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282 accordingly the vacant throne was offered to Theodosius, the Emperor's eldest son, or, should he decline it, to his father-in-law Germanus, both of whom were hunting at the time in the neighbourhood of the capital. They were at once recalled to Constantinople. Germanus, realising that he was suspected of treason, armed his followers and surrounded by a body-guard took refuge in the Cathedral Church. He had won the sympathies of the populace, and when the Emperor attempted to remove him by force from St Sophia, riots broke out in the city, while the troops of the demes deserted their posts on the walls to join in the abuse of Emperor and patriarch. Maurice was denounced as a Marcianist and ribald songs were shouted against him through the streets. The house of the praetorian praefect, Constantine Lardys, was burned to the ground, and at the dead of night, with his wife and children, accompanied by Constantine, the Emperor, disguised as a private citizen, embarked for Asia (22 Nov. 602). A storm carried him out of his course and he only landed with difficulty at the shrine of Autonomus the Martyr; here an attack of gout held him prisoner, while the praetorian praefect was despatched with Theodosius to enlist the sympathy of Chosroes on behalf of his benefactor. The Emperor fled, the Greens determined to espouse the cause of Phocas and rejected the overtures of Germanus, who now made a bid for the crown and was prepared to purchase their support; they feared that, once his end was gained, his well-known partiality for the Blues would reassert itself. The disappointed candidate was driven to acknowledge his rival's claims. Phocas was invited to the Hebdomon (Makrikeui) and thither trooped out the citizens, the senate, and the patriarch. In the church of St John the Baptist the rude half-barbarian centurion was crowned sovereign of the Roman Empire, and entered the capital "in a golden shower" of royal gifts.

But the usurper could not rest while Maurice was alive. On the day following the coronation of his wife Leontia, upon the Asian shore at the harbour of Eutropius five sons of the fallen Emperor were slain before their father's eyes, and then Maurice himself perished, calling upon God and repeating many times "Just art thou, O Lord, and just is thy judgment." From the beach men saw the bodies floating on the waters of the bay, while Lilius brought back to the capital the severed heads, where they were exposed to public view.

Maurice was a realist who suffered from an obstinate prejudice in favour of his own projects and his own nominees; he could diagnose the ills from which the Empire suffered, but did not always choose aright the moment for administering the remedy. He had served a stern apprenticeship in the eastern wars, and saw clearly that while Rome in many of her provinces was fighting for existence, the importance of the leader of armies outweighed that of the civil governor. In some temporary instances Justinian had entrusted to the praefect the duties of a general, and had thus broken through the sharp distinction between the two