Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/694

Rh 680 JUSTINUS. short time, and did more than could have been ex- pected under such circumstances. He was shut up for some time in the important fortress of Dara, Reinforced by the contingents of the Lazians and other Caucasian nations, he suddenly sallied forth, laid siege to Nisibis, and offered battle to Chosroes, who approached with an army of 100,000 men. At this critical moment Acacius arrived from Con- stantinople with an order for Marcian to hasten directly to the capital, and surrender the command to him. Marcian obeyed, but no sooner was he ooT^, than the whole Greek army disbanded, as Acacius was known to be destitute of all military talent. The consequence was that Syria was ravaged by the Persians with fire and sword, and Dara, the bulwark of the empire, was taken by Chosroes, after a long and gallant resistance. When this news reached Constantinople, Justin showed all the symptoms of insanity, and his mental dis- order increased so much as to make him unfit for any business (574). The entire government now devolved upon the empress Sophia. Two years previously Alboin had been assas- sinated, shortly after he had taken Pavia, where his successor Clepho took up his residence. This king was slain a short time after his accession, but the Longobards, nevertheless, maintained them- selves in the greater part of Italy. These events were coincident with a war against the Avars, who worsted the Greek commander Tiberius, a great general at the head of a bad army. The state of the empire was so critical that Sophia persuaded Justin to adopt Tiberius and to make him Caesar. The emperor followed the advice, and in 574 the new Caesar was presented to the senate. Sophia acted wisely in buying a tnice of one j'ear from the Persians for the sum of 45.000 pieces of gold, which was soon afterwards prolonged for three years, by an annual tribute of 30,000 pieces. But this truce did not include Armenia, and thus Chosroes set out in 576, or more probably as early as 574, with a large army to extend the frontiers of his realm in the north-west. With great ex- ertions and sacrifices Tiberius succeeded in raising an army of 150,000 foreign mercenaries, with whom he despatched Justinian, the emperor'scousin, against the Persians, thus leaving Italy unprotected and Greece open to the inroads of the Slavonians. The details of this remarkable campaign are nar- rated in the lives of Tiberius and Justinian. Jus- tinian obtained splendid victories, and sent 24 elephants to Constantinople ; but he sustained in his turn severe defeats, and was succeeded in the supreme command by Mauricius, who, in 578, penetrated as far as the Tigris. The war was still raging with unabated fury, when Justin, whose jnental sufferings were increased by an ulcer on his leg, felt his dissolution approaching, and conse- quently created Tiberius Augustus on the 26'th of September, 578, and had him crowned and publicly acknowledged as his successor. Justin died on the 5th of October following ; the best action of his life was the choice of his successor. (Corippus, De Land. Justini; Evagrius, v. 1 — 13 ; Theophan. p. 198, &c, ; Cedren. p. 388, &c. ; Zonaras, vol. ii. p. 70, &c. ; Giycas, p. 270, &c. ; Const. Manasses, p. 68, &c. ; Joel, p. 173, in the Paris edit. ; Paul. Diacon. ii. 5, &c., iii. 11, 12 ; Theophyhict. iii. 9, &c. ; Menander, in Excerpt. Legation.) [W. P.] JUSTI'NUS, the elder son of Germanus (see the ^nealogical table prefixed to the life of Jus- j JUSTINUS. I tinian I.), a general of great distinction and popu- larity in the army, but justly suspected by Justinian I. and Justin II., on account of his ambition and faithlessness. In A. d. 551 he held a command in the army against the Slavonians, and shared its defeat in the battle of Adiianople. He was more fortunate against the Persians in Colchis, over whom he obtained a complete victory on the river Phasis (555), in consequence of which he was entrusted with the command in chief, which had been taken from Martinus. Some time after he discovered the secret designs of the khan of the Avars, who had sent an embassy to Constantinople under the pretext of making a treaty of alliance, while their real object was the purchase of arras, nnd the stores which they were secretly sending into Avaria were consequently taken from them by Justin, who commanded on the Avarian frontiers (the Danube). The accession of his cousin Justin proved fatal to him : they had made an agreement that, after the expected death of Justinian, the son of Germanus should be Caesar, while the other Justin, the son of Vigilantia, was to reign as Augustus. But no sooner was the latter seated on the throne, than Justin, the subject of this article, was recalled from the Danube, and after having been detained a short time at Constantinople, was sent as governor (Dux and Augustalis) to Alexan- dria, where he was, however, treated like a prisoner, and, shortly after his arrival, treacherously assassi- nated while asleep. His murder caused several of his friends to conspire against the emperor, as is narrated in the life of Justin 1 1. (Theophan. p. 198, 204—210, ed, Paris ; Agathias, ii. 18, iii. 2, 17— 23, iv. 13—22; Procop. Bell. Goth. iii. 32; Evagrius, V. 1,2.) [W. P.] JUSTI'NUS, son of Mauricius. [Mauricius.] JUSTI'NUS, the historian. We possess a work entitled Justini Historiurum Pldlippicarum Lihri XLIV., in the preface to which theauthorinformsus that his book was entirely derived from the Uni- versal History {totius Orbis Hiatorias), composed in Latin by Trogus Pompeius. Before proceeding, therefore, to consider the former, it is necessary to inquire into the contents and character of the more important and voluminous archetype. From the statement of Trogus Pompeuis himself, as preserved by Justin (xliii. 5), we learn that his ancestors traced their origin to the Gaulish tribe of the Vocontii, that his grandfather received the citizenship of Rome from Cn. Pompeius during the war against Sertorius, that his paternal uncle com- manded a squadron of cavalry in the army of the same general in the last struggle with Mithridates, and that his father served under C. Caesar (i. e. the dictator), to whom he afterwards became private secretary. It is hence evident that the son must have flourished under Augustus ; and since the recovery of the standards of Crassus from the Parthians was recorded towards the close of his history, it is probable that it may have been published not long, after that event, whicl took place B. c. 20. Our knowledge of this production is derived from three sources which, taken in com- bination, afford a considerable amount of inform- ation with regard to the nature and extent of the undertaking. 1. A few brief fragments quoted by (Pliny?), Vopiscus, Jerome, Augustin, Orosius, Priscian, Isidorus, and others down to John of Salisbury and Matthew of Westminster. 2. The Excerpts of Justin. 3. A sort of epitome found in ^