316 The Eastern Empire. U O M E. The Eastern Empire. 
the throne, with the unanimous consent of the military, the 
clergy, and the people. A. D. 518. 
Justin, to whom the epithet of Elder is given, to distinguish 
him from another emperor of the same name and family, 
was sixty-eight years of age when he was invested with the 
purple; and during the nine successive years of his life, 
he was preserved from exposing his incapacity by his good 
sense in following the direction of abler statesmen, whom 
he had the wisdom to select. At this lime the world beheld 
two contemporary monarchs, Theodoric and himself, who 
were destitute even of the knowledge of the alphabet; but 
the commanding genius of the Goth rendered him respect¬ 
able amidst all his ignorance of learning. Justin, though 
personally brave, was conscious of his political incapacity, 
and relied on the diligence of his quaestor Proclus, and the 
talents of his nephew Justinian, whom the aged emperor 
drew from the solitudes of Dacia, and educated as his fu¬ 
ture heir. 
The eunuch Amantius lost his life for a real or a pre¬ 
tended conspiracy, and three of his associates were punish¬ 
ed either with exile or death. Vitalian, who, in defence of 
the orthodox faith, had waged a popular war against Anas- 
tasius, and still remained at the head of a formidable army, 
on the security of oaths, was persuaded to trust himself in 
Constantinople. The emperor and his nephew embraced 
him with affected regard; but a few months after, he was 
assassinated at a royal banquet, and Justinian was appoint¬ 
ed in his room master-general of the armies of the East, 
without any claims from military service. Indeed, this 
young prince preferred cultivating the favour of the people 
in the churches, the circus, and the senate of Constantino¬ 
ple, to the precarious laurels of war; and, while he main¬ 
tained his ascendant over his uncle, committed to hardier 
warriors the defence or the eastern empire. 
Justin died A. D. 527, and Justinian, who afterwards 
obtained the title of the Great, succeeded. He married Theo¬ 
dora, one of the daughters of Acacius, a native of Cyprus. 
This woman, when only seven years of age, was introduced 
into the theatre, and for some years was devoted to the pub¬ 
lic and private pleasures of the people of Byzantium. As a 
pantomime, the applauses bestowed on her was constant and 
unbounded; but her beauty was the source of more exquisite 
delight. Her features were delicate and regular; her whole 
figure, though small, was shaped by the hand of symmetry, 
and enlivened by all the graces of art. Her vague commerce, 
and the detestable arts she used, prevented her from being a 
mother more than once; and this fruit of licentious love, a 
son, it is supposed, was dispatched by her order, after she 
became empress. This w'oman, who had for some time 
affected a life of solitude, won the heart of Justinian, and her 
temper and understanding maintained a constant ascendant 
over his mind. As a consort on the throne, the most illus¬ 
trious persons in the state were alternately doomed, as her 
humour might suggest, to experience the levity of a comedian 
or the arrogance of an empress. Her rapacity was unbounded; 
and many cruelties are laid to her charge, which she exer¬ 
cised by means of her numerous spies. Yet, it must be 
acknowledged, she was not destitute of virtues. Her influence 
often assuaged the intolerant zeal of Justinian: we shall have 
occasion in the sequel to mention her courage and presence 
of mind; and her chastity, from the moment of her marriage, 
is allowed to have been inviolable. 
In the reign of Justinian one of the most dreadful commo¬ 
tions took place which had ever shaken Constantinople. At 
this time the support of a faction, distinguished by a diver¬ 
sity of colour, became necessary to every candidate for civil 
or ecclesiastical honours. The green were attached to the 
family or sect of Anaslasius: the blues were devoted to 
orthodoxy and Justinian; and their grateful patron protected 
above five years, a party, whose tumults overawed the palace, 
the senate, and the city. 
