he touched at Heraclea and Selimbria, and at the small island of Calonymus the Church, through the bishop of Cyzicus, blessed his enterprise. On Saturday, 3 Oct., the fleet, with images of the Virgin at the ships' mastheads, sailed under the sea-walls of the capital. But in face of the secret treachery of Priscus and the open desertion of the demesmen of the Green party, the cause of Phocas was foredoomed; Heraclius waited upon his ship until the tyrant's own ministers dragged his enemy before him on the morning of 5 Oct. "Is it thus, wretch, that you have governed the State?" asked Heraclius. "Will you govern it any better?" retorted the fallen Emperor. He was forthwith struck down, and his body dismembered and carried through the city. Domentiolus and Leontius, the Syrian minister of finance, shared his fate and their bodies, together with that of Bonosus, were burned in the Ox Forum. In the afternoon of the same day Heraclius was crowned emperor by Sergius the patriarch: people and senate refused to listen to his plea that Priscus should be their monarch: they would not see in their liberator merely the avenger of Maurice, nor suffer him to return whence he came. On the same day Heraclius married Eudocia (as his betrothed, Fabia, daughter of Rogatus of Africa, was renamed) who became at once bride and empress. Three days later, in the Hippodrome, the statue of Phocas was burned and with it the standard of the Blues.

The Struggle against Persia. 611-613

 During 610 the Persians had been advancing westwards in the direction of Syria: Callinicum and Circesium had fallen and the Euphrates had been crossed. After his accession Heraclius sent an embassy to Persia: Maurice was now avenged, and peace could be re­stored between the two empires. Chosroes made no reply to the embassy: he had proved all too conclusively Rome's weakness and was not willing to surrender his advantage. Meanwhile Priscus was appointed general and sent to Cappadocia to undertake the siege of Caesarea, which was at this time in the occupation of the Persians. For a year the enemy resisted, but at last, in the late summer of 611, famine drove them to evacuate the city. They cut their way through the Roman troops, inflicting serious loss, and retired to Armenia where they took up winter quarters. In the same year Emesa was lost to the Empire. In 612, on the news that the Persians were once more about to invade Roman territory in force, Heraclius left the capital to confer with Priscus in Caesarea. The general pleaded illness and treated the Emperor with marked coolness and disrespect. His ambitions were thwarted: he had gained nothing by the revolution and objected that the Emperor's place was in Constantinople: it was no duty of his to intermeddle personally with the conduct of the war. For the moment Heraclius had no forces with which to oppose Priscus; he was condemned to inaction and compelled to await his opportunity. In the summer Sahin led his army to Karin, and reduced Melitene to submission, afterwards joining Sahrbaraz in the district of Dovin. The Persians were masters of Armenia. In 611 Eudocia had given birth to a daughter and in May 612 a son was born, but on 13 Aug. the Empress died. In 613 the Emperor, despite the protests of the Church, married his niece Martina. In the autumn of 612 Nicetas came to Constantinople, doubtless to confer with Heraclius as to the methods which were to be adopted in the government of Egypt. Priscus also made his way to the capital to honor the arrival of the Emperor's cousin, and was invited by Heraclius to act as sponsor at his son's christening which took place, it would seem, on 5 Dec. 612. Here the Emperor charged his general with treason, and forced him to enter a monastery. In Constantinople Priscus could no longer rely on the support of an army and resistance was impossible. Heraclius appealed to the troops then in the capital, and was enthusiastically greeted as their future captain. Nicetas succeeded Priscus as comes excubitorum, while the Emperor appointed his brother Theodore curopalates; he also induced Philippicus to leave the shelter of a religious house and once more to undertake a military command.

