Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/198

 176 THE DECLINE AND FALL cuous crowd of Jews and barbarians ; and the Monothelite Pyxrhus, a creature of the empress, after dropping a protesta- tion on the altar, escaped by a prudent flight from the zeal of the Catholics. A more serious and bloody task was reserved for the senate, who derived a temporary strength from the consent of the soldiers and people. The spirit of Roman freedom revived the ancient and awful examples of the judg- ment of tyrants, and the Imperial culprits were deposed and punuhment Condemned as the authors of the death of Constantine. But andHe^ the Severity of the conscript fathers was stained by the in- 641, Beptem-i* discriminate punishment of the innocent and the guilty: Martina and Heracleonas were sentenced to the amputation, the former of her tongue, the latter of his nose ; and after this cruel execution they consumed the remainder of their days in exile and oblivion. The Greeks who were capable of reflection might find some consolation for their servitude, by observing the abuse of power when it was lodged for a moment in the hands of an aristocracy, conatansn. We shall imagine ourselves transported five hundred years September backwards to the age of the Antonines, if we listen to the ora- tion which Constans II. -^ pronounced in the twelfth year of his age before the Byzantine senate. After returning his thanks for the just punishment of the assassins who had intercepted the fairest hopes of his father's reign, " By the divine providence," said the young emperor, "and by your righteous decree, Martina and her incestuous progeny have been cast headlong from the throne. Your majesty and wisdom have prevented the Roman state from degenerating into lawless tyranny. I therefore exhort and beseech you to stand forth as the counsellors and judges of the common safety." The senators were gratified by the respectful address and liberal donative of their sovereign ; but these servile Greeks were unworthy and regardless of freedom ; and, in his mind, the lesson of an hour was quickly erased by the prejudices of the age and the habits of despotism. He retained only a jealous fear lest the senate or people should one day invade the right of primogeniture and seat his brother Theodosius on an equal throne. By the imposition of holy 3 [The baptismal name of this emperor was Heraclius ; he was renamed Con- stantine at his coronation,— perhaps because his step-uncle Heraclius had brought discredit on the name. He is Constantine on his coins, and is so called by Ni- cephorus ; but Theophanes calls him Constans, and he is always known as Constans n. We must infer that Constantine was his official name, but that he was popu- larly called Constans in a hypocoristic sense (cp. Heraclius : Heraclonas). For the ecclesiastical policy of Constans see above, c. xlvii.]