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the arts and sciences; their vessels traded to the Isle of Ceylon," and seven kingdoms obeyed the Negus or supreme prince of Abyssinia. The independence of the Homerites,* who reigned in the rich and happy Arabia, was first violated by an Ethiopian conqueror: he drew his hereditary claim from the queen of Sheba," and his ambition was sanctified by religious zeal. The Jews, powerful and active in exile, had seduced the mind of Dunaan, prince of the Homerites. They urged him to retaliate the persecution inflicted by the Imperial laws on their unfortunate brethren: some Roman merchants were injuriously treated; and several Christians of Negra 97 were honored with the crown of martyrdom.98 The churches of Arabia implored the protection of the Abyssinian monarch. The Negus passed the Red Sea with a fleet and army, deprived the Jewish proselyte of his kingdom and life, and extinguished a race of princes, who had ruled above two thousand years the sequestered region of myrrh and frankincense. The conqueror immediately announced the victory of the gospel, requested an orthodox patriarch, and so warmly professed his friendship to the Roman empire, that Justinian was flattered by the hope of diverting the silk trade through the channel of Abyssinia, and of exciting the forces of Arabia against the Persian king. Nonnosus, descended from a family of ambassadors, was named by the emperor to execute this important commission. He wisely declined the shorter, but more dangerous, road, through the sandy deserts of Nubia; ascended the Nile, embarked on the Red Sea, and safely landed at the

95 The trade of the Axumites to the coast of India and Africa, and the Isle of Ceylon, is curiously represented by Cosmas Indicopleustes (Topograph. Christian. 1. ii. pp. 132, 138, 139, 140, 1. xi. pp. 338, 339).

96 Ludolph. Hist. et Comment. Æthiop. 1. ii. c. 3.

97 The city of Negra, or Nag'ran, in Yemen, is surrounded with palm-trees, and stands in the high road between Saana, the capital, and Mecca; f.om the former ten, from the latter twenty days' journey of a caravan of camels (Abulfeda, Descript. Arabiæ, p. 52).

The martyrdom of St. Arethas, prince of Negra, and his three hundred and forty companions,† is embellished in the legends of Metaphrastes and Nicephorus Callistus, copied by Baronius_(A. D. 522, No. 22-C6, A. D. 523, No. 16-29), and refuted with obscure diligence, by Basnage (Hist. des Juifs, tom. viii. 1. xii. c. ii. pp. 333-318), who investigates the state of the Jews in Arabia and Æthiopia.

*It appears by the important inscription discovered by Mr. Salt at Axoum, and from a law of Constantius (16th Jan. 356, inserted in the Theodosian Code, 1. 12, c. 12), that in the middle of the fourth century of our era the princes of the Axumites joined to their titles that of king of the Homerites. The conquests which they made over the Arabs in the sixth century were only a restoration of the ancient order of things. St. Martin, vol. iii. p. 46.-M.

According to Johannsen (Hist. Yemanæ, Præf. p. 89). Dunaan (Dsu Nowas) massacred 29,000 Christians, and threw them into a pit, where they were burned. They are called in the Koran the companions of the pit (socii fovea).-M.

African port of Adulis. From Adulis to the royal city of Axume is no more than fifty leagues, in a direct line; but the winding passes of the mountains detained the ambassador fifteen days; and as he traversed the forests, he saw, and vaguely computed, about five thousand wild elephants. The capital, according to his report, was large and populous; and the village of Axume is still conspicuous by the regal coronations, by the ruins of a Christian temple, and by sixteen or seventeen obelisks inscribed with Grecian characters.99 But the Negus † gave audience in the open field, seated on a lofty chariot, which was drawn by four elephants, superbly caparisoned, and surrounded by his nobles and musicians. He was clad in a linen garment and cap, holding in his hand two javelins and a light shield; and, although his nakedness was imperfectly covered, he displayed the Barbaric pomp of gold chains, collars, and brace

