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check the despair of his subjects, was never revived CHAP. or imitated by succeeding tyrants. The powers of this world have indeed lost their dominion over him who is resolved on death; and his arm can only be restrained by the religious apprehension of a future state.Suicides are enumerated by Virgil among the unfortunate, rather than the guilty 208; and the poetical fables of the infernal shades could not seriously influence the faith or practice of mankind. But the precepts of the gospel, or the church, have at length imposed a pious servitude on the minds of Christians, and condemn them to expect, without a murmur, the last stroke of disease or the executioner.

The penal statutes form a very small proportion of Abuses of civil juristhe sixty-two books of the Code and Pandects: and, prudence. in all judicial proceeding, the life or death of a citizen is determined with less caution and delay than the most ordinary question of covenant or inheritance. This singular distinction, though something may be allowed for the urgent necessity of defending the peace of society, is derived from the nature of criminal and civil jurisprudence. Our duties to the state are simple and uniform; the law by which he is condemned, is inscribed not only on brass or marble, but on the conscience of the offender, and his guilt is commonly proved by the testimony of a single fact. But our relations to each other are various and infinite: our obligations are created, annulled, and modified, by injuries, benefits and promises; and the interpretation of voluntary contracts and testaments, which are often dictated by fraud or ignorance, affords a long and laborious exercise to the sagacity of the judge. The business of life is multiplied by the extent of commerce and dominion, and the residence of the parties in the distant provinces of an empire, is productive of doubt, delay, and inevitable appeals from the local to the supreme magistrate. Justinian, the Greek emperor of

building the Capitol, many of the labourers were provoked to despatch themselves; he nailed their dead bodies to crosses.

208 The sole resemblance of a violent and premature death has engaged Virgil (Æneid vi. 434-439) to confound suicides with infants, lovers, and persons unjustly condemned. Heyne, the best of his editors, is at a loss to deduce the idea, or ascertain the jurisprudence, of the Roman poet.

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i

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CHAP. Constantinople and the East, was the legal successor of the Latian shepherd who had planted a colony on the banks of the Tyber. In a period of thirteen hun. dred years, the laws had reluctantly followed the changes of government and manners; and the laudable desire of conciliating ancient names with recent insti. tutions, destroyed the harmony and swelled the mag. nitude, of the obscure and irregular system. The laws which excuse on any occasions the ignorance of their subjects, confess their own imperfections; the civil ju. risprudence, as it was abridged by Justinian, still con. tinued a mysterious science and a profitable trade, and the innate perplexity of the study was involved in ten. fold darkness by the private industry of the practi. tioners. The expense of the pursuit sometimes ex. ceeded the value of the prize, and the fairest rights were abandoned by the poverty or prudence of the claimants. Such costly justice might tend to abate the spirit of litigation, but the unequal pressure serves only to increase the influence of the rich, and to aggravate the misery of the poor. By these dilatory and expensive proceedings, the wealthy pleader obtains a more certain advantage than he could hope from the accidental corruption of his judge. The experience of an abuse, from which our own age and country are not perfectly exempt, may sometimes provoke a generous indignation, and extort the hasty wish of exchanging our elaborate jurisprudence for the simple and summary degrees of a Turkish cadhi. Our calmer reflection will suggest, that such forms and delays are necessary to guard the person and property of the citi. zen; that the discretion of the judge is the first engine of tyranny, and that the laws of a free people should foresee and determine every question that may probably arise in the exercise of power and the transactions of industry. But the government of Justinian united the evils of liberty and servitude; and the Romans were oppressed at the same time by the multiplicity of their laws and the arbitrary will of their master.

CHAPTER XLV.

Reign of the younger Justin. -Embassy of the Avars. -Their settlement on the Danube. -Conquest of Italy by the Lombards. --Adoption and reign of Tiberius.-Of Maurice. - State of Italy under the Lombards and the Exarchs.-Of Ravenna. -Distress of Rome.- Character and Pontificate of Gregory the First.

