Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/87

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 65 his red hair^ his beardless chin^ and his cheek disfigured and discoloured by a formidable scar. Ignorant of letters, of laws, and even of arms, he indulged in the supreme rank a more ample privilege of lust and drunkenness, and his brutal pleasures were either injurious to his subjects or disgraceful to himself. Without assuming the office of a prince, he renounced the profession of a soldier ; and the reign of Phocas afflicted Euro})e with ignominious peace, and Asia with desolating war. His savage temper was inflamed by passion, hardened by fear, exasperated by resistance or reproach. The flight of Theo- dosius to the Persian court had been intercepted by a rapid pursuit or a deceitful message : he was beheaded at Nice, and the last hours of the young prince were soothed by the com- forts of religion and the consciousness of innocence. Yet his phantom disturbed the repose of the usurper ; a whisper was circulated through the East, that the son of Maurice was still alive ; the people expected their avenger, and the widow and daughters of the late emperor would have adopted *»': their son and brother the vilest of mankind. In the massacre of the Imperial family, '"'^ the mercy, or rather the discretion, of Phocas had spared these unhappy females, and they were decently confined to a private house. But the spirit of the empress Constantina, still mindful of her father, her husband, and her sons, aspired to freedom and revenge. At the dead of night, [ad.604?] she escaped to the sanctuary of St. Sophia ; but her tears, and the gold of lier associate Germanus, were insufficient to provoke an insun'ection. Her life was forfeited to revenge, and even to justice ; but the patriarch obtained and pledged an oath for her safety ; a monastery was allotted for her prison, and the widow of Maurice accepted and abused the lenity of his assassin. The discovery or the suspicion of a second conspiracy, dissolved the [a.d. 6051 engagements and rekindled the fury of Phocas. A matron who commanded the respect and pity of mankind, the daughter, wife, and mother of emperors, was tortured like the vilest malefactor, to force a confession of her designs and associates ; and the empress Constantina, with her three innocent daughters, was beheaded at Chalcedon, on the same ground which had and tyranny been stained with the blood of her husband and five sons. After s^ The family of Maurice is represented by Ducange (Familias Byzantinae, p. 106, 107, 108) : his eldest son Theodosius had been crowned emperor when he was no more than four years and a half old, and he is always joined with his father in the salutations of Gregory, With the Christian daughters, Anastasia and Theoctiste, I am surprised to find the Pagan name of Cleopatra. VOL. V. 5