In the following year (613) Heraclius was free to carry out his own plan of campaign : he determined to oppose the enemy on both their lines of attack. Philippicus was to invade Armenia, while he himself and his brother Theodore would check the Persian advance on Syria. The aim of Chosroes was clearly to occupy the Mediterranean coast line. A battle took place under the walls of Antioch, and there, after their army had been strengthened by reinforcements, the Persians succeeded in routing the Greeks : the road was now open for the southward march, and in this year Damascus fell. Further to the north the Roman troops held the defiles which gave access to Cilicia: though at first victorious, in a second engagement they were put to flight; Cilicia and Tarsus were occupied by the enemy. Meanwhile in Armenia Philippicus had encamped at Valarsapat, but was compelled to beat a hurried retreat before the Persian forces. The Romans were repulsed on every side.

The Persians capture Jerusalem. 614-615

But the worst was not yet: with the year 614 came the overwhelming calamity of the fall of the Holy City. Advancing from Caesarea along the coast the Persians under Sahrbaraz arrived before Jerusalem in the month of April. Negotiations were put an end to by the violence of the circus factions, and the Roman relief force from Jericho, which was summoned by Modestus, was put to flight. The Persians pressed forward the siege, bringing up towers and rams, and finally breaching the walls on the twenty-first day from the investment of the city (? 3 or 5 May 614). For three days the massacre lasted, and the Jews joined the victors in venting their spite on their hated oppressors. We hear of 57,000 killed and 35,000 taken captive. Churches went up in flames, the patriarch Zacharias was carried into Persia and with him, to crown the disaster, went the Holy Cross. At the news Nicetas seems to have hastened to Palestine with all speed, but he could do no more than rescue the holy sponge and the holy lance, and these were despatched for safe custody to the capital. It was true that, when once Jerusalem was in his power, Chosroes was prepared to pursue a policy of conciliation: he deserted his former allies and the Jews were banished from the city, while leave was accorded to rebuild the ruined churches; but this did little to assuage the bitterness of the fact that a Christian empire had not been able to protect its most sacred sanctuary from the violence of the barbarian fire-worshipper.

In 615 the Persians began afresh that occupation of Asia Minor which had been interrupted by the evacuation of Caesarea in 611. When Sahtn marched towards Chalcedon, Philippicus invaded Persia, but the effort to draw off the enemy's forces proved unsuccessful. Asia Minor however was not Syria, and Sahtn realized that his position was insecure. He professed himself ready to consider terms of peace. Heraclius sailed over to the enemy's camp and from his ship carried on negotiations with the Persian general. Olympius, praetorian praefect, Leontius, praefect of the city, and Anastasius, the treasurer of St Sophia, were chosen as ambassadors, while the Senate wrote a letter to the Persian monarch in support of the Emperor's action. But as soon as Sahtn had crossed the frontier, the Roman envoys became prisoners and Chosroes would hear no word of peace.

The Avar Surprise. 609-619

Thus while Syria was lost to the Empire and while Slavs were ranging at will over the European provinces, Heraclius had to face the overwhelming problem of raising the necessary funds to carry on the war. Even from the scanty records which we possess of this period we can trace the Emperor's efforts towards economy : he reduced the number of the clergy who enjoyed office in the capital, and if any above this authorized number desired residence in Constantinople, they were to buy the privilege from the State (612). Three years later the coins in which the imperial largess was paid were reduced to half their value. But in June 617 (?) yet another disaster overtook Heraclius. The Khagan of the Avars made overtures for peace, and Athanasius the patrician and Kosmas the quaestor arranged a meeting between the Emperor and the barbarian chief at Heraclea. Splendid religious rites and a magnificent circus display were to mark the importance of the occasion, and huge crowds had poured forth from the city gates to be present at the festivities. But it was no longer increased money payments that the Khagan sought: he aimed at nothing less than the capture of Constantinople. At a sign from his whip the ambushed troops burst forth from their hiding-places about the Long Walls. Heraclius saw his peril: throwing off his purple, with his crown under his arm, he fled at a gallop to the city and warned its inhabitants. Over the plain of the Hebdomon and up to the Golden Gate surged the Avar host: they raided the suburbs, they pillaged the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in the Hebdomon, they crossed the Golden Horn and broke in pieces the holy table in the church of the Archangel. Fugitives who escaped reported that 270,000 prisoners, men and women, had been swept away to be settled beyond the Danube, and there was none to stay the Khagan's march. In 618 those who were entitled at the expense of the State to share in the public distribution of loaves of bread were forced to make a contribution at the rate of three nomismata to the loaf, and a few months later (Aug. 618) the public distribution was entirely suspended. Even such a deprivation as this was felt to be inevitable: the chronicle of events in the capital does not record any popular outbreak.

