by Zosimus, as far as Honorius and Arcadius: and events subsequent to their reign by Priscus the rhetorician, and others. The whole of this range of history has been excellently epitomized by Eustathius of Epiphania, in two volumes, one extending to the capture of Troy, the other to the twelfth year of the reign of Anastasius. The occurrences subsequent to that period have been written by Procopius the rhetorician as far as the time of Justinian; and the account has been thenceforward continued by Agathias the rhetorician, and John, my fellow-citizen' and kinsman, as far as the flight of Chosroes the younger to the Romans, and his restoration to his kingdom: on which occasion Maurice was by no means tardy in his operations, but royally entertained the fugitive, and with the utmost speed restored him to his kingdom, at great cost and with numerous forces. These writers, however, have not yet published their history. With respect to these events, I also will detail in the sequel such matters as are suitable, with the favour of the higher power.

BOOK VI.

CHAP. I.-NUPTIALS OF MAURICE AND AUGUSTA. MAURICE, on succeeding to the empire, in the first place made the necessary arrangements for his nuptials, and, in accordance with the imperial ordinance, marries Augusta, named also Constantina, with magnificent ceremony, and with public banquetings and festivity in every part of the city. In attendance on the nuptials were Religion and Royalty, offering an escort most distinguished and gifts most precious. For the one supplied a father and mother, to hallow the rite with honoured locks of grey and venerable wrinkles—a circumstance strange in the history of sovereigns—as also brethren noble and blooming, to give dignity to the nuptial procession: the other, a gold embroidered robe, adorned with purple and Indian gems, and crowns most costly, with abund

This John was consequently a native of Epiphania, a city of Syria, which was Evagrius's native place, as we learn from above, b. iii. ch. 34. Vales.

ance of gold and the varied emblazonment of jewels; together with the attendance of all who were distinguished in courtly rank or military service, lighting the nuptial flambeaux in splendid costumes and investitures, and hymning the bridal cavalcade: so that no human display was ever more majestic and happy. Damophilus, when writing on the subject of Rome, says that Plutarch the Charonean1 has well remarked, that in order to her greatness alone did Virtue and Fortune unite in friendly truce: but, for myself, I would say, that in respect of Maurice alone did Piety and Good Fortune so conspire; by Piety laying compulsion upon Fortune, and not permitting her to shift at all. It was henceforward the settled aim of the emperor to wear the purple and the diadem not merely on his person but also on his soul: for he alone of recent sovereigns was sovereign of himself; and, with authority most truly centred in himself, he banished from his own soul the mob-rule of the passions, and having established an aristocracy in his own reasonings, he showed himself a living image of virtue, training his subjects to imitation. Nor have I said this by way of flattery: for how could such be my motive, since he is not acquainted with what is being written? That such was, however, the case with Maurice, will be evidenced by the gifts bestowed upon him by God, and the circumstances of various kinds that must unquestionably be referred to Divine favour.

CHAP. II.-ALAMUNDARUS THE ARAB AND HIS SON NAAMANES.

BESIDES his other noble purposes,, this was an especial object with the emperor, to avoid in every case the shedding of the blood of persons guilty of treason. Accordingly, he did not put to death Alamundarus, chieftain of the Scenite Arabs, who had betrayed both the commonwealth and Maurice himself, as I have already detailed; 2 but sentenced him to deportation to an island with his wife and some of his children, and appointed Sicily as the place of his banishment. Naamanes his son, notwithstanding a unanimous sentence of death, he detained as a prisoner at large, without any further infliction; although he had filled the empire with endless mischiefs, and, by the

1 De Fortunâ Romanorum, sub init. [EVAGRIUS.]

2 G

2 See above, b. v. ch. 20.

hands of his followers, had plundered either Phoenicia and Palestine, and enslaved the inhabitants, at the time when Alamundarus was captured. He pursued the same course in innumerable other cases, which shall be severally noticed in their places.

CHAP. III.-MILITARY OPERATIONS OF JOHN AND PHILIPPICUS. MAURICE sent out as commander of the forces of the East, first, John, a Scythian, who, after experiencing some reverses, with some alternations of success, achieved nothing worthy of mention; afterwards, Philippicus, who was allied to him by having married one of his two sisters. Having crossed the border and laid waste all before him, he amassed great booty, and killed many of the nobles of Nisibis and the other cities situated within the Tigris. He also gave battle to the Persians, and, after a severe conflict, attended with the loss of many distinguished men on the side of the enemy, he made numerous prisoners, and dismissed unharmed a battalion, which had retreated to an eminence and was fairly in his power, under a promise that they would urge their sovereign to send immediate proposals for peace. He also completed other measures during the continuance of his command, namely, in withdrawing his troops from superfluities and things tending to luxury, and in reducing them to discipline and subordination: the representation of which transactions must be fixed by writers, past or present, according as they may be or have been circumstanced with respect to hearsay or opinion-writers whose narrative, stumbling and limping through ignorance, or rendered affected by partiality, or blinded by antipathy, misses the mark of truth."

