Page:Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian 1674.djvu/66

 to the Empire; and yet all this while continued to take the Emperors pay. They were no sooner gone, but others succeeded, who having plun­dered his Dominions, and carried away a most considerable booty, were rewarded by Justinian for their pains, who was grown the most liberal in that nature of any Prince in the World. In short, from that very time, the Barbarians never gave over ravaging his Countrey, one party per­petually following at the heels of another: For those people having many Princes among them, being numerous themselves, and of different in­terests; this War (which derived its original from the extravagant Liberality of the Empe­ror) begun with one, was continued with an­other, and so perpetually carried on, that there was not a Mountain so little, a place so incon­siderable, nor a Cave so obscure in the whole extent of the Roman Dominion, as to be ex­empt from the pillagings of these Barbarians: Some Provinces were so unfortunate as to be plundered five times over. I have spoken of all these things before in my other works, as also of the inroads the Persians, the Saracens, the Sclavonians, and other of the Barbarious Na­tions made upon the Empire. But as I said at first, I shall make it appear to be caused only by the ill conduct of the Emperor: He gave a vast sum of Money to clap up a Peace with Cosroes; and when he had done, by a stupid piece of obstinacy he brake it again, having used all his art to draw to his Party Alaman­dare, and the Huns, who were in alliance with the