The Eastern Empire. R O 
his barbarian guards, received without dread the mortal 
stroke, and the death of his son Tiberius extinguished the 
family of Heraclius, who had worn the purple for a hundred 
years. Justinian seems to have possessed a species of 
ferocious insanity, and was on that account equally formi¬ 
dable to his friends and his foes. On very slight grounds 
he declared war against Terbelis, who had restored him to 
the throne ; and at last his cause was so infamous as to be 
abandoned by his very brother-in-law, the khan of the 
Chozars. 
Philippicus abused, during more than two years, the au¬ 
thority he had acquired by the death of the tyrant; and 
under him the arms of the empire were not fortunate. The 
Bulgarians made an irruption into Thrace, and advanced as 
far as Constantinople. The indolence of the emperor, who 
busied himself about religious affairs, to the neglect of his 
public duty, rendered him an object of contempt; and the 
people learned, without the smallest emotion or mark of dis¬ 
satisfaction, that, during a state of intoxication, some con¬ 
spirators had surprised, blinded, and deposed him, while he 
reposed in his own palace. 
The voice of the people now promoted Artemius, first 
secretary to the late emperor; and under the name of Anas- 
tasius, he assumed the imperial ornaments; but as he was 
conscious of his ignorance in the military art, and was more 
distinguished as a politician than a man of courage, he 
placed Leo, a native of Isauria, who was an able general, at 
the head of his troops. 
In the reign of Anastasius, the second siege of Constanti¬ 
nople by the Mahometans, under the caliph Soliman, com¬ 
menced. The emperor conceived the design of burning the 
naval stores of the enemy, and thus defeating the enterprise 
about to be undertaken; but his aims were frustrated by the 
treachery of the marine army, who murdered their chief, and 
invested Theodosius, a simple officer of revenue, with the 
purple. Leo came to the assistance of his master, and, with¬ 
out striking a blow, induced Theodosius to lay down his 
usurped authority, and sink into the insignificance of the 
cloister, as the only security for his life. Moslemah, how¬ 
ever, the brother of the caliph, could not be prevented by 
Leo from investing the capital with an army of one hundred 
and twenty thousand Arabs and Persians; while a hostile 
fleet of eighteen hundred ships appeared before the mouth of 
the harbour. But while they hesitated about entering it, the 
fireships of the Greeks were launched against them ; and in 
a few hours this mighty armament, which threatened destruc¬ 
tion to the Roman name, was reduced to ashes. The death 
of the caliph Soliman, was still a more severe and fatal loss 
to the besiegers; for his successor Omar was a scrupulous and 
inactive bigot. The investment, however, was continued 
through the winter, rather by his neglect than resolution : 
the season proved uncommonly rigorous ; the natives of the 
burning climes of Egypt and Arabia lay almost lifeless in 
their frozen camp; disease and famine had entered their 
tents, and after a protracted siege of thirteen months, the 
desponding Moslemah received from his master the welcome 
permission of retreat. 
Leo finding his ascendant both over the empire and the 
emperor, persuaded Anastasius to resign the crown, asm 
burthen too heavy for him, and to retire to the enjoyment 
of a private life. With the affluent fortune which he carried 
with him, he might have been happier than on the throne ; 
but goaded on by ambition, he attempted to resume the 
dignity he had laid down by his own consent, and his life 
paid the forfeit of his folly. 
The primitive name of Leo, who obtained the purple on 
the resignation of Anastasius, was Conon. His first service 
was in the guards of Justinian; and his valour and dexterity 
gradually raised him to the principal command of the armies, 
from whence, by an easy transition, he mounted the throne. 
A. D. 718. In his reign, the empire of the East lost even its 
shadow of authority in Italy, which passed under the power 
of the Lombards; while Rome gave herself up to the tem¬ 
poral as well as the spiritual domination of the pope. These 
revolutions were chiefly produced and ultimately confirmed 
M E. The Eastern Empire. 323 
by the dispute concerning image worship, which so fiercely 
agitated the Christian world during the eighth and ninth 
centuries. 