A momentary reconciliation of these two factions, pro¬ 
duced the event we are about to relate. Two criminals, one 
of the green, and the other of the blue party, had escaped 
from impending punishment, to the sanctuary of a neigh¬ 
bouring church. Both factions were equally provoked by 
the cruelty of their oppressor ; and, uniting their strength, 
like a torrent, overwhelmed the palace of the prefect, his 
officers and his guards. The barbarians in the service of the 
empire, joining in the affray, firebrands were darted against 
the houses, and the flames spread without controul. For five 
days Constantinople was abandoned to licentious fury, and 
the watch-word nika, vanquish , resounded from every 
quarter. 
Amidst the confusion and uproar, Hypatius, nephew to 
Anastasius, surrounded by the populace, was reluctantly hur¬ 
ried to the forum of Constantine, and a rich collar placed 
upon his head by way of a diadem. The greater part of the 
senate sided with the rebels; and Justinian, desponding and 
alarmed, was preparing to leave the city, and to seek for 
safety by embarking on board a vessel in the harbour; when 
the magnanimity and courage of Theodora prevented this 
disgrace, and recalled him to more manly exertions. “ Were 
flight,” said she, the only means of preservation, I should yet 
disdain to fly. Death is the condition of our birth; but 
they who have reigned should never survive the loss of dig¬ 
nity and dominion. I implore Heaven, that I may never be 
seen, not even for a day, without my diadem and my purple; 
—that I may no longer behold the light when I cease to be 
saluted with the name of queen. If you resolve, O Caesar! to 
fly, you have treasures: behold the sea, you have ships; but 
tremble, lest the desire of life should expose you to wretched 
exile, and ignomiuious death. For my own part, I adhere to 
the maxim of antiquity, ‘that the throne is a glorious grave.’” 
Animated by this harangue, Justinian put himself at the 
head of his guards, and defended himself in his palace. 
When it was found that he was not wanting to himself, he 
soon received succour: Belisarius brought a corps of three 
thousand veteran troops to his assistance; and, it is computed 
that no less than thirty thousand persons perished in the car¬ 
nage. Hipatius, the ephemeral emperor, together with 
Pompey, another nephew of Anastasius, were dragged to the 
feet of Justinian, and in vain implored his clemency. The 
senators also, who had abetted this rebellion, were punished, 
and their property confiscated ; but the emperor afterwards 
had the humanity to restore their rank and fortune to their 
children. The games of the circus were, during several 
years, interdicted ; but with their restoration, the blue and 
the green factions revived, and continued to disturb the 
tranquillity of the empire. 
When Justinian ascended to the throne, the kingdom of 
the Goths and Vandals had obtained a peaceable establish¬ 
ment in Europe and Africa; but the Roman lawyers and 
statesmen asserted the indefeasible dominion of the emperors 
of the East. 
The agitated condition of Africa now afforded a favoura¬ 
ble opportunity to the imperial arms ; and this opportunity 
Justinian was determined not to neglect. 
With a numerous army and a powerful fleet, Belisarius set 
out for the conquest of Africa, and after encountering many 
dangers, landed on that coast, and soon advanced within 
fifty miles of Carthage. A general engagement speedily 
followed, in which Gelimer, the Vandal kiug, was defeated. 
This unfortunate monarch, after collecting the remains of 
his scattered army, and joining it with that of his brother 
Zano from Sardinia, surprised Belisarius at an unseasonable 
hour. The Romans, however, were instantly under arms ; 
Zano fell; the dejected Gelimer fled ; and only fifty Romans 
and eight .hundred Vandals perished in a battle which de¬ 
cided the fate of Africa. 
Gelimer himself, attended by a few faithful adherents, was 
pursued to the inaccessible mountain of Papua, in the in¬ 
terior of Numidia, where he was immediately besieged by 
Pharas, one of the officers of Belisarius. After enduring un¬ 
paralleled hardships, he surrendered, on the assurance of 
safety and honourable treatment. 
Belisarius was recalled by the jealousy of the emperor; 
but his prompt obedience extorted the honour of a triumph. 
Yet from the trophies of luxury, and the wealth of nations 
which adorned the procession of the victor, the eyes of the 
spectators 