CHAP. IV.-MUTINY OF THE TROOPS AGAINST PRISCUS. He is succeeded in the command by Priscus, a person difficult of access, and not readily approached without necessary occasion, who expected the successful accomplishment of all his measures if he should maintain an almost entire seclusion; from a notion, that, through the awe thence resulting, the soldiery also would be more obedient to orders. Accordingly, on his arrival at the camp with stern and haughty look and

in imposing costume, he issued certain orders, relating to the hardihood of the soldiery in the field, to strictness in respect of their arms and to their allowances. Having received previous intimation of the proceeding, they then gave unrestrained vent to their rage; and advancing in a body to the general's quarters, they pillage, in barbarian fashion, all his magnificence and the most valuable of his treasures, and would inevitably have despatched Priscus himself, had he not mounted one of the led horses,1 and escaped to Edessa: to which place they laid siege, demanding his surrender.

CHAP. V.-COMPULSORY ELEVATION OF GERMANUS.

On the refusal of their demands by the citizens, they leave Priscus there, and seizing Germanus, who at that time held the command in Phoenicia Libanensis, they elect him their own general and emperor, while he resisted and they were the more urgent; and a struggle thus arose, on the part of the one to escape compulsion, of the others to enforce their object. After they had menaced him with death unless he would embrace the offered charge, and he, on his part, eagerly embraced the alternative, disclaiming all fear and consternation, they proceeded to certain severities and methods of cruelty, which they thought he would not be able to bear; for they did not suppose that he would manifest greater endurance than the strength of nature and his time of life would warrant. By putting him to the trial at first cautiously and sparingly, they succeed in forcing him to accede to their demands, and solemnly to swear that he would be true to them. Thus they compelled him to be their ruler under rule, their subject sovereign, their master in thraldom. Then chasing from them the officers of every grade, they elect others in their place, openly reviling the imperial government. They treated provincials on the whole less harshly than the barbarians did, but in a manner very unlike allies or servants2 of the commonwealth for they 1 These horses the Latins termed Veredos, because they conveyed the Redæ, as Festus tells us. Evagrius uses this word again below, chap. 15. Vales. 2 Or rather "slaves" (Toλireias dovλoi). The militia amongst the Romans, from the times of Augustus, was a kind of temporary servitude. Hence the soldiers were marked with brands on their skin, as slaves, and the Missio Militaris, or military discharge, plainly answers to the manumission of slaves.

levied their provisions not according to stated measures or weight, and were not contented with the quarters1 assigned to them but the will of each individual was a rule, and his caprice an established measure.

CHAP. VI.-MISSION OF PHILIPPICUS.

THE emperor despatches Philippicus to settle this ferment: they, however, not only denied him reception, but perilled the lives of all whom they supposed to be connected with him.

CHAP. VII.-ACCUSATIONS AGAINST GREGORY, PATRIARCH OF

ANTIOCH.

WHILE matters were in this situation, Gregory, bishop of Theopolis, returns from the imperial city, after having been victorious in the struggle which I now proceed to detail.

At the time when Asterius held the government of the East, a quarrel had arisen between him and Gregory: the higher ranks of the city sided entirely with the former, and were supported by the populace, and by those who were engaged in trades; for each class declared that they had been injured by Gregory; until at last licence was given to the rabble to vent their abuse against him. Thus both the other classes accorded with the populace, and they clamoured forth their insults against the prelate in the streets and the theatre; and even the actors indulged in them. Asterius is removed from his government, and John is invested with it, with orders from the emperor to make inquiry into the stir; a man incompetent to the management of the most trifling matters, much less a business so important. Having, in consequence, filled the city with confusion and uproar, and given public licence to any one that chose to accuse the bishop, he receives a formal charge against him from a certain banker, to the effect that he had had criminal intercourse with his own sister, married to another man. He also receives accusations from other persons

As often as the Roman army was about to make a long march, an edict was published in which all the quarters, in which the soldiers were to stay, were set forth. The inns also, or houses wherein the soldiers, either going to or returning from an expedition, were to stay, were set out by the mensores, or quarter-masters.