It was probably in the spring of 619 that the next step was taken in the Persian plan of conquest, when Sahrbaraz invaded Egypt. He advanced by the coast road, capturing Pelusium and spreading havoc amongst its numerous churches and monasteries. Babylon, near Memphis, fell, and thence the Persians, supported by a strong flotilla, followed the main western branch of the Nile past Nikiou to Alexandria and began the siege of the Egyptian capital. All the Emperor's measures were indeed of little avail when Armenia, Rome's recruiting ground, was occupied by Persia, and when Sahrbaraz, encamped round Alexandria, had cut off the supply of Egyptian grain so that the capital suffered alike from pestilence and scarcity of food. The sole province which appeared to offer any hope to the exhausted treasury was Africa, and here only, it seemed, could an effective army be raised. It was with African troops that Nicetas had won Egypt in 609: even now, with Carthage as a base of operations, the Persians might surely be repelled and Egypt regained. Thus reasoning, Heraclius prepared to set sail from Europe (619?). When his determination became known, Constantinople was in despair; the inhabitants refused to see themselves deserted and the patriarch extracted an oath from the Emperor that he would not leave his capital. The turbulence of New Rome itself seems to have been silenced in this dark hour.

In Egypt Nicetas, despairing of the defense of Alexandria, had fled from the city, and Persians, disguised as fisher-folk, had entered the harbor at dawn with the other fishing-boats, cutting down any who resisted them, and had thrown open the gates to the army of Sahrbaraz (June 619). It did indeed seem that Chosroes was to be the master of the Roman world. About this time too (we do not know the precise year) the Persians, having collected a fleet, attacked Constantinople by water: it may well have been that this assault was timed to follow close upon the raid of the Avar horde. But upon the sea at least the Empire asserted its supremacy. The Persians fled, four thousand men perished with their ships, and the enemy did not dare to renew the attempt.

Heraclius realized that in order to carry war into Asia there must at all costs be peace in Europe. He sacrificed his pride and concluded a treaty with the Khagan (619). He raised 200,000 nomismata and sent as hostages to the Avars his own bastard son John or Athalarich, his cousin Stephanus, and John the bastard son of Bonus the magister. Sergius had forced Heraclius to swear that he would not abandon Constantinople, and the Church now supplied the funds for the new campaign. It agreed to lend at interest its vast wealth in plate that the gold and silver might be minted into money; for this was no ordinary struggle: it was a crusade to rescue from the infidel the Holy City and the Holy Cross. Christian State and Christian Church must join hands against a common foe. While Persian troops overran Asia, penetrating even to Bithynia and the Black Sea, Heraclius made his preparations and studied his plan of campaign. From Africa he had been borne to empire under the protection of the Mother of God, and now it was with a conviction of the religious solemnity of his mission that he withdrew into privacy during the winter of 621 before he challenged the might of the unbeliever. He himself, despite the criticism of his subjects, would lead his forces in the field: in the strength of the God of Battles he would conquer or die.

