Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/328

300 to the imperial style the proud title of. The restoration of the Cross suggested the sign which had been given to the great Constantine, and Africa adopted (629) the first Greek inscription to be found on the imperial coinage — the motto. This may stand for us as a symbol of the decline of the Latin element within the Empire: from the reign of Phocas the old Roman names disappear and those of Graeco-Oriental origin take their place.

With these campaigns the period of the successors of Justinian has reached its end and a new epoch begins. The great contest between the Empires has weakened both combatants and has rendered possible the advance of the invaders from the South. Spain has driven out her last imperial garrisons, the Lombards are settled in Italy, the Slavs have permanently occupied the Danubian provinces — Rome's dominions take a new shape and the statesmen of Constantinople are faced with fresh problems. Imperialist dreams are past, and for a time there is no question of expansion: at moments it is a struggle for bare existence. In his capital the old Emperor, broken in health and harassed by domestic feuds, watches the peril from the desert spreading over the lands which his sword had regained and views the ruin of his cherished plans for a united Empire.

The character of Heraclius has fascinated the minds of historians from the time of Gibbon to the present day, but surely much of the riddle rests in our scanty knowledge of the early years of his reign: the more we know, the more comprehensible does the Emperor become. At the first Priscus commanded the troops and Priscus was disaffected: Heraclius was powerless, for he had no army with which to oppose his mutinous general. With the disappearance of Priscus the Emperor was faced with the problem of raising men and money from a ruined and depopulated empire. After the ill-success of his untrained army in 613, by the loss of Syria and Egypt the richest provinces and even the few recruiting grounds that remained fell into the enemy's hands. Heraclius was powerless: the taunt of Phocas must have rung in his ears: "Will you govern the Empire any better?" Africa appeared the sole way of escape: among those who knew him and his family he might awake sacrifice and enthusiasm and obtain the sinews of war. The project worked wonders — but in other ways than he had schemed. Men were impressed by the strength of his sincerity and the force of his personality — more, the Church would lend her wealth. Then came the Khagan's treachery — the loss of thousands of men who might have been enrolled in the new regiments which he was raising: the peace with the Avars and after two more years had been spent in further preparations, including probably the building of fresh fortifications for the capital which he was leaving to its own resources, the campaigns against Persia. At last, through long-continued hardships in the field, through ceaseless labours that defied ill-health, his physical strength gave way and he