Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/678

Rh 664 JUSTIN I AN US. Among the nations subdued by the Avars were the Bulgarians, between the Don and the Volga, who, in 559, passed the frozen Danube, and under their chief, Zabergan, ravaged Thrace and Mace- donia, and appeared under the walls of Constan- tinople. The capital was saved by Belisarius, whom Justinian rewarded with a dry compliment. If we turn our eyes from the West to the East, we find that the treaty of peace had scarcely been concluded between Constantinople and Persia, be- fore the Persian king Chosroes or Nushirwan, with his accustomed faithlessness, violated its conditions, and a new and terrible war broke out in 540. Ac- cording to Procopius, however, Justinian purposely excited the Persian king to take up arms, and, at any rate, wished for a new war, which is the more likely, as he was then at the pinnacle of his power. In the year mentioned Nushirwan invaded Syria, and the Roman army being too weak to arrest his progress, he spoiled the principal towns of their riches, and laid siege to Antioch, which was defended by Germanus. This general thought his forces insufficient for an eflFective resistance, and con- sequently withdrew, a step for which he has been charged with cowardice, although on many other occasions he had shown himself a brave and fear- less man. The " queen of the East " soon became a prey to the Persians, and after having been plundered, was destroyed by fire. The Asiatic provinces of Justinian would have been lost but for the timely arrival of Belisarius (541 ), who through a well calculated invasion of Mesopotamia and As- syria, compelled Nushirwan to leave the province of Pontus which he was ravaging, and to hasten to the defence of his hereditary dominions. Suddenly Belisarius was recalled to Constantinople, and during liis absence Nushirwan collected his forces, and set out for a new invasion of Syria and Pales- tine. In this emergency Belisarius was again put at the head of the Roman armies in those quarters ; and the mere fact of his presence was sufficient to induce Nushirwan to repass the Euphrates. Every body now expected that Belisarius would march forthwith upon Ctesiphon, when the unfavourable turn of the Gothie war required his presence in Italy (543). No sooner was he gone than 30,000 Romans suffered a severe defeat from 4000 Per- sians ; but the differences between the two empires were nevertheless settled to the satisfoction of Justinian, and a sort of truce was made, in conse- quence of which that part of the East was no longer disturbed by the Persians. It happened, however, that the Lazians and Colchians became tired of their dependence upon Constantinople, and implored the protection of Nushirwan, who ac- cepted the offer, and placed garrisons in the prin- cipal towns of those nations. A few years were sufficient to show them that the rapacity of the king was still greater than that of the emperor, and they accordingly entreated Justinian to receive them again among his subjects, and to deliver them from their Persian oppressors. Justinian despatched Dagisteus with 7000 Romans and 1000 Zani into Lazica ; and Petra, the strongest fortress of the country, was taken from the Persians by storm, after a memorable and protracted siege (549 — 551). This war lasted, with various success, till 661, when, tired of eternal bloodshed, the two monarchs came at last to an agreement. Through the peace of 561 the tranquillity of the East was finally restored, but Justinian bought it on the JUSTlNIANtrS. dishonourable condition of an annual payment of 30,000 pieces of gold. Yet the profit of this ne- gotiation was on the side of Justinian, because Nushirwan renounced his claims upon Colchis and Lazica, both of which countries were then renowned for their gold mines ; and the restoration of peace in all his Eastern dominions was a sufficient con- sideration to induce Justinian to expend so small a sum as 30,000 pieces of gold. In the beginning of the Persian war Justinian concluded a singular alliance. At that time there was a Christian king- dom in Southern Arabia, which extended over the provinces of Yemen and Hadhramaut, and was then commonly called the kingdom of the Honie- ritae. Dunaan having seized the supreme power, persecuted the Christians, who found assistance in the person of Eleesbam, the Negus or Christian king of Abyssinia, who came over to Arabia, and made himself master of the Homeritic kingdom. With this Eleesbam Justinian entered into nego- tiations, and in 533 despatched Nonnosus as ambas- sador to him, to induce him to unite his forces with the Romans against the Persians, and to protect the trade between Egypt and India, espe- cially that of silk, which Justinian wished to establish by sea, through the assistance of the in- habitants of Abyssinia and Arabia. Nonnosus ascended the Nile, and was received by Eleesbam at Axum, but he did not attain his objects. Soon afterwards the Homeritae freed themselves from the Abyssinian supremacy; but the rise of Moham- medanism proved the ruin of the Christians in Arabia, for the power of the Abyssinian kings in Africa was weakened through internal discord and revolutions. Gibbon remarks with great justness, that " these obscure and remote events are not foreign to the decline and fall of the Roman empire. If a Christian power had been maintained in Arabia, Mohammed must have been crushed in his cradle, and Abyssinia would have prevented a re- volution which has changed the civil and religious state of the world." The final overthrow of the Gothic power in Italy, the peace with Persia, the reconquest of Lazica, and the last victories of Belisarius over the Bul- garians in 559, followed each other so closely, and were of such importance in their consequences, that Justinian was allowed during the last years of his life to enjoy in peace the extraordinary power which his ambition made him wisli for, but which he owed entirely to the skill and heroism of Beli- sarius, Narses, and Germanus, and many other generals, as well as to the valour and discipline of the troops formed by those eminent officers. Nino months after Belisarius, the victim of his base in- gratitude, had sunk into the grave, the emperor Justinian died, '>n the 14th of November, 565, at the age of eighty-three, and left an empire, colossal in siae, threatening in its appearance, but rotten in its foundations, to the imbecile son of his sister Vigihuitia, Justinus II. After this sketch of the principal political events of the reign of Justinian, it remains to say a few words on the manner in which he guarded his em- pire against so many enemies which surrounded it, and on the system of his government at home. The ancient Roman system of fortifying the frontiers of the empire was carried by Justinian to an extent which plainly shows the great danger to which his subjects were constantly exposed ; for not only were the outer frontiers secured by an