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richly adorned with pearls and precious stones. The ambassador of Justinian knelt; the Negus raised him from the ground, embraced Nonnosus, kissed the seal, perused the letter, accepted the Roman alliance, and, brandishing his weapons, denounced implacable war against the worshippers of fire. But the proposal of the silk trade was eluded; and notwithstanding the assurances, and perhaps the wishes, of the Abyssinians, these hostile menaces evaporated without effect. The Homerites were unwilling to abandon their aromatic groves, to explore a sandy desert, and to encounter, after all their fatigues, a formidable nation from whom they had never received any personal injuries. Instead of enlarging his conquests, the king of Ethiopia was incapable of defending his possessions. Abrahah,‡ the slave of a Roman

99 Alvarez (in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 219, vers. 221, vers.) saw the flourishing state of Axume in the year 1520-luogomolto buono e grande. It was ruined in the same century by the Turkish invasion. No more than 100 houses remain; but the memory of its past greatness is preserved by the regal coronation (Ludolph. Hist. et Comment. 1. ii. c. 11).*

* Lord Valentia's and Mr. Salt's Travels give a high notion of the ruins of Axum.-M.

The Negus is differently called Elcsbaan, Elesboas, Elisthæus, probably the same name, or rather appellation. See St. Martin, vol. viii. p. 49.-M.

According to the Arabian authorities (Johannsen, Hist. Yemance, p. 94, Bonn, 1828), Abrahah was an Abyssinian, the rival of Ariathus, the brother of the Abyssinian king: he surprised and slew Ariathus, and by his craft appeased the resentment of Nadjash, the Abyssinian king. Abrahah was a Christian; he built a magnificent church at Sana, and dissuaded his subjects from their accus. tomed pilgrimages to Mecca. The church was defiled, it was supposed, by the Koreishites, and Abrahah took up arms to revenge himself on the temple at Месса. He was repelled by miracle; his elephant would not advance, but knelt down before the sacred place; Abrahah fled, discomfited and mortally wounded to Sana.-M.

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merchant of Adulis, assumed the sceptre of the Homerites; the troops of Africa were seduced by the luxury of the elimate; and Justinian solicited the friendship of the usurper, who honored with a slight tribute the supremacy of his prince. After a long series of prosperity, the power of Abrahah was overthrown before the gates of Mecca; his children were despoiled by the Persian conqueror; and the Ethiopians were finally expelled from the continent of Asia. This narrative of obscure and remote events is not foreign to the decline and fall of the Roman empire. If a Christian power had been maintained in Arabia, Mahomet must have been crushed in his cradle, and Abyssinia would have prevented a revolution which has changed the civil and religious state of the world.100 *

160 The revolutions of Yeman in the sixth century must be collected from Procopius (Persic. 1. i. c. 19, 20), Theophanes Byzant. (apud Phot. cod. lxiii. p. 80), St. Theophanes (in Chronograph. pp. 144, 145, 188, 189, 206, 207, who is full of strange blunders), Pocock (Specimen Hist. Arab. pp. 62, 65), D'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orientale, pp. 12, 477), and Sale's Preliminary Discourse and Koran (c. 105). The revolt of Abrahah is mentioned by Procopius; and his fall, though clouded with miracles, is an historical fact.t

* A period of sixty-seven years is assigned by most of the Arabian authorities to the Abyssinian kingdom in Homeritis.-M.

To the authors who have illustrated the obscure history of the Jewish and Abyssinian kingdoms in Homeritis may be added Schultens, Hist. Joctanidarum; Walsh, Historia rerum in Homerite gestarum, in the 4th vol. of the Göttingen Transactions; Salt's Travels, vol. ii. p. 446, &c.; Sylvestre de Sacy, vol. i. Acad. des Inscrip; Jost, Geschichte der Israeliter; Johannsen, Hist. Yemanæ, StMartin's notes to Le Beau, t. vii. p. 42.-M.

CHAPTER XLIII.