On 4 April 622 Heraclius held a public communion; on the following day he summoned Sergius the patriarch and Bonus the magister, together with the senate, the principal officials and the entire populace of the capital. Turning to Sergius, he said: "Into the hands of God and of His Mother and into thine I commend this city and my son." After solemn prayer in the cathedral, the Emperor took the sacred image of the Saviour and bore it from the church in his arms. The troops then embarked and in the evening of the same day, 5 April, the fleet set sail. Despite a violent storm on 6 April the Emperor arrived in safety at the small town of Pylae in the Bay of Nicomedia. Thence Heraclius marched "into the region of the themes," i.e. in all probability Galatia and perhaps Cappadocia. Here the work of concentration was carried out: the Emperor collected the garrisons and added to their number his new army. In his first campaign the object of Heraclius was to force the Persian troops to withdraw from Asia Minor: he sought to pass the enemy on the flank, to threaten his communications, and to appear to be striking at the very heart of his native country. The Persians had occupied the mountains, hoping thus to confine the imperial troops within the Pontic provinces during the winter, but by clever strategy Heraclius turned their position and marched towards Armenia. Sahr­baraz endeavored to draw the Roman army after him by a raid on Cilicia; but, realizing that Heraclius could thus advance unopposed through Armenia into the interior of Persia, he abandoned the project and followed the Emperor. Heraclius at length forced a general engagement and won a signal victory. The Persian camp was captured and Sahrbaraz's army almost entirely destroyed. Rumours of impending trouble with the western barbarians in Europe recalled Heraclius to the capital, and his army went into winter quarters. The Emperor had freed Asia Minor from the invader.

Chosroes now addressed a haughty letter to Heraclius which the Emperor caused to be read before his ministers and the patriarch: the dispatch itself was laid before the high altar and all with tears implored the succors of Heaven. In reply to Chosroes Heraclius offered the Persian monarch an alternative: either let him accept conditions of peace, or, should he refuse, the Roman army would forthwith invade his kingdom. On 25 March 623 the Emperor left the capital, and celebrated Easter in Nicomedia on 15 April, awaiting, it would seem, the enemy's answer. Here, in all probability, he learned that Chosroes refused to consider terms and treated with contempt the threat of invasion. Thus (20 April) Heraclius set out on his invasion of Persia, marching into Armenia with all speed by way of Caesarea, where he had ordered his army to assemble. Chosroes had commanded Sahrbaraz to make a raid upon the territory of the Empire, but on the news of the sudden advance of Heraclius he was immediately recalled, and was bidden to join his forces to the newly raised troops under Sabin. From Caesarea Heraclius proceeded through Karin to Dovin: the Christian capital of the province of Ararat was stormed, and of the capture of Nachèavan he made for Ganzaca (Takhti-Soleiman), since he heard that Chosroes was here in person at the head of 40,000 men. On the defeat of his guards, however, the Persian king fled before the invaders; the city fell, while the great temple which sheltered the fire of Usnasp was reduced to ruins. Heraclius followed after Chosroes, and sacked many cities on his march, but did not venture to press the pursuit: before him lay the enemy's country and the Persian army, while his rear might at any moment be threatened by the united advance of Sahrbaraz and Sahin. Despite opposition, extreme cold, and scarcity of provisions he crossed the Araxes in safety, carrying some 50,000 prisoners in his train. It was shrewd policy which dictated their subsequent release; it created a good impression and, as a result, there were fewer mouths to feed.

It was doubtless primarily as a recruiting ground that Heraclius sought these Caucasian districts — the home of hardy and warlike mountaineers — for the sorely harried provinces of Asia Minor were probably, in no condition to supply him with large contingents of troops. This is not however the place to recount in detail the complicated story of the operations of the winter of 623 and of the year 624. Sahin was utterly discomfited at Tigranokert, but Heraclius was himself forced to retire into Armenia before the army of Sahrbaraz (winter, 623). With the spring of 624 we find Lazes, Abasges, and Iberians as Roman allies, though they subsequently deserted the Emperor when disappointed in their expectations of spoil and plunder. Heraclius was once more unable to penetrate into Persia, but was occupied in Armenia, marching and countermarching between forces commanded by Sarablangas, Sahrbaraz and Sahin. Sarablangas was slain, and late in the year Van was captured, and Sarbar surprised in his winter quarters at Arces or Arsissa (at the N.E. end of Lake Van). The Persian general was all but taken prisoner, and very few of the garrison, 6000 strong, escaped destruction.

