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 366 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xlii taught by experience that, if merit sometimes provoked the jealousy, error or even guilt would obtain the indulgence, of a gracious emperor. 4 In such an age the triumphs of Belisarius, and afterwards of Narses, shine with incomparable lustre ; but they are encompassed with the darkest shades of disgrace and calamity. While the lieutenant of Justinian subdued the kingdoms of the Goths and Vandals, the emperor, 5 timid though ambitious, balanced the forces of the Barbarians, fomented their divisions by flattery and falsehood, and invited by his patience and liberality the repetition of injuries. 6 The keys of Carthage, Rome, and Ravenna were presented to their conqueror, while Antioch was destroyed by the Persians and Justinian trembled for the safety of Constantinople. stateofthe Even the Gothic victories of Belisarius were prejudicial to 18 the state, since they abolished the important barrier of the Upper Danube, which had been so faithfully guarded by Theo- doric and his daughter. For the defence of Italy, the Goths evacuated Pannonia and Noricum, which they left in a peace- ful and flourishing condition; the sovereignty was claimed by the emperor of the Romans ; the actual possession was abandoned to the boldness of the first invader. On the opposite banks of the Danube, the plains of Upper Hungary and the Transylvanian hills were possessed, since the death of Attila, The by the tribes of the Gepidae, 7 who respected the Gothic arms, and despised, not indeed the gold of the Romans, but the secret motive of their annual subsidies. The vacant fortifica- tions of the river were instantly occupied by these Barbarians ; their standards were planted on the walls of Sirmium and Belgrade ; and the ironical tone of their apology aggravated this insult on the majesty of the empire. " So extensive, O Caesar, are your dominions, so numerous are your cities, 4 See the third and fourth books of the Gothic War : the writer of the Aneodotes cannot aggravate these abuses. s Agathias, I. 5, p. 157, 158 [o. 14]. He confines this weakness of the emperor and the empire to the old age of Justinian ; but, alas ! he was never young. 6 This mischievous policy, which Procopius (Anecdot. c. 19) imputes to the emperor, is revealed in his epistle to a Scythian prince, who was capable of under- standing it. "Kyav irpofj.T)0ij Ka ayxivovcrraTov, says Agathias (1. v. p. 170, 171 [c. 24]). 7 [The settlements of the Gepidae seem, so far as our evidence goes, to have been confined to Iazygia. Their sway may have extended east of the Thei6s. L. Schmidt (Geschichte der deutschen Stamme, 308) defines the boundaries of the Gepid territory as the Theiss, the Danube, the Aluta (?) and the Carpathians. He traces the history of this people in the following pages.] Gepidae