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oppreffed with wine, had retired from the table to. CHA P. his afternoon flumbers. His faithlefs fpoufe was anxious for his health and repofe: the gates of the palace were fhut, the arms removed, the attendants difmiffed, and Rosamond, after lulling him to rest by her tender careffes, unbolted the chamberdoor, and urged the reluctant confpirators to the instant execution of the deed. On the firft alarm, the warrior started from his couch; his fword, which he attempted to draw, had been fastened to the scabbarb by the hand of Rosamond; and a small stool, his only weapon, could not long protect him from the spears of the affaffins. The daughter of Cunimund fmiled in his fall; his body was buried under the staircase of the palace, and the grateful pofterity of the Lombards revered the tomb and the memory of their victorious leader.

The ambitious Rofamond afpired to reign in the Her fight name of her lover; the city and palace of Verona and death. were awed by her power, and a faithful band of her native Gepida was prepared to applaud the revenge, and to second the wishes, of their fovereign. But the Lombard chiefs, who fled in the first moments of consternation and disorder, had resumed their courage and collected their powers; and the nation, instead of fubmitting to her reign, demanded, with unanimous cries, that justice fhould be executed on the guilty spouse and the murderers of their king. She fought a refuge among the enemies of her country, and a criminal who deserved the abhorrence of mankind was protected by the selfish policy of the exarch. With her K 2

daughter,

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CHAP. daughter, the heiress of the Lombard throne, her two lovers, her trusty Gepida, and the fpoils of the palace of Verona, Rofamond defcended the Adige and the Po, and was transported by a Greek veffel to the fafe harbour of Ravenna. Longinus beheld with delight the charms and the treasures of the widow of Alboin: her fituation and her past conduct might justify the most licentious proposals; and the readily liftened to the paffion of a minister, who, even in the decline of the empire, was refpected as the equal of kings. The death of a jealous lover was an eafy and grateful facrifice, and as Helmichis iffued from the bath, he received the deadly potion from the hand of his mistress. The tafte of the liquor, its fpeedy operation, and his experience of the character of Rofamond, convinced him that he was poifoned: he pointed his dagger to her breaft, compelled her to drain the remainder of the cup, and expired in a few minutes, with the confolation, that fhe could not furvive to enjoy the fruits of her wickedness. The daughter of Alboin and Rofamond, with the richest spoils of the Lombards, was embarked for Conftantinople; the furprising ftrength of Peredeus amused and terrified the Imperial court: his blindness and revenge exhibited an imperfect copy of the adventures of Sampfon. By the free fuffrage of the nation, in the affembly of Pavia, Clepho, one of their nobleft chiefs, was elected as the fucceffor of Alboin. Before the end of eighteen months, the throne was polluted by a fecond murder; Clepho was stabbed by the hand of a domestic

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Clepho, king of the Lombards,

A. D. 573,
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the

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the regal office was fufpended above ten years, CHAP during the minority of his fon Autharis; and Italy was divided and oppreffed by a ducal aristocracy of thirty tyrants 22.

23

peror Juf

When the nephew of Juftinian afcended the, Weakness throne, he proclaimed a new era of happiness and of the em glory. The annals of the fecond Juftin are tin. marked with disgrace abroad and mifery at home. In the West, the Roman empire was afflicted by the loss of Italy, the defolation of Africa, and the conquefts of the Perfians. Injuftice prevailed both, in the capital and the provinces; the rich trembled for their property, the poor for their fafety, the ordinary magiftrates were ignorant or venal, the occafional remedies appear to have been arbi trary and violent, and the complaints of the people could no longer be filenced by the splendid names of a legiflator and a conqueror. The opinion which imputes to the prince all the calamities of his times, may be countenanced by the hiftorian as a serious truth or a falutary prejudice. Yet a candid fufpicion will arife, that the sentiments of Justin were pure and benevolent, and that he might have filled his ftation without reproach, if the faculties of his mind had not been impaired by disease, which deprived the emperor of the use of

22 See the hiftory of Paul, l. ii. c. 28-32. I have borrowed fome interefting circumstances from the Liber Pontificalis of Agnellus, in Script. Rer. Ital. tom. ii. p. 124. Of all chronological guides, Muratori is the fafeft.

23 The original authors for the reign of Justin the younger, are Evagrius. Hift. Eccles. l. v. c. 1—12. Theophanes, in Chronograph. P. 204-210. Zonaras, tom. ii. 1. xiv. p. 70-72. Cedrenus, in Compend. p. 388-392.

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*

CHAP. his feet, and confined him to the palace, a stranger to the complaints of the people and the vices of the government. The tardy knowledge of his own impotence determined him to lay down the weight of the diadem; and in the choice of a worthy fubstitute, he fhewed fome fymptoms of a difcerning and even magnanimous fpirit. The only fon of Justin and Sophia died in his infancy: their daughter Arabia was the wife of Baduarius 24 fuperintendant of the palace, and afterwards commander of the Italian armies, who vainly aspired to confirm the rights of marriage by thofe of adoption. While the empire appeared an object of desire, Justin was accustomed to behold with jealousy and hatred his brothers and coufins, the rivals of his hopes; nor could he depend on the gratitude of those who would accept the purple as a restitution, rather than a gift. Of these competitors, one had been removed by exile, and afterwards by death; and the emperor himself had inflicted fuch cruel infults on another, that he must either dread his refentment or despise his patience. This domeftic animofity was refined into a generous resolution of seeking a fucceffor, not in his family, but in the republic and the artful Sophia recommended Ti

24 Difpofitorque novus facræ Baduarius aulæ.

Succeffor foceri mox factus Cura palatî.

Corippus.

Baduarius is enumerated among the defcendants and allies of the house of Juftinian. A family of noble Venetians (Cala Badoero) built churches and gave dukes to the republic as early as the ixth century; and if their descent be admitted, no kings in Europe can produce a pedigree so ancient and illustrious. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 99. Amelot de la Houffaye, Gouvernement de Venise, tom. ii. p. 555.

berius,

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Affocia

A.D. 574,

berius", his faithful captain of the guards, whofe CHAP virtues and fortune the emperor might cherish as the fruit of his judicious choice. The ceremony tion of of his elevation to the rank of Cæfar, or Auguftus, Tiberius, was performed in the portico of the palace, in the December. prefence of the patriarch and the fenate. Juftin collected the remaining ftrength of his mind and body, but the popular belief that his speech was inspired by the Deity, betrays a very humble opinion both of the man and of the times 26. "behold," said the emperor, "the enfigns of fu66 preme power. You are about to receive them "not from my hand, but from the hand of God. "Honour them, and from them you will derive "honour. Refpect the empress your mother;

"You

you are now her fon; before, you were her fer"vant. Delight not in blood, abftain from re

venge, avoid thofe actions by which I have in"curred the public hatred, and confult the expe"rience rather than the example of your prede"ceffor. As a man, I have finned; as a finner, " even in this life I have been feverely punished: "but these fervants (and he pointed to his mini

fters), who have abused my confidence, and in"flamed my paffions, will appear with me before

15 The praise bestowed on princes before their elevation, is the purest and most weighty. Corippus has celebrated Tiberius at the time of the acceffion of Juftin (1. i. 212—222.). Yet even a captain of the guards might attract the flattery of an African exile.

26 Evagrius (1. v. c. 13.) has added the reproach to his minifters, He applies this speech to the ceremony when Tiberius was invested with the rank of Cæfar. The loofe expreffion, rather than the pofi tive error, of Theophanes, &c. has delayed it to his Auguftan inveftiture immediately before the death of Juftin.

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