Heraclius returns to the West [623-625

With the new year (625) Heraclius determined to return to the West, before he once more attempted a direct attack upon Persia. We can only conjecture the reasons which led him to take this step, but it would seem probable that the principal inducement was a desire to assert Roman influence in the south of Asia Minor and in the islands. The Persians had occupied Cilicia before the capture of Jerusalem; in 623 it would appear that they had made a raid upon Rhodes, had seized the Roman general and led off the inhabitants as prisoners, while in the same year we are told that the Slays had entered Crete. There is some evidence which points to the conclusion that the Emperor was at this time very anxious to recover the ground thus lost. There was con­siderable doubt however as to which route should be pursued — that through Taranda or that by way of the Taurus chain. The latter was chosen despite its difficulty, as it was thought that provisions would be thus more plentiful. From Van the army advanced through Martyropolis and Amida, where the troops rested. But meanwhile Sahrbaraz, in hot pursuit, had arrived first at the Euphrates and removed the bridge of boats. The Emperor however crossed by a ford and reached Samosata before March was out. As to the precise route which he followed on his march to the Sarus there is considerable dispute,' but there is no doubt that after a hotly contested engagement on that river Heraclius forced the Persian general to beat a hasty retreat under cover of night. It seems probable that the Emperor remained for a considerable time in this district, but our sources fail us here, and we know only that he ultimately marched to Sebastia, and crossing the Halys spent the win­ter in that Pontic district where he had left his army at the end of the first campaign.

The Siege of Constantinople. 623-626  

The following year (626) is memorable for the great siege of the capital by the united hordes of Avars, Bulgars, Slavs, and Gepids, acting in concert with a Persian force, which endeavored to co-operate with them from the Asiatic side of the strait. Sarbar's ill success on the Sarus led Chosroes, we are told, to withdraw from his command 50,000 men and to place them, together with a new army raised indiscriminately from foreigners, citizens, and slaves, under the leadership of Sahin. Sahr­baraz, with the remainder of his army, took up his position at Chalcedon with orders to support the Khagan in his attack on Constantinople. Heraclius in turn divided his forces: part were sent to garrison the capital, part he entrusted to his brother Theodore who was to meet the "Golden Lances" of Sahin, and the rest the Emperor himself retained. Of Theodore's campaign we know nothing save the result: with the assistance of a timely hail-storm and by the aid of the Virgin he so signally defeated Sahin that the latter died of mortification. Of the operations in Europe we are better informed. From the moment that Heraclius had left the capital on his crusade against Persia the Khagan had been making vast preparations, in the hope of capturing Constantinople. It was the menace from the Danubian provinces which had recalled Heraclius in the winter of 623, and now at last the Avar host was ready. On Sunday, 29 June, on the festival of St Peter and St Paul, the advance guard, 30,000 strong, reached the suburb of Melanthias and announced that their leader had passed within the circuit of the Long Walls. Early in the year, it seems, Bonus and Sergius had sent the patrician Athanasius as an ambassador to the Avar chief, virtually offering to buy him off at his own terms. But since the spring the walls had been strengthened, reinforcements had arrived from Heraclius, and his stirring letters had awakened in the citizens a new spirit of confidence and enthusiasm. Athanasius, who had been kept a prisoner by the Khagan, was now sent from Hadrianople to learn the price at which the capital was prepared to purchase safety. He was amazed at the change in public feeling, but volunteered to carry back the city's proud reply. On 29 July 626 the Avars and the countless forces of their subject tribesmen encamped before New Rome. The full story of the heroic defense cannot be related in this place, but one consideration is too important to be omitted. Had the Romans not been masters of the sea, the issue might well have been less favorable; but the small Slav boats were all sunk or over­turned in the waters of the Golden Horn, while Sahrbaraz at Chalcedon was doomed to remain inactive, for Persia possessed no transports and the Roman fleet made it impossible for the besiegers to carry their allies across the straits. Thus at the very time that the barbarian attack by sea collapsed in hopeless failure, the citizens had repulsed with heavy loss the assault on the land walls which was directed mainly against that section where the depression of the Lycus valley rendered the defenses most vulnerable. At length, on the eleventh day after his appearance before Constantinople, the Khagan destroyed by fire his engines of war and withdrew, vowing a speedy return with forces even more overwhelming. As the suburbs of the city and the churches of Saints Cosmas and Damian and St Nicholas went up in flames, men marked that the shrine of the Mother of God in Blachernae remained inviolate: it was but one more token of her power — her power with God, with her Son, and in the general ordering of the world. The preservation of the city was the Virgin's triumph, it was her answer to the prayers of her servants, and with an annual festival the Church celebrated the memory of the great deliverance. Bonus and Sergius had loyally responded to their Emperor's trust.