While Leo was almost wholly occupied about these dis¬ 
putes, the Saracens ravaged the eastern parts of the empire, 
though not with impunity; and it must be confessed, that 
in an age of turbulence, both from politiical and religious 
causes, this emperor conducted himself w th firmness, and 
generally with more temper than his adversaries. After a 
reign of twenty-five years, and taking proper steps to secure 
the diadem to hissonCoNSTANTiNE, he peapeably expired in 
his palace of Constantinople. 
The precaution which Leo had taken to associate Con¬ 
stantine Copronymus with him in the empire, and cause him 
to be crowned, did not prevent the appearance of a compe¬ 
titor, supported by Anastasius the patriarch. In the com¬ 
mencement of his reign, he had summoned a general assem¬ 
bly, which met in the suburbs of Constantinople, and de¬ 
creed that all visible symbols of Christ, except in the 
eucharist, were either blasphemous or heretical; and all such 
monuments of idolatry ) were condemned to be broken or 
erased. He then undertook an expedition against the Sara¬ 
cens; but during his absence, his capital, his palace, and his 
throne, were occupied by his kinsman Artavasdes, the am¬ 
bitious champion of the orthodox faith, as it was then fixed 
and believed. The worship of images was triumphantly re¬ 
stored ; but Copronymus, who had retired to his paternal 
mountains, soon descended at the head of his bold and faith¬ 
ful Isaurians; his victory was decisive; and both his rival 
and his son had their eyes put out. The patriarch, who was 
more than suspected of abetting the cause of the usurper, 
was sentenced to be paraded through the principal streets of 
the city, mounted on an ass with his face turned towards the 
tail, and himself to be beaten with rods; after which, he 
was restored to his former rank, not being able, says th e his¬ 
torian, to find any one worse. As Constantinople, where the 
usurper maintained himself, had not surrendered till forced 
by famine, the emperor punished its inhabitants by severe 
taxes and extortions; but, above all others, his resentment 
was directed against the monks, his implacable enemies. 
From the chastisement of individuals, he proceeded to the 
abolition of the order: their religious communities were 
dissolved ; the buildings converted into magazines or bar¬ 
racks ; and their property confiscated. The worshippers of 
images, who were reputed orthodox, were rigorously perse¬ 
cuted, and the practice proscribed. 
The manners of Copronymus were dissolute, and his tem¬ 
per was cruel; but even his enemies allow his courage and ac¬ 
tivity at the head of his legions: and in a feign of thirty- 
four years, he triumphed both by sea and land ; on the Eu¬ 
phrates and the Danube; in civil and barbaric war. Leo 
the Fourth was his son and successor. A. D. 775. This 
prince was of a feeble constitution, both of body and mind; 
but he imitated his father’s violence against images, though 
he had the vexation to find his opinions opposed even by 
his nearest connections, and in particular by Irene his em¬ 
press. He associated in the empire his son Constantine, with 
the unanimous wishes of his subjects : but the five sons of 
Copronymus by a second marriage, endeavoured to disturb 
the public tranquillity. Their treasonable attempts were 
twice pardoned; and a third conspiracy was punished with 
amputation and banishment to Athens; but even in this 
retreat, their restless spirits prompted them to listen to a Scla- 
vonian chief, who offered to break their prison, and lead 
them to Constantinople. The people of Athens, however, 
appear to have interposed ; and the brothers of the emperor 
were destroyed. 
Leo reigned only five years; and by his will the empress 
Irene was declared the guardian of the Roman world, and of 
his son Constantine the Sixth, who was no more than ten 
years of age. During his childhood, Irene had faithfully dis¬ 
charged the office with which she was entrusted; but the 
maturer age of the emperor made the yoke of his mother ap¬ 
pear grievous ; and his favourites and flatterers stimulating 
his desire for power, it was determined to banish Irene to 
Sicily. 
