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CHAP.
XLV.

the tribunal of Chrift. I have been dazzled by "the fplendour of the diadem: be thou wife and "modeft; remember what you have been, re"member what you are. You fee around us

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your flaves and your children; with the autho "rity, affume the tendernefs, of a parent. Love

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your people like yourfelf; cultivate the affec❝tions, maintain the difcipline of the army: protect "the fortunes of the rich, relieve the neceffities of "the poor 27." The affembly, in filence and in tears, applauded the counfels, and fympathifed with the repentance, of their prince: the patriarch rehearfed the prayers of the church; Tiberius received the diadem on his knees, and Justin, who in his abdication appeared moft worthy to reign, addreffed the new monarch in the following words: "If you confent, I live; if you command, I die: 66 may the God of heaven and earth infufe into your heart whatever I have neglected or forgot "ten." The four last years of the emperor Justin A.D. 578, were paffed in tranquil obfcurity: his confcience was no longer tormented by the remembrance of those duties which he was incapable of discharging; and his choice was juftified by the filial reverence and gratitude of Tiberius.

Death of

Juftin II.

October

Reign of Tiberius II.

5.

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Among the virtues of Tiberius 268 his beauty (he was one of the tallest and most comely of the Romans)

27 Theophylact Simocatta (1. iii. c. 11.) declares that he fhall give to posterity the speech of Justin as it was pronounced, without attempting to correct the imperfections of language or rhetoric. FerHaps the vain fophift would have been incapable of producing fuch fentiments..

28 For the character and reign of Tiberius, fee Evagrius, 1. v. c. 13. Theophylact, 1. iii. c. 12, &c. Theophanes, in Chron.

'XLV.

A.D. 582,

Aug. 14.

Romans) might introduce him to the favour of CHAP. Sophia; and the widow of Juftin was perfuaded, that the fhould preferve her station and influence A. D. 578. Sept. 26under the reign of a fecond and more youthful hufband: But if the ambitious candidate had been tempted to flatter and diffemble, it was no longer in his power to fulfil her expectations, or his own promise. The factions of the hippodrome demanded, with fome impatience, the name of their new emprefs; both the people and Sophia were aftonished by the proclamation of Anastasia, the fecret, though lawful wife of the emperor Tiberius. Whatever could alleviate the difappointment of Sophia, Imperial honours, a ftately palace, a numerous household, was liberally bestowed by the piety of her adopted fon; on folemn occafions he attended and confulted the widow of his benefactor: but her ambition difdained the vain femblance of royalty, and the respectful appellation of mother ferved to exafperate, rather than appease, the rage of an injured woman. While fhe acceptéd, and repaid with a courtly fmile, the fair expreffions of regard and confidence, a fecret alliance was concluded between the dowager empress and her ancient enemies; and Juftinian, the fon of Germanus, was employed as the inftrument of her revenge. The pride of the reigning house fupported, with reluctance, the dominion of a ftranger: the youth was deservedly popular; his name,

P. 210-213. Zonaras, tom. ii. 1. v. p. 72. Cedrenus, p. 392. Paul Warnefrid, de Geftis Langobard, 1. iii. c. 11, 12. The deacon of Forum Julii appears to have poffeffed fome curious and authentic facts.

after

XLV.

CHAP. after the death of Juftin, had been mentioned by a tumultuous faction; and his own fubmiffive offer of his head, with a treasure of fixty thousand pounds, might be interpreted as an evidence of guilt, or at least of fear. Juftinian received a free. pardon, and the command of the eastern army. The Perfian monarch fled before his arms; and the acclamations which accompanied his triumph, declared him worthy of the purple. His artful patroness had chofen the month of the vintage, while the emperor, in a rural folitude, was permitted to enjoy the pleasures of a subject. On the first intelligence of her defigns he returned to Conftantinople, and the confpiracy was fuppreffed by his prefence and firmness. From the pomp and honours which fhe had abused, Sophia was reduced to a modeft allowance: Tiberius dif miffed her train, intercepted her correfpondence, and committed to a faithful guard the cuftody of her perfon. But the fervices of Juftinian were not confidered by that excellent prince as an aggravation of his offences: after a mild reproof, his treafon and ingratitude were forgiven; and it was commonly believed, that the emperor entertained fome thoughts of contracting a double alliance with the rival of his throne. The voice of an angel (fuch a fable was propagated) might reveal to the emperor, that he fhould always triumph over his domestic foes; but Tiberius derived a firmer affurance from the innocence and generofity of his own mind.

His vir.

tues.

With the odious name of Tiberius, hé affumed the more popular appellation of Conftantine, and

imitated

XLV.

imitated the purer virtues of the Antonines. After. CHA P. recording the vice or folly of fo many Roman princes, it is pleasing to repose, for a moment, on a character confpicuous by the qualities of humanity, justice, temperance, and fortitude; to contemplate a fovereign affable in his palace, pious. in the church, impartial on the feat of judgment, and victorious, at least by his generals, in the Perfian war. The most glorious trophy of his victory confifted in a multitude of captives whom Tiberius entertained, redeemed, and difmiffed to their native homes with the charitable spirit of a Chriftian hero. The merit or misfortunes of his own fub. jects had a dearer claim to his beneficence, and he measured his bounty not fo much by their expectations, as by his own dignity. This maxim, however dangerous in a trustee of the public wealth, was balanced by a principle of humanity and justice, which taught him to abhor, as of the baseft alloy, the gold that was extracted from the tears of the people. For their relief, as often as they had fuffered by natural or hostile calamities, he was impatient to remit the arrears of the paft, or the demands of future taxes: he fternly rejected the feryile offerings of his minifters, which were compenfated by tenfold oppreffion; and the wife and equitable laws of Tiberius excited the praise and regret of fucceeding times. Conftantinople be lieved that the emperor had discovered a treasure : but his genuine treasure confifted in the practice of liberal œconomy, and the contempt of all vain. and fuperfluous expence. The Romans of the East would have been happy, if the best gift of

heaven,

XLV.

CHAP. heaven, a patriot king, had been confirmed as a proper and permanent bleffing. But in less than four years after the death of Juftin, his worthyfucceffor funk into a mortal disease, which left him only fufficient time to restore the diadem, according to the tenure by which he held it, to the most deferving of his fellow-citizens. He felected Maurice from the crowd, a judgment more precious than the purple itself: the patriarch and fenate were fummoned to the bed of the dying prince: he bestowed his daughter and the empire; and his last advice was folemnly delivered by the voice of the quæftor. Tiberius expreffed his hope, that the virtues of his fon and fucceffor would erect the nobleft mausoleum to his memory. His memory was embalmed by the public affliction; but the most fincere grief evaporates in the tumult of a new reign, and the eyes and acclamations of mankind were speedily directed to the rifing fun.

The reign

of Mau

rice,

The emperor Maurice derived his origin from ancient Rome 29; but his immediate parents were A. D. 582, fettled at Arabiffus in Cappadocia, and their finAug 13A.D. 602, gular felicity preserved them alive to behold and Nov. 27. partake the fortune of their auguft fon. The youth of Maurice was spent in the profeffion of arms; Tiberius promoted him to the command of a new and favourite legion of twelve thousand confede

29 It is therefore fingular enough that Paul (1. iii. c. 15.) should diftinguish him as the first Greek emperor-primus ex Græcorum genere in Imperio conftitutus. His immediate predeceffors had indeed been born in the Latin provinces of Europe; and a various reading, in Græcorum Imperio, would apply the expreffion to the empire rather than the prince.

rates

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