DURING the last years of Justinian, his infirm CHAP. mind was devoted to heavenly contemplation, and he neglected the business of the lower world. His sub-Death of jects were impatient of the long continuance of his life Justinian, and reign: yet all who were capable of reflection, ap- Nov. 14. prehended the moment of his death, which might involve the capital in tumult, and the empire in civil war. Seven nephews1 of the childless monarch, the sons or grandsons of his brother and sister, had been educated in the splendour of a princely fortune; they had been shewn in high commands to the provinces and armies; their characters were known, their followers were zealous, and as the jealousy of age postponed the declaration of a successor, they might expect with equal hopes the inheritance of their uncle. He expired in his palace after a reign of thirty-eight years; and the decisive opportunity was embraced by the friends of Justin the son of Vigilantia. At the hour of midnight, his domestics were awakened by an importunate crowd who thundered at his door, and obtained admittance by revealing themselves to be the principal members of the senate. These welcome deputies announced the recent and momentous secret of the emperor's decease: reported, or perhaps invented, his dying choice of the best beloved and most deserving of his nephews, and conjured Justin to prevent the disorders of the mul

1

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CHAP. titude, if they should perceive, with the return of light, that they were left without a master. After compos. ing his countenance to surprise, sorrow, and decent modesty, Justin, by the advice of his wife Sophia, submitted to the authority of the senate. He was conducted with speed and silence to the palace, the guards saluted their new sovereign, and the martial and religious rites of his coronation were diligently accomplished. By the hands of the proper officers he was invested with the Imperial garments, the red buskins, white tunic, and purple robe. A fortunate soldier, whom he instantly promoted to the rank of tribune, encircled his neck with a military collar; four robust youths exalted him on a shield: he stood firm and erect to receive the adoration of his subjects; and their choice was sanctified by the benediction of the patriarch, who imposed the diadem on the head of an or

Reign of

or the

Nov. 15

thodox prince. The hippodrome was already filled Justin II. with innumerable multitudes, and no sooner did the younger, emperor appear on his throne, than the voices of the A. D. 565, blue and the green factions were confounded in the A D. 574, same loyal acclamations. In the speeches which Jus. December.tin addressed to the senate and people, he promised to correct the abuses which had disgraced the age of his predecessor, displayed the maxims of a just and beneficent government, and declared, that on the approach

His con

ing calends of January3, he would revive in his own sulship, person the name and liberality of a Roman consul. A. D. 566, The immediate discharge of his uncle's debts exhibited

January 1.

a solid pledge of his faith and generosity; a train of porters, laden with bags of gold, advanced into the midst of the hippodrome, and the hopeless creditors of Justinian accepted this equitable payment as a voluntary gift. Before the end of three years, his example was imitated and surpassed by the empress Sophia, who delivered many indigent citizens ns from the weight of debt and usury: an act of benevolence the best entitled to gratitude, since it relieves the most intolera

3 It is surprising how Pagi (Critica in Annal. Baron. tom. ii. p. 639.) could be tempted by any chronicles to contradict the plain and decisive text of Corippus (vicina dona, 1. ii. 354. vicina dies, 1. iv. 1), and to postpone till A. D. 567, the consulship of Justin.

XLV.

ble distress; but in which the bounty of a prince is the CHAP. most liable to be abused by the claims of prodigality and fraud.

Avars,

On the seventh day of his reign, Justin gave au- Embassy dience to the ambassadors of the Avars, and the of the scene was decorated to impress the Barbarians with A. D. 566. astonishment, veneration, and terror. From the palace gate, the spacious courts and long porticoes were lined with the lofty crests and gilt bucklers of the guards, who presented their spears and axes with more confidence than they would have shewn in a field of battle. The officers who exercised the power, or attended the person of the prince, were attired in their richest habits, and arranged according to the military and civil order of the hierarchy. When the veil of the sanctuary was withdrawn, the ambassadors beheld the emperor of the East on his throne, beneath a canopy or dome, which was supported by four columns, and crowned with a winged figure of Victory. In the first emotions of surprise, they submitted to the servile adoration of the Byzantine court; but as soon as they rose from the ground, Targetius, the chief of the embassy, expressed the freedom and pride of a Barbarian. He extolled, by the tongue of his interpreter, the greatness of the chagan, by whose clemency the kingdoms of the South were permitted to exist, whose victorious subjects had traversed the frozen rivers of Scythia, and who now covered the banks of the Danube with innumerable tents. The late emperor had cultivated, with annual and costly gifts, the friendship of a grateful monarch, and the enemies of Rome had respected the allies of the Avars. The same prudence would instruct the nephew of Justinian to imitate the liberality of his uncle, and to purchase the blessings of peace from an invincible people who delighted and excelled in the exercise of war. The reply of the emperor was delivered in the same strain of haughty defiance, and he derived his confidence from the God of the Christians, the ancient glory of Rome, and the recent triumphs of Justinian.. "The empire," said he, "abounds with " men and horses, and arms sufficient to defend our 4 Theophan. Chronograph. p. 205. Whenever Cedrenus or Zonaras are mere transcribers, it is superfluous to allege their testimony.