(500-600.)

EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. A great change takes place in this century under Justinian, who rules from 527 to 565, during whose reign the Vandals are driven from Africa in 534, the South of Spain recovered from the Visigoths, and the Ostrogoths in Italy are conquered (535–553), thus winning back much of the lost dominion of the old Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire is at the height of its glory under Justinian, and the Roman territory again reaches "from the ocean to the Euphrates, round the greater part of the Mediterranean." After Justinian's death, in 565, this great power declines again. The Lombards conquer the northern part of Italy, and the empire is threatened at the end of the century by the Slavonian and Turanian nations from the north and the Persians in the east. Part of the dominion in Spain is won back by the Visigoths.

FRANKS. The Franks, under Clovis, become strongly established, their kingdom embracing parts of modern France and Germany.

LOMBARDS. The Lombards pour down into Italy in 568, and conquer the northern portion, founding there the kingdom of Lombardy, and leaving to the Eastern Empire part of Southern Italy, the Exarchate of Ravenna, and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, with Venice.

ITALY, in the first of the century nominally a part of the Eastern Empire but really in the hands of the Ostrogoths, is conquered in the time of Justinian, and becomes actually a part of the Eastern Empire. After the death of Justinian, the Lombards conquer part of Italy, forming the kingdom of Lombardy

OSTROGOTHS. The Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy is overcome by the Eastern Empire in the time of Justinian, and also by the Lombards, who form the kingdom of Lombardy in the northern part of Italy.

VISIGOTHS. The Visigoths lose part of the South of Spain, which is conquered by the Eastern Empire in the time of Justinian. A portion of this lost dominion is, however, won back by the Visigoths. The Visigoths seize the remaining territory of the Suevi, in Northwestern Spain, in 585.

VANDALS. The kingdom of the Vandals in Africa comes to an end in 534, becoming part of the Eastern Empire.

ANGLES, SAXONS, JUTES, continue their migrations to Britain.
BRITAIN. See ANGLES, SAXONS, JUTES.

PERSIA is a powerful kingdom, and a threatening rival to the Eastern Empire. SLAVES. An important branch of the Aryan stock-the Slaves deserves notice during this century.

AVARS, ETC. In the lands north of the Danube the kingdom of the Avars -a Turanian race-is set up, and in the territory adjacent to the Black Sea the Chazars establish a great dominion.

Pope Gregory the Great, St. Benedict, St. Gildas, St. Columba, St. Columban.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE EASTERN EMPIRE.

THIS period is often known as the Age of Justinian

from the long reign of that monarch (527–565), which covered a considerable part of the century. Justinian was one of the greatest of the emperors, and distinguished himself by his architectural constructions in various parts of the empire, in particular the building of the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, one of the most remarkable edifices in the world, and by the revision and codification of the Roman laws, made under his supervision by the great lawyer Tribonian, and which has become the basis of jurisprudence in continental Europe. During the reign of Justinian the empire was enlarged by the accession of the kingdom of the Vandals in Africa, and of parts of Spain and Italy which had been conquered by his general Belisarius, of whom it has been said that "he was perhaps the greatest commander that ever lived, as he did the greatest things with the smallest means." These conquests, however, were of short duration.

The vain titles of the victories of Justinian are crumbled into dust; but the name of the legislator is inscribed on a fair and everlasting monument. Under his reign, and by his care, the civil jurisprudence was digested in the immortal works of the CODE, the PANDECTS, and the INSTITUTES; the public reason of the Romans has been silently or

studiously transfused into the domestic institutions of Europe, and the laws of Justinian still command the respect or obedience of independent nations. GIBBON.

If the Roman laws have appeared so sacred, that their majesty still subsists, notwithstanding the ruin of the empire, it is because good sense, which controls human life, reigns throughout the whole, and that there is nowhere to be found a finer application of the principles of natural equity. - BOSSUET.

He

Victory, by sea and land, attended his [Belisarius'] arms. subdued Africa, Italy, and the adjacent islands; led away captives the successors of Genseric and Theodoric; filled Constantinople with the spoils of their palaces; and in the space of six years recovered half the provinces of the Western Empire. — GIBBON.

The victories and losses of Justinian were alike pernicious to mankind; and such was the desolation of Africa, that in many parts a stranger might wander whole days without meeting the face either of a friend or an enemy. The nation of the Vandals had disappeared. GIBBON.

The Roman Empire appears suddenly to resume her ancient majesty and power. The signs of a just, able, and vigorous administration, —internal peace, prosperity, conquest, and splendor— surrounded the master of the Roman world. The greatest generals since the days perhaps of Trajan, Belisarius and Narses, appear at the head of the Roman armies. Persia was kept at bay during several campaigns, if not continuously successful, yet honorable to the arms of Rome. The tide of barbarian conquerors rolled back, Africa, the Illyrian and Dalmatian provinces, Sicily, Italy, with the ancient capital, were again under the empire of Rome; the Vandal kingdom, the Gothic kingdom, fell before the irresistible generals of the East. The frontiers of the empire were defended with fortifications constructed at an enormous cost. Justinian aspired to be the legislator of mankind; a vast system of jurisprudence embodied the wisdom of ancient and of imperial statutes, mingled with some of the benign influences of Christianity, of which the author might almost have been warranted in the presumptuous vaticination that it would exercise an unrepealed authority to the latest ages. The cities of the empire were adorned with buildings, civil as well as religious, of great magnificence and apparent durability, which, with the comprehensive