XL. CHAP. that he should discharge his debts and legacies, allow to his three daughters a decent maintenance, and bestow each of them in marriage, with a portion of ten pounds of gold. But the fplendid fortune of Eulalius had been confumed by fire; and the inventory of his goods did not exceed the trifling fum of five hundred and fixty-four pieces of gold. A fimilar inftance, in Grecian history, admonished the emperor of the honourable part prefcribed for his imitation. He checked the felfish murmurs of the treasury, applauded the confidence of his friend, difcharged the legacies and debts, educated the three virgins under the eye of the empress Theodora, and doubled the mar. riage portion which had fatisfied the tenderness of their father. The humanity of a prince (for princes cannot be generous) is entitled to fome praife; yet even in this act of virtue we may dif cover the inveterate custom of fupplanting the legal or natural heirs, which Procopius imputes to the reign of Juftinian. His charge is fupported by eminent names and fcandalous examples; neither widows nor orphans were fpared; and the art of foliciting or extorting or fuppofing teftaments, was beneficially practifed by the agents of the palace. This bafe and mifchievous tyranny invades the fecurity of private life; and the monarch who has indulged an appetite for gain will foon be tempted to anticipate the moment of fuc 89 A fimilar or more generous act of friendship is related by Lucian of Eudamidas of Corinth (in Toxare, c. 22, 23. tom. ii. p. 530.), and the ftory has produced an ingenious, though feeble, comedy of Fontenelle. ceffion, XL. ceffion, to interpret wealth as an evidence of guilt, CHA P. and to proceed, from the claim of inheritance, to the power of confifcation. VII. Among the forms of rapine, a philofoper may be permitted to name the converfion of Pagan or heretical riches to the ufe of the faithful; but in the time of Juftinian, this holy plunder was condemned by the fectaries alone, who became the victims of his orthodox avarice" The miJuftinian. nifters of Dishonour might be ultimately reflected on the character of Juftinian; but much of the guilt, and still more of the profit, was intercepted by the minifters, who were feldom promoted for their virtues, and not always felected for their talents". The merits of Tribonian the quæftor will hereafter be weighed in the reformation of the Roman law; but the economy of the East was fubordinate to the Prætorian præfect, and Procopius has juftified his anecdotes by the portrait which he exposes in his public hiftory, of the notorious vices of John of Cappadocia. John of His knowledge was not borrowed from the Cappaschools 93, and his ftyle was fcarcely legible; but 90 John Malala, tom. ii. p. 101, 102, 103, 91 One of these, Anatolius, perifhed in an earthquake-doubtless a judgment! The complaints and clamours of the people in Agathias (1. v. p. 146, 147.) are almost an echo of the anecdote. The aliena pecunia reddenda of Corippus (1. ii. 381, &c ) is not very honourable to Juftinian's memory. 92 See the hiftory and character of John of Cappadocia in Procopius (Perfic 1. 1. c. 24, 25. 1. ii. C. 30. Vandal. 1. i. c. 13. Anecdot. c. 2. 17. 22.). The agreement of the hiftory and anecdotes is a mortal wound to the reputation of the præfect. 23. Ου γαρ αλλο εδεν ες γραμματιςες φοίτων εμαθεν ότι μη γραμματα, και FADRA nana Lauw; reafuma forcible expreffion. docia. he CHAP. he excelled in the powers of native genius, to XL. fuggeft the wifeft counfels, and to find expedients in the most defperate fituations. The corruption of his heart was equal to the vigour of his underftanding. Although he was fufpected of magic and Pagan fuperftition, he appeared infenfible to the fear of God or the reproaches of man; and his afpiring fortune was raised on the death of thousands, the poverty of millions, the ruin of cities, and the defolation of provinces. From the dawn of light to the moment of dinner, he affiduously laboured to enrich his mafter and himfelf at the expence of the Roman world; the remainder of the day was spent in sensual and obfcene pleasures, and the filent hours of the night were interrupted by the perpetual dread of the justice of an affaffin. His abilities, perhaps his vices, recommended him to the lasting friendship of Juftinian: the emperor yielded with reluc tance to the fury of the people; his victory was difplayed by the immediate restoration of their enemy; and they felt above ten years, under his oppreffive adminiftration, that he was ftimulated by revenge, rather than instructed by misfortune. Their murmurs ferved only to fortify the refolution of Juftinian; but the præfect, in the infolence of favour, provoked the refentment of Theodora, difdained a power before which every knee was bent, and attempted to fow the feeds of difcord beween the emperor and his beloved confort. Even Theodora herfelf was constrained to diffemble, to wait a favourable moment, and by an artful confpiracy to render John of Cappadocia 1 the At a CHA P. XL. the accomplice of his own destruction. patrician, XL. CHAP. patrician, was ignominioufly fcourged like the vileft of malefactors; a tattered cloak was the fole remnant of his fortunes; he was tranfported in a bark to the place of his banishment at Antinopolis in Upper Egypt, and the præfect of the Eaft begged his bread through the cities which had trembled at his name. During an exile of seven years, his life was protracted and threatened by the ingenious cruelty of Theodora; and when her death permitted the emperor to recal a fervant whom he had abandoned with regret, the ambition of John of Cappadocia was reduced to the humble duties of the facerdotal profeffion. His fucceffors convinced the fubjes of Juftinian, that the arts of oppreffion might still be improved by experience and induftry; the frauds of a Syrian banker were introduced into the adminiftration of the finances; and the example of the præfect was diligently copied by the quæftor, the public and private treafurer, the governors of provinces, and the principal magiftrates of the Eastern empire "*. His edifi chitects. 94 V. The edifices of Juftinian were cemented ces and ar- with the blood and treasure of his people; but those stately structures appeared to announce the profperity of the empire, and actually displayed the fkill of their architects. Both the theory and 94 The chronology of Procopius is loose and obfcure; but with the aid of Pagi I can discern that John was appointed Prætorian præfect of the Eaft in the year 530; that he was removed in January 532-restored before June 533-banished in 541-and recalled between June 548 and April 1, 549. Aleman. (p. 96, 97.) gives the lift of his ten fuccefforsa rapid feries in a part of a fingle reign. practice |