REBELLIONS OF AFRICA.-RESTORATION OF THE GOTHIC KINGDOM BY TOTILA.-LOSS AND RECOVERY OF ROME.-FINAL CONQUEST OF ITALY BY NARSES.-EXTINCTION OF THE OSTROGOTHS.-DEFEAT OF THE FRANKS AND ALEMANNI.— LAST VICTORY, DISGRACE, AND DEATH OF BELISARIUS.DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JUSTINIAN.—COMET, EARTHQUAKES, AND Plague.

THE review of the nations from the Danube to the Nile has exposed, on every side, the weakness of the Romans; and our wonder is reasonably excited that they should presume to enlarge an empire whose ancient limits they were incapable of defending. But the wars, the conquests, and the triumphs of Justinian, are the feeble and pernicious efforts of old age, which exhaust the remains of strength, and accelerate the decay of the powers of life. He exulted in the glorious act of restoring Africa and Italy to the republic; but the calamities which followed the departure of Belisarius betrayed the impotence of the conqueror, and accomplished the ruin of those unfortunate countries.

From his new acquisitions, Justinian expected that his avarice, as well as pride, should be richly gratified. A rapacious minister of the finances closely pursued the footsteps of Belisarius; and as the old registers of tribute had been barnt by the Vandals, he indulged his fancy in a liberal calculation and arbitrary assessment of the wealth of Africa. The increase of taxes, which were drawn away by a distant sovereign, and a general resumption of the patrimony or crown lands, soon dispelled the intoxication of the public joy: but the emperor was insensible to the modest complaints of the people, till he was awakened and alarmed by the clamors of

1 For the troubles of Africa, I neither have nor desire another guide than Procopius, whose eye contemplated the image, and whose ear collected the reports, of the memorable events of his own times. In the second book of the Vandalic war he relates the revolt of Stoza (c. 14-24), the return of Belisarius (c. 15), the victory of Germanus (c. 16, 17, 18), the second administration of Solomon (c. 19, 20, 21), the government of Sergius (c. 22, 23), of Areobindus (c. 24), the tyranny and death of Gontharis (c. 25, 26, 27, 28); nor can I discern any symptoms of flattery or malevolence in his various portraits.

military discontent. Many of the Roman soldiers had mar. ried the widows and daughters of the Vandals. As their own, by the double right of conquest and inheritance, they claimed the estates which Genseric had assigned to his victorious troops. They heard with disdain the cold and selfish representations of their officers, that the liberality of Justinian had raised them from a savage or servile condition; that they were already enriched by the spoils of Africa, the treasure, the slaves, and the movables of the vanquished Barbarians; and that the ancient and lawful patrimony of the emperors would be applied only to the support of that government on which their own safety and reward must ultimately depend. The mutiny was secretly inflamed by a thousand soldiers, for the most part Heruli, who had imbibed the doctrines, and were instigated by the clergy, of the Arian sect; and the cause of perjury and rebellion was sanctified by the dispensing powers of fanaticism. The Arians deplored the ruin of their church, triumphant above a century in Africa; and they were justly provoked by the laws of the conqueror, which interdicted the baptism of their children, and the exercise of all religious worship. Of the Vandals chosen by Belisarius, the far greater part, in the honors of the Eastern service, forgot their country and religion. But a generous band of four hundred obliged the mariners, when they were in sight of the Isle of Lesbos, to alter their course: they touched on Peloponnesus, ran ashore on a desert coast of Africa, and boldly erected, on Mount Aurasius, the standard of independence and revolt. While the troops of the province disclaimed the commands of their superiors, a conspiracy was formed at Carthage against the life of Solomon, who filled with honor the place of Belisarius; and the Arians had piously resolved to sacrifice the tyrant at the foot of the altar, during the awful mysteries of the festival of Easter. Fear or remorse restrained the daggers of the assassins, but the patience of Solomon emboldened their discontent; and, at the end of ten days, a furious sedition was kindled in the Circus, which desolated Africa above ten years. The pillage of the city, and the indiscriminate slaughter of its inhabitants, were suspended only by darkness, sleep, and intoxication: the governor, with seven companions, among whom was the historian Procopius, escaped to Sicily: twothirds of the army were involved in the guilt of treason; and eight thousand insurgents, assembling in the field of

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