Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/36

 14 THE DECLINE AND FALL of consternation and disorder, had resumed their courage and collected their powers ; and the nation, instead of submitting to her reign, demanded, with unanimous cries, that justice should be executed on the guilty spouse and the murderers of their king. She souglit a refuge among the enemies of her country, and a criminal who deserved the abhorrence of mankind was protected by the selfish policy of the exarch. With her daughter, the heiress of the Lombard throne, her two lovers, her trusty Gepidae, and the spoils of the palace of Verona, Rosamond descended the Adige and the Po, and was transported by a Greek vessel to the safe harbour of Ravenna. Longinus beheld with delight the charms and the treasures of the widow of Alboin ; her situation and her past conduct might justify the most licentious proposals; and she readily listened to the passion of a minister, who, even in the decline of the empire, was respected as the equal of kings. The death of a jealous lover M'as an eas}' and grateful sacrifice, and, as Helmichis issued from the bath, he received the deadly potion from the hand of his mistress. The taste of the liquor, its speedy operation, and his experience of the character of Rosamond, convinced him that he was poisoned : he pointed his dagger to her breast, compelled her to drain the remainder of the cup, and expired in a few minutes, with the consolation that she could not survive to enjoy the fruits of her wickedness. The daughter of Alboin and Rosamond, with the richest spoils of the Lombards, was embarked for Constantinople ; the surprising strength of Pere- deus amused and terrified the Imperial court ; his blindness and revenge exhibited an imperfect copy of the adventures of Sam- ciepho, King son. By the free suffrage of the nation, in the assembly of bards a!d. Pavia, Clepho, one of their noblest chiefs, was elected as the ' "^" succe.ssor of Alboin. Before the end of eighteen months, the throne was polluted by a second murder ; Clepho was stabbed by the hand of a domestic; the regal office was suspended above ten years, during the minority of his son Autharis ; and Italy was divided and oppressed by a ducal aristocracy of thirty tyrants.-" Weakness of When the nephew of Justinian ascended the throne, he pro- juatln''^"'^ claimed a new a?ra of happiness and glory. The annals of the second Justin -* are marked with disgrace abroad ana misery at 2^ See the history of Paul, 1. ii. c. 28-32. I have borrowed some interesting circumstances from the Liber Pontificalis of .A^gnellus, in Script. Rer. Ital. torn. ii. p. 124. Of all chronological guides Muratori is the safest. ^ The original authors for the reign of Justin the younger are Evagrius, Hist.