  The Slavs. 595-626

This was indeed the furthest advance of the Avars. They had appeared in the Eastern Alps as early as 595-596, and had formally invested Thessalonica in 597; it would seem that the city was only saved through an outbreak of pestilence amongst the besiegers. After 604 there was no Roman army in the Danube provinces, and in the reign of Phocas and the early years of Heraclius must be placed the ravaging of Dalmatia by Avars and Slavs and the fall of Salonae and other towns. At this time fugitives from Salonae founded the city of Spalato, and those from Epidaurus the settlement which afterwards became Ragusa. A contemporary tells how the Slavs in those dark days of confusion and ravage plundered the greater part of Illyricum, all Thessaly, Epirus, Achaia, the Cyclades, and a part of Asia. In another passage the same author relates how Avars and Slays destroyed the towns in the provinces of Pannonia, Moesia Superior, the two Dacias, Rhodope, Dardania, and Praevalis, carrying off the inhabit­ants into slavery. Fallmerayer's famous contention that the Greek people was virtually exterminated is certainly an exaggeration, though through­out Hellas there must have been Slav forays, and many a barbarian band must have planted itself on Greek soil. But when all is said, the remarkable fact remains that while in the Danube provinces Roman influence was submerged, Hellenism within its native territory asserted its supremacy over the Slav invader and maintained alike its natural language and character. Thus towards the close of our period amongst the chaos of peoples making good their independence of the Avar over-lordship there gradually emerged certain settlements which formed the nucleus of nations yet to be. Not that Heraclius invited into the Empire Croats and Serbs from a mythical Servia and Croatia somewhere in the North — Croats and Serbs had already won by force their own ground within the Roman frontier—but rather he recognized and legalized their position as vassals of the Empire, and thus took up the proud task of educating the southern Slavs to receive civilization and Christianity.

Heraclius and the Chazars. 625-6271

In 626, while the capital played its part, the Emperor was making provision for striking a conclusive blow at Persia. He needed allies and reinforcements, and he once more sought them among the tribesmen of the Caucasus. It is probable that as early as the autumn of 625 he had sent a certain Andrew as envoy to the Chazars, and in 626 a force of 1000 men invaded the valley of the Kur and pillaged Iberia and Eger, so that Chosroes threatened punishment and talked of withdrawing Sahin from the West. The Chazars even took ship and visited the Emperor, when mutual vows of friendship were interchanged. In the early summer of 627 the nephew of Dzebukhan (Ziebel) ravaged Albania and parts of Atrpatakan. Later in the year (after June 627), envious of the booty thus won, the Chazar prince took the field in person with his son, and captured the strongly fortified post of Derbend. Gashak, who had been despatched by Persia to organize the defense of the north, was unable to protect the city of Partav and fled ignominiously. After these successes Dzebukhan joined the Emperor (who took ship from Trebizond) in the siege of Tiflis. The Chazar chieftain, irritated by a pumpkin caricature of himself which the inhabitants had displayed upon the walls, was eager for revenge and refused to abandon the investment of the city, though he agreed to give the Emperor a large force raised from his subjects when the Roman army started on the last great campaign in the autumn of 627.

