Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/18

 proportionately jealous of their authority in the lofty position to which they had attained without the qualifications of rank or lineage. Hence they exacted the most servile respect from all who approached them, and emphasized more than at any former time humility of speech and abject prostration in the presence of the sovereign. Any subject, without the exception of patricians or even of foreign ambassadors, on arriving at the foot of the throne was compelled to extend himself on the ground with his face to the floor and then to kiss both feet of the monarch before he was privileged to deliver his message or to make a request. On such occasions the titles of "emperor" and "empress," as expressing a merely official hegemony, were considered to be insufficient, and it was expected that, by substituting the terms "master" and "mistress," the subject should confess himself to be the actual slave of his sovereign. In previous reigns the forms of adoration had been reserved for the Emperor, but Theodora ignored such precedents and claimed for herself all the homage due to an independent potentate. In one respect only did the conjugal harmony of the Imperial couple appear to be seriously disturbed; while Justinian was strictly orthodox in religion, Theodora gave an uncompromising support to the Monophysites. The public, however, refused to believe in the reality of this dissension, and attributed the seeming discord to an astute policy which obliged the conflicting sects to give their united support to the throne.

The war with Persia, which had developed in a desultory fashion under Justin, began to be waged with determination at the outset of Justinian's reign. A thousand years before