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 the Empire; beyond its borders aggressive wars were waged and a moiety of the Western Empire was restored to the dominion of the East. But the background of this brilliant scene was always of the same gloomy tint, such as has been described in the present chapter, and these splendid successes were obtained at the cost, but not to the advantage of the Greek nation in general. While Justinian went on adding magniloquent epithets to his name indicative of conquest and triumph over alien races in the West, his immediate subjects continued to be afflicted by the harshness and rapacity of the administration, as well as by the tyranny of the local aristocracy. Concomitantly the barbarians in Europe and the Persians in Asia sapped the vitals of the Empire and impoverished or enslaved its inhabitants. Victory and acquisition abroad by the aid of mercenary troops were nullified by defeat and exhaustion at home; and the extended Empire which Justinian handed down to his successors was inferior in political vigour and sociological prosperity to the smaller dominions which he had inherited from Anastasius.