Heraclius marches to Ctesiphon. 627-628

Heraclius advanced through Sirak to the Araxes, and, crossing the river, entered the province of Ararat. He now found himself opposed by Rahzadh, a Persian general who was probably advancing to the relief of Tiflis. But though the Chazar auxiliaries, dismayed by the approach of winter and by the attacks of the Persians, returned to their homes, the Emperor continued his march southward through Her and Zarewand west of the Lake of Urmijah and reached the province of Atrpatakan. Pressing forward, he crossed the mountain chain which divides Media from Assyria, arriving at Chnaitha 9 Oct., where he gave his men a week's rest. Itahzádh had meanwhile reached Ganzaca and thence followed the Emperor across the mountains, suffering severely on his march from scarcity of supplies. By 1 Dec. the Emperor reached the greater Zab and, crossing the river (i.e. marching north-west), took up his position at Nineveh. Here (12 Dec.) he won a decisive victory over Rahzadh. The Persian general himself fell, and his troops, though not completely demoralized, were in no condition to renew the struggle. On 21 Dec. the Emperor learned that the defeated Persians had effected a junction with the reinforcements, 3000 strong, sent from the capital; he continued his southern march, however, crossing the lesser Zab (28 Dec.) and spending Christmas on the estates of the wealthy superintendent of provincial taxation, Iesdem. During the festival, acting on urgent dispatches from Chosroes, the Persian army crossed the Zab higher up its course, and thus interposed a barrier between Heraclius and Ctesiphon. The Emperor on his advance found the stream of the Torna (probably the N. arm of the Nahr Wan canal) undefended, while the Persians had retreated so hurriedly that they had not even destroyed the bridge. After the passage of the Torna he reached (1 Jan. 628) Beklal (? Beit-Germa), and there learnt that Chosroes had given up his position on the Berazrad canal, had deserted Dastagerd and fled to Ctesiphon. Dastagerd was thus occupied without a struggle and three hundred Roman standards were recovered, while the troops were greeted by numbers of those who had been carried prisoners from Edessa, Alexandria, and other cities of the Empire. On 7 Jan. Heraclius advanced from Dastagerd towards Ctesiphon, and on 10 Jan. he was only twelve miles from the Nahr Wan; but the Armenians, who had been sent forward to reconnoitre, brought back word that in face of the Persian troops it was impossible to force the passage of the canal. Heraclius after the battle of Nineveh had been, it would seem, ready to make terms, but Chosroes had rejected his overtures. In an enemy's country, with Persian troops in a strong defensive position blocking his path, with his forces in all probability much reduced and with no present opportunity of raising others, knowing that Sahrbaraz was still in command of a Persian army in the West with which he could attack his rear, while the severity of winter, though delayed, was now threatening, Heraclius was compelled to retreat. Chosroes had at least been driven to inglorious flight: the disgrace might well weaken his subjects' loyalty, and any such lessening of the royal prestige could only strengthen the position of the Romans; the Emperor even by his enforced withdrawal might not thereby lose the fruits of victory. By Shehrizur he returned to Baneh, and thence over the Zagros chain to Ganzaca, where he arrived 11 March—only just in time, for snow began to fall 24 Feb. and made the mountain roads impassable.

But with the spring no new campaign was necessary; on 3 April 628 an envoy from the Persian court reached Ganzaca announcing the violent death of Chosroes and the accession of his son Siroes; the latter offered to conclude peace, and this proposal Heraclius was willing to accept. On 8 April the embassy left for Ctesiphon, while on the same day the Emperor turned his face homeward and in a despatch to the capital, announcing the end of the struggle, expressed the hope that he would soon see his people again. It is uncertain what were the precise terms of the peace of 628, but they included the restoration of the Cross and the evacuation of the Empire's territory by the armies of Persia. It is probable that the Roman frontier was to follow the line agreed upon in the treaty of 591. These conditions were, it would seem, accepted by Siroes (Feb.–Sept. 628), but Sahrbaraz had never moved from Western Asia since 626 and it was doubtful whether he would comply with such terms. Thus when the Cross was once more in Roman hands, Heraclius was able to distribute portions of the Holy Wood amongst the more influential Christians of Armenia —a politic prelude to his schemes of church union — but felt it necessary to remain in the East to secure the triumph which he had so hardly won. After a winter spent at Amida, in the early spring the Emperor journeyed to Jerusalem and (23 March 629) amidst a scene of unbounded religious enthusiasm restored to the Holy City the instrument of the world's salvation. On the feast of St Lazarus (7 April) the news reached Constantinople, and Christendom celebrated a new resurrection from the power of its oppressors; a fragment of the true Cross sent from Jerusalem served but to deepen the city's exultation.

Sahrbaraz however refused to withdraw his army from Roman soil, and in June 629 Heraclius met him at Arabissus and purchased his concurrence by a promise to support him with imperial troops in his attempt to secure the Persian throne. Sahrbaraz marched to Ctesiphon, only to perish after a month's reign, and thus the Empire was freed from the invader. In September Heraclius returned to the capital and after six years' campaigning enjoyed a well-earned sabbath of repose. It is an important moment in Roman history: the King of kings, the Empire's only rival, was humbled and Heraclius could now for the first time add to the imperial style the proud title of Basileus. The restoration of the Cross suggested the sign which had been given to the great Constantine, and Africa adopted (629) the first Greek inscription to be found on the imperial coinage —the motto En Touto NiKa. This may stand for us as a symbol of the decline of the Latin element within the Empire: from the reign of Phocas the old Roman names disappear and those of Graeco-Oriental origin take their place.

Character of Heraclius. The First of the Crusaders. 629

With these campaigns the period of the successors of Justinian has reached its end and a new epoch begins. The great contest between the Empires has weakened both combatants and has rendered possible the advance of the invaders from the South. Spain has driven out her last imperial garrisons, the Lombards are settled in Italy, the Slavs have permanently occupied the Danubian provinces —Rome's dominions take a new shape and the statesmen of Constantinople are faced with fresh problems. Imperialist dreams are past, and for a time there is no question of expansion: at moments it is a struggle for bare existence. In his capital the old Emperor, broken in health and harassed by domestic feuds, watches the peril from the desert spreading over the lands which his sword had regained and views the ruin of his cherished plans for a united Empire.

The character of Heraclius has fascinated the minds of historians from the time of Gibbon to the present day, but surely much of the riddle rests in our scanty knowledge of the early years of his reign: the more we know, the more comprehensible does the Emperor become. At the first Priscus commanded the troops and Priscus was disaffected: Heraclius was powerless, for he had no army with which, to oppose his mutinous general. With the disappearance of Priscus the Emperor was faced with the problem of raising men and money from a ruined and depopulated empire. After the ill-success of his untrained army in 613, by the loss of Syria and Egypt the richest provinces and even the few recruiting grounds that remained fell into the enemy's hands. Heraclius was powerless: the taunt of Phocas must have rung in his ears: "Will you govern the Empire any better?" Africa appeared the sole way of escape: among those who knew him and his family he might awake sacrifice and enthusiasm and obtain the sinews of war. The project worked wonders —but in other ways than he had schemed. Men were impressed by the strength of his sincerity and the force of his personality —more, the Church would lend her wealth. Then came the Khagan's treachery —the loss of thousands of men who might have been enrolled in the new regiments which he was raising: the peace with the Avars and after two more years had been spent in further preparations, including probably the building of fresh fortifications for the capital which he was leaving to its own resources, the campaigns against Persia. At last, through long-continued hardships in the field, through ceaseless labors that defied ill-health, his physical strength gave way and he became a prey to disease and nervous fears. Do we really need fine-spun psychological theories to explain the reign with its alternations of failure and success ? It may at least be doubted.

Yet it is not in these last years of gloom and suspicion that we would part with Heraclius: we would rather recall in him despite all his limitations the successful general, the unremitting worker for the preservation and unity of the Empire which he had sailed from Africa to save, an enthusiast with the power to inspire others, a practical mystic serving the Lord Christ and the Mother of God— one of the greatest of Rome's Caesars.